Prophet’s Kate Price Discusses How an Integrated “Brand and Demand” Marketing Strategy Outperforms Competition

According to Kate Price, “High-performance marketing means integrating the drivers of brand and demand- long-term customer perceptions and short-term sales.”

Kate, a partner at Prophet’s New York office specializing in marketing transformation, shared findings from the consultancy’s recent report, Brand & Demand: A Relationship Guide (to Marketing’s Great Love Story).

Based on a survey of over 300 marketing leaders in North America, the study demonstrated that companies outperforming their competitors are three times more likely to integrate brand building with performance marketing.

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STRATEGIES EMPLOYED BY TOP-PERFORMING COMPANIES

The marketers of top-performing companies are:

• 25% more willing to try new processes, lead teams with more expertise, and do their own research to understand new ways of marketing.
• 50% more willing to take risks for greater reward and support their teams to experiment even through failure.
• 84% of top performers say marketing transforms the organization, vs. 61% for lagging companies. 

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“Most businesses are having the wrong conversation about high-performance marketing,” said Kate Price, Partner at Prophet. “They think success lies in media budgeting when it’s how they organize and mobilize internally.

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“Top-performing marketers integrate, incentivize, and measure impact on short- and long-term business drivers – so they’re more confident explaining to stakeholders and their efforts transform the organization,” adds Kate Price. 

WINNING ORGANIZATIONS INTEGRATE LONG-TERM (LT) AND SHORT-TERM (ST) MEASURES

Top performers put their resources into data and analytics that allow marketing to measure brand and demand to demonstrate both the business’s short- and long-term value.

They are significantly more adept at managing short- and long-term KPIs; 84% can manage short- and long-term KPIs effectively, versus 57% for average performers.

Eighty-four percent (84%) of top performers tie customer data and insights to business results versus 65% for average performers.

Top performers are more likely to factor business performance into marketing goals and measurement (79% vs. 60%) and, therefore, evaluate the full impact of marketing investment (83% vs. 60%). That makes top marketing leaders more confident (83% vs. 63%) in demonstrating results. 

In our conversation, we discuss the following:

• Why did Prophet choose to look more deeply into today’s apparent “dichotomy” between brand building and performance marketing… or “brand and demand.” Does the focus on immediate outcomes in a Digital Era currently outweigh longer-term initiatives? Should that be a significant concern?

• One critical insight from your research highlights how organizations that connect brand and demand consistently outperform the competition. Please discuss this further.

• How are marketers juggling both elements of Brand and Demand Marketing now? 

• What are the biggest obstacles to integrating both? I assume that most top marketers oversee both functions. 

• It’s clear how marketers measure demand or performance marketing. What about how they measure brand building? Do different companies have different parameters? Or is it mainly about key growth indicators like sales or market share?

• What do you recommend as the first thing marketers should do to set themselves up to integrate brand and demand?

• I believe you have 6 key actions that winning brand and demand integrators have in common. Could you outline them briefly?

• We use a lot of terms like “silos” and “funnel,” but a lot of people are suggesting that the concept of “funnel” should be redefined. Would you agree?

• How will the increased use of AI affect brand and demand? Currently, we think of AI in marketing as first helping to personalize at scale, which would benefit demand. Yet, many use AI to explore data and consumer information as they understand trends, customer insights, or new product potential. What advice do you have on this crucial, emerging arena?

WHERE TO START

1. Take your planning to the next level by working across silos, linking enterprise brand and product marketing or sales.
2. Measure what matters with a focus on business outcomes that you can report.
3. Look at how and where you spend and how 1+1 can equal 5.
4. Audit how you work to find opportunities to work smarter and together for more impact.

METHODOLOGY

Prophet surveyed 300 marketing leaders in North America and conducted in-depth interviews with more than 20 global marketing and brand executives for the report. Among them, 85% are primary decision-makers on marketing investments, and 86% manage a budget of over $10 million. Top performers were identified as those that outperform their competitors in sales and market share. 

ABOUT KATE PRICE

Kate is a partner in Prophet’s New York office, specializing in marketing transformation. She helps clients develop the new brand skills and digital mindsets required to move forward, finding paths toward uncommon growth.

She’s a future-ready strategist, balancing discipline, customer insight and curiosity.

(Her three teenage sons also provide plenty of balancing practice at home.) Before joining Prophet, she was a partner at Kantar. She also ran her own consulting firm, focusing on consumer-led thinking. And she’s held key brand leadership positions at Diageo and Reckitt Benckiser, working on such brands as Tanqueray, Smirnoff and Lysol.

Kate earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from The University of Sheffield. When she’s not working, she’s probably watching her kids’ sporting events, avoiding housework or solving Sudoku puzzles.

ABOUT PROPHET

Prophet provides solutions that spark transformation, build relevance and fuel sustainable growth.  Both a consultancy and a provider of creative solutions, they expertly bridge strategy and execution and help to effectively align organizations around new brand strategy,