By Richard Croxford, UK
According to a new study by Ipsos only 35% of professional marketers have the foundational knowledge of marketing.
I first read this depressing information on The Drum where they question if “the industry is equipped to make smart decisions at speed.”
My question, however, is whether this is just a general watering down of every profession rather than a specific issue within marketing.
Is it just a reflection of how modern work, in general, has evolved?
People are becoming generalists just to survive in the job market
I think, perhaps, we’ve moved from depth to breadth.
Jobs that used to take a deep, specialist knowledge in one really refined area don’t seem as popular now while “jack-of-all-trades” are all over the place.
An HR Review article from all the way back in 2013 said this:
“…professionals now typically spend at least 10 hours a week – or 65 days a year – on activities outside of their main remit.
“… specialist skills are often being diluted within just two years of them entering a new job. As a result, over half (51%) of the professional workers surveyed now consider themselves to be generalists, despite being employed on the strength of their specialist skills.”
A single professional in a marketing role might be asked to manage paid media, analyse data, write copy, understand SEO, oversee creative, and report on performance all within the same week.
I’d suggest that this is more common in-house rather than in-agency but I couldn’t find evidence.
My point is that it is unsurprising that foundational knowledge suffers when time is fragmented across so many competing demands.
Tools, tools, tools… all the way down
Every single tool available to a marketer promises simplicity.
“Accessible,” essentially masks the complexity beneath a highly polished interface.
I guess that more tools means that more people can get involved in different areas of marketing… but has it also reduced the need to understand underlying principles of the profession?
When a dashboard tells you what is “working” or suggests where to spend budget, the incentive to question or deeply understand those recommendations diminishes somewhat.
Execution is the order of the day, rather than understanding.
Is being a marketing generalist a bad thing?
I don’t want to be simplistic and frame this evolution purely as a decline – despite the scary idea that only 35% of marketers know the fundamentals.
There are clear benefits to the current landscape – not least of which is my position.
I am an account manager who probably would be considered a generalist – I started as a copywriter and I’ve dipped my toe in my fair share of marketing techniques.
Marketing is more inclusive than it has ever been and there’s a wider range of voices and perspectives contributing to the field.
Innovation happens faster, and experimentation is easier.
The challenge is not access or opportunity but rather that these are balanced with a strong foundational knowledge.
I’m not suggesting that everyone should be memorising textbooks or rigidly following outdated frameworks.
But the core principles matter.
How people make decisions, how brands are built over time, how data should be interpreted, how different channels interact, how a funnel works, why audience segmentation works, where to push and where to pull back.
These fundamentals don’t change as quickly as the platforms we use, and they provide a stable base from which to adapt.
If only 35% of marketers have this grounding, the risk is a systemic weakening.
Perhaps the more important question, then, is not whether the industry is “equipped to make smart decisions at speed,” but whether it has become too comfortable making fast decisions without fully understanding them.
Speed and knowledge are not mutually exclusive, but achieving both requires deliberate effort.
Ultimately, the Ipsos figure should be less of a condemnation and more of a wake-up call.
Let’s find the balance between speed, accessibility and expertise.
Absurd Insights 
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