Global brands in widespread reshuffle
According to a Forrester report released this week – entitled “How to manage global marketing” – moves to restructure international teams will become increasingly common over the coming months as brands seek to take control of marketing spend, and to leverage growth opportunities, via increased efficiencies.
According to the report’s author, Steven Noble: “Brands must harness the strength that comes from their global reach. This includes their ability to harvest best practices which they can apply worldwide [through local teams].”
He stresses the need for regional marketers to continue to apply insights according to each individual market, but to recognise alongside this also the importance of avoiding a dogged insistence on operating according to often age-old systems and processes which are not necessarily streamlined across the organisation.
“There is a natural tendency for local marketers to attempt to create silos – to insist on operating their way because that’s always been their approach,” he says. “The challenge is for local marketers to stop simply insisting the global marketing fails, and to start using customer data and engagement to deepen the brand’s relationship with customers who happen to live in their geography.”
For a long time, the internal workings of many advertising and marketing agencies, like their clients, have not been geared towards optimal efficiency. In the context of the global financial crisis, this simply cannot continue.
Keith Wells, managing director at The Brand Prism, argued in trade journal Marketing Week recently: “What they should be looking for is much greater cohesion internally, with decisions being taken closer to the real market. In a world that is more and more about open-source content, it would be good to see that reflected internally.”
As reported in the Freedman blog earlier this month, Coca-Cola Europe is just one of many global brands which has identified the potential for increased efficiencies, and which will be making redundancies as a result. Vodafone Group and Asda have come to the same conclusion. We can expect many more restructures and reshuffles, and from some of the world’s largest brands. As consumer confidence begins to increase, and key economies continue to crawl out of recession, brands cannot afford to make these necessary changes too late.
Tags: Global Brand
