Blog

The playing field for the global marketer is changing rapidly. And a new efficiency mind-set is needed to handle: •Globalisation, digitisation and evolving customer sophistication •New technology, channels and media •Procurement and financial constraints To address these and align with CEOs and CFOs, it is important for global CMOs to focus on how to demonstrate business value and ROI to secure a strategic role. This requires a systematic link of marketing investments to business value outcomes. And an understanding of how the business creates value, as well as how to drive efficiencies within an organisation and with external partners. Because of this, the CMO has to respond to short-term demands to drive revenue, still keeping the lens on strategic customer segments and growth opportunities while maintaining a focus on brand promise.

Today’s rise of procurement departments has led to a new agenda of accountability, forcing agencies to cut margins, amend working processes and become transparent. At the same time, CMOs are under increasing pressure to justify marketing activity and performance. Clients are reasserting their power in the relationship with the agency. We are far away from the “good old days” of the advertising industry where a typical view would be “The agency does the ads and the company focuses on its products…” – the era when agencies held the creative and buying power.

A major task of any global marketing organisation is to manage and optimise the marketing process and the consistency of the brand experience. By collaborating with the right marketing service partner and by implementing an efficient infrastructure, marketing organisations can improve performance both externally and internally. Making them an asset and not a cost centre for a company.

Centralisation or decentralisation is a challenge brands face when expanding their geographical scope. The organisation often starts with a local approach, as this best addresses the rules of a few markets. But, as more international markets are added, advantages of scale become apparent. The way to adapt effectively is by implementing best practice – firstly, by leveraging local market insight and practice to a universal level. Secondly by creating total consistency in multi-country marcom. To achieve this, a formal structure for both internal and external working relationships must be in place. A centralised setup is needed. This centralised model is the practical execution of the brand governance mindset. It involves: •The creation of the idea/concept •The development of master platform/template •Localisation of the master Success is only assured if the process is understood throughout the organisation and executed from top-down.

International creativity delivered by a multinational crew in a single location – that has to be the ideal melting pot for ideas and concepts… AdPeople develops global and regional campaigns for our clients as a full service agency. We also work with agencies seeking efficient and cost-effective capability to implement regional and global campaigns for their own clients. Either way, our creative department ensures that concept and quality is consistent through all channels and elements. Our multinational team gives us diversified insight and behavioural input for national, regional or international implementation. This genuinely multinational environment encourages open minds – and AdPeople thrives on cultural diversity. Open minds are more receptive to new ideas – and cross-cultural alchemy leads to radically different approaches that challenge traditional ways of thinking.

A major task of any marketing organisation is to manage the consistency of the brand experience by creating an efficient infrastructure, both internally and externally. The challenge is to maximise impact and minimise spend. AdPeople delivers both the mindset and the process tools to solve this challenge by creating a special infrastructure for global or regionally centralised marcom organisations. We help align marcom activities externally, while integrating and optimising different marcom efforts within the organisation. This creates better resource allocation and improved efficiency, both in terms of cost reduction and higher consistent quality throughout all marcom efforts. To achieve these goals, the organisation requires a centralised setup built around a workflow process involving both human resources and supporting technology.

Lean Six Sigma has been the leading methodology for business process optimisation among Fortune 500 companies for the last twenty-five years. These efficiency requirements have now reached the marketing industry and clients are increasingly pressuring their agencies to implement leaner approaches. At AdPeople we have acknowledged the complex relationship between creativity and efficiency since our formation in 1999. We have specialised in meeting the requirements of modern business where creativity is key but cost and time-to-market are equally important factors. We now have many years experience of working with clients with high efficiency demands and this lean approach is applied to all our departments and locations. A lean agency? Almost a contradiction! Not for us, because we believe in meeting the exact needs of our clients. For local and global clients we understand the requirement to provide an organizational structure that matches the precise needs.