VIDEO: Collaboration is the solution says The Effectiveness Partnership’s Gurdeep Puri

Just before his talk at the Asian Marketing Effectiveness Festival 2011 last month in Shanghai, Puri spoke to Campaign Asia-Pacific on measuring the right things, agency fragmentation and the importance of collaboration for effectiveness.

Asked whether overwhelming amounts of data were a blessing or a curse to effectiveness, Puri said before the data becomes meaningful, a clear marketing strategy must first be in place.

“Is marketing working hand-in-hand with corporate strategy and the other facets of the organisation to get to the commercial objective before they go off to deliver the brief?” he asked. If not, he continued, the data provided would likely be from “measuring the wrong things”.

The fragmentation within agencies has led to brands struggling with marketing effectiveness, said Puri.  “There used to be one planner, now we have 15 different names for the same thing and they sit in separate companies with separate P&Ls. And they don’t talk to each other, so the problem becomes, whose problem is it?”

Effectiveness, he asserted, is not the same as evaluation. “Effectiveness is a change in mindset and behaviour. It is wholistic and should be at the front end of the process not bolted in at the back,” he said.

The solution to all this, said Puri, is collaboration at the highest level, both on the client side and the agency side. “Marketing needs to find its place in the organisation… should back corporate strategy and align with the CEO,” he continued.

Inter-agency collaboration is currently lacking. “When a brief goes from the client to the agencies it should all be working together to solve the business problems not shooting off in different directions at once,” said Puri.