Marketing concepts must have the backing of the whole business if they are to be effective, an expert has advised.
According to Fernando Machado, Head of Brand marketing at Burger King, companies should aim to avoid relying on data too heavily when they are launching new campaigns.
Instead, he believes marketers must be able to get every part of their organisation to buy into particular ideas.
“You can’t be the CMO if you’re not able to bring the company along with you, whether it’s franchisees, a sales team or a CEO,” Mr Machado commented.
“You need to be able to galvanise people around the idea, especially if it’s a campaign that will get people talking and therefore isn’t vanilla. If you can manage that, the rest will flow.”
Mr Machado went on to state that Burger King is not the biggest spender in its category and is probably not even in the top three.
Nevertheless, he believes the brand is able to speak “louder than its size”, partly because it has a knack for coming up with imaginative marketing campaigns.
“Creativity is the catalyst for that and a way to survive and thrive,” Mr Machado said.
A clear brand positioning was also described as a crucial element behind marketing success.
Indeed, Mr Machado pointed out that if a marketer cannot explain to their agency partners what their brand is about, it cannot expect to get good results and “make great campaigns happen”.
He accepted that bigger players in the industry will always outspend it when it comes to advertising, but stressed its creativity “gives us the edge”.
“We have a track record of really going for it,” Mr Machado stated. “By ‘going for it’, I mean having the mindset that the biggest risk is taking no risks at all.”
He added that the worst thing that can happen for a brand in any market is to not be noticed, as it means they are wasting lots of money in order to “just become noise in the background”.
“For us to win, we need to value creativity, push boundaries and make it happen,” Mr Machado said.
Burger King: Galvanising the whole business around an idea is the only way to ensure it isn’t vanilla Marketing Week
