At the start of 2020, I came up with a list of goals, one of them being to continue my passion for growth and development within the marketing industry. A month later, the stars aligned as my company’s CMO had nominated me for the Effie Marketing Effectiveness Bootcamp. After a 4-day conference and a 6-week case project, I left this experience with a renewed passion for marketing strategy, lasting connections with 25 amazing marketers, a phenomenal mentor, and an Effie approved case study.
Here are eight takeaways from my experience at the Effie Marketing Effectiveness Bootcamp.
1) Consumers are generally indifferent to your marketing efforts.
This is one of Effie’s Golden Rules and was echoed in the presentation from Vineet Mehra, Global CMO & CCO, Walgreens Boots Alliance, on the 5 Mantras of the Modern CMO. While purpose-driven marketing is on the rise, brand trust has gone down and consumers hate ads. Mehra shared that the marketing industry needs to reinvent itself. It is up to marketers to drive growth for the company and connect the brand’s purpose to commerce.
“Be your company’s growth hacker. Disrupt your business before someone else does.” – Vineet Mehra
2) Think customer experience, not communications. Positive customer experience drives growth. Don’t sell an experience that you can’t execute! Execution is critical for a company’s bottom line. The top 10 brands for customer experience achieved 4x larger profit & revenue growth than the bottom 10.
3) Invest in the long and short term of your brand. Split your marketing budget 62:38 long term brand-building : short term activation. 58% of advertising’s profit return is overlooked when ignoring the long term.
4) You need to know why behind your marketing strategy. If you don’t, find out immediately.
Chobani’s VP of Brand Marketing, Strategy & Media, Eddie Revis, presented his take on what’s on the mind of marketing leaders. “Marketing is subjective. Great marketing is the marketing that marketers hear about from their moms.” As marketers, we should stop thinking about award culture, stop comparing ourselves to others, and evaluate success in a different context. And we should always be clear on our ‘why.’
“Before you begin any project or campaign ask your team, ‘What do you expect to happen by doing this?” – Eddie Revis
5) Act as the owner of your brand. This will make you more empathetic and spend your budget wisely. Shared by Tom Gibson, Group Strategy Director at Anomaly as one of his 10 principles for success.
6) When developing campaigns in response to cultural moments and movements, ask yourself, “Do I authentically fit in this space, and is this a conversation my consumers want me to be involved in?” 70% of consumers feel it’s important for brands to take a stand on public issues. Conduct research to find out what causes your consumers want you to be involved in.
7) Just because you’ve found your insight doesn’t mean you can stop being insightful! Generate refreshing and insightful strategies grounded in customer and marketing truths that can be applied to the challenge and address the objective.
8) Engagement is the worst word in marketing. Engagement has become the catchall for a variety of interactions. Don’t be lazy, define what you’re measuring. This was presented by Huw Griffiths, Chief Product Officer at Universal McCann on the challenges of metrics & measurements.
Acknowledgments:
Thank you to Josh Dean & Jessica Lauria for nominating me for this program!
- Thank you to the Effie team Nisha Stephen, Neha Patil, & Veronica Parker-Hahn for creating a phenomenal experience. If you’re interested in participating or nominating an employee for this wonderful program visit effie.org/education!
- To my mentor, Kendra Hatcher King, you provided invaluable insights above and beyond what was required. You were a steady voice in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and I truly appreciated your career advice and mentorship. Thank you for being a phenomenal mentor!
- To my case study teammates, Jessica Vitti, Raymond Sein, Zach Leffers & Elizabeth Lawley – we had a great run. I still think they should make the #KiwiKart a thing!
This article was originally published on Linkedin by Anita Sheares.
