By Federico Soto Roland — Creative Strategy, AI & Digital Director, NSB Agency.
In Argentina, planning marketing means looking at the business, the consumer's wallet and technological change all at once. For 2027 — an election year with more turbulence expected — the agenda will combine how to push growth, profitability and brand building with an adoption of artificial intelligence that will have to prove concrete results.
These are the ten topics we believe will take up the time and focus of local CMOs.
1. Find where consumption is growing
Argentine consumption looks different depending on the channel. While supermarket sales at constant prices fell 2.7% between January and July 2026, e-commerce orders grew 21% over the first half of the year. Mercado Libre reported a 22% increase in items sold in Argentina during the second quarter. Even though the indicators cover different periods and scopes, they all show the need to look beyond the average. The challenge will be to identify where the opportunities are and adjust distribution, investment and communication to capture them.
2. Define who the brand is for, and why to choose it
Aiming at “the middle class” is too broad to guide a strategy. The polarization of consumption forces you to sharpen the audience and the reason to buy: a concrete, relevant reason to choose. Accessible value propositions and highly exclusive ones answer different needs. There are still opportunities between the two extremes, but they require a defined position. Competing with a generalist offer, in categories saturated with similar products or easily replaced by imports, leaves little room to defend price and margin.
3. Build a brand that tips the choice
When wallets are squeezed, every price difference matters. That is exactly why brand building will be a central task: to generate desire, trust and identification that tip the choice between similar options and, when that preference is strong enough, sustain a higher price. That advantage is built with positioning, creativity, consistency and experience. The CMO will have to protect that capital while responding to commercial urgencies: a brand chosen only for its discount is exposed to a competitor's next promotion.
4. Sell without giving away all the margin
Discounts, installments, cashbacks and free shipping can drive sales, but they can also eat their profitability. Marketing will have to work more closely with Sales and Finance to decide which incentive works for each audience and what it really costs. The result must be measured after promotions, commissions, financing and logistics. It will also be necessary to tell when an action adds buyers and when it simply pulls purchases forward or subsidizes sales that would have happened anyway.
5. Bring in AI where it delivers a concrete improvement
The focus will be on choosing applications that help research, plan, produce, analyze or serve better. For each project you will have to define an owner, a total cost and an expected result. It will also be necessary to train the team and review processes: adding tools to a messy operation can multiply the mess. The gap between investing in AI and being able to integrate it into the operation already shows up in Gartner's global surveys.
6. Prepare the brand for AI recommendations
Assistants are adding a new stage of discovery and comparison. In Argentina, that shift will coexist with search engines, Mercado Libre, social media, personal recommendations and salespeople. The CMO will have to watch how their brand shows up in those answers: up-to-date information, clear attributes, reputation and reliable sources. The speed of adoption will vary by audience and category, but it's worth starting to understand what is said about the brand and which alternatives appear alongside it.
7. Connect media spend to the whole sale
An inquiry can start on Instagram, continue on WhatsApp and end in a store. If each team measures only its own stretch, it's hard to know where the customer is won or lost. Integrating media, salespeople, e-commerce and customer service will be central. Conversion also depends on responding in time, having stock, offering a suitable payment method and fulfilling delivery. Marketing will have to take part in those decisions.
8. Measure real growth and contribution to the business
In Argentina, a rise in revenue can hide fewer units sold or a lower margin. The CMO's agenda will have to combine sales in real terms, volume, share, new customers and profitability. And add a question: how much of that result did marketing generate, and how much responded to prices, distribution or the movement of the market? That reading will be key to defend investments and correct decisions.
9. Invest in creativity that makes a difference
When brands say the same thing in the same way, it's hard to find a reason to choose them. The proliferation of AI-generated content can deepen that uniformity if everyone starts from the same references and formulas. In that scenario, local creativity will be worth more: ideas that understand Argentine humor, tensions, aspirations and taste, and connect them to a brand's own identity. That sensibility has been a strength of Argentine advertising. Investing in it will be key to earning attention, building preference and keeping the brand from becoming interchangeable.
10. Plan with scenarios and the ability to react
The evolution of prices, incomes, financing and the exchange rate can change how worthwhile a campaign or a launch is. The CMO will need revisable budgets and agreed-upon criteria to accelerate, adjust or halt investments. They will also have to define which part of brand building is worth sustaining when the context changes. Being flexible requires knowing in advance what can be changed and what is essential to the business.
Argentina's 2027 agenda will demand precise choices: who to address, what value to offer, where to compete and how to build a preference that turns into profitable sales. Technology will widen the possibilities. Strategic clarity and creativity will be decisive in making the most of them.
