The Art of Integration

Is Integration becoming a dirty word in agency land?

We always keep an eye on the competition and one thing is certainly true, it has never been a more popular term to describe an agency’s offering!

So it may not offer much differentiation for agencies going forward, but more importantly what does it mean for clients? We recently spoke to around 60 international marketing directors to get their views.

Our research points to different client segments requiring very different engagement models. At the one end there are clients who value the full-service agency model. They are often resource constrained and work for businesses that perhaps don’t value the marketing function as much as they possibly could. They want the efficiencies an integrated agency can bring and the convenience of having ‘one throat to choke’!

At the other end of the scale are the more sophisticated marketing operations. These are brands with bigger budgets, more marketing resources and, more often than not, communications functions that are organized by discipline (or ‘silo’ if you are a true integrated believer!) They buy specialists – direct marketing agencies, digital agencies, advertising agencies, branding agencies and media agencies – and often build rosters of similar companies to drive competition and / or manage workload.

So one questions is, are these bigger clients uninterested in the idea of Integration?

We certainly think not. We see an increasing trend towards a requirement for more Integrated Planning, with agencies being thrown together to collaborate on initiatives. Whether this works and is effective against the original objectives always comes down to the agencies and individuals involved. The client can always help by ensuring there are clear areas of responsibility … especially when it comes to delivery of the plan! And the agencies can help (and make things easier for themselves) by cutting back on the number of people involved from each side!

We are certainly comfortable with both the above approaches as I am sure are many of our Integrated competitors. Our approach has always been rooted in Integrated Thinking rather than simply Integrated Deliver. It is not about being full-service or a one-stop shop. It is about solving clients’ business problems and we are always happy to work with other like-minded agencies to achieve that goal.

Thrifty or Green?

So the economy is in a tad of trouble and all our concerns over the environment immediately go out of the window? That seems to be the basis of the countless 'thrifty consumers' articles I have read recently.

We weren't comfortable with that prognosis at Gyro (surely this will be about different segments? and why are the two mutually exclusive?) so decided to conduct a spot of research to see what the true situation was. We spoke to over 2,000 consumers and markers in the UK, Europe and the US and discovered that things aren't so black and white ... they seldom are.

We'll be publishing a report on the subject after Christmas but safe to say we have found some interesting differences in views ... especially between the consumer and the marketing professional!

Let me know if you would like a copy of the report.

More on Loyalty and Customer Marketing ...

We recently conducted research in this area, both with end-customers and the marketing directors employed to build a relationship with them. We found a number of key areas that brands simply have to deliver on in order to drive loyalty and ultimately advocacy:

> Loyalty starts with the basics and a brand’s ability (often via its sales force) to deliver on its promise. Damage is inevitable when there is disconnect between marketing’s promise and sales’ ability to deliver.

> Customers want the brands they choose to be open and honest. The moment something goes wrong it is on your ability and energy in fixing it that you will be judged.

> Loyalty can be built by rewarding customers. But different customer segments value very different types of rewards. A student might want a free cinema ticket from his bank but a small business owner might be happy with an unprompted letter thanking him for the 20 years he has been the bank’s customer.

> Brands that succeed retain their relevance to people as they move through the different stages of their life and career. Think about a technology specialist who moves up the corporate ladder to a board level technology or business role. Think how IBM’s brand deals with this versus some of the more product focused IT vendors.

The same research also looked at the link between the current economic situation and marketers focus on loyalty. The results were interesting:

In interviews with marketing directors from a range of industry sectors, 51% said that they have increased their focus on loyalty marketing as the full effects of the credit crunch start to be felt, with 38% of this group saying that they have significantly increased spend in this area. Of those consulted no on had reduced their focus on brand loyalty and loyalty marketing schemes.

We also found that 83% of marketers are investing more in building or sustaining relationships with existing customers. With only 2% saying they had reduced investment in these relationships as a result of the unstable economic environment.

Get a summary of the research here:

http://www.gyrointernational.com/press_office/loyalty_for_life.html