By Joy Joseph

Remember when marketing used to be both art and science? Lately it has been more science than art, and rocket science at that. Cross-media, targeting, retargeting, controlled experiments – the technical nuances are endless. There, however, are still some core axioms. IRI and global media company Turner partnered on a study to distil insights and establish consistent principles from marketing mix studies across 62 brands representing $20 billion in sales and $3 billion in marketing spend across food, beverages, health care, beauty and home care aisles. Below are seven key findings from the study. Follow this link to read the full IRI/Turner paper.

1. Overspending on promotions is causing a cycle of brand erosion through commoditization.

2. Media ROI underperforms when brands focus a higher share of their budget on promotion.
 

3. Return on media spending outperforms promotion spending ROI consistently across categories; long-term results are particularly compelling.

4. Small brands that effectively balance media and promotion spending benefit from outsized growth.

5. TV still dominates audience reach and share of time.

6. Different creative messages influence various points along the shopper journey.

7. A 10 percent shift in share of spending from promotions to media can substantially improve marketing ROI.

This shift will allow brands to enhance resonance, recall and reinforce brand differentiation and long-term health while reducing promotion subsidization. Savvy marketers must recognize that the current model— excessive reliance on price-led strategies—is not an effective strategy.

Please contact me at Joy.Joseph@IRIworldwide.com if you have any questions about this study or need further information on how to achieve higher ROI from your media and promotion spending.