TRENDSETTERS: ANA's Bob Liodice Discusses Trends, Opportunities and Challenges for the Marketing Road Ahead…

The Internationalist Trendsetters is written by Deborah Malone, founder of The Internationalist.

There's no better person to understand what's on the minds of marketers than Bob Liodice, Chief Executive Officer of the ANA (Association of National Advertisers), one of the world's oldest and largest marketing associations.  With a mission to drive growth, the ANA serves the marketing needs of its vast member community that collectively represents more than 20,000 brands.  

Just last week, the ANA announced its marketing word of the year, based on an annual member poll.  This year, it is "inclusion," following on from last year's word, "diversity."  And while the ad industry has often been faulted on these issues, the ANA's many long-term programs-- from their multicultural marketing initiatives to #SeeHer and new forms of measurement—have been supporting DEIB (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging) issues as a pillar for business and Human Resource strategies. According to Bob Liodice, "It's abundantly clear that our industry is serious about addressing these issues and solving the problems they cause for our communities."

Today, he shares the many trends that emerged from the organization's annual fall event, Masters of Marketing, and also looks ahead to 2023.  While Bob admits that he does not have a crystal ball, he does share a long list of important topics that are affecting how brands market responsibly.  From current economic realities to issues regarding talent, metrics, and creativity, Bob Liodice offers a view of the next 12 months that all marketers must consider.  He also talks about the importance of what he calls, "curated navigation."

In our conversation, we discuss the following:

• What were your key takeaways from this year's Masters?
• How would you characterize 2022 for the industry?  Was it about moving beyond a series of ongoing crises—from pandemics to war to economics?  Or did you see other pioneering issues for marketers?  
• I know that Growth is core to the ANA agenda… how are your members anticipating and dealing with current talks of recession in terms of their marketing priorities and budgets?
• Let's turn to 2023, what would you say are the top concerns of marketers now?  
• Does purpose still matter?  There is more talk of purpose washing or purpose "gaps"… how have discussions of purpose evolved for marketers?
• Do you think the role of marketing has changed in our post-COVID world? 
• Finally… What ONE WORD (or phrase) do you believe will characterize the coming year?

Bob Liodice joined the ANA in 1995 as a senior vice president and has since championed expansion for the organization and growth for its members. 

Today, he is also co-chair of the ANA Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing, chair of the Privacy for America coalition, and he serves on the governing bodies of the Partnership for Responsible Addressable Media and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media.

Prior to the ANA, Bob was vice president of global marketing and sales for Grupo Televisa, a major worldwide broadcaster. His previous experience includes more than 15 years in marketing and financial management at Kraft General Foods and tenure as category marketing manager for the Jell-O and Bakers brands. 

The ANA's membership consists of U.S. and international companies, including client-side marketers, nonprofits, fundraisers, and marketing solutions providers (data science and technology companies, ad agencies, publishers, media companies, suppliers, and vendors). The ANA creates Marketing Growth Champions by serving, educating, and advocating for more than 50,000 industry members that collectively invest more than $400 billion in marketing and advertising annually.