The Great Brand Battle

Missive recently published the second chapter in its ‘Great’ series - The Great Brand Battle. I have been overwhelmed by the response to the series so far and have had some insightful conversations with brands wanting to adopt a reset mindset going forward.?

We believe that over the last decade, businesses have over-indexed their marketing investment on demand generation activities at the expense of brand building. The pandemic’s requirement for clear communication and trust in brands, as well as fundamental changes in technology and digital reshaping marketing, requires a rebalance in spend.

We encourage marketers to press the reset button. From being all about customer acquisition to growth. And before you ask, they are not the same thing. Customer acquisition is by its very nature short-term, tactical exercise. It holds no long-term, residual value, or offers the multiplier effect that brand building provides. Growth on the other hand is a mid-to-long-term strategic programme that offers multiple benefits including a larger sales opportunity.

History is littered with B2B brands that chased sales over brand, and ultimately struggled to find long-term, sustainable growth. Yet, we can see the power and influence of businesses that value and invested in brand building. The world’s five largest tech companies (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft) have a combined market valuation of $8.1 trillion. That is greater than theGDP of the world’s third largest economy, Japan. They have achieved this growth by understanding the value and importance of brand. At the heart of this reset will be mindset. Marketers with growth mindsets will be open to change and embrace uncertainty in the pursuit of getting better. They are self-confident, aware and courageous. Those with fixed mindsets fear being out of control, rely on status and experience, and remain in a comfort zone. The future will require adaptability, change, boldness and a willingness to do things differently.

The reset must start now. It can no longer be about efficiency and short-term tactics. Break the cycle of only thinking about ‘sales need help now’. Start thinking strategically, mid-to-long term, and the sales uplift will be greater and the growth opportunity much bigger.

We welcome an open dialogue and discussion for that is the way of progress. We hope you enjoy The Great Brand Battle.