Effectiveness culture, upskilling, misinformation: 5 interesting stats to start your week

Just a third of senior marketers feel they have a mature effectiveness culture

Only one in three leaders and senior marketers feel they have a mature, embedded effectiveness culture, surveyed by Effie Worldwide.

That’s despite survey respondents coming from companies deemed to be world leaders in effectiveness by Effie, including ranked top performers in the Global Effie Index and Global Best of the Best Winners.

The survey was carried out with the aim of finding best practices in putting effectiveness into action. Humanity rather than AI was a theme that emerged from the research, with more than 60% of the effectiveness drivers identified classed as “human-centred”.

These key effectiveness drivers in organisations include values and behaviours, relationships and collaboration.

Over two-thirds (70%) of the survey respondents say their effectiveness culture starts with leadership.

The vast majority of respondents (87%) report investing in training to develop marketing effectiveness capabilities.

Source: Effie Worldwide

Marketers aim to upskill in AI

AI is the number one area marketers want to develop over the next 12 months, with almost half (49%) of companies saying AI strategy development is their biggest skills gap, according to research from the Digital Marketing Institute (DMI).

Digital and social skills, and data analytics at 45% are identified as the next biggest skills gaps. Almost three-quarters (74%) of organisations say they have plans to address these skills gaps; however, over a quarter (26%) of leaders say they struggle to provide training due to budgets, time and workload constraints.

Upskilling is considered an effective investment, with more than half (55%) of decision-makers believing upskilling or re-skilling employees is the best way to address skills gaps, versus hiring new staff (24%) or outsourcing (15%).

Formal training is highly valued, the research finds, with over nine in 10 (91%) organisations now looking for professional or industry certifications when hiring or promoting.

Source: Digital Marketing Institute

Over half of businesses have seen adverse effects from mis- or disinformation

Three in five (60%) firms say they have previously suffered a negative impact from mis- or disinformation, with over one in 10 (11%) saying they have seen “substantial” adverse impact.

Companies see brand reputation as the biggest area that mis- or disinformation could negatively impact, with 66% citing this as a potential risk. Customer expectations (56%), employee retention (41%), and company revenue (41%) are other areas of concern for companies around mis- or disinformation.

There’s more awareness among senior staff about proactively taking action around mis- or disinformation. Almost seven in 10 (69%) of respondents in upper management say they actively seek out methods of prevention, versus 55% of lower management.

The role of AI around mis- and disinformation is seen as something of a double-sided coin. Two-thirds of respondents overall indicate some concern that AI will increase the speed and ease for mis- and disinformation to spread; however, a similar proportion say they would be “very” or “somewhat” comfortable using AI technology to help tackle any problems relating to mis- and disinformation on company reputation.

Source: Fire on the Hill and Mercury Analytics

Annoying ads biggest reason for using ad blockers

Over one-third (35%) of British people admit they use ad blockers, with annoying (21%) and intrusive (19%) ads being cited as the most common reason for their use.

Concerns over security and viruses are also common reasons for using ad blockers, 17% use the tools to protect themselves from malware, 15% for online security, and 14% to avoid being tracked across websites.

Almost three-fifths (58%) of adults worry about the amount of data held about them on the internet. Around two-fifths (41%) believe the easiest solution to concerns about internet security is to clear cookies from browsers.

Despite some concerns, over half (52%) of users accept watching ads as a fair trade-off for free content. Similarly, almost two in five (39%) accept having less privacy as a trade-off for more security.

Around half of British adults say they regularly notice ads online, suggesting that ads that are not filtered out by blockers can be impactful.

Source: YouGov Profiles

Nearly half of UK consumers believe AI directly influences purchasing decisions

Almost three-quarters (70%) of UK consumers are now aware generative AI promotes goods and services online and 45% believe it directly influences purchasing decisions, according to a new consumer study.

Overall, consumers are most worried by fake reviews, when it comes to trusting the validity of online content. But more than a third (38%) hold AI-generated reviews and celebrity “deep fakes” as their biggest worry, with 37% feeling their trust is most put into question around AI providing misinformation.

Concern around AI is greatest among older consumers, the research finds, with half (50%) of over-55s in the UK worried about being able to trust online sources due to potential AI-generated fake reviews, compared to only 28% of 18– to 34-year-olds.

Source: MSi ACI