Why Brands Struggle with ‘Real Time’

By Haniya Rae • April 25, 2013 •

Lots of brands struggle with responding quickly, especially when digital media moves at the pace of Twitter. Deciding when to act on events is tough but can be extremely rewarding.

Digital media is moving faster than ever, and brands want to catch up. The problem is, that’s easier said than done.

Digiday asked brands attending the Digiday Brand Summit to explain what holds them back from top marketing speed. Some think taking time to analyze the data and not setting clear priorities is part of the issue. Others feel it is simply the structure of the organization that slows things down.

Cecelia Wogan-Silva, independent ad agency relations, Google
“The No. 1 challenge in preventing Google from moving at the speed of light is the desire to collaborate effectively internally. We work hard to consider perspective from all different angles, and that takes some time.”

Jonas Paretzkin, director of PR and social media, ConAgra Foods
“I wouldn’t call it a hurdle necessarily; it’s a little bit self-inflicted. As an organization, we’re extremely analytical and ROI focused, so it’s all about making decisions based on our brand objectives.”

Sam Niburg, Sr. Associate Brand Manager, Campbell Soup Company
“Change is constant. We have to feel comfortable with making decisions with limited data.”

Austin Craig, marketing strategist, Orabrush
“Our struggle is having our whole team, on deck, at battle stations, for the span of time that we determine, and not letting it sprawl into this never-ending reach for more and bigger.”

Nitin Bhutani, VP of marketing, LendingTree
“The biggest challenge is being able to prioritize all the initiatives that we have going on right now … and figuring out which is going to have the biggest impact for the organization.”

Watch the video below for their full responses.