Marketing Matters
What Tidings They Bring … Some members of the APMC outline their predictions for 2013.
NEIL DEVLIN Mixtape Marketing 2012 saw brands questioning the return on investment
DAVID O’LEARY
through social media
Chairperson, APMC
engagement. 2013 will see a larger portion of budget being spent on real world activation
The Association of Promotional Marketing Consultants (APMC) represents a broad range of leading marketing agencies in Ireland. This year we brought home a Globe and 14 IMC awards – making our agencies the most awarded in Europe. This success springs from a singular focus on changing consumer behaviour; we get consumers to buy and to stay loyal afterwards. In these economically challenging times, our members deliver tangible results for their clients. We asked some of our member agencies to share their perspectives on 2012 and to highlight key issues and trends facing them in the coming year.
EDEL MCCABE Publicis D Contracting budget remained a key issue for 2012 and there is still an issue with agencies being chosen on price rather than strategic and creative ability. Aggressive competition from all disciplines for a reduced marketing pot has made pitching very dynamic and difficult. The need for pitch guidelines that are adhered to by agencies and clients looks increasingly necessary. On a more positive note, the convergence of digital and experiential has resulted in creative excellence as evidenced by the recent IMC European wins. The
where innovation and sales driving will be the promotional industry has upped its game and is ideally placed to leverage the demand for more innovative brand engagement. Shopper marketing, eCRM and experiential will continue to grow for 2013.
key to success.
RICHARD JOHNSON Pulse 2012 was an odd
SIMON BETSON InSight Marketing 2012 brought a shift in clients’ agency roster thinking. The gloss appears to be dulled from the big 360° Integrated one stop marketing shop and the specialist agencies with a more single-minded discipline approach are plugging into the strategic table. The term "Shopper Marketing" took hold, despite being a new label for the work that promotional marketers have been doing for decades. Ultimately though, it was the year of metrics and return on investment – delivering more bang for the brand buck. For 2013 we expect to see more retailer realisation that price promotion was a valid marketing tool, used badly and we anticipate the trade becoming more receptive to less damaging, but highly effective promotional marketing techniques. There is also a certain sense of "back to basics" in the air as clients need hard hitting campaigns that actually deliver tangible results and a refocus on reaching out to the consumer and actively engaging with them.
year for promotional marketing agencies. We’ve become used to budgets being lowered and the rightfully high expectations our clients have for those budgets to go much further. There were more pitches than in 2011 but not all the campaigns pitched for actually made it to market. But toward the end of the year there was a slight glimmer of renewing confidence coming back into the market. For next year we have a couple of major threats looming for our industry with the uncertainty about the legal changes to be made to areas of alcohol promotion and of certain food products. I would hope that clarity will be delivered soon and that the glimmer of light we saw at the end of 2012 delivers a much brighter future in 2013.
There is also a certain sense of “back to basics” in the air as clients need hard hitting campaigns that actually deliver tangible results”
18 | IMJ DECEMBER/JANUARY 2013
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