Blake Hochberger shares his take on why organic growth, long-term brand building, and first-party data outperform short-term tactics. Plus, discover why he favors the World Cup over
the Olympics for passionate fan engagement.
Blake Hochberger, Partner, Scale Marketing:
Paid Acquisition or Organic Growth: Organic Growth. To me, paid acquisition is only truly
effective if it leads to organic (brand) growth over time. Brand is the ultimate moat in a hyper-competitive marketing landscape (especially with the AI search evolution), and good performance
marketing (i.e. Paid acquisition) both helps in the immediate term while also fostering organic growth for better marginal contribution downstream.
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Data-Driven Decisions or Creative Intuition: BOTH! I think either one in a vacuum is a recipe for
underperforming. Data should inform the creative process, but being too reliant on data and skipping the ‘art’ side of marketing leads to uninspiring work that drives uninspiring results.
People are still humans, and need to connect in unique ways with brands for media/creative to be truly effective. Data should inform the intuitive side of marketing, but one without the other is
likely leading to missed opportunities and/or waste.
Short-Term Wins or Long-Term Brand
Building: Long-Term Brand Building, all day. If “brand building” is done right, it should serve both short-term CAC/ROAS needs while also contributing more
meaningfully and sustainably over time to business results and improved efficiency. Brands that obsess over contribution margin/marginal CAC can see this bare out in their data.
First-Party Data or Third-Party Insights: First-Party Data. 3PD still plays a role, but so much of it is
inaccurate that it could lead to false positives. Properly managed and structured, first party data remains criminally under-utilized in driving performance outcomes with both new and existing
customers.
Attribution Modeling or Incremental Lift Measurement: Incremental Lift
Measurement. I believe much of traditional ‘attribution modeling’ is a fallacy, and leads to bad decision-making. More often than not, it leads to analysis paralysis and clients
don’t even act on the outputs, but rather just question it/check the box to a board/PE sponsor that it’s being done. Incrementality is the name of the game in trying to grow businesses
– and it is where you can see, even if just directionally, what is working and what is not from a contribution standpoint.
AI-Powered Optimization or Human Gut Instinct: AI-Powered Optimization** I believe that (the right) AI optimization is a faster, more
effective, and more efficient means to optimize campaigns within platforms. It allows humans to do more impactful, strategic work. I included asterisks for two reasons: First, I believe human
gut/taste is critical in governing what, specifically, the AI is optimizing to and making the important strategic decisions to limit the AI decisioning. Platform data doesn’t always tell the
full story of value to a business. Secondly, it requires the RIGHT AI optimization partner/technology that understands the nuance of what you’re trying to accomplish.
World Cup or Olympics: World Cup. While Olympics fans are indeed fans, the passion and fervor
surrounding the World Cup far exceeds the Olympics in my opinion. Similarly, with so many events in the Olympics and options of how to consume the content (different medias, DVR/on-demand, etc.),
brands invested can still get lost and miss the opportunity to make an impact. Conversely, the cultural significance of the World Cup and the level of passion for the sport/countries creates a very
unique cultural connection opportunity for brands. Marketers can creatively tap into that passion and create emotional, contextually relevant connections with potential customers that can have a
lasting impact. The cultural, emotional connection between brands and customers, meeting them where they are, is still among the most relevant considerations for growing a customer
base.
Do you prefer brand awareness or performance? What is your preferred marketing channel? In this series, we get to know past Insider Summit
attendees and ask about their preferences.
If you’re interested in submitting content for future editions, please reach out to our Managing Editor, Barbie Romero at Barbie@MediaPost.com.