Marketing maturity patterns by industry

Real measured data. Spread is the difference between the highest and lowest Marketing Score among scored businesses within an industry, calculated only where we have four or more. This is a different cut to the industry-average rankings on Marketing Score by Industry: that page compares industries to each other, this page measures how spread out businesses are within a single industry.

A wide spread is good news if you're not already winning. It means the gap is winnable, not structural. Somebody in that category proved it's possible to get 30 points clear using the same market, the same customers and often a smaller budget than the laggards.

A tight cluster is a different kind of opportunity. If everyone in your category zigs the same way, you've got to zag. Categories bunched within 10 or 12 points of each other haven't been genuinely challenged yet. The first business that takes marketing seriously in a converged category doesn't need to out-spend anyone. It just needs to actually try.

It's the gap between the best-scoring and weakest-scoring businesses we've measured inside a single industry. A wide spread means a handful of businesses have pulled well clear of the pack. A tight spread means most businesses in that industry are performing at a similar level.