Shane Vaughan

Co-op advertising programs provide incentive dollars from a national brand to a local outlet for marketing their products.  Historically these programs have funded everything from local golf tournaments to regional mass-media efforts and are seen as a “benefit” to the local outlet.  However, as marketing has become more digital and technologically sophisticated there is now the ability to truly measure the ROI of these expenditures at a granular level as opposed to broad sell-to or sell-through numbers. 

In addition, CMO’s at national brands are now receiving dramatically increased pressure to justify the marketing expenditures coming out of their own organizations.  It’s expected that every dollar spent is associated with a measurable ROI to determine success and ultimately future investments. 

•  Measurement and analysis were cited as the biggest internal bottlenecks by marketers in The State of Marketing annual survey from Unica.

o   57% of marketers named measurement and analysis as one of their top three issues.

o   Marketers said their top two priorities are “turning data into actions” and “attributing success to marketing”*

• 48% of CMOs feel pressure to deliver ROI on marketing spend (this tied for first with “need to deliver quality sales” when CMOs were asked  to choose  “Top 3 Pressures”) in an Aberdeen study**

These two trends will collide in 2012 – no longer will the CMO or the Board of Directors have the luxury to look at the co-op budget as an expense line-item.  Instead, both marketing and sales will be pushed into using the latest technology at the local level to justify the significant budgets passed down to local outlets. 

 

Kick off the new marketing year and join us on Tuesday, January 10th to learn how national brands will capitalize on the evolving local marketing landscape. Register for the webcast.

*Mentioned on CMO.com

** Aberdeen Group, Aberdeen Group, Sept 2011