Stand up and Deliver.

February 16, 2005

Arlene Dickinson

“I know that half the money I spend on advertising is wasted.

I just don't know which half."

- Department store magnate John Wanamaker, circa 1920

“More money is wasted in marketing than in any other human activity.”

Ries & Trout, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

Accountability Principle #1

Marketing must have a seat at the executive table.

Accountability Principle #2

Marketing execution must be creative and informed by market

facts and customer insights.

“Good creative people are junkies - art heads, addicted to creative expression.

They take jobs in agencies to feed their habit. They don’t really care about the agency's or the client's

business success - though they come to understand, in a Pavlovian fashion, that happy clients

give them more creative hits. They're smart, they can act, you'll believe they're fascinated by your revenue and margins and sales results. But the moment you take your eyes off them they're locked in the

bathroom with a CA annual, getting buzzed. You can’t rehabilitate creative people. There's no cure.

Get over it. You need them, they need you. Feed their habit, every day give them a shot at

a One Show pencil. They’ll be blessed, you’ll get brilliant work, everybody will go home happy.”

“Marketing is about delivering qualified leads that are ultimately converted to revenue.

It is about delivering business results, and as such must be planned and measured rigorously.

Traditionally marketing has focussed on the product itself –

how to develop it, price it, distribute it and promote it. Today marketing is all about the customer – how she

relates to the product, where and why she buys it and with what expectations. To connect customers to business results, we must study their behavior so that we can predict it. We must understand what will make them buy more

of the product and what will make them switch to a competitor’s product instead. We must use these

insights to qualify every dollar we spend, then measure the results

of our efforts to make them better and more efficient.”

Magic is created by the friction in these perspectives.

Accountability Principle #3

Marketers must embrace rigorous measurement and tracking of

business results.

Prove how marketing is a strategic business enabler.

Measure what you should,not just what you can.

Put a stake in the ground and quantify “how much”

and “by when”.

Measurement should support a culture of continuous learning.

The role of marketing is to drive a business

result.

Today’s best practices

Creative and Strategic Excellence driving

measurable Business Results

Reporting tools must linkmarketing communications to business

results.

“Deprived of information one cannot assume

responsibility, but given the information one cannot

avoid responsibility.” - Eugene Taurman

Thank youarlene@openminds.ca • 237-2388