Kantar study: Aussie marketers favour performance over brand value
New Kantar research suggests that Australian marketers recognise brand value but prioritise performance marketing and sales promotions.
Destination: Marketing Effectiveness identifies that the drive towards performance marketing is because marketers “find it easy to communicate the returns” (47%), say it “drives more short-term returns than brand marketing” (42%), “feel pressure from the C-Suite to achieve targets” (38%) and “find it more cost-effective” (31%).
The research reveals the traits of leading organisations in Australia (those outperforming their competition) through to lagging (those trailing their competition).
It shows that three-quarters of high performers consider marketing to be a strategic partner in driving business growth compared to just 48% of lagging businesses.
Leading businesses in Australia are deeply consumer-centric across functions, clear on their positioning and portfolio and defend their differentiation and salience, according to the research.
Mark Kennedy
Kantar’s consulting managing partner, Mark Kennedy, said the biggest difference is that they prioritise marketing in any economic environment as an investment, not a cost.
“This prompts the need for marketing functions to ensure that they are speaking the same language as their financial decision-makers,” he said.
“Marketing needs more credibility to be seen as a growth engine. This requires honest conversations about what is and isn’t working (tactics, measurement) and transparency to allow other departments (finance) to verify effectiveness.”
It was also revealed that organisations with strong trust in marketing perform better.
However, a clear capability gap in measuring and proving effectiveness, especially as the effects of the economic squeeze continue to impact all organisations, is having a significant impact on confidence in the marketing function.
Jonathan Sinton
Kantar’s chief commercial officer, Jonathan Sinton, added: “Times remain tough – from cash flow to confidence – and what hasn’t subsided since the start of the pandemic is the economic conditions in which we continue to operate.”
“Some of the key challenges that continue to impact marketers are the need for instant results resulting in a continual move to short-termism, tightening marketing budgets that mean being brave and experimental is becoming riskier, and a subsequent lack of investment in brand building resulting in a sea of sameness.
“We may be at a significant crossroads, but the opportunity is ripe to build a strong foundation – key to both short- and long-term sustainable growth.”
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