Go Inspire beefs up board Printweek team Wednesday, April 7, 2021
Go Inspire has appointed a marketing big hitter and seasoned agency chief to its board as it looks to embark on its next five-year growth plan and accelerate its evolution into a strategic managed services partner.
Harman will insert his wisdom and experience to help Go Inspire gain momentum
Jonathan Harman has joined the group as non-executive director to support its goal of becoming a “true marketing performance partner”.
He joined the board on 1 April.
In his 30-plus year marketing career, Harman has headed UK and EMEA agencies for the likes of WPP and Omnicom and was previously managing director, Media at Royal Mail Group.
What if you, as a CMO, were able to show not only how much revenue your marketing investment will deliver, but when? Mike Colling explains how you can.
If ever you needed proof that most businesses see marketing budgets as a cost and not an investment, 2020 provided it. Figure 1 below shows what marketing directors expected to spend each year (in black), followed by the quarterly revisions to those budgets (in grey) and their final annual outcome (in orange).
With the exception of the boom years 2004-2008, pre-financial crash, where one might argue the whole world was mad, the picture has been depressingly familiar. The black line pokes up above all others in naïve optimism; the grey lines decline across the year as the reality of revenue shortfalls bites; the orange line is lowest of all, reflecting the reality of the dominance of the CFO in any budget negotiation.
Pitch Update: BA and Post Office progress search for first-class agencies
Channel 4, BHF and Pret a Manger have all launched reviews this week.
by Staff
BA and Post Office: first class cabin on Boeing 787-9 (BA) and first class stamps (Geography Photos/Getty)
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Debate: Was Asos right to pass over Topshop s physical stores?
Could Asos have used the excitement of a physical location to fire up demand? (Photo by Michael Gottschalk/Getty Images for Topshop Topman)
Digital retailer Asos has picked up Arcadia’s principal brands – but they didn’t bother with the physical premises. A good decision?
Mike Colling of the Kite Factory says yes:
To bring great brands back to life you often have to cut away dead wood. The news that ASOS has bought Topshop & Miss Selfridge has been greeted with howls of protest by those who see it as asset stripping rather than a positive investment for new growth. ”What about the jobs of the shop staff, and the rents and rates paid by the high street stores?” The point that these critics miss is that to revitalise great brands you often have to change the way they are interacted with in order to engage a new audience who currently reject them.