AAR Group in the UK, the leading global intermediary in the marketer/agency space and long-term associate company of IAS (the Independent Agency Search & Selection company) recently published a report on The Marketing Ecosystem Blueprint.

This report, written in conjunction with The Drum, explores how leading CMOs are approaching the challenges of effective ecosystem design, and whether there is a map for brands to follow which results in success.

Noting the research that reveals 75% of CMOs believe current marketing processes are obstructing effectiveness and consistency, and just 13% are fully confident they have the right processes in place to achieve their goals, Johanna McDowell, CEO of the IAS and SCOPEN partner says collaboration within the marketing ecosystem will be essential to driving change needed to deliver results.

“When we consider the kind of big advertising work and campaign creation that gets done these days, it’s more than the creation of a, say, television commercial. It’s a chain of collaboration, and while the big ideas are still absolutely critical to the success of a brand, how each link in the chain gets integrated into the final sale is the all-important process,” she says.

“As a marketer, it’s vital that your agency collaborators understand how your business works, including constraints and barriers that will need to be overcome. If you’re a manufacturer of chips, then it may not be about a new packet of chips, but possibly about a new way of packing the chips or selling the packet of chips. So, the process must begin with, ‘what are the barriers that will stop that idea from working?’”

Choosing your A-team

Process change is really the new frontier now, McDowell says. “David Droga, founder of Droga5 and arguably one of the most creative people on the planet, formed a collaborative partnership by seeking out a company that could make the ideas work for clients, starting with technology and systems.

“By choosing a consultancy whose initial touchpoint with the brand is at the highest level and includes knowledge of the business, its systems and its manufacturing processes, the advertising agency adding its creative spark means there’s no limit to what can be achieved,” she asserts. “An entire business model can be built around the understanding of the systems and the barriers, and solving these to make advertising work.”

Says McDowell: “Marketing is no longer an island. It must integrate all the other disciplines within a brand’s business and then integrate the creative agency into the mix. This is why the hottest topic right now is collaboration within the marketing ecosystem.

“This collaboration is not about merely getting the various agencies working together, but includes partnerships with the client and the various extended teams across all sectors of the business, in order to produce the blueprint and ultimately, its success.”

Designing or adapting process to encourage creativity and drive performance is key. AAR says the impact of collaborative processes between internal teams becomes evident when a marketing ecosystem influences the broader operating system, in terms of revenue growth, customer sales and customer relationship management.

“Marketers have to be brave enough to implement – at every level – the solutions that will result in a successful campaign,” McDowell concludes.