The phrase "marketing by the numbers" may soon have a new meaning and the reason is that companies are taking their brand valuations much more seriously. As the monetary value of the intangible assets created by brands gets appreciated, finance people are getting increasingly involved in marketing decision making and are often demanding hard answers on future trends and business strategy. Due to this reason advertising agencies and marketers will be forced to get into value framework to justify what they do.

Over the next five to ten years the finance department within the companies will increasingly become more influential. Enquiries on brand strategy and investments are put across them. Maximizing shareholder value - that's the motto for every organization. And in this effort, the gap between the finance and marketing departments are narrowing. When company CEOs focus on valuation of their business, the biggest change is the involvement of the CFOs in marketing decision making. Emphasis on intellectual property, brands and trademarks in today's business is bringing in a transition, where CFOs within the company, driven by investors are asking hardcore questions to the marketers. Value reporting now involves talking about future trends and strategy.

The new changes are much more analytical, going beyond the numbers and getting into actual brass tacks for brands and their positioning. What's emerging is a breed of marketing accounts or brands accounts, where people are trained as accountant and then moved to a brands management team, where they work as junior brands managers. If the marketers are not really careful, there are a lot more people like the marketing accounts who will run for the agenda.

Source: www.economictimes.com