I dislike using templates and resist ‘one way of working’ mandates. But if the evidence and insight point to a better way of building marketing effectiveness, then I am all in.
I have worked alongside global brand teams who strive for consistency, but give too much attention to standardised reporting and a one-size-fits-all creative. This throttles the potential of the brand.
Luckily, I have also worked alongside global brand teams who have inspired me with their market knowledge, understanding of how brands grow, and ability to consistently apply the principles of marketing effectiveness across business units whilst empowering local markets to create great work.
Reflecting on this contrast of approaches made me curious as to why not all brand teams operate with the same knowledge level.
Listening recently to a presentation given by the LinkedIn B2B institute where the presenter asked a room of CMOs ‘Who has read How Brands Grow’, the presenter was met with not a single hand being raised. Since this important book is not being read by marketing professionals of their own volition, it is incumbent upon employers to nudge this seminal work into their teams.
Yet the principles of marketing effectiveness appear only to be embedded in the best brand-building organisations.
Why is this?
For example, System1 has amazing insight that clearly identifies what makes a great advert, yet so many ads are made weekly that don’t reflect the insight and therefore score below par. Similarly, the importance of strong Mental Availability as evidenced by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute is a critical component of brand growth, yet how many organisations track it as advocated for by Jenni Romaniuk in ‘Better Brand Health’?
To quote Fergus O’Carroll from the same podcast,
“There are certain things you can do that can increase your odds of effectiveness (winning).”
Top of the list is the work of Byron Sharp, ‘How Brands Grow’ and Binet & Field’s ‘The Long & The Short Of It’.
Surely these marketing effectiveness principles must feature in every marketer’s induction straight after the Health & Safety briefing. I would include a test that needs to be completed before the probation period ends. Not only does having this knowledge increase the chances of winning but it has the potential to save millions of pounds, by avoiding ineffective activities.
In last year’s Marketing Week Career & Salary Survey, ⅓ of marketers stated that they weren’t receiving up-skilling from their employers, so there is also a wonderful opportunity to increase employee engagement by ensuring everyone receives Effectiveness training.
I have completed 2 ‘MW mini-MBAs’ so I am an advocate for this type of learning, but I also have a preference for ‘learning by doing’. That is why when we set up SmilingCFO we created workshops that helped marketers understand the principles of Mental Availability by using ‘live’ data for their brand.
Now, some observers of both the mMBA, (Mark Ritson programme) and The Ehrenberg Bass Institute would lead you to believe that there is some sort of choice between these two institutions and that they are competing with each other. As I mentioned, I have done both of the mMBA’s and have studied Mental & Physical Availability deeply and built these concepts into our model at SmilingCFO. They are complementary.
So, if I was starting a new CMO role tomorrow, I would prioritise four things;
- The development of my teams, ensuring they were trained on all the key Marketing Effectiveness principles, starting with Mental & Physical Availability and ‘The Long AND the Short of it’.
- Acknowledge and reward all behaviour from my team and agencies who help embed these principles in the organisation.
- Getting the right balance between the number of ‘specialists’ and ‘generalists’ in the team. I am attracted by the thought of having effectiveness experts in the group, working alongside generalists with a ‘squiggly’ career path planned, which benefits the wider Enterprise.
- Create the right environment for learning and that means role modelling a manageable work-life balance, not only for my direct team but also showing the same level of respect to the agencies who support us.
To help you with your learning journey and that of your teams I have listed the other Marketing Effectiveness principles that Mark Ritson and Fergus O’Carroll discuss and added some associated links that might be helpful.
If you want to dive deeper into Mental Availability and prefer to learn using real numbers, get in touch as we may already have your brand results in our database.
Marketing Effectiveness List
Latest thinking from Brittain and Field
Building Distinctive Assets – Jenni Romaniuk
Creative Execution / Pre-testing / System1 Group
The Attention Economy Karen Nelson-Field
Optimising for Reach over Frequency (Sharp et al)
The extraordinary cost of being dull (Morgan & Field)
At SmilingCFO, my partner (Martin Coyle) and I wanted to create an agency that uses what the academic/research institutions have to offer, add in a huge amount of commercial excellence and experience and hey presto: better strategies that your CFO will want to invest in.
See why we are called SmilingCFO?
