Consider the latest CMO Survey by Christine Moorman at Duke University, supported by Deloitte.
Marketers spend 68% of their time managing the present and only 32% preparing for the future.
Almost 60% of growth budgets go toward selling existing products and services to existing customers.
Are we spending too much time optimizing the business we already have?
Consider Starbucks. Years ago, Starbucks understood growth through dayparts, an approach I discussed in Hidden in Plain Sight (2007). Over time, the company increasingly emphasized transactions, mobile ordering and operational efficiency. Today, it is investing hundreds of millions to restore the coffeehouse experience.
The underlying question is about the structure of demand. Why do people visit Starbucks? What needs are they trying to satisfy? How are those needs changing?
This is where Demand Architecture matters. It identifies the demand spaces where growth is emerging by examining changes in culture, consumer needs, behaviors and economics.
Marketing budgeting asks how to spend more efficiently across existing products, brands and channels.
Capital allocation asks where future demand will emerge and which demand spaces, innovations, brands and capabilities deserve investment.
And the decision criteria should go beyond marketing ROI to economic profit, ROIC and long-term enterprise value creation.
Marketing should have a much greater role in determining where the company invests for future growth.
Source: The CMO Survey, March 2026, Christine Moorman, Duke University.