[Research Round-Up] The Newest Version of “The CMO Survey” and a New Survey by EMARKETER

 (This month’s Analysis Spherical-Up options the Spring 2025 version of “The CMO Survey” and a brand new survey of senior B2B entrepreneurs by EMARKETER, in affiliation with StackAdapt.)

Spring 2025 Version of “The CMO Survey”

Supply:  “The CMO Survey”

• A survey of 281 advertising and marketing leaders at U.S. for-profit corporations
• 99% of the respondents had been VP-level or above
• 58.4% of the respondents had been with B2B corporations
• The survey was within the subject January 21 – February 12, 2025

“The CMO Survey” has been performed semi-annually since 2008. It is directed by Dr. Christine Moorman and sponsored by Deloitte, Duke College’s Fuqua Faculty of Enterprise, and the American Advertising and marketing Affiliation.

For a number of years, every version of the survey has requested individuals about general financial circumstances, present advertising and marketing spending patterns, and future spending expectations. Listed below are a few of the findings on these subjects from the Spring 2025 survey.

Financial Outlook

The Spring 2025 survey discovered that advertising and marketing leaders had been much less optimistic concerning the economic system than a 12 months earlier. The survey requested individuals to charge their optimism concerning the general U.S. economic system on a 100-point scale, with “0” being the least optimistic, and “100” being probably the most optimistic. The imply ranking given by respondents was 62.2, down from 67.0 within the Spring 2024 survey.

The survey additionally requested if individuals had been kind of optimistic concerning the U.S. economic system in comparison with the earlier quarter, and solely 31.2% of the respondents reported being extra optimistic. That was down considerably from 43.7% within the Spring 2024 survey.

In the meantime, 48.2% of the respondents within the Spring 2025 survey mentioned they had been much less optimistic concerning the U.S. economic system in comparison with the earlier quarter. That was up from solely 25.3% within the Spring 2024 survey.

Advertising and marketing Spending

Within the Spring 2025 survey, respondents reported that advertising and marketing spending represented 9.4% of whole firm income, which was up from 7.7% within the Spring 2024 survey. Respondents additionally mentioned that general advertising and marketing spending elevated 3.3% over the 12 months previous the survey, and so they anticipated spending to extend 8.9% over the 12 months following the survey.

The relative change in spending on digital advertising and marketing vs. conventional promoting stays important. Within the Spring 2025 survey, respondents reported that spending on digital advertising and marketing grew 7.3% over the prior 12 months. In distinction, respondents mentioned they count on spending on conventional promoting to lower by 0.3% over the 12 months following the survey.

Advertising and marketing’s Function within the Group Has Grown . . .

The Spring 2025 survey requested individuals how advertising and marketing’s position of their group had modified over the earlier 5 years. The survey requested individuals to charge the quantity and course of change utilizing a numerical scale starting from -7 (considerably narrowed) to +7 (considerably broadened). The imply worth given by respondents was 3.2, which signifies that advertising and marketing’s position has expanded considerably.

However So Has the Stress to Show the Worth of Advertising and marketing

Sixty-one % (61%) of the respondents within the Spring 2025 survey mentioned they felt stress from their CEO to show the worth of selling. That was up from 51% within the Fall 2023 version of the survey. Sixty-three % (63%) of the Spring 2025 respondents reported feeling the identical type of stress from their CFO, and that was up from 52% within the Fall 2023 version of the survey.

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As all the time, “The CMO Survey” incorporates a wealth of useful insights, and I encourage you to assessment the total report.

“B2B Advertising and marketing Makes Room for Model in Budgets and Methods” by EMARKETER in
partnership with StackAdapt 

Supply:  EMARKETER

• Primarily based on a survey of 110 B2B enterprise government advertising and marketing professionals in North America
• 6.4% of respondents had been CEOs, presidents, or founders, 14.5% had been C-level executives, and 79.1% had been government vice presidents, senior vice presidents, or vice presidents
• The survey was performed throughout March 2025

The first goal of this analysis was to higher perceive how B2B entrepreneurs are allocating budgets between efficiency and model advertising and marketing, the place they plan to take a position subsequent, and what obstacles exist to extra model funding.

Listed below are a few of the main findings from the survey.

Model and Efficiency Advertising and marketing

Over half of the survey respondents (58.2%) mentioned they commit at the very least half of their advertising and marketing price range to guide era, with paid search and paid social being the highest two lead era channels.

Nonetheless, 40% of the respondents mentioned they count on to extend their brand-building budgets within the 12 months following the survey. As well as, 45.5% mentioned that if price range weren’t a constraint, they’d allocate greater than half their advertising and marketing spend to model initiatives.

The Measurement Problem

Sixty-three % (63%) of the respondents agreed that model is a essential long-term play, however they wrestle to quantify its influence. When survey individuals had been requested what challenges had been stopping them from growing funding in model advertising and marketing, “proving ROI” was the highest barrier recognized. 

As well as, over a 3rd of the survey respondents (35.5%) mentioned they count on to face higher stress to show ROI in actual time over the 12 months following the survey.