MARKETING ACCOUNTABILITY – A CRITICAL SOURCE OF COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN THE 21ST CENTURY

New Book By Prophet’s Michael Dunn Presents Cutting-Edge Ideas For Generating Unparalleled Marketing Performance

“The ultimate goal of marketing accountability is not to improve the rigor of ROI measurement, but rather to make more money faster, through better, more effective and efficient marketing investments – that both ring the cash register and build the brand.”

-- Michael Dunn

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (March 16, 2009) “Flip a coin. Whether you guessed heads or tails, statistically your odds of guessing right are better than the odds that a major marketing program will be successful,” contends Michael Dunn, author of the new book THE MARKETING ACCOUNTABILITY IMPERATIVE: Driving Superior Returns on Marketing Investments (Jossey-Bass, March 2009). “Our recent survey suggests that as few as 19 percent of companies can consistently and accurately determine what they are getting – if anything – from untold millions in marketing spending.” In his latest book, Dunn, chairman and CEO of the global consultancy Prophet, explains how to create and implement an accountability program that will help companies achieve high levels of marketing performance.

THE MARKETING ACCOUNTABILITY IMPERATIVE is not simply about measuring return-on-investment of marketing dollars. Instead it presents a holistic approach to managing the complex field of large-scale marketing initiatives and making increasingly smarter, more effective marketing decisions. This is a book for marketers as well as for all C-suite executives and directors who recognize that marketing has become the elusive key for both short-term and long-term success.

Dunn zeroes in on four kinds of marketing competencies that are needed to generate top performance – great strategy, great creativity, great analytics, and great execution. Using real world examples, Dunn demonstrates how effectively developing and connecting these competencies leads to consistent, powerful business results. “Effective marketing investment happens when all of these capabilities are working synergistically together to drive compelling returns,” he explains.

To begin the process of implementing a marketing accountability (MA) system, Dunn asks readers to consider the following questions:

How well do our marketing investments align with our most valuable marketing opportunities and goals?
Which marketing investments are working and which are not – and for those that aren’t, what is the root cause of underperformance and how can these issues be resolved?
What is the best suite of marketing spending tools and tactics for our company, given our goals, past performance, target customers, industry context, competitive intensity, available resources, business life stage, and brand health?
How can we optimize the effectiveness and efficiency of our marketing investments to do more with less marketing spending and maximize our company’s growth?
How can we capture the opportunities that we have identified and sustain long-term marketing accountability impact?

The author then takes readers through the entire process of establishing a foundation of fundamental MA skills and practices. “We are certain that few companies are using the complete suite of tools and approaches that we describe in the book to their full potential,” Dunn maintains. Once a company has mastered these fundamental practices, it can progressively add more sophisticated approaches, since marketing accountability is not a quick fix, but a long-term, continuous process. According to Dunn, those companies that maintain their commitment to MA will reap far greater rewards than their competitors that lose focus after making initial gains.

Filled with case studies, frameworks, graphs and other useful tools, THE MARKETING ACCOUNTABILITY IMPERATIVE is the ideal book for cutting through the clutter of outmoded ideas and misinformation that often surround marketing effectiveness. It provides clear answers and a blueprint for ongoing success.

About the Author

Michael Dunn is chairman and CEO of the global consultancy Prophet (www.prophet.com). Prophet helps Fortune 500 clients and their senior executives more effectively use branding, marketing, design, and innovation to drive profitable growth. He oversees the development of the firm’s people, practices, and thought leadership and also serves as a strategic adviser on client engagements for such companies as Zurich Financial, United HealthCare, Harrah’s Entertainment, Visa, and T. Rowe Price. He is the co-author of Building the Brand-Driven Business with Scott Davis and has written numerous white papers and articles. He was named one of Consulting magazines Top 25 Consultants of 2008. Dunn received an MBA/MA in Asian studies from the University of California at Berkeley.