In a Down Market, Clarity Is the CMO’s Competitive Edge

Authored by: Kimberly Armstrong, Global Chief Marketing Officer, AMS

It always starts the same way: A few headlines hint at trouble. A nervous forecast lands in your inbox. Meetings multiply overnight. Spreadsheets get pulled. Teams start whispering about budget ‘reviews’, and suddenly, every dollar is up for debate. When uncertainty hits, marketers instinctively brace for cuts.

However, in the scramble to react, clarity shouldn’t be on the chopping block. 

In a flat or down market, clarity can be the advantage that separates winners from everyone else. But often, it’s not the shrinking budgets that do the most damage – it’s the rising noise.  Competing priorities pile up. Week to week, budgets freeze, shift, or reshuffle. Priorities get murky. Brand vs. performance becomes a tug-of-war, and internal voices get louder than the customers’.

Urgency drowns out strategy.

Like anyone else, I’ve fallen into budget defense mode. But stepping back has shown me how powerful it is to use pressure as a prompt to refocus. Tools like zero-based budgeting, corporate trade, and scenario planning don’t just help marketers survive turbulence. They help them make smarter, faster, and more confident moves when it matters most.

Why staying in the game pays off

In softer markets, inventory opens up, rates improve and partners become more flexible. While some marketers may pause, the most proactive marketers we see are leaning in.  History backs this up. Studies by HBR and marketing strategists Peter Field and Les Binet consistently show that brands maintaining or increasing spend during downturns outperform peers – with one recession showing a 256% sales lift. Their message: reducing advertising is a false economy.

These marketers don’t just ride out the storm – they buy smarter, lock in visibility, and expand their presence while others retreat.

Tools to stay focused, flexible, and facing forward

Among the brands we work with, the ones navigating market pressures the best use a few key tools to cut through the chaos:

• Zero-Based Budgeting

Not as a cost-cutting tool but as a clarity tool. It forces them to justify spend based on strategy, not habit. McKinsey reports it can free up 10–25% of spend for reinvestment.

• Scenario Planning & Budget Flexing

Rather than one rigid plan, they build tiered budgets — a base plan, then layers for upside and downside. This lets them move quickly when conditions shift.

• Corporate Trade

A way to stretch cash by using non-cash assets or credits to fund media – protecting spend even when budgets get squeezed (while simultaneously helping to recover asset depreciation)

• Owned Media Growth via Paid

In down markets, it’s not just about keeping the lights on. Paid media can be used to accelerate owned asset growth – think email lists, loyalty programs, gift cards, and first-party data. That’s long-term leverage.

• Modular Creative

Modular creative systems allow teams to remix and repurpose content assets across channels quickly. This approach reduces production costs and accelerates time-to-market, especially valuable when resources are constrained.

Sharpen, don’t shrink

Anyone can cut. The best marketing leaders clarify, calibrate and make space for reinvestment. They stay close to the numbers and even closer to their customers, using uncertainty as a reason to focus their messaging, their spend, and their strategy. Because in any economic cycle, there’s always opportunity. And the marketers who know how to flex with focus are the ones who come out ahead.