Over a quarter of CEOs will focus their budget on advertising over the course of this year, according to research from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Twenty-eight per cent of US CEOs cited advertising as an area for investment in Q4 2015, indicating spend will continue to rise this year.
This represents a 13 per cent rise in priority from Q1 2015, and a 17 per cent rise since the beginning of 2014.
IT investment declined last year, dropping from 33 per cent of CEOs planning to invest in Q1 2015 to 27 per cent by Q4.
Marketing and sales promotion was another area in which CEOs planned to invest, increasing from 17 per cent in Q1 2015, to 23 per cent in Q4.