Vertical variation in marketing % — ~3% (energy) to ~18-25% (CPG)

Claim: Industry / vertical variation is enormous: ~3% (energy/transportation) to ~18-25% (consumer packaged goods). B2C product ~15.5%; B2B services ~9%; B2B product ~6.4% (CMO Survey).

Source: Duke CMO Survey + multiple cross-industry compilations.

Confidence: Verified.

Why this matters for Candid: The widget MUST adjust spend tiers by vertical — a generic "spend 7.7% of revenue" output would mislead a B2B firm (target ~6%) just as badly as a CPG firm (target ~15%). Cross-link to vertical brief Research brief: SMB widget vertical difficulty — two-axis tiering by industry (June 2026).