Marketing in 2010 and beyond

Barbara Bacci Mirque

ANA

Despite a sunny day and a beckoning pool, approximately 300 marketers attended the CMO roundtable on Saturday afternoon.   The roundtable features the results of all three phases of Marketing Media Ecosystem 2010 year long research study.  Perhaps these uncertain times caused marketers to want  to learn how to market smarter and more efficiently  in the future.  Now more than ever we are going to have to be smart and effective marketers.   And that was the first question that moderator Richard Costello asked of the panel.  After an overview of the joint study of the ANA, AAAA, IAB and Booz & Co, the panel began.  But first, Richard addressed the elephant in the room.   Were they going to modify their marketing plans for 2009 given the turmoil in the financial markets, and if so how?  The panelists reiterated what the conference speakers have been saying, namely that you can learn a lot marketing in times like this so  don’t hunker down, experiment,  be out  there, persevere and be optimistic.  But also have the facts and figures to document the return of your marketing investments and the impact of marketing on the business so that your budget does not get cut. Steve Sullivan reminded us that part of what we are experiencing is psychological and companies such as Boeing and Caterpillar have order backlogs.

So then Mr. Costello moved on to the topic at hand, namely how to market in the fragmented marketing media ecosystem.  We heard how all of the companies represented on the panel  - Charles Schwab, Verizon, Liberty Mutual and Hewlett Packard were actively engaging with consumers in programs designed to activate their relationship with the respective brands and co creating brand relevance.     Gary Elliott described HP’s work on creating communities through their IdeaLab.  Steve talked about Liberty Mutual’s Responsibility Project and Becky Saeger mentined Schwab’s work with a community of active traders.  Most of the panelists had begun ethnographic research as the “arms race” for  customer insights was in full force and in order to engage with them in a relevant manner, we must  thoroughly understand our customers and have a razor sharp focus about how they view our brands and services.    John Harrobin from Verizon revealed how Verizon did not fully understand the value of one of the services they provide their customers  - confirmation that text messages are received – and after testing eliminating that service to save money they realized how important it was to their users.   They have fully restored that functionality and may even heed the advice of Andrew Robertson from BBDO and embark on additional research to understand the rituals that Verizon users undertake and how their mobile phone fits into them.  The study also boldly declares that message distribution is becoming as important as creative execution and the panelists affirmed their belief in this.   But the new structures are also causing disruption and confusion for all players – marketers, agencies and the media.  Becky Saeger  talked about how the marketer has to quarterback the integration among all of their agency partners but she warned that agencies need to understand they could  become disintermediated so they should heed the learnings from this study and apply them to their ongoing practices. Confusion abounds in the ecosystem and marketers, their agencies and the media must work together to  build a more efficient marketplace.    We at the ANA area continuing our work with MME 2010 to help all of you prepare.

Comments

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I thought BBDO did the advertising for AT&T not Verizon???