The Marketer's Toolkit 2021
Navigate through uncertainty

What's in store for 2021?
This year's Marketer's Toolkit covers six key challenges for the year ahead:
- Responding to recession
- Staying effective in the age of e-commerce
- Engaging at home consumers
- Succeeding in the closed web
- Structuring for volatility
- Finding the white space in wellness
WARC also spoke to 22 marketing leaders to gather their insights on the year ahead – Read the full interviews.
WARC Talks: Toolkit webinars
Brand ready: The future of marketing structures
Tuesday 8th December 12:30pm IST / 3:00pm SGT / 5:00pm AEST
With the Asia Pacific region in varying stages of the recovery and development path, how can brands make the most of each market situation?
Creativity's role in the recession
Tuesday 8th December 8:00am EST / 1:00pm GMT
2021 will be defined by the impact of recession. Brands must find new creative solutions to achieve distinctiveness in the post-pandemic marketplace.
The death of the cookie
Tuesday 8th December 11:00am EST / 4:00pm GMT
As they move to a cookie-less world, brands have the potential to create a marketing ecosystem that's better for themselves, publishers and consumers.
CMO interviews
WARC interviewed 22 marketing leaders to get their views on the challenges and priorities for 2021. Read all the interviews.
WARC subscribers can also access
- Reveals the results of a global survey of more than 1,000 marketers.
- The results are presented using the STEPIC methodology, covering society, technology, economy, policy, industry and creativity.
How marketing leaders are planning for 2021
- Highlights key themes and quotes from 20+ exclusive interviews with marketing leaders from around the world.
- Key themes include long-term planning, brand purpose, e-commerce, navigating volatility and digital content strategies.
Brand strategies for a post-pandemic world
- Brings together case studies and brand examples showing how marketers are responding to the six core challenges in the Marketer's Toolkit 2021.
- The examples illustrate how brands are successfully adapting and responding to an ever-changing, and ever-challenging marketing and consumer landscape.
WARC has been helping marketers plan ahead since 2012 with the Marketer's Toolkit.
Here is a look back at the last 10 years.
WARC's Marketer’s Toolkit 2020 adopts the STEIP methodology to cover five drivers of change that will affect marketers next year, built from an annual survey, 10 CMO interviews and WARC analysis.
Marketer’s Toolkit 2019: Strategy, tech and media for the year ahead
WARC's Marketer’s Toolkit 2019 report outlines the key challenges facing brands in the year ahead, and guidance on how to meet them, as marketers see improved customer experience – both online and offline – as key to kick-starting growth and restoring trust.
Marketer's Toolkit 2018: How brands can respond to the year's biggest challenges
WARC's Toolkit 2018 survey cited customer experience (CX) as a 'digital transformation' priority for 2018, meaning a growing focus on customer journey mapping, and rising investment in experience optimisation technology.
Toolkit 2017: Six major marketing trends for the year ahead
WARC's Toolkit 2017 report brings together the latest ideas, research and case studies from the last year and distils them into a guide to current thinking in six main areas.
Toolkit 2016: Six major marketing trends for the year ahead
WARC's Toolkit 2016 draws on the latest thinking, research, and examples of best practice to show how the world's smartest brands are rising to the challenge.
Toolkit 2015: Six major marketing trends for the year ahead
WARC's Toolkit 2015 highlights six key areas that will affect marketers in 2015 and how they should respond, with chapters including: strategy, consumers, social, shopper, media and research.
Toolkit 2014 - How to keep your brand ahead of the competition
WARC's Toolkit 2014, in association with Deloitte, highlights five challenges for 2014 and looks to the latest thinking, new research and real-life examples for ways to respond.
Toolkit 2013 - How to respond to marketing's biggest challenges
WARC's Toolkit 2013, in association with Deloitte, identifies ten of the biggest challenges facing marketers in 2013 then examines the latest ideas and case studies to suggest ways to meet them.
WARC's 2012 Toolkit is a guide to new ideas and best practice in marketing from around the world and highlights the key challenges that marketers face in 2012 and how major brands are responding.