Brand Managers: The Final quarter of the year is here.

It’s almost one week since we checked into Q4 2015.  The magical corporate budget season.  You survived on lean budgets all through here cometh a budget coupled with a brand manager who is now ready for business.

Remember that great PowerPoint presentation that was stopped midway for the client to go and confirm if ‘her’ banners had been delivered? That day should be vivid, considering that the whole agency had to keep off the printer as you went to press printing bound copies for the brand manager, the Marketing Director and the Managing Director respectively. Am sure you still emailed it to them after the presentation.

Well, that presentation is now a gem, not because you are an award winning practitioner but because the numbers are looking bad, really bad. The last three quarters are way below the Q1 targets. The PR agency has to do ‘something’ to support the brand. 

It’s running really fast, we missed the elephant target, still couldn’t reach the antelope target that PR budget reflected and now even the squirrel looks like a pipe dream. The number four player in the sector is quickly catching up with our brand. We have lost significant market share, dealers have swapped our branding with the competitors.

Anyway, back to the business that I am passionate about. “We have budget can you guys come up with some kick-ass idea that will help us to drive sales” roars the brand Manager. “Remember we will gauge your performance on this, we pay you guys so much retainer “She further roars to remind you that you are seated next to the user department boss.

The meetings ends prematurely as you all head back to the agency to prepare a week by week plan on how PR will support the brand and push the overall sales. Thanks to the great minds in agencies, the geniuses, the untrained magicians, the ever ready energy bunnies-a great plan will be developed.

An inter-agency meeting will be held, rival agencies - PR, Advertising, Experiential and Digital will finally sit together and deliver a pre-Christmas campaign. The campaign will be aimed at driving sales in our key areas; the media buying team will redo the media plan and squeeze all the possible discounts from the media houses. The digital team will go for the low hanging fruits which have been hanging since January, unless they are coconuts, those fruits must be dry by now.  The PR gurus (are well really gurus) will leverage advertising to get strategic interview in key outlets to support the sales drive.

Welcome home quarter four. We missed you.