Digiday+ Research: Brands and agencies agree they are confident in Google, but differ on ad spend
It’s hard to argue that Google is a vital piece of the marketing budget equation, but a recent Digiday+ Research survey found that brands and agencies don’t always see eye-to-eye when it comes to how much ad spend to put there.
Digiday surveyed 90 brand and agency professionals in the third quarter to find out how their marketing spend lines up with their confidence that Google drives success as a marketing channel, and found some differences between the two groups.
To start, Digiday’s survey found that brands and agencies agree that Google drives the most marketing success when compared with other marketing channels. In fact, agencies’ confidence in Google is higher than that of brands: 69% of brand respondents said they are confident that Google drives marketing success, compared with 72% of agency respondents who said they are confident the channel drives success for their clients.
But how do these findings measure up when it comes to how brands and agencies are actually allocating marketing budgets?
When it comes to brands, it turns out their confidence in Google as a marketing channel is reflected in how much they actually spend there. Nearly 60% of brand respondents to Digiday’s survey said they spend a large or very large portion of their marketing budgets on Google. Meanwhile, just shy of 70% of brand pros said they are confident or very confident that Google drives marketing success for their businesses, putting the difference between the two at just 10 percentage points.
Digiday’s survey revealed a different story when it comes to agencies. While nearly three-quarters (72%) of agency respondents said they are confident or very confident that Google drives marketing success for their clients, only 44% of agency pros said a large or very large portion of their clients’ marketing budgets goes toward the channel.
This discrepancy of 28 percentage points among agency respondents is a significant one. But why is there such a difference between how brands allocate their marketing budgets and how agencies allocate budgets on their clients’ behalf? It’s possible that part of the agency advantage is that they help brands diversify their marketing spend more effectively than brands are able to do it on their own. But it’s also possible that agencies overestimate the impact other channels like social and TV have on making actual sales.
Either way, Google’s dominance in the marketing big picture holds strong.
-
How the new Web3 loyalty program at Starbucks will be a litmus test for the future of branded NFTs
Starting with a small group of members and employees, Starbucks will invite participants into “journeys” that allow them to collect NFTs and points that unlock new benefits and experiences.
-
As influencer marketing grows up, brands, agencies experiment with new content tools like bots
Influencer marketing is maturing as a business for many media firms, as they find ways to leverage creator content and gain new audiences.
-
No more newspaper ads: Why J.C. Penney is going digital-first this holiday season
As shoppers continue to shift to e-commerce, legacy retailer J.C. Penney is making its strategy digital-first to keep up.
-
SponsoredHow Comscore is simplifying pre- and post-campaign measurement for advertisers
Produced in partnership with Marketecture The following article provides highlights from an interview between Greg Dale, Comscore’s general manager of digital, and Mike Shields, co-founder of Marketecture. Register for free to watch more of the discussion and learn how advanced advertising measurement is providing advertisers access to the deep data they need across all platforms. […]
-
Confessions of a Super Smash Bros. tournament organizer on Nintendo’s lack of support for competitive gaming
Unlike other publishers such as Activision Blizzard and Riot Games, which have pumped millions of dollars into organizing and marketing esports leagues for their titles, Nintendo has never offered serious prize money for competitive Smash events.
-
How Yeti is marketing like a DTC brand on social media and in the outdoors
Known for being a brand of indestructible coolers, cups and increasingly lifestyle apparel, Yeti has been evolving from a wholesale company to one that markets more like a direct-to-consumer company as it experiments on platforms like TikTok, Pinterest and its own media properties.
