A few months ago, I was talking with The Marketing Society CEO Sophie Devonshire about the lack of easy to digest summaries of the key building blocks of marketing. Of course, there are plenty of heavy-duty textbooks around and more than enough articles about the ‘next big thing’, whether it be AI or advanced MMM, but where could you go, particularly marketing newcomers or those looking for a refresh on the basics, to get the low-down on the central elements that make up modern marketing?
We came up with a plan to curate a series of short papers on the essentials of marketing, authored by senior Society members and Fellows, which would have the double benefit of providing a source of proven insights and also give this group of Members a deeper connection with the Society that many of them wanted.
Introducing The Fellows Fundamentals
Initially we envisaged ten papers (the title of The Fellows Fundamentals came later, and was coined by the brilliant Stacey Telford-Grimmer, Senior Community Manager at The Marketing Society) which you will find here but with so much expert knowledge to tap into we have created a rolling series, covering many more key elements of marketing theory and practice, so look out for more contributions over the next few months.
We are also keen to get your feedback so we can develop the programme further. If we are missing a topic, or you would like to contribute yourself, do let us know - you don’t have to be a Fellow, it’s quality and relevance that is most important.
Finally, I just want to highlight the contribution of the late Tim Ambler to this project. He was so enthusiastic about developing this type of content and had indeed been very forthright about the lack of intellectual rigour in much current modern marketing activity. He was quick to provide a paper on his own area of expertise, Measuring Brand Performance (a frequently misunderstood area) and frequently nagged me to get the other papers done and published. I am so pleased for his memory that we have now achieved this.
I hope you enjoy reading them, we will add more to this page as we release the series, Members you will need to login to see them. They are in no particular order, and you might not read them all initially but they form a useful resource for you and your fellow Members, as a reference for what good practice looks like. They may not be perfect, but they are practical and benefit from the invaluable accumulated experience of those who wrote them.
Happy reading.
The Fellows Fundamentals
Strategy not poetry
by Daryl Fielding
It is a big chunk of strategic work that forms the foundations of the brand’s success and acts as a magnetic north for all decisions. As such, it needs to be built to last, rooted in truth yet with a twinkly eye to the future.
Optimising a Brand Portfolio
by Ruth Saunders
The 6-step Brand Portfolio Optimisation process identifies the optimal number of brands a company should have within a category, with the aim of maximising market coverage while minimising brand overlap. Where possible, redundant or unprofitable brands should be eliminated and successful brands repositioned and stretched to take their place.
Assessing Brand Performance
All successful companies practise marketing, whether they use the word or not. If they talk of “marketing performance”, what they mean is “brand performance”. Brand or marketing performance should never be assessed by ROI. The late Tim Ambler was very passionate about that, let's hear why.
