Adaptive Brand Content

JULY 2017 REPORT
THE AGE OF
THE ADAPTIVE
MARKETER:
MEETING THE NEEDS OF THE CONNECTED
CUSTOMER WITH ADAPTIVE BRAND CONTENT
HH Global Strategic Brief - Adaptability in Branded Content Delivery 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 INTRODUCTION
5 KEY FINDINGS
12 CONCLUSION
15 DETAILED FINDINGS
31 BRAND PERSPECTIVES
Peter McGinness | Chobani
Ram Krishnan | PepsiCo
Jennifer McCarthy | Starwood Hotels and Resorts
40 EXPERT COMMENTARY FROM HH GLOBAL
43 PARTNERS AND AFFILIATES
45 ABOUT CMO COUNCIL
45 ABOUT HH GLOBAL
INTRODUCTION
Consider this: in the United States alone, there are more than 350 diferent languages
spoken in homes across the country. In New York City, the Census Bureau estimates that
more than 200 languages other than English are spoken, with more than one-third of the
population speaking a language other than English. Then, consider that only 26 percent
of the estimated 38.9 billion online transactions annually will happen in English, according
to Statista.
Why share this? In today’s day and age, there is an expectation that customer experiences
happen in total context to the consumer, yet localization—whether it’s around the globe
or around the corner—is still a far-off goal for far too many organizations.
Presenting brand materials in a manner that best reflects the brand’s look, feel and key
attributes while also adapting to geographical, cultural and local customer preferences
is a critical challenge for marketers today. Increasingly discerning consumers expect—or
even demand—that the materials that brands present across sales, marketing and service
touchpoints are timely, relevant and reflect the customer’s unique context.
Marketers, in the throws of the digital revolution, admit that the shift to digital has not
simplified content and creative needs, but it has actually increased the demand for new
formats and iterations of content. These new content needs are further complicated
by increasingly discerning customers, who expect personalized experiences across all
channels.
CMO Council research indicates that nearly half of marketers believe localized marketing
is essential to business growth and profitability, particularly as it relates to demand
generation and sell-through of products and services. And according to MarketingProfs
research, 50 percent of target audiences ignore brand messages if they are not localized
for the native language, local jargon and cultural references.
Yet despite the need to more effectively deliver market-localized materials, many CMOs
are stymied by the costs, time pressures and process inefficiencies of supporting
adaption across a growing multitude of regions. When you consider that the translation
industry alone is a $38 billion industry, the costs of proper adaptation add up, especially
given the number of hidden costs associated with lost productivity from inefficient
processes and lack of proper tools.
The challenges of handling the logistics of localization at scale are exacerbated by a

growing number of digital channels and increasingly expanding target markets. So the
question emerges: How are leading global organizations keeping pace with both the
rate of change and increasingly demanding expectations? Are there best practices to
follow for the modern, adaptive marketing leader? Are there new tools, strategies and
partnerships that must be leveraged in order to accelerate adaptive marketing initiatives?
This CMO Council report, produced in partnership with HH Global, measures the degree
to which marketers are able to localize and customize creative executions, packaging,
collateral, advertising and communications by culture, affinity, language and location.
According to marketing respondents, almost two-thirds rate their organizations and
agency partners as below satisfactory in their capacity to translate and adapt brand
marketing content across the markets and channels they serve. This has led to equally
lackluster marks in timeliness as only 30 percent of marketers indicate that their in-
house and agency teams are advanced or doing well in their timeliness and capacity to
simultaneously support global and local execution.
The pain level is high as too many marketing organizations are struggling to take the
operational steps necessary to remedy this problem and optimize the adaptability and
agility of the marketing supply chain. Most marketers still have not conducted a formal
assessment of their localization and adaptation processes and effectiveness. They are
failing to adopt more sophisticated systems that foster collaboration and rapid approval
and workflows, like online proofing and approvals, which can dramatically streamline
adaptation. And they are unsure as to whether the actions they are taking are making an
impact as they have not put proper metrics in place to measure their effectiveness.
We hope to ignite a much-needed dialogue around new platforms, opportunities and

mandates for rapid deployment and expansion of market localization across all creative
adaptation programs. The findings of this study feature insights into the drivers for
increasingly localized content, key challenges around the cost and timeliness of localized
campaigns, and the steps that are being taken to increase relevance across both global
and local markets.
The findings presented are based on a survey of 150 marketing executives fielded in the
spring of 2017. The findings are further qualified through three deep-dive interviews with
marketing leaders at leading global brands that are prioritizing the creative adaptation
process: PepsiCo, Chobani and Starwood Hotels and Resorts.
KEY FINDINGS
The Demands of Going Local on a Global, Digital Scale
Iterating a brand’s creative inspiration and output at scale to better resonate with
cross-cultural consumers and diverse audiences on a local level is a new global mandate
for CMOs.
Marketers are keen to meet the demands of localization in delivering brand materials that
reflect language, cultural values, ethnic sensitivities and a geographically relevant look
and feel. But this localization mandate is also proving to be a massive challenge
for creative teams that are struggling to meet this directive efficiently and without run-
away costs.
It comes as no surprise that around half of marketers pointed

to localization demands like language and cultural values and
sensitivities as the top influencing factor putting pressure on
67 percent of
creative teams to more effectively deliver production-ready marketers rank digital
creative at scale.
advertising as the most
Creative teams—both in-house and those spread across
agency partners—aren’t just being bogged down by one
important element of
essential asset. In reality, they are being asked to produce their marketing mix.
and localize a broad range of deliverables for each individual
campaign. From design concepts, digital advertising, website
design and videos to social media pages, presentations, emails, reports, newsletters and
infographics, when multiplied on the global scale that many organizations must operate
across, the load becomes nearly insurmountable.
The proliferation of digitally inclined consumers has also forced brands to hone in on
developing both the skills and the assets needed to succeed in a new digital ecosystem.
Marketers recognize that while traditional marketing assets are still a vital part of the
customer journey, the ability to reach consumers in new digital channels is a top priority
for creative deployment. Some 67 percent rank digital advertising as the most important
element of their marketing mix, and another 67 percent rank website design and content
as most important.
While channel diversity has demanded new talent and resources across the marketing
landscape, it has also made the management of agency and in-house partners and
resources that much more complex. Gone are the days where a single agency of record
held all creative. In fact, only 13 percent of marketers have a single agency partner. The
teams of today include multiple creative partners and contractors, according to 45
percent of respondents. Global business makes this even more complex as 28 percent of
respondents are working with multiple creative teams across multiple regions, and 20
percent have turned over creative adaptation to local teams.
This new web of resources has a direct impact on what marketers consider to be the
essential assets and elements being created by these teams. Design ideation and
conception tops the list of needs for a majority (78 percent) of marketing leaders,
followed by the development of digital advertising assets. But interestingly, as marketers
admit they struggle to support the needs of global and local marketing execution, it is
often this critical first step that is rushed or cut short. Creative ideation and conception
not only represents the first step in transitioning a great strategy into a successful
campaign, but it is also the first opportunity to quickly establish the creative guidelines of
a given campaign that must go global quickly. It is at this critical juncture that brands can
better outline localization needs and appropriately adapt creative assets—at the point of
creation—rather than trying to catch up or patch operational holes after the fact.
But delivering this level of context and relevance across a broadening list of channels
requires data and intelligence to power personalization. Indeed, it is this demand for
data-driven personalization that 32 percent of marketers highlight as one of the top
drivers of transformation as leaders look to see improvements in their creative adaptation
and delivery processes.
For today’s consumer, the choices are endless as there are neverending opportunities
to seek out experiences that deliver both relevance and value. The cold reality is that
marketers who don’t take the time to capitalize on speaking to the consumer in a way
that feels personal are sure to experience brand defection. The point of differentiation
will be in how marketers engage locally and at scale without depleting budget and
exhausting creative teams and partners.
Budget, Time and Teams: The Key Challenges of Effective Adaptation
Companies have a long way to go to effectively adapt and modify their content. New
digital environments and engagement channels continue to amplify the complexity
of the media mix while increasing connectivity and new ways of reaching consumers.
Like never before, marketers and their agency partners need to keep up or be beset by
their competition—or worse, be deemed irrelevant and out of touch by their once loyal
customer.
Despite a keen recognition of the need to improve content creation and rapid adaptation
processes, marketers feel they lack the effective resources, budget, tools and knowledge
to achieve these goals. Thirty-nine (39) percent say they are not satisfied with their
performance in this area, highlighting the need to improve their ability to executive more
relevant and targeted creative (49 percent), accelerate time to market (42 percent), and
more effectively measure impact, value and appeal (23 percent).
While marketers are clear on the areas in need of

improvement, they note a number of challenges standing
Almost half of in their way, chief among them being the ability to ensure
organizations are uniformity in the face of adaptability. After the ability to
meet tight turnaround times, the top challenge highlighted
investing less than by 43 percent of marketers was ensuring quality and
5 percent of their uniformity of adapted content within brand guidelines.
budgets in creative Given the level of complexity in both understanding and

reaching the consumer, time does not appear to be on
adaptation for marketing’s side. Shorter lead times and turnaround
localization and cross- requirements and the inability to deliver creative on-time
and in real-time are negatively impacting the organization’s
cultural engagement. capacity to optimize the creative production and global
delivery process.
This lag has impacted marketing’s ability to support local marketing requirements and
demands as only 7 percent of respondents see themselves as being advanced in their
ability to meet the needs of global markets. The majority, 37 percent, admit they are are
not doing well or need improvement.
Time to market—or more specifically, the lag in global time to market—obviously has a
significant impact on cost and campaign effectiveness. But how much are marketers
lagging on delivering localized content? Only 17 percent of marketers are able to deploy
global and local content across both digital and physical touchpoints simultaneously,
while 6 percent admit that digital assets are able to launch on the same day as global
campaigns, but physical touchpoints like print take much longer to deploy. While 15
percent are able to accelerate localized launches within days of a global deployment, 44
percent need weeks or even months to deploy.
For most, it is clear that this lag is directly tied to a lack of allocation and investment
into localization. Most organizations (49 percent) are investing less than 5 percent of
their budgets in creative adaptation for localization and cross-cultural engagement. A
significant number of organizations are allocating between 5 and 20 percent of marketing

budgets for local engagement. But budgets are being challenged even further as nearly
one in three respondents admits that they are being challenged to better manage costs
and reduce the level of waste and obsolescence across the marketing supply chain.
But marketers also admit that even with small budgets and tight timelines, the real issue
might actually be the lack of transparency and ability to measure the cost and quality
of the creative delivery process. In all reality, marketers simply do not know how their
investments into creative adaptability are truly faring.
Only 2 percent of marketers feel their organizations are very advanced in their ability to
measure and track creative adaption and delivery processes. Most actually know they
are missing the mark as 44 percent admit they are either not doing well or are in need of
improvement.
Need for Platforms That Bring Rapid Adaptability to the Marketing Supply Chain
Marketing executives surveyed by the CMO Council in earlier

research 1 found that localization platforms and systems make
the greatest impact in the ability to handle the logistics
Only 20 percent of
and intricacies of localized marketing, create relevant and respondents are using
meaningful versions of content, control brand assets and
uniformity of brand messaging, and measure and evaluate online approval/
campaign effectiveness and content usage. proofing systems that
But these tools that can accelerate adaptation only work reduce time and cost
when implemented in a way that delivers visibility into
the entire creative process. Moreover, marketers are
and create visibility in
implementing technology without a clear view into the the creative ideation
reality of marketing supply chain efffectiveness and creative
delivery processes. In essence, marketers are spending on and collaboration
collaboration tools and content managers, but you simply
cannot fix something when you don’t know what is broken
process.
and where the damage is most severe.
When asked if their organizations had undertaken a formalized assessment of the creative
delivery process and marketing supply chain, 50 percent said no, this critical investigation
has not happened. Only 18 percent have formalized their assessment, and 24 percent
believe the investigation is in process.
1
“Brand Automation for Local Activation,” CMO Council, 2013
Without this view into process and performance, it is no wonder that marketers are simply
not satisfied with performance or are forced to admit they don’t know how they would
rate their effectiveness.
What becomes clear is that many marketers are actually not using the right platforms
to help improve their process, visibility and measurement of creative campaigns;
instead, they are automating in the dark and questioning the lack of real change and
transformation.
Let’s take, for example, one of the top challenges that marketers are facing in the
creative production and global delivery process: end-to-end workflow management and
collaboration. To respond to this challenge, marketers are turning to general project
management platforms in the hopes that these tools will accelerate processes. But
in reality, these solutions do not go much further than the ability to assign tasks and
manage deliverables.
In reality, only 20 percent of respondents are using online approval/proofing systems

that could actually drastically reduce the time and cost involved in creative adaptation
while also creating visibility and accountability in the creative ideation and collaboration
process.
While project management tools can help provide some level of visibility into the status
and appointees of deliverables, they do not help provide the clarity marketers crave
when it comes to the specific actions that need to be taken (or accelerated) to make
measurable improvements across the supply chain and advance quickly to the final
product. Moreover, marketers who seek accountability and visibility across both in-house
teams and agency partners are now demanding greater depth in understanding how
processes are impacting the cost and quality of their creative campaigns.
Marketers are driving blindly, but they are also not implementing the right tools to open
up visibility, leaving both marketers and agency partners in a state of frustration and
lackluster localization performance.
Making a Case for Local: Best Practices and Leader Insights
Localization is not just about getting a message out. Simply pushing out content in
a variety of iterations in the hopes that it reaches a relevant audience provides no
guarantee that the audience will be receptive to the experience. Instead, for global
brands committed to relevant engagement, this is about smoothing the path to optimized
customer experiences. Jennifer McCarthy, former Vice President of Global Brand Design
and Marketing at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, notes that even slight adjustments in
creative messaging can have a significant impact in reaching consumers.
She says, “If we localize our main messages and customize

the messages to be relevant for individual markets, the
“Whether editing the content will be more successful. Whether editing the imagery
imagery or the text, or the text, slight adjustments to some of the brand’s
programs or marketing can increase its resonance with the
slight adjustments to consumer.”
some of the brand’s
But marketers are looking at a balancing act, personalizing
programs or marketing enough to reach their audience in a relevant way but not so
much that it dilutes the brand or deviates away from the
can increase its goals of the business.
resonance with the
Ram Krishnan, Chief Customer Officer at PepsiCo, explains,
consumer.” Jennifer “All brands, regardless of the geography where people are
experiencing the brand, must demonstrate a clear identity of
McCarthy, Starwood the brand. What does the brand stand for? If you lose that,
Hotels and Resorts then you lose the soul of your brand.”
This is where localization and personalization make the

greatest impact—placing this clear brand vision and identity into context of the customer.
It is more than just understanding Pepsi’s brand; it is about appreciating how customers
see themselves walking hand in hand with Pepsi.
For Peter McGinness, Chief Marketing Officer of Chobani, understanding the customer is
simply the cost of doing business and is at the core of any localization effort.
“The 50 states are not always the united 50 states of America, and there are different
points of view, consumers, socioeconomic backgrounds, race and ethnicity ratios and
histories to all of the states,” explains McGinness. “Blanketing the United States with one
message may be efficient in terms of cost per 1,000 perspectives, but efficiency based on
the number of eyeballs reached is not a measure of success.”
Still, some brands are taking steps to leverage technologies to improve efficiency while
also tracking and measuring impact. Starwood’s McCarthy saw significant increases in
efficiency and measurable impact after launching an internal platform within Starwood
Hotels and Resorts’ 11 distinct brands. The platform didn’t just deliver visibility to help
the team transform and eliminate redundancies and inefficiencies; it also helped her team
achieve a decrease of nearly $3 million in spending from 2012 to 2014.
As Starwood set out to to build a world-class brand, tools and technologies to unify
the brand vision while remaining adaptive and flexible for localization were mandatory.
Through their supply chain assessment and intentional implementation of a marketing
supply chain platform, new agility and adaptability could become a reality.
“Our mission was to continue to live the mantra—Freedom in a Framework—meaning that

if you provide the right tools to the hotels, they can create their own marketing content
and truly stay on brand while saving marketing dollars,” she explains.
CONCLUSION
It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of content products required by

marketers and their creative teams today. From signage and product manuals to digital
ads and videos, each content piece needs to be adapted across multiple mediums. When
you add to that the complexity of iterating those pieces for distinct audiences, it is no
wonder that marketers are unsure how to best optimize their content delivery strategy.
Improper management, lack of tools and insufficient budgets make the management
of this complicated supply chain a nearly impossible task—one that is spread across an
increasingly complex network of creative agencies and contractors without the visbility
and guidance that each needs in order to prove performance and remain focused on the
task. Instead of planning for success, too many teams are left hoping for the best.
But savvy marketers should not decouple marketing from the creative content delivery
chain. While one size may not fit all, global companies seeking to go local must take
swift steps forward to better manage their creative delivery process. Savvy marketers
should take the following prescriptions to ensure they are capitalizing on proper market
segmentation and delivery:
1. Take steps to better understand your customer’s local context.
Any relevant marketing strategy must stem from an understanding of customers within a
given market. Many global companies are discovering the power of local teams that have
both the language and cultural acumen to help achieve an optimal understanding of the
local consumer. But even those that don’t have local teams must prioritize market testing
and proper segmentation.
McGinness advises marketers to take a page from politics when it comes to reaching their
audience. “I think marketers and brands should take a play from political campaigns. Yes,
politicians publicize nationally, but in the end, it is a ground game. It is ZIP code by ZIP
code, town by town, and state by state,” he explains.
He continues, “Marketing must take themselves out of the equation. Preferences are
different by state, by county, by town and by ZIP code. Nothing can be discounted. It’s all
on the table when trying to generate the most demand possible.”
Today’s customer expects that engagements from the brands they love will be a reflection
of their past relationship and future aspirations with that brand…not some generic
message that is developed in an office continents away and in a language and format that
is not just foreign, but utterly forgettable.
2. Determine your core brand identity and define parameters.
An effective brand strategy requires establishing brand guidelines and defining their
parameters…this is Marketing 101, right? Brands need a strong message that resonates
with consumers at a global level but that can also be adapted in ways that will best reach
distinct consumers without diluting the core of the brand or the message. In the end, this
is an issue of adapting processes to meet the needs of people, both internal and external
to the organization.
Krishnan explains, “The best global brands have great processes in place where they have
global brand councils in which most of the geographies are represented, and there is a
dialogue on how to adapt the message while staying true to what the brand stands for in
the various regions.”
Thus, marketers need to get clear on their brand mandate and make sure that all
stakeholders in the creative content delivery process understand the brand guidelines and
how much flexibility they have in adapting that brand mandate. Establishing templates
can go a long way in helping teams adapt content and provide the security of knowing
that those adapted content pieces still fall within the brand identity. But knowing where
the guiderails are is critical to delivering a unified experience, no matter where in the
world that relationship is being built.
3. Establish proper platforms and systems to streamline processes and measure success.
The right tool can make even the most complex process achievable. Leading brands are
seeking to integrate tools that can help them quickly proof and approve concepts, as well
as iterate designs within established templates that already take into consideration the
brand identity and key guidelines.
Tools that allow for simple and quick iterations of content mean that consumers will hear
brand messages sooner and in a manner that is relevant to them. They also provide more
transparency around the marketing content supply chain.
But the benefit of proper tools goes further still in helping marketers to better
understand how effective their strategies are in practice. Marketers must find the right
mix in crafting global campaigns and reaching customers at a local level. Whether all
creative is handled in house or by a web of partners, established systems that allow for
simple iterations of content can help better track and deliver quality campaigns.
Krishnan explains that for PepsiCo, a blend of relationships works best, but each company
needs to find their own prescription.
“There is no one answer that fits all,” he says. “It is about bringing together a whole
ecosystem that addresses the changing consumer landscape.”
In the end, the case for localization and accelerated content adaptation rounds back to
the customers themselves. No relationship has ever been built based on a dispassionate
disconnect or a lack of contextual engagement. In fact, the deepest relationships with
customers are achieved when brands take extra strides to deliver total relevance and
reflect the very heart of the customer back to them in a rich, contextual and localized
manner. Nelson Mandela said it best: “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, it
goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”
DETAILED FINDINGS
1. How well are you translating your creative strategy across all digital and physical
marketing channels, including merchandising locations, promotional literature,
advertising, packaging and sales materials? (Select one)
Establishing and building a brand identity requires the right mix of a cohesive, targeted
creative strategy and the ability to translate that strategy across all touchpoints, market
segments and channels. With the proliferation of new digital channels, most marketers
are still figuring out how to best tackle a multitude of assets and mediums. The success of
these efforts is, at best, a work in progress for 62 percent of respondents, who note that
they are getting better, need improvements or are not doing well at all. In a telling insight,
only 7 percent feel they are doing extremely well.
7% Extremely well
30% Doing well
36% Getting better
23% Need improvements
3% Not well at all
1% Reviewing results and strategies
0% Not sure
2. How effectively do you adapt, modify and/or localize your branded content for
different markets, audiences, partners and geographies? (Select one.)
An effective creative strategy requires the ability to adapt new creative materials across
the different touchpoints and targets of a brand, but on top of that, it requires localizing
those assets across the distinct geographies, cultures and communities reached by
the brand. Mirroring the sentiments of how advanced marketers feel in their ability to
translate their overall brand identity across new mediums, 9 percent of marketers feel
they are very advanced in their ability to adapt these assets for specific audiences while
63 percent of respondents feel they are not doing well at all, need improvements or are
getting better.
9% Very advanced in this area
24% Doing well
34% Getting better
22% Need improvements
7% Not well at all
3% Not sure
3. How is your creative resource group structured? (Select all that apply.)
As brands ideate around the optimal path toward implementing a creative strategy that
can allow for rapid and relevant adaptation across distinct market segments, it is no
surprise that the spread of how these brands are allocating resources or controlling the
process is vast. Most seem to be looking internally to build these capacities, with only 13
percent using a single agency for this process. Yet while brand ownership of the process
seems to be the running theme, there is a pretty even spread between those brands that
are utilizing multiple creative teams and partners and those that are centralizing the
process.
45% Multiple creative partners/contractors
28% Multiple creative teams across regions
Single in-house studio handling all creative

26% executions
20% Local ownership of creative adaptation
Specialized in-house groups across digital,

18% print and packaging/POS
13% Agency of record handling all creative
7% Other (please specify)

4. How do you rate the speed, responsiveness and capability of your agency or in-house
creative teams in supporting global and local marketing execution requirements and
demands? (Select one.)
No matter the structure of creative marketing, time to market is a key hurdle, especially
considering the multitude of channels and touchpoints available to reach today’s
connected consumer. And with the lack of speed comes a lack of overall capabilities
in translating and adapting creative content and collateral. Finding the right mix of a
cohesive brand identity and a localized strategy is something that only 7 percent feel
they have advanced capabilities to achieve. Luckily, most see improvements, with 32
percent saying they are getting better at this process and 23 percent saying they are
doing well.
23% Doing well
32% Getting better
32% Needs improvement
5% Not good at all
1% Not sure
5. What factors are putting pressure on your creative team to be more effective at
delivering production-ready creative at scale globally? (Select top five)
With advancements in new technologies and capabilities for personalized marketing,

today’s consumer now expects that brands engage with them in ways that are most
meaningful and relevant to them as individuals. It is no surprise, then, that localization
demand—including taking account of language, cultural values and other sensitivities—
ranks top among the reasons marketers must improve their ability to deliver adapted
creative at scale for almost half of respondents. The new digital environment also
increases the number of channels and types of content that marketers must produce to
remain relevant in the marketplace, making the need for new visuals and dynamic digital
content top priorities as well. Finally, reducing cost and complexity are always top of
mind for operationally minded marketers.
Localization demands
Channel/field sales
(e.g., language, cultural
48% values, religion, ethnic 23% requests to customize or
create versions of content
sensitivities, etc.)
New digital formats, Greater number of physical

44% device types and dynamic
content needs
16% locations serving our
customers
Need for visually enriched More complex marketing

43% and engaging content
pieces
15% supply chain systems and
partners
Corporate social
41% Financial and operational
cost reductions 8% responsibility and ethical
branding commitments
36% Brand quality, uniformity

and compliance mandates 2% Sustainability and brand
logistics mandates
Data-driven
Use of networked, on-
personalization of
32% customer interactions at 1% demand print and digital
imaging technologies
scale
Marketing performance
32% and effectiveness
measures
Cross-border variations,
29% requirements, regulations
and considerations
Global market and

27% distribution channel
expansion
6. What do you consider to be essential assets and elements produced by your creative
team, either internally or externally? (Check all that apply.)
Top of mind for marketers is the ability to ensure their brand identity is strong, relevant
and relatable. Thus, design ideation and specification are critical in ensuring that, at
a core level, all assets are created within a given structure and set of guidelines. The
importance of digital—including the proliferation of websites, social channels and videos—
makes those digital design assets increasingly important in terms of the components that
marketers must get right.
Design ideation,
Newsletters/magazines/
78% conception and 30% publications
specification
67% Digital advertising 29% Mobile apps
Website design/
67% content 28% Blogs
57% Copywriting 27% Direct mail
53% Video 24% Packaging
52% Artwork files 24% Webinars
48% Social media pages 23% Point of sale display
41% Presentations 19% Print production
39% Infographics 18% Merchandising materials
37% Print advertising 17% Product manuals
36% Email 16% ePublishing
34% Exhibits/booths 13% Premiums/giveaways
34% Photography 7% Pre-press
Reports/white
32% papers 3% Other (please specify)
31% Signage
7. What challenges are you facing in your creative production and global delivery
process? (Select top five)
It is the ultimate goal for any brand to achieve the level of market penetration and brand
awareness wherein consumers will recognize a brand, regardless of channel. And while
creative adaptation for localized marketing needs is vital for brands seeking to engage
with increasingly discerning consumers, that adaptation must be done in a way that does
not dilute the overall brand identity. Thus, ensuring uniformity within brand guidelines,
while at the same time ensuring those assets are properly localized, is the top challenge
for 43 percent of marketers. Time, however, is the largest hurdle to overcome according
to 47 percent of marketers. This challenge is exacerbated by the expansion into new
global markets and the proliferation of content channels. And given the complexity
involved in effectively implementing a localized strategy for many brands, there is a
significant cry for better tools to understand the workflow and measure the impact of
performance.
47% Shorter lead times and turnaround requirements
Ensuring quality and uniformity within brand

43% guidelines
38% End-to-end workflow management and collaboration
Delivering creative on-time and in real-time, when

36% needed
36% Measurement of creative appeal, impact and value
Adapting creative/content to local needs and

34% variations
32% Managing costs and reducing waste/obsolescence
26% Centralizing and controlling digital assets and IP
24% Keeping up with new digital production innovations
22% Finding, keeping and managing creative talent
Meeting tough deadlines and seasonal production

17% schedules
Managing time and costs of multiple global creative

13% agencies and partners
Sourcing and onboarding new agency/freelance

11% resources
Globalizing creative services and supply chain

9% operations
Specifying and managing production and delivery of

7% marketing materials
4% Continuous innovation and refinement of

environmentally friendly packaging
Finding and using distributed print service providers

3% and production resources
Meeting new sustainability requirements in our print

2% and packaging areas
Transportation, warehousing, handling and fulfillment

2% of marketing materials
Delivery, positioning and placement at point of sale

1% and point of signage

8. What tools is your marketing team or agency using to properly manage and track
output? (Select top three)
With significant challenges around timeliness, workflow management, insight and

transparency into the supply chain, it is surprising that so many brands are only using
generalized and potentially outdated tools to automate and accelerate these processes.
For example, only 20 percent are using online approval and proofing systems. General
project management platforms may provide insight into ownership and flow, but they
don’t do enough to advance capabilities in improving timeliness and creative impact.
53% Project/workflow management platforms
49% Collaboration tools
Campaign and content analytics

46% dashboards
41% Digital asset management
23% Resource scheduling
20% Online approval/proofing systems

9. Have you undertaken a formalized assessment of your creative delivery process and
marketing supply chain effectiveness? (Select one.)
While marketers know that they have a long way to go in improving their creative
delivery process, it is surprising that half of all respondents have not undertaken a
formalized assessment to identify gaps and areas of opportunity. Still, nearly a quarter
of respondents (24 percent) note that the assessment is in process, demonstrating their
commitment to improving this key strategic area. Only 18 percent have already completed
such an assessment.
8%
Not sure 18%
Yes
24%
This is in process
50%
No
10. Are you satisfied with your performance in this area? (Select one.)
Only 20 percent of respondents are satisfied with the effectiveness of their marketing
supply chains and creative delivery processes. Most marketers need to take the next
step in leveraging the assets, skills and partnerships within their supply chain to improve
delivery of localized and relevant brand content in order to make it more efficient and
transparent.
11%
Not sure
20%
Yes
31%
Currently evaluating
39%
No
11. Where do you see a need for improvement? (Select top three)
Marketers are honing in on the areas that are most significant to optimize the creative
delivery process. They know they need to improve upon the relevancy and targeting of
creative work. No matter how much research and testing are done in a given market,
more can always be done to improve understanding and better reach the consumer.
Timing is a critical challenge. Marketers realize that simultaneous deployment is ideal, but
it is still far from reality. Digital has forced marketers to expand upon their marketing mix,
and new attention must be paid to optimizing those channels to better reach a targeted
audience.
Executing better, more relevant and targeted

49% creative work
Improving creative adaptability, time to market and

42% field responsiveness
Producing digital content for web and mobile device

32% channels
Diversifying and improving the type of rich media

23% content we produce
23% Measurement of creative impact, value and appeal
Working more effectively with our agencies and supply

21% chain partners
Translating and versioning content for different

17% audiences and markets
Centralizing the management and control of brand

16% assets and content
Reducing the cost of preparing creative executions for

15% production locally
Level of automation, tracking and reporting across the

13% supply chain
Bringing accountability and visibility to marketing

9% supply chain systems
Managing logistics around content delivery, print

5% production and material distribution
Adapting and modifying digital files so they are

5% production-ready
Uplifting quality of our print production and digital

3% imaging globally
Reducing our carbon footprint in the marketing

2% operational sector
3% Other
12. In which regions are you adapting, localizing and culturally modifying creative
content? (Select all that apply.)
No corner of the globe is going untouched when it comes to the priorities of global
brands in reaching new audiences in relevant and targeted ways. Yet when marketers
consider localization, they should not just focus on addressing international markets.
Indeed, as highlighted by Peter McGinness, CMO of Chobani, “The 50 states of America
are not always united.” Each region is further segmented by culture, gender, preferences
and language.
Executing better, more relevant and targeted

62% creative work
Improving creative adaptability, time to market and

44% field responsiveness
Producing digital content for web and mobile device

41% channels
Diversifying and improving the type of rich media

26% content we produce
26% Measurement of creative impact, value and appeal
Working more effectively with our agencies and supply

24% chain partners
Translating and versioning content for different

21% audiences and markets
13. What percentage of your marketing budget is allocated for creative adaptation and
cross-cultural localization? (Select one.)
Despite a clear need for marketers to improve their ability to modify and adapt creative
to reach consumers in a more personalized and relevant manner, most simply do not
have the budget to execute their goals. Just under half of respondents spend less than
5 percent of their budget on localization needs. Conversely, only 3 percent spend more
than 40 percent of their budget to modify content for localized needs. Marketers need
to find a blend between proper budgetary allocation and optimization that will help keep
operational costs low.
3%
More than 40 percent
7% 49%
21 to 30 percent
Less than 5 percent
15%
11 to 20 percent
26%
6 to 10 percent
14. How long does it typically take to create and deploy localized content across both
physical and digital touchpoints? (Select one.)
With more than a quarter of respondents noting that it can take a month or longer to
deploy localized content across all touchpoints, it is clear that marketers need to take
swift action to close the gap. The potential revenue loss from postponed launch dates,
coupled with the cost and complexity associated with the inefficiencies in the supply
chain, have the potential to be devastating to marketing campaign effectiveness. And
while some 32 percent take days to weeks, only 17 percent have achieved the ability to
deploy all content simultaneously.
All content is developed and deployed

17% simultaneously.
15% Within days of primary global launch
17% Within weeks of primary global launch
12% Within one month of primary global launch
15% Can take up to three months
14% Depends on the agency resources we have
Digital deploys immediately; print and physical deploy

6% much later
Don’t know, but know it takes a lot of time and money

5% to roll out
15. How satisfied are you with the level of visibility and transparency into the cost and
quality of your creative delivery process? (Select one.)
We saw that most marketers have little budget allocated to the creative adaptability and
delivery process. Even with a slim budget, there is little visibility into how those costs
are allocated and whether they have measurable impact. While 26 percent respondents
feel they are getting a better sense into their marketing supply chain, 38 percent say
there is a need for improvement, and only 3 percent feel they are quite advanced in their
understanding of the costs and measurable impact of their creative delivery process.
23% Doing well
26% Getting better
38% Needs improvement
6% Not well at all
4% Not sure
BRAND PERSPECTIVES
Peter McGinness
Chief Marketing and Brand Officer
Chobani
Chobani grew from a five-person company to more than 2,000 employees globally during
one of the United States’ worst economic crises in decades. Founder of Chobani, Hamdi
Ulukaya, extends his personal beliefs into the core values of Chobani. The company
resonates an ideology based on hard work, dedication, teamwork and pride in quality
products. Peter McGuinness, Chobani’s Chief Marketing & Brand Officer, regards Chobani’s
hard work, respect and insights as the key factors to its success. He believes that while
localized marketing may be hard work, it is the only way to truly connect with the
consumer.
McGuinness stresses the need for global brands to think local, act local and communicate
locally to ensure the brand is totally relevant and completely resonant with the consumer.
He believes that taking the extra steps to reach the local community will offset costs due
to the development of brand preference and sales gained.
“We go to every market, pitch our products locally, win markets locally and do local
creative,” he says. Consumers reward us for working harder and being smarter while
respecting the culture, nuance, language and local insights.”
Chobani’s perspectives and core beliefs transcend yogurt. McGuinness believes modern
brands must have a point of view beyond their products. Brands have always had a point
of view about the products they make, but today, good, modern and relevant brands must
have a point of view on things beyond the products they make.
“Chobani takes a firm stance on the issues we think are relevant, and we find our
customers reward us for it,” says McGinness. “We recently enacted paid parental leave
and are one of the very few manufacturing companies that give paid parental leave
to both men and women, including for fostering and adoption. We are loud and proud
about messages we care about, like childhood obesity and diabetes. It is a big part of our
brand to have a point of view, and while it might not resonate with everyone, many will
proactively choose our brand because of it.”
As an entrepreneurial, creative-culture company that is founder-led and modern in

its beliefs, Chobani has a great ability to attract the best talent. As Chobani brings
more of its creative content marketing in house, the company is realizing the power of
communication by employees who understand the brand, the company, the product, the
values and the social mission.
Chobani uses a variety of sources to create content and treats each individual partner
fairly, equitably and with total transparency. They are building internal capabilities and
have reached a point where they can create much of their content internally. However,
they still use different agencies to create content, and for McGuinness, no matter how
much Chobani builds its internal capabilities, he does not want to get to the point where
creative content is exclusively built in house. He believes outside perspectives prevent an
insular perspective and keep Chobani current, curious and balanced.
The blend of internal and external marketing adaptation is working well for the company,
which is quickly rising in both brand awareness and market share. The company holds
strong to its core beliefs and messaging. At the same time, they know there is nothing
like having boots on the ground in a local market to best understand how to reach them,
adapt to them and delight them with their product offerings. The company does local
AB testing, talks with consumers on the ground and really takes the time to connect and
understand what will best resonate with each community.
“The 50 states are not always the united 50 states of America, and there are different
points of view, consumers, socioeconomic backgrounds, race and ethnicity ratios and
histories to all of the states,” he explains. “Blanketing the United States with one message
is frankly a little lazy and is not always going to be relevant to everyone or resonant with
everyone. It is efficient to do it that way in terms of the cost per thousand perspectives,
but efficiency based on the number of eyeballs reached is not a metric of success. I think
marketers and brands should take a play from politics and how campaigns are run and
look at the presidential campaign. Yes, politicians publicize nationally to raise awareness
on certain issues and broad policies, but it is a ground game. It is ZIP code by ZIP code,
town by town and state by state.”
From a Chobani perspective, looking at brand index and category index is different in the
Northeast because that is where they were founded. Greek yogurt is over-penetrated, and
the brand does well because of it. In the Northeast, Chobani can push food boundaries
and expect people to buy flavors like blood orange, apricot, mango, pomegranate and
other more exotic flavors. In the Southeast, Midwest, and Southwest, it is a completely
different market. Most people have not tried Greek yogurt and will certainly not be open
to some of those more exotic flavors.
“Marketing 101 requires marketers to take themselves out of the equation,” he says.
“There are certain areas in the country where direct mail, licking stamps and emails are
compelling ways to reach people depending on their age, income, education and even
how remote the areas are in which they live. Use the media that will best accomplish your
company’s goals. Those goals are different by state, by county, by town and by ZIP code.
I am going to do whatever it takes, whether it is geo-targeted social, local cable, local
radio, local newspaper, email or direct mail. It’s all on the table when trying to generate
the most demand possible.”
Ram Krishnan
Chief Customer Officer
PepsiCo
PepsiCo Inc.’s food and beverage portfolio maintains 22 brands, and these brands each
generated more than $1 billion in estimated annual revenue in 2016. The products are
distributed in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. With big brands
like Pepsi, Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Quaker, Tropicana and more, Ram Krishnan, previously
Chief Marketing Officer of PepsiCo, regards localization as an important aspect of
marketing a brand to different geographies and cultures.
Global brands in the food and beverage industry reach local and global markets, and the
taste profiles in different parts of regions and countries can vary greatly. These brands
all adapt to accommodate their consumers, and depending on the consumer group, we
ensure the brand messages transfer and resonate with the target audiences.
“It is very important for global brands to localize their branded content and creative
content for the different markets and audiences they reach,” Krishnan says. “I have
worked mostly in the food and beverage industry, and the taste profiles in different parts
of the country are something that a lot of the best brands adapt to accommodate their
consumers. I believe it is important to localize brands so they resonate and appeal to
the different cultures that the brands are serving in these local geographies. We want to
make sure our brand messages resonate with consumers through the lens of their cultural
nuances.”
When looking at a brand, Krishnan looks at the brand name, the logo, the packaging and
the brand positioning. After establishing these assets as the standard identity for the
brand, he believes the brand can create sub-brand variations to reflect local cultures and
values while maintaining the core elements of the brand.
“I always want all brands, regardless of the geography where people are experiencing the
brand, to demonstrate a clear identity of the brand. What does the brand stand for? If
you lose that, then you lose the soul of your brand,” he explains. “Brand identity is key
when you create these variations. It is a complex ecosystem. When you evolve from the
master brand and start thinking about the sub-brands and changing the identity of those
things, the first thing to look at is: why? Is there a powerful reason for consumer rationale
of why we are modifying these brands? The brand needs to be very clear on the objective
of why you want to create the sub-brand. Brands do not want to proliferate sub-brands,
causing consumers to not know what the brand embodies. I believe that if you walk away
too much from the core brand identity, and if the message is diametrically opposite to
the value system of the core brand, it may as well be a new brand.”
Marketing as a function has gone through a dramatic change over the last few years,
driven by the convergence of data technology and creative content. The relationship
between the brand and the consumer has also changed from a one-way conversation
to a two-way conversation. The different avenues connecting brands to consumers are
innumerable compared to past methods.
“We have traditional agency partners, but we also have an in-house studio that can create
content at a faster pace and react to consumers in real time on multiple channels,” he
says. “There is no one answer that fits all. It is about bringing together a whole ecosystem
that addresses the changing consumer landscape.”
Many global brands are based either in the U.S. or Western Europe, and they sometimes
miss the cultural nuances and the values of the brand that need to adapt to different
cultures. Brands must also make sure they are not superficially looking at language
translation. Even local geographies require research around ethnographies and personal
visits to understand how the values of brands can adapt to local cultures. Brands must
also focus on how their message translates in different languages while ensuring it
resonates with the local culture.
“Many successful global brands have a council made up of the primary country where
the brand was originated, but the brand is in different geographies,” he says. “The local/
regional marketers sit in the council, and there is a lot of back and forth on what they
are absorbing in the marketplace. With social media, it is very difficult to field consumer
research questions specific to their geography and get a real-time response. I think the
best global brands have great processes in place where they have these global brand
councils in which most of the geographies are represented, and there is a dialogue on
how to adapt the message while staying true to what the brand stands for in the various
regions.”
Most brands, at a local level, measure the health of the brand with a brand equity score,
which shows how the brand locally stacks up versus all of the other brands playing in that
local marketplace. Brands tie a lot of their marketing activities around messaging to the
point-of-sale data and whether the message or program resonates with the consumers
and leads to a sale. When it comes to the different technologies and different enabling
tools existing today, the role of the marketer has evolved to be much more strategic and
focused on the customer experience overall.
Krishnan concludes, “You have the advent of what I would call omni-cultural consumers.
These are people who do not let geographical boundaries define their identities. They
have the same value system because of an increase in access due to technology. These
people have global ideals regardless of geographical boundaries. That gives support
for the role of global brands. The other side of that is the rise of nationalism in each of
the geographies, in addition to the importance of local values and local brands. It is a
captivating time to be a marketer when you try to balance these two opposing factors.”
Jennifer McCarthy
Former Vice President of Global Brand Design,
Marketing & Operations
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide is recognized as one of the largest hotel and leisure
companies and is comprised of eleven internationally renowned brands. In September
2016, Starwood was purchased by Marriott International for $13.6 billion, creating the
world’s largest hotel chain. Starwood Hotels & Resorts managed more than 1,500
properties while employing more than 180,000 people worldwide prior to the merger.
Jennifer McCarthy, former Vice President of Global Brand Design, Marketing & Operations,
has over 25 years of hospitality experience including 18 years with Starwood Hotels &
Resorts Worldwide and notes the importance of an adaptable brand identity.
It is important, in McCarthy’s experience, for global brands to adapt, modify and

localize their branded and creative content for different markets and geographies while
maintaining the core brand essence globally. For each of its hotel brands, Starwood
developed brand positioning, brand programming and brand marketing on a global level,
and then they communicated with the divisional and regional teams and allowed them to
customize their marketing.
“It is very important to provide solutions so that marketing content to be modified

or customized to be relevant for the market and the audience, especially in different
geographies,” McCarthy explains. “If we localize our main messages and customize the
messages to be relevant for individual markets, the content will be more successful.
Whether editing the imagery or the text, slight adjustments to some of the brand’s
programs or marketing can increase its resonance with the consumer. It is also important
to always recognize the local language. In some markets, we provided specific assets—
collateral items that would be relevant only in that marketplace—but moreover, we
developed a suite of branded guidelines that allowed each of our hotels to always stay on
brand.”
In 2010, Starwood launched a new user interface for its digital asset management system.
This system housed more than 35,000 assets including all photography and all branded
marketing templates. Additionally, Starwood built a simple ad-builder tool in 2005, which
was designed to help hotels create print advertising. Then, two things happened. One,
Starwood discovered that the software that the ad builder tool was built upon was about
to expire and would not be updated by the software developer. The second main learning
was that the hotels around the world needed a tool to help them customize more than
just print advertising. As the digital landscape continued to evolve, Starwood realized
that hotels wanted to create customized digital content. Starwood conducted a long RFP
process and gained significant learnings during the process and they ended up with two
vendors.
“We decided to review a variety of different opportunities and ended up creating a

dynamic marketing asset-building tool that we named Starworks,” she says. “Our mission
was to continue to live the mantra we had launched during our Build World Class Brands
initiative—Freedom in a Framework— our meaning was if you provide the right tools
to the hotels, they can create their own marketing content while saving marketing
dollars and truly stay on brand.” In 2012, Starwood launched this unique marketing
tool called Starworks. It is a dynamic web-based tool that allowed hotels to customize
their marketing assets like banner ads; however, it is also a proprietary tool that was
only available to its 1500 hotels and regional marketing teams. The tool had a unique
component that allowed users to view the interface in to eight different languages and
create customized marketing content in over 20 languages.
The Starworks tool was available to hotels through an entry point in Starwood’s digital
asset management system, and there was an approval process for the artwork and
content that was created. The task to develop all the marketing templates for all eleven
Starwood hotels brands was quite complicated. As the ultimate lifestyle branding
company, Starwood created a unique brand positioning and visual identity for each of its
hotel brands. “Every brand has its own collateral system with over 300 assets.” McCarthy
explains, “For example, each brand has its own custom designed marketing assets and
for something as simple as a hotel fact sheet, and we had 11 different pieces of artwork
with different specs for each asset. Ultimately, we had more than 400 different marketing
templates because each brand has its own proprietary group of templates that it required
for hotels to create content.”
A team of three associates worked to create the templates inside the Starworks tool, and
they were all managed on the back-end by the two vendors. In 2014, the team determined
that the technology had advanced once again and restarted the RFP process to once
again update the system. This time they identified a team of vendors who could create
the marketing templates in one-sixth of the time it took originally. Marketing templates
could be created in five days or less versus the six weeks it took with the original system.
With the new system, this same team coordinated the re-creation of all 400 branded
marketing templates for an even better system. They managed the content with the
Starwood brand teams and Global Brand Design team of designers while developing
wireframes for the templates with the new vendors. The new and improved system
allowed the hotels to created 50 percent more assets.
“We also had a system for hotels to communicate with us directly. We had an email in-
box for every brand (11 inboxes for 11 brands) where we fielded all kinds of questions
about how to execute a tasks or determine whether an item was on-brand. The 11 inboxes
generated around 4,000 emails a year, and Starwood had a gatekeeper managing the
entire approval process on the back-end. The team also created a suite of online video
tutorials to communicate and update the changes to the Starworks system. We had a
strong relationship with our divisional teams who were responsible for all the approvals
for content created in local language.”
The in-house agency at Starwood, Global Brand Design, created all of the branded
creative content and strategy in-house for all eleven hotel brands, but the team looked
outside for the resources to build a tool like Starworks because of its unique and specific
technical requirements and capabilities.
“Starworks was a great marketing solution for Starwood to provide its hotels a solution
to create customized marketing content from a creative process standpoint, but there
are many steps in the production process,” McCarthy explains. “We were sometimes
challenged when producing specific materials. For example, we try to produce all of our
materials for Starwood in the hotels on sustainable, recycled PCW paper, and outside
of the U.S., the rules change for how paper is graded to be sustainable. Paper in China
is produced completely differently than paper in the U.S. The cost of paper in Greece
versus the cost of paper in Sweden is completely different. The hotels have budgets that
they have to maintain, so we had to have the flexibility to allow the hotels maintain their
budgets to achieve their goals.”
Lastly, Starworks does provide specific reporting tools that allow Starwood to see every
asset created, how long it took to create the asset, how many templates are used and
the number of users. With the Starworks tool, Starwood saw decrease of nearly $3.0M in
spending from 2012-2014, and their user base steadily grew due to the implementation
of the localized brand materials. After the transition of the Starwood hotel brands, it is
expected that Marriott will adopt components of the Starworks tool for its use with their
30 hotel brands and over 6,000 hotels.
EXPERT COMMENTARY FROM HH GLOBAL
Mark Tiedens
VP of Marketing and Sales Operations
HH Global
ASSESSMENT-DRIVEN CREATIVE ADAPTATION
In many ways, the findings of this research report were unsurprising. As a marketing
execution partner to some of the world’s leading brands, HH Global watches marketers
across our customers as they follow very similar processes. Data-driven targeting has led
to the delivery of key messages to individualized segments, resulting in more accurate
and personalized approaches that drive business growth and better results. The more
targeted the segment and the more relevant the message, the better the results. At the
end of every campaign, marketers assess the results, make adjustments and prepare to
launch the next one. Therefore, adaptation of branded content to geographical, cultural
and local preferences is really the next step when it comes to better targeting.
All of our customers—as well as this survey’s findings—underscore a need to apply that
same methodology on an even higher level by delivering hyper-local content, including
local formats and sizes, images that are consistent with local preferences, adherence to
local regulations and, of course, languages. The process of reaching a target market—
from idea to delivery and the assessment of results—is core to the marketing discipline.
As marketing professionals, we should all have the people, processes and technologies in
place to execute.
Apparently, it is not that simple.
Looking at the data and aggregating the answers yields surprising results. The results
in aggregate reveal tremendous room for improvement in adapting creative for local
delivery at scale. For example:
• 70 percent of marketers do not rate their agency or in-house creative team’s speed,
responsiveness and capability as “very advanced” or “doing well” in support of global
and local marketing execution requirements (question 4).
• 75 percent of marketers do not rate their satisfaction with their visibility into costs
and quality of their creative delivery process as “very advanced” or “doing well”
(question 15).
• 80 percent of marketers surveyed did not answer “yes” when asked if they were
satisfied with their company’s performance in this area (question 10).
The results demonstrate that marketers recognize the room to improve across all
processes. The stakes are high as almost 50 percent of marketers believe that localization
is essential to growth in both revenue and profitability, which leads to the most surprising
insight:
• If 80 percent of marketers are not satisfied with their performance, then why have
58 percent of the same population not undertaken a formalized assessment of their
creative delivery process to drive improvements?
Put more bluntly, if analysis and assessment of data to drive improved results is core to
our marketing discipline, and if we know we have problems with our creative execution
processes, then why are marketers not working to more aggressively address them?
My best guess is time. Meeting deadlines and following up with adapted content after
initial creative goes to market both take priority over efforts to assess and improve
current technologies, processes and resources. As a corollary to time, marketers are not
assessment experts, especially with all of the other deliverables on their lists. While they
know their company’s processes, it is difficult for them to get perspectives from outside
of their companies, regardless of their background.
At HH Global, we believe that undertaking an assessment of the creative execution

process is the first step toward driving improvements and, ultimately, penetrating new
marketers and expanding in existing ones. In our experience, we find that there are four
key factors to a profitable assessment of your creative execution process:
• Bring in an expert: The survey results show that marketers can be self-critical, but
can we be prescriptive in our solutions? Bringing in an expert can ensure that the
resources involved in the delivery of campaigns can stay focused with no disruption of
services. Companies with extensive experience performing creative assessments bring
perspectives and processes that internal resources will not have. Ensure that your
chosen partner has a solid track record with a standard assessment process.
• Ensure that the assessment is holistic: For adaptation of content to local markets, be
sure that you find a way to assess the results in all of the markets you want to serve.
Make sure that the assessment forces you to think through issues associated with
people, processes and technology. Include all of the elements in the marketing mix.
Choose an expert with skills evaluating processes associated with all of the channels
used, whether digital, print, point of sale, broadcast, social, etc.
• Articulate goals and the metrics that measure progress: This one seems obvious
until the key metrics that you want to capture are proven unattainable. Data
collection challenges most organizations, particularly as the technologies used for

these processes, according to this survey, are underutilized. We suggest finding an
assessment partner with a strong technology underpinning to help apply applications
to the metrics required to measure progress.
• Lastly, communicate the goals of the assessment process clearly: Again, this one
seems self-evident, but poorly or hastily communicated programs can lead to an
uneasy feeling for your people and partners. Lean on your assessment partner for
clear communication plans and ideas; it should be part of their scope of work.
Results of the assessment process can open marketers’ eyes—from the simple to the
complex—and can include far reaching changes. From HH Global’s experience over the
past quarter-century, the best executed programs start with a rigorous assessment
process. Indeed, in the same way that marketers begin with research and an assessment
of targets before executing campaigns, an improved execution process begins with an
assessment.
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and sales operations worldwide. In total, the CMO Council and its strategic interest
communities include more than 45,000 global executives in more than 110 countries
covering multiple industries, segments and markets. Regional chapters and advisory
boards are active in the Americas, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East, India and Africa. The
Council also operates numerous special interest networks, representing deep-dives into
specific areas of interest or study. www.cmocouncil.org
ABOUT HH GLOBAL
HH Global Ltd., founded in 1991, is a leading, independent marketing execution partner to

prominent brands in more than 40 countries. The company offers innovative and tailored
solutions for the outsourced procurement of all types of printed marketing materials,
packaging and creative production services that drive down cost, speed time to market,
improve quality and increase sustainability. Every HH Global solution utilizes HHub, a
best-in-class marketing execution application, an expansive list of suppliers, proprietary
processes, and the deep expertise of more than 800 employees. The company also
operates HH Labs, the center of its innovation program, which brings fresh, new ideas to
clients. With more than $500 million in spend under management, HH Global maintains a
razor-sharp focus on cost and quality, combined with an industry-leading sustainability
program, offering improvements that provide both fiscal and environmental value. For
more information, visit www.hhglobal.com.

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JULY 2017 REPORT

40 EXPERT COMMENTARY FROM HH GLOBAL

43 PARTNERS AND AFFILIATES

45 ABOUT CMO COUNCIL

The challenges of handling the logistics of localization at scale are exacerbated by a

We hope to ignite a much-needed dialogue around new platforms, opportunities and

The Demands of Going Local on a Global, Digital Scale

It comes as no surprise that around half of marketers pointed

Budget, Time and Teams: The Key Challenges of Effective Adaptation

While marketers are clear on the areas in need of

budgets in creative Given the level of complexity in both understanding and

significant number of organizations are allocating between 5 and 20 percent of marketing

Marketing executives surveyed by the CMO Council in earlier

In reality, only 20 percent of respondents are using online approval/proofing systems

Making a Case for Local: Best Practices and Leader Insights

She says, “If we localize our main messages and customize

This is where localization and personalization make the

“Our mission was to continue to live the mantra—Freedom in a Framework—meaning that

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of content products required by

1. Take steps to better understand your customer’s local context.

2. Determine your core brand identity and define parameters.

30% Doing well

36% Getting better

23% Need improvements

3% Not well at all

1% Reviewing results and strategies

9% Very advanced in this area

24% Doing well

34% Getting better

22% Need improvements

7% Not well at all

2% Reviewing results and strategies

45% Multiple creative partners/contractors

28% Multiple creative teams across regions

Single in-house studio handling all creative

20% Local ownership of creative adaptation

Specialized in-house groups across digital,

13% Agency of record handling all creative

7% Other (please specify)

7% Very advanced in this area

23% Doing well

32% Getting better

32% Needs improvement

5% Not good at all

1% Reviewing results and strategies

With advancements in new technologies and capabilities for personalized marketing,

New digital formats, Greater number of physical

Need for visually enriched More complex marketing

36% Brand quality, uniformity

Global market and

67% Digital advertising 29% Mobile apps

57% Copywriting 27% Direct mail

53% Video 24% Packaging

52% Artwork files 24% Webinars

48% Social media pages 23% Point of sale display

41% Presentations 19% Print production

39% Infographics 18% Merchandising materials

37% Print advertising 17% Product manuals

36% Email 16% ePublishing

34% Exhibits/booths 13% Premiums/giveaways

34% Photography 7% Pre-press

47% Shorter lead times and turnaround requirements