There have never been more tools in the media toolbox. Media’s potential value contribution to achieving strategic corporate goals has never been greater. And yet, many a media department and agency find themselves at the kids’ table of communications planning. CROSSMEDIA Managing Director, Sebastian Schichtel, wonders why we have been reduced to the equivalent of a media slaughterhouse where campaigns are deboned, piecework-style.Albert Einstein is possibly the most famous scientist the world has ever seen. It is true that the native of Ulm spent a considerable part of his life trying to prove complex physical relationships and make them measurable. With great success, as we know today. Despite this, Einstein was also all too aware of the limits of being able to measure things. “Not everything that can be counted counts. And not everything that counts can be counted,” he once said. A quote that is probably more relevant and significant for marketing and media decision-makers today than ever before, as many brands are standing at the crossroads between long-term success and slipping into irrelevance in a digitalized and fragmented (consumer) society. So, what has actually happened and what role does measurability play in all this?
The call for campaigns that not only wave the magic wand of creativity, but clearly deliver on effectiveness is getting louder. Just recently, the WARC Effectiveness Award took place, honoring that exact combination for the first time. Our very own Martin Albrecht, CEO CROSSMEDIA Worldwide, was a member of the jury and explains why the award has the potential to transform the industry.This year’s Cannes Lions have been handed out, albeit in a more understated way than the typical hoopla generated by thousands fueled by Rosé on the Croisette. But as we gradually move towards a return to some semblance of normal, will we do it with wisdom accrued from lessons learned?
If necessity is indeed the mother of invention, then 2021 could be the year in which agencies will truly transform the way they operate. Lee Beale, managing partner at Crossmedia USA, explains why a critical approach to third-party data is long overdue.2021 on paper is daunting. But could 2021 be the year of rebirth?
CRM is back! Anne Bologna, Chief Strategy Officer at Crossmedia USA, is convinced that modern CRM tools will finally enable brands to build real relationships with their customers. Could CRM in fact be the Holy Grail of digital-based advertising?In this modern era of digital marketing, data and tech have sparked the rise of new platforms and channels that are transforming how brands approach their go-to-market strategies. All of the shiny new toys are hard to ignore and all too often they tend to obscure. CRM is one discipline that is often overshadowed.
Crises reorganize peoples’ priorities regarding their needs. This, in turn, has a direct impact on our (media) consumption and it raises questions: In the wake of the Corona crisis, what is the effect of increased media use on the advertising market? Why is data currently virtually useless in the absence of agility and short decision-making paths? And what do consumers expect from a brand in these times? Daniela Pohle and Marius Hallet from Xccelerate, Crossmedia Germany’s agile strategy unit, share some of their observations.There is hardly an area of life that is not affected by the corona crisis. The same holds true for advertising and marketing. Thus, it comes as no surprise that plenty has also changed here in the past ten months.
Publicis raised a few eyebrows when it hyped its recent launch of The Pact by Epsilon. Crossmedia CEO Martin Albrecht says guaranteeing outcomes will harvest only the low-hanging fruit.The Pact is being sold as a “business outcomes solution powered by Epsilon’s identity management platform and machine learning.” It guarantees that digital campaigns will deliver on key performance indicators (KPIs) that could include sales, new client acquisition and return on ad spend. If agreed-to metrics aren’t met, clients get 100% of their money back.
When planning their brand communication, many companies focus on short-term KPIs, as they can be quickly optimized for success. However, an inconsistent strategy damages the brand – and more than half of the value of advertising is only created in the long term. Crossmedia’s head, Markus Biermann, is concerned about the future of brands.The world of marketing, sometime in the near future: companies have started digging their own graves. By abandoning consistent brand communication, they have gradually destroyed values that they had built up over time in painstaking effort. Media in-house silos burden their profit and loss account, obstructing the view to a neutral way of looking at things. Marketers no longer ask their agencies to make recommendations, evaluate pros and cons or think in scenarios. Now, all they ask for are dashboards. Every new strategy is always only as good as yesterday’s KPIs. Creators and brand makers have become submissive dependents. Slaves to a short-term mania called optimization.