Doug Hall once said that “marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department.”
The 2021 holiday season is a visceral reminder that the supply chain team is an integral part of the brand team. Consumers may not appreciate the myriad complicated steps that products travel in the global supply chain, but they certainly notice empty shelves and shipping delays.
Supply chain consultant Erik Mumford put it this way:
“One thing people don’t really care about or understand is that logistics is a huge part of customer experience, which is a huge part of today’s marketing.”
As “Shipageddon” roils the best laid marketing plans, marketers will have to work even closer with their supply chain colleagues so they can communicate the right messages about the right items at the right time. Holiday messaging will start earlier than in year’s past and consumers will expect higher degrees of transparency.
A recent Oracle survey found that 91% of consumers will consider the supply chain in their purchase decisions, up from 45% before 2020.
Brands are made up of thousands of touches. Some of these touches are invisible until something goes wrong. This is a good time to pay renewed attention to the extended cross-functional marketing team that drives not only demand, but supply.
Here are a few related cartoons I’ve drawn over the years:
