Digital looking good. Traditional may take a hit.
More than six out of 10 (63%) of marketing executives surveyed said they had increased their digital marketing spending in 2008. Just slightly less (59%) said they had decreased traditional marketing spending.
These were two of the main findings of a study of 175 CMOs and marketing executives released in September 2008 by Epsilon.
| Change in Marketing Spending According to US Senior Marketing Executives by Segment, 2008 (% of respondents) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Increase | Stay the same | Decrease | |
| Interactive/online marketing | 63% | 23% | 14% |
| Traditional marketing | 13% | 29% | 59% |
| Advertising | 7% | 27% | 65% |
| Note: n=175; numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding Source: Epsilon, "Epsilon CMO Surcey"; eMarketer caluclations, September 8, 2008 |
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There are far more than 175 CMOs in the US (not to mention the world), but the survey does provide directional confirmation of an ongoing trend: Digital ad and marketing spending are increasing even as traditional ad and marketing spending shrink.
Total ad spending seemed poised for a hit, with nearly two-thirds of respondents saying it would fall as a result of the economy.
Business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers surveyed by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business for the American Marketing Association in July 2008 likewise predicted double-digit growth for Internet marketing spending and low growth for traditional ad spending through the following 12 months.
| Areas of Marketing Spending Growth in the Next 12 Months According to B2C Marketers, July 2008 (% change) | ||
|---|---|---|
| B2C product marketers | B2C services marketers | |
| Internet marketing spending | 23.02% | 16.50% |
| Traditional advertising spending | 0.36% | 3.80% |
| Marketing (nonsales) hires | 4.67% | 4.60% |
| Overall marketing spending | 2.91% | 6.40% |
| Source: Duke University's Fuqua School of business, "The CMO Survey" commissioned by the American Marketing Association, September 12, 2008 | ||
Additional Commentary:
The findings reflect marketers’ growing need to better target their campaigns according to Steve Cone, CMO of Epsilon (who conducted the study). “The results show that because of the economy, companies are really trying to identify the consumers that are very active in communicating with each other through social computing, blogging or podcasting”.
The more popular interactive and digital channels that marketers said they are keen to start experimenting with are:
Social Computing: 42% – includes WOM, social networking sites and viral advertising
Blogs: 35%
Podcasting: 31%
Mobile Devices: 20% which include phones and PDA’s
Study Conducted in August 2008
Source: eMarketer & Advertising Age