Gartner CMO spend survey: Budgets are on the up

Latest survey into Northern Hemisphere marketing leaders shows buoyancy in the market and a more equitable channel spending mix

Seven in 10 CMOs are reporting increased budgets compared to last year, according to the latest Gartner 2022 CMO Spend and Strategy Survey.

The analyst firm’s latest report showed marketing budgets to have climbed to 9.5 per cent of total company revenue in 2022, an increase from 6.4 per cent in 2021. Yet despite the majority of respondents also saying their budgets have grown year-on-year, Gartner said there’s still a lag behind pre-pandemic spending levels. The average marketing budget against company revenue between 2018 and 2020 was 10.9 per cent.

Financial services companies recorded the highest budget lifts this year at 10.4 per cent of company revenue, up from 7.4 per cent in 2021. Two sectors were still behind the trend: Consumer goods, which dipped slightly from 8.3 per cent in 2021 to 8 per cent in 2022; and travel and hospitality, marketing, which sat at 8.4 per cent of company budget in 2022.

The annual Gartner 2022 CMO Spend and Strategy Survey was conducted between February through March 2022 among 405 CMOs and other marketing leaders in North America, as well as Northern and Western Europe. The majority of respondents reported annual revenue of more than US$1 billion.

“In the face of telling macroeconomic considerations, CMOs hold on to a belief that their own economic outlook is strong,” said Gartner chief of research and vice-president analyst, Marketing Leaders practice, Ewan McIntyre. “Despite inflation, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, supply chain issues exacerbated by China’s lockdown measures and unprecedented talent competition, CMOs appear sanguine.

“For example, the majority of CMOs surveyed thought inflationary pressures hitting their business and their customers will have a positive impact on their strategy and investment in the year ahead.”

Within these numbers, digital accounted for 56 per cent of marketing spend. However, Gartner noted offline channels are on the rebound, taking 44 per cent of total available budget. For the analyst firm, this showed the channel mix was more equitable than it had been for several years.

Across industries, social advertising topped the list, closely followed by paid search and digital display.

When it comes to capabilities internally, brand was the area of most confidence for marketing chiefs, and brand strategy and activation were found to be near the top of the list of budget activities. However, other strategic capabilities gaps were clear: Marketing data and analytics was identified by 26 per cent of CMOs as a top capability gap, followed by customer understanding and experience management (23 per cent) and marketing technology (22 per cent).

In addition, more than half of CMOs surveyed (58 per cent) reported their teams lack the capabilities required to deliver their strategy.

“Prioritising the proper mix of resources should be a mission critical priority for CMOs in order to attract and retain the capabilities they need to deliver against their CEO’s goals, such as focusing on brand and customers,” McIntyre added.

Want to know more about the State of Australian CMOs, budgets and skills? Join CMO for our first State of the CMO webinar as we reveal the 2022 findings of our survey. Register here.

Don’t miss out on the wealth of insight and content provided by CMO A/NZ and sign up to our weekly CMO Digest newsletters and information services here.  

You can also follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, follow our regular updates via CMO Australia's Linkedin company page 

 

 

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