Marketing Orgs Still Have Limited or No GenAI
Twenty-seven percent of chief marketing officers report that their marketing organizations have not adopted generative artificial intelligence for their marketing campaigns or have only done so on a limited basis, according to Gartner.
While some organizations have adopted AI at a rapid pace, others have yet to embrace the technology.
“Many believe genAI will transform marketing, but despite the hype, many CMOs feel that their genAI investments have yet to pay off,” says Suzanne Schwartz, a senior director analyst in the Gartner Marketing Practice.
This comes at a time when, despite concerns regarding return on investment, organizations that have deployed the technology are experiencing benefits. In fact, nearly half (47 percent) report a large benefit from adopting genAI for evaluation and reporting in their campaigns.
The research also found that high-performing marketing organizations are integrating genAI at a faster pace than their peers; as a result, they were 1.3 times more successful in overachieving year-on-year profit growth margins and were able to meet or exceed all of their marketing objectives related to customer acquisition, customer retention, and revenue growth from existing customers.
The survey found that among organizations that have adopted genAI, 77 percent did so for creative development. This rises to 84 percent among high performers. Similarly, 48 percent of organizations that have adopted genAI did so for strategy development, rising to 52 percent among high performers.
“The most successful marketing organizations are leading the way when it comes to genAI adoption,” says Greg Carlucci, another senior director analyst in the Gartner Marketing Practice. “They’re leveraging AI for tasks such as content creation, campaign planning, and strategy development to optimize campaigns and drive their organization forward.”
Additionally, while 44.5 percent of total marketing budgets are spent on campaigns and media plans, the majority of CMOs are dissatisfied with campaign performance. On average, 87 percent of them say they’ve experienced campaign performance issues in the past 12 months, with 45 percent reporting that they sometimes, often, or always had occasion to terminate campaigns early in the past year due to poor performance.
While many CMOs are their own harshest critics, they also report that campaign success is hindered by other members of the C-suite: 31 percent say finance impedes successful execution of marketing campaigns, followed by executive leadership (26 percent) and sales (26 percent).
“It’s vital for CMOs to foster connections with their counterparts in finance, sales, and executive leadership to reduce barriers to marketing’s success,” Schwartz states. “By using a data-driven approach to decision making, marketing leaders can better communicate their strategy to the C-suite, reducing friction with leaders from other functions.”
Marketing Creative Idea Evaluation Is Flawed, Research Finds
Most marketers and agencies don’t see their work standing out, BetterBriefs reports
With global advertising spending forecast to reach $1.1 trillion this year, new research suggests that up to a third of that ($350 billion) could be wasted due to misdirected work.
The research, conducted by marketing training and advisory company BetterBriefs and research agency Flood + Partners, in partnership with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), also found that only around one-third (36 percent) of marketers and about a quarter (26 percent) of agencies feel proud of their work. Additionally, 54 percent of marketers and 75 percent of creative agencies believe creative work doesn’t stand out.
And it’s not getting better. In fact, nearly half (47 percent) of marketers and three-quarters (76 percent) of agencies feel the quality of their creative work is not improving despite greater access to industry tools and a greater understanding of creativity.
And then, although 76 percent of marketers and 91 percent of creative agencies find strong creative ideas essential to the overall success of their marketing efforts, most describe the idea approval process as painful, slow, and subjective. Just half (52 percent) of marketers believe their feedback is clear and constructive, and 30 percent of agencies agree. And just 27 percent of marketers and 30 percent of agencies feel well-trained in evaluating ideas.
Experienced marketers with at least 15 years in the industry have found success, according to the research, when they evaluate ideas on four key metrics:
- Is the idea engaging to the audience?
- Does the idea align with the original brief?
- Will the idea earn attention?
- Is the idea well-branded?
The research also found a significant lack of trust between marketers and agencies, which just compounds the problem.
In response, BetterBriefs’ founders, former agency strategists Matt Davies and Pieter-Paul von Weiler, recommend that marketers empower their agency partners. When they feel empowered, agency workers are three times more likely to produce work of which they are proud. But currently only 29 percent feel empowered.