New report: âData matters!â say marketers and advertisers worldwide

The Global Review of Data-Driven Marketing and Advertising published by GlobalDMA in partnership with the Winterberry Group that surveyed a panel of 3,000+ of the world’s advertisers and marketers affirmed the tremendous importance of data to their efforts, kicking off the premier edition of a study that’s the first of its kind—and the largest ever undertaken by a global consortium of marketing associations.

The Global Review’s findings were compiled through an online survey of advertisers, marketers and other industry participants (compiled between July and September 2014 by marketing associations in participating markets). Among other findings, it concluded that:

• It’s a bull market: More than three quarters (77.4 percent) of global panelists said they’re confident in the practice of data-driven marketing and advertising and its prospects for future growth. While that response was fairly consistent around the world, panelists in emerging markets—including India, Brazil and South Africa—indexed their level of optimism at higher levels than their counterparts elsewhere.
• Budgets are on the rise: Globally, 63.2 percent of panelists reported that their spending on data-driven marketing and advertising grew over the last year—with another 10 percent (73.5 percent of the panel) expecting budgets will rise yet again over the next year.
• Data is digital. And digital is data: The five promotional channels that captured the most new or expanded budget over the last year—including website/e-commerce content, social media, mobile, paid search engine marketing and online display advertising—are all native to the digital world.
• It’s all about customers: A majority of global panelists (52.7 percent) said that “a demand to deliver more relevant communications/be more ‘customer-centric’” is among the most important factors driving their data-related investments, outpacing all other relevant factors.

The GDMA’s report, which was published in partnership with the Winterberry Group and supported by sponsor MediaMath, can be downloaded here: http://www.globaldma.com/survey The UK chapter, for which 257 UK senior marketers were surveyed, starts on page 214.

Or for a quick snapshot of the findings here’s the infographic: