Half of UK marketers rate campaign execution below average

Intermedia Global has published research showing that half of senior UK marketers rate their campaign execution as below average. The study also found that a quarter of marketing departments have no visibility into campaign return on investment.

The findings come from the company's Marketing Experience Readiness Survey, which assesses marketing operations across data and insight maturity, technology integration, campaign execution, operational efficiency, and process alignment.

The results point to weak execution discipline in many marketing teams, despite widespread spending on software and data tools. Half of respondents rated their organisation's overall campaign execution at less than 11 out of 20, while only 6% said their teams were genuinely agile in defining, creating, and running campaigns.

Measurement was another weak spot. Just over a third of marketing departments, or 38%, said they measure ROI for some campaigns but not all, suggesting many teams still lack a consistent way to judge whether their work is delivering commercial returns.

Content planning appeared more established, though not always linked to learning and follow-through. While 13% of senior marketers said they do not have a content strategy, 56% said they either do not gather content and campaign performance insights at all or compile reports without acting on them.

Technology gap

The survey found a wide divide in technology maturity between stronger and weaker performers. This category showed the broadest spread of scores of any area assessed, indicating that some organisations have joined-up systems in place while others are still working with fragmented tools and processes.

Nearly half of respondents, or 44%, said their main martech systems, such as CRM, automation, analytics, and digital asset management tools, work well together and described their setup as "pretty good". By contrast, 25% said those systems are ineffective and not fit for the future.

Use of existing software also remains uneven. More than half of respondents, or 56%, said their teams understand the main features of their martech stack but do not use the more advanced functions, raising questions about whether companies are getting full value from systems they already own.

That issue appears linked to training and onboarding. Half of marketing teams either provide only limited induction and training on marketing technology for new starters or expect staff to work it out for themselves.

The pattern suggests that operational problems are not limited to technology purchases. In many cases, the challenge lies in how systems, staff, and workflows are connected after the software has been installed.

"Many teams have invested in platforms and data, yet struggle to develop and execute campaigns efficiently. This points to a gap between martech investment and operational maturity. The underlying problem is that many teams still lack the integration, workflows, and internal alignment needed to turn data into measurable business outcomes," said Steve Kemish, Chief Executive Officer at Intermedia Global.

Operational discipline

The findings reflect a wider issue in marketing departments as pressure grows to show clear returns on spending on campaigns, data, and software. Senior marketers are often expected to deliver better targeting, stronger customer engagement, and clearer financial reporting at the same time, but the survey suggests many teams still lack the internal systems needed to do that consistently.

The low score for agility is particularly notable because campaign teams are increasingly expected to respond quickly to customer behaviour, market changes, and sales feedback. If only a small minority of respondents see their teams as genuinely agile, that may point to internal bottlenecks in planning, approvals, handovers, and reporting.

At the same time, the figures on content and performance analysis show that producing information is not the same as using it. Teams may be generating reports, but if those findings do not feed back into campaign decisions, reporting becomes a record-keeping exercise rather than a management tool.

The gap between the highest and lowest scores in technology maturity also suggests practice is far from uniform across the market. Some teams appear to have made progress in connecting CRM, automation, analytics, and asset systems, while others remain hampered by poor integration and limited adoption.

For companies under pressure to justify marketing budgets, that inconsistency has practical consequences. Limited ROI visibility makes it harder to decide which channels to expand, which campaigns to stop, and where operational changes are most needed.

"Overall, the research reinforces that modern marketing success is no longer just about creativity or investment in technology. It's about operational maturity-how effectively organisations connect their data, systems, processes, people, and execution to create a stronger Marketing Experience," said Kemish.