Marketer's toolkit 2025: Capitalising on the economic reset
Jan 9, 2025
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Guests Ken Favaro, Chief Strategy Officer at BERA.ai, and Joanna Seddon, Managing Director at Prescient and CEO of the Marketing Accountability Standards Board, discuss the evolving landscape of marketing post-economic reset. They explore the vital role of brand equity in building consumer relationships and stabilizing prices. The conversation emphasizes bridging gaps between marketing and finance to showcase branding’s financial benefits. They also highlight the importance of consumer insights and emotional connections for navigating economic challenges and driving profitability.
Marketers must focus on strengthening brand equity to cultivate consumer loyalty and adapt to shifting economic conditions.
Integrating brand strategies into financial discussions enhances marketing's influence and illustrates its impact on business success.
Deep dives
Understanding the Economic Reset
The concept of the economic reset is integral to contemporary brand marketing amidst ongoing inflation and market fluctuations. Marketers have been largely reactive to changes over the past few years, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath, which has led to evolving consumer behavior and spending habits. Consumers are now more selective with their spending, often focusing on purchases that bring joy while still being conscious of deals on everyday items. This situation presents brands with the opportunity to strengthen their long-term strategies and develop resilience against future economic challenges.
The Importance of Brand Equity
Brand equity, defined as the emotional relationship consumers have with a brand, emerges as a critical leverage point for companies navigating economic uncertainty. Research shows that strong brand equity significantly influences consumers' willingness to pay a premium price, even amidst price-sensitive climates. For instance, brands like Louis Vuitton successfully implement consistent price increases without losing customer loyalty, proving that a well-established brand can manage pricing strategies effectively. The focus for marketers should therefore pivot towards building and maintaining brand equity to ensure long-lasting customer relationships and profitability.
Brand Strategy and C-Suite Integration
Integrating brand strategies into the broader business agenda is crucial for marketers seeking to elevate the role of marketing in organizational decision-making. Marketers often face challenges in demonstrating the financial impact of branding efforts, which can limit their influence within the C-suite. To overcome this, marketers need to effectively communicate how brand equity drives revenue and impacts pricing strategies, thereby linking marketing outcomes to business success. Enhancing collaboration with finance leaders can help marketers better articulate their contributions and ensure a unified approach to brand and organizational strategy.
Navigating Brand and Performance Marketing
The discussion emphasizes that brand and performance marketing should not be viewed as mutually exclusive categories but rather as interconnected elements that drive overall business success. Marketing strategies should encompass both brand-building initiatives and performance metrics, with a focus on the synergy between emotional connections with consumers and data-driven results. Understanding that every consumer interaction impacts brand equity highlights the need for a cohesive strategy that combines creativity with measurable outcomes. As brands seek to thrive in an unpredictable landscape, simplifying the perception of marketing tactics can empower organizations to leverage their branding effectively.
Today we'll be deep diving into one of five of the big themes in the Marketer’s Toolkit 2025 for marketers in the US. Discussing the theme of capitalising on the economic reset with Joanna Seddon, managing director at Prescient and CEO of the Marketing Accountability Standards Board, and Ken Favaro, chief strategy officer at BERA.ai.
The Marketer’s Toolkit 2025 is here: the fourteenth edition of the report draws out five major trends that will define strategic planning, based on an extensive global survey of practitioners.