About 70% of brand marketers launched new innovations or line extensions and 44% repositioned their brands in 2007. But marketers also say in a new survey that their main regret of 2007 was failing to invest more effort into understanding what makes their customers tick.
However, Next Level SMG, which produced the survey and analyzed the results, says the responses indicate the current state of priorities rather than a lack of foresight as chief marketing officers and brand managers attempt to get the most out of tighter resources.
Next Level, a brand strategy firm, received nearly 100 responses from senior marketing officials at food, beverage, personal care, hospitality, electronics, and home- and building-products companies, including Kraft, Pepsi-Cola, Colgate-Palmolive, Playtex, Nokia, and Clorox. The survey was conducted in October 2007.
Among the chief findings were that in 2007:
70% developed or launched a new innovation or line extension.
62% deployed new marketing initiatives.
56% launched a new advertising campaign.
55% redesigned their packaging.
44% repositioned their brand.
"The need for creativity and change was driven by marketplace realities," says Heidi Krauss, Director of Next Level SMG and creator of the survey. "Marketing executives who repositioned their brands or launched new ad campaigns told us that they did so for a number of reasons; to revitalize a brand's image that was becoming outdated or losing relevance with consumers, to differentiate the brand more clearly from others in the company's portfolio, or to support an ongoing strategy to stay competitive."
When asked if they could change one thing about their 2007 marketing strategy, 28% of the respondents say they would have invested more effort to learn what motivates and influences their customers. Another 21% say they wished they had depended less on tried-and-true marketing tactics and found more creative ways to reach their audience. And 17% would have focused more on their core base business rather than innovation.
"What might be called 'marketer's remorse' isn't uncommon toward the end of the year," says Krauss, formerly Senior Marketing Director at The Dannon Co. "Companies are doing a lot of consumer research, but everybody has to prioritize their resources and focus on their must-do research needs versus their nice-to-knows. And when you launch a new product, typically you skew the overall budget toward awareness and trial-building, and it's easy to think 'maybe we shouldn't have let it impact our base business so much.'"
Never fear, Krauss says. Marketers have widespread intentions of continuing their innovative ways in 2008. The survey notes that 64% of respondents plan to develop or launch new innovations or line extensions, 38% want to enhance or redesign their products, 30% anticipate the need for repositioning, and 28% want to redesign their packaging.
