THE HIGHLIGHTS
Whole-brand thinking:
The ‘no-brainer’ that gives your brand the attention it deserves
Sponsored by kantar
Marketers can secure their business’s buy-in if they can demonstrate their marketing strategy delivers commercial outcomes, by building strong brands that meaningfully resonate with consumers.
Strong brands consistently outperform rivals, and during both the global financial crisis and the pandemic they declined less severely and recovered more quickly. The rewards of getting “whole-brand thinking” right mean that building better brands should be a “no-brainer”.
That was the message from Adele Jolliffe, head of the brand domain consultant team at Kantar, during a panel discussion at the Festival of Marketing. She explained that the benefits of building stronger brands are not solely reflected in marketing metrics but also in the impact they have on the wider business.
PHOTOCREO Michal Bednarek
“As marketers, you have to know, understand and influence every element of your business,” Joliffe said.
“Your strategy needs to be commercial enough that you can engage your C-suite, get credibility, gain their trust and get the money you need to do it. It needs to be inspirational enough that you can break down silos within your organisation. You can have influence where you don’t have authority and unite people behind the common brand ambition, but it also needs to be human-centric and brand-centric enough that it can connect with people and culture, and create brand preference.” The implication for marketers is that whilst their potential to impact business outcomes has never been greater, they need to feel equipped to work and lead in a new way.
“Strong brands help maximise the number of people who want to choose your product,” she said. “Strong brands also will influence how much somebody will pay. But there's now also undeniable evidence that strong brands don't just influence sales, they also influence business value and resilience.”
To make these benefits clear to colleagues, marketers have to think beyond their own department and learn to speak the language of business. Brand strategies must impact not only the metrics that CMOs look at, such as NPS scores, they need to look at the signs of success that attract the attention of the board.
Virgin Atlantic's Annabelle Cordelli on influencing organisations
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Advice from Virgin Atlantic
To discuss how working and leading in a ‘whole-brand thinking’ way is playing out in a real-life brand, Jolliffe was joined by Annabelle Cordelli, vice-president of global marketing at Virgin Atlantic. In conversation with Tom Lees, brand strategy consultant at Kantar, the inside story of how the airline is dedicated to building a strong brand emerged.
“I truly believe that marketing should be at the heart of the business and the marketing has the opportunity to lead and shape how the business is going to grow,” Cordelli explained.
“If you can pull together brand, commercial, customer and people – and really tell that story of how your brand plan is going to translate into a positive commercial outcome [and] enhance the customer experience that delights customers – then the teams in Virgin Atlantic, who are creating and delivering it, feel engaged and inspired.”
To build a plan and to be able to communicate it across the wider business, the key is to be able to convey to the C-suite what the strategy is and what the business outcome will be. Hence, Cordelli’s advice is to get buy-in from the top by being a constant part of the discussions at the highest levels of management.
“A big part of my role, and my team's role, is getting time with the CEO, the CFO and the CCO, and bringing them on the journey of what you're trying to do,” she said.
“Part of that is getting time, the other bit is finding a common language, which has got to be rooted in insight, and commercial and business outcomes. What are the needs, wants and desires of real people out there? How is the Virgin Atlantic brand going to deliver that better than our competitors, in a really distinctive way that's ultimately going to lead to the business outcomes that everyone at the table is aspiring to?”
Action points for better brands
For those marketers sold on the idea of building a branding strategy that is rooted in business metrics, but unsure how to communicate it to the boardroom, Jolliffe offered some parting questions executives need to be posing.
“Ask yourself, can you translate your brand strategy into business KPIs?” she suggested.
“Can you prove what your brand contributes to sales value? Can you scenario-plan, commercially sizing outcomes? Is your brand strategy compelling enough, persuasive enough to unite the business? And is it simple enough to influence the everyday decision-making outside of the marketing department?”
Ultimately, she urged marketers to think about “how your brand shows up in the world”, how it is different, and how offline and online worlds are united through excellent creative and a consistent tone of voice. ■
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Virgin Atlantic has taken the 'whole-brand thinking' approach
WATCH NOW
Click here to watch the session on demand at the Festival of Marketing
