Marketing data and analytics company Kantar has formed a new marketing effectiveness practise in a bid to help brands measure return on their investment and determine their marketing strategy overall.
The initiative – based in the UK while advising clients globally – will be led by Kantar Insights managing director UKI Dom Boyd and new head of marketing effectiveness Richard McLeod who recently vacated his role as head of media in the UK.
The team brings together expertise, data and insight from Kantar’s analytics, media, creative, brand and consulting offers and will work with marketers to identify the ‘right balance’ of long-term brand building investment and performance marketing spend for their business. This includes advising brands at the planning stage as well as supporting their ongoing monitoring and measurement, incorporating ‘creative quality and channel impact’.
In particular, the Kantar team will highlight the ways in which digital channels can be better used to enhance brand equity and price power, ‘not just deliver short-term sales targets’. AI-driven econometrics and campaign performance tools will also be used to predict the brand and sales impact of different marketing activities.
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“The conversation around marketing effectiveness has been evolving for some time, but the broad 60:40 split between long-term brand building and short-term activation remains generally accepted,” Boyd said.
“The challenge for brands now is how to apply this rule of thumb in practice in the cookieless, connected on and offline world they’re in, and drive additional value in an inflationary environment. As teams come under extra pressure to justify their decisions commercially in the boardroom, it’s vital they maximise every pound of investment. By taking an end-to-end objective view grounded in leading technology, data and expertise, we’ll help marketers strengthen outcomes for their business.”
The new marketing effectiveness practice will work with clients across consumer sectors such as FMCG, retail, financial services, healthcare, and travel and tourism.
McLeod added: “Marketing effectiveness is top of the agenda as CMOs battle to defend budgets during the current economic climate. Many teams will be tempted to switch spend to short-termist tactics in the coming months as stakeholders ask for immediate sales impact from activity, but we know this is the wrong way to go, slowing down brands’ recovery in the long run.
“By bringing together the full strength of the Kantar toolkit, our new practice will help guide teams through this storm – shaping marketing strategies rooted in data and insight that can deliver sustained growth.”
