Cost of Chaos Report | Introduction

Half a decade gone in the blink of an eye, from Covid to geopolitical rollercoasters, and now...

...with barely enough time to take a breath, we’re expected to transform marketing around buying groups, remove a decade of legacy sales models, overcome years of under-investment in brand, optimise for GenAI search, and position solutions as ‘AI-enabled platforms’.

Marketing didn’t change all at once. But it did change fast. So how did it get so chaotic? What’s the impact, both business and personal? And how are leaders charting a path to coherence?

Ironically, the very things we’ve relied on to answer questions like these in the past have compounded the problems we face today: more tools, more tech, more data. That means more complexity, more chaos, and more confusion about what works.

Understandably, most marketers say their working environment is chaotic. People are feeling the effects of that chaos at home as well as at work: burnout, fatigue, and heightened levels of stress.

This is leading to longer hours, fewer breaks, and increased stress. No wonder almost three quarters of marketers we spoke to said they’re not sleeping properly.

All this chaos isn’t just impacting people. It’s impacting business performance, too. In fact, one in three marketers say chaos is resulting in missed opportunities, stalled deals, and inconsistent quality of work.

But there is a way forward: coherence.

By replacing random acts of marketing with coherent operating models, marketers will see stronger alignment with business goals, more consistent quality of work, and reduced stress, leading to a more productive workforce.

For buyers, our research found that almost all notice a positive difference when vendors operate coherently. Coherence improves trust, efficiency, and decision making; these are increasingly important attributes in today’s buying landscape.