As we begin the new year, it’s important for CMOs to reflect on what went well in 2016 and what could be improved for 2017. Equally important is considering the opportunities your brand will take advantage of in the new year. Several contributors to our exclusive content on CMO.com touched on these opportunities and offered some suggestions for how to look at marketing from new perspectives.
Adam Phillips, Director (Sports) Europe of Wasserman, shared the marketing implications of athletes and sports stars expanding into the wider cultural landscape through sponsorship deals in areas such as pop culture, fashion, finance, and shampoos. Brands considering sponsorship deals should do their homework and ensure that the sport or athlete they decide to sponsor aligns with the values and profile of their target customer. When brands are able to make partnerships where values align, the marketing impact is significant.
Graham Ruddick, co-founder of Communitize, shared many of the challenges companies face when it comes to transformation. Transformation is difficult and requires many components working together for a company to be successful. According to Ruddick, some companies don’t need so much of a transformation as an evolution. The concept of evolution creates a less stressful goal for company members to strive for. Ruddick offered some helpful insights into how brands can approach evolution in their companies.
CMO.com recently sat down with Betty Bekkali, CRM activation manager at Nestle Suisse, to talk about delivering engaging experiences to customers. For Bekkali, this means developing a holistic view of the customer by combining data from all available sources. She urges marketers to be at the right place at the right time with the right message to give customers an experience they won’t forget.
Sam Shaw, Head of Insight at Canvas8, discussed the challenges CMOs face in meeting the demands of innovation. Although around two-thirds of CMOs agree that innovation is vital to their success, they are also under immense pressure to deliver innovation quickly. Shaw encourages CMOs to stay ahead of the potential disruption by looking outside of their brands’ direct competitors. Drawing from relevant examples from Wal-Mart and Dollar Shave Club, Shaw illustrated the need to look at how customers are behaving in “different contexts that surround the brand.”
Klaus Sommer Paulsen, CEO, creative director, and founder of AdventureLAB, presented an A-to-Z list of modern marketing trends that is sure to be helpful to CMOs as they begin to think about the coming year. Paulsen’s list is full of important insights on what is currently on customers’ minds that might affect how a brand approaches marketing challenges in the near future.
We hope you’ll spend some time engaging with our exclusive content on CMO.com and learn from some of the top marketing minds. Please let us know what you think.
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