Frank Mertens’ Post

An exceptionally brilliant article in MarketingWeek by Mark Ritson on McCain Foods' IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) Grand Prix winning paper. Consistency is key: don't listen to the #advertising, #design and #brandlanguage agencies who keep telling you to continually "refresh" your core brand idea, creative route, logo, typeface or #toneofvoice as a way to "stay relevant". All they're trying to do is keep busy (and billing). 🔥 "In yesteryear, we would have seen some over-clever bit of segmentation for the brand campaign. Pictures of six or seven different types of chip buyer. That’s all gone." 🔥 "In-house agencies and AI generators will never beat two incredibly unreliable humans who work late and use naughty words." #marketing

If you are a media company of any kind and any size, do yourself a favor a read this piece by Mark Ritson, please. As Professor Ritson walks you through a series of smart marketing decisions made by McCain's, think about your depth of involvement with your largest clients. Consider how you might earn your way to be part of those decisions. Your ability to make your big clients even bigger depends on it.

Refreshing piece of content, not in relation to AI and how marketing is changing to some new form of hyper personalisation. Marketing fundamentals, consistency and thank god for that! #marketing #mediamix #fundamentals #pricing

Mark Ritson practicing what he preaches in his latest Marketing Week column. 👇 In the piece, Ritson highlights the power of sticking to marketing fundamentals. This isn’t a new message from Ritson. In fact, it’s his third piece on this theme in the last week.... Which is why it's so brilliant. As Ritson points out: "Leadership is all about repetition." The most impactful leaders aren’t afraid to repeat key messages again and again. Marketers, this is a must-read.

Often, we marketeers get bored of our message even before the consumers do. In a world, where moment-marketing grabs bigger headlines than insights, brands seek instant blitzy-success & marketing managers seek shorter stints – new campaigns are the steroid that everyone seeks. A new campaign every season. A new message (with the Brand Manager’s personal insignia!) every year. And a new creative idea, preferably to keep the creative fraternity enthused. What Mark Ritson is saying is terribly boring. And he says it in his trademark irreverent manner. Though, completely out of tune with the current times. He extols marketing discipline, when steroidal shots & funnel-talks draw eye-balls, instead of insightful goose-bumps that wait in the queue for their discovery. So, if you last through his first para, you’ll discover the truth bombs of brand building – 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙮 & 𝘾𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙮 in Messaging. If mined well (for 𝘙𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦), it must have the legs to last long. Just like “𝘒𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘞𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨” by Johnnie Walker & “𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘋𝘰 𝘐𝘵” by Nike. With fiercer contests & fluid times, Brands & their business leaders face their biggest test ever. Of staying consistent. And, of delivering consistently on their promises. Very boring. Damn difficult. But, Extremely rewarding! https://lnkd.in/dZ-uyaDN

What a wonderful article that all business owners and marketers should read. STOP CHASING SHORT-TERM FIXES.

Mark Ritson with more wise words on why consistency in your brand is the ultimate (and everlasting) winner! System1’s Andrew Tindall is all over this at the moment and is calling it “creative consistency”. Keep doing what you do and don’t change it. Keep the team. The agency. The position. The codes. The strategy. And. Just. Keep. Doing. It.

I absolutely loved reading every bit of this! This part of the article really struck home for me: "Of course, the majority of marketers know nothing about any of it. They inhabit the murkier corners of marketing, where training is rejected because change is held up as a circuit-breaker for learning anything from the past. AI and the "new consumer" mean everything we once knew is pointless now." "But for those who know that is bullshit, who study, who respect marketing knowledge, who know the foundations do not change, the McCain case is a jewel sparkling with everything we have learned in these very fruitful 15 years." It struck a chord because I consciously chose not to continue in marketing without gaining the proper knowledge to truly understand what I'm doing. There’s a trend of people entering the field with little understanding of the fundamentals or any sort of training, which is resulting in marketing efforts that lack a strong foundation. The easy entryway into the profession has led many to overlook the value of solid education and expertise, taking us back to a time when marketing was based more on assumptions and notions than on data and research.

This is a great column from Mark Ritson - the McCain Foods Grand Prix-winning paper embodies the simple power of the IPA Effectiveness Awards and shows why everyone involved is so protective of their quality. The Effectiveness Awards select for significant and sustained business impact, so the type of work that is awarded – whether John Lewis, Audi or Guinness – has often been in the public eye long before any award is handed out. But the format asks the work’s creators to shift from theories and abstract, context-free data, to a deeply evidenced story of business impact, from inception to outcome. A bestseller about a bestseller, in the words of our Chair of Judges Catherine Kehoe, designed to arm marketers and agencies in a battle of boardroom influence. In this case, it’s evidence not just that pricing power is possible but that it is earned. Many FMCGs increased prices post-pandemic, only to see volumes suffer in the face of discounters and private label because – unlike McCain – their marketing investment had previously been designed to keep sales volumes steady, rather than earn a greater premium. Just like Guinness and Yorkshire Tea, other Gold-winning efforts whose marketing excellence earned a higher premium, McCain serves as a clear lesson that our efforts can do more than bring in more shoppers. Their example won’t be transferable to every brand in every context, but if it serves to help even a single marketer or agency stuck in a similar position, the awards will have done their job. Huge credit to adam&eveDDB for the consistently great work, and – echoing Mark below – a special shout-out to PHD for their stewardship of the brand investment over the years. Incredible work, one and all.

🧐 What can McCain's Grand Prix win teach us? 🧐 Nothing. Zilch. Nada. 😜 But that’s exactly why it’s so brilliant! 🙌 McCain’s victory at the IPA Effectiveness Awards isn’t about reinventing the wheel. Nope, it’s about doing the same old marketing perfectly—and that’s the real magic! From resisting the discounting trap to mastering brand building and emotional storytelling (yes, even chips have feelings! 🍟), McCain stuck to the fundamentals. And guess what? It worked like a charm. Consistency, classic strategies, and a pinch of patience… sometimes, doing the same thing really does pay off. #Marketing #Advertising #McCain #Effectiveness #MarketingMasterclass https://lnkd.in/dBKAXXqa