Unilever’s recent adoption of zero-based budgeting – and the expectation that other big brands may follow suit – has the wider industry panicked. But for brand experience agencies, this could be a great opportunity. If brands are only going to spend their money on effective marketing, surely it’s ours for the taking.
We have long known that brand experience is the most effective form of marketing, particularly for driving increased advocacy. The challenge, however, has always been providing convincing and concrete proof of this back to clients.
We can hold up beautifully detailed, real-time dashboards of metrics, including advocacy measures such as net promoter scores, but all we’re really showing is the impact on the brand – not necessarily the effectiveness. Evidence of a positive shift in our clients’ bottom lines (thanks to our great work) is missing.
But demonstrating exactly what our clients require to secure the marketing budgets they need is something we can’t do it alone. We need them to trust us like true partners, providing the necessary detailed sales data, over time, which means we’re able to correlate our work with the impact on their bottom line.
We’re fortunate to have forged such a relationship with Sky. We provide engaging creative technology experiences at the point of purchase at stores around the country. Thanks to the client sharing specific internal sales data with us, we’re able to prove to them that our activity provides a positive shift in their net promoter score and how that correlates to an exact percentage uplift – and therefore value – in sales.
Paul Saville is senior vice president at Wasserman
This advertisement feature is paid for by the Marketing Agencies Association, which supports the Guardian Media & Tech Network’s Agencies hub.
