ProcureCon Marketing 2024 Blog

Procurement in the Age of Likes: Is Influencer Marketing the New Goldmine?

02/12/2024

With this in mind, leaders have to make a strategic decision about where to invest their budget across the next year. In a recent survey, WBR Insights asked the top marketing procurement professionals in Europe where they plan to invest in the next 6-12 months. A whopping 42% revealed that they plan to invest in social media and influencer marketing.

This surge in interest begs the question – is this a passing fad or the beginning of a major shift in marketing procurement strategies?

Here's How Ben & Jerry's is Using Programmatic Advertising to Drive Social Change

Programmatic advertising allowed Ben & Jerry's and BuzzFeed to ensure the adverts for the vegan products were aligned with content which would be relevant and of interest to vegans.

Adidas' Collaborative Marketing Procurement Strategy

Adidas promotes practices where procurement and marketing works hand-in-hand for long term brand success and relations.

American Express Took Over New York With Its Pride Campaign

As experts in programmatic advertising, finance brand American Express had a great idea to make sure its own Pride campaign was seen by as many people as possible - and it wasn't through social media ads.

The Legal and Privacy Implications of AI in Marketing

Marketing procurement teams are feeling the pressure to stay on top of all of the new and exciting possibilities that are available with AI, as the technology is quickly becoming ubiquitous.

Why Marketing Procurement Should Take Ownership of Marketing Data and Analytics

In today’s competitive business environment, marketing spending is facing increasing scrutiny from decision-makers. To ensure a return on investment, marketing procurement must have up-to-date data and analytics to inform their decisions.

Managing Marketing Service Providers During Times of Inflationary Pressure

As businesses grapple with inflationary pressures, marketing procurement teams are faced with the challenge of developing long-term agreements with marketing service providers that can provide stability economically. However, they also must ensure those agreements have flexibility, should demand change over time.

Why Companies Are Reevaluating Their Agency Mixes

Marketing procurement leaders, including those at major brands like Walgreens, have been taking a closer look at their agency mixes to find ways to optimize their spend and their marketing acquisition processes. Although many major brands are considering their options between large agencies, relying exclusively on traditional agencies may no longer be cost-effective—it could even be putting some organizations at a disadvantage.

Changing Approaches to Influencer Management in Marketing Procurement

In recent years, some large-name brands have experienced significant drops in sales and revenue due to public backlash over their influencer campaigns. This has had an impact on the way many organizations manage influencers in their marketing procurement departments. Many companies are also auditing their influencer campaigns to determine the benefits of the costs they are paying and to protect their brands from potential risks.

Marketing Procurement’s Transition from Cost Savings to Value Generation

As marketing procurement teams begin the transition from cost savings to value generation, they can play an even larger role in helping marketing departments realize their goals. Overall, marketing procurement has taken on an increased responsibility in driving value from agency relationships, as well as a greater understanding of the value that must be generated for each project.

ESG and Marketing Procurement

06/22/2022

With the effects of man-made climate change now being felt increasingly keenly around the world, intense pressure is being exerted on global businesses to clean up their act and prioritize green initiatives across their operations. One of the most effective ways brands can increase their ESG credentials in the eyes of customers is by increasing transparency through intelligent use of data and marketing.

Smart Spending at Speed

06/22/2022

Demands being placed on marketing departments are growing and teams need to speed up the process of acquiring advertising while still keeping the organization in mind and minimizing risk. Through a deeper integration between procurement teams and the marketing department, pressures such as tighter budgets, leaner staff, marketing technology, and expectations of increased and tangible return on investments become far easier to manage.

How Advanced Analytics Benefit Procurement

06/22/2022

Procurement teams need to find ways to demonstrate the effectiveness of their marketing spend and justify ongoing support from upper management and the C suite. One of the best ways to achieve this is through data and analytics. By leveraging the power of digital information, marketing procurement teams can deduce which areas of spend are yielding the greatest return on investment and which are failing to live up to expectations.

Marketing Procurement and the Global Talent Crisis

06/22/2022

As the global talent crisis continues to bite, organizations the world over seek to find ways to, not only attract fresh candidates to their industry, but also ensure staff shortages in periphery businesses don’t have a negative impact on their own operation. Marketing procurement is not immune to this phenomenon and savvy brands need to be hip to the ways shortages are affecting the agencies it relies on and doing everything it can to mitigate the damage.

Marketing Procurement – Value vs. Savings

06/22/2022

We are living in a time of sustained inflation. Global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine are driving up prices. Naturally, this includes the procurement of marketing as the cost of doing business increases across the board. As many companies scramble to make savings in their operation, it’s important to remember that gaining real value from any expenditure is far more important than any cost cutting endeavor.

The Benefits of Event Sponsorship at ProcureCon Marketing

WBR’s ProcureCon Marketing conference is the leading event for forward-thinking advertisers. Here’s how event sponsorship can open doors for your organization.

The Pandemic's Impact on Marketing Procurement

09/15/2021

To say that the COVID-19 pandemic had an immense impact on most industries would be an understatement. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the "Great Lockdown" that resulted from the pandemic caused the worst economic downturn since the great depression. Now, procurement leaders are assessing what the pandemic means for the function in the long term, especially as the world experiences a resurgence due to the Delta variant. Here are a few insights into how the pandemic affected procurement over the past two years and what it means moving forward.

How to Manage the Creative Supplier Landscape in 2021

09/15/2021

To stay competitive, organizations must be able to manage their supplier relationships in an effective and streamlined way. This starts with identifying the best suppliers for the company's needs and building a working relationship with them over time. But to unlock the true value of a supplier, the company must have a healthy and long-term relationship that takes advantage of the supplier's full range of capabilities.

Delivering Value with Today's Marketing Supply Chain

09/15/2021

Marketing procurement used to be a driver of cost savings. Procurement professionals who could find the most affordable agencies to do necessary marketing work were recognized for their ability to keep procurement costs low and deliver value at a low rate. But cost savings alone are no longer the sole purpose of the marketing procurement function.

Actualizing Your Marketing Supplier Diversity Program

09/15/2021

Businesses are increasingly recognizing a greater need for supplier diversity, not only because it's an ethical approach to procurement, but also because there are several business benefits to the practice. Here are a few steps organizations can take to actualize their marketing supplier diversity programs.

Reducing the Agency Footprint and Facilitating In-House Capability

A formal assessment of marketing spending is usually the first step that can be taken to identify areas where agency costs can be pared back. It is also important to gather the data on spending that could eventually be used to make the case for enhancing in-house capabilities.

Can Marketing and Procurement Unite To Transform Organizations?

Marketers today are under pressure to keep pace with the expectations of their customers, all while going above and beyond to deliver innovative and memorable campaigns. This requires flexibility and access to the cutting-edge tools required to deliver personal feeling campaigns across all of the markets they serve.

How To Manage Brand Safety In Today’s Digital Advertising Environment

Brand safety is a risk reduction strategy typically associated with advertising, and with programmatic ad buying more specifically. No company wants their digital ads showing up next to vulgar or offensive content, nor do they want their brand associated with fringe political content.

How The Agency Model Can Adapt to the New Era of Digital Marketing

The agency model isn't dead; it's just evolving. Here's how technology and the rise of the gig economy is changing how brands procure marketing services.

Addressing ROI and Transparency in Agency Compensation Management

Any procurement professional, CMO, or agency executive will tell you that organizations across industries are demanding a better ROI from their marketing procurement strategies. This has put pressure on the entire marketing procurement apparatus, as well as on agencies themselves.

How To Benchmarking Your Marketing Suppliers Based on Cost & Quality

Procurement professionals can use marketing benchmarking data for a number of purposes, whether they are looking for additional leverage before entering negotiations with an agency, attempting to set standards with an existing marketing supplier, or simply analyzing the current field of marketing options.

Developing an Effective Scope of Work Program with Marketing Suppliers

There are numerous benefits to developing a robust scope of work program to govern marketing relationships. For one, it enables the organization to specify what outcomes they expect from the marketing supplier's labor. It also proves the supplier with clear guidance around what work it so to be performed

Valvoline and Heineken Explain How They Leverage BPO to Deliver on Marketing's Revenue KPIs

We explore the business strategies your peers are using to better understand BPO trends in procurement.

How to Incorporate Programmatic Media Buying Into Your Procurement Strategy

The growth of spend in programmatic is naturally attracting a lot of attention from procurement, who is poised to take a leadership role in defining the strategic approach.

How to Maximize Marketing Value through Smarter Alignment with Procurement

Marketing is often the largest indirect-spending category for many organizations

How to Use Automation to Optimize Procurement Processes

Marketing procurement teams continue to be measured on how efficiently and effectively they are able to drive costs down or out

How AI Can Help Solve Some of the Biggest Challenges in Procurement

Procurement technology vendors are developing solutions that bring AI into the realms of advanced strategic reasoning and strategic sourcing