Skip to main content
Home
The Online Resource for Modern FP&A Professionals
Please register to receive the latest FP&A news, updates and tips Login

Main menu

  • Home
  • FP&A Insights
    • FP&A Trends Digest
    • FP&A Trends Research
    • FP&A Trends Insight Paper
    • FP&A Trends Survey
    • Short Videos
    • Our Contributors
  • FP&A Events
    • International FP&A Board
    • FP&A Trends Webinars
    • Digital FP&A Circles
  • AI/ML Committee
    • Introduction
    • Members
    • Resources
    • Meetings
  • FP&A Tools
    • FP&A Trends Maturity Model
  • About Us
    • Company Policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Editorial Guidelines
    • Our Ambassadors
    • Our Sponsors & Partners
    • Contact Us
image
xP&A in Action: Demystifying Integrated Marketing Planning
November 16, 2023

By Ron Monteiro, Speaker, Facilitator and Coach at Clear Concept, Inc.

FP&A Tags
Extended Planning & Analysis (xP&A)
Integrated FP&A

Ron-Monteiro-Integrated-Marketing-Planning-Main

The pace and complexity of marketing has increased dramatically over the years. The times when single-channel marketing, such as television advertising, dominated the strategy are long gone. Today’s organisations must implement an omnichannel marketing strategy to present precise and consistent messaging to their audience, regardless of the medium. This complexity requires tremendous planning and coordination. An automated marketing planning process and system gives organisations a massive advantage over companies that manually plan and track their marketing investments.

Extended Planning and Analysis (xP&A) is a complete transformation of the FP&A function. It moves beyond just the finance function to challenge the status quo, educate, and continually influence management decisions. Modern marketing planning is an essential aspect of xP&A: it is a collaborative, agile and analytical process that creates bridges between finance and marketing teams. This collaboration is difficult to achieve in traditional planning and budgeting frameworks.

An integrated and analytical approach to marketing planning is an essential requirement of xP&A transformation.


The Challenges of a Manual Planning Environment

Marketing spend is often a short-term discretionary expense that helps organisations manage their bottom-line performance. As an FP&A professional, I have faced many urgent business situations which require either a marketing spend reduction or a potential increase.  

The process of working with the marketing team to provide the spend by brand, channel and period has been incredibly challenging. It presents a significant challenge when senior management tries to understand the marketing spend drivers to make important business decisions related to the marketing plan.


Top 5 Benefits of the Integrated Marketing Planning System

The Integrated FP&A process connects all organisational planning processes through key drivers, models, analytics, and systems. An integrated marketing planning model is extremely appealing to FP&A professionals, as it offers the following five benefits:

  • Speed

Marketing professionals can generate their plans directly in the system. They can create programs and get them approved by their leadership in real-time, which improves the speed of program planning and execution.

  • Visibility

FP&A professionals can view and slice and dice proposed or actual marketing spending in many ways. They can see the proposed marketing spend by channel, brand, and type in the system without much back and forth with the marketing team.

  • Effectiveness

An automated approach gives management a holistic view of the entire organisation’s marketing spend. This ensures the approach is managed effectively across the organisation, rather than each division or brand managing their marketing spend.

  • Flexibility

FP&A teams can run multiple ‘what-if’ scenarios that help the organisation develop and manage marketing plans. Rather than having a ‘fire drill’ approach to implementing marketing reductions or investments, the FP&A team can proactively have a list of discretionary marketing programs.

  • Improved Reporting

FP&A and marketing can provide value-added reporting to management based on the business need. They can slice and dice the reporting by channel, brand, period, currency, or whatever business leaders require.

 

Implementing Integrated Marketing Planning

Critical success factors involved in implementing integrated marketing planning include:

  • Investment in cultural transformation, including Change Management, starting with senior leaders and extending to all organisational team members.
  • A truly collaborative approach – FP&A professionals must work collaboratively with marketing partners. They must build trust and effective collaboration, including joint accountability.
  • Investment in dynamic models, processes and technology will enable marketing to be integrated into the overall financial system.


In Summary

Organisations that invest in integrated marketing planning will have a significant competitive advantage, as their FP&A departments will have a more informed and accurate understanding of the marketing plan. It will lead to more effective and efficient marketing investment decisions — and, ultimately, financial results.

This article was first published on the SAP blog.

The full text is available for registered users. Please register to view the rest of the article.
  • Log In
  • or
  • Register

Related articles

Dynamic and Interactive Sales Planning Based on the Algorithmic Model
Dynamic and Interactive Sales Planning Based on the Algorithmic Model
August 22, 2019

At the fifth AI/ML FP&A Committee meeting, Igor Panivko, FD & MD at Konica Minolta, talked...

Read more
Ben-Wann-Sales-Plan-Main
How to Create Your Winning Sales Plan with xP&A
August 24, 2023

In this article, the author describes how to create a dynamic and integrated sales harnessing the...

Read more
Ron-Monteiro-Integrated-Sales-Revenue-Planning-Main
xP&A in Action: Integrated Sales & Revenue Planning
August 3, 2023

This article highlights the immense benefits of an integrated sales and revenue planning approach. The author...

Read more
Ron-Monteiro-Integrated-Workforce-Planning-Main
xP&A in Action: The Benefits of Integrated Workforce Planning
March 28, 2023

This article highlights the immense benefits of one of the important aspects of xP&A – an...

Read more
FP&A Trends White Paper 2021
FP&A Trends White Paper 2022: Extended Planning and Analysis (xP&A): FP&A’s Role in Business Transformation
March 23, 2022

xP&A is more than an attempt to ‘fix’ the planning process. It is a complete transformation...

Read more
Allan-Knight-Main
Extended Planning & Analysis (xP&A): A Best-in-Class Approach
November 10, 2022

Traditional planning methods are well known for extracting insights and steering business decisions in short-term and...

Read more
+

Subscribe to
FP&A Trends Digest

We will regularly update you on the latest trends and developments in FP&A. Take the opportunity to have articles written by finance thought leaders delivered directly to your inbox; watch compelling webinars; connect with like-minded professionals; and become a part of our global community.

Create new account

image

Event Calendar

Pagination

  • Previous
  • May 2025
  • Next
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
27
28
29
30
1
2
3
 
 
 
 
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Transforming FP&A Together: Human & AI Synergy
 
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
Moving from FP&A to Extended Planning and Analysis (xP&A)
 
Five Critical Roles for Building a World-Class FP&A Team
 
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
FP&A Business Partnering and AI: A New Era
 
All events for the year

Future Meetings

The Face-to-Face Amsterdam FP&A Board
The Face-to-Face Amsterdam FP&A Board Transforming FP&A Together: Human & AI Synergy

May 15, 2025

The Face-to-Face Milan FP&A Board
The Face-to-Face Milan FP&A Board Moving from FP&A to Extended Planning and Analysis (xP&A)

May 20, 2025

The Face-to-Face Frankfurt FP&A Board
The Face-to-Face Frankfurt FP&A Board Five Critical Roles for Building a World-Class FP&A Team

May 22, 2025

BPAI
The FP&A Trends Webinar FP&A Business Partnering and AI: A New Era

May 28, 2025

The Face-to-Face London FP&A Board: Data Management & Analytics: Unlocking FP&A Value
The Face-to-Face London FP&A Board Mastering Data in FP&A: Smarter Analytics, Better Decisions

June 5, 2025

FP&A Trends Webinar The Evolving Role of FP&A: From Number Cruncher to Strategic Advisor
The FP&A Trends Webinar Making FP&A Teams Fit for the Future

June 11, 2025

The Face-to-Face New York FP&A Board
The Face-to-Face New York FP&A Board From Insight to Impact: FP&A Business Partnering in Action

June 17, 2025

The Face-to-Face Sydney FP&A Board
The Face-to-Face Sydney FP&A Board Modern Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A): Latest Trends and Developments

June 26, 2025

The Face-to-Face Singapore FP&A Board: Modern Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A): Latest Trends and Developments
The Face-to-Face Singapore FP&A Board Modern Financial Planning and Analysis (FP&A): Latest Trends and Developments

July 8, 2025

AI/ML FP&A
AI/ML FP&A
Data and Analytics
Data & Analytics
FP&A Case Studies
FP&A Case Studies
FP&A Research
FP&A Research
General
General
Integrated FP&A
Integrated FP&A
People and Culture
People and Culture
Process
Process
Technology
Technology

Please register to receive the latest FP&A news, updates and tips.

info@fpa-trends.com​

              

Foot menu

  • FP&A Insights
  • FP&A Board
  • FP&A Videos

Footer countries

  • Amsterdam
  • Austin
  • Boston
  • Brisbane
  • Brussels
  • Chicago
  • Copenhagen
  • Dubai
  • Frankfurt
  • Geneva
  • Helsinki
  • Hong Kong
  • Houston
  • Kuala Lumpur
  • London Board
  • London (Circle)
  • Melbourne
  • Miami
  • Milan
  • Munich
  • New York
  • Paris
  • Perth
  • Riyadh
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Shanghai
  • Singapore
  • Stockholm
  • Sydney
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Washington D.C.
  • Zurich

Copyright © 2025 fpa-trends.com. All rights reserved.

0