UK MARKETING
LEADERSHIPS’ LACK OF
INSIGHTS FOR THE FUTURE
INSIGHTS FROM THE CRANFIELD MARKETING
DIRECTORS’ SURVEY 2014
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INSIGHTS FROM THE CRANFIELD MARKETING DIRECTORS’ SURVEY 2014
THE 3RD ANNUAL CRANFIELD
MARKETING LEADERS SURVEY
• UK marketers are more ambitious than in the
previous two years regarding new customer
acquisition
For the third consecutive year, Cranfield School of
Management surveyed marketing leaders worldwide
about their strategic, functional and tactical priorities
for the year ahead. Whilst meaningful comparisons
are drawn using the data obtained in the past
couple of years, this is the first year that we have
enquired about developing managers’ leadership,
global marketing capabilities, and initiating Big Data
programmes. Additionally, for the first time, we have
asked about the “Next 11” economies separately
from BRICS.
• Customer experience and relationship
management continue to be top priorities
whilst addressing customers’ sustainability
concerns is the lowest
Marketing leaders’ commitment to breakthrough
innovation remains unchanged from the previous
surveys. When asked about their organisation’s
approach to product and service innovation,
the number responding that “we are investing in
breakthrough new products or services” was far
lower in the UK than abroad. This is at odds with
the fact that UK marketing leaders have stronger
stated ambitions to grow in 2014 compared to their
counterparts in the rest of the world. With respect to
customer strategy, UK marketing leaders are similarly
more aggressive in their ambitions for new customer
acquisition and increasingly so in 2014.
This possibly paints a picture of willing the ends but
not the means. We seem to have stronger share,
growth and customer acquisition ambitions in the UK,
but are less likely than in other countries to follow
a policy of breakthrough innovation in support of
export led growth: the prescription widely suggested
by economists as the solution for our economic
problems.
Cranfield’s third annual survey of Marketing Directors’
priorities reveals that, despite facing a very different
environment in 2014 than the previous two years,
no significant changes have occurred in terms of
marketing strategies.
The survey reveals that:
• UK marketing leaders are more likely than
their overseas counterparts to plan to grow
and attract new customers through increased
market share. Yet, paradoxically, UK marketing
leaders are less likely to promote breakthrough
innovation and growth in the emerging markets
than are their overseas counterparts
• Surprisingly, marketers worldwide put low
emphasis on Big Data initiatives despite
it being heralded as the next frontier for
innovation and competition
1
The improved state of the British economy translates
into a slightly higher emphasis on growth strategies
for the year ahead: almost 87% of UK marketing
leaders believe that they are planning to grow in
2014, the highest total in the past three years and this
compares to only 75% in the rest of the world.
However, the survey results show a worrying lack
of attention from UK marketers to breakthrough
innovation and growing their businesses in the rapidly
emerging economies: the BRICS (Brazil, Russia,
India, China, South Africa) and “Next 11”. This group
includes the MINTs (Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and
Turkey), a smaller but perhaps even more attractive
group.
The question therefore remains, can such market
share growth expectations be achieved, and if so,
would it be on a sustainable basis?
PRIORITIES FOR THE MARKETING
FUNCTION
Results from the 2014 survey confirm that marketing
leaders’ top three functional priorities for 2014 are:
• Taking advantage of the opportunities afforded
by technology
• Measurement and accountability
• Developing skills and competencies to meet
new challenges
Taking advantage of technology has been the number
one functional priority for the past three years in the
UK and the top priority globally. Whilst overtaking
cross functional collaboration as a priority in 2014,
building influence on the Board fell even further
down the list of priorities in 2014 versus 2013. Big
Data initiatives are the least important to marketing
leaders, which is surprising given the publicity around
Big Data during 2013 and leaders’ emphasis on
taking advantage of technology innovation.
We remain concerned that marketing leaders are
insufficiently focused on building influence with the
Board and working collaboratively across functions
given that marketing leaders are losing influence and
the need for all functions to work together to deliver
outstanding customer experience.
UK MARKETING LEADERSHIPS’ LACK OF INSIGHTS FOR THE FUTURE
INSIGHTS FROM THE CRANFIELD MARKETING DIRECTORS’ SURVEY 2014
REST OF
THE WORLD
UK MARKETING DIRECTORS’ FUNCTIONAL PRIORITIES
2012
2013
2014
2014
Taking advantage of the opportunities afforded by new technology
1
1
1
1
Measurement and accountability
3
4/5
2
2
Developing skills and competencies to meet new challenges
2
2
3
4
Building influence on the Board
5
3
4
7
Cross functional collaboration
4
4/5
5
3
Developing marketing managers’ leadership capabilities
6
5
Global marketing capabilities
7
6
Big Data initiatives
8
8
MARKETING DIRECTORS’ FUNCTIONAL PRIORITIES
2012
2013
2014
2014
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
UK MARKETING DIRECTORS’ FUNCTIONAL
PRIORITIES
REST OF THE
WORLD
UK MARKETING LEADERSHIPS’ LACK OF INSIGHTS FOR THE FUTURE
2
INSIGHTS FROM THE CRANFIELD MARKETING DIRECTORS’ SURVEY 2014
MARKETING’S TACTICAL
PRIORITIES
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES: UK
MARKETERS VERSUS THEIR
COUNTERPARTS ABROAD
Marketing leaders’ top three tactical priorities for
2014 are:
This survey has data from North America and
Continental Europe marketing leaders which enables
us to make comparisons and identify the following
contrasts:
• Customer Relationship Management
• Brand Building
• Customer Experience
• In recognition of the changing environment and
the need for a dramatic re-skilling of marketing,
58% of non-UK marketing leaders are planning
a significant re-structuring of their marketing
departments. However, less than half of UK
firms plan similar restructuring. The UK figure
of just under 50% has been stable over the
past three years and this leads us to question
the extent to which UK marketing leaders are
grasping the need for profound change to the
extent needed
Tactically, CRM dominates for UK marketing leaders
but not so abroad where building brand is the most
important priority for 2014. Enhancing customer
experience is important globally. Bottom of the
tactical priorities are extracting value from social
media and addressing customers’ sustainability
concerns. The latter priority is somewhat counterintuitive given the enormous publicity around this
issue and the public pronouncements of many of the
worlds’ largest organisations.
• The average level of priority placed upon
insight and analytics, and the low level of
priority given to Big Data initiatives seem to
correlate to their reluctance for an even greater
number of UK marketing leaders planning for a
significant restructuring
What emerges is a picture of marketing leaders
understanding the what of success (e.g. brand,
CRM, customer experience), but not necessarily the
how to achieve it through building influence and
collaboration.
• Amongst UK marketing leaders there is
a worrying lack of focus on expanding in
the BRICS and “Next 11” economies. This
contrasts unfavourably with European and
North American competitors1
• Finally, we contrast the extent to which
marketing leaders believe that they have the
resources needed to achieve their objectives
in 2014. UK marketing leaders feel less
resource constrained over the years and this
is commensurate with the UK coming out of
the severe recession. However, the rest of the
world has a much stronger feeling that they
have the resources they need to achieve their
objectives
UK MARKETING DIRECTORS’ TACTICAL PRIORITIES
REST OF THE WORLD
2012
2013
2014
2014
Customer Relationship Management
2
4
1
4
Brand building
1
1
2
1
Customer experience
4
2
3
2
Insight and analytics
3
3
4
5
Channel integration
5
5
5
6
Co-creation of value with customers
6
6
6
3
Extract value from social media
7
7
7
7
Address customers sustainability concerns
8
8
8
8
We combine North America, Europe and other countries to ensure adequate sample size and numbers by regions outside the UK. This should
be treated with caution.
1
3
UK MARKETING LEADERSHIPS’ LACK OF INSIGHTS FOR THE FUTURE
INSIGHTS FROM THE CRANFIELD MARKETING DIRECTORS’ SURVEY 2014
0%
Market
Strategy
(%
indicating
option
as main
priority)
20
40
60
80
100
UNITED
KINGDOM
NORTH
AMERICA
CONTINENTAL
EUROPE
AGGREGATED REST
OF WORLD (NON-UK)
40.6
13.6
16.7
14.1
Expand in the BRICS
9
31.8
33.3
32.4
Maintain our current
position
39.8
18.2
36.1
29.6
Retrench and focus
6.8
9.1
8.3
8.5
Expand in the “Next 11”
3.8
27.3
5.6
15.5
Enter new markets
The extent to which marketing leaders believe that they have
sufficient resources for achieving
UK 2012
UK 2013
UK 2014
REST OF WORLD
All of their objectives
12.3
16.2
14.3
18.3
Most of their objectives
43.0
43.6
45.1
47.9
Not enough for many of their objectives
11.4
15.1
19.5
12.7
Choices between objectives have to be made
33.3
25.1
21.1
21.1
UK MARKETING LEADERSHIPS’ LACK OF INSIGHTS FOR THE FUTURE
4
INSIGHTS FROM THE CRANFIELD MARKETING DIRECTORS’ SURVEY 2014
SUMMARY
ABOUT THE RESEARCH
The 2014 marketing leaders’ survey updates and
expands the survey conducted in the previous two
years. The following questions emerge:
Cranfield School of Management conducted this
years’ research between November 2013 – January
2014, targeted at the Marketing Directors, Chief
Marketing Officers (CMOs), Business Development
and Commercial Directors, and senior marketing
managers. In total 284 responses were collected with
217 of these representing complete surveys (76.4%).
80% of the respondents report directly to the Board
of their firms. The respondents represent B2B
organisations (60.8%), B2C organisations (7.9%),
B2C & B2B hybrids (23.5%), NGOs (4.4%) and public
bodies (3.4%). 53% of these organisations have
yearly revenues on top of £50 M, with the remaining
47% having yearly revenues below £50 M. 65.2%
of the companies represented by the sample are
headquartered in the UK, 17.6% in Europe other than
the UK, 10.8% in North America, with the remaining
6.4% elsewhere.
• How will ambitious growth objectives be
achieved?
• Compared with their counterparts abroad, UK
marketers are less likely to seek growth in the
emerging markets and introduce significant
product or service innovation. Therefore, how
do UK marketing leaders plan to grow their
market share and attract new customers?
• Are we investing enough in the emerging
marketing capabilities: Big Data, Analytics and
Sustainability?
• UK marketing leaders feel more resource
constrained and are less likely to restructure
their departments to take advantage of the
changing economy and technology. It is
noteworthy that despite the publicity around
Big Data, analytics and sustainability, these
initiatives are not ranked higher than the brand
and customer management on the list of
priorities of marketing leaders. Perhaps this
is a prudent judgement as to what marketing
is all about, or perhaps we need more radical
leadership if one is to believe the pundits
promoting these emerging capabilities?
UK marketing leaders lack sufficient focus on
the BRICS and “Next 11” economies, which is in
strong contrast to other countries in North America,
Continental Europe and the rest of the world. Do UK
marketing leaders believe that there are sufficient
growth opportunities domestically that need to
be captured first, or are we witnessing the impact
of selling so many of our businesses to foreign
multinationals for whom the growing overseas
markets are developed elsewhere?
We therefore worry that the UK’s top marketers
need to show a broader leadership stance in
promoting the degree of innovation and export
led growth demanded by today’s situation and to
invest in building the capabilities their departments
need around Big Data, technology led change and
sustainability.
5
UK MARKETING LEADERSHIPS’ LACK OF INSIGHTS FOR THE FUTURE
INSIGHTS FROM THE CRANFIELD MARKETING DIRECTORS’ SURVEY 2014
DR. STAN MAKLAN
Dr Maklan is an experienced academic, marketer
and management consultant with senior international
management experience in blue chip consumer and
business marketing companies. He is the Director
of the Marketing Directors’ Programme and lectures
on Cranfield’s full-time MBA, MSc in Strategic
Marketing and PhD research programmes in addition
to executive courses. He is on the Editorial Advisory
Board of the International Journal of Market Research
and a member of the Academic Liaison Committee
at the Chief Marketing Officers Council. Stan has
worked with leading telecommunications, computing,
consumer products, defence, automotive, electricity,
water and professional services companies.
Email: s.maklan@cranfield.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1234 758022
DR. RADU DIMITRIU
Dr Dimitriu is Lecturer in Strategic Marketing with
Cranfield School of Management and at the same
time Deputy Director of the MSc in Strategic
Marketing. His teaching and research activities
are centred around brand management, consumer
behaviour and psychology and marketing strategy.
Besides his involvement at the masters level at
Cranfield, Radu is also involved in the doctoral
programme and in executive teaching. He has
industry experience as a marketing and statistical
analyst, and has been engaged in customer data
analytics and in market research consulting projects.
He possesses a strong background in statistical and
quantitative methods and speaks several languages,
including English, Spanish, French, Portuguese,
Norwegian and Romanian.
Email: radu.dimitriu@cranfield.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0)1234 758022
MARKETING DIRECTORS’ PROGRAMME
The issues of strategy, innovation, growth, building power and operating at the Board level represent the core
content of Cranfield’s Marketing Directors’ Programme.
Now in its 27th year, this programme puts Cranfield’s leading experts together with senior managers and directors
responsible for marketing in their organisations and seeks to build leadership skills and put marketing back on the
strategic agenda in order to improve organisational performance.
For more information visit www.cranfield.ac.uk/som/mdp
T: +44 (0) 1234 754570
E: som.action@cranfield.ac.uk
UK MARKETING LEADERSHIPS’ LACK OF INSIGHTS FOR THE FUTURE
6
UK MARKETING
LEADERSHIPS’ LACK OF
INSIGHTS FOR THE FUTURE
INSIGHTS FROM THE CRANFIELD MARKETING
DIRECTORS’ SURVEY 2014
Cranfield School of Management
Cranfield, Bedford, England, MK43 0AL
T: +44 (0)1234 751122
F: +44 (0)1234 751806
www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som