Continuous Marketing Reinvention

My final top-10 expectation for 2007 – continuous marketing reinvention – wraps the previous nine with a big red bow. Continuous marketing reinvention is the theme that’s driving all components of the marketing process towards greater efficiency, consumer-relevance and, most importantly, business performance.

I believe it must become the mantra of marketing executives and the cornerstone philosophy for a new kind of strategic platform that totally reinvents:

• The way brands are built

• The methods for integrating all marketing disciplines

• The approach to marketing accountability

• The structure of the marketing organization

In reinventing the discipline of marketing, senior marketing executives will need to address all nine transformations about which I have previously blogged. They must:

• Realize that the consumer is in control – and act on this new fact

• Create a new agenda for agencies

• Connect the CMO with the CEO’s agenda

• Include unconventional outreach in all marketing programs

• Transform media buying and selling

• Find common ground with government policymakers and consumer advocacy groups

• Renew the traditional research function as the foundation of marketing accountability

• Modify business systems and back office operations

By embracing these changes, marketers will ultimately create a more innovative, flexible, powerful and accountable marketing organization.

Procter & Gamble is one company that’s done just that. Five years ago P&G was experiencing declining brands, weakening market shares and dim growth forecasts. In need of a new approach, CEO A.G. Lafley created a fresh blueprint that reinvented business practices and strategies, more strongly connecting P&G with its consumer base. Today, venerable brands like Pampers and Crest have become growth engines of the company.

Leading a marketing reinvention is a challenging job. Here are five great insights about how to do it from Ann S. Moore, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Time Inc.:

• Transformation means making hard choices – transitioning brands from an old cost base to growing assets

• Focus on your biggest brands

• You must have no fear of failure

• Many things look the same – for example, building products online is, in many respects, the same as building them offline. Great advertising and promotion still work.

• Steering an organization through change is hard - It requires a sustained effort that can take a personal toll on leaders. Trust is the most powerful tool - don't promise anything you can't deliver. Build a great team. Nurture healthy debate.

As I close this series of blogs on what to expect throughout 2007, I wanted to add one more expectation – marketing that moves the social agenda. As I posted in an earlier blog, the marketing industry needs to address and overcome a negative public perception. In the public’s eye, marketers always seem to be “doing something wrong” whether it’s making kids obese, encouraging the elderly to take drugs they don’t need, influencing teens to drink or not promoting a diverse work environment.

That perception couldn’t be further from the truth. Marketing is one of the most socially responsible industries in America. Look no further than the combined efforts of the Ad Council, the Partnership for Drug Free America and the Family Friendly Programming Forum to appreciate how much good this industry does. I’d like to challenge any other industry to stand up to this record of social impact. And I’d like to challenge the legislators and public policy groups that are so quick to jump all over the marketing industry to acknowledge the positive impact of our collective efforts. Do they think we would have such a robust economy, were it not for the marketing industry’s economic contributions. Of course not!

I am not saying that the industry is free from blame. I am, however, asking the public to judge us with fairness and equity. When we have been challenged, we have typically responded. Look at the plethora of initiatives that have emanated from the industry during the past three years in response to the obesity epidemic – highlighted by the Food and Beverage initiative developed under the auspices of our self regulatory body overseeing the Children’s Advertising Review Unit.

We, as marketers, need to continuously reinvent the way we do business. Fortunately, we have the history and propensity to move the industry in the right direction. I believe continuous marketing reinvention is an absolute requirement in today’s environment. It’s definitely a tall order, but I know marketing leaders are up to the task. So go for it and enjoy the ride. It may be a long journey, but one that’s well worth the effort!

Comments

[Victor Cook]

Before Katrina I often flew Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) from New Orleans to West Palm Beach. Usually I was early enough to be first or second in line with an A boarding pass so I could sit in the first row. I saw the company logo woven into the carpeted the bulkhead so often I could draw it from memory!

On one of those flights it came to me: why not put the company's ticker symbol inside the heart of its logo? Wouldn't this remind current shareholders what a great investment they had made? And maybe it would also motivate other passengers to invest. I've put this idea into a post: "Southwest Airlines: Put a Little LUV in Your Logo!" It's just one of the many ways you can connect the CMO with the CEO's agenda -- by showing how enterprise marketing can improve stock price in the long term.

You can read the story on my blog at http://customersandcapital.com/

[J Francisco Escobar]

Great stuff Roberto!

JFE