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Marketers Are Slow To Adapt To Disruptions, Says New ANA Survey

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The ANA Masters of Marketing Annual Conference in Orlando took place last week with a record attendance of more than 2,800 marketers. The theme of this year’s conference was “Growth: Mastering Brands and Driving Results.”

During his opening remarks, ANA President and CEO Bob Liodice cited a new ANA study called “Marketing’s Moment: Leading the Disruption”, which found that marketing aspirations are far outstripping reality.

The survey results reveal that 66% of marketers understand marketing disruptions and are building responses into their strategy. However, only 13% are taking action and creating measureable impact. And, while 90% believe that active testing and learning is the best strategy for responding effectively to disruptions, only 55% employ agile marketing processes, analyzing and iterating marketing plans frequently

Although the need for content is one of the biggest disruptive forces, an astonishing 84% of marketers do not have a formal content strategy and distribution process. There is a leadership/line management disconnect with 43% of marketers saying they are not empowered or encouraged to experiment and innovate, despite the importance of a “test and learn” approach as a response to disruptive forces.

Most marketers acknowledge that data and analytics are the key to addressing a more complex landscape: 96% said the ability to make data-informed decisions is their most-needed capability to respond effectively to disruptions. However, more than one-third of companies surveyed are not using data to make decisions, and almost half say they still don’t have the right analytics in place.

The survey found that mobile (85%) is the top focus today for increased investment to address key disruptors. This is followed by content and new customer experiences (82%) and big data/advanced analytics (77%). Investing in new technologies (94%), developing new marketing models (93%), and hiring new talent/developing new roles (91%) were cited as the top three strategies for responding to disruptions today.

“Complexity and the speed of change have caused confusion, and that inhibits marketers from moving forward and setting themselves up for long-term success,” said Liodice. “CMOs need to take charge and effect change because the marketing organization often trails the rest of their company.”

The survey also found that the networked organization, where cross-functional teams come together for projects under a common vision, is the future of the marketing organization. In fact, over the next one to three years, the number of organizations that are networked is projected to increase from 16% to 63%.

Among the speakers at the conference was Mark Addicks, the CMO of General Mills who spoke about his company's marketing approach of identifying “brand champions”, influential consumers within a category. Addicks also noted that successful brands identify the "passion points" that make these consumers engage brands and become brand advocates.

Marty St. George, senior VP-commercial for JetBlue discussed marketing from the perspective of a challenger brand that is outspent nearly 15 to 1 on media by low-cost rival Southwest, and it has a 3% market share compared to 80% controlled by the big four airlines. The airline competes by delivering a superior flying experience at low cost and relying on earned media generated by clever stunts like the offer of a special $4.05 nonstop flight between Long Beach Airport and Bob Hope Airport in Burbank a couple of years back during what was then known as "Carmageddon," the much-feared shutdown of the 405 Freeway in Los Angeles for two days of construction.

Microsoft’s CMO Chris Capossela described how the tech giant plans to transform its marketing in the next three years: He presented a six-point plan that includes: “freemium” innovation; building marketing into products; modern storytelling; ad platforms not ad campaigns; world's best data platform; and a bigger role for the Microsoft brand, essentially bringing all products under the same umbrella.

Jeff Jones, CMO of Target, offered a perspective on managing the crisis in the wake of last year’s data breach. Target response to this was to do some deep soul-searching and use this period as an opportunity to assess its brand and the way to do business. The outcome of this introspection and intense self-examination was to shift its marketing emphasis to Hispanics and Millennials. Jones emphasized that the once-insular culture is changing as Target is recruiting outsiders and embracing full transparency.

Other speakers included Blaire Christie, CMO of Cisco; Deanie Elsner, CMO of Kraft; Mike Sievert, CMO of T-Mobile; Anne Finucane, CMO of Bank of America; Stephen Quinn, CMO of Walmart; Andy England, CMO of MillerCoors; Roel de Vries, Global Head of Marketing for Nissan and former P&G CMO Jim Stengel.

Avi Dan is founder of Avidan Strategies, a leading agency search and compensation consultants