Do marketing leaders ever really get a winter break? You’re supposed to be relaxing, but your brain won’t cooperate. You’re thinking about Q1 budgets while waiting for your flight. Mentally drafting your board presentation while the family watches a holiday movie. Lying awake in the wee hours of the morning running through 2026 talent considerations.
We’ve curated this reading list specifically for the realities of the holidays, matching key resources to those moments when you might have a few minutes to yourself. Whether you’re feeling inspired or just need a break from that one relative (you know the one…), these reads can help you start the new year informed and energized.
And if you only get through a couple of paragraphs before you’re called away to a snowball fight? We’ll call that a win.
Ah, the joys of holiday travel. You’ve been gifted a couple of extra hours in everyone’s favorite place: A crowded airport. Instead of spending it all on retail therapy at the duty-free shop, why not invest a few of those minutes in building up your industry smarts? This article provides an in-depth look at how the CMO role is transforming, how CMOs can set themselves up for success, and why brands that embrace these changes are best positioned to unlock their full potential.
The house is finally quiet, everyone’s asleep, and you’re wide awake staring at the ceiling. When work anxiety strikes in the middle of the night, it helps to know that many of your biggest challenges share a common denominator (address it, and you can alleviate multiple problems at once!). This article connects major challenges around proving ROI, AI adoption, talent efficiency and retention, and more back to data problems, and outlines practical steps marketing leaders can take to address them at their source.
Your aunt has had a bit too much eggnog, and she’s finally revealed the secret to everyone’s favorite holiday cookies: Real, high-quality vanilla extract. It has you thinking about other things that require quality inputs to generate quality outputs—AI, for instance. This article explores how marketing teams can get around barriers to AI adoption and drive ROI by improving their data readiness. While holiday cookies can still taste decent with artificial vanilla, AI tools simply can’t function without clean, unified, high-quality data.
Everyone has an opinion about AI, and when the topic comes up at the holiday party, you know that you’ll be expected to offer an authoritative take. This report provides the exclusive, data-based insights you need to sound like an expert, even if holiday brain fog has temporarily eclipsed your expertise. More importantly, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of how your peers are approaching AI adoption, the efficiency gains they’re seeing, the risks they’re most concerned about, and more.
You’re driving home from the holiday party, and that AI conversation is still rattling around in your mind. Have you done enough to optimize your team for an increasingly AI-driven future? This report provides exclusive data and actionable recommendations for navigating the AI revolution from a talent perspective in 2026. It’ll transform those anxious questions into ideas to fuel your tech and talent strategies next year.
Sometimes, sitting alone at the local pizza place waiting for your order provides the greatest holiday gift of all: A few precious minutes alone. This brief read offers expert guidance around one of marketing’s biggest debates—how to strike the right balance between performance and brand investments—with a particular focus on achieving that balance amidst economic uncertainty. You’ll arrive home not only with dinner, but with fresh insights for leading your business through volatility.
With the stress of Q4 2025 still fresh in your mind, you may be resolving to do things a bit differently in 2026—if only for the sake of your future self’s blood pressure. It’s a good call, as earning executive buy-in during budget season is considerably easier when you’ve been nurturing cross-departmental alignment and goodwill throughout the year. This article, written by Basis CMO Katie McAdams, outlines how marketing leaders can find more success securing C-suite backing by working to build trust with executives year-round. Her recommendations work in any economic climate, but are especially valuable when budgets are tight.
Well, there you have it: You just made smart use of the odd pockets of solitude that winter break provides. Made it through everything? Great. Only got through half of one article? Still counts. Either way, you’re heading into 2026 sharper and more informed than you were before.
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Looking for one more resource to round out your winter break reading? Check out Rewinding to Fast Forward: The 2026 Digital Advertising Trends Report for an in-depth look at four key forces shaping the year ahead for brands.
