My Influence Is Growing (Like Pinocchio’s Nose)
2 Sep
The Creative Group released the results of a survey in which they asked advertising and marketing executives: Do you believe the influence a company’s marketing professionals have on business decisions has increased or decreased in the last three years? They found that:
Although the recession has hit many marketing departments hard, there is some good news for those in the creative industry: 61% of marketing and advertising executives interviewed said marketing teams have greater influence on business decisions than they did three years ago. This compares to 23% who believe marketing professionals hold less sway.”
Let me see if I have this right. They asked advertising and marketing execs if they — the advertising and marketing execs — have had more influence on business decisions?
Maybe it’s me, but don’t you think they should have asked….oh, I don’t know….the CEOs and CFOs of firms if marketing has had more influence?
Furthermore, the way the question was worded, they weren’t even asking if they — the advertising and marketing execs — have had more influence on business decisions in their own firms, but about marketing professionals in general.
So what can we make of the results? Were the 23% who said marketing has had less sway admitting that they have had less influence? And are the 61% who said marketing has had more influence reflecting first-hand, intimate knowledge of what goes on in other firms?
I don’t know. What I do know is that I’m quite sure that my own influence grows with every blog post I write. Of that, I’m quite sure.
I love this kind of research Ron. The Creative Group made their assumptions based on 250 telephone interviews — 125 with advertising executives randomly selected from the nation’s 2,000 largest advertising agencies and 125 with senior marketing executives randomly selected from the nation’s 2,000 largest companies.
Ok, if I am in the advertising agency industry, of course I am making an influence and I am going to tell everybody I am. Pick a random ad agency website and they will tell you how great they are. They will tell you about the 200% list in response of their work versus a control. So what. Did it make money? The better agencies are addressing that (fair and balanced).
If I am a CMO, of course I am going to say I have greater influence. I am a superstar. The last statistic I have is CMO’s average life span is less than 2 years. Data from this link (6/21/2006) – http://www.mpdailyfix.com/2006/06/good_readin_article_on_ceo_lif.html
I agree with you. I would have liked to hear from the CEO/CFO/COO of companies that spend money on marketing. For starters I would have liked to see this data stratified by size and industry.
@dmgerbino
@David: What I would have liked to hear is…why did the researcher think this was research-worthy in the first place? Who the hell cares is marketers (in general) are more influential? Is this research actionable? Not from what’s been reported, at least.
First: Good lord. Of course if you ask a group of people – who are also struggling through a rough economy – “are you relevant?!” they’re going to scream “yes! yes we are! feed us!”
Second: Do you think a worse economy can be good for creative shops because they require less commitment than in-house marketing teams?
Third: The conclusion could be actionable if it meant a change in how businesses are operating. If marketing (say!) and operations (do!) were starting to bleed together a little more. There may be lessons to learn.