Marketing like UX is a balance of Art and Science. The role of marketer is like an architect, musician, conductor or cinematographer. This is the message I brought back from this year’s Web Trends conference I attended in London.The complexity and flux which has become synonymous with the Marketing landscape naturally dove-tails in to an Agile approach. That approach produces ‘Adaptive Marketing’.

The phrase ‘Adaptive Marketing’ was coined last year in a Forrester report and describes how Agile practices can be utilised to facilitate the marketing process. There’s a great definition of how Scrum works for marketing purposes, hidden in an article on the Teehan and Lax site:

  1. The agency and client define the objectives of the engagement and establish several key performance indicators
  2. The creative team is dedicated to the project for a set period of time allowing them to focus on the task
  3. Ideas are rapidly developed, tested and deployed
  4. Ideas evolve and adapt over time
  5. Performance is closely monitored allowing the team to make adjustments
  6. Project success is determined by achieving the KPIs

Adaptive Marketing is further defined by:

  • Removing the formal annual budgeting process
  • Removing medium to long-term media buying
  • Adopting short, measured, iterative plans
  • Allocating money for high-level visions not specific media
  • Adapting based on real-time consumer feedback and other data

An Agile approach to marketing reacts to the heart and soul of what the brand stands for. The catalyst for this is defined by the pull of brand influencers in the Social Media space and is not pushed by the business.

Agile offers the opportunity to create technology driven, data-fuelled campaigns that respond in real time to the shifting Social Media and Marketing landscape.

Do you think there is a place for Agile practices in Marketing?

Further links on Adaptive Marketing:

So what exactly might ‘Adaptive Brand Marketing’ be?
http://bbh-labs.com/so-what-exactly-might-adaptive-brand-marketing-be

The practice of Adaptive Marketing
http://www.teehanlax.com/blog/2010/06/14/the-practice-of-adaptive-marketing/

The Forrester report
http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/adaptive_brand_marketing/q/id/55526/t/2

Razorfish embrace Agile:
http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/1725751/razorfish-disses-big-idea-pushes-iterative-model

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