Major Brands Shifting their Marketing Efforts Towards Performance

by Ryan D. Swadley, 2/3/2012
The largest Marketers are beginning to put more pressure on their definition of ROI tied to performance. This comes as demand from their shareholders is increasing. The latest example is a realization of P&G CEO Robert McDonald stating "he cannot keep increasing P&G's ad budget forever, regardless of what happens to its sales." Companies like P&G need better financial results on their $10 billion annual ad budget. Read More

Other companies such as Unilever are falling suit. According to Jorgen Bartch, their VP-marketing...

"Currently we work with hundreds and hundreds of production companies," "That's far too much. We need to bring them down to a manageable number." Read More

The old paradigm is shifting and the way marketers pay agencies based on performance may be inching closer to a reality. According to a recent Ad Age article, Interpublic cos hired McKinsey consulting firm to research other industry compensation models and piloted some of its key findings with Interpublic's, media group UM.

"Half of the firm's clients, which include Chrysler, are engaged in compensation in which at least 20% to 75% of each media-buying contract is earned through pay-for-performance, according to Guy Beach, chief operating officer."

Among the challenges cited for a pay-for-performance model are a lack of efficient analytic tools. Read More

"The current model is not sustainable when you think about the level of analytics and investment that needs to be made to deliver what clients want," Jacki Kelley, CEO UM

Recent developments certainly indicate the day a marketer may begin to pay differently for media looks like it is on the way. The question is how soon? It looks like 2012 could be an interesting year to watch.