Kellogg’s marketing director, ANZ, John Broome has pressed the case for marketers to adopt more science in their approach, and said he tracks the return on his campaigns to the dollar.
In the latest AANA Marketing Dividends show Broome reveals he is a strong advocate of the Ehrenberg-Bass theory, which he says helps him communicate the value and contribution marketing makes to the board.
“Ehrenberg-Bass actually is the language of the C-suite. It does lean more towards the scientific, empirical, economic language that lends more credibility in the boardroom, we need to speak through that lens,” said Broome.
Broome emphasised the importance of brand marketing to companies as a whole in meeting growth goals.
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“Brand building is at the heart of everything Kellogg’s does, and has been since our founder W. K. Kellogg set about setting up a cornflake business… over 100 years ago,” said Broome.
“At the end of the day the marketer within the C-Suite is the one person that the CFO, the CEO and indeed the rest of the leadership team are going to look to be actually providing that future direction for the business.”
Broome detailed his view that the way an organisation needed to view growth was a much broader and commercial view than what had traditionally been taken in the past.
“It’s not just about marketers excelling in communications, for example. It’s about looking at what are the levers that the business can pull in order to drive growth sustainably for the future,” he said.
“Short term growth is relatively easy; actually having a plan, knowing what your destination is going to be and providing sustainable profitable growth; that’s the real challenge. “
Broome said he employed a number of techniques when reporting on results to the dollar, which enable marketers to explain the value of their efforts to boards and C-Suite executives.
“We invest in market-mix modelling which can basically give you a return on the dollar you are investing; whether it’s an innovation, whether it’s an equity campaign.
“The other tools we use are equity tracking; ‘is my brand becoming healthier as a result of this investment?’ and again that can be monitored, and indeed monetised over time.”
He also explained how the mathematical evidence that Ehrenberg-Bass provides helps to drive growth.
“I have to divert 80 per cent of my marketing effort into reaching as many people as I possibly can for them to purchase my brand. At the end of the day, breakfast cereal and indeed snacks are repertoire categories,” he said.
“We have to reach as many of our light users as we can. There are many, many more light users out there than there are loyal users. We have to reach all of them in order to sustain the business,’’ Broome said.