Bayer’s Chief Marketer on Defending Budgets and Breaking Taboos

CANNES, France — With persevering with financial challenges, advertising budgets might be beneath scrutiny for the rest of 2023, which checks the connection between the chief advertising officer and the chief monetary officer. For Bayer Shopper Well being CMO Patricia Corsi, a fingers off strategy works finest.

“He doesn’t ask my permission when he’s doing tax and auditing. I don’t ask his permission after we are doing model constructing,” Corsi advised Adweek’s Rebecca Stewart throughout an Adweek session right here at Cannes Monday. “In case you are attempting to do this then you are attempting to compensate… you have to be clear on the issue you’re attempting to resolve,” she stated.

She continued so as to add that “the worst entrepreneurs didn’t act responsibly” making it simpler for the finance staff to conclude that it’s wasted advertising spend moderately than constructing model worth.

Corsi, who’s an Adweek 2023 Model Genius honoree, advises that for entrepreneurs to have the ability to defend their budgets, they need to construct a relationship of belief and present that they’re financially accountable.

I can not think about a robotic making me snicker by itself

Patricia Corsi, chief advertising, digital and knowledge officer at Bayer Shopper Well being

“In case you are attempting to persuade the CFO of the CEO to do that, the issue is one thing else – both a scarcity of belief or a scarcity of notion of worth generated. Convey them on a journey with you… what you’re doing helps the model to win share, it’s serving to the model to promote extra or having extra shoppers or getting shoppers to have extra entry to manufacturers.”

Corsi additionally mentioned her technique to bust taboos inside healthcare, being extra blunt within the messaging round human circumstances that individuals typically don’t talk about with each other, together with their very own docs.

“It’s so necessary as a result of individuals is not going to deal with the issues that they really feel ashamed to speak about,” she acknowledged. “I’ve lived on three completely different continents. I’m fairly educated. If I wasn’t snug, I ponder what number of different those that didn’t have all of the blessings that I had would really feel. If you have a look at the info, it was very a lot comparable. However taboo breaking can occur in any of our tasks, not on those which are intimate.”

One of many tendencies at Cannes Lions this 12 months is the potential affect and makes use of of generative synthetic intelligence inside advertising and creativity. Corsi is unconvinced that the expertise will be capable to produce content material that drives emotion in audiences.