Lessons from Dan Birks & Alessio Babolin’s session at ProcureCon Marketing London 2025.
Marketing procurement and marketing teams in close alignment can be a powerful force, but too often we’ve seen procurement focused only on costs, and not on business value. At ProcureCon Marketing London 2025, ITG and Essity demonstrated how aligned teams, with marketing procurement focused on real business value, can be transformational. Marketing procurement can drive that value by leading the design of operational models around people and business needs, which in turn enables marketing to scale sustainably.
Dan Birks (Chief Growth Officer, ITG) and Alessio Babolin (Global Digital Marketing Director, Essity) shared how marketing operations, procurement, and creative strategy aligned to build a scalable model that delivered consistent outcomes across markets, while freeing teams from cumbersome manual tasks.
Why scale broke, and how Essity rebuilt it
Like most global businesses, Essity faced intense content demands across an explosion of channels and touchpoints, while operating within the same budgets. Added to this, its global portfolio of brands are active in 150+ markets, each with their own timelines, tools, and production methods.
“We were creating the same content manually multiple times. It wasn’t just inefficient — it was unscalable,” Alessio explained on stage.
Dan described how ITG’s Halo model helped move from bespoke builds to scalable, modular content: “We shifted from building everything bespoke to templated, dynamic asset creation, automated workflows supported by hyper efficient studios (where people add value) that free our [ITG and Essity] teams to focus on what matters.”
Assets are now created once, then adapted dynamically through smart templates, automated localization, and versioning logic. This brought speed, creative control, and relevance at scale.
AI doesn’t fix bad systems, it magnifies them
The real story wasn’t about chasing AI, it was about getting the model right first.
In 2025, it feels like the easiest band-aid fix is to throw AI at every operational problem. But as both Dan and Alessio stressed, AI and automation only works if your foundation is sound. Its impact is minimal otherwise.
As Dan pointed out, “AI’s real value isn’t in what it replaces. It’s in what it unlocks — time, clarity, and scale.”
Essity built its foundation first — defined operating models, effective automated processes, versioning logic, governance, and modular content strategy. Only then did it integrate AI-enabled automation through Storyteq to maximize output.
Without that architecture in place, AI would have simply amplified disorder.
Procurement as a performance enabler
This was not simply a marketing endeavor, with procurement managing a project. The two were working in perfect alignment. “Procurement helped frame and defined the model, not manage the selection process,” Dan noted. “That shift unlocked speed and scalability.”
Procurement was a key player in driving transformation. This repositioned procurement from tactical management to a business value enabler.
Storytelling makes transformation stick
Slick plans and clear process maps aren’t enough. ITG and Essity anchored the rollout in human behavior, proof points, and sponsorship.
“We didn’t rely on email cascades,” Alessio shared. “We had VPs recording personalized videos for their teams. We made change visible and human.”
Launching first in two key markets, we collected results early, used them as internal case studies, and created a cascade of structured engagement across regions. Honest, clear, and effective storytelling made the difference.
Smarter systems, scalable content
With a clear operational model, automated localization, and efficient workflows, Essity multiplied its effectiveness. Storyteq enabled teams to turn a single asset into dozens of on-brand variations with minimal manual lift. This resulted in faster turnaround, fewer rebuilds, and more consistent brand output.
This is where content is heading — scalable and effective by design, not just volume-led.
From alignment to advantage
“You won’t have perfect data. You won’t have perfect conditions,” Alessio said. “But if you commit to transparent communication and keep people at the center, the model will evolve in the right direction.”
In 2025, marketing procurement is no longer managing a process — it’s shaping the solution. The brands building systems, rather than just campaigns, are the ones that will scale sustainably.
If your content operations are fragmented, inefficient, or inconsistent, it’s time to reframe procurement as a strategic enabler.
Let’s create the right model for you — together. Contact us at hello@inspiredthinking.group or fill in the form below.