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Spicuiri dintr-un articol publicat azi in AdAge.com - articolul se intituleaza "Bud's Big Blunder: Letting Consultants Steer Brand - 'Drinkability' Flop at Anheuser-Busch Comes as Marketers Expand Influence of Outside Advisers on Ad Work"

"Shortly after August Busch IV was named CEO of Anheuser-Busch, he accepted a company director's recommendation for a consulting firm that would assist with managing the brewer's burgeoning brand portfolio. The firm, Cambridge Group, ended up going far beyond portfolio management. In fact, its exhaustive research resulted in the "Drinkability" campaign that -- four years and millions in fees later -- is considered a major factor in Bud Light posting the first full-year sales decline in its history.

The "Drinkability" debacle, however, resonates beyond A-B, as agencies increasingly chafe under the growing influence of consultants. Marketers are under pressure to justify their budgets, and CMOs, skating on ever-thinner ice, are trying to bring a more scientific approach to a discipline traditionally heavily reliant on gut calls. The degree to which these consultants' recommendations and findings can translate directly into creative is becoming a familiar frustration for agencies.

Consultants "can be outstanding at what they do, which is linear thinking and process," said Peter Krivkovich, CEO of independent Cramer-Krasselt. "It's just important for clients to remember that human behavior is not linear."

Executives at both Cambridge and A-B note that the consulting firm made recommendations that the brewer's executives were under no obligation to follow. But Cambridge's exhaustive findings led directly to dramatic shifts in how Budweiser and Bud Light were marketed. Each brand largely abandoned the emotional appeals that had helped them become the two largest beer brands in the U.S. for straightforward pitches about process and product attributes that coincided with worsening sales for both labels.

Executives at the shops who worked on the "Drinkability" campaign -- DDB and Euro RSCG -- say it's true they didn't take orders from Cambridge. But they add that it seemed that executives at the brewery had invested so much time, money and energy into the process that its recommendations almost always quickly became the client's."

O sa avem si noi oare in Romania o discutie mai serioasa despre asta, acum ca deja avem destule cazuri locale?