The blog

You can’t get around it: professional cycling is in crisis. The road ahead is definitively steeper and longer then the Mont Ventoux… Recently 5 pro- and continental teams were quitting because their sponsor turned off the money tap. Consequently more than 100 professional cyclists are desperately looking for a new team!

The English royal baby has been an inspiration for different types of industries. The medical world used the birth to motivate Belgian mums to leave hospital after a day, in order to save money. The fashion industry was interested to see what the future Queen of England wore when she left hospital and still today when the media catches a glimpse of the baby, this will be broadcasted all over the world. This event inspired me, since I am working on a project at a baby retailer, to write a point of view on targeted marketing of pregnant women.

In today’s world, online media are extremely important. No doubt about that an online conversation can reach hundreds, even thousands (and many more) with just one simple click. We all know some famous online campaigns that went viral, but overall, this remains quite exceptional. Some viral campaigns became a worldwide hit, many more other trials were not picked up at all.

Last week The House of Marketing organized, together with the Belgian Marketing & Management Association (BMMA), the first lunch where CEO’s talk about the marketing challenges of tomorrow. The idea is to better understand the mutual expectations and to provide inspiration on how CEO’s and marketers can be better aligned.

Have you also noticed how ICT guys are increasingly dictating your agenda? How everything seemed well on track (e.g. great idea for new product, enthusiast feedback from potential customers, strong business case and green light from the board), until someone raised the fateful question: “are the ICT mandays budgeted?”

An always-on mentality, omnipresent bits and bytes and a constant mental rush-hour. In these times of virtual noise we are living not only an economic recession, but also an attention crisis. The switch from analogue to digital reorganized and radically disturbed the hustle and bustle of everyday life. This change goes inevitably hand in hand with a reactionary movement.

We are all confronted with this bloody crisis. Recent studies and figures prove that signs of recession are all around us. According to Unizo the number of starters decreased by 12% during Q1 2013 compared to the same period last year. Moreover Graydon estimates that the number of bankruptcies increased by more than 16% during Q1 2013 compared to Q1 2012, which of course leads to more unemployment. We are still facing tough times. That’s clear.

Last year I heard several times that marketers would not be business minded enough. Well, I am happy to see in the YMS 2013 results that 67% believes that they can prove their added value by aligning business and marketing objectives. Yes, we are on the right track, I hear you think?

The orthodoxies of marketing are transforming as is the profile of marketers in 2013. Their expanded role creates confusion and even paralyzes them: What do stakeholders expect from me? How can I prove the added value of my activities? Marketers are out of balance and may be losing their passion for the profession.

Increased complexity seems to be top of mind for marketers today with buzz and questions about digitalization, channel integration, Big Data, ROPO, phygital, and more.