Marketing Morale Down Again, Says CIM

Marketers are 'gloomier than ever' about the UK's economic outlook according to the latest Marketing Trends Survey published today by the Chartered Institute of Marketing.

The Autumn 2008 version of the survey, conducted by Ipsos MORI, reveals that 73% of marketers believe the UK will be in recession in 2009, and 70% believe conditions for the UK economy will worsen in the year ahead, up 30% on this time last year. A stalwart 11% of marketers remain optimistic that the UK economy will improve in the next 12 months.

Marketers in smaller firms - organisations with a turnover of less than £10m - are much more confident about their own organisation's prospects in the next year than those in larger organisations (turnover £10m+). However, the situation is reversed when it comes to worries about job prospects in the next year - one third of marketers are worried about this, rising to 42% in firms with a turnover of under £1m.

The proportion who expect their organisation to expand the size of its marketing department in the next year remains higher than the proportion expecting it to contract, but the gap has dwindled to just 2% from 20% (Spring 2008 30% expand vs 10% expecting cuts; Autumn 2008 17% vs 15% respectively).

Around half of marketers (49%) have significantly altered their marketing plans due to the downturn - this is more prevalent in the retail, distribution and leisure sector (60% of marketers) and in the financial and other services sector (57%).

Commenting on the findings, David Thorp, CIM Director of Research and Information said marketers could demonstrate clearly how indispensable they are to their organisation if they create real value for their organisations and measure the effectiveness of their marketing activities. 'Despite deep concern about the prospects for the UK economy, today's professional marketers recognise that they have a key role to play in helping their organisations identify and exploit the opportunities an economic downturn brings.'

A total of 1,259 marketing professionals from a broad cross-section of organisations completed the online questionnaire between 2 and 27 October 2008.

The CIM, established in 1911, has some 47,000 members worldwide and is online at www.cim.co.uk .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

• Ipsos MORI
• All news
• MrWeb info