SoDA Releases Highly Anticipated Research Study and Report on the Future of the Digital Marketing Industry

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SoDA, the leading voice of the digital agency and production company community, released its highly influential and anticipated 2013 edition of The SoDA Report at a special briefing in San Francisco on February 28. Adobe and AOL co-sponsored the release event.

“We believe the 2013 SoDA Report will provoke meaningful dialogue about where the industry is headed”

The SoDA Report— one of the most widely read publications in the digital marketing world, with over 65,000 downloads in 2012— analyzes the results of the state-of-the-art SoDA/Econsultancy Digital Marketing Outlook (DMO) Survey, and features a complete volume of original articles by the industry's finest minds, exclusive interviews with notable industry players, as well as engrossing case studies.

The DMO Survey, conducted by Econsultancy, is based on a global sample— 50% of respondents’ primary markets are outside North America— of 814 industry participants, the large majority of whom are senior-decision makers at their companies. Examples of the DMO Survey’s numerous findings include:

• More clients are "insourcing" the set-up and maintenance of currently existing digital services, while "outsourcing" their innovation needs to digital agencies. Accordingly, an impressive 40% of agency respondents have established in-house innovation labs/incubators.
• Agencies are increasing client education and training offerings, as well as embedding specialized resources at clients’ offices.
• Digital marketing budgets and client investments will grow at a more intense pace in 2013- 2014.
• Most clients are migrating toward utilizing highly specialized digital agencies.
• Agencies see significant skill gaps among clients on user experience and analytics.
• Agencies are working harder to keep great talent and money isn’t always decisive.

“We believe the 2013 SoDA Report will provoke meaningful dialogue about where the industry is headed,” said Chris Buettner, SoDA Executive Director and Managing Editor of The SoDA Report. “We have exciting, groundbreaking research that’s both granular and practical. Our members, editors, and partners gave an extraordinary effort to make this publication a must-read.”

Tony Quin, Chairman of the Board of SoDA and Principal at IQ, and Angėle Beausoleil, Editor-in-Chief of The SoDA Report and Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Agent Innovateur Inc., each contributed introductions and feature articles.

In addition to the dozens of thought-provoking and cutting-edge pieces authored by SoDA members, an array of guest contributors, CMOs, editors, and other senior executives from distinguished organizations– General Mills, Adobe, Dollar Shave Club, Marketing Week, Contagious, The Drum, The Art Directors Club, IIT Institute of Design and Econsultancy, among others– offer insight and expertise. Case studies showcase SoDA members’ innovative work on behalf of international brands such as Google, Avis, Coca-Cola, Barneys, Nike, Fox, Samsung, Icon Fitness, Unilever, Intel, and Cisco.

A free iPad version of The SoDA Report is currently available for download from iTunes and a free PDF copy is also available for download. Additional tablet and web-browser versions will be available shortly. Tablet editions are powered by Adobe® Digital Publishing Suite.