Digital consumer technology is everywhere and it has changed the ways in which brands communicate and engage with their customers. This revolution in both technology and communication has also changed how consumers interact – often directly – with brands. In many categories, this has created a new generation of direct to consumer (D2C) brands which use digital-first customer journeys. As a result, marketing is changing faster than ever, making brands rethink the shape and composition of their marketing organisations.
Media is in the front line of these changes, with consumers rapidly shifting where and how they consume media. As a result, some major advertisers are assessing whether they need a central media function and expertise at all. Some have chosen to reorganise their marketing operations around the digital customer journey, or content, rather than media.
For big-spending advertisers with media activation in multiple markets, however, at Ebiquity we believe that there are very real and enduring advantages from steering media from the centre. By “from the centre”, we don’t necessarily mean from a central, global hub. Central steerage can equally be delivered from regional or hub-based centres of excellence; teams of experts focused on maximising impact and enhancing return on investment.
Marketing is most companies’ single biggest expenditure, averaging 13% of revenue at large companies. Media typically represents 20-30% of total marketing investment, making it the largest line item on many brands’ budgets. And media agencies are many brands’ biggest single suppliers.
Marketers who view media as an investment to be optimised – not a cost to be minimised – are those who build the right structures and operating models that generate better ROI. Our own, independently-verified research shows that global advertisers may be leaving as much as $45bn untapped profit ROI on the table by failing to optimise media investments.
In this rapidly-evolving marketing ecosystem, we’ve written a new Viewpoint paper on the advantages of steering media from the centre, as well as when and if it makes sense to do so. In the paper, we detail the four principal advantages of running a centralised media function: C-suite credibility, strengthened agency partnerships, ensuring best practice is shared across markets and brands, and the alignment of marketing strategy and overall business strategy. The paper includes recent case studies, from P&G, VW, and Vodafone.
To download your copy of Ebiquity’s new Viewpoint paper, Steering Media from the Centre, click above.
