Insights into priorities, concerns, metrics and budget outlooks for 2024

Approximately 70% of marketing and communications leaders say their role is a mix of both functions, according to new survey results from Muck Rack, the Public Relations Management (PRM) platform that enables organizations to build relationships with the media, manage crisis risk and demonstrate PR’s impact on business outcomes.

Muck Rack’s first ever State of Marketing and PR Leadership report, which surveyed 193 marketing and communications professionals with the title of director or above to examine the evolving landscape of marketing and communications leadership, also found that 44% of marketing and communications leaders report to the CEO.

Regardless of specific roles, leaders across marketing and communications share almost identical priorities: they aim to broaden their reach and enhance their share of voice in the market. However, there are differences in top concerns. Communications and marketing communications (marcom) leaders prioritize building and maintaining media relationships while marketing leaders highlight reporting and analyzing impact as a top concern.

Internal communications has become increasingly crucial at organizations, particularly over the past few years. Muck Rack’s survey found that human resources or another non-marketing function (38%) and communications (37%) leaders are most likely to oversee the function.

“This data shows that communications and marketing leaders don’t have clearly defined roles in many organizations,” said Gregory Galant, cofounder and CEO of Muck Rack. “While there will always be overlap, especially when it comes to brand management, fostering media relationships, storytelling and spotting risks are skills that require the expertise of a seasoned communications professional. Businesses looking to grow market share should consider investing in building successful communications and marketing teams that partner closely on brand initiatives, but operate separately under two distinct leaders.”

Marketing (42%) and marcom (49%) leaders are more optimistic about the potential increase in their 2024 budgets. However, most communications leaders expect their budgets to stay the same.

Collaboration remains a cornerstone of success when marketing and communications teams operate independently. Teams frequently engage in cross-functional collaboration, with regular meetings occurring at least once a week. This reflects the need for close partnership between marketing and communications teams.

Marketing leaders value lead generation as the top success metric, followed by sales, web traffic and conversion rate. Communications leaders focus on the number of stories placed, key message pull-through and reach/impressions. Marcom leaders value lead generation, web traffic and social media engagement metrics, as well as number of stories placed, reach and website impact.

mParticle, an AI-powered, real-time Customer Data Platform, announced today that it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency in the category of Audience and Data Management. Achieving the AWS Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency recognizes mParticle for its expertise in providing customers with software solutions that empower advertisers and marketers to reinvent workloads with solutions that offer the ability to simplify their customer data infrastructure, maximize the value of their data, and accelerate growth at scale.

As advertisers and marketers look to leverage the cloud to innovate and achieve digital transformation, they are increasingly in need of partners with services and solutions that are purpose-built to meet their needs. AWS Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency Partners provide these customers – including advertising agencies, marketers, publishers, advertising and marketing technology providers, and analytics service providers – with AWS-validated solutions and services, helping to accelerate their transformation.

Leading enterprise brands, such as NBCUniversal, Jetblue, and Venmo, partner with mParticle to simplify their customer data infrastructure, maximize the value of their data, and accelerate growth at scale.

Achieving the AWS Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency differentiates mParticle in the AWS Partner Network (APN) with demonstrated technical proficiency and proven customer success in running cloud solutions on AWS for the advertising and marketing industry.

To achieve the AWS Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency, AWS Partners must undergo rigorous technical validation by AWS solution architects and provide numerous verified customer references.

"mParticle is proud to achieve the AWS Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency," said Jake Dell'Aquila, VP of Partnerships at mParticle. "Our team is dedicated to helping customers orchestrate data flows and target rules in real-time across channels and partners by leveraging the agility, breadth of services, and pace of innovation that AWS provides."

AWS is enabling scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solutions from startups to global enterprises. To support the seamless integration and deployment of these solutions, the AWS Competency Program helps customers identify validated AWS Partner solutions and services for specific industry use cases.

New innovations address security threats and deliver reliable AI-led business insights on BMC Helix 

BMC, a global leader in software solutions for the Autonomous Digital Enterprise, and the first vendor to embed GPT across its AI-driven service and operations management portfolio, today announced the BMC Helix Service Management solution now includes generative AI, low code/no code development, and contextual tooling to help enterprise customers strengthen their security posture and elevate ways of working.

"We have been able to push boundaries and create a whole new way of thinking and working throughout our Trust," said Glen Foster, Head of Service Delivery, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. "The BMC Helix solutions have provided us with innovative and automated processes, which enable us to support our health care customers and protect valuable data as they deliver excellent care to our patients."

The BMC Helix platform was recently designated as a leader in both The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Service Management, Q4 2023 report and The Forrester Wave^™: Process-Centric AI For IT Operations (AIOps), Q2 2023 report. Building on the recognition, the expanded capabilities of the BMC Helix Service Management solution now include:

• Resolution insights, conversational search, and engagement capabilities with generative AI – BMC HelixGPT can isolate incidents and determine the steps needed to reduce the risk of business disruptions. This improves the quality and accuracy of chatbot experiences while minimizing administrative overhead.
• Unified workflows between security and operations teams –The BMC Helix Security Incident Handling solution strengthens the ability to prevent or respond against threats. The solution integrates bi-directionally with leading third-party SIEM security incident solutions for accelerated post-threat detection response.
• Industry Vertical sector templates – The BMC Helix Digital Workplace Studio provides complimentary out-of-the-box templates that offer modern user interfaces uniquely tailored for the employee experience across automotive, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, retail, and telecom industries.
• Broader low code/no code platform capabilities – Available across BMC Helix Enterprise Service Management platform, these give service teams the power to develop new applications quickly in response to user demand or the current customer environment.
• Employee offboarding and alumni services – New capabilities in the BMC Helix for HR Service Management solution offer cross-departmental, out-of-the-box HR workflows for a more seamless employee transition experience. This improves efficiency, ensures compliance, and preserves the security of assets, data, and intellectual property while promoting a more positive employee experience.
• Asset and ticket management consoles – More contextual, user-configurable experiences with single-screen visibility and simplified communication.

"BMC Helix deeply embeds AI into IT and enterprise workflows to improve the experience and efficiency for end users," said Margaret Lee, senior vice president and general manager of Digital Service and Operations Management at BMC. "With these innovations across the BMC Helix Service Management solution, we continue to build upon our position as a leader in enterprise service management and AIOps all aimed at helping our customer and partners improve their business outcomes."

BMC innovations across enterprise service management highlight the continued focus on driving meaningful innovation across the entire BMC Helix portfolio. As the first vendor to embed GPT across an entire service and operations management portfolio, BMC also recently introduced observability and AIOps capabilities for the BMC Helix Operations Management solution with its BMC HelixGPT capability.

Digital analytics leader, exclusively hosted on AWS, is named as a new competency partner

Amplitude, Inc., a leading digital analytics platform, today announced it has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency in the Audience and Customer Data Management category. AWS recognizes Amplitude for its expertise in providing marketers with self-serve visibility into the end-to-end customer journey. This helps companies gain insight into what their customers love, where they’re getting stuck, and what keeps them coming back.

As advertisers and marketers look to leverage the cloud to innovate and achieve digital transformation, they are increasingly in need of partners with services and solutions that are purpose-built to meet their needs. AWS Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency Partners provide these customers – including advertising agencies, marketers, publishers, advertising and marketing technology providers, and analytics service providers – with AWS-validated solutions and services, helping to accelerate their transformation.

As the product, marketing, and digital experience analytics categories converge, marketers can no longer rely on separate tools to understand users’ behavior. Today’s companies want a single platform that provides deep visibility into customer insights and allows teams to easily translate these insights into digital experiences that drive engagement and retention. Amplitude’s Digital Analytics Platform satisfies these demands and provides teams with one solution for trusted data, clearer insights, and faster action.

Achieving the AWS Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency differentiates Amplitude in the AWS Partner Network (APN) with demonstrated technical proficiency and proven customer success in running cloud solutions on AWS for the advertising and marketing industry.

To achieve the AWS Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency designation, AWS Partners must undergo rigorous technical validation by AWS solution architects and have verified customer references.

“Today, every team should be able to easily answer questions about conversion, engagement, and retention. When companies have a clear view of the complete customer experience, they are able to make smarter decisions that drive customer loyalty,” said Peter Kuo, vice president of partnerships at Amplitude. “Amplitude is a proud AWS Partner Network member, and this latest competency validates our commitment to delivering accessible, self-serve insights into the hands of every marketer.”

“Before implementing Amplitude, our marketing team knew we could do a better job engaging with customers, but we didn’t have the baseline data to understand how,” said Patrick Gordon, principal product manager at Jumbo Interactive. “With Amplitude’s platform built on AWS, our team can aggregate, analyze, and activate user data at scale. Working together, our marketing and product teams can now continually deliver enhanced, personalized experiences for our different customers.”

AWS enables scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solutions from startups to global enterprises. To support the seamless integration and deployment of these solutions, the AWS Competency Program helps customers identify which AWS Partner solutions and services are powered by AWS for specific industry use cases. For a specific industry solution to meet a need, explore the AWS Partner solutions and/or services offered in AWS Data Exchange, AWS Marketplace, or APN Partners, including Amplitude.

Company Recognized for Excellence in the Audience & Data Management Category

ZoomInfo, the go-to-market platform to find, acquire, and grow customers, has achieved the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency in the Audience & Data Management category. Achieving the AWS Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency recognizes ZoomInfo for its expertise in providing customers with software solutions that empower advertisers and marketers to reinvent workloads with solutions that deliver enhanced company and business contact data to identify and engage target audiences.

As advertisers and marketers look to leverage the cloud for innovation and digital transformation, they are increasingly looking for partners with services and solutions purpose-built to meet their needs. AWS Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency Partners provide customers such as advertising agencies, marketers, publishers, advertising or marketing technology providers, and analytics service providers with AWS-validated solutions and services that help accelerate their advertising and marketing transformation. An added benefit for customers migrating or building advertising and marketing workloads on AWS is the number of integrations and distribution channels connecting shared data with flexibility and interoperability. ZoomInfo is powered by AWS to support use cases in this industry.

Achieving the AWS Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency differentiates ZoomInfo as an AWS Partner Network (APN) member with demonstrated technical proficiency and proven customer success in running cloud solutions on AWS for the advertising and marketing industry. This program showcases advertising and marketing technology consulting and software AWS Partners who have domain knowledge and are providing cloud services powered by AWS. To receive the AWS Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency designation, AWS Partners must undergo a rigorous technical validation by AWS solution architects and have verified customer references.

“ZoomInfo is proud to achieve the AWS Advertising and Marketing Technology Competency in the Data & Audience Management category,” ZoomInfo Chief Revenue Officer James Roth said. “Our team is dedicated to helping go-to-market teams unify their customer profiles into a single customer view and enrich their customer profiles using intent data by leveraging the agility, breadth of services, and pace of innovation that AWS provides.”

“ZoomInfo’s integration with Amazon S3 makes it substantially easier to utilize large amounts of data effectively,” said Robert Kulewicz, Chief Growth Officer at MarketSpark, a ZoomInfo customer and the largest nationwide provider of POTS (landline) replacement solutions for multi-site enterprises in North America. “Our systems run on AWS, as do many of our customers’ systems. There’s no question ZoomInfo has significantly impacted our revenue. We’ve been able to 5x our growth in terms of both MQLs and SQLs, and with 5x the deals in the pipeline, we’ve seen at least 5x the revenue opportunities.”

AWS is enabling scalable, flexible, and cost-effective solutions from startups to global enterprises. To support the seamless integration and deployment of these solutions, the AWS Competency Program helps customers identify which AWS Partner solutions and services are powered by AWS for specific industry use cases. For a specific industry solution to meet a need, explore the AWS Partner solutions and/or services offered in AWS Data Exchange, AWS Marketplace, or APN Partners, including ZoomInfo.

Former Leader at Dentsu, Omnicom, Meredith and WPP Brings Decades of Marketing Expertise to Ecommerce Platform and Network

Rokt, the leading ecommerce technology company using AI to make transactions more relevant to each shopper, today announced it has appointed Doug Rozen as Chief Marketing Officer. Rozen is a seasoned executive with nearly three decades of senior leadership experience at top global marketing companies, including Dentsu, Omnicom, Meredith and WPP. As CMO of Rokt, he will oversee all global marketing efforts, including brand, performance, employee, product and sales marketing functions, and serve on Rokt's executive committee, reporting to Chief Commercial Officer Elizabeth Buchanan.

"Having had the pleasure of working with Doug previously, I know what a powerhouse leader and marketer he is, while also being a great human, and I'm thrilled to partner with him again," said Buchanan. "Doug's passion for innovation, his dedication to building great culture and his bias toward action will no doubt further accelerate Rokt's growth."

Working at the intersection of creativity, technology and data, Rozen has been recognized globally for transforming companies through change and removing barriers in the business world. He most recently served as CEO of Dentsu Media in the Americas, where he oversaw more than 4,350 experts across the company's agencies and managed $23 billion in media billings. Throughout his career, Rozen has been a trusted, go-to adviser in driving marketing transformation for some of the world's greatest brands, like Apple, Disney, Eli Lilly, Hasbro, Heineken and more. As an award-winning innovator, Rozen brings to Rokt proven strength in the advertising marketplace, lifecycle marketing, ad product development and revenue growth.

"Rokt has become the leader in unlocking the most relevant ecommerce experiences for businesses and advertisers alike," said Rozen. "I'm thrilled to be joining the team at such a critical moment in its growth trajectory. I look forward to guiding Rokt's global marketing strategy, leveraging its AI-based platform and scaled partner network to make the transaction moment relevant for every shopper."

Rozen has also previously served as Chief Digital and Innovation Officer at OMD Worldwide, Chief Innovation Officer and General Manager at Meredith Corporation, and Senior Partner and Managing Director at J. Walter Thompson. He holds a BS in Psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and has studied ecommerce at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and artificial intelligence at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

Rozen's appointment marks a year of significant initiatives and appointments at Rokt. The company partnered with Formula 1 2023's championship team, Oracle Red Bull Racing, to foster diversity and named additions to its executive leadership team, including Chief Product Officer Srishti Gupta and Chief Revenue Officer Craig Galvin.

71% of enterprises are experimenting with real use cases for generative AI

According to Forrester, firms that actively harness generative AI (genAI) to enhance experiences, offerings, and productivity will realize outsized growth and will outpace their competition. Between July and September 2023, the number of enterprises that are in the experimentation and expansion stages of implementing genAI jumped from 62% to 71%, representing one of the fastest mass adoption rates of a new technology in the enterprise.

GenAI success, however, requires full enterprise support and turning the technology’s friction points — BYOAI and coherent nonsense — into opportunities. To harness the full potential of genAI, leaders should:

• Make trust an intrinsic part of their enterprise’s genAI foundation. A deliberate and cohesive approach to trust is essential for long-term success. Companies that help their employees and customers understand the nuances of privacy and security will empower their users to be more confident and innovative in their use of this technology.

• Stay focused on practical, measurable use cases. GenAI use cases most often involve the augmentation or transformation of an existing product, service, or business process. In initial prototypes and use cases, select projects that lean toward employee-facing or offline generation, as opposed to real-time generation with a chatbot.

• Explore and invest in skills that are both known and emerging. To harness genAI successfully, both employees and leaders need to upskill continually. These include technical as well as soft skills to communicate the impact of genAI transparently and openly with employees.

• Differentiate by relying on their own business data. Foundational models are powerful tools but accessible to everyone. To create differentiation, organizations should rely on their own business data to build genAI models and applications.

“Generative AI has the power to be as impactful as some of the most transformative technologies of our time,” said Srividya Sridharan, VP and group research director at Forrester. “The mass adoption of generative AI has transformed customer and employee interactions and expectations. As a result, genAI has catapulted AI initiatives from ‘nice-to-haves’ to the basis for competitive roadmaps. Forrester’s research is designed to help business and technology leaders utilize genAI to gain a long-term competitive advantage.”

AI will not take all jobs nor end civilization. But it will help businesses make better decisions.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere. And stories are rampant about its promise and its threat. Will AI's potential be realized in the year ahead? SAS, the leader in AI and analytics, asked executives and experts across the company to predict trends and key business and technology developments in AI for 2024. Below are some of the predictions they shared.

Visit SAS' 2024 AI predictions page for more trends and forecasts.

Generative AI will augment (not replace) a comprehensive AI strategy
"Generative AI technology does a lot of things, but it can't do everything. In 2024, organizations will pivot from viewing generative AI as a stand-alone technology to integrating it as a complement to industry-specific AI strategies. In banking, simulated data for stress testing and scenario analysis will help predict risks and prevent losses. In health care, that means the generation of individualized treatment plans. In manufacturing, generative AI can simulate production to identify improvements in quality, reliability, maintenance, energy efficiency and yield."
– Bryan Harris, Chief Technology Officer, SAS
[Note: Earlier this year, SAS committed $1 billion to AI-powered industry solutions.]

AI will create jobs
"In 2023, there was a lot of worry about the jobs that AI might eliminate. The conversation in 2024 will focus instead on the jobs AI will create. An obvious example is prompt engineering, which links a model's potential with its real-world application. AI helps workers at all skill levels and roles to be more effective and efficient. And while new AI technologies in 2024 and beyond may cause some short-term disruptions in the job market, they will spark many new jobs and new roles that will help drive economic growth."
– Udo Sglavo, Vice President of Advanced Analytics, SAS

AI will enhance responsible marketing
"As marketers we must consciously practice responsible marketing. Facets of this are awareness of the fallibility of AI and alertness to possible bias creeping in. While AI offers the promise of enhanced marketing and advertising programs, we know that biased data and models beget biased results. In SAS Marketing, we are implementing model cards that are like an ingredient list, but for AI. Whether you create or apply AI, you are responsible for its impact. That's why all marketers, regardless of technical know-how, can review the model cards, validate that their algorithms are effective and fair, and adjust as needed."
– Jennifer Chase, Chief Marketing Officer, SAS

Financial firms will embrace AI amid a Dark Age of Fraud
"Even as consumers signal increased fraud vigilance, generative AI and deepfake technology are helping fraudsters hone their multitrillion-dollar craft. Phishing messages are more polished. Imitation websites look stunningly legitimate. A crook can clone a voice with a few seconds of audio using simple online tools. We are entering the Dark Age of Fraud, where banks and credit unions will scramble to make up for lost time in AI adoption – incentivized, no doubt, by regulatory shifts forcing financial firms to assume greater liability for soaring APP [authorized push payment] scams and other frauds."
– Stu Bradley, Senior Vice President of Risk, Fraud and Compliance Solutions, SAS

Shadow AI will challenge CIOs
"CIOs have struggled with 'shadow IT' in the past and will now confront 'shadow AI' – solutions used by or developed within an organization without official sanction or monitoring by IT. Well-intentioned employees will continue to use generative AI tools to increase productivity. And CIOs will wrestle daily with how much to embrace these generative AI tools and what guardrails should be put in place to safeguard their organizations from associated risks."
– Jay Upchurch, Chief Information Officer, SAS

Multimodal AI and AI simulation will reach new frontiers
"The integration of text, images and audio into a single model is the next frontier of generative AI. Known as multimodal AI, it can process a diverse range of inputs simultaneously, enabling more context-aware applications for effective decision making. An example of this will be the generation of 3D objects, environments and spatial data. This will have applications in augmented reality [AR], virtual reality [VR], and the simulation of complex physical systems such as digital twins."
– Marinela Profi, AI/Generative AI Strategy Advisor, SAS

Digital-twin adoption will accelerate
"Technologies like AI and IoT [Internet of Things] analytics drive important sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, energy and government. Workers on the factory floor and in the executive suite use these technologies to transform huge volumes of data into better, faster decisions. In 2024, the adoption of AI and IoT analytics will accelerate through broader use of digital-twin technologies, which analyze real-time sensor and operational data and create duplicates of complex systems like factories, smart cities and energy grids. With digital twins, organizations can optimize operations, improve product quality, enhance safety, increase reliability and reduce emissions."
– Jason Mann, Vice President of IoT, SAS

Insurers will confront climate risk, aided by AI
"After decades of anticipation, climate change has transformed from speculative menace to genuine threat. Global insured losses from natural disasters surpassed $130 billion in 2022, and insurers worldwide are feeling the squeeze. US insurers, for example, are under scrutiny for raising premiums and withdrawing from hard-hit states like California and Florida, leaving tens of millions of consumers in the lurch. To survive this crisis, insurers will increasingly adopt AI to tap the potential of their immense data stores to shore up liquidity and be competitive. Beyond the gains they realize in dynamic premium pricing and risk assessment, AI will help them automate and enhance claims processing, fraud detection, customer service and more."
– Troy Haines, Senior Vice President of Risk Research and Quantitative Solutions, SAS 

AI importance will grow in government
"The workforce implications of AI will start being felt in government. Governments have a hard time attracting and retaining AI talent since experts command such high salaries, however, they will aggressively recruit for expertise to support regulatory actions. And like enterprises, governments will also increasingly turn to AI and analytics to boost productivity, automate menial tasks and mitigate that talent shortage."
– Reggie Townsend, Vice President of the SAS Data Ethics Practice

Generative AI will bolster patient care
"To advance health and improve patient and member experiences, organizations will further develop generative AI-powered tools in 2024 for personalized medicine, such as the creation of patient-specific avatars for use in clinical trials and the generation of individualized treatment plans. Additionally, we will see the emergence of generative AI-based systems for clinical decision support, delivering real-time guidance to payers, providers and pharmaceutical organizations."
– Steve Kearney, Global Medical Director, SAS

Deliberate AI deployment will make or break insurers
"In 2024, one of the top 100 global insurers will go out of business as a consequence of deploying generative AI too quickly. Right now, insurers are rolling out autonomous systems at breakneck speed with no tailoring to their business models. They're hoping that using AI to crunch through claims quickly will offset the last few years of poor business results. But after 2023's layoffs, remaining staff will be spread too thin to enact the necessary oversight to deploy AI ethically and at scale. The myth of AI as a cure-all will trigger tens of thousands of faulty business decisions that will lead to a corporate collapse, which may irreparably damage consumer and regulator trust."
– Franklin Manchester, Global Insurance Strategic Advisor, SAS

Public health will get an AI boost from academia
"Public health is achieving technologic modernization at an unprecedented rate. Whether overdoses or flu surveillance, using data to anticipate public health interventions is essential. Forecasting and modeling are rapidly becoming the cornerstone of public health work, but government needs help. Enter academia. We will see an increase in academic researchers carrying out AI-driven modeling and forecasting on behalf of government. It is clear after COVID-19 that the protection of our population will require exceptional technology and collaboration."
– Dr. Meghan Schaeffer, National Public Health Advisor and Epidemiologist, SAS