Measuring Up

Johnson & Johnson markets everything from beauty aids to over-the-counter medicines. But it has a problem: Every brand measures success in its own way.

Those days may soon be over. Michael Murphy, who joined the firm last year as vice president of consumer integrated marketing for the J&J consumer group, has put one thing at the top of his lengthy to-do list: Development of a single methodology for the entire portfolio of about 25 brands.

Murphy oversees four global business units that together generate more than $10 billion in annual sales. He brings experience to the table — he has worked for Pfizer, Kraft and Unilever. He’s also chairman emeritus of the Promotion Marketing Association.

PROMO: What are you trying to do with your evaluation program?

Murphy: We can add value to J&J if we know what’s working and what’s not. We want to understand how consumers behave and react to our activities so we put the best offers out. The centerpiece of that is research and analytics.

P: How are you doing this?

M: We’re looking at what worked best internally and what was best in the industry, then building one model. We want to meet the needs of all our stakeholders.

P: How will this be applied across the units?

M: We can create internal benchmarks by being able to look across businesses with the same set of numbers. I may be working on one brand and think I’m doing a great job because I’m getting a 10% return. But maybe the company is averaging 15% or 20% on a comparative basis. Maybe it could be better. We will be able to look at what some of these businesses are doing and how they are getting a higher return, and see if it can be translated to a particular brand.

P: Where are you in the process?

M: We’re building it now and putting it in place. We have to go step by step. First, get the same metrics and methodology, then leverage them long term. We are looking at the lessons learned in 2007 as we start to build our 2009 plan. We’ll see the fruits and benefits over time.

P: How is this different from the ROI programs J&J already had in place?

M: There was flexibility in different brands. Each business leveraged its strengths to develop its own metrics. But we’re bringing companies together through integration.

P: Are you seeing any benefits yet?

M: We’ve been able to better understand certain tools and tactics like sampling or in-store marketing. And we’re more able to share information so different brands can make better decisions. And as we get this data in place, we’re going to create best practice documents. That will be the next phase.

P: How are you funding this project?

M: There are two pieces. One’s a reprioritization of people resources. And we have shifted existing funds within my department budget.

P: Are you working with outside vendors?

M: We have a partnership with IRI, our predominant data provider, to create turnkey methodologies for gathering information. And we’re partnering with Loyalty Marketing Analytics, which is helping us build the long-term model. We want to be much more consumer-centric and predictive.

P: What’s your long-term goal?

M: This isn’t a one-time hit or short-term wonder. By learning and having benchmarks throughout the year, we’ll be able to make all of the adjustments necessary to improve our programs on a regular basis.

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