ORLANDO – Having handled an $8 billion advertising budget and organizational responsibility for nearly 7,000 people while at Procter & Gamble, Jim Stengel is more committed than ever to the importance of marketing. The former Global Marketing Officer is heartened to see resolution and commitment at the Masters of Marketing Conference to getting brands back to what they do well.
“Make an impact, make peoples’ lives better, build businesses, create jobs, build brand equity. I think that’s really positive,” Stengel says at the annual gathering of the Association of National Advertisers.
Spoken like a true educator, befitting Stengel’s status as Senior Fellow & Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School, which he joined this summer to help run the Kellogg Markets and Customers Initiative. In addition to Masters of Marketing, he still keeps tabs on events like Advertising Week in New York and is well versed with marketers’ concerns about brand safety within the digital media ecosystem.
In this interview with Beet.TV, Stengel, who runs the consultancy Jim Stengel Co., talks about the importance of giving creatives a free rein to collaborate with marketers so that each brand can activate its unique purpose.
“I think the creative community still brings so much value to companies,” Stengel says. “The ones that are getting the most value from the creative community are the ones that are sharing their business challenges, sharing their opportunities, sharing their business goals and giving them simple, inspiring briefs.”
A good example would be Apple’s Think Different campaign in the late 1990’s because it derived from a simple brief, according to Stengel.
“Make us relevant again. That’s what Steve Jobs said.”
Whether it’s computers or Cadillac’s desire to build “a modern luxury brand,” the creative minds involved should benefit from shared thinking and then be free to follow their instincts.
“You don’t want to put creative people into a disciplined silo,” Stengel says. “Get really good people, get a sense of team, give them your purpose your business challenge and then let the ideas fly.”
He’s happy to hear discussions about purpose, ambition, meaning and ideals as brands try to stay relevant in a sea of consumer choices.
“Purpose is here to stay,” Stengel says.
This video is part of a Beet.TV leadership series produced at the ANA Masters of Marketing Conference, 2017. The series is presented by FreeWheel. Please find more videos from Orlando, visit this page.
