Creative and production skills topped the list for brand owners and chief marketing officers (CMOs) looking to hire agencies in January, a new survey has found.
The first Marketers Most Wanted report, produced by Studiospace and based on the actual briefs posted by CMOs, also found big demand for brand strategy and user experience (UX) specialists.
The report found that 14.6% of CMOs wanted creative and production support, often on video-based projects.
The survey also found that 12% of CMOs were looking for agencies to support UX or user interface (UI) projects and the same percentage needed support with brand strategy.
Studiospace CEO Pete Sayburn believes agencies with good video content and production skills are likely to be in demand for some time.
“A lot of CMOs we speak to are really interested in finding people who can produce high quality videos and typically brands don’t have these specialist skills in-house,” he explained. “As a result, I’d expect creative and production skills to be in high demand for the foreseeable future.
“However, it’s interesting that brand strategy is also high on the list. I think there’s been a period where many industry leaders were focusing on digital and performance but those leaders are now focusing on longer-term brand building projects,” said Sayburn.
Other big in demand categories for CMOs were digital marketing (9.8%) and social media (7.3%).
Sayburn added: “Digital marketing is still a busy area and this shows brands are still interested in driving traffic to their sites and ensuring customers know about them.
“Social media also remains a place where many brands believe the most interesting conversations with customers are taking place. But we can see that the marketing mix for major brands is very broad and agencies clearly play an important role.”
The Marketers Most Wanted survey is published monthly and is based upon briefs posted by CMOs and brand owners on the Studiospace platform.
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