Marketing Spending Priorities Shift

More than six out of 10 (63%) of marketing executives surveyed said they had increased their digital marketing spending in 2008. Just slightly less (59%) said they had decreased traditional marketing spending.

These were two of the main findings of a study of 175 CMOs and marketing executives released in September 2008 by Epsilon.

There are far more than 175 CMOs in the US (not to mention the world), but the survey does provide directional confirmation of an ongoing trend: Digital ad and marketing spending are increasing even as traditional ad and marketing spending shrink.

Total ad spending seemed poised for a hit, with nearly two-thirds of respondents saying it would fall as a result of the economy.

Business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers surveyed by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business for the American Marketing Association in July 2008 likewise predicted double-digit growth for Internet marketing spending and low growth for traditional ad spending through the following 12 months.