Ten lessons for brand marketers
The debut Brand Marketers’ Creative Summit brought together CMOs from the Cannes Lions ANA Growth Council and industry experts, including L2’s Scott Galloway, to hone in on the top priorities for marketers and discuss the key trends shaping the industry. We’ve selected the top ten lessons that came out of the Summit.
1. Obsess over growth
CEO of the ANA, Bob Liodice, urged all brand marketers to become champions of growth – it is the single, most fundamental activity of the role.
2. In fact, change your job title to Chief Growth Officer
Quoting Harvard Business Review’s findings that ‘80% of CEOs don’t trust or are unimpressed with their CMOs’, Zeitguide’s Brad Grossman proclaimed that CMOs need to reposition themselves as the ‘Chief Growth Officer’.
CMOs know the brand’s consumers better than anyone else in the company. They can (and should) make themselves indispensable to the CEO by using this insight to build products and services that can deliver growth.
3. But don’t try to do everything yourself. Partner with start-ups to support innovation
When it comes to technological innovation, it’s quicker (and easier) to borrow expertise instead of learning to do it all alone. WGSN extolled the benefits of seeking out partnerships with start-ups (and potentially even buying them) as a means of getting ahead of the competition.
4. Focus on ‘smartifying’ your brand experiences
Too often we move straight into deploying sophisticated technology without acknowledging the experience this will offer. WGSN’s Carla Buzasi emphasised the need for brands to focus on the experience they want to deliver first and foremost and then think about the technology that will enable this.
5. Prove to your customers that your brand is socially responsible and does not cause harm to the environment
Marc Pritchard strongly emphasised the need for brands to act responsibly - this is crucial in getting customers to trust your brand and buy into what you do. Brand marketers have a fundamental role to play in making this happen.
6. Keep spending money with Facebook. It will provide the best ROI on advertising spend
Facebook have endured many months of negative press, government-level investigation and increasing consumer distrust but as the owner of some of the most popular platforms in the world, brands still find that it produces the greatest ROI on advertising spend, said Scott Galloway.
7. Master your voice strategy right now - Scott Galloway says it is the new battleground…
Predicting voice as the next transformative technology in marketing, Scott Galloway’s recommendation to brands was to become proficient in using voice today. Brands making headway with this technology now will win out later as our screen-less society evolves (and it’s happening faster than you think).
As voice search becomes increasingly popular, big tech companies such as Amazon and Google are investing in search voice optimisation development. The more attuned you are to how voice search works, and how it can work for you, the better your brand will perform. Here, Zeitguide’s Brad Grossman explains how the Marriott Hotel Group have approached SVO.
8. Make sure that you provide value to your customers in everything you do
While growth is the ultimate goal, Deloitte’s Alicia Hatch said that this needs to be coupled with a focus on value-creation. Instead of performance marketing, marketers should focus on the kind of growth that creates value for customers and brings meaning to their lives.
9. Take back control so that you, the marketer, sit closest to your customer
Marc Pritchard explains how P&G is taking control of its agency model to get closer to its consumers, and discusses what ‘taking control’ looks like for one of its fasting-growing brands, SK-II.