Strategic thinking is biggest skills gap in marketing, WFA-Mediasense report finds
News | The Future of Planning, Strategy and Innovation Week in Focus
Strategic thinking is the marketing industry’s number one talent shortage.
That is according to research from the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and consultancy Mediasense, which found brands, agencies and platforms all cite the need for talent with judgement, an ability to prioritise, insight development skills and business understanding rather than technical expertise.
It found that 72% of respondents named strategic thinking as one of the top three talent shortages today, far and away the most agreed-upon choice. This was followed by data strategy and execution (46%), insight development (36%), marketing fundamentals (34%) and creativity (32%).
As the report notes, these skills share a common characteristic: “they enable better decision-making across increasingly complex marketing environments.”
The demand for such a skillset comes as the industry’s adoption of AI tools is redefining how brands work with marketing talent.
The study is based on responses from 166 industry professionals, including 65 from brands with a combined annual global ad expenditure of $80bn.
“Marketing talent remains functional but fragile,” the report continues. “Talent quality is viewed as adequate, but organisations continue to struggle to access the skills they need, and strategic capability shortages remain widespread”.
The findings echo a recent uptick in account planning and strategy roles at UK agencies, with such roles growing 18.5% over the past two years despite a wider trend of falling employment at agencies.
But as the WFA-Mediasense report notes, the largest issue facing brands and agencies is not the overall quality of talent available, but rather “the ability to develop and deploy critical skills fast enough”.
More than one-third (38%) of respondents, for example, ranked the “inability to upskill fast enough” as the number one talent risk today.
This is exacerbated in an era defined by how AI is transforming marketing practice. While marketing organisations have invested greatly in cutting-edge AI tools, the report warns that a failure to quickly upskill staff means they aren’t adequately taking advantage of them.
More than three-quarters (77%) of respondents said they believe AI fluency will increase in importance as a marketing skill, yet a majority (56%) also said AI fluency is “underdeveloped” within their organisation. 55% of respondents, meanwhile, identified data-driven decision-making as needing additional skills.
Ryan Kangisser, Mediasense’s chief strategy officer, commented that the study is “a sobering reminder to brands, agencies and platforms that humans must remain firmly ‘in the loop’ on AI to fully realise its impact.”
He added: “The continued challenges around marketing talent point to the over-correction organisations have made on technical skills over the critical and strategic judgement the industry needs to create the differentiation and growth brands are urgently seeking.”
Planning and strategy roles have increased 18.5% at media agencies since 2024
Need to redesign incentives
Importantly, the report notes there is a “fundamental disconnect” between the skills the industry says it needs and the behaviours it currently rewards.
Organisations, it concludes, are asking teams and partners to adopt AI and use more strategic thinking, but they are still incentivising “predictable delivery and short-term output”.
The report lists four examples of where incentives are currently out of step with capability needs. They include valuing strategic thinking but rewarding execution against a brief rather than challenging it; prioritising data-driven marketing but rewarding activity rather than decision-making; investing in AI but rewarding efficiency rather than effectiveness; and talking about the need for integration while evaluating impact in silos.
“Incentives are not just lagging behind change; they are actively reinforcing legacy behaviours,” the report reads.
While compensating employees adequately is a consistent driver of staff retention, employees rated “clear advancement opportunities” and “meaningful work” as more important reward structures.
This has come into conflict with AI adoption. As Serviceplan Group’s behavioural consultancy Behave found last year, all but 3% of non-C-suite industry employees said they were at least “slightly concerned” about their job security in the AI era, with 77% saying they are either extremely, very, or moderately concerned.
Meanwhile, a quarter (26%) of C-suite executives said that “improving operational efficiency” is the primary objective of driving their organisation’s AI strategy. This was criticised by Behave strategy director Dr Alexandra Dobra-Kiel as a “failure of imagination” and “risk aversion”.
As part of their report’s conclusions, the WFA and Mediasense suggested that organisations consider “redesign[ing] career paths, performance metrics and reward systems” rather than merely investing in new AI tools.
Behave: Significant gaps exist between C-suite and employees over AI implementation