If you think Digital Ad Tech and Marketing are peaking, you're wrong

Here's a quick cut of a survey of digital marketing buyers we are analyzing here at TBR for publication in a few weeks.

We surveyed 250 people at large enterprises (>1,000 employees in the U.S. and >500 in W. Europe) who make purchasing decisions for advertising, marketing, PR and other customer experience functions. We asked them how they got key advertising and marketing functions accomplished: in-house, via a service partner, with commercial tools or not at all.

Guess what? Aside from advertising functions well-known to be done out of house, most marketing functions from engagement to operations to data management are reported to be managed via in-house self-built tools or spreadsheets. Now we know that a LOT of packaged software has been purchased across these functions; however the perception is clear that most marketing functions are performed internally using home-grown tools or spreadsheets.

What does this mean? Packaged software and services vendors are only just beginning to capture the potential of the market. The really interesting finding here is that the response didn't shift that much across across all segments, job functions and levels of management. This picture is a persistent perception and a challenge for all vendors. 

Don't blame the buyers. These results say we are in early days of a much bigger wave of change and investment. They speak to a high degree of confusion and lack of overall adoption maturity among buyers about how their digital transformations are powered. They also speak to the need for vendors of all stripes to do a better job of helping buyers to identify functions that can be better addressed and integrated via a service or software platform. 

Next week, I'll post more analysis of our research. I welcome your thoughts and comments.