Brand in the Boardroom

Issue 6: Are you cutting your marketing budget? It seems like a lot of people are. But it’s not a good idea. Recent research by Gartner identified that the average spend on marketing, as a percentage of total revenue has fallen to 7.7%. Pre-Pandemic it was 11%. With profits being squeezed, cuts to the marketing budget can seem like an easy win. But there’s research - lots of research, with over a century of data - that indicates that, although cuts may have a short-term benefit, they can have a negative impact on sales that lasts for years. In 1927, Richard Vaile published research in the Harvard Business Review that highlighted the long-term impact of cutting advertising budget. During the Great Depression in 1920/21 firms that cut their marketing budget saw sales fall. No surprise there. But three years later, even when their marketing spend was increased, sales were still below their pre-Depression level. The short-term benefit had a long-term (negative) impact. Similar research in ...

Issue 6: This memo, written by Steve Jobs (when he was at NeXT), highlights his view on balancing company size with productivity. He wanted to ensure the "do-ers" could do what they do best. Your brand - the opinion people have of your company - is built on the quality of your product or service (the thing you "do"). Making sure you have the right people involved is fundamental in building your brand. Here's the transcript in full. ___ 17 March 1986 Our company is founded on the principal that a few good people can produce a tremendous product if they are not fettered by: a) having to convince a larger organization of what they know is right, and b) if they can devote their personal time to designing, marketing or what have you, rather than managing others to do these tasks less well. To stay true to this principal, I propose the following two ideas: 1) We all need time for uninterrupted individual work. Meetings (vendors, interviews,..) are eating into our ind...

Issue 6: Your business is only as good as the people you employ, and your brand has a significant role to play in recruiting and retaining your team. I was reading recently about a manufacturing business that provided housing for employees, as well as year-round activities for their children. In 2024, in a post-Covid economy, these benefits might not seem unusual. But this was all happening in 1879! In 1879, Cadbury began building Bournville, 'the factory in a garden’. With business booming, the Cadbury brothers needed to build a new factory, but wanted a different kind of industrial site. They wanted somewhere workers could live healthily alongside the factory. They found a site south of Birmingham, 14.5 acres with a stream, The Bourn. As well as housing and green space for employees, their children could enjoy a new playground, country outings and summer camps. In 1902, 30% of Cadbury’s capital expenditure was spent on workers’ welfare. In an age when how, where, and even why, we...