CMO survey indicates greater spend, room for improvement

Deloitte’s CMO practice leadership has weighed in on a recent CMO Survey report, sponsored by the consultancy, conducted bi-annually for the past eight years by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business marketing professor Christine Moorman. The key findings of the report were a mix of positive and negative — with the upside being increased marketing spend and the downside focusing on the relative lack of results.

"As marketing has shifted from one-way, controlled messaging to unscripted, multi-channel conversations, it has completely transformed the role of the chief marketing officer," said Deloitte CMO Diana O'Brien. "The findings show that while social, mobile and analytics spending is on the rise, they're falling short when it comes to boosting the bottom line. It's clear that more data doesn't always equate to more insight, and new technology has no intrinsic value to marketers unless it helps a company better understand its customers and enhances the customer experience."

The findings indicated that marketing spend is expected to increase 6.9 per cent in the next 12 months, driven by a 13.2 per cent increase in digital spend. Traditional advertising spend is expected to drop 3.2 per cent.

Additionally, less than 4 per cent of respondents believe their companies are very effective in integrating customer information across purchasing, communication and social media — and 63 per cent of companies have yet to prove the short-term quantitative impact of marketing.