Why many marketing departments are failing right now
– and AI won't save them
Today, brand management is much more than just new designs, eye-catching campaigns, or a fancy AI pilot project. All these measures will have little impact if the organization behind them remains stuck in the past. However, many marketing departments still work with outdated structures, processes, and tools—which is like running your computers on an ancient operating system and wondering why the latest apps constantly crash on them.
Speed beats hierarchy
Today's brands are live interfaces: communities expect them to respond in real time and react at the drop of a hat. Those who don't have the right processes, tools, and routines in place will quickly lose relevance. Agility is no longer just a buzzword—it's the operating system.
The wrong lifeline
Many brand and marketing departments feel the pressure to change, but their response is half-hearted. Instead of revamping their systems, they rely on cosmetic measures: revamped branding, new tools, a little AI. In other words, they are patching things up.
An inconvenient truth
The inconvenient truth is that brands can only really work if their creation, technology, and collaboration are in harmony. For many, this means they need to redesign their organizations as systems, with
- processes that enable fast and transparent decisions
- tools that make collaboration and data flows visible
- and teams that are empowered to use these systems.
In this way, brands transform themselves from the inside out. And in this way, brands are created that not only look modern, but also function digitally.
The price of inaction
Admittedly, such a fundamental transformation is uncomfortable and sometimes costly, but it is inevitable: those who do not update their systems now will lose out sooner or later, no matter how big and successful they may have been. However, those who see change as an opportunity will win. This can be clearly observed in many of the companies we are currently supporting in restructuring their marketing organizations: The organizational restart frees them from internal obstacles, unleashes their full potential, and enables their brands to operate more efficiently in the long term.
Let's talk!
Joe Valentin Steyer is Director of Digital Transformation & Operations at Strichpunkt. He supports companies in restructuring their marketing and branding organizations – structurally, procedurally, and technologically. With a clear eye for internal hurdles and tech potential, he helps brands grow organizationally as well.
Fancy a quick exchange?
j.steyer@sp.design
