Marketing pressure is shifting from execution to explanation. The work is not only about doing more, but proving why it matters in business terms.
At IVALO, we see the same pattern across clients and help them navigating that. Value exists, but it is often lost in translation, measurement or process.
INSIGHT 1
Brand fails in translation
Brand gets dismissed when it sounds like decoration instead of value creation. Petri Uusitalo points out the root issue: when discussion stays at logos or visuals, leadership disengages because it feels disconnected from how the business grows.
The same gap shows up at a higher level. The 4Rs framework by Jonathan Knowles and Neil Bendle expands performance from financial output to stakeholder value and relationship quality, arguing that long term growth depends on more than short term returns.
But the problem is not only what gets measured. It is how it gets explained. When marketing talks about relationships, trust or meaning, it rarely connects them directly to revenue, margin or cash flow. This was also very much present in the Sanoma Get Tomorrow seminar last week.
Brand is the customer’s view of value and willingness to pay. If that value is not expressed in commercial terms, it gets ignored.
What works?
- Start from value creation. Define the source of customer value before discussing brand expression.
- Translate relational metrics into money. Show how trust, demand and relationships impact pricing and growth.
- Report in absolute terms. Quantify how many customers know, choose and pay more, and what that means commercially.
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Petri Uusitalo: Älä sano sitä sanaa
MarketingWeek: How marketers can articulate business performance beyond shareholder returns
INSIGHT 2
Optimisation is replacing understanding
Marketing has not lost access to behavioural science. It has chosen speed over using it. As Chris Shadrick argues, the industry knows what drives memory and choice, but deprioritises it because it slows production and challenges what gets optimised.
The pressure comes from measurement. When success is defined by short cycle metrics, activity that builds memory looks inefficient. AI accelerates this by making output easier to justify, even when it does not change how people choose. What gets measured gets repeated, even if it is the wrong thing.
The result is consistent. More content, less impact.
What works
- Measure what builds memory. Track salience, entry points and long term recall alongside short term metrics.
- Bring thinking earlier. Use behavioural insight before decisions are locked, not after.
- Prioritise memorability over volume. Fewer outputs that encode stronger memory will outperform constant activity.
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WARC: Behavioural science didn’t fail marketing. Marketing failed behavioural science
INSIGHT 3
Creativity declines without tension
Creativity is not collapsing because individuals stopped trying. It is weakening because the system removed the conditions that made great work possible. Nick Asbury argues the industry keeps blaming people (or AI) while ignoring the structural shifts that shaped the output, from award incentives to institutional agendas.
One of those missing conditions is criticism. Strong creative periods have always included active, sometimes uncomfortable debate about the work. Without that tension, standards drift, consensus builds too quickly, and mediocre work passes without challenge.
The result is visible. Award winning work and public response are drifting apart.
What works?
- Reintroduce critique. Encourage open, specific criticism of the work, not just celebration.
- Challenge institutional signals. Question what gets rewarded and why.
- Build creative tension. Create environments where ideas are debated, not just approved.
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Nick Asbury: Creativity needs criticism