I’ve recently been having convos with my contacts in the CPG world, and here’s what I’m sniffing: Companies are reducing staff, quietly (not like the headline-grabbing layoffs in tech). And the first departments getting hit are creative and marketing.
You may be feeling this pinch yourself.
Here’s the thing: The people may be gone, but the work, the marketing initiatives, the expectations are still there. The infrastructure isn’t filling the bill and you’re still required to perform. When internal resources disappear and the folks who are left have a 4x workload, how do you get it done?
You’re probably calling in help. You’re revisiting old partnerships and building new ones.
A Great Time to Reposition Your Brand
Just at the moment when food/beverage/wellness companies are shrinking their marketing workforces, they’re facing an opportunity to make bold moves.
Disruption is everywhere in CPG, across categories, products, and channels. There’s a reset going on in consumers’ minds: There are so many options for everything, and people are open to trying new brands and products. Consumers have absorbed news about supply chain challenges and inflation and have been willing to pay more for the goods that they want, particularly in F&B — but there are signs of increasing price resistance and shifts in buying habits.
So it’s a good time for marketers to reposition their brand. To lead with the cleanest, smartest, most authentic version of the brand’s values. To re-evaluate how you show up in the world, including partnerships, channels, packaging, and product mix.
As consumers start to shop around, what are you doing to introduce the brand to net new followers? How can you show up in consumer conversations you weren’t in before? What bricks do you need to lay to build a moat around the brand so your loyalists don’t cross over to your competitors?
A brand does not become what we call Beloved & Dominant through mass distribution or end cap positions or advertising alone; those are all tactics. To be sticky and meaningful and disruptive the brand has to stand for something bigger than product features and benefits. Consumers want to belong to something, to align with brands that match their values so they can represent as members of the club.
It feels like a tall order when your marketing group is just trying to produce the next quarterly social media campaign.
Time for Smart Marketing Partnerships
You have a badass internal marketing team and the last thing you want to do is alienate them or add to their workload. But you need help. You need a partner that can do the tactical work — and triple bonus points if they can also do the strategy that’s necessary now. You need expertise, instant capacity, and flexibility. You need someone who’s comfortable in the trenches, who can perform at the level your organization expects, who won’t showboat or behave like an “agency guy” in front of your CEO.
You need us.
We can help your team win the week — just. get. work. done. — and also help you solve the complex, big-picture, longer-term initiatives you should be pursuing now. It’s frustrating to know there are next-generation projects with strategic implications looming, when you’re bogged down with the must-do stuff.
I know what you’re thinking: “I’d hire someone but it’s so much easier to do it myself.” Onboarding a typical brand agency takes time. We’re not a typical brand agency. We’re the external version of you — with special forces — who can blow things up, imagine a new landscape, make it kick ass, and hand it back to your internal team to do what they do best.
So where do you start? Here: Our Brand Traction Audit can give you a strategic road map in just one meeting. We’ll quickly set priorities and get to work on the action steps that’ll help your brand grab consumers’ attention right now. We can shape-shift into exactly the partner you need.Ready to go? Let’s do this thing.
