Business Marketing

Over the last few months I have been gathering research for the new 2010 version of my eBook, The Secret of Achieving Brilliant Returns at Your Next Event: a Guide to Maximizing Your ROI and ROO.  The new version will be released in mid-September.  In my research, I have have stumbled upon the Verse Group.  They were in involved in an important three year research study for the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF).  The Exhibit Surveys folks were also involved in that groundbreaking research.

Earlier this year, The Verse Group released a report which is titled: Rebuilding brands: a study of CMO priorities in 2010. The objective of the report was to “understand how corporate CMOs are reinventing marketing in response to a fast changing economy.”

What is on the CMO mind has a direct correlation to what take place on the trade show floor.  So for my audience, I thought I would share a few of the highlights from this report.

Below are the conclusions made from this report:

Conclusions and implications

• Corporations cut back too far on marketing in 2008 and 2009 – and are now seeing the impact in weaker brands.

• There is real opportunity for corporations to gain a lasting competitive advantage by moving quickly to re-invigorate their brands.

– Not everyone can or will seize the day. In many cases they still need to make the case to their CEOs.

• To succeed in today’s dynamic business environment, CMOs must reinvent marketing. They need more flexibility, accountability and coherence across digital and traditional media platforms.

– CMOs can’t expect to reinvigorate their brands using the same old brand positioning methodologies that worked in the past.

• CMOs see narrative and metaphor as key elements in re-inventing marketing.

– But it won’t be easy to shift from the brand positioning approach because they are not aware of the breakthrough new methodologies that are, in fact, being used by some leading corporations.

On Page 10 of this report is a chart that denotes the top priorities of a CMO.  How well does this line up with your organization’s mandates?

I am always curious – is this research valid for your organization?  What are you experiencing that is similar or different to the findings I have shared here?  How have the cutbacks impacted your exhibit program?

To obtain a copy of this valuable report, click here.

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