Dan Plant

We have partnered with Mi3 to survey Australia's top marketers, gaining valuable insights into drivers and obstacles to growth. Follow the link to download the report. Let us know what you think. Jen Davidson Anthony Gregorio Paul McIntyre

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Finally. The siren song on a limiting era in marketing is playing out…👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Some (non-scientific) thoughts on the story below that - shocker - a new study may show that Byron Sharp’s ‘How Brands Grow’ has some great learnings (and at The Brill Building we use them when appropriate) but isn’t a one size fits all approach to marketing and advertising ✅1. I really have always thought of “How Brands Grow” as quite literally ‘The Bible’ of marketing strategy but not for the reason you might think. Rather I believe - like the Bible or any other supposedly ‘sacred text’ the validity of its teachings are relative to the intelligence or intentions of the person preaching them ✅✅2. If the learnings in HBG were as simple to apply and universally understood as they are proposed to be why does Byron Sharp himself spend his days on LinkedIn correcting people’s misinterpretations in the comments? ✅✅✅3. Many people and big commercial forces will always want easy solutions and formulas to replicate art at scale and to proven reliable profit (see Hollywood studio superhero movies and much of what is commercial pop) And it will often work. But true creativity is wholly original and will end up setting the ‘next’ wave of what we are encouraged to see as the ‘proven formula’ ✅✅✅✅4. Lots of not very experienced individuals are able to portray themselves as ‘experts’ or ‘gurus’ because they have learnt off and are able to parrot the ‘facts’ ‘proven statistics’ and ‘learnings’ of HBG, Ehrenberg-Bass, System 1 etc etc etc without having the ability to apply context, reasoning, instinct or any of the other flexible mindsets that allow applying them appropriately. ✅✅✅✅✅5. Marketing as a discipline is often set up to embrace each generation’s “doctrine” blindly (e.g It was Kotler but now it’s Sharp) in a way that discourages critical thinking and debate and encourages the widespread misinterpretation of select data as bad science. Bad. Science. ✅✅✅✅✅✅6. Please let this be the beginning of the end of all that black and white thinking. Marketing and advertising - like all creative disciplines in a commercial space - need originality and good judgement. That will always be the preserve of those with the talent and experience to steer the ship and we should be encouraged to sit with the discomfort of that. Not everyone who does an aero-nautical engineering degree has what it takes to be a pilot. And don’t get us started on the lads with lots of hours in the flight simulator. ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅7. Here’s what’s exciting, a new era is coming and none of us knows exactly what it will be. Uncertainty. The need to be open-minded. Not rigid and embracing good judgement. So. Ready. For. It…..

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Great article from Martyn Bentley on the importance of measuring and maximising the reach of your marketing investments. #audienceproject #measurement #ROI #reach

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It's been a busy few weeks here at OMC/Diversiffi Media..... .. with global DOOH progression,& market maturity top of the agenda. Data reveals that not only is OOH media holding its ground, but projections report it will outpace the UK advertising market growth in 2024/25. Not unexpectedly, this is propelled by DOOH, the convergence of technological advancements, the demands of advertisers, evolving consumer behaviours, & innovative approaches to creativity. The digitisation of assets, enabling dynamic content capabilities & programmatic trading options, redefines brand engagement. It is interesting to explore what opportunities these advancements present for clients/brands navigating audience attention in a cluttered media environment.  Will the flexibility of real-time, contextually relevant messaging extend brand resonance & increase budgetary investment? The integration of data-driven insights & analytics into campaign planning & execution is reshaping the OOH ecosystem. With advancements in technology enabling precision targeting & measurement, clients/brands have access to unlocking new levels of campaign performance and ROI.  Creativity also continues to flourish across both traditional & digital OOH, as clients/brands leverage more immersive experiences to captivate audiences & nurture lasting connections. The changes in consumer movements and infrastructure development are presenting significant opportunities for OOH. Capitalising on the growth of urban environments will broaden reach & campaign impact. As talked about frequently here, the integration of OOH into omnichannel marketing strategies is a pivotal driver of growth. Deliver consistency across multiple touchpoints, OOH is a critical component of the media mix. As long as clients/brands demand it, & their 3rd party agencies structure planning to fully integrate OOH into their omnichannel strategies, advertisers should witness an amplification of brand visibility & engagement The growth potential of OOH media is not to be underestimated. It's a multifaceted opportunity driven by digital transformation, data-driven insights, creative innovation, urbanisation, & integration with omnichannel strategies. Looking inwardly, which I rarely do, the key question is, will these opportunities start to impact OOH market share or are we yet to identify the barrier to progress? Diversiffi Media is a global independent commercialisation and business development agency, recognised for building & monetising assets through digital OOH networks, digital transformation, dynamic content & brokering commercial partnerships In partnership with The Out of Home Media Consultancy #assetmanagement #landlords #commercialproperty #municipalities #retail #inhousing #realestate #adtech #mallowners #revenues #dooh#doohadvertising #business #creativity #sustainable #globaladvertising #sustainability #data #OOHMedia #Sustainability#Commercialisation #DataDriven #DigitalTransformation Image: WOW LA

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I've read a lot of interesting takes on this social platform and others, regarding the demise of the Evening Standard (newspaper). I spent two spells at the Standard and, largely, have great memories of my time there, worked with some brilliant journalists and fulfilled a childhood dream of seeing my byline in the paper that my Dad brought home from his commute each day. My first spell (2005-2009) was working as a reporter for, primarily the newspaper, which published three editions each day. One person (!) was tasked with uploading our stories online which he dutifully did throughout the day. My second spell was as digital sports editor (2013-2016), as the organisation began to pivot more purposefully towards digital. The decline of print has been two decades in the making, at least. The fact is, we all have these incredibly powerful devices that access a whole host of news sources rapidly. Newspaper ad revenues have plummeted because, yes people do not want to pay for print products like they used to, but most significantly, the social platforms offer advertisers incredible data and targeting. It’s not a fair fight. Newspapers had needed to evolve into digital first news brands since the turn of the century - with purpose and a clear commercial strategy. The Standard was slower than others to realise this, partly because of its privileged and long established distribution network across London. It also leant to the right, supporting Tory mayoral candidates and preferring to concern itself more with London’s aspirational set rather than an increasingly diverse, economically-challenged city. That suited the commercial team which liked to position the paper as a harbinger of middle class trends, and go after the luxury brands. London is a lot of things to a lot of people, but 8 years under a Labour Mayor tells its own story. Nevertheless, the Standard always championed investigative journalism, proper news values, and often set the agenda for the dailies the following day. I hope it continues to do this via digital platforms and products because the name means something to a lot of people and there remains some really talented and committed journalists at the paper. For those mourning the paper’s demise, ask yourself: when was the last time I paid for a newspaper? We are all complicit in print’s decline because tech has changed the means with which we get our news. But with all the fake news out there, major news stories such as national elections in the UK and US and conflict raging in the Middle East and Europe, real, trusted journalism matters more than ever in 2024. The Standard's owners do not need to look far to see how newspapers have successfully pivoted to online, with The Independent (also owned by the Lebedevs) and Daily Mail both growing their audiences, revenues and improving their user experience in recent months.

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I felt both elation and despair when I read McDonald’s CFO Ian Borden’s comments in Cannes this week. Elation from the realisation that there is a CFO out there who gets that marketing is a critically important investment to drive growth. Despair from the fact that things had gotten so bad that marketing was seen as a “nebulous black box” at McDonald’s. So here’s a sneak peak from episode 2 of my MAD//Masters By Rory Sutherland course. In this lecture, I echo the great Jeremy Bullmore and claim that the notion of ‘marcomms’ has contributed to marketing being seen as a comms discipline - and not an important source of value creation and competitive advantage. I also introduce the concept of the broken binoculars, why taking market research literally is a mugs game when it comes to things like pricing, and how behavioural science can make us better at communicating the value of marketing. If this sounds like the kind of content you’d like to get your teeth into, do sign up for this summer’s intake of MAD//Masters. Featuring 10 on-demand episodes, monthly Q&A sessions, an in-person meetup at MAD//Fest London, a practical assessment and bonus content, I’ve made it my mission to help marketers (or CFO’s with an interest!) unlock the value of behavioural science and creativity in value creation. And just because everyone loves a deal, enrol today using the link below for just £1295 + get a free ticket to MAD//Fest London worth £995! https://lnkd.in/eBXJD2ek P.S. Contact Sam Benton for group booking rates and join teams from Amazon, Nestlé, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, VaynerMedia, NEOM, Sony and many more! MAD//FEST Sam Benton Dan Brain Harry Clark Ian Houghton Ben Phillips Aiden Lucas

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I had the honour of judging the IPA Effectiveness Awards last week, 3 surprising things I learnt: 1. Distinctively Dull Some of the best cases proved that dull but distinctive creative can be highly effective. Previous analysis of IPA winning papers has shown campaigns that get talked about, so called fame campaigns, do significantly better. But this isn't the only way. Being distinctively dull can clearly work. Byron Sharp and Ehrenberg-Bass Institute should be proud, distinctive assets really do matter. It's hard not to be swayed by more interesting creative work but as Simon Broadbent who founded the awards once wrote "these are effectiveness awards not creative awards". 2. Hidden Performance You could read a lot of the papers and think performance marketing didn't exist. In a few papers it seemed to be omitted from the paper to make the story about the brand investment appear stronger. In reality, this meant that the judges were left wondering what was missing, which undermined the impact of the papers. To misquote Simon Broadbent these are effectiveness awards not brand awards. Some papers, however, were based purely on performance marketing and a few of them were brilliant in proving its potential effectiveness. 3. Learning Learning Most MMM analysis was not backed up with experimentation. Regional hold-outs and incrementality testing were rare. A surprise given this is a cross section of the most effective work. Often the measurement in the papers appeared to be used for validating impact rather than illuminating learning. Simon Broadbent said papers should use evaluation to help dictate future actions. The rare papers that did so really stood out. It was an absolute honour to read about some seriously effective work, thanks to my fellow judges for some great debate, Charlie Ebdy and Jo Arden for the invite and Alexandra Green for hosting! Also, big shout out to Sarah Newman from the APG for recently posting the 1982 guide by Simon Broadbent on how to win an IPA Effectiveness award, it's amazing how relevant and helpful it was for judging today. My favourite tip from Simon: "Successful advertising is not easy to make and the papers should not make it seem as such". Bravo!

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Impact is our output. We talk about modern marketing being able to deliver two types of impact - cultural and commercial. How do we move beyond the brand purpose debate and into a more grown up and nuanced conversation about the different types of impact we all create as marketers every day? Come and join us to find out.

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Omar Oakes in The Media Leader UK touching on one of the biggest issues of our age. Network Media Agencies are having to turn to 'products' (many non-transparent) to find additional margin as pressure mounts on them to replace lost margins in creative, production and other disciplines within the Holding Companies. Selling products for a mark-up shouldn't be a core feature of a service industry. Adding value through strategic insights, sophisticated media planning and effective (not just efficient) execution should be the way that agencies demonstrate value and drive margin. Charging properly for this has to be the solution rather than today's race for the bottom of faster, better, cheaper. Hopefully this will be discussed at the Future of Media conference happening today and tomorrow from Adwanted UK events.

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Is the answer to the race to the bottom for agencies to become more consultative ? Excellent provocation as always from Omar Oakes who makes some great points about the lack of challenging behaviour in agency/client relationships today and the lack of growth in revenue leading to decline in agency fees. There’s a lot going on here. My tuppence worth from the purview of running a media agency group then setting up and growing a marketing consultancy for the last 4 years: * Holdco agencies lost their way when they 1) started to take a principle not agency approach to media buying 2) started to compromise the craft of planning * Creative thinking and innovation has suffered as a result - too much sameness in strategy and reliance on performance marketing * It’s not about brand/the big idea OR data driven activation, it’s about AND i.e finding the right balance and impact from both but most agencies are so siloed they can’t join this up * There’s a big difference between being “consultative” and being a consultant. The latter is focused on business outcomes and the levers that deliver revenue growth not all the noisy media and advertising metrics. This is as much about process and capabilities as it is about platforms and spend.. * Agencies in general commoditise their service and struggle to get paid fairly for the strategic and transformative work - this is largely client and not agency driven and marketers need to be prepared to pay accordingly for genuinely differentiating analytics, strategy and innovation.. * Consultancies scope precisely and instil a robust project management, gated approach to projects minimising scope creep and enabling value based pricing discussions Agencies are full of incredible talent who want to help their clients grow but too often the commercial constraints in the agency business get in the way of good work and partnership. When we consult we see great thinking and talent but it’s often the contractual constraints and the siloes that get in the way.. The major gap we see at CvE - Marketing Consultancy is between the high-level operating model and transformational thinking of the management consultants and the often narrow advertising/media/campaign thinking of most agencies. Brands need expert marketing and media practitioners to bridge this gap or else the promised revenue growth never materialises. This is an opportunity for everyone in the ecosystem but mostly those that lean in to client-led, business outcome focused thinking. Bravo Brian Jacobs & Nick Manning for continuing to bang this important drum and Omar for focusing on journalism focused on the issues that really matter..

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Ooooh, this would have been a juicy session at SXSW Sydney! Who was there and can shed light on the audience response? These paragraphs got my attention: -------------------------------------------------------------- “Just to make it very explicit, the original [Ehrenberg] model requires stationary markets … It requires that your market share is not changing, and it requires that the products are undifferentiated,” he says. “You're making suggestions of how to change market share on the basis of a model that cannot handle change, or whose main assumption is that the market share won't change. So that’s a problem in application.” Felipe Thomaz suggests that’s why large CPG firms and the multinational brewers that followed the Sharp/Ehrenberg-Bass playbook, because it tallied with their short-term sales data, were ambushed by nimble differentiated start-ups, direct-to-consumer players and microbreweries. “That death by a thousand cuts, by a thousand differentiated small brands, seems to be a direct indication that these things don't work,” he says. “My research has shown it time and time again that this is a folly." ------------------------------------------------------------ Thoughts? Personally, I'm here for a new set of evidence to help us make the right choices. I've always believed when and how you apply marketing science and academic theory is contextual. It depends on your brand challenge, your category dynamics and your consumers needs/behaviours at a point in time. There is no silver bullet. The good marketers are across all the evidence and synthesise it to make the right strategic choices to match their challenge. And I do agree with Thomaz' call that marketing is a Social Science, not a pure science. PS - I have major FOMO missing SXSW but have an HSC/Final Exam daughter to support. Please tag me in your key takeaways so I can live vicariously 🤓

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Not everyone likes to hear this I know but standardisation and getting the fundamentals right are key to the success of retail media. Let’s work together as an industry to make this happen

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Worth a careful read. [edited] "If marketers want to influence the debate, start with the profit and loss (P&L) statement rather than the balance sheet. For the consumer-facing business, the rate at which sales are growing is, overwhelmingly, the most important influence on the share price. The sales growth metric that matters the most to investors is ‘organic’ (or ‘like-for-like’) growth: the growth that can be squeezed from existing brands and assets (rather than from acquisitions less divestments, or random movements in currencies). With organic growth comes the magic of ‘operating leverage’: the fact that sweating existing assets harder is good for margins, as well as the top line." Read it here https://lnkd.in/gzqQVv6D

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Omar Oakes in The Media Leader UK on the increasing gulf between the media that produce content with its attendant cost and risk versus those that take their content from users, without risk and where the 'cost' is revenue share (hardly the same thing). Advertising spend performs several functions including provision of the funding for high quality content to advertise in. Making good content is a risky business and if media owners don't get the ad revenues they need, they will rely more heavily on lower cost and less risky content. Or eventually disappear. Too much of advertisers' money goes into their extended supply-chains, intermediaries and media that has no content cost or risk and which is less effective at reaching audiences and delivering business. Time to reassess... https://lnkd.in/emDgMxQN

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A brilliant talk by Mark Kirkham and Mauro Porcini of PepsiCo at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity on 'The Human Side of Growth'. My key take-out? Human-centricity means we must widen the lens to see the whole human and then sharpen the lens to get granular. Both spoke passionately about how PepsiCo has embraced seeing people as humans - not just consumers. As we say at Brand Genetics, 'You're a consumer of a brand for a fleeting moment, but you're human 100% of your life'. Too many businesses zoom in on the so-called 'moment of truth' - purchase and consumption. However, true insight lies in understanding the human journey leading to that choice and the underlying goals. By uncovering human motivations and the human jobs-to-be-done, we can discover richer, deeper opportunities. Mark and Mauro both spoke to how how being truly human centric could unlock growth by helping brands become more creative, more innovative and more experiential. They made a compelling case. Mark and Mauro showed that being truly human-centric can unlock growth by making businesses more creative, more innovative and more experiential. They made a compelling case for the power of people in love with people. #HumanCentricity #CannesLions #BrandGenetics #Creativity #Innovation #Marketing

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5 Reasons Byron Sharp's 'How Brands Grow' is overdue for a rethink. This provocative piece takes a critical look at Sharp and Ehrenberg's "How Brands Grow" and asks if it's time to rethink the model. Below are my 5 key takeaways from the article that pushes back on some of Sharp’s long-held principles. Check out the full article in the link for a deeper dive into the latest in marketing science 1️⃣ Stuck in Mediocrity: Blindly following Sharp’s broad-reach strategy risks average results, not breakout success. 2️⃣ Differentiation Isn't Dead: Sharp sidelines differentiation—but in today's market, standing out matters more than ever. 3️⃣ Loyalty Matters: Over-focus on penetration? It’s killing brand loyalty and long-term value. 4️⃣ Size Does Count: Sharp’s one-size-fits-all model ignores how brand size impacts growth tactics. 5️⃣ Old Dog, No New Tricks: Marketing has evolved, but Sharp’s model hasn’t kept pace with changing dynamics. https://lnkd.in/ggrhysvT #MarketingScience #BrandGrowth #brandstrategy #marketingstrategy #howbrandsgrow

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Media Marketing Compliance helped the Association of National Advertisers study the market for 'Principal' (or 'Proprietary') Media, and the results have landed. The report is incredibly thorough and provides great guidance for advertisers. While not a new phenomenon, PM is increasing dramatically and becoming a much more controversial way for Media Agencies to make extra profit at the expense of transparency into their true revenues. Advertisers should take a firm view on whether this is in their best interests.

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Tomorrow is World Suicide Prevention Day. And today marks the start of the next chapter in our campaign to unite the nation against suicide. Together, adam&eveDDB, the Campaign Against Living Miserably and ITV are launching Missed Birthdays. A campaign to draw attention to the fact that suicidality amongst children and young people is at a record high. 10 years ago, the single biggest killer of young people was accidents. Today it’s suicide. It has claimed the lives of 6,929 young people. Every single one of those lives is represented by a missed birthday balloon: a simple, powerful symbol of the hope, happiness and humanity that has been so tragically lost. It should make you angry. It should make you feel outraged. But it shouldn’t make you feel hopeless. Because we can all play our part in ending youth suicide, for good. Today, we aren’t asking you to donate. We’re not asking you to sign a petition. We are simply asking you to CARE. C: Check In with the young people in your life. A: Ask if they’re feeling suicidal. R: Remain close and remove them from harm. E: Escalate to emergency services - like CALM’s suicide prevention line or 999 - if necessary. To understand how to use CARE more, please visit care.thecalmzone.net Please share if you see fit; one conversation can be the difference between a life saved and a life lost. Today, tomorrow and every day after, we are #unitedagainstsuicide.

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In 2019 Cadbury UK launched a masterclass in our first Principle: Distinctiveness. And no, this campaign doesn't feature a sad lass on a bus, or in a petrol station, or a drumming gorilla. And it's not even about purple as a 'distinctive asset'. The launch of their Dark Milk was an impressive exercise in decision making - by being ruthless in deciding who their product isn't for, they could position it much more clearly, and therefore develop a much more distinctive proposition to an older audience. Instead of being a forgettable half milk, half dark chocolate hybrid, this creative gave it a shot at being the chocolate for those old enough to know better. #advertising #marketing

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