Despite economic uncertainties, the majority of advertisers are planning to keep their marketing budgets the same or even increase them in 2025. That’s according to a recent DMEXCO survey of marketing decision-makers, which was presented at DMEXCO’s CMO Summit on September 19, 2024. At the same time, there is a growing appreciation of the importance of branding. Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing creativity and cost efficiency, but a lack of skills in this area is posing a problem.
- Despite recession: 77 percent of marketing decision-makers are planning to keep their marketing spend the same or increase it
- Brand first: 31 percent feel they need to catch up in terms of branding measures
- Purpose no longer a challenge: Sustainability and brand safety are only a major challenge for 8 percent and 10 percent respectively
- Social is dominating: 95 percent of the brands surveyed use social media. 74 percent want to invest even more in this channel
- AI is reducing costs: 60 percent benefit from AI boosting creativity, while 54 percent want to reduce the money spent on agencies and other service providers. However, a lack of AI knowledge is a major challenge
The results of DMEXCO’s recent special survey exploring the agenda of CMOs for 2025 paint a clear picture: even in these turbulent times, marketing departments are still investing in growth and innovation. While the budgets for social media and influencer marketing are continuing to rise, long-term brand building is gaining relevance again.
At the same time, the survey reveals that AI is becoming increasingly important for marketing decision-makers, but many companies still have knowledge gaps to close.
Marketing budgets will increase slightly
The survey shows that marketing budgets are expected to stay the same or increase slightly over the next 12 months. 34 percent of respondents anticipate a slight increase in their spending. 32 percent expect it to remain at the current level. Only a small proportion (3%) anticipate a significant reduction in their marketing budgets (see chart 1). That sends a clear signal: marketing has become much more relevant for companies, making it one of their key tasks – even in such uncertain times.
A return to branding
Branding is becoming more of a priority again. 31 percent of those surveyed said they have invested too much in performance and too little in their brand in recent years. Only 8 percent have invested too much in strengthening their brand (see chart 2). 32 percent said they would be investing more in branding in the future. Only 36 percent said they measure their marketing success over longer periods of time (see chart 6).
“The return to a brand-focused strategy is a strong indication that companies have realized how important it is to instill their brand in the minds of consumers. Performance marketing is vital, but it becomes less effective without a strong brand,” says Verena Gründel, DMEXCO’s Brand and Communications Director. “We’re seeing that companies are wanting to correct their mistakes from the past by investing more in branding. Striking a balance between short-term success and long-term brand building is the key to sustainable success. However, that also needs to be measured over the long term.”
Nevertheless: data quality and ROI are the top issues, while sustainability is still secondary
The biggest challenges that the marketing departments surveyed aim to tackle in the next 12 months are with 51 percent data quality for personalization and targeting and with 47 percent measuring the ROI of marketing activities (see chart 3). That’s no surprise. In an increasingly data-driven world, the quality of data can determine the success or failure of campaigns.
In contrast, attitude-related topics seem to be regarded as less of a challenge: only 8 percent feel that the integration of sustainability into their marketing strategy is one of the biggest challenges – and a mere 10 percent said the same about brand safety and responsible media (see chart 3).
“In recent years, the digital industry has already made a successful start on developing new targeting solutions and methods. We’ve thus turned a challenge into an opportunity. That makes us the best partner for working with advertisers in order to tackle the challenges they face. A similar development is emerging in terms of sustainability and responsible media. It’s clear to us that we can only bring about positive change together with all stakeholders. We invite all CMOs to join us along that journey,” says Dirk Freytag, President of the German Association for the Digital Economy (BVDW), the ideational and professional partner of DMEXCO.
Social media and influencer marketing are growing significantly
Social media is still the powerhouse in marketing and, at 95 percent, is the most-used marketing channel, followed by display ads with 78 percent, DOOH with 45 percent, and influencer marketing with 41 percent (see chart 6).
Also going forward, the majority of respondents plan to invest mainly in social media (74%) and influencer marketing (47%), which highlights the importance of these channels in modern marketing. However, budgets are also expected to increase for retail media (28 percent aim to invest more here), DOOH (26%), digital TV (21%), and digital audio (21%).
AI: a lack of knowledge is the biggest challenge
AI is continuing to influence marketing. 84 percent of the survey participants already use AI for generating texts, 61 percent for translations, and 56 percent for creation and asset generation.
The biggest benefits of using AI are relief for the team (according to 74 percent) and an increase in creativity and innovation (according to 60 percent). 54 percent also want to use the technology in order to spend less on agencies and 47 percent to reduce operational (personnel) costs (see chart 5).
The fact that AI has made its way into marketing departments is a positive development, but the results also show that many companies aren’t yet optimally prepared for this change. For 63 percent, a lack of AI knowledge is the biggest challenge, followed by legal concerns of the company with 61 percent) and a lack of clarity of the AI market with 56 percent (see chart 9).
About the survey
In September 2024, DMEXCO surveyed 64 marketing decision-makers who had registered for DMEXCO 2024.
The charts for this survey are available here.
More image material is available online at https://go.dmexco.com/press-downloads-dmexco.
