Challenge
Marketing were looking for support in justifying (and defending) budget choices. They wanted to demonstrate with confidence investments made in Marketing were supporting business growth.
Without robust evidence budgets were at constant risk of being cut and they were subject to the view that Marketing did little to contribute to overall business revenue targets.
They were also looking for help in optimising their effectiveness to make their money work as hard as possible.
Approach
A robust measurement program was set up:
- Six models looking at the short-term drivers of acquisition for key products
- One model of the Total Marketing Return on Investment (i.e. short- and long-term impact) to explain the entire story of the impact of investment.
- Updates every six months to ensure we continue learning and always have timely data for validating business decision making
- A simulator
Insight
We helped demonstrate to the business that media investment drives revenue through both short-term acquisition and longer-term brand building that translates to customers overtime, so we need to continue to invest to grow the brand and build market share.
We were able to highlight which particular campaigns/products delivered the highest ROI and should be prioritised in future.
And we gave clear direction on the efficiency of channels and the role they should play in achieving different short and long term goals.
Impact
The Marketing team were able to prove the new campaign was driving impact, delivering +$42.3m revenue. This gave them influence with the EXCO and generated vocal support for the campaign from the CEO.
Forecasting aids decisions around which products to support, optimal channel investment weights and is used to support campaign casing across the business for every new campaign aired.
It also enables them to demonstrate the impact of potential budget cuts thus helping to secure budgets.