marketing as investment: making the case to the c-suite
marketing as investment: making the case to the c-suite
Respected media analyst Ian Whittaker joined the thinktv stage at our Media, Marketing & Effectiveness event to talk about advertising not as a cost center, but as a strategic investment that drives long-term business value. In this wide-ranging presentation, Ian touches on several key current economic factors facing brands today and offers marketers a practical framework for engaging executive leadership in meaningful conversations about marketing spend.
Key highlights from the presentation include:
- Accounting and process biases treat marketing as a cost, encouraging short-term cuts; advocates must reframe advertising as investment to counter this.
- Advertising should be framed as intangible CapEx with compounding effects; cutting brand spend causes disproportionate long-term damage and is costly to recover.
- Strong brands translate to profits: During the 2022–2023 inflation shock, firms passed through large price increases, attributing success to brand strength, which boosted margins and corporate profits.
- Persistent 2–4% inflation implies future, recurring price hikes, making brand equity and sustained advertising increasingly critical.
- Tech platforms claim YouTube equals TV, but issues of quality, regulation, and trust undermine that narrative.
- TV’s core strengths are trust, premium curated content, and mass reach.
Advertising is critical because:
speaker
IAN WHITTAKER
managing director & owner, Liberty Sky Advisors
Ian is an experienced, commercially-minded equities analyst with 20 years’ experience. He is widely recognized and highly-regarded for his industry knowledge across all parts of media, digital and tech. With a proven track record of identifying the latest trends, understanding industry dynamics and the implications for companies, Ian brings his financial and markets expertise together with his knowledge of the wider macroeconomic, political and societal trends to provide consultancy services to companies, at both a strategic and financial level. Ian is also a widely respected columnist and media commentator.