THE AGE OF THE ADAPTIVE MARKETER: by Ivaylo Tsvetkov

JULY 2017

REPORT

THE AGE OF THE ADAPTIVE MARKETER: MEETING THE NEEDS OF THE CONNECTED CUSTOMER WITH ADAPTIVE BRAND CONTENT

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

INTRODUCTION

KEY FINDINGS

CONCLUSION

DETAILED FINDINGS

BRAND PERSPECTIVES Peter McGinness | Chobani Ram Krishnan | PepsiCo Jennifer McCarthy | Starwood Hotels and Resorts

EXPERT COMMENTARY FROM HH GLOBAL

PARTNERS AND AFFILIATES

ABOUT CMO COUNCIL

ABOUT HH GLOBAL

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

INTRODUCTION Consider this: in the United States alone, there are more than 350 diferent languages spoken in homes across the country. In New York City, the Census Bureau estimates that more than 200 languages other than English are spoken, with more than one-third of the population speaking a language other than English. Then, consider that only 26 percent of the estimated 38.9 billion online transactions annually will happen in English, according to Statista. Why share this? In today’s day and age, there is an expectation that customer experiences happen in total context to the consumer, yet localization—whether it’s around the globe or around the corner—is still a far-off goal for far too many organizations. Presenting brand materials in a manner that best reflects the brand’s look, feel and key attributes while also adapting to geographical, cultural and local customer preferences is a critical challenge for marketers today. Increasingly discerning consumers expect—or even demand—that the materials that brands present across sales, marketing and service touchpoints are timely, relevant and reflect the customer’s unique context. Marketers, in the throws of the digital revolution, admit that the shift to digital has not simplified content and creative needs, but it has actually increased the demand for new formats and iterations of content. These new content needs are further complicated by increasingly discerning customers, who expect personalized experiences across all channels. CMO Council research indicates that nearly half of marketers believe localized marketing is essential to business growth and profitability, particularly as it relates to demand generation and sell-through of products and services. And according to MarketingProfs research, 50 percent of target audiences ignore brand messages if they are not localized for the native language, local jargon and cultural references. Yet despite the need to more effectively deliver market-localized materials, many CMOs are stymied by the costs, time pressures and process inefficiencies of supporting adaption across a growing multitude of regions. When you consider that the translation industry alone is a $38 billion industry, the costs of proper adaptation add up, especially given the number of hidden costs associated with lost productivity from inefficient processes and lack of proper tools.

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

The challenges of handling the logistics of localization at scale are exacerbated by a growing number of digital channels and increasingly expanding target markets. So the question emerges: How are leading global organizations keeping pace with both the rate of change and increasingly demanding expectations? Are there best practices to follow for the modern, adaptive marketing leader? Are there new tools, strategies and partnerships that must be leveraged in order to accelerate adaptive marketing initiatives? This CMO Council report, produced in partnership with HH Global, measures the degree to which marketers are able to localize and customize creative executions, packaging, collateral, advertising and communications by culture, affinity, language and location. According to marketing respondents, almost two-thirds rate their organizations and agency partners as below satisfactory in their capacity to translate and adapt brand marketing content across the markets and channels they serve. This has led to equally lackluster marks in timeliness as only 30 percent of marketers indicate that their inhouse and agency teams are advanced or doing well in their timeliness and capacity to simultaneously support global and local execution. The pain level is high as too many marketing organizations are struggling to take the operational steps necessary to remedy this problem and optimize the adaptability and agility of the marketing supply chain. Most marketers still have not conducted a formal assessment of their localization and adaptation processes and effectiveness. They are failing to adopt more sophisticated systems that foster collaboration and rapid approval and workflows, like online proofing and approvals, which can dramatically streamline adaptation. And they are unsure as to whether the actions they are taking are making an impact as they have not put proper metrics in place to measure their effectiveness. We hope to ignite a much-needed dialogue around new platforms, opportunities and mandates for rapid deployment and expansion of market localization across all creative adaptation programs. The findings of this study feature insights into the drivers for increasingly localized content, key challenges around the cost and timeliness of localized campaigns, and the steps that are being taken to increase relevance across both global and local markets. The findings presented are based on a survey of 150 marketing executives fielded in the spring of 2017. The findings are further qualified through three deep-dive interviews with marketing leaders at leading global brands that are prioritizing the creative adaptation process: PepsiCo, Chobani and Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

KEY FINDINGS The Demands of Going Local on a Global, Digital Scale Iterating a brand’s creative inspiration and output at scale to better resonate with cross-cultural consumers and diverse audiences on a local level is a new global mandate for CMOs. Marketers are keen to meet the demands of localization in delivering brand materials that reflect language, cultural values, ethnic sensitivities and a geographically relevant look and feel. But this localization mandate is also proving to be a massive challenge for creative teams that are struggling to meet this directive efficiently and without runaway costs. It comes as no surprise that around half of marketers pointed to localization demands like language and cultural values and sensitivities as the top influencing factor putting pressure on creative teams to more effectively deliver production-ready creative at scale.

67 percent of marketers rank digital advertising as the most important element of their marketing mix.

Creative teams—both in-house and those spread across agency partners—aren’t just being bogged down by one essential asset. In reality, they are being asked to produce and localize a broad range of deliverables for each individual campaign. From design concepts, digital advertising, website design and videos to social media pages, presentations, emails, reports, newsletters and infographics, when multiplied on the global scale that many organizations must operate across, the load becomes nearly insurmountable.

The proliferation of digitally inclined consumers has also forced brands to hone in on developing both the skills and the assets needed to succeed in a new digital ecosystem. Marketers recognize that while traditional marketing assets are still a vital part of the customer journey, the ability to reach consumers in new digital channels is a top priority for creative deployment. Some 67 percent rank digital advertising as the most important element of their marketing mix, and another 67 percent rank website design and content as most important. While channel diversity has demanded new talent and resources across the marketing landscape, it has also made the management of agency and in-house partners and

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

resources that much more complex. Gone are the days where a single agency of record held all creative. In fact, only 13 percent of marketers have a single agency partner. The teams of today include multiple creative partners and contractors, according to 45 percent of respondents. Global business makes this even more complex as 28 percent of respondents are working with multiple creative teams across multiple regions, and 20 percent have turned over creative adaptation to local teams. This new web of resources has a direct impact on what marketers consider to be the essential assets and elements being created by these teams. Design ideation and conception tops the list of needs for a majority (78 percent) of marketing leaders, followed by the development of digital advertising assets. But interestingly, as marketers admit they struggle to support the needs of global and local marketing execution, it is often this critical first step that is rushed or cut short. Creative ideation and conception not only represents the first step in transitioning a great strategy into a successful campaign, but it is also the first opportunity to quickly establish the creative guidelines of a given campaign that must go global quickly. It is at this critical juncture that brands can better outline localization needs and appropriately adapt creative assets—at the point of creation—rather than trying to catch up or patch operational holes after the fact. But delivering this level of context and relevance across a broadening list of channels requires data and intelligence to power personalization. Indeed, it is this demand for data-driven personalization that 32 percent of marketers highlight as one of the top drivers of transformation as leaders look to see improvements in their creative adaptation and delivery processes. For today’s consumer, the choices are endless as there are neverending opportunities to seek out experiences that deliver both relevance and value. The cold reality is that marketers who don’t take the time to capitalize on speaking to the consumer in a way that feels personal are sure to experience brand defection. The point of differentiation will be in how marketers engage locally and at scale without depleting budget and exhausting creative teams and partners. Budget, Time and Teams: The Key Challenges of Effective Adaptation Companies have a long way to go to effectively adapt and modify their content. New digital environments and engagement channels continue to amplify the complexity of the media mix while increasing connectivity and new ways of reaching consumers. Like never before, marketers and their agency partners need to keep up or be beset by their competition—or worse, be deemed irrelevant and out of touch by their once loyal customer.

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

Despite a keen recognition of the need to improve content creation and rapid adaptation processes, marketers feel they lack the effective resources, budget, tools and knowledge to achieve these goals. Thirty-nine (39) percent say they are not satisfied with their performance in this area, highlighting the need to improve their ability to executive more relevant and targeted creative (49 percent), accelerate time to market (42 percent), and more effectively measure impact, value and appeal (23 percent).

Almost half of organizations are investing less than 5 percent of their budgets in creative adaptation for localization and crosscultural engagement.

While marketers are clear on the areas in need of improvement, they note a number of challenges standing in their way, chief among them being the ability to ensure uniformity in the face of adaptability. After the ability to meet tight turnaround times, the top challenge highlighted by 43 percent of marketers was ensuring quality and uniformity of adapted content within brand guidelines. Given the level of complexity in both understanding and reaching the consumer, time does not appear to be on marketing’s side. Shorter lead times and turnaround requirements and the inability to deliver creative on-time and in real-time are negatively impacting the organization’s capacity to optimize the creative production and global delivery process.

This lag has impacted marketing’s ability to support local marketing requirements and demands as only 7 percent of respondents see themselves as being advanced in their ability to meet the needs of global markets. The majority, 37 percent, admit they are are not doing well or need improvement. Time to market—or more specifically, the lag in global time to market—obviously has a significant impact on cost and campaign effectiveness. But how much are marketers lagging on delivering localized content? Only 17 percent of marketers are able to deploy global and local content across both digital and physical touchpoints simultaneously, while 6 percent admit that digital assets are able to launch on the same day as global campaigns, but physical touchpoints like print take much longer to deploy. While 15 percent are able to accelerate localized launches within days of a global deployment, 44 percent need weeks or even months to deploy. For most, it is clear that this lag is directly tied to a lack of allocation and investment into localization. Most organizations (49 percent) are investing less than 5 percent of their budgets in creative adaptation for localization and cross-cultural engagement. A

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

significant number of organizations are allocating between 5 and 20 percent of marketing budgets for local engagement. But budgets are being challenged even further as nearly one in three respondents admits that they are being challenged to better manage costs and reduce the level of waste and obsolescence across the marketing supply chain. But marketers also admit that even with small budgets and tight timelines, the real issue might actually be the lack of transparency and ability to measure the cost and quality of the creative delivery process. In all reality, marketers simply do not know how their investments into creative adaptability are truly faring. Only 2 percent of marketers feel their organizations are very advanced in their ability to measure and track creative adaption and delivery processes. Most actually know they are missing the mark as 44 percent admit they are either not doing well or are in need of improvement. Need for Platforms That Bring Rapid Adaptability to the Marketing Supply Chain Marketing executives surveyed by the CMO Council in earlier research 1 found that localization platforms and systems make the greatest impact in the ability to handle the logistics and intricacies of localized marketing, create relevant and meaningful versions of content, control brand assets and uniformity of brand messaging, and measure and evaluate campaign effectiveness and content usage. But these tools that can accelerate adaptation only work when implemented in a way that delivers visibility into the entire creative process. Moreover, marketers are implementing technology without a clear view into the reality of marketing supply chain efffectiveness and creative delivery processes. In essence, marketers are spending on collaboration tools and content managers, but you simply cannot fix something when you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what is broken and where the damage is most severe.

Only 20 percent of respondents are using online approval/ proofing systems that reduce time and cost and create visibility in the creative ideation and collaboration process.

When asked if their organizations had undertaken a formalized assessment of the creative delivery process and marketing supply chain, 50 percent said no, this critical investigation has not happened. Only 18 percent have formalized their assessment, and 24 percent believe the investigation is in process. 1

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Brand Automation for Local Activation,â&#x20AC;? CMO Council, 2013

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

Without this view into process and performance, it is no wonder that marketers are simply not satisfied with performance or are forced to admit they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know how they would rate their effectiveness. What becomes clear is that many marketers are actually not using the right platforms to help improve their process, visibility and measurement of creative campaigns; instead, they are automating in the dark and questioning the lack of real change and transformation. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s take, for example, one of the top challenges that marketers are facing in the creative production and global delivery process: end-to-end workflow management and collaboration. To respond to this challenge, marketers are turning to general project management platforms in the hopes that these tools will accelerate processes. But in reality, these solutions do not go much further than the ability to assign tasks and manage deliverables. In reality, only 20 percent of respondents are using online approval/proofing systems that could actually drastically reduce the time and cost involved in creative adaptation while also creating visibility and accountability in the creative ideation and collaboration process. While project management tools can help provide some level of visibility into the status and appointees of deliverables, they do not help provide the clarity marketers crave when it comes to the specific actions that need to be taken (or accelerated) to make measurable improvements across the supply chain and advance quickly to the final product. Moreover, marketers who seek accountability and visibility across both in-house teams and agency partners are now demanding greater depth in understanding how processes are impacting the cost and quality of their creative campaigns. Marketers are driving blindly, but they are also not implementing the right tools to open up visibility, leaving both marketers and agency partners in a state of frustration and lackluster localization performance. Making a Case for Local: Best Practices and Leader Insights Localization is not just about getting a message out. Simply pushing out content in a variety of iterations in the hopes that it reaches a relevant audience provides no guarantee that the audience will be receptive to the experience. Instead, for global

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

brands committed to relevant engagement, this is about smoothing the path to optimized customer experiences. Jennifer McCarthy, former Vice President of Global Brand Design and Marketing at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, notes that even slight adjustments in creative messaging can have a significant impact in reaching consumers.

“Whether editing the imagery or the text, slight adjustments to some of the brand’s programs or marketing can increase its resonance with the consumer.” Jennifer McCarthy, Starwood Hotels and Resorts

She says, “If we localize our main messages and customize the messages to be relevant for individual markets, the content will be more successful. Whether editing the imagery or the text, slight adjustments to some of the brand’s programs or marketing can increase its resonance with the consumer.” But marketers are looking at a balancing act, personalizing enough to reach their audience in a relevant way but not so much that it dilutes the brand or deviates away from the goals of the business. Ram Krishnan, Chief Customer Officer at PepsiCo, explains, “All brands, regardless of the geography where people are experiencing the brand, must demonstrate a clear identity of the brand. What does the brand stand for? If you lose that, then you lose the soul of your brand.”

This is where localization and personalization make the greatest impact—placing this clear brand vision and identity into context of the customer. It is more than just understanding Pepsi’s brand; it is about appreciating how customers see themselves walking hand in hand with Pepsi. For Peter McGinness, Chief Marketing Officer of Chobani, understanding the customer is simply the cost of doing business and is at the core of any localization effort. “The 50 states are not always the united 50 states of America, and there are different points of view, consumers, socioeconomic backgrounds, race and ethnicity ratios and histories to all of the states,” explains McGinness. “Blanketing the United States with one message may be efficient in terms of cost per 1,000 perspectives, but efficiency based on the number of eyeballs reached is not a measure of success.” Still, some brands are taking steps to leverage technologies to improve efficiency while also tracking and measuring impact. Starwood’s McCarthy saw significant increases in efficiency and measurable impact after launching an internal platform within Starwood

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

Hotels and Resorts’ 11 distinct brands. The platform didn’t just deliver visibility to help the team transform and eliminate redundancies and inefficiencies; it also helped her team achieve a decrease of nearly $3 million in spending from 2012 to 2014. As Starwood set out to to build a world-class brand, tools and technologies to unify the brand vision while remaining adaptive and flexible for localization were mandatory. Through their supply chain assessment and intentional implementation of a marketing supply chain platform, new agility and adaptability could become a reality. “Our mission was to continue to live the mantra—Freedom in a Framework—meaning that if you provide the right tools to the hotels, they can create their own marketing content and truly stay on brand while saving marketing dollars,” she explains.

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

CONCLUSION It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of content products required by marketers and their creative teams today. From signage and product manuals to digital ads and videos, each content piece needs to be adapted across multiple mediums. When you add to that the complexity of iterating those pieces for distinct audiences, it is no wonder that marketers are unsure how to best optimize their content delivery strategy. Improper management, lack of tools and insufficient budgets make the management of this complicated supply chain a nearly impossible task—one that is spread across an increasingly complex network of creative agencies and contractors without the visbility and guidance that each needs in order to prove performance and remain focused on the task. Instead of planning for success, too many teams are left hoping for the best. But savvy marketers should not decouple marketing from the creative content delivery chain. While one size may not fit all, global companies seeking to go local must take swift steps forward to better manage their creative delivery process. Savvy marketers should take the following prescriptions to ensure they are capitalizing on proper market segmentation and delivery: 1. Take steps to better understand your customer’s local context. Any relevant marketing strategy must stem from an understanding of customers within a given market. Many global companies are discovering the power of local teams that have both the language and cultural acumen to help achieve an optimal understanding of the local consumer. But even those that don’t have local teams must prioritize market testing and proper segmentation. McGinness advises marketers to take a page from politics when it comes to reaching their audience. “I think marketers and brands should take a play from political campaigns. Yes, politicians publicize nationally, but in the end, it is a ground game. It is ZIP code by ZIP code, town by town, and state by state,” he explains. He continues, “Marketing must take themselves out of the equation. Preferences are different by state, by county, by town and by ZIP code. Nothing can be discounted. It’s all on the table when trying to generate the most demand possible.” Today’s customer expects that engagements from the brands they love will be a reflection of their past relationship and future aspirations with that brand…not some generic

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

message that is developed in an office continents away and in a language and format that is not just foreign, but utterly forgettable. 2. Determine your core brand identity and define parameters. An effective brand strategy requires establishing brand guidelines and defining their parametersâ&#x20AC;Śthis is Marketing 101, right? Brands need a strong message that resonates with consumers at a global level but that can also be adapted in ways that will best reach distinct consumers without diluting the core of the brand or the message. In the end, this is an issue of adapting processes to meet the needs of people, both internal and external to the organization. Krishnan explains, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The best global brands have great processes in place where they have global brand councils in which most of the geographies are represented, and there is a dialogue on how to adapt the message while staying true to what the brand stands for in the various regions.â&#x20AC;? Thus, marketers need to get clear on their brand mandate and make sure that all stakeholders in the creative content delivery process understand the brand guidelines and how much flexibility they have in adapting that brand mandate. Establishing templates can go a long way in helping teams adapt content and provide the security of knowing that those adapted content pieces still fall within the brand identity. But knowing where the guiderails are is critical to delivering a unified experience, no matter where in the world that relationship is being built. 3. Establish proper platforms and systems to streamline processes and measure success. The right tool can make even the most complex process achievable. Leading brands are seeking to integrate tools that can help them quickly proof and approve concepts, as well as iterate designs within established templates that already take into consideration the brand identity and key guidelines. Tools that allow for simple and quick iterations of content mean that consumers will hear brand messages sooner and in a manner that is relevant to them. They also provide more transparency around the marketing content supply chain. But the benefit of proper tools goes further still in helping marketers to better understand how effective their strategies are in practice. Marketers must find the right mix in crafting global campaigns and reaching customers at a local level. Whether all creative is handled in house or by a web of partners, established systems that allow for simple iterations of content can help better track and deliver quality campaigns.

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

Krishnan explains that for PepsiCo, a blend of relationships works best, but each company needs to find their own prescription. “There is no one answer that fits all,” he says. “It is about bringing together a whole ecosystem that addresses the changing consumer landscape.” In the end, the case for localization and accelerated content adaptation rounds back to the customers themselves. No relationship has ever been built based on a dispassionate disconnect or a lack of contextual engagement. In fact, the deepest relationships with customers are achieved when brands take extra strides to deliver total relevance and reflect the very heart of the customer back to them in a rich, contextual and localized manner. Nelson Mandela said it best: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, it goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

DETAILED FINDINGS 1. How well are you translating your creative strategy across all digital and physical marketing channels, including merchandising locations, promotional literature, advertising, packaging and sales materials? (Select one) Establishing and building a brand identity requires the right mix of a cohesive, targeted creative strategy and the ability to translate that strategy across all touchpoints, market segments and channels. With the proliferation of new digital channels, most marketers are still figuring out how to best tackle a multitude of assets and mediums. The success of these efforts is, at best, a work in progress for 62 percent of respondents, who note that they are getting better, need improvements or are not doing well at all. In a telling insight, only 7 percent feel they are doing extremely well.

Extremely well

30%

Doing well

36%

Getting better

23%

Need improvements

Not well at all

Reviewing results and strategies

Not sure

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

2. How effectively do you adapt, modify and/or localize your branded content for different markets, audiences, partners and geographies? (Select one.) An effective creative strategy requires the ability to adapt new creative materials across the different touchpoints and targets of a brand, but on top of that, it requires localizing those assets across the distinct geographies, cultures and communities reached by the brand. Mirroring the sentiments of how advanced marketers feel in their ability to translate their overall brand identity across new mediums, 9 percent of marketers feel they are very advanced in their ability to adapt these assets for specific audiences while 63 percent of respondents feel they are not doing well at all, need improvements or are getting better.

Very advanced in this area

24%

Doing well

34%

Getting better

22%

Need improvements

Not well at all

Reviewing results and strategies

Not sure

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

3. How is your creative resource group structured? (Select all that apply.) As brands ideate around the optimal path toward implementing a creative strategy that can allow for rapid and relevant adaptation across distinct market segments, it is no surprise that the spread of how these brands are allocating resources or controlling the process is vast. Most seem to be looking internally to build these capacities, with only 13 percent using a single agency for this process. Yet while brand ownership of the process seems to be the running theme, there is a pretty even spread between those brands that are utilizing multiple creative teams and partners and those that are centralizing the process.

45%

Multiple creative partners/contractors

28%

Multiple creative teams across regions

26%

Single in-house studio handling all creative executions

20%

Local ownership of creative adaptation

18%

Specialized in-house groups across digital, print and packaging/POS

13%

Agency of record handling all creative

Other (please specify)

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

4. How do you rate the speed, responsiveness and capability of your agency or in-house creative teams in supporting global and local marketing execution requirements and demands? (Select one.) No matter the structure of creative marketing, time to market is a key hurdle, especially considering the multitude of channels and touchpoints available to reach todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s connected consumer. And with the lack of speed comes a lack of overall capabilities in translating and adapting creative content and collateral. Finding the right mix of a cohesive brand identity and a localized strategy is something that only 7 percent feel they have advanced capabilities to achieve. Luckily, most see improvements, with 32 percent saying they are getting better at this process and 23 percent saying they are doing well.

Very advanced in this area

23%

Doing well

32%

Getting better

32%

Needs improvement

Not good at all

Reviewing results and strategies

Not sure

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

5. What factors are putting pressure on your creative team to be more effective at delivering production-ready creative at scale globally? (Select top five) With advancements in new technologies and capabilities for personalized marketing, todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s consumer now expects that brands engage with them in ways that are most meaningful and relevant to them as individuals. It is no surprise, then, that localization demandâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;including taking account of language, cultural values and other sensitivitiesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; ranks top among the reasons marketers must improve their ability to deliver adapted creative at scale for almost half of respondents. The new digital environment also increases the number of channels and types of content that marketers must produce to remain relevant in the marketplace, making the need for new visuals and dynamic digital content top priorities as well. Finally, reducing cost and complexity are always top of mind for operationally minded marketers.

48%

Localization demands (e.g., language, cultural values, religion, ethnic sensitivities, etc.)

23%

Channel/field sales requests to customize or create versions of content

44%

New digital formats, device types and dynamic content needs

16%

Greater number of physical locations serving our customers

43%

Need for visually enriched and engaging content pieces

15%

More complex marketing supply chain systems and partners

41%

Financial and operational cost reductions

Corporate social responsibility and ethical branding commitments

36%

Brand quality, uniformity and compliance mandates

Sustainability and brand logistics mandates

32%

Data-driven personalization of customer interactions at scale

Use of networked, ondemand print and digital imaging technologies

32%

Marketing performance and effectiveness measures

Other (please specify)

29%

Cross-border variations, requirements, regulations and considerations

27%

Global market and distribution channel expansion

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

6. What do you consider to be essential assets and elements produced by your creative team, either internally or externally? (Check all that apply.) Top of mind for marketers is the ability to ensure their brand identity is strong, relevant and relatable. Thus, design ideation and specification are critical in ensuring that, at a core level, all assets are created within a given structure and set of guidelines. The importance of digitalâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;including the proliferation of websites, social channels and videosâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; makes those digital design assets increasingly important in terms of the components that marketers must get right.

78%

Design ideation, conception and specification

30%

Newsletters/magazines/ publications

67%

Digital advertising

29%

Mobile apps

67%

Website design/ content

28%

Blogs

57%

Copywriting

27%

Direct mail

53%

Video

24%

Packaging

52%

Artwork files

24%

Webinars

48%

Social media pages

23%

Point of sale display

41%

Presentations

19%

Print production

39%

Infographics

18%

Merchandising materials

37%

Print advertising

17%

Product manuals

36%

16%

ePublishing

34%

Exhibits/booths

13%

Premiums/giveaways

34%

Photography

Pre-press

32%

Reports/white papers

Other (please specify)

31%

Signage

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

7. What challenges are you facing in your creative production and global delivery process? (Select top five) It is the ultimate goal for any brand to achieve the level of market penetration and brand awareness wherein consumers will recognize a brand, regardless of channel. And while creative adaptation for localized marketing needs is vital for brands seeking to engage with increasingly discerning consumers, that adaptation must be done in a way that does not dilute the overall brand identity. Thus, ensuring uniformity within brand guidelines, while at the same time ensuring those assets are properly localized, is the top challenge for 43 percent of marketers. Time, however, is the largest hurdle to overcome according to 47 percent of marketers. This challenge is exacerbated by the expansion into new global markets and the proliferation of content channels. And given the complexity involved in effectively implementing a localized strategy for many brands, there is a significant cry for better tools to understand the workflow and measure the impact of performance.

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

47%

Shorter lead times and turnaround requirements

43%

Ensuring quality and uniformity within brand guidelines

38%

End-to-end workflow management and collaboration

36%

Delivering creative on-time and in real-time, when needed

36%

Measurement of creative appeal, impact and value

34%

Adapting creative/content to local needs and variations

32%

Managing costs and reducing waste/obsolescence

26%

Centralizing and controlling digital assets and IP

24%

Keeping up with new digital production innovations

22%

Finding, keeping and managing creative talent

17%

Meeting tough deadlines and seasonal production schedules

13%

Managing time and costs of multiple global creative agencies and partners

11%

Sourcing and onboarding new agency/freelance resources

Globalizing creative services and supply chain operations

Specifying and managing production and delivery of marketing materials

Continuous innovation and refinement of environmentally friendly packaging

Finding and using distributed print service providers and production resources

Meeting new sustainability requirements in our print and packaging areas

Transportation, warehousing, handling and fulfillment of marketing materials

Delivery, positioning and placement at point of sale and point of signage

Other (please specify)

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

8. What tools is your marketing team or agency using to properly manage and track output? (Select top three) With significant challenges around timeliness, workflow management, insight and transparency into the supply chain, it is surprising that so many brands are only using generalized and potentially outdated tools to automate and accelerate these processes. For example, only 20 percent are using online approval and proofing systems. General project management platforms may provide insight into ownership and flow, but they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t do enough to advance capabilities in improving timeliness and creative impact.

53%

Project/workflow management platforms

49%

Collaboration tools

46%

Campaign and content analytics dashboards

41%

Digital asset management

23%

Resource scheduling

20%

Online approval/proofing systems

Other (please specify)

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

9. Have you undertaken a formalized assessment of your creative delivery process and marketing supply chain effectiveness? (Select one.) While marketers know that they have a long way to go in improving their creative delivery process, it is surprising that half of all respondents have not undertaken a formalized assessment to identify gaps and areas of opportunity. Still, nearly a quarter of respondents (24 percent) note that the assessment is in process, demonstrating their commitment to improving this key strategic area. Only 18 percent have already completed such an assessment.

18%

Not sure

Yes

24% This is in process

50% No

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

10. Are you satisfied with your performance in this area? (Select one.) Only 20 percent of respondents are satisfied with the effectiveness of their marketing supply chains and creative delivery processes. Most marketers need to take the next step in leveraging the assets, skills and partnerships within their supply chain to improve delivery of localized and relevant brand content in order to make it more efficient and transparent.

11%

20%

Not sure

Yes

31% Currently evaluating

39% No

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

11. Where do you see a need for improvement? (Select top three) Marketers are honing in on the areas that are most significant to optimize the creative delivery process. They know they need to improve upon the relevancy and targeting of creative work. No matter how much research and testing are done in a given market, more can always be done to improve understanding and better reach the consumer. Timing is a critical challenge. Marketers realize that simultaneous deployment is ideal, but it is still far from reality. Digital has forced marketers to expand upon their marketing mix, and new attention must be paid to optimizing those channels to better reach a targeted audience.

49%

Executing better, more relevant and targeted creative work

42%

Improving creative adaptability, time to market and field responsiveness

32%

Producing digital content for web and mobile device channels

23%

Diversifying and improving the type of rich media content we produce

23%

Measurement of creative impact, value and appeal

21%

Working more effectively with our agencies and supply chain partners

17%

Translating and versioning content for different audiences and markets

16%

Centralizing the management and control of brand assets and content

15%

Reducing the cost of preparing creative executions for production locally

13%

Level of automation, tracking and reporting across the supply chain

Bringing accountability and visibility to marketing supply chain systems

Managing logistics around content delivery, print production and material distribution

Adapting and modifying digital files so they are production-ready

Uplifting quality of our print production and digital imaging globally

Reducing our carbon footprint in the marketing operational sector

Other

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

12. In which regions are you adapting, localizing and culturally modifying creative content? (Select all that apply.) No corner of the globe is going untouched when it comes to the priorities of global brands in reaching new audiences in relevant and targeted ways. Yet when marketers consider localization, they should not just focus on addressing international markets. Indeed, as highlighted by Peter McGinness, CMO of Chobani, â&#x20AC;&#x153;The 50 states of America are not always united.â&#x20AC;? Each region is further segmented by culture, gender, preferences and language.

62%

Executing better, more relevant and targeted creative work

44%

Improving creative adaptability, time to market and field responsiveness

41%

Producing digital content for web and mobile device channels

26%

Diversifying and improving the type of rich media content we produce

26%

Measurement of creative impact, value and appeal

24%

Working more effectively with our agencies and supply chain partners

21%

Translating and versioning content for different audiences and markets

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

13. What percentage of your marketing budget is allocated for creative adaptation and cross-cultural localization? (Select one.) Despite a clear need for marketers to improve their ability to modify and adapt creative to reach consumers in a more personalized and relevant manner, most simply do not have the budget to execute their goals. Just under half of respondents spend less than 5 percent of their budget on localization needs. Conversely, only 3 percent spend more than 40 percent of their budget to modify content for localized needs. Marketers need to find a blend between proper budgetary allocation and optimization that will help keep operational costs low.

3% More than 40 percent

49%

21 to 30 percent

Less than 5 percent

15% 11 to 20 percent

26% 6 to 10 percent

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

14. How long does it typically take to create and deploy localized content across both physical and digital touchpoints? (Select one.) With more than a quarter of respondents noting that it can take a month or longer to deploy localized content across all touchpoints, it is clear that marketers need to take swift action to close the gap. The potential revenue loss from postponed launch dates, coupled with the cost and complexity associated with the inefficiencies in the supply chain, have the potential to be devastating to marketing campaign effectiveness. And while some 32 percent take days to weeks, only 17 percent have achieved the ability to deploy all content simultaneously.

17%

All content is developed and deployed simultaneously.

15%

Within days of primary global launch

17%

Within weeks of primary global launch

12%

Within one month of primary global launch

15%

Can take up to three months

14%

Depends on the agency resources we have

Digital deploys immediately; print and physical deploy much later

Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know, but know it takes a lot of time and money to roll out

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

15. How satisfied are you with the level of visibility and transparency into the cost and quality of your creative delivery process? (Select one.) We saw that most marketers have little budget allocated to the creative adaptability and delivery process. Even with a slim budget, there is little visibility into how those costs are allocated and whether they have measurable impact. While 26 percent respondents feel they are getting a better sense into their marketing supply chain, 38 percent say there is a need for improvement, and only 3 percent feel they are quite advanced in their understanding of the costs and measurable impact of their creative delivery process.

Very advanced in this area

23%

Doing well

26%

Getting better

38%

Needs improvement

Not well at all

Reviewing results and strategies

Not sure

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

BRAND PERSPECTIVES Peter McGinness Chief Marketing and Brand Officer Chobani

Chobani grew from a five-person company to more than 2,000 employees globally during one of the United States’ worst economic crises in decades. Founder of Chobani, Hamdi Ulukaya, extends his personal beliefs into the core values of Chobani. The company resonates an ideology based on hard work, dedication, teamwork and pride in quality products. Peter McGuinness, Chobani’s Chief Marketing & Brand Officer, regards Chobani’s hard work, respect and insights as the key factors to its success. He believes that while localized marketing may be hard work, it is the only way to truly connect with the consumer. McGuinness stresses the need for global brands to think local, act local and communicate locally to ensure the brand is totally relevant and completely resonant with the consumer. He believes that taking the extra steps to reach the local community will offset costs due to the development of brand preference and sales gained. “We go to every market, pitch our products locally, win markets locally and do local creative,” he says. Consumers reward us for working harder and being smarter while respecting the culture, nuance, language and local insights.” Chobani’s perspectives and core beliefs transcend yogurt. McGuinness believes modern brands must have a point of view beyond their products. Brands have always had a point of view about the products they make, but today, good, modern and relevant brands must have a point of view on things beyond the products they make. “Chobani takes a firm stance on the issues we think are relevant, and we find our customers reward us for it,” says McGinness. “We recently enacted paid parental leave and are one of the very few manufacturing companies that give paid parental leave to both men and women, including for fostering and adoption. We are loud and proud about messages we care about, like childhood obesity and diabetes. It is a big part of our brand to have a point of view, and while it might not resonate with everyone, many will proactively choose our brand because of it.”

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

As an entrepreneurial, creative-culture company that is founder-led and modern in its beliefs, Chobani has a great ability to attract the best talent. As Chobani brings more of its creative content marketing in house, the company is realizing the power of communication by employees who understand the brand, the company, the product, the values and the social mission. Chobani uses a variety of sources to create content and treats each individual partner fairly, equitably and with total transparency. They are building internal capabilities and have reached a point where they can create much of their content internally. However, they still use different agencies to create content, and for McGuinness, no matter how much Chobani builds its internal capabilities, he does not want to get to the point where creative content is exclusively built in house. He believes outside perspectives prevent an insular perspective and keep Chobani current, curious and balanced. The blend of internal and external marketing adaptation is working well for the company, which is quickly rising in both brand awareness and market share. The company holds strong to its core beliefs and messaging. At the same time, they know there is nothing like having boots on the ground in a local market to best understand how to reach them, adapt to them and delight them with their product offerings. The company does local AB testing, talks with consumers on the ground and really takes the time to connect and understand what will best resonate with each community. “The 50 states are not always the united 50 states of America, and there are different points of view, consumers, socioeconomic backgrounds, race and ethnicity ratios and histories to all of the states,” he explains. “Blanketing the United States with one message is frankly a little lazy and is not always going to be relevant to everyone or resonant with everyone. It is efficient to do it that way in terms of the cost per thousand perspectives, but efficiency based on the number of eyeballs reached is not a metric of success. I think marketers and brands should take a play from politics and how campaigns are run and look at the presidential campaign. Yes, politicians publicize nationally to raise awareness on certain issues and broad policies, but it is a ground game. It is ZIP code by ZIP code, town by town and state by state.” From a Chobani perspective, looking at brand index and category index is different in the Northeast because that is where they were founded. Greek yogurt is over-penetrated, and the brand does well because of it. In the Northeast, Chobani can push food boundaries and expect people to buy flavors like blood orange, apricot, mango, pomegranate and other more exotic flavors. In the Southeast, Midwest, and Southwest, it is a completely different market. Most people have not tried Greek yogurt and will certainly not be open to some of those more exotic flavors.

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

“Marketing 101 requires marketers to take themselves out of the equation,” he says. “There are certain areas in the country where direct mail, licking stamps and emails are compelling ways to reach people depending on their age, income, education and even how remote the areas are in which they live. Use the media that will best accomplish your company’s goals. Those goals are different by state, by county, by town and by ZIP code. I am going to do whatever it takes, whether it is geo-targeted social, local cable, local radio, local newspaper, email or direct mail. It’s all on the table when trying to generate the most demand possible.”

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

Ram Krishnan Chief Customer Officer PepsiCo

PepsiCo Inc.’s food and beverage portfolio maintains 22 brands, and these brands each generated more than $1 billion in estimated annual revenue in 2016. The products are distributed in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. With big brands like Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Quaker, Tropicana and more, Ram Krishnan, previously Chief Marketing Officer of PepsiCo, regards localization as an important aspect of marketing a brand to different geographies and cultures. Global brands in the food and beverage industry reach local and global markets, and the taste profiles in different parts of regions and countries can vary greatly. These brands all adapt to accommodate their consumers, and depending on the consumer group, we ensure the brand messages transfer and resonate with the target audiences. “It is very important for global brands to localize their branded content and creative content for the different markets and audiences they reach,” Krishnan says. “I have worked mostly in the food and beverage industry, and the taste profiles in different parts of the country are something that a lot of the best brands adapt to accommodate their consumers. I believe it is important to localize brands so they resonate and appeal to the different cultures that the brands are serving in these local geographies. We want to make sure our brand messages resonate with consumers through the lens of their cultural nuances.” When looking at a brand, Krishnan looks at the brand name, the logo, the packaging and the brand positioning. After establishing these assets as the standard identity for the brand, he believes the brand can create sub-brand variations to reflect local cultures and values while maintaining the core elements of the brand. “I always want all brands, regardless of the geography where people are experiencing the brand, to demonstrate a clear identity of the brand. What does the brand stand for? If you lose that, then you lose the soul of your brand,” he explains. “Brand identity is key when you create these variations. It is a complex ecosystem. When you evolve from the master brand and start thinking about the sub-brands and changing the identity of those things, the first thing to look at is: why? Is there a powerful reason for consumer rationale of why we are modifying these brands? The brand needs to be very clear on the objective of why you want to create the sub-brand. Brands do not want to proliferate sub-brands,

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

causing consumers to not know what the brand embodies. I believe that if you walk away too much from the core brand identity, and if the message is diametrically opposite to the value system of the core brand, it may as well be a new brand.” Marketing as a function has gone through a dramatic change over the last few years, driven by the convergence of data technology and creative content. The relationship between the brand and the consumer has also changed from a one-way conversation to a two-way conversation. The different avenues connecting brands to consumers are innumerable compared to past methods. “We have traditional agency partners, but we also have an in-house studio that can create content at a faster pace and react to consumers in real time on multiple channels,” he says. “There is no one answer that fits all. It is about bringing together a whole ecosystem that addresses the changing consumer landscape.” Many global brands are based either in the U.S. or Western Europe, and they sometimes miss the cultural nuances and the values of the brand that need to adapt to different cultures. Brands must also make sure they are not superficially looking at language translation. Even local geographies require research around ethnographies and personal visits to understand how the values of brands can adapt to local cultures. Brands must also focus on how their message translates in different languages while ensuring it resonates with the local culture. “Many successful global brands have a council made up of the primary country where the brand was originated, but the brand is in different geographies,” he says. “The local/ regional marketers sit in the council, and there is a lot of back and forth on what they are absorbing in the marketplace. With social media, it is very difficult to field consumer research questions specific to their geography and get a real-time response. I think the best global brands have great processes in place where they have these global brand councils in which most of the geographies are represented, and there is a dialogue on how to adapt the message while staying true to what the brand stands for in the various regions.” Most brands, at a local level, measure the health of the brand with a brand equity score, which shows how the brand locally stacks up versus all of the other brands playing in that local marketplace. Brands tie a lot of their marketing activities around messaging to the point-of-sale data and whether the message or program resonates with the consumers and leads to a sale. When it comes to the different technologies and different enabling tools existing today, the role of the marketer has evolved to be much more strategic and focused on the customer experience overall.

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

Krishnan concludes, â&#x20AC;&#x153;You have the advent of what I would call omni-cultural consumers. These are people who do not let geographical boundaries define their identities. They have the same value system because of an increase in access due to technology. These people have global ideals regardless of geographical boundaries. That gives support for the role of global brands. The other side of that is the rise of nationalism in each of the geographies, in addition to the importance of local values and local brands. It is a captivating time to be a marketer when you try to balance these two opposing factors.â&#x20AC;?

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

Jennifer McCarthy Former Vice President of Global Brand Design, Marketing & Operations Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide is recognized as one of the largest hotel and leisure companies and is comprised of eleven internationally renowned brands. In September 2016, Starwood was purchased by Marriott International for $13.6 billion, creating the world’s largest hotel chain. Starwood Hotels & Resorts managed more than 1,500 properties while employing more than 180,000 people worldwide prior to the merger. Jennifer McCarthy, former Vice President of Global Brand Design, Marketing & Operations, has over 25 years of hospitality experience including 18 years with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide and notes the importance of an adaptable brand identity. It is important, in McCarthy’s experience, for global brands to adapt, modify and localize their branded and creative content for different markets and geographies while maintaining the core brand essence globally. For each of its hotel brands, Starwood developed brand positioning, brand programming and brand marketing on a global level, and then they communicated with the divisional and regional teams and allowed them to customize their marketing. “It is very important to provide solutions so that marketing content to be modified or customized to be relevant for the market and the audience, especially in different geographies,” McCarthy explains. “If we localize our main messages and customize the messages to be relevant for individual markets, the content will be more successful. Whether editing the imagery or the text, slight adjustments to some of the brand’s programs or marketing can increase its resonance with the consumer. It is also important to always recognize the local language. In some markets, we provided specific assets— collateral items that would be relevant only in that marketplace—but moreover, we developed a suite of branded guidelines that allowed each of our hotels to always stay on brand.” In 2010, Starwood launched a new user interface for its digital asset management system. This system housed more than 35,000 assets including all photography and all branded marketing templates. Additionally, Starwood built a simple ad-builder tool in 2005, which was designed to help hotels create print advertising. Then, two things happened. One, Starwood discovered that the software that the ad builder tool was built upon was about to expire and would not be updated by the software developer. The second main learning

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

was that the hotels around the world needed a tool to help them customize more than just print advertising. As the digital landscape continued to evolve, Starwood realized that hotels wanted to create customized digital content. Starwood conducted a long RFP process and gained significant learnings during the process and they ended up with two vendors. “We decided to review a variety of different opportunities and ended up creating a dynamic marketing asset-building tool that we named Starworks,” she says. “Our mission was to continue to live the mantra we had launched during our Build World Class Brands initiative—Freedom in a Framework— our meaning was if you provide the right tools to the hotels, they can create their own marketing content while saving marketing dollars and truly stay on brand.” In 2012, Starwood launched this unique marketing tool called Starworks. It is a dynamic web-based tool that allowed hotels to customize their marketing assets like banner ads; however, it is also a proprietary tool that was only available to its 1500 hotels and regional marketing teams. The tool had a unique component that allowed users to view the interface in to eight different languages and create customized marketing content in over 20 languages. The Starworks tool was available to hotels through an entry point in Starwood’s digital asset management system, and there was an approval process for the artwork and content that was created. The task to develop all the marketing templates for all eleven Starwood hotels brands was quite complicated. As the ultimate lifestyle branding company, Starwood created a unique brand positioning and visual identity for each of its hotel brands. “Every brand has its own collateral system with over 300 assets.” McCarthy explains, “For example, each brand has its own custom designed marketing assets and for something as simple as a hotel fact sheet, and we had 11 different pieces of artwork with different specs for each asset. Ultimately, we had more than 400 different marketing templates because each brand has its own proprietary group of templates that it required for hotels to create content.” A team of three associates worked to create the templates inside the Starworks tool, and they were all managed on the back-end by the two vendors. In 2014, the team determined that the technology had advanced once again and restarted the RFP process to once again update the system. This time they identified a team of vendors who could create the marketing templates in one-sixth of the time it took originally. Marketing templates could be created in five days or less versus the six weeks it took with the original system. With the new system, this same team coordinated the re-creation of all 400 branded marketing templates for an even better system. They managed the content with the Starwood brand teams and Global Brand Design team of designers while developing wireframes for the templates with the new vendors. The new and improved system allowed the hotels to created 50 percent more assets.

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

“We also had a system for hotels to communicate with us directly. We had an email inbox for every brand (11 inboxes for 11 brands) where we fielded all kinds of questions about how to execute a tasks or determine whether an item was on-brand. The 11 inboxes generated around 4,000 emails a year, and Starwood had a gatekeeper managing the entire approval process on the back-end. The team also created a suite of online video tutorials to communicate and update the changes to the Starworks system. We had a strong relationship with our divisional teams who were responsible for all the approvals for content created in local language.” The in-house agency at Starwood, Global Brand Design, created all of the branded creative content and strategy in-house for all eleven hotel brands, but the team looked outside for the resources to build a tool like Starworks because of its unique and specific technical requirements and capabilities. “Starworks was a great marketing solution for Starwood to provide its hotels a solution to create customized marketing content from a creative process standpoint, but there are many steps in the production process,” McCarthy explains. “We were sometimes challenged when producing specific materials. For example, we try to produce all of our materials for Starwood in the hotels on sustainable, recycled PCW paper, and outside of the U.S., the rules change for how paper is graded to be sustainable. Paper in China is produced completely differently than paper in the U.S. The cost of paper in Greece versus the cost of paper in Sweden is completely different. The hotels have budgets that they have to maintain, so we had to have the flexibility to allow the hotels maintain their budgets to achieve their goals.” Lastly, Starworks does provide specific reporting tools that allow Starwood to see every asset created, how long it took to create the asset, how many templates are used and the number of users. With the Starworks tool, Starwood saw decrease of nearly $3.0M in spending from 2012-2014, and their user base steadily grew due to the implementation of the localized brand materials. After the transition of the Starwood hotel brands, it is expected that Marriott will adopt components of the Starworks tool for its use with their 30 hotel brands and over 6,000 hotels.

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

EXPERT COMMENTARY FROM HH GLOBAL Mark Tiedens VP of Marketing and Sales Operations HH Global

ASSESSMENT-DRIVEN CREATIVE ADAPTATION In many ways, the findings of this research report were unsurprising. As a marketing execution partner to some of the world’s leading brands, HH Global watches marketers across our customers as they follow very similar processes. Data-driven targeting has led to the delivery of key messages to individualized segments, resulting in more accurate and personalized approaches that drive business growth and better results. The more targeted the segment and the more relevant the message, the better the results. At the end of every campaign, marketers assess the results, make adjustments and prepare to launch the next one. Therefore, adaptation of branded content to geographical, cultural and local preferences is really the next step when it comes to better targeting. All of our customers—as well as this survey’s findings—underscore a need to apply that same methodology on an even higher level by delivering hyper-local content, including local formats and sizes, images that are consistent with local preferences, adherence to local regulations and, of course, languages. The process of reaching a target market— from idea to delivery and the assessment of results—is core to the marketing discipline. As marketing professionals, we should all have the people, processes and technologies in place to execute. Apparently, it is not that simple. Looking at the data and aggregating the answers yields surprising results. The results in aggregate reveal tremendous room for improvement in adapting creative for local delivery at scale. For example: •

70 percent of marketers do not rate their agency or in-house creative team’s speed, responsiveness and capability as “very advanced” or “doing well” in support of global and local marketing execution requirements (question 4).

•

75 percent of marketers do not rate their satisfaction with their visibility into costs and quality of their creative delivery process as “very advanced” or “doing well” (question 15).

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

•

80 percent of marketers surveyed did not answer “yes” when asked if they were satisfied with their company’s performance in this area (question 10).

The results demonstrate that marketers recognize the room to improve across all processes. The stakes are high as almost 50 percent of marketers believe that localization is essential to growth in both revenue and profitability, which leads to the most surprising insight: •

If 80 percent of marketers are not satisfied with their performance, then why have 58 percent of the same population not undertaken a formalized assessment of their creative delivery process to drive improvements?

Put more bluntly, if analysis and assessment of data to drive improved results is core to our marketing discipline, and if we know we have problems with our creative execution processes, then why are marketers not working to more aggressively address them? My best guess is time. Meeting deadlines and following up with adapted content after initial creative goes to market both take priority over efforts to assess and improve current technologies, processes and resources. As a corollary to time, marketers are not assessment experts, especially with all of the other deliverables on their lists. While they know their company’s processes, it is difficult for them to get perspectives from outside of their companies, regardless of their background. At HH Global, we believe that undertaking an assessment of the creative execution process is the first step toward driving improvements and, ultimately, penetrating new marketers and expanding in existing ones. In our experience, we find that there are four key factors to a profitable assessment of your creative execution process: •

Bring in an expert: The survey results show that marketers can be self-critical, but can we be prescriptive in our solutions? Bringing in an expert can ensure that the resources involved in the delivery of campaigns can stay focused with no disruption of services. Companies with extensive experience performing creative assessments bring perspectives and processes that internal resources will not have. Ensure that your chosen partner has a solid track record with a standard assessment process.

•

Ensure that the assessment is holistic: For adaptation of content to local markets, be sure that you find a way to assess the results in all of the markets you want to serve. Make sure that the assessment forces you to think through issues associated with people, processes and technology. Include all of the elements in the marketing mix. Choose an expert with skills evaluating processes associated with all of the channels used, whether digital, print, point of sale, broadcast, social, etc.

•

Articulate goals and the metrics that measure progress: This one seems obvious until the key metrics that you want to capture are proven unattainable. Data

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

collection challenges most organizations, particularly as the technologies used for these processes, according to this survey, are underutilized. We suggest finding an assessment partner with a strong technology underpinning to help apply applications to the metrics required to measure progress. •

Lastly, communicate the goals of the assessment process clearly: Again, this one seems self-evident, but poorly or hastily communicated programs can lead to an uneasy feeling for your people and partners. Lean on your assessment partner for clear communication plans and ideas; it should be part of their scope of work.

Results of the assessment process can open marketers’ eyes—from the simple to the complex—and can include far reaching changes. From HH Global’s experience over the past quarter-century, the best executed programs start with a rigorous assessment process. Indeed, in the same way that marketers begin with research and an assessment of targets before executing campaigns, an improved execution process begins with an assessment.

HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

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HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

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HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery

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ABOUT HH GLOBAL

HH Global Ltd., founded in 1991, is a leading, independent marketing execution partner to prominent brands in more than 40 countries. The company offers innovative and tailored solutions for the outsourced procurement of all types of printed marketing materials, packaging and creative production services that drive down cost, speed time to market, improve quality and increase sustainability. Every HH Global solution utilizes HHub, a best-in-class marketing execution application, an expansive list of suppliers, proprietary processes, and the deep expertise of more than 800 employees. The company also operates HH Labs, the center of its innovation program, which brings fresh, new ideas to clients. With more than $500 million in spend under management, HH Global maintains a razor-sharp focus on cost and quality, combined with an industry-leading sustainability program, offering improvements that provide both fiscal and environmental value. For more information, visit www.hhglobal.com.