We tackle one of the hottest topics in marketing right now. How do you find a balance between utility and magic? In marketing, I think we tend to be pretty polar. It has to be either brand or performance... or does it?

As marketers, how do we find a balance between utility and magic? Because it's not all one thing or the other. So, to find out, I figured I needed to speak to some experts. In this episode, I meet Yekemi Otaru, who's an expert in marketing strategy. She's got a lot of incredible insight when it comes to the importance of utility and why prioritising the needs of customers really had to take centre stage but first I spoke with Robert Senior. He is chair of Boys and Girls advertising in Dublin. He's a board member at Selbey Anderson. He's a board member and investor at Castore Sportswear. He is an investor of Red Rice Ventures. He was the worldwide CEO at Saatchi and Saatchi. He has an incredible understanding of magic in marketing and how to communicate your message in a digital world. 

Magic is the way marketers can communicate their message or product to others in a way that's memorable, in a way that really sticks in the brain. Brand marketing elevates your brand in ways that probably can't be measured by stats and figures. When times are tough, or when times are tougher and there's less money to go around, it's even more imperative the message you've delivered is received and remembered. That's the business case for magic. 

As marketers, we need to be able to demonstrate results too. That's why utility’s become more important for everyone. It's something you can be told me, it's kind of something we all know, but often we forget: it's all about the customer. 

It's so easy to either be self-indulgent and focus on magic or be unimaginative and focus on utility. Marketers need to stop considering what they want and think about what the customer wants. When what the customer wants, that's when you can determine how to balancing utility and magic, that's the key.