Who We Are

Our Story

Dear reader,
Let me tell you the story about why Marketing Clinic was founded.  This story is all about Value Creation through marketing.  I saw during my 10 years with The Coca-Cola Company how a well functioning, almost machinelike marketing organization can consistently create value for its consumers and its shareholders.

Six years ago we saw that competition was increasing tremendously; weak marketing organizations had a hard time competing with international companies with extensive resources and highly skilled marketers.  Many companies had not been creating value and differentiation.  They were left with only two limited tools to compete with; PRODUCT and PRICE. The key question became why their brands were losing relevance or weakening.

I started to think hard about why local companies don't seem to take marketing seriously, instead of seeing it as a business crucial activity.  The answer I came to after some extensive benchmarking was that marketing was seen as a tactical activity or purely as advertising, without a clear connection to the business plan and the commercial processes.  Marketing was not on the agenda of top management.  Why? The answer was quite simple; a busy CEO does not have interest in activities that do not measurably impact the P&L.  The bold truth was that marketing was not doing the job marketing needed to do.

Let me give you a few sample questions of what keeps a successful marketer awake at night:

• Am I driving organic growth?
• Is my portfolio strategy working?  Do I invest in the right opportunities?
• Is my customer value proposition relevant and different and does it drive sales?
• What is better and different with my offering?
• Have I defined a great customer experience, to differentiate my brand(s)? No matter what you sell, you sell an experience.
• Do I drive brand equity with my marketing efforts?
• Have I identified my most valuable customers and do I know why they choose my brand?
• Have I segmented the market based on values, attitudes and behavior that shape or increase demand?
• Is my marketing strategy crystal clear?
• Are my marketing KPIs strongly aligned with the company's overall objectives?
• Do we have a performance management culture in marketing?
• Is my marketing organization effective and is the marketing process anchored in the overall planning process in the company?
• Am I truly passionate about driving value?

The founders of MC, myself and my fellow colleagues from The Coca-Cola Company, wanted to offer a world class marketing framework to all companies to ensure that by going forward they win in their markets.  It is all about superior customer insights, strategy and execution.  There are no short-cuts to value creation! It is hard work to be truly better and different.

I would like to thank all of our fantastic clients for their trust and engagement.  At Marketing Clinic we continue to be passionate about your businesses and are committed to working hard at generating growth and value for your brands and businesses.

Marketing is FANTASTIC!

Catharina