We’re all aware of the cost-of-living crisis that continues to dominate headlines. But could there also be a cost-of-marketing crisis looming on the horizon?

 As marketing budgets get reviewed, there is always pressure to do MORE for LESS, and that’s likely to be truer than ever this year.

Einstein defined insanity as… doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results… and while that appears to be the industry’s current trajectory, trying to do more of the same has never been a higher risk.

“The advertising industry is suffering from an efficiency bubble. Data-driven advertising has been highly efficient at driving short term metrics…. However, a focus on efficiency and an immediate ROI means advertisers are putting long term effectiveness and creative bravery at risk.”

– Gideon Spanier

At BPL, we believe in the power of simple ideas, brilliantly and cost-effectively executed.

We think that the art to both long and short-term success is not in being more efficient but being more effective and building better-loved brands.

See the thing is, in a world governed by ROIs, we often miss out on a key fact. Customers aren’t always rational. In fact, they very rarely are. And marketing is as much about psychology as it is about economics.

Businesses need to spend as much time working on being different as they used to at being better. This ‘difference’ could mean being more flexible, more consumer-centric or more ESG focused. And if you offer value that reaches beyond the quantifiable, beyond price, you’ll start to build real fans out of your customers.

This is why clients of ours like The Guardian and Go Ahead, are talking about ‘communities’, not news or buses; why Travelex take pride in celebrating diversity and sells convenience and service, not currency.

To thrive in difficult times, businesses and brands need the ability to change and adapt. Positive change and new thinking are often the result of new partnerships which challenge the status quo – making you more agile, effective and most importantly, successful.

If you should change one thing, it might be getting a different point of view – a Powerfully Simple point of view.

Fancy a new perspective?  Drop us an email today