WARC‘s annual Marketer’s Toolkit for 2023 includes reports designed to assist marketers in identifying and prioritizing areas of disruption within their industry, determining the most successful strategies to pursue, and taking advantage of emerging opportunities. This is the 12th edition of the toolkit.

In 2022, we hoped to leave the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic behind us. However, the outbreak of war in Ukraine quickly changed many plans with significant impacts on energy prices, inflation, and the cost of living worldwide.

The IMF predicts that global growth will be 2.7% in 2023, down from 6% in 2021, which is the weakest growth profile since 2001 (excluding the global financial crisis and the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic). Inflation is expected to improve but still remain high at 6.5%. A survey of over 1,700 marketers worldwide conducted by the Marketer’s Toolkit found that 95% expect to be affected by an economic recession.

Aside from the economic recession, marketers will also have to grapple with other challenges such as climate change, deteriorating US-China trade relations, media fragmentation, cultural divides, and declining revenues for technology giants.

Despite the uncertainty, marketers who are able to drive transformative change in critical areas can take advantage of emerging opportunities. The 2023 Marketer’s Toolkit is designed to help companies identify and focus on these opportunities and make the most of the coming year.