Marketing Continuity Assessments - An R3 White Paper

Marketing

Continuity AssessmentS An R3 White Paper

DRIVING TRANSFORMATION FOR MARKETERS & THEIR AGENCIES

Get the Pulse of Your Agency Partners The global health crisis has led to a shift in business priorities, operations and demand. All advertising holding companies have reported negative growth and have taken significant steps to shore up their businesses for what looks like an uncertain period for all.

On a positive note, agencies have increased their communication as they re-plan their strategies and keep partners up to date as employees work from home, workers are furloughed or retrenched, and sensitivity around content is at an all time high. Work now is produced in weeks and not months, and often under pressure.

For marketers and procurement teams, this has highlighted the importance of developing more sustainable partnerships and building internal capability.

Driving value through smarter use of assets, and finding areas which could benefit from further efficiencies is top of the agenda.

To optimize working relationships going forward, marketers and procurement teams need a clear picture of the ability of their agency partners to deliver.

Consumers want to see work from brands, but to do this in a way that acknowledges the uncertain times we live in, all stakeholders need to be prepared to ensure business continuity.

R3 has interviewed more than 2,000 marketers about their agency relations, and we regularly keep engaged in what is happening in their business. In the following pages, we provide an outline on approaches, best practice and tools available to identify opportunities and mitigate risks in agency partnerships. We hope this will be helpful as you forge ahead.

2

MARKETING CONTINUITY ASSESSMENTS

Organizational Resilience Risks Marketing as a business function is not excluded from operational risks.

As we have witnessed as a result of COVID-19, marketing is an essential form of communication which contributes to overall brand reputation and resilience.

Reputation Risk Strategic Risk • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Environmental Natural Disasters Facility Country Biohazard Biological Disease/Pandemic Geopolitical Social Unrest/Networking Information Technology Cybersecurity Legal and Regulatory Third Party Business Process Separation of Duties Workforce Corporate Culture

Operational

Credit • Customers • Suppliers • Compliance

Market • • • • • •

Materials/Supplies Interest Rates Competition Economy Currency Liquidity

COVID-19 Impact on Branding & Marketing Efforts “How much impact is COVID-19 having on your brand and content strategy?”

“How significant do you think the COVID-19 disruption will be to your usual branding/marketing efforts in the long-term?

57%

45% 31% 18%

17%

13%

13%

6% Extreme – Strong – Moderate – we we have to we must pivot are tweaking drastically our brand and our focus and change the way content strategy messaging we do business

Minor/None – we are making minimal / no changes to our strategy

COVID-19 has permanently changed branding

There will be a lasting impact, but it won’t be transformative

It’s only shortterm – things will go back to normal soon

Unsure

Source: Bynder

3

DRIVING TRANSFORMATION FOR MARKETERS & THEIR AGENCIES

ENSURING MARKETING CONTINUITY Business Vulnerability Across Five Dimensions The global health crisis has challenged agencies across five key operating areas.

How well each agency will be able to address and adapt to each area will influence their overall business health and risk quotient.

4

RESPONSE

RECALIBRATE

RESTORE

Talent

Shift In Demand

Transparency & Security

How prepared is your agency in planning for future change in work protocols?

How prepared is your agency to address increasing needs for digital capability?

How prepared is your agency in dealing with business risks related to data transparency and security?

RESILIENCE

READINESS

Financial Health

Organizational Maturity

How much financial flexibility does the agency have for sustained disruption?

How proactive or reactive is your agency in identifying and mitigating disruption?

DRIVING TRANSFORMATION FOR MARKETERS & THEIR AGENCIES

Quarantine Internet Activities % INCREASE

0%

All

Gen Z

Millenials

Gen X

Boomers

Searching for coronavirus/COVID-19 updates

68

67

71

69

54

Listening to music

58

71

62

54

38

Watching movies/shows

49

51

52

51

34

Watching funny videos

42

52

44

39

27

Playing games on mobile

40

47

45

36

34

Looking at memes

32

54

41

21

9

Playing games on PC/laptop

29

29

36

25

25

Searching for cooking recipes

28

21

35

29

21

Reading business & finance articles/news

27

14

35

28

21

Searching for discounts from brands

24

22

28

23

23

Reading healthy eating articles

24

19

31

22

16

Reading sports news

23

16

32

19

24

Reading celebrity news

22

25

25

19

15

Listening to podcasts

18

16

26

16

7

Watching fitness videos

18

18

24

17

3

Searching for fashion trends/discounts

16

14

23

13

7

Reading live blogs

15

12

22

13

9

Watching esports videos/livestreams

12

14

20

9

2

Searching for vacations

12

11

18

9

3

Watching webinars

11

9

16

9

6

5

5

4

6

8

I’m trying to stay off the internet

Source: Global Web Index, April 2020

10

75%

DRIVING TRANSFORMATION FOR MARKETERS & THEIR AGENCIES

Case studies Identifying Critical Suppliers A technology firm relied on several partners across the globe and wanted to better understand who their critical suppliers were. It was originally thought that the company had around 30 suppliers that it needed to assess and monitor, but the assessment identified only six of these were critical suppliers, where no alternatives could easily be found. With this knowledge, the firm was able to focus on efforts that ensured that risk factors were minimized with these six suppliers.

supplier resilience A power and utilities company wanted to understand the level of resilience across its supply based in response to unprecedented disruption and uncertainty from COVID-19. The company called for an initial risk review which looked at supplier finances, operations and contracts. The company was then able to use the information in ongoing scenario planning and take action to build resilience in areas which needed attention.

risk in digital content & process A major television network wanted to identify risks that might emerge as their teams adopted new digital initiatives. This included gaps in their delivery process, areas where their content might be vulnerable, and avenues for loss of content and revenue. The insight gathered as a result of a risk assessment led to a framework which secured the content of the Network.

18

MARKETING CONTINUITY ASSESSMENTS

4

streamlining process with the right tools What tools can help us move towards proper compliance and governance?

Marketing is becoming more integrated with other business functions as consumers demand frictionless experiences. With vendors using third-party platforms and handling data, this also means that marketers are exposed to greater risks like breaches in data security and instances of fraud.

While no single tool can help marketers and procurement teams avoid risks, there are certain software tools that can help. Choosing the right tools requires an understanding of what you’re trying measure, predict and manage.

Tools for Marketing Continuity

23