The Growth Drivers

Authors: Andy Bird and Mhairi McEwan
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Reviewer: Martin Boddy, chief executive, Jaywing

Andy Bird and Mhairi McEwan’s The Growth Drivers discusses the role played by marketing in driving sustainable, profitable growth through brand, proposition and communications. It explains why companies must invest in the capabilities needed to excel at customer-centric marketing, providing frameworks that show how different capabilities fit together and gaps can be addressed.

I found myself nodding along regularly. Often marketing doesn’t own ‘growth’ and therefore its ability to create it is stifled, particularly by gaps in capability. Insight and engagement at the heart of marketing and descriptions of the different pressures brought about by numerous digital channels, operational pressures to do more with less, and capability pressures of balancing art and science struck a chord. Bird and McEwan point out that not every marketer can excel in everything but an organisation as a whole must if it is to achieve world-class marketing.

Current financial constraints mean brands struggle to recruit or train highly skilled individuals, yet more specialisms are needed alongside people who can combine different business skills. Traditional marketing agencies are bereft of the specialist skills required, while small specialist agencies don’t have the resources. We need a different engagement model.

As identified in the Brand Learning Wheel, a holistic approach is essential. I often spend consulting time on organisational structure, people and internal culture, while our myriad specialist services fill processes and skills gaps.

The Aviva case study demonstrated this well. For our part, we developed ‘Model Office’ – a ‘test and learn’ initiative to cross-sell to new Aviva customers. It trialled a customer-centric approach before rolling out significant infrastructure, sales and training changes; tackling marketing transformation from all of Bird and McEwan’s angles without derailing the business.

Overall The Growth Drivers is an insightful read, providing a sound strategic framework to transform marketing through building capabilities for growth.

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