Recent reporting and research point to three parallel shifts in growth marketing: (1) organizations are reshaping leadership and team structures, with a visible rise in senior “growth marketing” and “growth/marketing” titles and new divisions oriented around data partnerships; (2) vendors and strategists are pushing growth teams toward “full-funnel” approaches powered by agentic AI, alongside a broader push to reframe martech as a growth engine; and (3) practitioners are revisiting the limits of pure performance marketing and emphasizing brand as a lever to unlock additional growth. Alongside these strategic shifts, multiple announcements highlight acquisitions and capability-building aimed at accelerating verticalized, analytics-driven marketing execution.
1. LeadingResponse expanded its growth marketing team and appointed Michelle Rainbow as SVP of Growth Marketing. 2. Highdive promoted Long to Chief Growth/Marketing Officer (reported Feb. 19, 2026). 3. Hyperquake hired Gabrielle Schweickart as Director, Growth Marketing, Media, & Analytics. 4. Hotel Equities Group, LLC appointed Liz Flurry as Vice President of Growth Marketing. 5. Metro Credit Union welcomed Robert Mittelholzer as Vice President of Growth Marketing. 6. SurgePays announced the launch of a Growth Marketing & Data Partnerships Division, positioning it as a new revenue channel. 7. NextSense appointed QuHarrison Terry—identified as Growth Marketing Lead at Mark Cuban Companies—to its board of directors. 8. Qualified framed an enterprise shift toward “full-funnel agentic marketing,” stating it is accelerating customer growth as leading enterprises move in that direction. 9. McKinsey published research on “agents for growth,” focused on turning AI’s promise into impact. 10. McKinsey argued for “rewiring martech” by reframing it from a cost center into a growth engine. 11. SmartBrief argued that performance marketing has a ceiling and that brand is the way to break through it. 12. The Drum highlighted growth marketing lessons under the maxim “Do things that don’t scale.” 13. Power Digital announced it expanded its vertical division model with a healthcare-focused acquisition of Cardinal. 14. Alloy announced it acquired digital marketing agency Hot Sauce to bolster its martech capabilities. 15. AWS published a case-focused piece on AWS and Zeta, describing “transforming digital marketing with AI-powered intelligence.” 16. Demand Gen Report previewed B2BMX 2026 tracks centered on rethinking go-to-market strategies for measurable growth. 17. McKinsey published work on “the changing role of the CMO—and what it means for growth.” 18. McKinsey also published “The CMO’s comeback,” focused on aligning the C-suite to drive customer-centric growth.