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Out with the Old, in with the New

Traditional marketing takes time. For consumer packaged goods, months of work and millions of dollars go into the development and launch of a new soft drink or a rebranded dish soap.

Consider a traditional company, circa 1990. Once a year, executives gathered for strategic planning and set the long-term objectives of the firm. Then, every quarter, middle managers reviewed the performance of the organization against those goals.

Quarterly results showed whether sales targets were being met. By analyzing these results, the company could tell whether a particular region, product, or campaign was working. They adjusted spending, hired and fired, and maybe even asked research and development to change something about the product.

The call center also yielded good insights: in the last quarter, what were the most common customer complaints? Which issues took the longest to resolve? Where were the most refunds issued, and what products were returned? All of this data was folded into the quarterly review, which led to short-term fixes such as a product recall, training for call center operators, or even documentation sent to the channel.

At the same time, the company gathered marketing data from researchers and surveys. Market results showed how well campaigns were reaching audiences. Focus group data provided clues to how the target market responded to new messages, branding, and positioning.

After a couple of quarters, if something wasn’t going smoothly, the ...