Practice what you preach!

Column Lucas Hulsebos – CEO

On October 1st, we had our annual Brand Growth Event. Not on location, but online. And until last week, I thought an online event was quite easy to set up. You place a few people behind a computer, open a Zoom account, and that is that. But nothing could be further from the truth: a successful event is actually way more difficult, requires more preparation and the audience is more critical than ever. Where you can feel awkward leaving the room when something hasn’t met your expectations, online, it’s just a click away. For that reason, continuing to watch the event was the most important KPI for success. And thus, very similar to the most important KPI when testing creatives (do people want to keep watching?). Of course, we were happy with over 600 registrations, but even better was that the number of viewers was stable throughout the event. The willingness to watch – or the engagement – was very high, and I think this is the greatest compliment we can get. Isn’t that the best reward you can give for communication?

A winning strategy

It was also a great event in terms of content. Everyone is somewhat familiar with the insights of Mark Ritson and Les Binet, but it remains useful and educational to hear it summarised again so briefly. I had the honour to present the results of our study. By making a distinction in the results between good and bad performing companies (winners and losers), you get a clear picture of what is needed to win. In times of a recession where everyone has become somewhat cautious, well-performing companies will invest more in marketing. They stick to the chosen course, and they have unshakeable faith in their vision. These results may not be surprising, but they confirm that marketing is a profession where the right insights, can be turned into a winning strategy.

Practice what you preach

As an entrepreneur, I know how difficult it is to do it. In Dutch, we have a saying that the tap almost always leaks in a plumber’s house, and I think that is true. When the Corona crisis started, it was tempting to change course and adapt the organisation and strategy to the ensuing panic. Yet, we decided otherwise. We listened to our own insights and science. We invested heavily in conducting relevant research, we only worked on “brand building”, and postponed any form of “sales activation”. We published relevant content and organised an event that above all, cost a lot of time, money, and energy. In short, we have lived according to the principle “practice what you preach”. Invest during a crisis, and above all, be consistent with who you are.

And the result is impressive. From our Brand Growth Study, I know we are among the winners, and we are once again growing fast compared to last year. And like the winners in the study we conducted, we have distinguished ourselves by consistently building on our vision. And even when it was difficult, we believed in our story and the need to share these insights with the market. Our findings are in line with the lessons we shared during our Brand Growth Event, and put the insights of Mark Ritson and Les Binet into practice. And because these lessons are so relevant to every marketer, the willingness to keep watching was high.