Investing in brand marketing key to unlocking growth, new SCMP Advertising+ and IAB HK landmark study finds.
- Marketers are now more focused on brand marketing to position businesses, and drive acquisition of new customers, loyalty, retention and overall business growth.
- Importance of marketing effectiveness and strategic business metrics are only set to grow.
As we move towards a post-Covid era, marketers now favour brand marketing over performance marketing, with the focus on marketing effectiveness and strategic business metrics becoming increasingly important.
This was one of the key findings from research conducted by the South China Morning Post and the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Hong Kong (IAB HK). The landmark study, titled Unlocking Brand Marketing’s Potential in Asia, looked at how companies in Asia are leveraging marketing to drive business growth.
The research revealed that in the post-Covid era, marketers are more focused on brand marketing to drive acquisition of new customers and boost loyalty, retention and overall business growth.
“During Covid, we were focused on performance, but now we are moving up the funnel again, investing more in brand and destination marketing – and scaling back on performance marketing,” said Bart Buiring, chief sales and marketing, Asia Pacific, Marriott International.
And this switch to brand is seen across all markets.
“We see our clients in transition, with their media going from tactical ads into brand-led creative, because that’s the key for growth,” said Marilyn Yeong, regional client vice-president of Assembly. “It’s important now to lead with brand.”
Stronger focus on marketing effectiveness
Given these trends, the study highlights the fact that marketing effectiveness and strategic business metrics are only set to grow. In fact, 73 per cent of those marketers surveyed for the study think this is going to be even more important over the next few years, as marketers are coming under increasing pressure to prove their effectiveness.
In the short term, brand value is measured through tactical metrics such as website traffic, clicks, impressions, engagements and TV ratings. However, the most strategic and attributable business metrics for measuring long-term impact are sales, revenue, customer growth, retention, market share and profitability.
“Marketers need to be academically stronger and armed with business data if they want to be taken more seriously in the boardroom,” said Justin Bonnett, regional head of marketing, Jones Lang LaSalle.
Marketers need conviction
According to the study, which included a series of round-table discussions with chief marketing officer-level executives from across major brands in Hong Kong and Singapore, in addition to a questionnaire sent to IAB HK members, effective marketing today requires confidence and conviction in agile environments.
Yet 65 per cent of respondents to the survey said their competitors outperform their own companies in measuring marketing effectiveness.
“A key takeaway is that 65 per cent think their competitors are doing a better job in data measurement,” said Victor Cheng, executive committee member of IAB HK, who was involved in the research. “I can only conclude that markets think the grass is always greener – much, much greener – on the other side.”
With these findings the study concluded that today’s dynamic landscape and successful execution requires marketers not only to act with confidence but also with conviction and agility.
“And it’s not just confidence. If anything, what the last 10 years has taught us is that we need to be agile, be able to use data to spot the opportunities – and really differentiate,” said Paul Phillips, strategy & insights director at the South China Morning Post.
Brand key to unlocking growth
As brands begin to navigate this new environment using data to re-evaluate their marketing channels, a key message is that brand marketing is back. The media mix is changing, and marketers are more focused on long-term growth.
“They’re now focusing more on storytelling because it drives resonance and recognition, and using experiences and partnerships to bring their stories to life. Every business needs to be involved with brand; it doesn’t matter if everyone knows you already,” Phillips concluded.
