The impact of the 'credit crunch' and the threat of recession is keeping 85% of US marketing leaders awake at night. But just 40% of those in Europe said they are worried, suggesting that Europe is the most stable consumer market.
The report revealed that globally, just under a third of marketers are struggling to keep up with changes in customer behaviour and market trends, in particular the shift from traditional media to the internet, and from high-street to online shopping. In Europe, this figure falls to 26%.
In both Europe and the US, the most advanced online markets, 17% of marketing leaders are finding it hard to get to grips with multichannel communication.
With the rapid rise of social media, Forrester said that future challenges lie in accessing consumers who are organised in closed, online social networks.
The report also said that 'connected' agencies, which integrate new and old media, creative and analytics, will be the big winners, predicting that they will be the ones that begin developing open channels between brand managers and communities.
The success of such agencies, stated Forrester, will depend on keeping pace with changing markets and consumers, removing this burden from their clients' in-house marketers.
Other big challenges cited by marketing leaders include brand differentiation, and extending business into new geographic areas.
The survey also found that 20% of top marketers found it difficult to raise the profile of marketing within their companies.
More than 300 marketing leaders from the world's biggest advertisers took part in the survey, entitled 'The Challenges of CMOs in 2008'. Of those, 97% were either the first- or second-most senior marketing decision-maker with in their company. European marketers accounted for 44% of the respondents.
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