Executive Summary

Spending on marketing technology (martech) is now a major budget line item for brands. In interviews with marketing and information technology executives in Canada, we uncovered top-of-mind concerns for brands that are elevating marketing tech to a brighter stage.

How do marketing technology deployments in Canada compare with the US?

In Canada, firms are more conservative in rolling out marketing tech than their US counterparts. Reasons include less competition in key sectors, branch-plant thinking (where subsidiaries in Canada follow the lead of US parent companies) and stricter privacy rules, which can scare off companies from aggressive data collection on consumers.

Which business function should lead the selection and deployment of these solutions?

CMOs and CIOs don’t always agree on which team should lead marketing tech projects. Depending on the company and industry, it might make sense to have one function or the other lead. A partnership model with team members straddling business functions is becoming more common.

What are the implications of maketing tech on data privacy?

With the rapid increase in the number of systems being used to engage consumers on a more personal level and collect data about them, data privacy regulations like The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) in Canada are becomer stricter, following the lead of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

What best practices for deployment are emerging for successful projects?

Creating cross-functional teams—including marketing, IT, finance and compliance—was cited by many organizations as a way to optimally select and implement marketing technology.

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report helps quantify the mounting marketing tech investments, reasons behind spending growth and key issues companies are presented with as they roll out such technologies in Canada.

KEY STAT: In 2018, marketing tech budgets exceeded all other marketing expenditures worldwide, accounting for 29% of spending, according to Gartner.