Why should brands focus on short-term and long-term goals simultaneously?

Brands should pay attention to both their short-term and long-term goals as they both play their part in making a brand significant and profitable, among other topics, was discussed at a panel discussion held by WARC and Times of India Group.

Rajdeepak Das- CCO and Chairman, Creative Council, Publicis Groupe, South Asia; Neha Ahuja- Director, Head of Marketing, Spotify, and Satyaki Ghosh, CEO, Domestic Textiles, Grasim Industries, Aditya Birla Group, discussed how marketers can be more effective with their campaigns at the panel discussion. The panel was moderated by Biprorshee Das, India Editor, WARC.

Ahuja said that it's important for marketers to see metrics beyond numbers. “As marketers, we have to measure the business metrics which is very important, but it’s also important to measure the brand metrics. When we got the opportunity to launch Spotify in India, it wasn’t about how many million users we can get from the first campaign. The brief was about building brand love for Spotify,” she said. 

Ahuja stated today's marketing is not about selling on the basis of differentiation but evoking emotional benefits. 

Short-term goals and long-term goals should run simultaneously 

Das on the other hand said while it’s important to build brand love, short-term goals are also equally important. He said short-term wins are important for giving direction to long-term ideas. 

“The short and immediate wins are very important to win the love because if you don’t have those wins the gap between the audience and the brand increases and the pressure increases on marketers. It’s important to win every single battle,” he said. 

He gave the example of Spotify and said how they continuously ask Ahuja what problem they want to solve. “We ask her what the problem is so we can solve that to take off. It is very important to have short-term wins to build the long ones,” explained Das. 

Ahuja said that while all the agencies and brands are building brands, they are also capturing demand through performance marketing. “It’s not ‘either-or’ at all when it comes to what we want to see today and what we want to see later, but the efforts are running in parallel.” 

Ghosh on the other hand believes that long-term marketing is coming back after Covid. He said that as consumer habits have changed, marketers have realised that short-term tactics like ‘discounts and sales’ are not going to work.

“Short-term strategies are not going to deliver effective results for a brand in the long run. Long-term brand building is making a comeback. Moreover, cost structures are losing prominence and marketers can spend more on brand building,” said Ghosh.  

Ahuja further mentioned that metrics are an important factor even when it comes to building the love for the brand. 

She gave an example of the Spotify Wrapped feature and said, “This is the fourth year, where we will be rolling out our Spotify campaign titled ‘Wrapped’. This campaign is not about bringing in new customers or driving more consumption. It is about celebrating how the user has consumed music on the app and leveraging consumer advocacy. We are building brand love with users celebrating what they have streamed throughout the year and seeing them post about it organically on social media.”

The panel further shared their learnings over the years. 

According to Das, one must always think of ideas based on the gut and heart and then from the brain. “Ideas should start from the gut instead of pondering on what isn't right. Rather than selling a product or service, we need to think about people and families and what inspires them to buy it.” 

Ahuja stated that marketers should not get carried away with wanting more. “We get married to our thoughts and the work that we have done. However, in today’s day and age, it is critical to know what the environment is, where we are going, quickly change course and adapt. We also get sucked into this seduction of wanting to do more. However, while bringing effectiveness to the fore, it is about doing less, focusing on something important and sticking to the brand purpose.” 

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