MARKETING
Marketing In A Disrupted Ecosystem
By Graham Villiers-Tuthill
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a disruptor and an accelerator at the same time . A disruptor because everything from supply chains to incomes to consumer choices must be questioned . An accelerator because a lot of the consumer trends pre-pandemic are coming to life faster than ever imagined .
Marketing has an obligation to make sense of these changes for their companies . That requires real agility in how we manage our brands . While a lot has been said about the need for companies and marketing functions to ‘ operate with more agility ’, what does that really mean , and how can we put that into practice ?
Navigating A Crisis
My first Marketing Director role was with Diageo in 2014 in Indonesia . Indonesia is an amazing market . An archipelago with over 17,500 islands , a population of over 250 million people and 300 languages . The market is unbelievably diverse and fragmented .
As I was settling into my new role , the government banned the sale of alcohol from the off-trade . This was a huge disruption to our business , and 70 % of our numeric distribution was wiped out in one government announcement .
What surprised me most was the business reaction to this new regulation . What I had considered a Corporate Relations issue , or a Commercial Distribution challenge was seen by the business as a marketing issue to solve .
And ( of course !) the business was correct , in times of massive consumer change it is marketing that needs to understand where the consumer is now , how to reach them and how to ensure our brands keep winning . This is as true as ever especially now during Covid when marketing needs to be the strategic function that acts as an engine of recovery .
Back to Basics
Marketing can only assume this position if we are on top of our two most basic obligations , having a brilliant connection to the consumer , and ensuring our brand positionings are rock solid . FMCG marketers have lost touch with these two fundamentals and are spending too much time on promoting and activating brands . If we do this without a razorsharp understanding of the consumer , and
In times of massive consumer change it is marketing that needs to understand where the consumer is now , how to reach them and how to ensure our brands keep winning . This is as true as ever especially now during Covid when marketing needs to be the strategic function that acts as an engine of recovery . solid brand positioning foundations , then we run the risk of activating brands in an inconsistent way . To be agile , we need to get back to basics .
Starting with understanding the consumer . Most FMCG companies still rely on an annual consumer research to understand emerging motivations , category penetration and brand equity . During Covid this research cycle does not help make sense of the immediate and significant changes that things like curfews , restricted movement , and closure of public spaces cause .
I think an annual consumer research cycle has never really made sense for most emerging markets . We operate in markets where volatility from macro-economic changes , political upheavals , natural disasters , and changes to regulations impact our consumers and industries immediately .
In EABL I was really impressed by the Consumer Planning team ’ s response to the Covid crisis . The team developed a dynamic and iterative SMS based consumer survey to guide Covid-19 impact on consumer mindset , income , socialisation , category penetration and key occasions .
With the proliferation of mobile phones in our markets , marketers have a better opportunity than ever before to have a closer connection to the consumer . Technology is enabling speed and reducing cost . Emerging markets should be hesitant to revert to a slower consumer research cycle post Covid - we need to keep this dynamic connection to the consumer .
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