Why do organisations invest in marketing? Because it has the power to create value for brands. To quote writer, professor and management consultant Peter Drucker: “Marketing and innovation produce results – all the rest are costs.”
But marketing investment can be viewed as a cost when too many campaigns simply don’t deliver a return on investment (ROI). A recent Marketing Agencies Association survey revealed that 69% of senior marketers agree that showing a proven ROI and a greater commercial awareness is a key issue for them within their organisations. Hardly surprising when you consider research from IMI International, which claims that 41% of marketing initiatives in 2014 should never have launched as they failed to meet the key performance indicators (KPIs) set.
The beauty of work created by agencies in the below the line sector is that it is inherently measurable and, when it works, really is a powerfully commercial way to help clients improve their marketing effectiveness and give their brands a competitive advantage.
Creativity remains the spark. However, as an industry we should be more commercially-focused, remembering that we are engaged with clients in the commerce of their business and therefore the work we create should be with the intention of making a profit for clients. At The Big Kick we’ve been fortunate enough to work with clients creating campaigns that delivered impressively in terms of effectiveness, such as Walkers’ Do Us A Flavour and Kit Kat Chunky’s Champion. We’re continuing this focus by investing in proprietary tools that influence the work we recommend to clients.
Greater investment in insight and measurement tools will help determine more accurately the impact of campaigns and create more effective work that demonstrates to clients the true commercial power of the work we create. A world where “effectiveness is king” would result in more valuable client/agency relationships: longer, stronger and based on real commercial understanding, mutual learnings and results. It’s easy to see how this could lead to even greater levels of investment by clients below the line and new, results-based agency remuneration models, in which the success of a campaign delivers mutual benefits for both clients and agencies.
Barbara Holgate is a partner at The Big Kick
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