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”
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KIERAN KILLEEN Marketing Network 2012 started in a similar manner to the back-end of 2011 but, despite a sluggish first quarter, the remaining nine months have been ahead of forecast, with clients becoming more focused on activating their brands. We will deliver growth of 30% year-on-year and expect that trend to continue into 2013. Client companies are desperate to rebuild brand equity following four years of brand damaging price promotions.
RONAN TRAYNOR Verve
resources as campaigns needed to be created and implemented faster. 2013 looks like a promising year for brands who have maintained their marketing
“2013 looks like a promising year for brands who have maintained their marketing investment as consumer confidence starts to return”
investment for the last number of years as consumer confidence
well work harder for
starts to return, although
their brands.
fragile. The promotional marketing Industry should
The other challenge is the increased
continue to develop short term, effective scalable brand toolkits that can be executed immediately and which deliver immediate volume, coupled with increased integration of experiential into digital and social disciplines to amplify campaigns, create content and add longevity.
SARA CALLANAN
importance of social media and other digital platforms which some clients think are best activated via digital specialists. However, we would argue that, if you are looking to create an effective promotional
Elevator Promotional Marketing
campaign via social or digital media, then you should talk to a promotional specialist. Promotional
We see challenges and opportunities in 2013. One
We saw a lack of visibility on brand planning in 2012. Many clients were in reactionary mode,
marketing is media neutral, and APMC members
of the key challenges will continue to be the pressure clients’ budgets are under. However, this is also
releasing budgets tactically, spending per quarter, depending on how their volumes were looking.
are still the best-placed practitioners to deliver effective promotional campaigns via social, digital
an opportunity for below the line agencies to talk to marketing decision-makers about perhaps redeploying a reduced ATL or sponsorship budget into
or indeed any other medium.”
a measurable promotional campaign where it may
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This article is published in association with the APMC.
George Best, League Best, 13 September 1971. 1252308, Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
We experienced increased pressure on fees driven by procurement depts, plus a greater draw on
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