US spending on brand building slows

The rate of spending on brand building by US CMOs is expected to almost halve in the next 12 months, while other areas such as customer experience and customer relationship management will see more modest declines, according to the latest edition of The CMO Survey.

Key stats

• Brand-building spending is projected to drop by 43% compared to this time last year, from 9.6% growth to 5.5% growth.
• Customer experience spending is projected to drop by 19%, from 6.2% growth to 5.0% growth. 
• Customer relationship management spending will show a 9% dip from 6.8% growth to 6.2%.
• The largest decreases in brand-building spend are expected in the pharma/biotech and retail/wholesale sectors, while the largest increase is in energy. 

Why brand-building spend matters

One reason for the “dramatic” shift in brand-spending intent, says Duke University’s Christine Mooorman, founder of The CMO Survey, is that “marketers report a similar level increase in brand-value performance, suggesting that investments may be softened”. 

Context

Marketing spending growth among US companies has been flat over the past year but is predicted to pick up significantly over the next 12 months, from 2.6% to 7.2%. 

* This edition of The CMO Survey is based on responses from 316 marketing leaders at for-profit US companies, 96% of whom are VP level or higher. 

Sourced from The CMO Survey