The WFA research was conducted alongside marketing training specialists, Circus Street, and found that 73% of respondents cited AI as the main area of concern, followed by their ability to develop in-house programmatic media ( 62%) and 52% for IoT.

The study was based on responses from WFA’s 600 members of its IMC Forum of client-side marketers from 22 multinationals.

It also highlights areas where marketers recognise that their current performance is not as good as it should be – the biggest gaps between priority and performance is in digital integration and e-commerce.

Eighty-two per cent said digital integration was one of the highest areas of priority – ranking 4.4 out of 5 overall – where 5 is a top priority – but 41% said performance ranked in the lowest category ( 1 or 2 ). 

For e-commerce, there was a gap of one point, while participants also mentioned relevant gaps in marketing innovation and turning data into strategic insights.

By contrast, 91% of respondents ranked brand position as a high priority but no one listed it as an area of low performance.

Rob Dreblow, head of marketing services at the WFA, said: “A changing marketing landscape is creating new challenges for the large multinationals and they need additional skills relating to newer disciplines such as data analytics. Whether that talent is sourced internally or externally, clear marketing capabilities programmes are a vital part of managing resource.”