The role of marketers is evolving in response to an increasingly challenging landscape, exacerbated by economic downturns, prompting brands to reassess their marketing strategies. Brands are being forced to stand out against the competition in an environment where consumers are cutting back on spending. But how can brands retain their existing customer base and, even more crucially, attract new customers?
The answer seems to lie in getting back to marketing’s roots: creativity, and more specifically creative effectiveness. A survey by Marketing Week found that 80.5% brand-side marketers believe that creative effectiveness is one of the most influential factors in the overall success of a campaign. The survey also found that marketers are increasingly focusing on the quality of their creative output, with 60.8% saying they have increased their focus on creative in the past year.
It seems like a no-brainer that brands are focusing on the quality of their creative output during difficult times. However, marketers should also be optimising effectiveness and meticulously tracking the success of their campaigns.
The same Marketing Week survey found that only 57.3% of marketers have analysis in place to measure creative effectiveness. Surprisingly, 33.2% of marketers don’t have any method of tracking creative effectiveness at all.
Pernod Ricard serves as a good example of a brand that understands the role of effectiveness. The drinks manufacturer has been investing in technology and data capabilities to optimise the efficiency of its marketing and promotional investment. The CEO, Alexandre Ricard said the company would “be a lot more precise in terms of its strategic planning and execution on the brands they activate everywhere in the world.”
It is relying on tools such as Maestria, which helps businesses form a portfolio strategy by mapping consumption moments through consumer data, and Vista Rev-Up, which helps companies map its promotional opportunities and increase return on investment. This strategy seems to be working as the company saw 10% growth in net sales in 2023, reaching £10.41bn.
If brands truly want to expand their reach and attract new customers, they must not solely rely on the creative output of their campaigns. It is equally important that they implement the necessary metrics to track effectiveness, which can help them build better marketing strategies.