According to CMOs, COVID-19 has increased the importance of branding

07/03/2020 | Posted by: 183° | In: Insights

New survey of of 432 marketing executives in North America, the U.K.,France and Germany at companies with $500 million to $20 billion or more annual revenue by Gartner. The study outlines the immediate impact on marketing strategies and spending as a result of the COVID-19 crisis and CMOs’ expectations of the future — how budgets, spending and strategic priorities will evolve heading into 2021.

Key highlights:

33% cited brand strategy as their most vital strategic capability (the #1 capability, significantly higher vs. 2019)
Brand health and competitive benchmarking ranked as the top 2 metrics
44% are facing mid-year budget cuts as a direct result of COVID-19, 11% facing major cuts of more than 15% of budget
73% expect COVID-19 near-term negative impact to be short-lived
Top positive reactions to COVID-19:
1. Launched special COVID-19 communications to customers
2. Deployed listening tools to monitor customer COVID-19 sentiment or trends
3. Developed scenarios for planning purposes
Top negative reactions to COVID-19:
1. Canceled or postponed customer-facing marketing events
2. Delayed a campaign launch
3. Reduced permanent, temporary and contractor head count

Download the full report here:
research-gartner-cmo_spend_2020_research_part1