Magic Quadrant for Marketing Work Management Platforms

How does Gartner define the Marketing Work Management Platforms market in 2024?

Gartner defines marketing work management (MWM) platforms as a self-service system of record for marketing projects and productivity. MWM platforms provide stakeholders a holistic view into past, current and planned work that enables management of marketing initiatives and related resources. MWM platforms can offer a range of capabilities such as intake management, resource allocation, project collaboration, workflow automation, template standardization and asset approval. Native or integrated tools may enable varying degrees of strategic and financial planning, budgeting, and talent management.

Key Facts for Magic Quadrant for Marketing Work Management Platforms in 2024

Publication Date: 17 December 2024

Document ID: G00808752

Coverage: Global

Authors: Michael McCune, Lacretia Marsh, and 3 more

Core Purpose: Marketing work management platforms are critical to marketing's productivity goals. With key integrations, they create a record of past, present and planned work that enables operational performance measurement. Use this research to identify platforms that do more than simple project collaboration.

How was the Marketing Work Management Platforms market evolved in 2024?

This is the first version of the Magic Quadrant for Marketing Work Management Platforms, replacing the Market Guide

MWM platforms provide stakeholders a holistic view into past, current and planned work that enables management of marketing initiatives and related resources

Marketing organizations leverage MWM platforms to track requests, prioritize execution, simplify organizational complexity, align agency work, and assure compliance

CMOs seek to improve productivity and now demand more than partial documentation of who did what and when

Pressure to show productivity gains has altered what CMOs demand from marketing work management platforms

Out-of-the-box functionality does not provide a complete solution; integration with other tools is a necessity

Providers are focusing on AI integration to improve data management, insight generation, intake automation, resource alignment, and workflow automation

Hours-based task tracking is at the heart of most solutions but is no longer sufficient for demonstrating how enterprise strategy aligns to marketing execution

Marketing operations functions have been established to bring focus to work management efforts

The market features diverse offers with various visions about the intersection of work management and work execution

What product features are required to be included in this year's evaluation?

Intake management that captures work requests from the business in a standardized and consistent manner. File and document associations are enabled, and adaptable fields allow relevant detail on the scope of work for different types of requests.

Resource planning based on type, tier and complexity allows marketing to prioritize and schedule work. Resources may include humans, technologies, agencies and budget, and be located within or outside of the marketing function.

Platform and operations support aggregates system data including behavior and other metadata into a single database that users can query, explore or filter. Administrative controls allow for management of users, data and work plans while facilitating integrations with other workplace and business applications.

Workflow and automation functionality to automate repetitive activities through workflows or rules that trigger actions automatically based on events and execution activity. Actions may include notifications, approval requests, data pulls from external sources and general data manipulation.

Reporting, analytics and dashboards provide comprehensive search and analytics capabilities, including dynamic, customizable, operational and management reports and dashboards, for team members and different levels of management. These include reports on the overall plans, the status of execution, dependencies, bottlenecks, timelines and other aspects of the work activity.

In-context collaboration provides team spaces where participants can discuss and share documentation that is relevant to a business activity, update a plan based on new information, and send or receive notifications in the context of specific activities.

What are the common features of top products in the Marketing Work Management Platforms space?

Budget management consolidates granular marketing spend into a single view that enables tracking against business unit budgets, strategic priorities, work types and time periods. Documentation and reporting enable tracking of spend against business outcomes while providing flexibility to use different budgeting methods to make plans and adjustments.

Campaign operations organizes and tracks work related to the point-in-time amplification of product, brand and corporate narratives. Parent projects relate to multiple subprojects and enable alignment of schedules and resources so that campaigns may launch and run for an appointed period of time.

Digital operations organizes and tracks work related to the design and delivery of always-on market or customer interactions. Such work may include ideation, prototyping, QA testing, pilot experiments and iterative work to facilitate scale and optimization of the intended experiences.

Project operations organizes and manages work related to the transformation and change of the marketing function. Such work may include conducting workflow audits, establishing operational measures, improving utilization of data and technology, and collaboration on cross-functional initiatives.

Strategy alignment connects marketing efforts to enterprise strategy through goal and target setting that can cascade through the function. Derivative strategies that are function-specific may also be created or weighted, and bottom-up ideation can enable strategy evolution through coordinated input.

Talent optimization enables marketing to translate work performed, skills acquired, tools utilized and development plans into staff allocation recommendations and capacity analysis. Depending on integrations, data can include information on vendor and agency talent.

Scope Exclusions

Platforms that do not include all mandatory features

Vendors with less than $100 million in enterprise revenue for 2023

Vendors not ranking in top 15 of Gartner's Customer Interest Indicator

Solutions not generally available in production environments

Simple project collaboration tools without holistic system of record capabilities

Inclusion Criteria

Vendors must, among other requirements:

Platform must be generally available (GA) in production environment

Must include all mandatory features described in market definition

Must rank among top 15 organizations in Gartner's Customer Interest Indicator (CII)

Must have greater than $100 million in enterprise revenue for calendar year 2023

Ability to Execute — Relative Weighting

Product or Service - High

Overall Viability - Medium

Sales Execution/Pricing - Medium

Market Responsiveness/Record - Medium

Marketing Execution - Medium

Customer Experience - Medium

Operations - Medium

Completeness of Vision — Relative Weighting

Market Understanding - High

Marketing Strategy - Medium

Sales Strategy - Medium

Offering (Product) Strategy - High

Business Model - Medium

Vertical/Industry Strategy - Medium

Innovation - High

Geographic Strategy - Low

FAQs

Q: What does this research cover?

A: This research evaluates 10 vendors in the Marketing Work Management Platforms market based on their Ability to Execute and Completeness of Vision. It covers the market definition, mandatory and common features, vendor strengths and cautions, evaluation criteria, and market trends. The report assesses platforms that serve as a system of record for marketing projects and productivity, including capabilities such as intake management, resource allocation, project collaboration, workflow automation, and reporting.

Q: Who should use this research?

A: This research should be used by Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs), marketing operations leaders, and marketing function leaders who are evaluating or selecting marketing work management platforms. It is particularly valuable for organizations seeking to improve marketing productivity, demonstrate alignment between strategy and execution, manage complex marketing operations, and evaluate vendor capabilities beyond simple project collaboration tools. The research should be used in combination with the Critical Capabilities report and Gartner client inquiry services for vendor shortlisting and selection.

Q: What are the mandatory features of vendors included in this market?

A: Mandatory features for vendors included in this market are: (1) Intake management for standardized work request capture, (2) Resource planning based on type, tier and complexity, (3) Platform and operations support with aggregated system data and administrative controls, (4) Workflow and automation functionality for repetitive activities, (5) Reporting, analytics and dashboards with comprehensive capabilities, and (6) In-context collaboration for team discussions and documentation sharing.

Q: What are some reasons for not being included in this report?

Platform not generally available in production environment
Missing one or more mandatory features from market definition
Not ranked in top 15 of Gartner's Customer Interest Indicator (CII)
Enterprise revenue below $100 million threshold for 2023
Focus solely on project collaboration without holistic work management capabilities
Lack of integration capabilities with other marketing systems
Insufficient market presence or customer base

Q: What differentiates Ability to Execute vs. Completeness of Vision?

A: Ability to Execute assesses a vendor's products, services, viability and overall customer experience, focusing on their ability to deliver on critical capabilities and keep promises. It emphasizes current execution with 'high' weighting on product/service criteria. Completeness of Vision evaluates vendors' ability to grasp current and future market trends, customer needs, and competitive forces. It focuses on understanding user needs and how solutions must evolve for future fit, with 'high' weightings on market understanding, offering strategy, and innovation. Essentially, Ability to Execute measures current delivery capability while Completeness of Vision measures strategic direction and future readiness.

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