A new survey from Gain Theory reveals that 49% of senior marketers lack the data confidence required to justify creative advertising investments and budgets to their company CFOs.

Key Points

• Gain Theory surveyed 115 brand marketers, finding that 62% spend on media without knowing the true performance value of the associated creative assets.
• While 81% of marketers view media and creative as equally important, 59% apply significantly more scrutiny to media effectiveness than to creative output.
• Lenovo successfully utilized contextual targeting and neuroscientific analysis to drive an 8% increase in brand favorability during a recent B2B campaign.
• Budget cuts are impacting 25% of surveyed marketers who fail to provide sufficient evidence that their spending delivers the desired business results.
• Firms like Hershey’s and BetMGM are increasingly adopting AI-driven measurement frameworks and dedicated analytics teams to optimize marketing spend and effectiveness reporting.

Why it Matters

The persistent inability to quantify creative impact creates a significant confidence gap that threatens marketing budgets as CFOs demand more rigorous financial accountability. Establishing unified measurement frameworks is now essential for CMOs to defend their spending and prove the long-term value of creative initiatives in a data-driven market.