Foresight from insight: re-framing effectiveness

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Take a look through the programmes of the past few major international conferences you attended or were on your radar. Beyond the natural trend- driven themes and ‘next big thing’ narrative, key words like ‘creativity’ and ‘data’ are prolific. Probably notable by its absence is ‘effectiveness’. 

With the exception of where it is combined with the word ‘creative’ to make everyone feel a little more comfortable around it, effectiveness is generally left out in the cold, pressing its perceived sensible little nose up against the glass when the hipsters and cool tech kids are all inside at the party. Why? 

When Effectiveness Week was first conceived by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) team and the member-led effectiveness leadership group, its genesis was in direct response to this question. Initial industry-wide research had framed the paradox: client capability building and internal focus around effectiveness had never been more prevalent, but the disconnect surrounding marketing communications effectiveness endured. 

Going deeper than the initial feedback, where the perception prevailed that agencies were still ‘marking their own homework’, we discovered a much more dynamic meta theme to explore – the creation and promotion of a shared culture of effectiveness as a success factor in business transformation. 

This focus on effectiveness culture and business results at an organisational level led us to realise that this was not a challenge that the IPA and its members wanted – or were equipped – to solve alone. Collaboration, consultation and dialogue with every major representative trade body at a UK level including: the Market Research Society; several key partners from the global community; leading academic partners; and, most crucially, a client Advisory Board comprising 18 leading marketing professionals, ensures that the Effectiveness Week programme and format we are now presenting meets this challenge head on. 

At a marketing level, we have collectively moved on from the idea of effectiveness as a retrospective proof point obsessed with links to KPIs as a proof point for the connection between creativity and effectiveness, or the nonsensical debate around creativity versus data – effectiveness is at the intersection of all of these and each feeds the other. 

But beyond marketing and into the wider C-suite, the challenges remain. Organisational culture is built on values, beliefs and behaviours; the only way to evolve is to alter behaviour to change attitudes. Effectiveness offers an unrivalled framework and shared language for the CFO, CMO and CEO to engage in dialogue. Unifying rather than divisive, effectiveness frames how value is created, delivered and captured – the entire business model – embedding business benefit, not communications results. 

Effectiveness Week is intended to be the beginning, not the definitive end; the focus is on evidence-based decision-making, not awards and measurement. This doesn’t mean marketing – or business – without creativity, or a retrospective research-driven culture devoid of instinct and risk. 

A culture of effectiveness, driven by insight, actionable foresight and creativity, is now a business transformation necessity and the most powerful value-creation tool across the C-suite. Balancing long-term investment and short-term activity has never been more critical for brands; a culture of effectiveness provides a framework for decision-making in this context. 

But while creating and building such a culture does not mean a shift away from traditional or established business values, it is important to recognise that the fixed narrative of driving shareholder value no longer applies to every scale-up or established business (if indeed it ever did). For some businesses, at best, this is a distraction, at worst, an irrelevance. 

Moving beyond these well-understood chronicles of shareholder value creation or re-writes of Lord Leverhulme and/or Wanamaker, we have a collective opportunity to harness the foresight-driven superpower of effectiveness and take steps toward addressing our shared core issues and challenges in a way that neither looks away from, nor apologises for, their complexity. 

From the CEO through to all ranks of the business, we must understand the opportunity to create real change that comes with using the learning from problems solved and what impacts and outcomes have been realised – and using this knowledge to plan strategy. 

Effectiveness Week is not a time to look inward or to cling on to some mythical, now non-existent, competitive advantage or proprietary position. To be truly effective in itself, we must relentlessly aim to create this culture industry-wide. 

What happens on the stages in London and in the conference and board rooms around the UK is just the beginning. Collaboration and building on each other’s learning is essential, as is embracing the spirit of open source and co-creation that are so closely linked to those worlds of tech and data with which we are so engaged. 

But it is also important to remember the role of conflict and constraint in the process, and in creativity itself: new connections; perspectives from outside ‘our world’; thought leadership; hypothesis; experimentation; and exploration. 

Inspiring stories, actionable insights and dissenting voices, united by points of passion, will ensure that Effectiveness Week signals the start of the genesis of a new chapter for the industry at a truly cultural level. 

Sera Miller is an elected member of the IPA Council and deputy chair of the IPA’s effectiveness leadership group. She is CEO of the material group and a board member of Disruptive Insight