Reinventing Marketing: An Introduction

2006 is an extraordinary time to be a marketer. I can’t recall a period in my career when so many aspects of our business changed – and changed so rapidly and fundamentally.

It is often quoted that there’s been more change in marketing in the last 5 years than in the previous 30. I believe this is due to the immense power of technology. New technologies, coupled with increased management sophistication, are transforming marketing from the creative art of yesteryear into a true business discipline for tomorrow.

Technology has shaken the foundations of marketing in several distinct and profound ways.

• First, Technology has put The Consumer in Control. Technology has given the power of choice directly to the consumer. Consumers can get marketers’ messages when they want them and how they want them – and, most importantly, if they want them at all.

• Technology has also changed the media landscape. Technology has been the foundation for the introduction of a vast array of new media alternatives. Technology has increased the reach and targeting power for marketers through the evolution and development of the Internet, podcasting, blogging, I-pods, and mobile technology.

• Technology has changed how we manage Brands and how we build Brand Equity. Brand loyalties that were once considered “givens” by product managers, are now being challenged by consumers’ access to competitive information through technology.

• Finally – technology has completely transformed the measurement platform. That which was once considered to be beyond the scope of quantification has bowed to the reality that everything can, in fact, be measured.

These phenomena – all influenced by technology -- are forcing businesses to make tough choices about how to spend their marketing dollars. Couple this transformed marketing environment with tighter corporate governance, transparency requirements, and a much shorter window of time to prove success to top management and shareholders – and it’s no wonder that the average chief marketing officer’s tenure is just 23 months.

Marketing – as a business discipline … an organizational function … and a professional career – is clearly being reinvented. In fact, it is being continuously reinvented!

Continuous marketing reinvention is an absolute requirement in the challenging environment that marketers face today – an environment in which they must become more flexible, more adaptive and – most importantly – more astute at decision-making to meet higher expectations of performance by the CEO.

CEOs hold their chief marketing officers responsible for building strong brands marked by expanding healthy business franchises that achieve long-term growth in market capitalization. It’s a tall order – made even more difficult by the “high anxiety” circumstances in which CMOs operate: the increasingly complex, constantly changing marketing landscape, in which every decision is mission critical.

The CMO challenge: To continuously reinvent the total marketing communications process!!! So how do CMO’s accomplish this mission? An entirely new kind of strategic platform is needed --- one that embraces continuous reinvention as its cornerstone philosophy and is built on four major pillars:

1. Brand building. Reinventing brand building must reflect the consumer-controlled, constantly changing marketing environment. It is, perhaps, the most important pillar, as marketers need to consistently re-think how to keep the brand relevant, consumers loyal, competitors minimized and revenues growing.

2. Integrated marketing communications. Brand building has become infinitely more complex when factored for the explosion of media vehicles and options. The ability to plan and deploy a media budget has become the most challenging and exciting responsibility for today’s reinvented marketer.

3. Marketing measurement and accountability. The benefits to marketers are enormous as companies strive for process simplification, speed-to-market and overall systemic productivity. Reinventing accountability will completely overhaul the marketing business system and drive marketers to profound advancements in marketing effectiveness.

4. Marketing organization. The marketing organization itself must undergo its own top-to-bottom reinvention. The lines of accountability and effectiveness need to be redrawn and embraced to guarantee success in “reinventing the total communications landscape.” Focus on this pillar will also provide greater assurance that those who succeed will be armed with the skill sets and tools necessary to successfully reinvent.

These pillars are all fundamental to reinventing the total marketing communications process. I plan to blog about each pillar in more detail in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!

Comments

[Eric Kintz]

Bob,

Great comments! Thought you would enjoy my thoughts on the future of the marketing function viewed from HP. I address similar themes as CMO skills, the impact of technology and the state of performance management

Eric

http://h20325.www2.hp.com/blogs/kintz/