# Marketing Managers

US SOC code 11-2021. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/11-2021

Also called: Head of marketing, VP of marketing, Chief marketing officer, CMO, Brand manager.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **395,240** US marketing managers, with median pay of **$166,790** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2003, the May 2025 count is the highest. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_management) of **40,000** from 1950, not measured the same way as today's count. The last full technology era for marketing managers: Snowflake data cloud + Segment CDP + programmatic advertising + attribution modeling, 2012 to 2022. The data-stack era created demand for marketing analysts and data engineers embedded inside marketing teams.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 6.9% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=11-2021&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **57.8%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)
- **0.014** estimated probability that the whole occupation could be computerised, over an unspecified number of years. Not a forecast of job losses. [Frey and Osborne, 2013](https://oms-www.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf)

### Since the 2013 prediction

In 2013, Frey and Osborne put this job's probability of computerisation at 0.014. BLS counted **174,010** of these jobs in May 2013 and **395,240** in May 2025 (+127%, a change derived by Future History).

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend. In May 2021 BLS changed how it estimates these counts (a model-based method using three years of survey data) and moved fully to the 2018 occupation codes, so part of a change across 2021 can come from the method rather than the work.

## Marketing Managers employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1931
- Latest US employment: 395,240 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [5]
- Latest US median pay: $166,790 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [9]
- Outlook: +6.9% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [27]

### All 27 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1950 | 40,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Wikipedia [1] |
| 1970 | 110,000 (estimate) | $13,500 (estimate) | Est., Kotler (1967) (employment) [2]; Est., BLS Historical Statistics (pay) [6] |
| 1980 | 180,000 (estimate) | $26,000 (estimate) | Est., IPUMS USA (employment) [3]; Est., BLS CPS Annual Social and Economic… (pay) [7] |
| 2000 | 202,100 | $71,240 | BLS OEWS 2000 (employment) [4]; BLS OEWS May 2000 (pay) [8] |
| 2003 | 182,600 | $83,210 | BLS OEWS May 2003 [5] |
| 2004 | 177,550 | $87,640 | BLS OEWS May 2004 [5] |
| 2005 | 166,470 | $92,680 | BLS OEWS May 2005 [5] |
| 2006 | 159,950 | $98,720 | BLS OEWS May 2006 [5] |
| 2007 | 165,240 | $104,400 | BLS OEWS May 2007 [5] |
| 2008 | 166,790 | $108,580 | BLS OEWS May 2008 [5] |
| 2009 | 169,330 | $110,030 | BLS OEWS May 2009 [5] |
| 2010 | 164,590 | $112,800 | BLS OEWS May 2010 (employment) [5]; BLS OEWS May 2010 (pay) [8] |
| 2011 | 168,410 | $116,010 | BLS OEWS May 2011 [5] |
| 2012 | 171,430 | $119,480 | BLS OEWS May 2012 [5] |
| 2013 | 174,010 | $123,220 | BLS OEWS May 2013 [5] |
| 2014 | 184,490 | $127,130 | BLS OEWS May 2014 [5] |
| 2015 | 192,890 | $128,750 | BLS OEWS May 2015 [5] |
| 2016 | 205,900 | $131,180 | BLS OEWS May 2016 [5] |
| 2017 | 218,970 | $132,230 | BLS OEWS May 2017 [5] |
| 2018 | 240,440 | $134,290 | BLS OEWS May 2018 [5] |
| 2019 | 263,680 | $136,850 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [5] |
| 2020 | 270,200 | $142,170 | BLS OEWS May 2020 [5] |
| 2021 | 278,690 | $135,030 | BLS OEWS May 2021 [5] |
| 2022 | 328,570 | $140,040 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [5] |
| 2023 | 368,940 | $157,620 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [5] |
| 2024 | 384,980 | $161,030 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [5] |
| 2025 | 395,240 | $166,790 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [5] |

## Sources (94)

### Employment series

1. [Wikipedia — Brand management (history of brand management and the P&G brand-manager system post-1931 McElroy memo; spread to competitor firms by the 1940s-1950s)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand_management), Wikipedia
2. [Kotler (1967) — Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, and Control (Prentice-Hall): foundational textbook that formalized marketing management as an academic and professional discipline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Kotler), Wikipedia / Prentice-Hall
3. [IPUMS USA — 1980 Census Occupation Codes: code 013 = Managers, marketing, advertising, and public relations (Executive, Administrative, and Managerial Occupations category)](https://usa.ipums.org/usa/volii/occ1980.shtml), IPUMS USA / University of Minnesota
4. [BLS OES 2000 national estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oes00nat.zip), Bureau of Labor Statistics
5. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2010](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm10nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

6. [BLS Historical Statistics — managerial and administrative salary series 1960s-1970s (secondary estimate: mid-career marketing manager circa 1970, approximately $12,000-$15,000 nominal median)](https://www.bls.gov/opub/hom/pdf/homch1.pdf), Bureau of Labor Statistics
7. [BLS CPS Annual Social and Economic Supplement — Marketing and Advertising Managers median earnings series 1979-1981 (pre-SOC vintage; estimate from Census income tables)](https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-income-people.html), Bureau of Labor Statistics / Census Bureau
8. [BLS OEWS May 2000 — 11-2021 Marketing Managers: median annual wage approximately $71,240 (BLS historical OEWS archive)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/oes_arch.htm), Bureau of Labor Statistics
9. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2003](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm03nat.zip), [2004](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm04nat.zip), [2005](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm05nat.zip), [2006](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm06nat.zip), [2007](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm07nat.zip), [2008](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm08nat.zip), [2009](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm09nat.zip), [2011](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm11nat.zip), [2012](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm12nat.zip), [2013](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm13nat.zip), [2014](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm14nat.zip), [2015](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm15nat.zip), [2016](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm16nat.zip), [2017](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm17nat.zip), [2018](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm18nat.zip), [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
10. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Tool eras

11. [Wikipedia — J. Walter Thompson (JWT): founded 1864; one of the earliest and largest advertising agencies; pioneered market research and brand advertising methodology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Walter_Thompson), Wikipedia
12. [Wikipedia — Audit Bureau of Circulations: founded 1914 to provide independent measurement of print publication circulation — the first third-party audience measurement in advertising](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_for_Audited_Media), Wikipedia
13. [Wikipedia — Neil H. McElroy: authored the 1931 P&G brand management memo; established the brand-manager system that became the model for US consumer-goods marketing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_H._McElroy), Wikipedia
14. [Wikipedia — Nielsen Media Research: founded 1923; television ratings service from 1950; provided the first systematic audience measurement for TV advertising](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nielsen_Media_Research), Wikipedia
15. [Wikipedia — Philip Kotler: published Marketing Management in 1967 (Prentice-Hall); described by Financial Times as one of the 50 greatest business books; most widely adopted marketing textbook in graduate schools of business](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Kotler), Wikipedia / Prentice-Hall
16. [Wikipedia — Marketing Myopia: Theodore Levitt, Harvard Business Review 1960; argued companies define their markets too narrowly; marked the beginning of the modern marketing movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing_myopia), Wikipedia / Harvard Business Review
17. [Wikipedia — HotWired: first AT&T banner ad published October 27, 1994; approximately 44% click-through rate; the founding moment of online advertising](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HotWired), Wikipedia
18. [Wikipedia — Salesforce: founded March 8, 1999 by Marc Benioff; pioneered SaaS CRM; gave marketing and sales teams a shared customer database for the first time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salesforce), Wikipedia
19. [Wikipedia: Google Analytics launched November 2005; Google acquired Urchin Software April 2005; made professional web analytics free at scale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Analytics), Wikipedia
20. [Wikipedia: HubSpot founded 2006 by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah; coined inbound marketing; integrated blogging, email automation, lead scoring](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HubSpot), Wikipedia
21. [Wikipedia: Marketo founded 2006, launched product 2008; B2B marketing automation; acquired by Adobe for USD 4.75 billion in 2018](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketo), Wikipedia
22. [Wikipedia: Snowflake Inc. founded July 23, 2012; cloud data warehousing; IPO September 2020 raised USD 3.4 billion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snowflake_Inc.), Wikipedia
23. [Wikipedia: Twilio — acquired Segment (customer data platform founded 2012, unifying identity across touchpoints) for USD 3.2 billion in October 2020](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twilio), Wikipedia
24. [McKinsey Global Institute: The Economic Potential of Generative AI (June 2023); marketing and sales showed 33-44% productivity potential from AI; largest share of value across enterprise functions](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/tech-and-ai/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai-the-next-productivity-frontier), McKinsey Global Institute
25. [Wikipedia: ChatGPT launched November 30, 2022; reached 100 million users in two months; fastest consumer product adoption in history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatGPT), Wikipedia
26. [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook: Marketing Managers; projected employment 2024-2034: +6.6% (26,700 annual openings)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Forecasts and exposure studies

27. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 11-2021 Marketing managers (2025: 421.6 thousand; 2035: 450.8 thousand; +6.9%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=11-2021&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
28. [Frey & Osborne (2013), "The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?", Appendix (SOC 11-2021 Marketing Managers: probability 0.014, rank 61 of 702)](https://oms-www.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf), Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford
29. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 11-2021.00, human-rated β 0.578)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

30. [Wikipedia: Neil McElroy P&G brand management memo (May 1931); later U.S. Secretary of Defense 1957-1959; memo cited as origin of brand management discipline](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_McElroy), Wikipedia
31. [Wikipedia: Philip Kotler published Marketing Management (Prentice-Hall, 1967); Financial Times 50 greatest business books; most widely adopted marketing textbook in graduate schools](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Kotler), Wikipedia
32. [Wikipedia: HotWired published first banner ad on October 27, 1994 for AT&T; approximately 44% CTR at launch; founding moment of online advertising](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HotWired), Wikipedia
33. [McKinsey Global Institute: The Economic Potential of Generative AI (June 2023); marketing and sales functions showed 33-44% productivity potential from AI](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/tech-and-ai/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai-the-next-productivity-frontier), McKinsey Global Institute

### Predecessors & successors

34. [Wikipedia: Neil McElroy P&G brand management memo (1931); brand manager as direct institutional predecessor of the marketing manager role](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_McElroy), Wikipedia

### Present-day analysis

- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science)](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-23
- [O\*NET 30.3 — Marketing Managers (11-2021.00)](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/11-2021.00), accessed 2026-05-23
- [McKinsey — Reinventing marketing workflows with agentic AI (2025)](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/reinventing-marketing-workflows-with-agentic-ai), accessed 2026-05-23
- [McKinsey — Agents for growth: Turning AI promise into impact (2025)](https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/agents-for-growth-turning-ai-promise-into-impact), accessed 2026-05-23
- [BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook — Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers (6% growth 2024-2034)](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/advertising-promotions-and-marketing-managers.htm), accessed 2026-05-23
- [AiCerts — AI-Savvy Marketers to See 20-30% Salary Hikes in 2026](https://www.aicerts.ai/blog/ai-savvy-marketers-to-see-20-30-percent-salary-hikes-in-2026/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Digital Applied — AI Marketing Statistics 2026: 87% of marketers use generative AI](https://www.digitalapplied.com/blog/ai-marketing-statistics-2026-adoption-data-points), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Robert Half — 2026 Marketing and Creative Salary Trends](https://www.roberthalf.com/us/en/insights/research/marketing-and-creative-salary-trends), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Improvado — Will AI Replace Marketing Managers? (2026)](https://improvado.io/blog/will-ai-replace-marketing-managers), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Murray Resources — 25 Top AI Marketing Jobs Updated for 2026](https://murrayresources.com/25-top-ai-marketing-jobs/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Persado — JPMorgan Chase 5-year enterprise deal; pilot showed up to 450% CTR lift](https://www.persado.com/company/press-releases/jpmorgan-chase-announces-five-year-deal-with-persado-for-ai-powered-marketing-capabilities), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Persado — Motivation AI crossed $4.5B in incremental client revenue (early 2025)](https://www.persado.com/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Persado — Essential self-service launch for smaller marketing teams (late 2024)](https://rankvipai.com/ai-tools-for-marketers/persado-review/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Adobe — GenStudio for Performance Marketing GA launch (Oct 2024)](https://news.adobe.com/news/2024/10/101424-genstudio-for-performance-marketing), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Adobe — GenStudio expands with video + display AI capabilities (Jun 2025)](https://news.adobe.com/news/2025/06/adobe-expands-genstudio-with-suite-ai-powered-innovations), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Adobe — GenStudio Content Production Agent (beta, interprets briefs, produces channel assets)](https://business.adobe.com/blog/latest-innovations-in-adobe-genstudio-for-performance-marketing), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Salesforce — Einstein Marketing Cloud AI: predictive segmentation, anomaly detection, email frequency optimization (2025)](https://www.datawhistl.com/blog/salesforce-einstein-in-marketing-cloud-whats-new-in-2025-vs-previous-years/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Perficient — Salesforce Marketing Cloud + AI: Transforming Digital Marketing in 2025](https://blogs.perficient.com/salesforce-marketing-cloud-ai-transforming-digital-marketing-in-2025/), accessed 2026-05-23

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.