Cross-functional collaboration, data breaches, B2B brand promises: 5 interesting stats to start the week

Most marketers struggling with cross-functional collaboration

The majority of marketers are struggling with cross-functional collaboration, with more than four in five (84%) marketing leaders and employees reporting high levels of “collaboration drag” when working with other functions.

Collaboration drag is defined as occurring when marketing teams experience too many meetings, too much feedback from colleagues and unclear decision-making authority when working cross-functionally

Marketers experiencing collaboration drag are also much more likely to be suffering with high stress levels. Marketing employees in this position are around 15 times more likely to feel burned out and nine times more likely to plan to leave the company in the next year, according to the research.

Struggles with collaboration can also hinder commercial goals, with organisations experiencing high levels of collaboration drag 37% less likely to achieve their revenue goals.

Marketing leaders do have the capacity to lessen the struggles with collaboration, the research finds. By investing in and developing marketing talent, CMOs can reduce collaboration drag by 23%.

Source: Gartner

Almost half of data breaches in the marketing sector not reported in 72-hour period

Almost half (47.5%) of all data breaches within the marketing sector in 2023 were not reported within the critical 72-hour window required by GDPR.

This makes marketing the third-worst offending sector by this metric, only exceeded by local government and general business. Part of the GDPR regulations require businesses to report a data breach within 72 hours. Failure to notify a breach within this timeframe can result in a fine of up to £17.5m, or 4% of global turnover; whichever is higher.

Just a fifth (18%) of data breaches in the marketing sector were reported in 24 hours or under. Over two-thirds (70%) of the data breaches in the marketing sector were cyber-related.

Almost nine in 10 (87%) data breaches in the marketing sector involved basic personal identifiers.

Source: Hayes Connor

B2B brands making a promise to customers ‘more likely’ to grow market share

B2B brands that make an explicit promise to the customer are nearly three times as likely to drive a market share increase than those that do not, according to the LinkedIn B2B Institute and Warc.

New research examining 703 award entrants and winning B2B campaigns found 18% of them made an explicit promise to the customer and 82% did not.

The results showed B2B brands which did make a promise to the customer were 2.5x more likely to drive brand health (48% with a promise versus 19% without), 2.9x more likely to drive market share increase (20% versus 7%) and 1.2x more likely to increase market penetration (44% versus 36%).

This work is a continuation of research introduced last year examining the benefits of making a promise to the customer across B2C and B2B campaigns, with an expanded paper scheduled for release in September.

Last year’s research showed B2C brands which made a promise were 1.5x more likely to increase brand health, 1.6x more likely to drive an increase in market share and, similarly, 1.2x more likely to drive market penetration.

Source: LinkedIn B2B Institute and Warc

Women’s sports viewership in the UK continues record-breaking streak

UK TV viewership of women’s sport continues to break records, with 20.9 million people watching three minutes or more of coverage in the first four months of 2024.

This is up on the previous high seen in 2023 of 20.6 million, according to the latest data from Women’s Sport Trust and Futures Sport & Entertainment.

Higher viewing figures were supported by increased coverage across both paid-for broadcasters including Sky Sports and TNT Sports, and free channels like BBC One and ITV.

A third of these viewers (6.8 million) are new to women’s sport, with fresh viewership being driven by free-to-view channels airing more football and rugby.

Football is regarded as the leading force in women’s sport, but growth in rugby is also paying off. Some 1.3 million people tuned in to see the Guinness Women’s Six Nations title decider in April, with a peak audience of 1.9 million on BBC One. The Six Nations hit a new record, with 8.1 million people tuning into coverage for at least three minutes.

Source: Women’s Sport Trust and Futures Sport & Entertainment.

Average marketing budgets have fallen by 15%, data suggests

Marketing budgets have dropped to 7.7% of overall company revenue in 2024, according to research from Gartner’s Annual CMO spend survey.

This figure represents a 15% drop from last year’s figures when spend was 9.1% of total revenue, and a further drop on 2022’s 9.5%.

Spend as a percentage of revenue is still higher than in the immediate period post-Covid, when it was 6.4%. However, it is well below the 11% recorded in 2020 and 10.5% recorded before the pandemic in 2019.

Despite challenges, it seems CMOs are optimistic about AI’s impact on the marketing function in these stretched times. Almost two-thirds (64%) of CMOs say that while they lack the adequate budgets to execute their 2024 strategies, generative AI represents a silver lining.

Elsewhere, investment in paid media has grown to 27.9% of overall budgets in 2024, while investment in marketing tech, labour and agencies declined. Again, this is to be expected as brands shift their investment strategies.

In terms of where paid media is being allocated, more than half (57.1%) is going to digital channels, up from 54.9% in 2023. Other channels include search (13.6%), social media (12.2%) and digital display (10.7%). Event marketing (17.1%) has a higher share of spend in 2024 than sponsorship (16.4%) and TV (16%).

Source: Gartner