What are the biggest challenges facing global marketers today?
Our contributors were more than generous with the thought and time they put into their responses and we re very grateful to them all. We hope you find this as interesting as we do. The complex world of global marketing is always evolving. New requirements, new technologies, new territories: it all makes for a fascinating if challenging profession. Freedman s recent qualitative survey of 13 top global marketing executives reveals their biggest challenges as we head towards the end of the year 2014.
Roger Alderson Group Director Intelligence & Digital Strategy, Sage plc Global marketing means scaling many challenges This is a HUGE question. Here s my top five: 1. Having a clear view of customer wants and needs across different segments - industry, geography, demographic, portfolio/value category. 2. Reaching customers in a meaningful way that engages with them, rather than just communicates to them. 3. Internal coordination of activities across different business units to maximise the impact (and efficiency) of global initiatives. 4. Measuring the impact of a campaign for the purpose of making adjustments and improvements (not just reporting). 5. Developing campaigns that are flexible and utilise marketing assets that can be created once and deployed many times - in different markets.
Suzanne Barratt Product Communication Manager Bayer CropScience Acting globally. Thinking locally For me it is creating a package that can resonate in as many countries as possible. It s about creating the core positioning and messaging, and not getting tied down into a specific culture, yet opening the door for possible tweaks and changes that will make the campaign resonate locally. Acting globally yet thinking locally: this sums up my challenge. Frank Mertens Director of Marketing & Brand Global Expansion, ebay Global marketers face challenges on many fronts Here are my top five challenges: Internal alignment. Maximizing impact of social and digital. Consistent measurement across all channels and all geographies. Speed and flexibility. Short-term ROI expectations.
John Bernard was voted Marketer of the Year 2013 by Marketing Week and shortlisted for Digital Marketer of the Year 2013, Digital Masters Award. John Bernard Global Marketing Director Firefox OS The biggest challenge is ROI The biggest challenge with any global marketing role is ROI. Whether you re looking at sponsorship, channel marketing, PR or advertising, it s more important than ever to show the value in what you do. Investing online and smart automation tools are starting to make it easier to track results and prove ROI. With traditional offline advertising it s still hard to measure. So in some ways, the ROI challenge is getting easier, in other areas it s as subjective as it ever was. Selection of media still remains though, a big decision.
Cat Allport Head of Marketing Services Rentokil Initial Global marketers face challenges on many fronts The two challenges that outweigh the others are communications and economics. Internal comms challenges go far beyond language barriers Coordinating activity between multiple stakeholders requires fast reactions and commitment, particularly on reactive campaigns. Despite excellent communications technology (Google hangout, Skype, Webex), it can still be challenging to pull together all stakeholders. Strong project management is a pre-requisite for global comms It s impossible to be omnipresent across disparate locations but with buy-in we pull together a consistent, coordinated project. Looking at external comms, it s essential to understand communication delivery platforms on a global scale. Advancements in technology give us a plethora of options, and we have access to granular demographic data, but do we understand preferences and trends at a country level? Do we understand preferences and trends at a country level? The economic picture of different countries has to be factored into campaigns. Local P&Ls will vary according to customer spending levels and affect local marketing budgets. The result is highly variable in country marketing investment - which has an impact on the quality and consistency coming from regional offices on global marketing campaigns. The economic climate will also alter the deliverables of global activities as businesses strive to get appropriate audience responses. Low economic growth countries will need to be approached in a way that reflects the local market. Every project needs to address a high, medium and low resource and budget capability level.
Frank Pynenburg Director Global Campaign WOOX Innovations, for Philips Sound Integrated ecosystem management The challenge when working on global campaigns can be seen as moving from Marketing 1.0 to Marketing 2.0. For Marketing 1.0 the integrated marketing challenges and requirements were around stakeholder acceptance (buy-in), campaign localizability, issues of brand compliance, how to align messages across the board, and budget management. These are still very important and a base requirement for international campaigns. However, our assignment as Global Campaign Managers is changing from a toolkit manager to an ecosystem manager. In my view the challenges for Marketing 2.0 integrated ecosystem management are aligned objectives, KPI and metric setting; and reporting.
Shawn Conley Vice President, Global Advertising and Branding Electronic Arts Making the most of big data For us I d say the number one issue we struggle with is how to deliver more personalized advertising at scale across the world by leveraging our deep consumer data. Ronnie Beltran Group Brand Strategist Red Fuse Communications Driving local customer engagement with digital media In my view the biggest challenge for global marketing campaigns is driving local consumer engagement, especially for consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies. CPG companies are experts at driving brand communication in a single direction: from manufacturer to consumer. But digital media is forcing campaigns to be much more engaging. The new media is designed to allow people to talk back, or at least not participate if you re not engaging enough. And marketers have no choice but to try to figure this out, because all our competitors are doing the same. About 20% of ad budgets are now allocated to digital media, and all indications point to an even bigger number in years to come. It s difficult to get right on a local level, and even more difficult to orchestrate on a global level. The good news is that no one has really figured it out yet. So we are all on an equal footing on this.
Kai Gait Global Digital Director Global Commercial Strategies & Platforms, GlaxoSmithKline Organizational design can you deal with real-time interaction? One of the challenges faced by global marketers is how the activities and campaigns transcend region borders. Geography is not a restriction, but if you operate above country, are businesses prepared to deal with the real-time interaction generated? An example might be where a campaign is conducted in market, but quickly shared via social media, taking it beyond its original destination, and potentially generating interaction for a team working out of a different time zone. Are companies set-up to operate in this way? Start-ups are typically too small; and large companies are weighed down by complex internal set up. For me, organizational design is one of the critical challenges in a modern market place, especially for large enterprises.
Jim Lefevere Global Marketing & Global Head of Digital Marketing Roche; Digital Health Scholar Getting the mix right It's hard to isolate one main challenge. In my view, consistently developing and delivering a campaign with the right media mix for each market is very difficult. Every country has varying levels of marketing maturity and digital understanding, which puts more pressure on finding the right mix, justifying the right activities, implementation and measuring success. All of this increases the level of complexity significantly and the ongoing difficulty of managing global campaigns. I have not seen a commensurate increase in time or resources. Couple this with the fact that healthcare businesses in general are under a tremendous amount of pressure and it makes for interesting work!
Steve Sommers Vice President Global Brand Marketing, Under Armour Global consistency. Local relevancy One of the biggest challenges continues to be maintaining consistency globally while assuring local relevance. The knee-jerk from HQ is to think local and consistent. Conversely the knee jerk from the regions is to think how they are different and need different assets. Reconciling these two positions is critical to deliver an efficient and effective campaign that is on brand and achieves maximum impact. Digital Asset Management (DAM) is a much more tactical challenge, but a challenge nonetheless. Installing and maintaining a centralized repository of marketing assets is critical, allowing all global marketers insight into what assets the brand has and access to them for their activations. Additionally, a DAM helps the creative team know what assets are being used, what are needed, when rights expire, and so on.
Local relevance Management Quality of execution Customs Grant Westbrook Global Director of Marketing Mintel Group Ltd Managing overlapping challenges There are a number of overlapping challenges. Here s a summary: Local relevance. Does your message resonate locally? Does it fit in with the needs of the local market and their likely reasons to purchase? Is it representative of the offer in market? Language. Translation is an art. Most translation agencies do not understand the context of what is being said. This is accentuated in a technical environment. Meaning you always need time for copyediting. Management. The more complex, the harder it is. Channel strategy. There are often national laws that make a one size fits all approach difficult or potentially illegal. This is more of a challenge in the digital world where borders are less obvious. Calls to action (CTAs) / offers. CTAs may not work across all markets. Trading taxes or other local subtleties can make some CTAs or incentives irrelevant. Managing stakeholders across time zones. For global companies it s nearly impossible to get teams to communicate effectively. People tend to be focused on their own regions first and do not always understand the global context. KPIs and benchmarks. Again, one size fits all is naive. Quality of execution. Print, build, and manufacturing standards... all different across the globe not in a good way. Customs. Things can sit in customs for no good reason. Perhaps the paperwork has been worded incorrectly. Fine if you are talking about stuff with a high cash value, but ridiculous of you are talking about branded collateral for events.
Doug West Global marketing Director Rentokil-Initial, International SOS, DHL Setting up for execution internal challenges are the hardest to master Politics and controls are far more of a challenge than customer-facing factors. This is something that can cause difficulties in execution. Understanding the cultural, social and geographic nuances for a company to appeal in different markets that s the easier piece. There s some great knowledge in agencies and in people who can help you make that interpretation and avoid the screw-ups we saw in previous decades. The internal piece is much more difficult. The primary driver is how the organisation sets up its marketing structure and recruits against it. Marketing directors are often hired for their creative and strategic expertise but what s missing is the mindset with a focus on implementation vital when it comes to making global marketing work. If you decide you want absolute consistency across multiple markets, then make sure the internal structure, processes, organisational model and people you hire absolutely reflect that objective. The global marketing challenge today is a challenge of execution. Working with a mutually respected and objective third party agency, responsible for ensuring consistency of marketing initiatives deployed across all markets, can work really well. The agency can work outside the politics of the organisation, managing country relationships, and driving efficiencies when it comes to implementation.
Mayur Gupta, Global Head Marketing Technology Operations and Innovation Kimberley-Clark Globalization itself is the biggest challenge It's not technology, big data or mobile that's the biggest challenge, it's globalization itself. Standardization is a clichéd mindset and must be shifted. Consumer needs are so different. What makes sense for ten markets will not for another twenty. Intelligent localization is key. There are a number of fundamental challenges for global marketing campaigns and businesses. First, we mustn t let technology be a roadblock to creativity. Sometimes there s a tendency to let technology lead the way, while it should merely be an enabler, following a strategic and operational vision. Next, we have to maintaining the right mindset: we are in business to serve customers. Finally, we need to avoid the command and control approach to global campaign management. A more enlightened approach to successful global marketing is adopt and adapt, or allowing local teams freedom within a framework. Campaigns can be repurposed across the globe, and having a global team at the helm can make cross-markets decisions move faster, but an absence of a local presence usually creates knowledge gaps in terms of local consumer and market needs. It s about creating a center of excellence, sharing best practices and guidance to enable the regions. But let them evolve and establish their own strategies.
SUMMARY: WHAT ARE THE EMERGING TRENDS AND KEY CHALLENGES FOR GLOBAL MARKETING DIRECTORS? Add your voice to the conversation about creative development and campaign implementation by completing our one-minute survey. Freedman s qualitative research with senior global marketers revealed 7 key challenges, summarized below. 1. Internal coordination of marketing activities Internal coordination of marketing activities across multiple territories and with large numbers of stakeholders remains a big challenge. Worldwide campaign implementation models include an element of adopt and adapt ; but there is debate about how much control should be ceded to local marketing partners and teams. Read our thoughts on global marketing and why one size never fits all. 2. How to reach customers in a meaningful way Driving local consumer engagement at the highest possible level is a always work in progress. Knockout creative in one territory may fall flat in another. Adapting creative to suit different cultures and outlooks while remaining true to the key messages behind the campaign is a task on the desk of all global brands guardians we spoke to. 3. How to measure and report, learn and improve Senior marketers remain laser-focused on delivering ROI and the only way to prove it is to provide transparent, reliable measurement and reporting. It s just that the task is bigger than ever. 4. How to handle the creative development process The hunt is on for global campaign consistency matched by seamless local relevance. The mantra of act global think local remains a central tenet for marketers. Creative localization of the big idea for different territories is the challenge, but the philosophies on how you best implement this vary widely. Here s our view on how to make sure global creative works for local markets. 5. Understanding customer wants and needs across different segments The need to align creative and messaging to differing cultural and social sensitivities is well established. Targeting messages on a global scale also requires a deep understanding of local industries, geography and demographics. Marketing directors also have to factor in how regional and country economies perform, and their relative growth positions and potentials. 6. Social media and the new marketing How to integrate social into a wider campaign remains a focus. Reliable reporting about the impact of social on awareness and sales remains elusive despite the deluge of data available. Such reporting is sometimes hard to align with the more traditional ROI markers from advertising or direct marketing. There are terabytes of data available to crunch and we ve all got very sophisticated monitoring and measurement tools to work with. But ultimately it takes marketers to decide what is really working and how to do more of it. Marketers understand the value of social but its unpredictable nature is harder to control. 7. The role of technology in campaign creation and implementation The right technology matters when it comes to efficient implementation of international marketing campaigns. It s an enabler, providing efficiencies and speed, but it shouldn t define planning or creative ideas, development and messaging. And there lies the challenge.
The road ahead is paved with gold For those of us charged with stewarding global brands, our roles will only increase in interest, reach and complexity. Each year, month and day brings new challenges: how to optimize digital marketing across country borders; bring rigour to social media; deal with board and shareholder demands; work faster, better and more flexibly. These challenges are what make our roles so exciting and finding solutions is incredibly satisfying. Building brilliant teams, delivering successful campaigns, watching brands grow; this is what makes global marketing one of the best jobs in the world. This is the age of the global marketer. Have your say Add your voice to the conversation by completing our one-minute survey. If you work in global marketing, what s the biggest challenge you face? Complete the global marketing survey here. About Freedman International Freedman are the global marketing implementation people, helping global marketing teams to get their campaigns right and out there, fast. There s a better way to make global marketing work CONTACT DETAILS Chris Scott chris.scott@freedmaninternational.com +44 207 463 4816 Urszula Briens urszula.briens@freedmaninternational.com +44 207 463 4812 Ele Rumary ele.rumary@freedmaninternational.com +1 212 905 6096