There's a race towards adopting content within marketing but when it comes to delivering ROI, and driving sales the tail is wagging the dog, according to Reckitt Benckiser's head of media Rowena Newman.
Reckitt Benckiser is turning towards a content-driven strategy with its marketing but remains one of the biggest spending advertising in Australia in terms of main media.
Speaking at a panel discussing marketing to mums at an IAA event this morning in Sydney, Rowena Newman, Reckitt Benckiser head of media, said brands have to take a leap of faith into content alongside advertising. That is hard when FMCG manufacturers are effectively held to ransom by retailers who don't always take into account the value of marketing output beyond traditional media, because there is a lack of ROI data.
Newman said: “It's tricky. We're kind of in the situation where the tail is wagging the dog a bit at the moment. We've got Coles and Woolies who are really the gatekeepers to our sales and it's all about using our media spend to convince them that they are better off retailing our products than someone elses.
"So while the market power sits with Coles and Woolies, it still feels like we're stuck in the old school way that places a lot more value on big TV spend than on an army of bloggers who they just wouldn’t believe could necessarily do the same level of product turn that a TV ad could [because there is a lack of ROI data].”
Brands, she said have to perform a balancing act between satisfying the grocers and using content and partnerships with bloggers to convince consumers their products are right for them.
“At the moment it's a hybrid model but as the media channels become more and more fragmented it will increasingly change at a faster rate and we will get to the point where TV isn't [seen as] the only way to drive ROI but we're still in that balancing space,” she added.
There is still a job to do, added Nicole Milward, chief strategy officer at ZenithOptimedia, to convince the retailers that the entire marketing mix drives sales – not just TV spots.
To read more about Reckitt Benckiser's marketing strategy and a profile of marketing director Paulo Zotti, pick up the current edition of AdNews in print (16 May) or get it on the iPad.
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