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2.12.2010 Brand owners must meet digital "imperative"

Brand owners must respond to the digital "imperative" by adopting a more nuanced approach to planning, management and handling agencies, the Boston Consulting Group has argued. The firm interviewed around 100 senior executives, and discovered only 25% still set communications budgets via a sales-to-growth ratio, but 45% now work "from scratch", reflecting the downturn and rise of new media. "We found this encouraging, as it avoids perpetuating suboptimal spending patterns simply through status quo budgeting," BCG said. But balancing responsibility for developing and coordinating campaigns has not witnessed equally positive trends. "The nature of digital marketing itself is more global than traditional marketing has been, since activities on such as Facebook and Google can be viewed by internet users in any country," BCG suggested.

At present, 87% of organisations run campaign development at the brand or divisional level, reaching 84% for promotions and event marketing. Point-of-sale, demographic-specific initiatives, targeting "influencers", sampling and coupons schemes, and traditional mass marketing creative content all bettered 70%. Social media management registered 68%, while direct marketing, sales force management, and traditional media planning and buying were handled in this way by two-thirds of contributors. Corporate website management and design were the highest-scoring sectors concerning centralisation, delivering 57% and 50% respectively. As a "rule of thumb", BCG said strategic activities should remain at the operational tier, but executional duties like establishing standards and sending email blasts must be centralised.

B.L. 2.12.2010