Speaking to creative and media buying agencies this Wednesday, chief operating advisor Peter Bithos (pictured) said they will keep TV and radio but will now focus its attention on media that is relevant to the brand and to its customers who are increasingly found online.
He declined to detail the breakdown of Globe’s ad budget allocation in response to the changes.
“We at Globe no longer advertise on print. We at Globe made the decision to exit outdoor. So that the ad dollars that we buy do not increase, shifting the least measurable and the most speculative media and the least aligned with our customer segments into digital where we can measure it, grow it and prove it.”
Bithos said that Globe saw the need to make tough top-down decisions to better understand and increase the effectiveness of the money it spends.
Globe devotes upwards of US$ 70 million in advertising annually. A hefty investment that has helped the telco secure 40% of its market, Bithos shared that the company is “very unhappy” in spite of.
“We cannot measure it. We don’t know the returns on it and we don’t know if we are making the right decisions,” he adds.
Bithos vented his frustrations in a fairly emotive talk, saying that after observing the situation for the last three years, Globe has grown tired with lack-luster marketing strategies that have been used year after year.
“No brand marketer, no advertising middle manager, no junior analyst ever got fired for doing what they did last year. So we started realizing this as what kept coming up through the brand campaigns – the same media plan where we do this amount of outdoor, we do this amount of print, we do this amount of TV and that’s what we did last year and even the year before that.”
Digital marketing is undoubtedly an inventible path for Globe to take, taking advantage of its core strengths as a top broadband provider and mobile network for over 30 million users. Together with Globe Mobile Advertising and Entertainment Gateway Group, larger and bolder developments are to be expected.
Their biggest challenge now, Bithos admits, is on how Globe can stand out where virtually every business in the Philippines are all competing for tweets, likes and online attention.
“If you are doing Facebook advertising, guess what, you are doing Facebook advertising just as everybody else. Really? Is that the way we are going to innovate? Is that the way to stand out in the market place?”
He appealed to the agencies in attendance to present campaigns that both make business and creative sense.
“We are not satisfied with the measurements we are getting, the creatives we are getting, with the innovative approaches we are getting. We need your help. Bring innovative ways to advertise to us. Bring new ways to reach our customers,” Bithos said.
