Eric Fulwiler

Acceleration SSA’s Richard Clogg joined IAB South Africa's Brand Council Roundtable last week for a valuable discussion on the power and importance of 1PD in the future of marketing. The conversation was packed with important insights for how marketers can position their businesses for long-term growth and transformation in a privacy-first world. In case you missed it, here’s a quick rundown of top takeaways and event themes:  ✔ 1PD is Key to Success: A 1PD strategy is non-negotiable and critical to marketing success in a privacy-driven world.  ✔ Double Down on Privacy: Prioritize collection of consented data and ensure you’re upholding customer trust, always. ✔ Lean into AI: Utilize AI across targeting and measurement to unlock new opportunities. It's not just a buzzword; it's a game-changer in today's marketing landscape.

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Really grateful to two market-leading Editors of subscription-led businesses and terrific ex-colleagues of mine, Catrin Griffiths and Alastair McLellan, for spending time with me last week on B2B content strategy. If you want to watch on-demand there is a link below. Highlights for me included: Impact on content strategy of the move to a paid subscription business model 17min46 Building a high value B2B content proposition 14min02, 23min05, & 31min29 How to motivate editors & editorial teams 29min42 & 50min47 Removing Print as a platform 45min02: https://lnkd.in/gbwftfwR

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Reach with out the right frequency and creative, is like setting fire to your money folks…. But getting the right reach and frequency in the ever more fragmented media landscape is getting harder and harder, yet those that manage to do so have a huge competitive advantage… act accordingly 😀

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Well done Instinct Digital and Cassian Scott Stephen Maynard Great traction for the ambitious growth plans at Instinct Digital - “We are delighted to partner with AlbionVC on the next stage of our journey,” said Cassian Scott, CEO.  “Our prestigious clients are fundamental to our success, along with our partners and team who have enabled Instinct to build a product that has the potential to become the benchmark in investment communications and reporting for investors." see Morningstar Synpulse Marouane Bakhtar #fintech #assetmanagement #assetmanagers #investmentmanagers #wealthmanagement #reporting #investors

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In today's digital era, the human touch is making a powerful comeback in marketing strategies. 🌐🤝 Leading UK brands are shifting towards human-to-human marketing, focusing on personal connections to build trust and loyalty. Here's why: - Residential Visits: Representatives from broadband and energy companies engage with customers face-to-face, offering tailored solutions and personalized service. This approach transforms customer relationships and boosts satisfaction. - Event Sales: Community events and pop-up stands provide a relaxed setting for brands to connect with consumers, demonstrating products and creating memorable experiences that humanize the brand. - Enhanced Customer Retention: Personalized interactions lead to higher customer loyalty and a stronger brand reputation, crucial in today's competitive landscape. - Customer Insights: Direct engagement offers invaluable insights into customer preferences and pain points, helping companies refine their services continuously. At The Fox Sales Factory, we've witnessed the incredible impact of these strategies. Brands that prioritize genuine connections not only meet but exceed customer expectations, driving long-term success. Read more about the transformative power of human-to-human marketing in our latest article: https://lnkd.in/ewzYDyBb #Marketing #CustomerEngagement #HumanConnection #BrandLoyalty #EventMarketing #CustomerService #BusinessStrategy #TheFoxSalesFactory

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We all love the creativity involved in our marketing discipline, but it’s not just about the advertising! Great piece by Mark Ritson in Marketing Week on the broader discipline of ‘marketing’ beyond the scope of the one ‘P’ of ‘Promotion’ that most ‘marketers’ gravitate to, highlighting the importance of product intrinsics and the vital role marketers should play in existing product improvement as part of our overall remit. #marketing #MarketingWeek

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It’s interesting to see the growing emphasis on #brand #marketing for long-term, sustainable growth and profitability. Over the past two decades, #Google AdWords, #Facebook Ads and #programmatic advertising have made #performance marketing the primary focus for driving growth, due to its immediacy and measurability. CMOs, often pressured by investors, have prioritised these hyper-targeted, short-term channels over brand-building efforts. Starting my career in FMCG before the era of performance media, and gaining extensive experience with it during the digital marketing boom, I learned that brand and performance aren’t competing strategies: they complement each other. In my last CMO role at a scaleup that initially only relied on paid search to acquire in-market customers, I introduced brand marketing - including awareness advertising, content partnerships, PR and events, all with a bold creative - to enhance not only brand awareness, reputation, affinity and trust, but also return on paid media investment. Our integrated, outcome-based media planning approach saw brand advertising boost both long-term #equity metrics and the #effectiveness of performance media channels, ultimately improving unit economics. It’s pleasing to see more and more studies validating the relationship between brand and performance marketing. #MarketingStrategy #BrandBuilding #BrandMarketing #PerformanceMarketing #DigitalMarketing

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Commercial Marketers are focused on overall business strategy and goals first. They also play a central role across the full customer life cycle. Wise words Gursaran Marjara Propolis B2B Marketing #CommercialMarketer #CommunityIntelligence #b2b

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Well worth a read for any Agency leader considering whether 2025 should include investment in Strategy. TL;DR.. you should!

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Gen AI means more reputation risk Generative AI is revolutionising the process of creating communications content. And it's directly changing media consumption habits, accelerating the disintermediation of mainstream media and facilitating the rise of alternative content sources. Meanwhile the proliferation of synthetic media content has negative implications for trust and authenticity. AI-generated content is blurring the lines between reality and fabrication, challenging traditional media’s role as gatekeepers of trusted information.  In this short piece, I argue that 'Gen AI’ is therefore massively raising the threat level for brand reputation risk. All thoughts welcome. https://lnkd.in/dPNRiMiK

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Get2Growth is now Decoding Growth. Having spent the last two years working as a strategic advisor to over 20 B2B scale-up businesses across different sectors, I’ve uncovered two consistent challenges: 1. These businesses are struggling to access, understand, and utilise their audience and customer data effectively, and 2. They’re eager to adopt AI applications but are quickly running into roadblocks when it comes to making those tools work in meaningful ways. Getting serious about data Data has been a buzzword in business for decades, yet most still lack the infrastructure and strategy to fully harness its power. Now, with the rapid rise of AI, this gap is becoming even more critical. AI needs data to function...accurate, clean, well-organised data. However, many scale-ups are rushing into AI projects without ensuring their data is ready for it. This is leading to underwhelming results, wasted investments, and missed opportunities. Maximising tech investments At the same time, companies are pouring money into expensive sales and marketing tech, only to use a fraction of its capabilities. From CRMs to CDPs, businesses are often focused on surface-level features - failing to tap into advanced functions like predictive analytics, personalised customer journeys, and data-driven sales enablement. Taking AI beyond the hype AI adoption itself is limited to specific functions such as marketing and HR, with only the most basic applications in use. There is a significant opportunity in sales that remains largely untapped, particularly around lead generation, pipeline management, and sales productivity. Those who can leverage AI effectively in these areas will realise significant advantages and see enormous growth and efficiency gains. Bridging the gap The truth is, AI isn’t just a tool - it’s a transformative shift in how businesses operate, but only if the data behind it is well-prepared. Without a strong data strategy, AI will underperform. The good news is that scale-ups are perfectly positioned to adapt, given their agility and growth-oriented mindset. For Decoding Growth, the mission is to help B2B scale-up businesses bridge this gap. Our focus is on building robust data strategies and enabling AI-driven solutions that directly impact sales and marketing performance. It’s about getting your data right, maximising your technology investments, and using AI not as a headline, but as a competitive advantage. #DecodingGrowth #DataStrategy #ArtificialIntelligence #AIForSales #DigitalTransformation #ScaleUp

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One of the major themes discussed at the launch event for ‘Advertising: Who Cares?’ was the influence of unbalanced business models on the whole advertising eco-system. And especially the pernicious effect of share/stock price maintenance at the expense of advertising effectiveness. Yes, that’s right. This applies to advertisers themselves, whose C-Suite execs can earn phenomenal amounts in stock-related rewards. The same is true for the big agency groups, adtech businesses and other parts of the eco-system. All of this determines how advertising is created, produced and distributed and it leads to a volume-led approach that contradicts the promise of personalisation. The wrong incentive systems lie at the heart of our industry’s problems and a lot more focus should be placed on addressing them. No-one analyses this better than Michael Farmer and he led the team that examined these business models and how they drive the wrong kind of behaviours. Michael has written the history before the event and everyone should take notice…if you care about great advertising. So read his Substack piece below and if you also care, join us on https://lnkd.in/emDgMxQN Brian Jacobs

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🌍 Bull & Wolf's First Ever B Corp Impact Report 📈✨ Last week you saw the video version of our Impact Report but I am thrilled to announce the release of Bull & Wolf’s first ever B Lab UK Impact Report on our website in all its PDF glory! This marks a significant milestone in our commitment to social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. As a Certified B Corporation, we are dedicated to balancing purpose and profit, and this report highlights our progress and future goals. 🔍 What’s Inside the Report? Our B Corp Impact Report showcases the strides we’ve made in various areas, including: Environmental Sustainability: Initiatives to reduce our carbon footprint, promote recycling, and enhance sustainability practices across our operations. Community Engagement: Efforts to support local communities through volunteering, partnerships, and charitable contributions. Employee Well-being: Programs and policies aimed at ensuring a healthy, balanced, and inclusive workplace for all team members. Governance: Measures to maintain high standards of ethical behavior, transparency, and accountability in our business practices. 🌟 Highlights and Achievements - Reduction in Carbon Emissions: Nearly 1,300 miles cycled on Falmouth's Beryl Bikes, as well as 1,000 sqm of native temperate rainforest through Plant One CIC. - Community Support: Contributed over 100 volunteer hours and £10,000 in donations and work to local charities and social enterprises, including ShelterBox and Surfers Against Sewage - Employee Initiatives: Launched comprehensive wellness programs and achieved 4.66/5 overall team happiness with 100% recommending working for us. 🤝 Looking Ahead This report is not just a reflection of our past achievements, but a roadmap for the future. We are committed to continuous improvement and setting even more ambitious goals for social and environmental impact as we move forward, with some exciting plans in the works. 📢 We encourage you all to read our B Corp Impact Report and join us in our mission to create a positive impact. Together, we can build a better future! Massive thanks to Libby, Chris, Tyler, Felix, Joe, Sarah and the Kingdom & Sparrow team for helping to pull this all together. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eHriG9xS #BCorp #ImpactReport #Sustainability #CorporateResponsibility #BullAndWolf #SocialImpact #EnvironmentalStewardship #CommunityEngagement

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Get out there and spend time with customers in environments where they are thinking about or buying your products, sound advice. Market research is a key part of the job, being customer centric and solving real customer problems in creative ways is our job as marketers, don’t get too distracted by all the technology…. In the end it all comes down to building creative that resonates with customers and changes behaviours, so the more you know about them the more effective you’ll be.

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MEMBER INSIGHT | We recently asked our members to share examples of impactful marketing campaigns that have resonated with them. Here’s what Sylvia Assumpcao had to say: “A very well-known example is the John Lewis & Partners Christmas ads. Each year, they craft stories that focus on relatable themes and uplifting emotions, making us feel connected and inspired during the festive season. On the B2B side, HubSpot’s 'Inbound Marketing' campaign really stands out for me. Instead of simply promoting their software, they prioritise educating businesses with valuable content—such as blogs, webinars, and case studies—that address real marketing challenges. As a marketer, I’ve relied on HubSpot’s resources through the years and feel like they understand the issues I face in my role.” If you’d like to read the advice Sylvia would give to marketers looking to create campaigns that not only succeed but also leave a lasting impact, check out our latest Impact Lens piece! -https://lnkd.in/eexvW_-D #Marketing #ImpactfulCampaigns #MarketingInsights #MarketingCommunity

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At a time when #B2Bmarketers face ever-growing pressure to do more with less, #demandgeneration can be the strategic key to unlocking long-term commercial success. Check out the latest edition of 'the knowledge' and learn how to master demand gen in #B2Bmarketing ➡ https://lnkd.in/eEwPEx7T

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How to assess media coverage. Is all media coverage good? No. Unfortunately, much of the PR industry continues to be stuck on quantity over quality. For us, there are four very clear characteristics of a good piece: 1. The right placement. Will the piece be read or seen by the desired audience? Consumers of the right demographic; business procurers, investors, Government etc. 2. Brand Understanding. A brief brand mention is never enough. Good coverage explains what a business is, what it does, and why it is different. This should lead the audience to gain a better understanding of a brand. Not every piece of good earned media will fulfil every possible objective - but it should do more than simply mention your brand in passing. If it does, you have to question its value, especially based on the time and effort to gain this earned media piece. 3. Call to action. What should a reader or viewer do after seeing this piece? While a good CTA could be obvious, e.g. go to a shop or website, more subtle ones which demonstrate a clear benefit to ownership are equally as powerful. However, not having a clear call to action devalues a piece. 4. What's the point? You have to ask, what is the purpose of this communication? Is it to change opinions, create a deeper understanding of a business, sell more stuff? Coverage should be benchmarked against these to determine if good or bad. While some consider media coverage to be a numbers game, in our 21 years we found that it is the quality pieces that make measurable differences to businesses. Brand awareness, name checks or coverage for the sake of justifying budgets is never enough.

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This is an exciting moment… There’s a growing consensus that commercial effectiveness should be central to how we measure the impact of marketing. Brand Opus suggest in their summary of Cannes Lions 2024  that “commercial effectiveness has made a return to holy grail status” https://lnkd.in/eDRzYPaq Building on the approach outlined by Jenni Romaniuk in her brilliant book ‘Better Brand Health’ the following slides show how to link brand metrics to business outcomes.  #commercialeffectiveness #brandhealth #mentalavailability

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