[Research Round-Up] Thought-Provoking Insights on the State of the CMO

Source:  Lippincott and Bloomberg Media

(This month's Research Round-Up features the CMO Outlook 2026 survey by Lippincott and Bloomberg Media. This research examines several important marketing issues from a unique perspective, and this approach makes the 100-page report well worth reading.)

Lippincott and Bloomberg Media recently published the results of their "CMO Outlook 2026" survey. The objectives of this study were to identify the major challenges today's CMOs are facing, and to "help marketers see their challenges differently."

The researchers contend that, while most CMOs face similar high-level challenges, the shape of the challenges faced by an individual CMO and how he or she responds to those challenges are largely determined by the organizational context in which the CMO is working.

About the Survey

The CMO Outlook 2026 survey produced 541 responses from CMOs or equivalent senior marketing leaders. Seventy-one percent (71%) of the respondents identified themselves as the "primary and senior-most marketing decision-maker" in their organization, while 29% said they were "amongst the senior-most marketing decision-makers" in their organization.

Thirty-three percent (33%) of the survey respondents were from the United States and Canada, and the balance were from Europe (22%), Asia-Pacific (22%), Latin America (20%), and the Middle East (2%).

The survey was conducted by NewtonX, an independent B2B market research firm.

Four Types of CMOs

What separates the Lippincott/Bloomberg study from others on similar topics is its focus on how the organizational context in which a CMO works affects the particular challenges they face and the actions they take to respond to those challenges.

The researchers identified four distinct cohorts of CMOs. Two of those cohorts consist of CMOs who are "organizationally empowered," and the other two cohorts include CMOs who are "organizationally constrained."

Organizationally empowered CMOs are those working in organizations where the value of marketing  is understood and recognized by the CEO and other senior leaders, and where the CMO can influence the strategic direction of the organization.

Organizationally constrained CMOs are those working in organizations where the strategic value of marketing is not widely recognized, and where marketing is generally viewed as a support function.

The researchers identified two types of organizationally empowered CMOs - Transformation Leaders and Revenue Drivers.

• Transformation Leaders - "Transformation Leaders are future-oriented marketers focused on transformation at scale, AI adoption, and long-term capability building . . . these CMOs tend to hold significant strategic authority within their companies and see marketing as a driver of broader business direction."

• Revenue Drivers - "Revenue Drivers are commercially oriented operators focused on measurable growth, demand generation, and business accountability . . . these CMOs have earned organizational trust by speaking the language of performance:  Revenue, pipeline, and attributable impact. They . . . excel at balancing immediate business pressures with longer-term growth mandates."

The researchers also identified two types of organizationally constrained CMOs - Credibility Builders and Institutional Navigators.

• Credibility Builders - "Credibility Builders are marketers fighting to establish credibility and strategic standing within their organizations. More likely to be . . . in organizations where marketing is viewed primarily as sales enablement, these CMOs spend a disproportionate amount of time proving marketing's value internally."

• Institutional Navigators - "These CMOs often hold respected positions within the business, yet operate in environments slowed by fragmented decision-making, excessive approvals, and rigid structures . . . they are not fighting to earn a seat at the table; they are fighting to make the table move."

Unfortunately, the study report does not indicate the percentage of survey respondents who fall into each of these four CMO cohorts or what criteria were used to place each respondent in the appropriate cohort.

Other Findings

The Lippincott/Bloomberg study also addresses a range of other important issues. For example, the study report identifies five primary challenges today's CMOs are facing.

• Driving growth
• Navigating bureaucracy
• Measuring impact
• Technological enablement in the age of AI
• Culture-based marketing

The study report does not discuss how these challenges were identified, nor does it provide any data supporting their selection. It does include a thoughtful discussion of how CMOs are addressing these five challenges.

*****

The Lippincott/Bloomberg survey report provides several important insights about the "state of the CMO." While the report does not include some data points that I think should have been included, the views expressed in the report are well-reasoned and thought-provoking. For that reason, I recommend that you take the time to review the full report.

[Research Round-Up] Notable Insights from the 2026 Edition of "The CMO Survey"

Source:  "The CMO Survey"

(This month's Research Round-Up focuses exclusively on the 2026 edition of "The CMO Survey." This research has been conducted since 2008, and it consistently provides valuable information about marketing spending, practices, and trends.)

The findings of the 35th edition of "The CMO Survey" were published near the end of last month. "The CMO Survey" is directed by Dr. Christine Moorman and is sponsored by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, Deloitte, and the American Marketing Association.

From 2008 through 2024, the survey was conducted semi-annually. In 2025, the research shifted to an annual survey.

The 2026 survey results are based on responses from 308 marketing leaders as U.S. for-profit companies. Nearly two-thirds of the respondents (65.0%) were affiliated with B2B companies, and 97% were VP-level or above. Respondents worked at companies operating in 15 industry sectors. The 2026 survey was conducted January 7 - January 29, 2026.

In addition to overall response data, "The CMO Survey" provides response data by four economic sectors (B2B product companies, B2B services companies, B2C product companies, and B2C services companies), 15 industry sectors, company size, and percentage of online sales.

The data discussed in this post is based on the responses of all survey participants unless otherwise indicated. The percentages and other numerical values in this post are the mean of applicable survey responses, also unless otherwise indicated.

A Tale of Economic Concern

Concerns about the health of the U.S. economy echo throughout the 2026 edition of "The CMO Survey." In every edition of the survey, the researchers have asked participants to rate their optimism about the U.S. economy on a 100-point scale, with 100 being the most optimistic. The 2026 survey respondents put their level of optimism at 56.8.

To place this optimism rating in context, the rating given by respondents in the June 2020 edition of the survey (at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic) was 50.9. The lowest optimism rating ever given in the 18-year history of "The CMO Survey" was 47.7 in both the February 2009 survey (during the "Great Recession") and the February 2013 survey.

There was little difference in the level of optimism expressed by marketers at B2B companies and those at B2C companies.

Economic concerns seem to have had a substantial impact on marketing budgets. The marketing leaders participating in the 2026 survey reported that marketing budgets represented 9.0% of total company revenue. That was down from 9.4% in the 2025 edition of the survey.

The 2026 survey respondents also reported that marketing spending increased by only 1.7% over the 12 months preceding the survey. That was the slowest growth of marketing spending since 2021.

Economic uncertainty also appears to have prompted changes in some marketing priorities. When participants in the 2026 survey were asked how they are changing their customer targeting strategies in response to recent changes in economic conditions, the most frequently selected change - chosen by 43.7% of survey respondents - was "increase our focus on building loyalty / retention of existing customers."

The percentages of B2B marketers who indicated they were making this change were very similar - 43.3% of marketers in B2B product companies and 42.0% of those in B2B services companies.

It's noteworthy, however, that about one-third of B2B survey respondents said they were making no change in their customer targeting strategies, compared to only 26.5% of all survey respondents.

Other Notable Findings

Here are a few other findings from the 2026 survey that I found notable and interesting.

Importance of Marketing Capabilities and Talent - Survey respondents viewed their marketing capabilities as critical to their company's business success (5.9 on a 7-point scale), and 34.5% of the respondents said that "having the right talent" is the most important factor for driving future revenue growth. But . . .

Spending on Training & Development Is at a 9-Year Low - Survey respondents said they currently devote only 3.8% of their marketing budget to training and development. This is the lowest percentage seen in "The CMO Survey" since the February 2017 edition of the research.

Use of Generative AI - Survey respondents said their company is using generative AI technologies in 22.4% of its marketing activities, up from 15.1% in the 2025 edition of the survey.

*****

"The CMO Survey" does not claim that its survey panel is a representative sample of all marketers. So the survey findings cannot be "projected" to all marketers. Nevertheless, "The CMO Survey" provides valuable insights about the current state of marketing, and I recommend that you read the full survey report.

[Research Round-Up] B2B Marketing Benchmarks, a CMO Outlook, and How Humans Decide

(This month's Research Round-Up features three reports that address a wide range of issues relevant to marketing. Two of the reports (by Benchmarkit and NielsenIQ) are based on surveys designed to capture the perspective and practices of marketers. The paper by WPP Media is based on an analysis of the firm's extensive database of purchase journeys.)

"2026 Brand vs Demand Benchmark Report" by Benchmarkit

Source:  Benchmarkit

• Based on a survey of individuals working at 168 B2B technology companies
• The job title or job role of respondents was not provided
• Respondents were affiliated with companies having annual revenue of less than $5 million to more than $500 million
• The survey was conducted throughout September and October, 2025

The primary objective of this research was to benchmark how marketing budgets and other resources are currently allocated and would ideally be allocated between demand generation marketing and brand and awareness marketing. The survey also addressed current measurement practices and respondents' views on several related issues.

Here are some of the major findings from this research.

• Respondents reported that they are currently allocating 70% (median) of their total marketing budget to demand generation and 25% (median) to brand marketing.

• Respondents said their ideal budget allocation would be 50% (median) to demand generation and 40% (median) to brand marketing.

• The two metrics most frequently used to measure demand generation performance are the dollar value of pipeline generated (79% of respondents) and the number of opportunities created (70%).

• 73% of the respondents said that brand building is a long-term investment that makes demand generation marketing more efficient, and 63% said brand investments directly fuel demand generation performance.

• But . . . only 28% of the respondents said their company can link brand investments and activity to pipeline generated.

"CMO Outlook:  Guide to 2026" by NielsenIQ (NIQ)

Source:  NielsenIQ

• Based on a survey of ". . . more than 250 CMOs and senior marketing decision-makers from influential companies across regions, industries, and organizational sizes . . ." 
• Also based on qualitative interviews of ". . . chief marketing officers (CMOs) across industries . . ."
• A detailed description of the research methodology is not provided
• The guide does not indicate when the survey and interviews were conducted

NielsenIQ (NIQ) (formerly known as AC Nielsen) is a market research firm that primarily focuses on consumer research. However, NIQ's "CMO Outlook:  Guide to 2026" describes several research findings that are relevant for B2B marketing leaders.

For example, NIQ's survey and interviews revealed a growing tension between the pursuit of long-term vs. short-term marketing goals.

• 69% of NIQ's survey respondents said their CEO and CFO believe in the value of long-term brand building, but this was down sharply from 80% in last year's NIQ research.

• 55% of the survey respondents said they were allocating 60% or more of their marketing budget to long-term brand building. That was down slightly from 59% in last year's research.

Other interesting findings from NIQ's 2026 guide include:

• When asked where their organization was performing well, 39% of the survey respondents said media planning and optimization, 37% said content/creative generation, 35% said understanding customers, and 35% said measuring ROI.

• 58% of the survey respondents said they are using up to 5 tools to measure media performance, and another 34% said they are using 6 to 15 tools.

• When asked what methods they use to measure marketing ROI, 81% of the survey respondents said marketing attribution, and 77% said marketing mix modeling.

"How Humans Decide:  What Drives Consumer Choice and How Brands Should Respond" by WPP Media (in association with the University of Oxford's Said Business School)

Source:  WPP Media

• Based on an analysis of WPP Media's database of 1.2 million purchase journeys
• The WPP Media database covers purchases in over 200 product categories in 47 countries
• The white paper provides a detailed description of the research and analysis methodology in the Appendix (page 9)
• The white paper was published in October 2025

The central argument of this white paper is that knowing how people make buying decisions is essential to understanding how brands grow. The researchers describe the essence of their study findings early in the white paper.

"When the complexities of human decision-making are understood, the missing pieces of the equation are revealed:  influence and receptivity. Once influence and receptivity are understood, any assumptions that consumers are equally influenceable, or that media channels are interchangeable tools for reaching them, no longer make sense." (Emphasis in original)

Here are a few of the study's major findings.

• 84% of purchases involve people choosing brands they're already biased towards before they begin shopping.

• The proportion of purchases that are governed by this bias varies across product categories, but never falls below 70%

• Receptivity is a measure of how likely a person is to be influenced by marketing messages. On average, unreceptive consumers make up 23% of all category buyers.

• On average, owned, shared, and earned touchpoints (such as word-of-mouth recommendations and customer reviews) are nearly 3 times more powerful than paid media alone at converting a consumer from bias to purchase.

[Research Round-Up] The Latest Edition of "The CMO Survey" and a New Survey by EMARKETER

 (This month's Research Round-Up features the Spring 2025 edition of "The CMO Survey" and a new survey of senior B2B marketers by EMARKETER, in association with StackAdapt.)

Spring 2025 Edition of "The CMO Survey"

Source:  "The CMO Survey"

• A survey of 281 marketing leaders at U.S. for-profit companies
  
• 99% of the respondents were VP-level or above
• 58.4% of the respondents were with B2B companies
• The survey was in the field January 21 - February 12, 2025

"The CMO Survey" has been conducted semi-annually since 2008. It's directed by Dr. Christine Moorman and sponsored by Deloitte, Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, and the American Marketing Association.

For several years, each edition of the survey has asked participants about overall economic conditions, current marketing spending patterns, and future spending expectations. Here are some of the findings on those topics from the Spring 2025 survey.

Economic Outlook

The Spring 2025 survey found that marketing leaders were less optimistic about the economy than a year earlier. The survey asked participants to rate their optimism regarding the overall U.S. economy on a 100-point scale, with "0" being the least optimistic, and "100" being the most optimistic. The mean rating given by respondents was 62.2, down from 67.0 in the Spring 2024 survey.

The survey also asked if participants were more or less optimistic about the U.S. economy compared to the previous quarter, and only 31.2% of the respondents reported being more optimistic. That was down significantly from 43.7% in the Spring 2024 survey.

Meanwhile, 48.2% of the respondents in the Spring 2025 survey said they were less optimistic about the U.S. economy compared to the previous quarter. That was up from only 25.3% in the Spring 2024 survey.

Marketing Spending

In the Spring 2025 survey, respondents reported that marketing spending represented 9.4% of total company revenue, which was up from 7.7% in the Spring 2024 survey. Respondents also said that overall marketing spending increased 3.3% over the 12 months preceding the survey, and they expected spending to increase 8.9% over the 12 months following the survey.

The relative change in spending on digital marketing vs. traditional advertising remains significant. In the Spring 2025 survey, respondents reported that spending on digital marketing grew 7.3% over the prior 12 months. In contrast, respondents said they expect spending on traditional advertising to decrease by 0.3% over the 12 months following the survey.

Marketing's Role in the Organization Has Grown . . .

The Spring 2025 survey asked participants how marketing's role in their organization had changed over the previous five years. The survey asked participants to rate the amount and direction of change using a numerical scale ranging from -7 (significantly narrowed) to +7 (significantly broadened). The mean value given by respondents was 3.2, which indicates that marketing's role has expanded substantially.

But So Has the Pressure to Prove the Value of Marketing

Sixty-one percent (61%) of the respondents in the Spring 2025 survey said they felt pressure from their CEO to prove the value of marketing. That was up from 51% in the Fall 2023 edition of the survey. Sixty-three percent (63%) of the Spring 2025 respondents reported feeling the same kind of pressure from their CFO, and that was up from 52% in the Fall 2023 edition of the survey.

*****

As always, "The CMO Survey" contains a wealth of valuable insights, and I encourage you to review the full report.

"B2B Marketing Makes Room for Brand in Budgets and Strategies" by EMARKETER in
partnership with StackAdapt 

Source:  EMARKETER

• Based on a survey of 110 B2B enterprise executive marketing professionals in North America
• 6.4% of respondents were CEOs, presidents, or founders, 14.5% were C-level executives, and 79.1% were executive vice presidents, senior vice presidents, or vice presidents
• The survey was conducted during March 2025

The primary objective of this research was to better understand how B2B marketers are allocating budgets between performance and brand marketing, where they plan to invest next, and what barriers exist to additional brand investment.

Here are some of the major findings from the survey.

Brand and Performance Marketing

Over half of the survey respondents (58.2%) said they devote at least half of their marketing budget to lead generation, with paid search and paid social being the top two lead generation channels.

However, 40% of the respondents said they expect to increase their brand-building budgets in the 12 months following the survey. In addition, 45.5% said that if budget weren't a constraint, they would allocate more than half their marketing spend to brand initiatives.

The Measurement Challenge

Sixty-three percent (63%) of the respondents agreed that brand is a critical long-term play, but they struggle to quantify its impact. When survey participants were asked what challenges were preventing them from increasing investment in brand marketing, "proving ROI" was the top barrier identified. 

In addition, over a third of the survey respondents (35.5%) said they expect to face greater pressure to demonstrate ROI in real time over the 12 months following the survey.

[Research Round-Up] NetLine's Latest Data On B2B Content Consumption

 (This month's Research Round-Up discusses the 2025 B2B content consumption report from NetLine Corporation. NetLine publishes this report annually, and it consistently provides a wealth of real-world insights about how business professionals actually consume marketing content.)

Source:  NetLine Corporation

Virtually all B2B companies now use content marketing in several forms, so understanding how business professionals consume content has become critical to marketing success. The 2025 State of B2B Content Consumption & Demand Report by NetLine Corporation provides valuable insights on this vital issue.

NetLine operates a content syndication platform, and this report is based on data from 7.9 million content registrations on the platform in 2024. The NetLine research is particularly valuable for two reasons.

First, it captures the real-world consumption behaviors of business professionals. The data used for the report was not derived from surveys or interviews, but from actual engagements with B2B content.

And second, the report is based on first-party data. The business professionals who use the NetLine platform voluntarily share information about themselves and the organizations they work for in exchange for access to the content resources available on the platform.

For these reasons, the report contains a wealth of detailed information about content consumption behaviors, and I encourage you to review the full 36-page report.

Content Consumption Continues Rising

As measured by registrations on the NetLine platform, overall B2B content consumption in 2024 increased 27% compared to 2023 levels. NetLine's data shows that total demand for B2B content has grown 84% since the 2019 edition of the research. 

Content consumption by C-level executives is also still on the rise, growing 27% year-over-year. In 2024, C-level executives accounted for 13% of the total demand on the NetLine platform.

Demand for content about artificial intelligence grew dramatically in 2024. The explosive growth began in 2023 when demand for AI-related content increased 6.6x compared to 2022. In 2024, demand for such content increased 2.9x compared to 2023.

Most Popular Content Formats

The ten most requested content formats in 2024 were:

• eBooks
• Guides
• Cheat Sheets
• White Papers
• Articles
• Research Reports
• Tips and Tricks Guides
• Book Summaries
• Webinars
• Newsletters

In 2024, content registrations for eBooks increased 71% year-over-year, and the report observes that eBooks represented more than half of all content formats requested on the NetLine platform.

The report also notes that eBooks are a very efficient content format. Every eBook asset uploaded to the NetLine platform in 2024 generated 983 registrations. In contrast, white papers generated only 60 registrations per asset.

The Consumption Gap Widens

One of the more useful insights provided by the report relates to the consumption gap, which NetLine defines as the time between the moment a content resource is requested and the moment it's opened for consumption. This data point is important because it provides a guide for timing follow-up contacts with potential buyers. After all, it makes little sense to contact a potential buyer about a content resource before he or she has reviewed the content.

In 2024, the average consumption gap was 39 hours, up from 31 hours in 2023. The consumption gap has varied over the years. Before 2024, the largest gap recorded by NetLine was 33.3 hours in 2021, and the smallest was 27.1 hours in 2018. The lesson here is that you should wait at least two days before you try to follow up with people who have requested your content via NetLine.

Content Consumption and Buyer Purchase Intent

For the past few years, NetLine's research has suggested that the content format a potential buyer chooses to consume is a good indicator of purchase timing. In the latest analysis, NetLine identified five content formats that are more likely to be associated with a buying decision within the next 12 months - playbooks, infographics, case studies, trend reports, and buyer's guides. 

One format that is notably absent from this list is eBooks. Despite being the most frequently requested type of content last year, eBooks were not strongly associated with shorter-term purchase intention. This shouldn't be surprising because most eBooks are designed to appeal primarily to potential buyers who are in the earlier stages of their buying journey.

*****

Again, the NetLine report contains several other valuable findings, and I recommend you take the time to review the full report.

[Research Round-Up] A Detailed Look at Real-World B2B Buying

(This month's Research Round-Up discusses the 2024 B2B Buyer Experience Study by 6sense. The 6sense study provides detailed insights regarding how business buyers make purchase decisions in real-world scenarios. This makes the study report a must-read for anyone involved in B2B revenue generation.)

2024 B2B Buyer Experience Report by 6sense 

Source:  6sense

• Based on a survey of 2,509 B2B buyers located in North America (37.46%). EMEA (29.77%), and APAC (32.76%).
• To qualify for the survey, participants must have bought at least $10,000 USD in annualized value within the 24 months preceding the survey. The average value of actual purchases made by the survey respondents exceeded $200,000 USD.
• More than 95% of the respondents were manager-level or above.
• Survey respondents were drawn from five industry verticals, with the largest cohort working at tech and software companies.
• 6sense released the study report on October 9, 2024; the report doesn't state when the survey was in the field.

The 2024 B2B Buyer Experience Study by 6sense is one of the most detailed examinations of B2B buying behavior that I've seen recently.

The study is based on a survey that produced more than 2,500 qualified respondents, and the researchers used various statistical techniques to analyze the survey data.

The study findings, combined with the insights from the statistical analysis, paint a picture of B2B buying that differs markedly from the conventional view. Therefore, this research should prompt B2B marketing and sales leaders to reexamine their strategies from the ground up.

The Basics

The 6sense researchers asked participants about several issues that earlier studies have also addressed. For example, the study found that for these survey respondents:

• The length of the average buying cycle was 11.5 months.

• The average number of individuals in the buying group was 10.9 people.

• The average number of prospective vendors considered by the buying group was 4.6.

• On average, the survey respondents were about 70% through their buying process before they engaged directly with representatives of prospective vendors.

These findings are similar to the results of numerous earlier research studies.

Extra Insights

What makes the 6sense study particularly valuable is that it also provides insights about issues that haven't been frequently addressed in previous studies. For example:

• 92.6% of the surveyed buyers had prior experience with at least one of the prospective vendors they considered. 84% had experience with the vendor that was ultimately selected, while 8.6% had prior experience with only a "losing" vendor.

• Buyers initiated contact with prospective vendors 81% of the time.

• In 85% of the buying scenarios represented in the survey, the buying group had their purchase requirements nearly or completely set before initiating contact with prospective vendors.

When Buyers Pick a Favorite

One of the most interesting topics discussed in the 6sense study report relates to when B2B buyers identify a preferred vendor.

At several places, the report's authors assert that most B2B buyers have identified a preferred vendor before they contact any prospective vendors. For example, on page 23 of the report, the authors write:

"Buyers devote nearly 70% of their buying journey to identifying a short-list of potential providers. They review content, have internal meetings and consult with outside resources to establish their requirements and agree on a shortlist and a favored vendor. Only then do they reach out to vendors to confirm that choice, starting with the preferred vendor. They end up buying from the initially preferred vendor 81% of the time."

While I suspect this statement is probably accurate, it's not clear from the study report that the survey data directly supports this conclusion.

The 6sense researchers asked survey participants ". . . whether their first interaction with a provider organization was with the ultimate winner or instead with one of the other providers." Eighty-one percent (81%) of the respondents reported that their first vendor contact was with the ultimate winner.

The focus of this question is who buyers contact first. However, it's not clear from the study report that the survey specifically asked participants (a) whether their buying group identified a preferred vendor before initiating content with prospective vendors, or (b) what percentage of the time the preferred vendor turns out to be the winning vendor.

I'm not sure why the researchers didn't ask these questions, and I hope they will be included in future editions of this research.

*****

The 2024 B2B Buyer Experience Report provides great insights into B2B buying behavior. I encourage you to take the time to review the full 65-page report.

[Research Round-Up] Two Surveys Take the Pulse of Senior Marketers

(This month's Research Round-Up features two recent surveys that examine the attitudes and plans of senior marketing leaders. While both surveys included B2B and B2C respondents, they provide several interesting insights particular to B2B marketing leaders.)

"2024 Global CMO Navigator - CX Edition" by Merkle (a dentsu company) 

Source:  Merkle

• A survey of 1,934 chief marketing officers from 13 countries (22% from the United States)
• Respondents represented more than 14 industry verticals
• 65% of the respondents worked at hybrid B2B/B2C companies, 19% were with B2C companies, and 16% were with B2B companies
• More than half of the respondents (54%) were with companies having at least 250 employees
• The survey was conducted in August 2024

The Merkle survey was designed to capture the attitudes and plans of global CMOs regarding several topics. One group of questions addressed economic and business conditions, and the surveyed CMOs were optimistic about both. For example:

• 88% of the respondents said the economy is in good or excellent shape

• 86% expected the economy to get somewhat or significantly better over the 6-12 months following the survey

• 87% said their company's revenue had increased compared to the previous year

• 89% expected their market budget to increase in the year following the survey

When the researchers asked survey participants what business results they are primarily responsible for as marketers, the top two results identified by the respondents were customer satisfaction and advocacy (54% of respondents) and growth of customer base (53%).

CMOs at B2B companies were 17% more likely than the average to say they are accountable for growing the customer base. B2B CMOs were also 6% more likely than the average to say they are accountable for median and long-term brand health.

The survey also asked participants what they expect the primary role(s) of the marketing function to be over the following 12 months. The top two roles identified by the survey respondents were understanding consumer/market trends (38% of respondents) and delivering business growth (36%).

B2B CMOs were 8% more likely than the average to identify delivering business growth as a primary role and 20% more likely than average to identify ensuring effective brand management as a primary role.

These findings are particularly interesting given that B2C marketers are usually seen as more focused on branding than B2B marketers.

Fall 2024 Edition of "The CMO Survey"

Source:  "The CMO Survey"

• A survey of 260 marketing leaders at U.S. for-profit companies
• 97.2% of the respondents were VP-level or above
• 58.3% of the respondents were with B2B companies
• The survey was in the field September 4-25, 2024

"The CMO Survey" has been conducted semi-annually since 2008. It's directed by Dr. Christine Moorman and sponsored by Deloitte LLP, Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, and the American Marketing Association.

For several years, each edition of the survey has asked participants about overall economic conditions, current marketing spending patterns, and future spending expectations. Here are some of the findings on these topics from the Fall 2024 survey.

Economic Outlook

The Fall 2024 survey found that marketing leaders were somewhat less optimistic about the economy than a year earlier. The survey asked participants to rate their optimism regarding the overall U.S. economy on a 100-point scale, with "0" being the least optimistic, and "100" being the most optimistic. The mean rating given by respondents was 63.8, down slightly from 66.7 in the Fall 2023 survey.

The survey also asked if participants were more or less optimistic about the U.S. economy compared to the previous quarter, and 37.0% of the respondents reported being more optimistic. That was down significantly from 49.0% in the Fall 2023 survey.

Marketing Spending

In the Fall 2024 survey, respondents reported that marketing spending represented 7.7% of total company revenue, which was down from 9.2% in the Fall 2023 survey.

Respondents also said that marketing spending increased 5.8% over the 12 months preceding the survey, and they expected spending to increase 8.6% over the 12 months following the survey. In the Fall 2023 survey, respondents expected marketing spending to grow 7.2% over the following 12 months, which shows that forward-looking expectations aren't always accurate.

The relative change in spending on digital marketing vs. traditional advertising remains significant. In the Fall 2024 survey, respondents reported that spending on digital marketing grew 11.1% over the prior 12 months. In contrast, respondents said they expect spending on traditional advertising to increase by only 0.8% over the 12 months following the survey.

An Emphasis on Brand Building

The survey also asked participants how much they expected their marketing spending to change over the following 12 months in five specific areas. The fastest-growing areas identified by respondents were marketing activities relating to new product introductions (8.1% expected growth) followed by brand building (7.0% expected growth).

One notable finding is that B2B marketers expect spending on brand building to grow at a faster rate than B2C marketers. Respondents with B2B product companies expected spending on brand building to grow 9.5%, and respondents with B2B services companies expected 6.2% growth. This compares to expected growth of 5.7% at B2C product companies and 4.8% at B2C services companies.

These findings suggest that B2B marketers are recognizing the importance of building strong brands.

Looking Back, Looking Forward - 2025 Edition

Source:  Shutterstock

The beginning of a new year is what behavioral scientists call a temporal landmark, a date that is more meaningful than others. Temporal landmarks often prompt us to make significant life changes or commit to pursuing new goals. 

If you doubt the power of temporal landmarks, just consider how often we make "New Year's resolutions" to lose weight or begin a regular exercise program.

Like many marketers, I used the final few weeks of 2024 to reflect on what happened during the year and plan for 2025. My objective for this blog has always been to provide information and insights that are timely, thought-provoking, and useful. To achieve this goal, the content of this blog needs to evolve to account for the always-changing landscape of B2B marketing.

Another Year Dominated By AI

Artificial intelligence, specifically generative AI, was the hottest topic in marketing in 2024, as it had been in 2023. OpenAI's release of ChatGPT in November 2022 triggered an arm's race among technology companies to develop generative AI capabilities.

Spending on AI exploded in 2023 and continued at a blistering pace last year. In a November Forbes article, Beth Kindig, the CEO and Lead Tech Analyst of I/O Fund, wrote that AI-driven capital spending by four tech industry behemoths - Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet, and Amazon - will total about $240 billion in 2024, an increase of more than 50% compared to 2023.

Ms. Kindig's article also noted that AI-related capital spending will likely continue at these nosebleed levels into 2025 as the big tech companies build out AI infrastructure to meet demand that currently exceeds supply.

The capabilities of the large language models that power generative AI also improved exponentially in 2024. For a great overview of these technological advances, I recommend you watch this video by Christopher Penn, the Chief Data Scientist of Trust Insights.

Generative AI is already having an impact on many aspects of business including marketing, even though we are still in the fairly early stages of AI adoption. AI will have an even greater impact on marketing this year as more AI-enabled software applications become available, the adoption of AI increases, and marketers become more adept at leveraging AI's capabilities.

How This Blog Will Change in 2025

I plan to make a few changes in my approach to this blog in 2025. Most of these changes are based on my decision to apply greater selectivity to the content I publish here. This means I will probably publish fewer posts in 2025 than in previous years.

Since 2023, I've published three types of posts here - research round-ups, book reviews, and general information/opinion posts. Here's what I'm planning for each of these types of posts in 2025.

Research Round-Ups

These posts typically include brief descriptions of two to four research studies. In 2024, my three most popular posts were research round-ups.

Most of the generally available research about B2B marketing consists of surveys of marketers. While this kind of research can be useful, research that focuses on the thinking and behaviors of business buyers is even more valuable.

This year, I'll be looking for surveys of business buyers, and I'll also be looking for studies based on research methodologies other than surveys, such as the study I discussed in my most popular post of 2024.

Book Reviews

I published eight book reviews in 2024, and while no book reviews made the 2024 "top 10" list, I believe books remain an important knowledge resource for marketers. I'll continue to publish book reviews this year, but I plan to be more selective when choosing books to review. Therefore, I'll probably publish fewer book reviews in 2025 than in 2024.

General Information/Opinion Posts

In January 2023, I published a post that made the following argument:

"Marketing success in 2023 and beyond will depend on marketers' ability to leverage the capabilities of technology and data science and to effectively apply the principles of behavioral science that describe how people make decisions. These two distinct, but complementary, abilities now constitute the yin and yang of high-performance marketing."

This argument is even more true today than it was two years ago. The smart use of artificial intelligence has the potential to drive remarkable gains in marketing productivity, but those gains won't be realized unless marketers also design and implement strategies that reflect how business buyers actually make purchase decisions.

I've published several posts discussing the cognitive aspects of B2B buying over the past few years, and I'll continue to address those topics in 2025.

Leveraging behavioral science principles in marketing is necessary, but some marketers believe more is needed. A relatively small but growing cadre of B2B marketers are arguing that the current paradigm of B2B marketing is out-of-step with how most B2B buying decisions are actually made.

These marketers contend that we need a fundamentally different approach to B2B marketing, one that is grounded in an accurate understanding of real-world market dynamics and buyer decision-making.

I largely agree with this point of view so I'll be discussing this topic in several posts over the next few months.

Here's to a year of successful marketing in 2025!

[Research Round-Up] New Insights on B2B Marketing and the World's Most Valuable Brands

 (This month's Research Round-Up features an overview of the latest "State of B2B Pipeline Growth" survey by Pipeline360 and Demand Metric and a discussion of Interbrand's 2024 ranking of the world's most valuable brands.)

H2 2024 State of B2B Pipeline Growth by Pipeline360 and Demand Metric

Source:  Pipeline360/Demand Metric

• Based on an online survey of 424 marketers with B2B (47%) and B2B/B2C (53%) companies in the United States (56%) and the United Kingdom (44%)
• 73% of the respondents were at the manager or director level, and 21% described their role as "CMO/head of marketing"
• 63% of the U.S. respondents were with companies having annual revenue of less than $250 million; 69% of the UK respondents were with companies having annual revenue of 200 million or less (British Pounds)
• The survey was conducted in July 2024

The objective of this study was to examine "the latest challenges, opportunities, and areas of interest that marketers are facing, including:  channel usage, sales and marketing alignment, generative AI usage, sales cycle length, and data privacy, all from a B2B perspective."

Here are some of the key findings from the survey.

Top challenges - The top three challenges identified by survey respondents were:

• Budget/headcount/resource cuts (48%)
• Economic slowdown (46%)
• Sales and marketing alignment (44%)

Marketing budget - 52% of the respondents said their 2024 marketing budget was slightly or significantly higher compared to 2023.

Marketing success - Over half (53%) of the respondents said they were meeting their goals for this year to a great or very great extent.

Sales/marketing alignment - 75% of the respondents said their sales and marketing teams were mostly or completely aligned, and 62% said the KPIs and/or objectives used by their sales and marketing teams significantly or completely overlap. Almost three-quarters (73%) of the respondents who reported complete sales and marketing alignment also said they were meeting their goals so far this year.

Generative AI - 85% of the survey respondents said they were using generative AI in one or more ways. The four uses most frequently identified by respondents were:

• To develop content (51%)
• To brainstorm new topics (45%)
• To personalize content (41%)
• To summarize meetings (41%)

This survey produced numerous other interesting findings, and I recommend you take a look at the full report.

Best Global Brands by Interbrand

Source:  Interbrand

Earlier this month, Interbrand, the global brand consultancy, published its 2024 ranking of the 100 most valuable global brands. Interbrand has been analyzing the value of large global brands for 25 years.

Interbrand's valuation methodology includes three key components.

• Financial Analysis - This component measures the economic profit of the brand. Economic profit is defined as the after-tax operating profit of the brand less a charge for the capital required to produce the brand's revenue and margin.

• Role of Brand - This component measures the portion of the purchase decision attributable to the brand as opposed to factors such as convenience, price, or product features.

• Brand Strength - This component measures the ability of the brand to earn customer loyalty and, therefore, create sustainable demand and profit in the future.

The five most valuable global brands in the 2024 Interbrand ranking were:

• Apple ($488.9 billion)
• Microsoft ($352.5 billion)
• Amazon ($298.1 billion)
• Google ($291.3 billion)
• Samsung ($100.8 billion)

In addition to the brand rankings, Interbrand's report includes several thought-provoking ideas regarding the role of brand as a driver of business growth. Interbrand noted that its research has shown that excessive reliance on short-term performance marketing tactics is detrimental to business growth. The report states:

"Utilizing our Best Global Brands data, we see that an increased focus on operational efficiency and short-term performance tactics over mid-term and long-term brand potential has cost the world's most valuable brands $3.5 trillion USD in cumulative brand value since we started our study. This equates to approximately $200 billion of lost revenue opportunity over the past 12 months."

Interbrand also argued that today's most successful companies take a fundamentally different approach to driving growth. Rather than finding customers for their products or services, they develop a deep understanding of customer needs and desires, and then build competencies to fulfill those needs and desires. Again, from the report:

"Now and next, the world's most successful companies start not with product, but with brand as their critical growth asset and engine. They use the utility and equity in their brand to drive exponential growth in new spaces, while continuing to capitalize on existing incremental sector gains."

Some of Interbrand's ideas are unconventional, and you may or may not agree with them or see their relevance for your business. Whatever the case, the Interbrand report will be a worthwhile read.

[Research Round-Up] Recent Studies Reveal the State of Revenue Operations

(This month's Research Round-Up discusses the major findings of two recent surveys addressing the current state of revenue operations. Revenue operations, a/k/a "RevOps," is a management system designed to align the activities of a company's customer-facing revenue teams to accelerate growth. The RevOps model has been gaining traction in B2B companies for several years, but it's still a relatively young management approach.)

Source:  Openprise

2024 State of RevOps Survey by Openprise in association with MarketingOps.com and the RevOps Co-op

• The survey produced 152 responses from operations professionals
• 47% of the respondents described their job role as "marketing operations," while 40% said "revenue operations"
• 37% of the respondents were at the "manager/senior professional" level, and 30% were at the "director" level
• Respondents were drawn from over 11 industry verticals; 44% were affiliated with information technology companies
• 47% of the respondents were affiliated with B2B companies, and another 19% worked at hybrid B2B/B2C companies
• 38% of the respondents were with companies having 100-499 employees, and 21% were with companies having 500-999 employees
• The survey report does not indicate when the survey was fielded

This survey explored a wide range of issues relating to revenue operations. Regarding RevOps implementation, 35% of the survey respondents said their company had a formal RevOps department, and 32.5% said their company had a functional RevOps team but not a formal department.

An overwhelming majority (89%) of the revenue operations survey respondents said their RevOps team supported all three of their company's go-to-market teams - marketing, sales, and customer success.

There was less agreement on who the RevOps team reported to. Forty-one percent of the revenue operations survey respondents said they reported to the chief revenue officer, while 21% said the chief financial officer, and 10% said the chief operations officer.

One particularly interesting finding in this survey was that organizations with formal RevOps departments did not experience better alignment among go-to-market teams than the overall average. This finding suggests that having a formal RevOps department won't in itself produce better alignment among revenue teams.

The Openprise survey also produced several interesting findings on other topics related to revenue operations, including how companies are managing data and technology and what skills are in high demand.

Source:  Revenue Operations Alliance

State of Revenue Operations Report 2023 by the Revenue Operations Alliance

• A survey of revenue operations professionals from all seniority and experience levels
• The survey report does not indicate how many responses the survey produced or when the survey was fielded
• Three-fourths (74.3%) of the survey respondents were drawn from two industries - software and technology information (53.6%) and technology and services (20.7%)
• Almost two-thirds (65.9%) of the respondents worked in North America, followed by 28% in the UK and Europe

Like the Openprise research, this survey provides data on a wide range of topics relating to revenue operations.

Six in ten (59.8%) of the organizations represented in the survey have only had a revenue operations function for 1-2 years, and nine in ten (90.3%) have had a revenue operations function for less than five years.

When survey participants were asked to identify the main activities they are responsible for, the top three activities selected were:

• Metrics and KPIs (89%)
• Pipeline strategy (81.7%)
• Tech stack management (79.3%)

Go-to-market strategy was a strong fourth at 78%.

When survey participants were asked which of their activities made the most business impact, the order changed slightly. the top three selections were:

• Metrics and KPIs (65.9%)
• Go-to-market strategy (51.2%)
• Pipeline strategy (43.9%)

Here are some of the other headline findings from the survey.

• Recurring revenue was the metric most frequently used by survey respondents to measure the success of their activities.

• 41.4% of the respondents said their RevOps team consisted of 2-4 individuals, and another 22% said they were the only person working in the revenue operations function.

• Four in ten (40.2%) of the respondents said their RevOps function has no dedicated budget allocation.

• Among the respondents with a dedicated budget, four in five (81.6%) said their budget is mostly spent on software.

• Three in ten (30.4%) of the respondents said they report to their company's chief revenue officer, and 25.6% said they report to their company's CEO.

This survey also produced findings regarding the value and influence of the RevOps function and the skills needed to be successful in revenue operations.

[Research Round-Up] Salesforce Survey Examines the State of Marketing

Source:  Salesforce

(This month's Research Round-Up focuses exclusively on the latest edition of the State of Marketing survey by Salesforce. The new Salesforce survey is a large global survey of B2B and B2C marketers, so it provides a broad perspective on the priorities, challenges, and attitudes of the marketing community.)

Salesforce recently published the findings of its latest State of Marketing survey. The latest survey is the ninth edition of the Salesforce research. It was in the field February 5 - March 12, 2024.

Survey Demographics

• The survey produced 4,850 responses from marketing decision-makers
• Respondents were drawn from 30 countries across North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe
• Respondents worked in 18 industry verticals
• 50% of the respondents worked in B2C companies, and 50% worked in B2B or B2B2C companies
• 39% of the respondents were VP-level or above
• 50% of the respondents were with mid-market companies (101 - 3,500 employees), 30% were with small and medium-sized companies (1 - 100 employees), and 20% were with large enterprises (over 3,500 employees)

Marketing Performance Levels

Salesforce classified survey respondents based on their self-reported level of marketing performance and used these categories to report some survey findings. The three categories used in the survey report are:

• High performers - Respondents who were completely satisfied with the overall outcomes of their marketing investments.

• Moderate performers - Respondents who were highly satisfied with the overall outcomes of their marketing investments.

• Underperformers - Respondents who were moderately or less satisfied with the overall outcomes of their marketing investments.

Marketers' Top Priorities and Challenges

Salesforce asked survey participants to identify their top priorities and biggest challenges, and the following table shows how respondents answered those questions.

It shouldn't be surprising that survey respondents identified "implementing or leveraging AI" as their top priority and their biggest challenge. Artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, has been the hottest topic in marketing since OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022.

It's also notable, but not surprising, that the top priorities and the biggest challenges are nearly identical. These survey respondents clearly believe that for marketing to have the greatest possible impact on the business, they must successfully address their biggest challenges.

The State of AI

The survey revealed that the implementation of AI is still in its early stages. Thirty-two percent of all respondents said they have fully implemented AI in their operations.

Salesforce did find that high performers were 2.5x more likely than underperformers to have fully implemented AI. Forty-two percent of high performers said they have fully implemented AI, compared to only 17% of underperformers.

The survey also asked participants how they were using or planned to use AI, and the top five use cases identified by respondents were:

1. Automating customer interactions
2. Generating content
3. Analyzing performance
4. Automating data integration
5. Driving best offers in real time

While marketers are excited about the potential benefits of AI, they also have concerns about embracing the technology, particularly generative AI. The top five concerns about generative AI identified by survey respondents were:

1. Data exposure or leakage
2. Lack of necessary data
3. Lack of strategy or use cases
4. Inaccurate outputs
5. Copyright or intellectual property concerns

The State of  Marketing survey also provides valuable data on several other topics, including:

• The strategies and sources marketers are using to collect customer data
• Where and how much marketers are using personalization in their marketing programs
• How marketers are measuring marketing performance

The Salesforce State of Marketing survey is one of the research studies I pay attention to every year. I wish Salesforce provided a breakdown of responses between B2B vs. B2C companies and by country (or at least region), but even without this more granular reporting, the survey still provides important insights.

[Research Round-Up] Generative AI Has a Substantial Impact on Creative Jobs

Source:  Shutterstock

(This year, I'm devoting some of my Research Round-Up posts to a discussion of academic research papers relating to the use of artificial intelligence - specifically generative AI applications - in marketing. This post features an unpublished paper that provides an early look at the impact generative AI may have on marketing employment.)

The potential impact of generative artificial intelligence on the number of marketing jobs has been vigorously discussed in marketing circles since the public debut of ChatGPT in November 2022.

Some marketing thought leaders have argued that the capabilities of generative AI applications are advancing so rapidly that it's almost inevitable some marketing jobs will be eliminated.

Other commentators maintain that AI applications cannot possess the emotional intelligence required to create marketing content that will be effective with potential buyers, and therefore human marketers will always be needed.

One of my go-to resources for anything relating to artificial intelligence is Christopher Penn, the co-founder and chief data scientist at Trust Insights. Penn says that some companies will see the improved productivity created by AI as an opportunity to reduce costs, and they will eliminate marketing jobs that become "unnecessary." Other companies will view the increased productivity as an opportunity to expand the capabilities of their marketing function, and they will have their human marketers take on new tasks.

The reality is that it's impossible to know with certainty what impact AI will have on the overall number of marketing jobs. However, a recent paper by three academic researchers provides an early indication of what the impact of AI might look like.

Here are the paper's details:

• Title - "Who Is AI Replacing? The Impact of Generative AI on Online Freelancing Platforms" 

• Authors - Ozge Demirci, Harvard Business School; Jonas Hannane, German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) and Technische Universitat Berlin; and Xinrong Zhu, Imperial College London Business School

• Date Written - October 15, 2023

Study Objectives and Methods

This paper describes the results of an analysis of job posts on a leading global online freelancing platform. The objective of the analysis was to identify the short-term impact of generative AI applications on the demand for freelance jobs in online labor markets.

The analysis included a total of 1,388,711 job posts that appeared on the freelancing platform from July 2021 to July 2023. So, the analysis period included approximately 17 months before, and about eight months after, the public release of ChatGPT.

The authors used a clustering algorithm to identify clusters of skills that frequently appeared together in job posts. Then they mapped each job post to the cluster with the greatest similarity in skills. This enabled the researchers to place the job posts in a manageable number of groups by type of job.

The authors focused their analysis on eight of the most prevalent types of jobs, which they grouped into three broad categories.

• Manual intensive jobs - those that require a large proportion of manual tasks

• Automation prone jobs - those involving tasks that are susceptible to digitalization or automation

• Image generating jobs - those that primarily involve the creation of visual content and 3D models

The final breakdown of jobs included in the analysis was:

• Manual intensive jobs
• Data and office management
• Video Services
• Audio services

• Automation prone jobs
• Writing
• Software, app, and web development
• Engineering

• Image generating jobs
• Graphic design
• 3D modeling

Writing and graphic design jobs are primarily marketing jobs, and the analysis revealed that generative AI applications had a substantial impact on the demand for those jobs.

The researchers found that the demand for writing jobs decreased by 30.37% more than the demand for manual intensive jobs within eight months after the public release of ChatGPT. The analysis also revealed that the release of AI text-to-image generators (such as Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and DALL-E) led to an 18.49% decrease in the number of job posts for graphic design services, relative to manual intensive jobs.

Caveat

This paper provides an interesting perspective regarding the potential impact of generative AI applications on marketing employment, but I would be surprised if the findings described in the paper extend much beyond the freelance market.

I tend to agree with Christopher Penn that some companies will take advantage of generative AI efficiencies to cut costs, while others will use generative AI as a lever of growth.

[Research Round-Up] Insights From "The CMO Survey" and Nielsen's Annual Marketing Report

(This month's Research Round-Up discusses some of the major findings found in the Spring 2024 edition of "The CMO Survey" and a set of interesting perspectives from the "2024 Annual Marketing Report" by Nielsen.)

Source:  Christine Moorman

Spring 2024 edition of "The CMO Survey"

• A survey of 292 marketing leaders at U.S. for-profit companies
• 94% of the respondents were VP-level or above
• 62% of the respondents were with B2B companies
• Survey was in the field February 6 - March 5, 2024

"The CMO Survey" is a semi-annual survey of senior marketing leaders that has been conducted since 2008. The survey is directed by Dr. Christine Moorman and is sponsored by Deloitte LLP, Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, and the American Marketing Association.

For several years, each edition of the survey has asked participants about overall economic conditions, current marketing spending patterns, and future spending expectations. Here are some of the major findings on those topics from the Spring 2024 survey.

Economic Outlook

The survey asked participants to rate their optimism regarding the overall U.S. economy on a 100-point scale, with "0" being the least optimistic and "100" being the most optimistic. The mean rating given by respondents was 67, up from 58.3 in the March 2023 survey edition.

The survey also asked if participants were more or less optimistic about the U.S. economy compared to the previous quarter, and 43.7% of the respondents reported being more optimistic. That was up from 30.1% in the March 2023 edition of the survey.

Marketing Spending

Respondents reported that marketing spending represented 10.1% of total company revenue, which was down slightly from 10.9% in the March 2023 survey.

Respondents also said that marketing spending increased 2.5% during the 12 months preceding the survey, and they expect marketing spending will increase 4.7% during the 12 months following the survey. In the March 2023 survey, respondents expected marketing spending to grow 5.7% during the following 12 months, which shows that forward-looking expectations aren't always accurate.

The relative change in spending on digital marketing vs. traditional advertising remains significant. In the Spring 2024 survey, respondents reported that spending on digital marketing grew 8.9% over the 12 months preceding the survey. In contrast, respondents said they expect spending on traditional advertising to decrease by 2.1% over the 12 months following the survey.

Use of Marketing Technology

The Spring 2024 survey included several questions relating to marketing technology. One of these questions produced a result that is difficult to understand or explain. Nearly a fourth (24.7%) of the respondents said their company is not using marketing technology systems.

Scott Brinker (a/k/a chiefmartec) wrote that when he saw this result, "I fell out of my chair." He went on to write:  "So this is obviously false. If you have a website, you use marketing technology. If you have a database of your customers . . . you use marketing technology. If you create essentially any kind of content on a computer, you use marketing technology."

****

"The CMO Survey" consistently provides a wealth of valuable insights for B2B marketers, and I encourage you to read the full report.

Source:  Nielsen

"2024 Annual Marketing Report" by Nielsen

• Based on a survey of 1,514 global marketing professionals
• Respondents were brand marketers at or above manager level
• Respondents worked with annual marketing budgets of $1 million or more
• Survey was conducted December 5 - 21, 2023

This report takes an interesting approach. It describes the survey results, but the report's authors also point out several issues with the prevailing sentiments expressed by the survey respondents.

The report identifies four major themes based on the survey findings.

Advertising Spending

Seventy-four percent (74%) of the respondents expect their ad budget to increase this year, and on average, they expect to allocate more than 63% of their budget to digital channels. The survey results also show that a majority of the respondents perceive that digital channels are extremely or very effective.

The report's authors note that the effectiveness of any given channel varies significantly across brands. Therefore, what's effective for one brand might not work as well for another.

Marketing Misalignment

Seventy percent (70%) of the respondents said they plan to increase spending on performance marketing and decrease spending on brand building.

The report's authors note that marketers' most important KPIs are long-term ROI and full-funnel ROI and that a shift toward performance marketing (and away from brand building) won't fully support those goals.

Media Balance

The third theme in the report addresses the performance marketing vs. brand building issue from a media selection perspective. The report's authors note that globally, only 36% of marketing channels perform above average for delivering both sales and brand building. They also contend that using multiple, diverse channels improves campaign reach.

Measuring Performance

On average, 84% of the survey respondents said they are either extremely or very confident in their ROI measurement capabilities, but only 38% said they evaluate the ROI of their marketing efforts holistically by measuring traditional and digital media spending together.

The report's authors argue that holistic measures of marketing ROI are necessary to avoid blind spots that can result in an inaccurate picture of the true impact of a brand's total marketing efforts.