Over three quarters of those in the marketing industry believe advert-blocking software will encourage greater creativity, according to new research.

The study by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) revealed the top priorities for the year ahead, with adblocking becoming a hot topic as another 38% believe it could cause a decline in online marketing.

Trying to get accustomed to an increasingly shifting landscape, marketers believe new technologies such as Chatbots and Virtual Reality, as well ‘short-lived’ content that is only available for a limited on sources such as Snapchat.

A leading priority for many marketers is personalisation, utilising user data to provide specific advertisements, but experts are encouraged by the response.

The CIM believe the most important thing in the current market is to remain open-minded and embrace the changes the internet is bringing, saying that marketers have “a natural thirst for creativity.”

“It was positive to see the majority of respondents rising to the challenge of ad-blocking,” said CIM Chief executive Chris Daly, “the fundamental skills of their profession in terms of delivering more personalised, targeted and influential campaigns, still sit at the core of marketers’ everyday life.”

Understanding that digitally native services such as Amazon and Uber consistently focus and improve upon their customer experiences, nearly half of those surveyed addressed the mounting pressure to reinvent their own customer interactivity.

For many, customer experience is becoming the primary focus of their whole business as further pressure is placed on marketing to deliver.

“no matter what business you are in, the customer should always be at the heart of the operation,” continued Chris Daly, “Marketers have a clear role to play in demonstrating their value to the business, and for making the case for increased investment to meet their organisational goals.”