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SPRING Production shares insights on unlocking operational efficiencies in marketing production

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Brands now need tighter control over their marketing spend, and to make urgent efficiencies in their processes.

It might be time to separate marketing production from strategy and creative ideation, according to SPRING Production, in order to solve the issues brands face in 2021.

 

There are a vast number of options available to brands for structuring their marketing capabilities, and it can be difficult figuring out what suits.

What do you keep in-house? What skills and services do you need to access 24/7? How can you make your marketing as efficient and cost-effective as possible? These aren’t new problems, but they do seem to be more relevant than ever.

Brands have often had the luxury of being selective about who is responsible for their various marketing functions. They’ve likely experimented with different collaborative agency models, mixing and matching services and approaches until they found a setup that works.

But, as many have found out, what was right 18 months ago might not be fit for purpose today.

As brands experience growth or their situations change, their organisational structures can impact the efficiency and quality of their marketing output. Processes and models that worked on a smaller scale can become compromised, making it difficult to gain complete transparency over their marketing efforts.

What’s more, capacity is often stretched, which impacts CVI consistency and working efficiencies.

To overcome these problems, brands need tighter control over their marketing spend, greater operational efficiency, and more capacity to stay competitive. A decoupled approach to production could be the answer.

Rethinking marketing production

Decoupled production means separating marketing production from strategy and creative ideation and assigning it to a dedicated marketing execution partner. In practice, by decoupling marketing production, brands can revolutionise the way their marketing function operates through a more centralised workflow.

This model can improve working efficiencies, enhance production quality, lower costs and, most importantly, deliver a flexible, future-proofed model.

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This diagram illustrates how marketing operations could be segmented


When considering these marketing functions, it’s common for brands to use only the strategic and tactical tiers. They take their lead agency’s creative and pass it over to their local teams for production and implementation but without tightly controlled centralised work flows and processes, it can sometimes create unforeseen challenges.

Communication can suffer and this impacts transparency and quality of the output and puts a strain on internal teams and as a result, brands can lose control – of their budgets, their corporate identity, and their supply chains.

Engaging a dedicated pure play marketing production partner can help mitigate these challenges. Here are four ways a decoupled production model can help brands regain control of their marketing production.

1. Centralising production saves money

Marketing execution partners function only at the operational and production level, which allows brands to centralise the way they work, helping to achieve transparency across costs and budgets.

Production tasks are often commoditised, which gives brands clear, standardised prices for all work they wish to carry out, so there is no confusion over where money is being spent. Brands can focus their budgets and reduce their production spend, leading to increased savings or more money for investment elsewhere in the marketing cycle.

2. Complete control

Dedicated production agencies are set up to create collaborative partnerships with their clients. They analyse existing practices, identify inefficiencies, and work to optimise them with precision processes.

From briefing procedures and asset execution to production feedback and content management, they seek to transform wasted hours into genuine time and cost savings from the start.

What’s more, marketing execution partners enable brands to gain clear insights into how their departments are using assets and budgets. They can reduce wastage and asset replication and provide access to transparent costings, detailed production insights and simplified localisation processes; all of which increases brands’ control over efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity.

3. Beyond creative production

Thanks to their centralised function, marketing execution partners can position themselves as brand gatekeepers, defending their client’s CVIs with exacting quality assurance. Plus, with dedicated client support teams providing a single touchpoint, and the latest digital, design and video production technology at their disposal, they can take care of every client need and enhance the technical capabilities of brand marketing departments.

4. Preparing for the future

The last 18 months have made us all realise that global disruptions can significantly unsettle marketing supply chains.

Logistical, financial, and staffing pressures have caused no end of problems and made brands lose confidence in their ability to handle big changes. But working with a marketing execution partner can change this. They have the power to futureproof brand marketing production.

With access to a global network of resources that can be switched on or off, scaled up or down, as their clients’ needs evolve, they help their partners reduce risk and adapt to their most pressing challenges through instant flexibility and agile services.

A decoupled approach can work for you

Working with a dedicated marketing execution partner can sometimes be seen as the preserve of bigger brands – the ones serviced by large holding groups – but that isn’t the case.

Smaller or growing brands can also gain many benefits from this approach and ensure future growth is seamless. Whatever your needs, whether it’s turning your entire product range into CGI models for ecommerce, rolling out new packaging artwork across a new product range, or adapting your assets for launch in a new channel or market, a decoupled production model could help you stay competitive.

If you think your brand could benefit from a decoupled marketing production model, get in touch with SPRING Production. Email info@spring-production.com or visit www.spring-production.com.

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