At BIA/Kelsey’s National Brands, Local Marketing conference March 25-27 in Dallas, we’ll be hearing a lot of discussion around where spending is going for national marketers. Based on a survey just released by Duke University’s Prof. Christine Moorman the news is really good!

Overall, CMOs are showing their most positive outlook about the overall U.S. economy in five years with an average optimism rating of 69.9 percent in Feb 2015 versus 47.7 percent in Feb 2009 (0 percent is least and 100 per cent most optimistic).

CMOs plan to increase their spending by 8.7 percent in 2015 based on their expectations for an improving economy. When you break down that spending, digital spending will be up 14.7 percent compared to a 1.1 percent decline in traditional advertising. That increased digital spending will occur less in B2C product categories (2 percent increase) but we’ll see the digital spending rate double in 2015 versus 2014 overall and in the B2B product, B2B services and B2C services categories.

The CMO survey included results from 288 top U.S. marketers at Fortune 1000, Forbes Top 200, and top marketers who are AMA Members or Duke University Alumni and Friends (10.9% response rate).

Check out the CMO survey results in detail but if you really want to know the story behind the numbers, we’ll hope to see you in Dallas where you can hear and meet the speakers responsible for directing this increased spending into digital advertising and marketing.