- Todd Wasserman, Brandweek

NEW YORK Marketers are less confident in their channel partners, inttnd to funnel more money into Internet advertising and, despite the economy, are planning lots of new product b-to-b introductions, according to a new survey from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

The survey, based on responses from 581 marketers from Feb. 4-13, is conducted every six months. One of the largest chasms between the current survey and the previous one was with regard to confidence in channel partners. In the last survey, 47 percent of respondents said they were "more optimistic" about their channel partners' ability. This time, the number was 26 percent.

Christine Moorman, the Duke professor who put together the survey, said in the last survey marketers were "really hanging their hat on channel partners to get them through this [economy]. That's the area that looks like it was really hurt."

The survey also showed that marketers planned to spend, on average, 17 percent more on Internet advertising in the next 12 months versus just a 0.5 percent rise overall. b-to-b marketers also said they planned to spend an average of 16.1 percent more this year on new product introductions versus 4 percent for b-to-c companies.

Moorman said on the whole, the results were positive. "Marketers aren't giving up," she said. "They're still striving for growth."