4 Insightful Quotes on Marketing
By Ryan Dinger
ANA events bring together some of the smartest and most-talented marketers in the industry to share insights and best practices that help ANA members get the most out of their own marketing efforts.
Naturally, when ANA members and other top marketers get together, the potential for a great soundbite or two is very high. For this reason, we'll be collecting and sharing the top quotes from ANA events during each month throughout 2023.
Below, you can find the top quotes from ANA speakers for July:
"Don't think about what you can do with what you have, think about the experience you want to deliver and work your way backwards to figure it out."
— Matt Naeger, global chief strategy officer and global CMO at Merkle
According to a McKinsey study, customer experience increases a brand's revenue by 7 to 16 percent — making experience as important to customers as the quality of your product or service. For this reason, it's something marketers need to be obsessed with. When thinking about how to best engage your customers, you should think about what type of experience you want to give them. Then use this as a lens to dictate your strategy and determine which datapoints will best position your brand to fulfill that vision.
"We live in a world of fantastical over-simplification. Sales effects can be attributed to a small number of components that interact in a linear fashion with a low level of interconnectivity — where we believe we have control of the environment and all interaction effects."
— James Cummings, global head of data, insights, and analytics at Mars Wrigley
True story: We were once in a meeting with a very smart and talented marketing leader. When we had the chance, we asked this incredibly capable person how the industry might finally achieve a true attribution model. Immediately, this very well-regarded marketing rock star laughed at us and said, "Good luck." The point is measurement is difficult. It's nice to believe we have complete control. But the truth is, we don't. And it's important to know what you don't know.
"You may have to spend more at first to save more in the future. It's still early to assess the ROI to evaluate the costs of AI because it is tools and talent."
— Joanne Davis, president at Joanne Davis Consulting
Surely, you're aware of the effect AI is poised to have on our industry. This means the sooner your brand can begin to get a handle on how to implement this technology and best use it, the better off you'll be. Because as AI grows in importance, it will grow in cost, both in terms of technological and human capital. If you hit the ground running now, you'll be better positioned to minimize those costs later.
"We found that there's an incredible amount of skepticism among gen Z."
— Eric Villain, managing director of marketing effectiveness and automobility at GfK North America
We end this month with a sobering finding. GfK surveyed 2,000 U.S. consumers and asked what they remembered about brands and their sustainability or purpose efforts. The results were a clear indication that purpose is not resonating with people, and especially not with gen Z. Does this mean brands should give up on purpose entirely? No, it doesn't.
There is ample research to indicate that consumers are interested in doing business with brands that reflect their values and want to better society. The problem is consumers don't believe your brand is serious about its values. A lot of what brands do around purpose seems more like a PR play than an earnest effort to materially improve society.
In other words, brands are talking the talk but not walking the walk — and consumers are on to it. The purpose opportunity is still there for brands who want to take it seriously. Right now, not enough of them are doing so.
The views and opinions expressed are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the ANA or imply endorsement from the ANA.
Ryan Dinger is a director of editorial and content development at ANA.