The CMO function is expanding. For example, CMOs are increasingly integrating technology; a recent Gartner study cited that by 2017 marketers will exceed IT in technology spend. Human Resources is also aligning with marketing; according to Ben Edwards, Vice President Marketing Innovation, IBM, "Brand building begins with employees. Engage them in your mission, purpose." And today’s top marketers are finding ways to bring consumers into the decision-making process. Net/net, the most successful marketers of the future will be central to organizational growth, orchestrating and aligning different business functions. Here are some quotes from a discussion I moderated on June 17, 2015. The participants were:
- Jody Bilney, Chief Consumer Officer, Humana Inc.
- Bill Borrelle, Senior Vice President, Brand Strategy, Pitney Bowes
- John Rudaizky, Brand and External Communication Leader, EY
Robert Reiss: What advice do you have for marketing executives?
Jody Bilney, Humana: The healthcare industry is heavily regulated. As such, marketing has historically not been at the core. That’s changing and why, for example, my title of Chief Consumer Officer is carefully developed as it signals a shift in the business - bringing the consumer into the decision-making process. So my responsibilities encompass digital, analytics, brand strategy, the consumer experience, others and of course, marketing, but intentionally the function is not called marketing. I sit between the COO and the Chief Innovation Officer meaning I have to deliver results today and have the brand be ready for tomorrow. Today’s best marketers must know their target consumer as a person – their likes, dislikes, emotions, and how they make decisions. But most importantly, marketers have to really understand the business their company is in. Marketers must be business people.
John Rudaizky, EY: In such a complex, content rich, platform diverse communications world, top marketers must have creative confidence because at the heart of strategy will remain creativity - content first, platform second. Most organizations are challenged by the always-on world of social media and the fact that we can’t control what’s out there. So for marketing executives it’s all about being connected to the c-suite and the changing market landscape to react fast. Above all is tying together brand and purpose which is critical to the future - Millennials want to contribute with purpose and so are a massive driver of disruption.
Bill Borrelle, PB: Marketers need to have an understanding of the balance between physical and digital commerce and how customers prefer to transact today. Perhaps CMOs underestimated the explosion of data and the amount of data now at our disposal for analytical purposes. A new opportunity for CMOs is to balance right brain and left-brain thinking. All this analytical insight ties into driving customer satisfaction, loyalty, and repeat purchase.
Reiss: What’s an important brand management initiative your organization has recently implemented?
Borrelle: We are undergoing a global brand transformation at Pitney Bowes. Recently, we celebrated our 95th birthday. Today, we are a global technology company powering physical and digital transactions with deep expertise in cross-border ecommerce. However, we have legacy perceptions that we are trying to correct, so we are updating our brand message. We’re proud of our legacy, but our branding is also focused on the future.
Bilney: Let’s start with the context of two issues that frame our industry. First, healthcare is an intensely personal matter. Second, 70% of Humana’s business is seniors and they have only one period a year, from October 15th to December 7th, which is just 52 days, to choose their healthcare coverage for the following year. It’s a short amount of time to present our brand and there are new regulations and new competitors every year. In addition, healthcare can be confusing, scary and stressful. Humana acknowledges that and wants to help with the consumer experience. We know where we stand. We even have a dream: we want to help our consumers achieve lifelong wellbeing. So last year we launched our first-ever brand campaign – Closing the gap between people and care. And, expanding from individuals to communities, we’ve set a bold goal of improving the health of every community we serve by 20% by the year 2020.
Rudaizky: EY has a far reaching business which spans every major industry and crosses many issues, so we manage our brand through the lens of our purpose – Building a better working world. We activate this purpose through our 210,000 employees as we believe we can create a lasting legacy by helping our clients solve their biggest questions - our new brand work captures this and how we team to provide answers to the toughest questions. A few examples of our omnichannel work include creating a social engine around #betterquestions to drive conversations around real, trending questions and solutions.
Reiss: How do you envision digital changing your industry over the next few years?
Rudaizky: Despite the size, scale and complexity of the marketplaces we serve, pretty much every industry we operate in will be transformed by digital. Clearly the way we deliver to clients will be transformed. Digital also helps attract the best talent and will enable important conversations to happen before the hiring.”
Borrelle: The world of commerce is changing due to the proliferation of data, cross-border e-commerce and location intelligence. One phenomenon I am monitoring is Millennials experiencing cluttered email boxes and a new interest in personally relevant direct mail messages that drive online purchasing behavior.
Bilney: Of the many changes in healthcare, one of the most important will be the emergence of the empowered consumer. Mobile devices change consumer behaviors. Companies will have an endless amount of data about consumer behaviors and preferences. The question is how well will companies use it? There will be more self-service and transparency in healthcare, and because of this, many new partnerships will emerge. Digital will ultimately make healthcare more affordable.
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