Marketing budgets in the U.S. are expected to go up in 2019 despite a concerning growth of poor public opinion. According to CNBC, up to 60% of marketers expect to increase their marketing budget and 43% say they plan a budget increase of over 5%.
The most confident industries include those in financial services, technology, and automotive. Up to 54% of marketing chiefs said they expect to spend more of their marketing budget on digital platforms like Google and Facebook over the next three years.
The decision to boost marketing budgets is due to the growing competition between tech companies and large agency groups.
But there’s been a concerning growth of intolerance toward advertising from the American public. According to research from Dentsu Aegis Network, 46% of marketers said consumers’ distrust of advertising is a key barrier.
“One of the most challenging trends facing marketers within global brands is the creeping realization that consumers don’t really want to see advertising,” said Dentsu in their report.
Marc Pritchard, a marketer with Procter and Gamble, said consumers’ rejection of advertising could mean marketers need to completely reinvent their brands. Yet, the problem may not be advertising, in general, that’s the problem so much as online advertising.
Over one-third (37%) of consumers say they look at an outdoor ad when they pass one and many consumers still read the direct mail campaigns they receive in the mail.
In comparison, up to 75% of American consumers said they felt online advertisements (especially those on social media) were intrusive. Despite this, many Americans refuse to pay additional fees to receive an ad-free version of a given service.
Still, this may be where consumers’ intolerance of online advertising stems from. They’re exposed to intrusive advertising they need to pay to escape from.
Because of this, Dentsu’s report suggests using brand purpose as a potential marketing tactic for companies rather than relying solely on personal data.
“It’s those brands that are best at reorienting their business and operating models around the consumer that will win,” said Nigel Morris, Dentsu’s chief strategy and innovation officer. “That can take time and money, both of which are in short supply — CMOs identify a lack of long-term investment as the key challenge to delivering their strategy.”
