Charlene Ashley, Contributor
WINSTON SILL/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
Red Stripe's marketing director Wayne Lawrence (left), Caymanas Track Limited's executive manager for marketing, Millicent Lynch (centre) and Red Stripe's managing director, Mark McKenzie examine trophies to be presented to winners of the RedStripe Superstakes.
ARE WE following worldwide trends or marching to our own beat?
The 'Global Marketplace' is no longer, to us, a phenomenon but rather, a reality. For some of us, we have entered, others were cast in. Whatever our mode of entry, competing with international brands, at international standards is a must. So here is the question. How much emphasis is placed on marketing in Jamaica? Do we still consider advertising marketing and public relations a nice-to-do? Is marketing still considered the Cinderella of business (as it was when I started in this field) or are we, as world trends show - moving marketing to the head of the boardroom table? Are we becoming marketing-focused, market-oriented organisations, led by our customers and in turn by marketing? Does marketing inform business direction or do we simply spend and spend as many think? Do companies see the results of the millions spent, do we increase shareholder wealth and value, which like it or not, is the ultimate goal?
PHENOMENAL GROWTH
Whew! Many questions, what are the answers? Before we seek to find them, let's seek to establish what the trends have been. The table below shows U.S. advertising expenditures by type of media for the years 2001-2004, which shows annual increase in overall advertising expenditure year on year and an accumulated 15 per cent increase over the period. Worthy of note is the phenomenal growth in the cable television expenditure - a mammoth 36.9 per cent, 2002 to 2004. (I need to make it abundantly clear at this point, that in no way am I suggesting that the United States of America is the world. However, being the world's largest economy and given their relative investment in market research, it is safe to say that the U.S. sets the pace.)
Checks with some of our local cable stations have shed some light on the direction in which we are heading. "Our official position at this time is that we do not sell advertising, given the laws by which we are governed," stated an unnamed source from one of our more prominent cable channels. "We at this time can only do sponsorships". So the obvious question of growth in revenue from sponsorship was posed, to which the very contemplative answer was " We are seeing an increase in the take-up of this idea by corporate Jamaica - yes". Thus, it seems that there is growth in this area. Our intention here is not to seek to quantify that growth or to compare it with other media, but to establish the growth trend.
Rohan Wade brand manager of TVJ had this to say when the question of increased revenue from advertising was posed. "We have seen significant improvement in the acceptance of the medium and the impact it brings and by extension, our revenues."
The same is true for radio as the leading radio stations all concur on experiencing increases in revenue. The point is made; our major media houses are seeing increase in advertising revenue. But what of our earlier battery of questions. Is marketing still a 'Cinderella' to business?
The answer is obviously no. One needs only to take a look at the mass media to see the proliferation of brands, fighting for attention. Some of these are most keenly watched from the sidelines. Wayne Lawrence, marketing director at Red Stripe had this to say. "We have to be customer-focused. It is the customer who drinks our beers and other beverages. That is why we have invested heavily in consumer surveys of all sorts. We have to know why our customers drink, what they drink, when they drink and with whom. It's a fairly simple formula, give them what they want and they will take it."
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Return on investment should be the focus of any marketer's activities. This intense focus on return on investment means that even advertisers have to demonstrate advertising effectiveness - something that is traditionally hard to measure. However, by establishing goals upfront, advertisers can track their progress and achieve measurable results, even in tough economic climes like ours. Decisions on where to advertise and when must be a perfected science. The decisions on our next investment, what brand to push etc, cannot be made without serious deliberations led by marketability of the proposition. Yes, the time has come for the leader of the discussion on new investment to be well informed of the need for marketing , in guaranteeing positive return on investment.
Charlene Ashley is a marketing consultant at Ashchar Consultants Ltd.
