As marketers reflect on the first quarter of 2018 and consider the near future, they are the most confident they have been in two years. That’s according to the Marketers’ Confidence Index, a survey by the American Marketing Association and Kantar Consulting that captures marketers’ optimism on customer spending, marketing budgets and investment climate.
The most recent index, which surveyed marketers from across B-to-B and B-to-C businesses of various sizes, put marketers’ confidence at 130. For context, a neutral score of 100 would indicate that marketers believe that customer spending, marketing budgets and investment opportunities have been and will remain stable.
“The outlook marketers have on the positive end is definitely up,” Joris Zwegers, the survey’s administrator and vice president of global research at Kantar Consulting, says. “The proportion of marketers who are pessimistic about customer spending in the next six months has remained stable, but there are now more marketers who hold a very positive outlook.” The shift in proportions suggests some marketers who previously projected stable spending, budgets and investment climate have changed their view and now anticipate growth in these dimensions.
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Michelle Markelz is managing editor for the AMA's publications.