‘Senior marketers expecting digital to make up 75% of budgets in next five years’
Marketing is changing at an ‘unprecedented rate’, with more than a third of senior marketing executives expecting digital to account for 75 per cent of their budgets within the next five years, according to a study.
The Accenture report, based on a survey of more than 580 senior marketers globally, found that 78 per cent believe marketing will “undergo fundamental changes” over the next five years, with analytics, digital and mobile highlighted as the key drivers of this change.
More than a -third (37 per cent) of marketers believe digital will account for 75 per cent of their marketing budgets by 2019, while 35 per cent of those questioned think mobile will account for more than 50 per cent.
The figures suggest a huge growth in digital investment over the next five years, with brands’ digital spend way behind this level at the moment. Even the biggest fans of digital, such as Procter & Gamble, put just a third of their media spend into digital, although it has vowed to up this proportion as it looks for ways to improve marketing efficiency. It is a thought shared by Mondelez, SABMiller and Pernod Ricard, which have all revealed plans to restructure around digital capabilities to deliver more cost-effective marketing.
Rival Unilever, which owns brands such as Dove, Vaseline and Marmite, invested 17 per cent of their media spend in digital last year.
Currently, 39 per cent of the businesses surveyed spend more than £100m a year on digital marketing, with 41 per cent expecting that figure to rise by more than 5 per cent over the next year. Just 8 per cent are expecting any kind of cutback.
The expected digital growth comes as marketers’ confidence in digital channels increases, up 10 per cent over the past year. That comes as CMOs see an increase in the effectiveness of digital formats, including email, online display and search compared to two years ago.
Analytics was also seen as a key area for change, with 42 per cent of marketers believing this will become a “core competence” of marketing in the next five years.
“Digital is changing the world and CMOs know it. They are embracing digital channels with fervor, but it’s time to do more. The prize is not mastery of the channels but command of the opportunities to delight customers and drive superior business outcomes. Then the reward for customers and marketers alike becomes relevant and seamless experiences from brand promise through brand delivery,” says the report.