DURHAM – “Marketing leaders were more optimistic about the economy when surveyed in January than they were mid-pandemic, and even before the pandemic began,” says new data from The CMO Survey.

The CMO Survey collects and disseminates the opinions of top marketers in order to predict the future of markets, track marketing excellence, and improve the value of marketing in firms and in society. Founded in 2008, it is the longest running non-commercial survey for and about the field of marketing.  CMO Director Christine Moorman is on the faculty at the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. She is also the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Marketing.

“Roughly 350 marketing leaders at for-profit U.S. companies had an average optimism score of 66.3 out of 100 in the January survey,” writes Moorman. “This is an increase from 50.9 in June 2020 and 62.7 in February 2020, before COVID-19 gained a foothold in the U.S.”

Marketing more important

Moorman also points out that more than 72% of marketing execs “believe the importance of marketing in their companies increased over the past year.”

How has the role of marketing in your company changed during the last year? (CMO graphic)

“A strong customer experience emerged as the most important priority — more important than product quality, a trusting relationship, and superior innovation — with over one-third of marketers rating it their customers’ key priority,” Moorman adds.

“With customer demands for digital experiences growing, marketers have been placed in a stronger position to deliver this value.”

Reflecting increased importance, marketing spend is increasing with digital budgets jumping more than 10%, the survey says.

Other changes

Execs reported that spending on diversity, inclusion and equality increased some 9%.

Also, more than 25% of execs now say it is appropriate for brands til take positions on political history – the highest percentage to date in the survey, which launched in 2008. ”

Considering the types of political activism appropriate for brands, the dominant response was encouraging citizens to vote, which was supported by almost all marketers, followed by supporting legislation (43.5%), and changing products and services in response to political issues (26.5%),” Moorman adds.

A detailed analysis, including trends across industries, is available at cmosurvey.org