So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

Disney CEO Bob Iger said in The Economist39s 39World in 201839 that we now live in a quotstate of perpetual permutationquot amp160He39s right set it and forget it works for no one amp160Speed of thought and execution are everything amp160The ability to identify opportunity and leverage it with speed and at scale are the only inoculation against disintermediationOur sector is getting a clear message marketers increasingly operate quotzerobased budgetingquotamp160ZBB policies with a goal to allocate resources in a hierarchy of efficiencyThe only response to ZBB is zerobased planning amp160We no longer live in a world of incrementalism yet need to retain objective balance amp160Change but not for the sake of change and the ability to resist leaping at every shiny object and using it as a fig leaf for substantial innovation amp160Instead we need to review opportunity like business peopleWhat behavior does the new quotthingquotamp160enableWhat behavior might it replace or enhanceHow quickly might it scaleWill sustainable advantage accrue to the first mover or is the fast follower equally well positionedIs it quotjustquotamp160a new marketing channel or is it a new channel to marketNowhere is this truer than in our assessment of Google Facebook Amazon Apple Microsoft Alibaba and Tencent the Seven Sisters of our time see the oil industry from 1920 to 1970Businesses have had hegemonic positions before the networks here the national tabloids in the UK Walmart amp160but never have they so completely touched consumers and every other enterprise amp160Never have the worlds of communication entertainment customer service and commerce found themselves with the same protagonists the same enablers and the same gatekeepers amp160Never have companies with an interest in the business of advertising been the richest and most powerful companies in the world amp160Before anyone asks media was weaponized in 1987 by the FCC39s repeal of the quotFairness Doctrinequot in short the requirement for news to be honest fair and balancedIt39s incumbent on anyone working in the service of brands or businessesamp160or in the creation or distribution of content to make it their priority to observe and understand how these companies work amp160Only by doing that can you organize to extract maximum value from them and do so without ceding independence to them amp160 Easier said than done perhaps but there are a few pointersBreak down your silosOperate as a portfolio where you canRecognize and exploit the competition between the platformsLean hard into the parts of their businesses at which they are great and remember they are rarely great at everythingLearn from the businesses that theyamp160only exist because of the behaviors the platforms enable and the friction they removeIdentifying and playing the best available hand with the big platforms is now the first order of business for many enterprisesMore broadly of course technology has transformed every aspect of business amp160It has radically altered supply chain management and is now doing the same to the management of demand amp160Businesses outside the quotnative technologyquotamp160sector need to be agile integrators of systems with the internal processes required for rapid assessment deployment and change amp160quotSet it and forget itquotamp160does not work here either amp160The understanding of customers you know and the scaling of that population are central to the creation of data sets that can be activated in market at every stage in the customer journeyRemember that not all enterprises and the brands they operate are the same amp160Onetoone marketing is not an efficient destination for everyone Often there is efficiency in sufficiency and often growth comes from customers you don39t know as well as customers you do amp160The best measures of success are not always binary outcomes amp160Tantalizing as it may seem the pursuit of perfect correlation of impression to action is not always either efficient or effective amp160There is continued significant value in proxy measures such as awareness and preference in the development and preservation of brand equity and as a foundation for activation closer to the point of purchase amp160The application of data and addressability at scale to the video market can39t come soon enough amp160The closure of the quotmeasurement gapquotamp160is criticalDetermining the best path for the future demands that advertisers and their agencies identify the real drivers and measures of business success and orchestrate the most effective allocation across brands categories and channels optimization within channels and attribution models that are holistic and inform allocation next time aroundAbove all we need to plan and innovate in the pursuit of predictable profitable growth amp160Predictability increases the value of marketing and the proportion of budget allocated to it growth increases the value of enterprisesamp160lack of it leads to stagnationPeople who do this best will be the winners amp160They will be successful in the short term and the long term they will innovate with confidence and above all develop products and supporting messaging that maintains relevance as consumer needs change and as those changes iteratePerpetual permutation is a thrilling state avoiding perpetual pandemonium is a challenge for us allrobnorman and still robnormangroupmcomClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160

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So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

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Rob Norman

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

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So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

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Rob Norman

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

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