Brands are seeking more value from their policy teams

Responses from 97 brand marketers and policy leads representing 50 WFA member companies and a collective advertising spend of more than $60bn, indicated that there's currently too little interaction between the departments.

65% of policy executives said they felt this was the case and 43% of marketers agreed.

With online platforms coming under increasing scrutiny and laws like GDPR changing the way marketers work internally, most see the value that policy teams bring. 65% of marketers say they're able to think of a time when a policy team has helped avoid regulatory scrutiny.

69% said they saw policy teams as being well placed to contribute to brand safety strategies. A further 74% said data collection and privacy were important areas to collaborate on.

However, marketers see policy's role as evolving with 80% saying there is room for the latter to work with them on corporate reputation and responsible marketing. Over half of brands questioned (51%) said a greater dialogue was needed between policy and marketing when it comes to brand purpose.

Aligning with societal and political issues is becoming par for the course for advertisers, with Unilever being explicit that it's good for business and P&G having recently dipped its toe into the #MeToo debate in its new US ad. However, as Lush's 'anti-spy cops' campaign shows it's easy to get it wrong, so it makes sense that brands would want guidance on this internally from beyond the walls of the marketing department.

Other issues marketers think policy execs can advise on include: building stakeholder trust (57%) and company purpose (57%).

66% agreed that risk management was a key area where partnerships could be formed in-house.

Where advertisers like Bank of America are investing in full-time ‘chief brand safety officer’ roles, this kind of policy-marketing collaboration is something brands such as Mastercard has been enabling for some time. The company's top marketer Raja Rajamannar (who has just been crowned WFA president) revealed to The Drum last month that he had recently introduced a 'risk management' into his department.

Stephan Loerke, chief executive at the WFA said the prevailing perception is that marketing is more creative and business-minded while the policy function is focused on compliance and regulation.

"But this can and should evolve," he added. "There is an opportunity for policy professionals to demonstrate the value they can bring to the business in more compelling and creative ways, positioning themselves as strategic advisors with unique insights which can contribute to bottom line growth"

Challenges to overcome first

However, although the WFA study found that marketing and policy ultimately see the value in working together across more areas, there are cultural challenges to overcome first.

54% of marketers feel policy professionals do not understand the challenges they are up against, while policy professionals feel 'misunderstood' to an even greater extent, with 76% saying marketers aren't aware of their own obstacles.

Policy executives felt marketers would describe them as 'compliance officers' (48%); 'regulatory firefighters' (41%); 'business partners' (41%), and 'regulatory

safeguarders' (41%).

They weren’t far off as those were the top phrases marketers chose: 58% described them as 'compliance officers'; 50% as 'regulatory safeguarders', 45% as 'business partners'; and 45% as 'regulatory firefighters'.

Marketers felt their policy colleagues would describe them as 'business-focused' (71%); 'risk-takers/boundary pushers' (58%); and “creative” (53%).

In reality, 74% of policy executives described marketers as 'business-focused'; 57% described them as 'creative'; and 45% said they were 'short-termist'.

While marketers welcome some input from policy teams on brand positioning, few currently see it is as essential. Just 17% said input was needed and a far greater number said some it was 'welcome' at 31.4%. A further 37% said it could be 'helpful' at times but wasn’t 'crucial'