Marketers are on average directly managing 10 agency partners – and Mi3's Marketing & Customer Benchmarks: FY25 Outlook suggests it's hogging too much bandwidth as their remits expand further into customer. Offloading roster management to a single lead agency is the single biggest shift in relative terms, per the survey of 105 marketers representing $3bn-plus in spend. Across the piste, the preference for project work is all but eclipsing retainers – especially across big spending brands. Tumbleturn Managing Partner Jen Davidson and Akcelo chief Aden Hepburn unpack the key FY25 trends, shifts – and opportunities.

A deep, senior marketer study and report by Mi3, The Australian Marketing Institute (AMI), Qualtrics and Tumbleturn finds hard evidence across 105 top marketers responsible for $3bn-plus of budgets of an emergent three-speed marketing economy and upended KPIs and priorities. There are big question marks in key sectors such as retail around the effectiveness of personalisation efforts: Just 15 per cent think their CX is performing, though telcos are confident they’re smashing it. There’s also a major swing to performance media as CMOs seek instant results. The good news is that after decades of being perceived as the colouring-in department, 83 per cent of marketers say that has now shifted, with boards and CEOs perceiving marketing as a critical growth driver – though B2B marketers are far less certain. Problem is, marketer remits are exploding and the FY25 Marketing & Customer Benchmarks report, polling top marketers across all B2C and B2B sectors, finds the majority feeling ill-equipped to tackle what’s rapidly coming at them. AMI’s Bronwyn Heys, Tumbleturn’s Jen Davidson, Qualtrics’ Ivana Sekanic and Akcelo’s Aden Hepburn unpack the findings and implications for marketers, agencies and the broader supply chain heading into FY25 and beyond.