Brands Need a Marketing Effectiveness Philosophy in a Data-Driven World

When I started my career I got a little green book from an anonymous author called How Advertising Works I learned it was written by Richard Vaughn in our London office and centered around what became the FCBVaughn Grid One uses it to map a communication approach for a categorybrand via two dynamics involvement and mental approach logic vs emotion Rightleft brain theory was just getting traction at the time and has worked well for products on a sustained basisOver time many quottruthsquot have been outed others were proven and lost their quote marks But the presence or lack of evidence hasn39t always been reflected in practice One example that makes me nutsIt39s broadly agreed that frequency effects follow the principle of a convex curve with diminishing returns that the first impression is the most valuableYet every holding company still measures quoteffective reachquot using the quot3timeplusquot measure that was thoroughly discredited ages ago WhyToday39s Battle Data Driven Marketing vs CounterIntuitive OutputsMarketing analytic teams form two camps quottrue believersquot and quotfair weather fansquot This division becomes apparent when the dreaded quotmystery outputquot materializes an optimization or recommendation comes out of software that doesn39t match what the team expected wanted or believes is the best direction Devotees plow ahead proclaiming quotwe proved your old assumptions about marketing are wrongquot while marketers trot out every excuse they ever heardquotThat can39t be right something must be wrong with the algorithmquotThe software isn39t accounting for insert external variable or opinion herequotquotThere must be an error in the inputquotOr my favoritequotThat39s why media is still a mix of art and sciencequot That39s mediaspeak for quotI39ll follow the data as long as it confirms my opinionsquot This is possibly the most dangerous phrase in mediamarketing today It means we will allow data to influence our decisions only if it keeps us in our traditional comfort zoneMedia planning is not an art guys It can be the innovative application of two kinds of knowledge the factual knowledge that comes from data science and the softer knowledge that comes from having a welldeveloped philosophy of marketing effectivenessLet39s look at these wordsArt is the expression of human creative skill and imagination mainly through visual and aural sensesPhilosophy is the study and articulation of the fundamental nature of knowledge and realityMarketers with a coherent philosophy of effectiveness understand how various tactics work for them and can create new ways of using them to achieve goals A coherent philosophy assimilates new data assesses counterintuitive outputs and figures out if something is true or what39s wrong Art is impulsive and passionate philosophy is intuitive and perceptive Both encompass creativity but differentlyElements of a Marketing Effectiveness PhilosophyHelping a brand articulate its philosophy is one of my favorite initiatives This needs to be done at a brand or category level as dynamics change drastically For example the Vaughn grid drives very different philosophies in each quadrant In crafting a philosophy the marketer needs to keep the definition above in mind and focus on what is known and real not opinions with no basis in fact Framing a philosophy can open the eyes of the marketing team to depths never anticipatedIf you do not have a philosophy these fundamental questions get you startedHow does your brand live within its landscape along five dimensionsHighlow involvement or riskEmotionalrational brand choice processEstablished or emerging categoryLeader or underdog brandInherent product superiority deficiencies or commoditizationWhat does success look like This is a philosophy for marketing effectiveness so clearly define what effect you are driving A vague effectiveness objective won39t work You need to really make the hard choice to pick your No 1 priorityDo you have great creative Be truly thoughtful and brutally honest If you can39t get to that you really must approach marketing with the assumption that your creative is average While you probably can39t say that word out loud know the truth in your mind but call it quotnormativequot in meetingsWhile assessing creative think of the different expressions of the campaign and whether certain channels are particularly strongweak Two thirds of effectiveness is due to messaging so media needs to provide the context where the creative can shineAre there situations where context makes the creative work harder Again only think of significant instances Isotonic drink messaging works harder if the audience is sweating during exposureGiven the above when does marketing work best for you What knowledge do you have specifically about differences in lift fromReach vs frequencyTiming of messages whether broad seasons day of week hour of day etcGeography are there differences in responsiveness in highlow development urbanrural different weather bands etInteraction of paid media with other ownedearned channelsIf you can39t answer these questions add them to your learning agenda Once you answer these questions with confidence you will be well on your way to being able to answer challenges with the right mix of science and philosophy And let39s leave art to the artistsClick the social buttons to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Brands Need a Marketing Effectiveness Philosophy in a Data-Driven World

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Pattie Glod

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Brands Need a Marketing Effectiveness Philosophy in a Data-Driven World

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