Marketers Forget What Truly Matters: Commercial Impact

Anton Buchner has spent over three decades watching marketing become increasingly sophisticated. Despite all the advancements in technology and data, he believes that many marketers have forgotten to ask what actually matters: commercial impact.

Buchner's experience spans across various industries, including major global brands like American Express, Optus, Tourism Australia, Virgin Mobile, Volkswagen, and Westpac. He has worked with numerous organizations, helping them cut through complexity and understand the value of their marketing efforts.

The issue at hand is that marketers have become great at measuring marketing activity, but often fail to connect it to customer behavior and commercial outcomes. Buchner argues that this creates an 'effectiveness gap' where teams can explain metrics like reach, click-through rates, and cost per acquisition, but struggle to answer fundamental questions about why customers choose a brand.

This is not just an industry issue; it has significant implications for businesses as well. Marketers are under pressure to prove their contribution, while CFOs want to understand the return on investment. If marketing can't connect its activity to customer behavior and commercial outcomes, it risks becoming the function that can explain everything except its own value.