Mergers and acquisitions-not to mention reorganizations and consolidations—are often good news for lawyers, CEOs, bankers, and investors. But for marketing communicators, often not so good.
Here’s the problem (or because we all believe that problems are really opportunities in disguise, let’s say opportunity): blending the marketing of two (or more) companies is full of vexing and seemingly endless… uh… opportunities.
Want proof? One source says half of all brand consolidations—i.e., attempts to combine two or more brands without losing market share-end up in the tank.*
However, the same source says there’s a way out. “Skills and experience together with a well-structured approach appear to increase the rate of success.”
At Harding Marketing, we worked with HP when it merged with Compaq, with Google after it acquired YouTube, and with HP when it purchased 3Com. So you might say we have the “skills and experience.”
Controlling marcom costs: why stretching your budget isn’t a stretch
07/07/2010 in Budgets, MarComments | Tags: Marcom, Marketing, Multimedia | by Harding Marketing | Leave a comment
How much less are you willing to pay for higher-quality marcom?
And no, that’s not a typo—we’re talking about more for less. It’s not just the goal of marcom executives everywhere; for some of them, it’s a practical reality.
For example, HP, Google, and Symantec all have very big marcom budgets—maybe much bigger than yours. But they might be spending less per execution than you are—while still getting enviable creative and production quality. And there’s no magic, funny accounting, or alternative reality involved.
It doesn’t seem fair, does it?
At Harding Marketing we work with all three of those companies—and many others equally adept at controlling costs. So we know what it takes to achieve more for less. It takes a rigorous, systematic approach to marcom creative and production, that’s what. But that sounds awfully stuffy, so let’s call it:
Read the rest of this entry »