On 30 September, WARC published its annual Future of Strategy report, revealing the top challenges and opportunities for marketing strategists worldwide. According to the findings, strategists must ‘demonstrate their value’ as budget cuts and AI developments transform the industry.
‘Our annual Future of Strategy report acts as a temperature check for how strategists are feeling about the state of the discipline. The report looks at how strategy careers are evolving, the biggest forces impacting the function, and the core values strategists can bring to help marketers get a more realistic understanding of people and cultural trends,’ commented Lena Roland, Content Director at WARC Strategy.
Challenges
The research (based on insights from over 1,000 strategists) found a lack of ‘whole’ strategy thinking, which can be problematic if teams and clients are not aligned on broader goals. WARC further uncovered that strategy is undervalued, with 48% of strategists disagreeing that they are paid sufficiently for their work. Another concerning finding is that ‘core skills are under threat’ as companies reduce training budgets. Expanding on this point, only 43% of those surveyed said their company invests in their professional development.
Opportunities
In addition to the above challenges, WARC’s Future of Strategy report identified three opportunities to help bridge the client-strategy divide. To address the first challenge, strategists must adopt ‘whole’ strategy thinking and ensure their work is aligned with broader business goals. Secondly, clients must provide detailed information about their target audience to help strategists better understand their customers. According to the study, only 24% say this information features in client briefs. Lastly, strategists should spend more time conducting in-person research to make sure they are not disconnected from their audience. 48% of those surveyed have admitted to conducting less in-person research this year compared to 2023.
Artificial Intelligence
Not surprisingly, WARC also examined AI’s impact on the industry, discovering that more than half (59%) of survey participants have integrated AI into their processes; while this group has adopted AI in a ‘cautiously progressive way’, 20% have taken an aggressive approach.
According to strategists, AI can help streamline repetitive tasks (74%) and speed up access to research and insight (74%). On the flip side, the downsides of AI are skewed outputs (71%), lack of creativity (63%), and ethical/legal issues (48%). These limitations have not changed since the previous study in 2023. WARC advises strategists to zero in on the skills that AI cannot replace to prove their value.
Featured image: WARC