SAN JOSE, Calif. (July 1, 2026) – The CMO Council, in partnership with MartechTribe, today introduced the Apex Martech Matrix Innovation Insights Brief— a real-world, data-driven framework that predicts the business value of martech investments based on company size, industry, maturity and strategic priorities.

As global martech spend races toward $215 billion, most CMOs still struggle to extract value from increasingly complex stacks. The Apex Martech Matrix helps companies optimize their martech stacks through independent research, data-driven benchmarking and customer-centric insights. Integrators and businesses can select, implement and manage the right software tools to improve marketing efficiency and achieve business goals.

Over the past decade, MartechTribe has run hundreds of benchmarking probes to extract “success insights” from a massive data warehouse of 15,000 customer technology solutions, over 1,600 real-world cross-industry stacks and 4,500 documented requirements, curated by more than 200 experts across 30 countries. 

To identify what truly drives value, the Apex Martech Matrix isolates the top 30% of companies within each industry, ranked by revenue per employee ratios based on annual reports. This removes subjectivity from performance claims. “Apex performers” show clear preferences for specific solution categories and requirement sets.

To see how the Apex Martech Matrix turns martech complexity into measurable performance, download the CMO Council’s Innovation Insight Brief, “Moving from Martech Mayhem to Measurable Business Value,” here: https://www.cmocouncil.org/thought-leadership/reports/moving-from-martech-mayhem-to-measurable-business-value

Among the most significant insights:

• Speed-to-value defines competitive advantage, with top performers prioritizing the rapid translation of capabilities into measurable business impact


• There is no one-size-fits-all martech stack, with performance driven by alignment to industry, business model and organizational maturity


• Stack maturity is frequently overestimated, with underperforming organizations rating themselves higher than objective benchmarks suggest


• More technology does not equal more value, as overbuilt stacks often suffer from complexity and underutilization


• Alignment outperforms scale, with tightly integrated and purpose-built architectures delivering superior outcomes

MartechTribe has also identified four common failure points in underperforming stacks: data fragmentation, integration debt, capability mismatch and attribution blindness.

“Too many organizations are overbuilt, underbuilt or simply misaligned when it comes to martech,” notes Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. “The Apex Martech Matrix shifts the conversation from tools to outcomes. It shows that growth comes from aligning capability with maturity and executing with discipline.”

Top-performing organizations prioritize fit over feature breadth, evolve capabilities in line with organizational maturity, and actively remove unnecessary complexity. This approach enables stronger customer experiences, improved attribution, faster innovation cycles and greater revenue impact.

The Apex Martech Matrix underscores a critical shift away from traditional martech selection methods. Vendor rankings, feature comparisons and lengthy RFP cycles are increasingly outpaced by the speed of AI innovation. Instead, top-performing organizations must rely on benchmarking intelligence and real-world deployment patterns to guide investment decisions.

“This is the quadrant CMOs have been waiting for, a way to evidence a business case with proven value and to get rid of doubt that has mired past martech investments. The Matrix turns martech into a growth lever,” notes Frans Riemersma, founder and CEO of MartechTribe.

Additional Solution Offerings for the Apex Martech Matrix Include:
State of Industry Report
Get a deep dive into the Apex Martech Matrix for your industry—retail, banking, consumer goods, technology, telecommunications, manufacturing, or professional services—revealing how top performers invest, build capability and drive results.
Price: $1,495

Full-Stack Scan
See exactly where you stand. Benchmark your martech stack against industry peers within the Apex Martech Matrix, identify capability and maturity gaps, and receive clear, prioritized recommendations on where to invest, optimize or eliminate spend across tools and skills.
Price: $4,500

Three-Tool Scan
Lock in on what matters most. Evaluate your performance across three selected martech tools, such as CRM, CDP, DAM or email, chosen from a comprehensive set of 49 domains. Benchmark against top performers to identify feature gaps and optimization opportunities.
Price: $13,500

Annual Subscription Bundle
Turn insight into ongoing advantage. This annual package includes an industry report, full-stack scan and three-tool scan, providing ongoing benchmarking and a clear roadmap to optimize performance year over year.
Price: $14,950

About MartechTribe
Since 2018, we’ve partnered with data scientists to build a Martech data warehouse, featuring over 9+ years of global stack, solution, and feature data from 16 industries, contributed by 467 experts across 31 countries. We’ve uncovered the key factors that drive value in Customer Technology, linking effective tech stacks to company value through metrics like revenue, headcount, industry, and business models. Our benchmark helps compare your stack to industry standards, focusing on revenue-per-employee and capability maturity to guide strategic improvements and boost value. Learn more at www.martechtribe.com

About CMO Council
Marking its 25th Anniversary in 2026, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council is dedicated to high-level knowledge exchange, thought leadership and personal relationship building among senior corporate marketing leaders and brand decision-makers across a wide-range of global industries. The CMO Council’s 16,000+ members control more than $1 trillion in aggregated annual marketing expenditures and run complex, distributed marketing and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest communities include over 65,000 global marketing and sales executives in over 110 countries covering multiple industries, segments and markets. Regional chapters and advisory boards are active in the Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The Council’s strategic interest groups include the Customer Experience Board, Digital Marketing Performance Center, Brand Inspiration Center, Marketing Supply Chain Institute, GeoBranding Center, and the Coalition to Leverage and Optimize Sales Effectiveness (CLOSE). To learn more, visit https://www.cmocouncil.org.