incite primer: the evolution of marketing and communications

8/12/2019 Incite Primer: The Evolution of Marketing and Communications

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INCITE

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The Marketing ANDCommunications CommunityTough questions, insightful answers

INCITE PRIMER:

THE EVOLUTION OF

MARKETING ANDCOMMUNICATIONS

IN 2013


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CONVERGENCE BETWEEN MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS FUNCTIONS

2Join the conversation at facebook.com/[email protected]

Its going to be an interesting year.

Marketing and Communications executives are both wrestling with significant

evolutions in many different areas of their roles.

The technological advances that have birthed the horrific portmanteau SoLoMo

have also given savvy executives more opportunities than ever before to engagecustomers where they want to be engaged, and when they want to be engaged.

Equally, the explosion in big data has meant that the picture a brand can build of

individual customers and consumer trends equip forward-looking companies with

insight they could barely dream of a couple of years ago.

And yet these two opportunities also herald significantly ructions in the existing role- and very definition - of marketing and communications executives.

In this collection of publications, Incite Marketing and Communications have

analysed hundreds of survey responses from corporate executives, and mergedthem with hundreds of hours of primary research. We have begun to draw out somekey trends that we expect will have a deep and lasting impact on both marketing

and communications executives in the coming year and the longer term future.

So please read on, and take a glimpse at what 2013 holds for you. Once you have,we want your feedback. Incite exists to incite (natch) debate on the tough questions

faced by marketers and communicators. You can join that debate and learn fromyour peers at www.incitemc.com and on Twitter at @InciteMC.

Cheers,

Nick Johnson

FounderIncite Marketing and Communications


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Contents:

The 4 Key Issues of 2013: Predictions for Marketers andCommunicators...

In this publication, we take an overview of the trends and changes that will impacton your role as a marketer and communicator in 2013. We cover issues like:

Customer-Centricity

Multi-channel marketing and communications

The erosion of the dividing line between marketing and communications

How big data, social media and customer-centricity will drive a mergingof the marketing and communications departments

In this essay, we investigate how three of the big trends of the last few years are

slowly removing the historic division between marketing and communicationsfunctions. We look at

Internal and external pressures for convergence

The observation that Communicators seem keener on this convergence thanMarketers

How internal convergence is just as important as external convergence

Multi-channel is going to revolutionise marketing and communications.Again.

In this investigation, we look at how the increasing complexity of what it means tobe multi-channel, and the impact that will have on your role. We look at:

Why multi-channel is shooting up your priority list

Examples of how multi-channel can boost your brand engagement

Benchmarks on how prepared your peers feel for this signicant change

4

8

13


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The 4 biggest issues in 2013 according to 300of your peers

As part of the run up to the 2013 Incite Summits, we asked 300+ marketing and communications executives abouthe key issues they see impacting on their roles in 2013.

A complicated future

The first observation is quite how complex both roles will become in 2013 - and, significantly - the surprising leve

of harmony in the predicted key issues over two normally quite distinct job functions.

Biggest

Impact on

Marketing and

Communications

Roles in 2013

CUSTO

MER

CENTRICI

TY

0

4

2

6

1

5

3

7

MULTI

-CHAN

NEL

MARKETIN

G

UNIQUE

CUSTO

MER

EXPERIENC

ES

MEA

SUREM

ENT

SPEED

COLL

ABORA

TION

BIGDA

TA

ALLB2B

B2C

The four most important topics, as youll see in the chart above, are:

1. Customer-centricity: Specifically, in this case, getting closer to the customer and understanding them betteWhats more, evolving the business so ones customers are able to have a meaningful impact on business practices

strategy and future goals/products. This is quite clearly the most significant impact on roles in 2013 - across botfunctions. An enormous 46% of all respondents picked this as their top priority in 2013.

2. Multi-channel marketing/communications: Linked closely to the previous issue, multi-channel marketingfocuses on how to integrate multiple marketing/comms channels to ensure they work in concert for an impactfueffective, and pervasive marketing campaign. A significant 22% picked this as top priority

3. Building unique customer experiences through more personalisation/segmentation/better consume

insight: Striving towards providing your customers with a personalised, engaging and unique relationship withyour brand. Companies are beginning to do this through the increased segmentation made possible by sociamedia/big data profiling, and by the proliferation of marketing/communications channels and platforms. Evidently

from the popularity of this option, it is a challenge that executives have not overcome completely. 10% picked thias top priority


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4. Internal Collaboration: Focusing on more efficient internal collaboration between marketing and

communications, to ensure that the company speaks with a unified voice, shares insight and responds better toconsumers.7% picked this as top priority - which is significant in itself, but more so when one considers that 24%

of Communications execs said this was priority #1, and only 5% of marketers. More on that below.

Customer centricity has never been more alive

What issue

will have

the biggest

impact on

your role

in 2013?

CUSTOMER

CENTRICITY

0%

20%

40%

30%

10%

50%

MULTI

-CHA

NNEL

MARKETING

UNIQUE

CUSTO

MER

EXPERIEN

CES

ENHA

NCED

COLL

ABORATION

BIGDA

TA

MEA

SUREMEN

T

SPEED

OFRE

SPONSE

Customer Centricity is not a new term. It has been around for several years. For the more overzealous of marketin

gurus, its already dead, actually.

Not according to our corporate respondents. For them, customer centricity is going to be the biggest impact otheir role in 2013. Not 2008. Not 2010. 2013.

Why the discrepancy?

Marketing and Communications service providers/agencies have something to sell. Its understandable that the

want to move on from any new development as soon as they can - the next big idea may well be even morelucrative.

But corporations themselves move at a slower pace. They focus on what actually impacts on their business - andtheir bottom line. Things that work, not things that are new.

There have been many, many buzzwords bandied around for the last few years - glocal, solomo, gamified to nambut three. It is significant that, in the company of many other more traditional and recognisable issues, custome

centricity is still picked by more than twice as many of our corporate respondents as anything else.

This is the year, it seems, for customer-centricity to truly come to life.


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Communicators want Marketers. Marketers dont care

The increased need tocollaborate with themarketing / commsdepartment is going tohave the most impacton my role in 2013

22% COMMUNICATORS 5% MARKETERS

Over the last 8 months, we have been researching the key issues for both the marketing and communicationcommunities.

Both sets of respondents are united in the need for a more customer-centric approach, for presenting a mor

human face to consumers, for communicating in an integrated - and consistent - manner, and for sharing insightabout consumers better internally.

And yet. When asked how important enhanced internal collaboration would be in 2013, 22% of communication

executives said it was their top priority. Only 5% of marketers said the same.

Why?

1. Marketers are already doing as much collaboration as they need

2. Communicators are seen as performing a smaller/less critical role, and thus marketing is less incentivised tocollaborate with their department specifically

3. What else? Your feedback would be appreciated in the comments below

Big data, small impact

While our survey results have come as a boon to those predicting a big year for customer-centricity, they give shoshrift to those talking of big datas huge impact on corporate marketing and communications/

Put simply, the practitioners dont agree.

Only 7% of respondents say its going to have the biggest impact on their role in 2013. It falls behind not jus

customer-centricity, but multi-channel marketing and the ability to deliver more unique customer experiencethrough better personalisation/segmentation/customer insight.

While its obviously true that the impact of big data is liable to fall far more broadly than on simply the marketing an

communications departments, and equally, that the topic is nevertheless one of the top 7 responses throughouour research, its still a surprising showing. Big data is perhaps one of the most talked about developments of th

last decade, and the potential impacts on business are undeniably vast. But, as suggested above, multi-nationacorporations are not known for moving fast. Evidently this new strategic opportunity hasnt filtered down yet intthe marketing and communications departments.


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Biggest

Impact on

Communications

Roles in 2013

CUSTOMER

CENTRICITY

0

4

2

6

1

5

3

MULTI

-CHA

NNEL

MARKETING

UNIQUE

CUSTO

MER

EXPERIEN

CES

MEA

SUREMEN

T

SPEED

COLL

ABORATION

BIG

DATA

ALL

B2B

B2C


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Big data, social media and customer-centricitywill drive a merging of the marketing andcommunications departments

Over the last few months, we at Incite have been conducting in-depth research with over 80 senior marketing andcommunications executives.

Since then, weve run several surveys and questionnaires to attach some solid statistics to our more qualitative

findings from our conversations with practitioners.

In this piece, Ill investigate the first major finding from our work.

Marketing and Communications Functions are Merging

Perhaps the most obvious, and pressing, development for senior marketing and communications executives in

2013 is the continued blurring of the lines between the two functions.

It was a common refrain throughout our research -

The challenge is how both functions work more closely in alignment, and leverage each others resources

What were saying internally is that with the advent of social, with multiple media channels, that lines blubetween traditional marketing, PR and Communications

The customer doesnt care where the info is from, just that they can get that info easily

One of our key challenges this year is integration - between brand, PR, communications, and marketing, t

ensure a better joined up response and message to a more demanding set of customers

As we can see from the chart below, the surveys weve run back up the findings. A huge 92% of respondents saithat multiple departmentsmust work better together for an enhanced, unified customer experience.

Must multiple-

departments work

better together for an

enhanced customer

experience?

92% YES

8% NO


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Another significant proportion - 56% - are more specific, declaring that it is very important for marketing and

communications departments to collaborate and integrate better over 2013.

How important is it

for Marketing and

Communications

Departments to

work more closely?

14% QUITE IMPORTANT

56% VERY IMPORTANT

5% NOT IMPORTANT

25% IMPORTANT

What explains this push to convergence?

So why has internal departmental convergence, collaboration and integration become such a pressing concern fosenior marketers and communicators?

There are two relatively new pressures on both groups, and theyre blurring the lines between two previously

distinct departments

The external pressure

In large part because of the rise of social media, consumers increasingly expect to be able to speak to a brand a

easily as they speak to a friend - and more importantly, to get a response and build a relationship.Your consumers expect that when they mention your brand on Twitter, then call you, and then send you a followup message over Facebook, that youll join the dots. And thats a real challenge when social adoption is so

fragmented, particularly in larger businesses who usually have tens of social accounts, run by different individualin different teams.

One obvious answer is to unify that approach. Considering the marketing and communications teams are thosepredominantly responsible for outreach on behalf of a brand, it follows that they should work together to manag

these communication channels (with the possible addition of customer service - and even IT - departments).

The internal pressure

Again, social plays a role here - though big data is becoming increasingly important. Companies now have an

unrivalled ability to track, monitor - and understand - their customer in far greater depth than ever before. To takthe example above, once your business can track customer interactions over multiple channels, one is able to spo

trends, brewing crises, and new business opportunities.

But for this to work, those many departments who monitor different big data sets - IT, customer service, producdevelopment, customer insight, marketing, customer service - must ensure that data flows uninterrupted betweeeach other. More importantly, that learning is shared between these departments.

Marketing and communications, as the two functions with arguably the most to gain from a more in-depth andnuanced understanding of the consumer, should be spearheading this unification.


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Communications Needs Marketing More Than Marketing Needs Them

When we begin to look a little deeper, some interesting further trends emerge:

Very Important

for Marketing and

Communications to

work more closely

42% MARKETING

58% COMMUNICATIONS

When one breaks out the respondents from Communications and Marketing functions, there is a striking differencof opinion. 65% of communications execs say that it is very important to work better with marketing in 2013, and

yet only 48% of their peers in marketing believe the same.

Why? Is Marketing the function with more power within business? Its certainly true that CMOs are more oftenresponsible for Communications departments than CCOs responsible for marketers.

B2B companies want convergence more than B2Cs

Its critical to do better

internal collaboration

93% B2B 86% B2C

Surprisingly, 93% of B2B companies say they need to do better internal collaboration, compared to 86% of B2Cs

Admittedly, the difference is slight and the result over both business types is emphatic, but B2B respondents wit

a similar level of desire for convergence is surprising, let alone more desire.

Why surprising? A core pillar of the argument for more convergence is to deliver a more unified voice to the

consumer. B2C companies, with more individual consumers, with what tends to be a broader and higher volumeexternal communications approach, would seem more naturally pressured by a need for this convergence.


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Internal convergence is more important than external convergence

When one talks of convergence, it is tempting to play with semantics and broaden the term to incorporat

customer-centric characteristics - and start to look at convergence between the corporate and the consumer - iterms of closer alignment, understanding, product delivery etc.

Considering the rampant popularity of the buzzword customer-centric, one would assume the passion for thi

external convergence would be significantly higher than the more boring desiloisation needed for internacollaboration.

It is importantto do better...

EXTERNALCOLLABORATION

INTERNALCOLLABORATION

92%

92%

Its not. Companies view both internal and external collaboration as just as important as each other.

A note on definitions of customer-centricity and external collaboration

One could read these results as a more cautious reading of what customer-centricity means for a corporateaudience. The ideal espoused by Bob Thompson of Customer Think is of a customer-inspired business, which

Thinks deeply about what customers are trying to accomplish in their business and personal lives, and create newways to add value before they ask

But perhaps corporate practitioners understanding of customer-centricity is lower down Thompsons Custome

Centric Pyramid - at the Customer-Driven phase:

CUSTOMERINSPIRED

CUSTOMERENGAGED

CUSTOMERDRIVEN

CUSTOMERFOCUSED

How customer-

centric is your

business?

CopyrightCustomerThinkCorp


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We regularly get customer feedback, prioritize key issues and work to improve customer satisfaction with the

products and services we sell, to minimise customer attrition

Thompson feels that the higher up the pyramid, the better for the business. Again, perhaps this is one assumptio

too far. What do you think? What is the ideal level of customer-centricity?


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As they watch the Super Bowl, and get confused about the power outage and go to a social network to nd ou

more, you can quickly respond with a brand message taking a sideways look at the issue. Oreo did this, and drovmore awareness for their brand than any number of SuperBowl advertisements.

These single channels all offer fantastic opportunities for the savvy brand to engage.

And yet they are far more powerful together.

When ensuring all channels - social, local, email, direct mail, broadcast, online ads, mobile and more - wortogether, you are able to create campaigns and messages more pervasive, personalised and engaging than on

could have dreamt of less than a decade ago.

Challenges in multi-channel

It appears that there is little argument - cutting edge marcomms execs must deliver a multi-channel experience ithis new world of brand engagement.

Yet that presents challenges to overcome. The first, and most obvious, is complexity. A fragmented marketing an

communications landscape means you need to:

Understand which channel is appropriate for which message

How to drive people from one channel to another

Retain consistency over several channels

Track and understand which channels are working and which are not

This is evidently no easy feat. And corporate practitioners recognise this:

Top 3 issues

for you

in 2013

CUSTOMER

CENTRICITY

0

40%

20%

60%

10%

50%

30%

70%

80%

UNIQUE

CUSTO

MER

EXPERIEN

CES

MULTI

-CHA

NNEL

COLL

ABORATION

MEA

SUREMEN

T

SPEED

OFRE

SPONSE

BIGDA

TA

MARKETING

COMMS

OVERALL

The chart above shows which issues are identified as a Top 3 Priority for the coming year


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As you can see from the chart above, multi-channel marketing is a fundamental focus for both marketers and

communicators in 2013.

Overall, it comes second in the list of corporate priorities, behind being more customer-centric, and tied with

building unique customer experiences for customers/stakeholders.

NB: Importantly, it is worth acknowledging that building unique customer experiences and multi-channel arinextricably linked. Multi-channel is the fundamental tactic corporations are using to build these unique customeexperiences.

Theres a difference

Its interesting to consider the differences in approach that this chart highlights between the marketing and

communications functions in 2013.In research conducted by Incite over the last few months, as we discuss here, there is a notable synergy betwee

marketing and communications functions. The two departments have remarkably similar priorities, and indeedthere is an argument to be made that the dividing line between the two functions is blurring.

This blurring has come about through the increasing need for companies to speak with one voice to customers

as Hiquet highlights above, and equally to the drive to build more detailed pictures of consumers through betteinternal data sharing.

Yet evidently there are still differences. The relative importance of establishing multi-channel campaigns is one. A

Chart 1 shows, Multi-channel campaigns are named as a Top 3 issue by over half of all marketers surveyed. Yefor Communicators, this figure drops to just over 20%.

Thats a remarkable difference in approach - indeed, its the most significant difference in approach across aissues in the chart. There is no greater gap between marketing/communications functions than when it comes to

multi-channel.

Why is this? We dont know. We would love you to let us know what you think.


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But dont be misled - this is critical for everyone

OVERALL:

Importance

of Multi-Channel

41% CRITICAL

14% NEUTRAL

45% IMPORTANT

When asked in isolation about the importance of multi-channel in outreach campaigns, both marketing andcommunications functions were more forthright.

Overall, 41% of respondents said it was critical in 2013, with a further 45% classing it as important.

COMMUNICATORS:

Importance

of Multi-Channel

39% CRITICAL

19% NEUTRAL

42% IMPORTANT

Of those respondents working in the Communications function, the numbers were slightly lower.

Nearly a fifth of respondents said that Multi-channel was not important, or they were neutral about it. Yet well ove

a third still said that multi-channel communications was critical, and 42% said it was important.

MARKETERS:

Importanceof Multi-Channel

42% CRITICAL9% NEUTRAL

49% IMPORTANT

Marketers, understandably considering chart 1, were more committed to multi-channel. A full 42% said it wascritical to their role in 2013, and 49% said it was important. That leaves only a rather small 9% of our entirerespondents who either class multi-channel as unimportant, or something theyre neutral about.


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Putting their money where their mouth is

I expect my companys

resource spend on

multi-channel will

increase over 2013

17% NEUTRAL

9% DISAGREE

74% AGREE

And they put their money where their mouth is. An enormous 74% of people who attended our recent webinaon multi-channel marketing (recordings available for free, here) expect their company to increase resource spend

on multi-channel over 2013.

Both Hiquet and Rutherford were surprised by this nding.

Along with many participants in the webinar, both Vice-Presidents suggested that rather than increasing resourcspend overall, they were instead looking at reallocation. Finding areas of inefficiency, and reallocating resource

from underperforming areas of marketing into multi-channel.

Nevertheless, Hiquet still had advice for those looking to prise open the boards purse strings. He went tomanagement with the message:

If we work better in multi-channel, we can expect an increase in terms of brand attachment, but also in repurchas

rate. We tried to demonstrate that by increasing repeat business, we should use that to increase our resources.

So, are you prepared?

Our multi-channel

strategy is not as

developed as

it should be

20% NEUTRAL

4% DISAGREE

76% AGREE

You feel prepared for this? If so, youre in the minority.

A full 76% of our respondents do not feel that their multi-channel strategy is as developed as it should be. Onla tiny 4% were confident enough to say that they were where they needed to be.


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According to Hiquet and Rutherford, this isnt surprising. Indeed, both expressed the view that a brand will neve

be done when it comes to multi-channel marketing, with new channels and opportunities to connect arisingquickly and consistently.

Hiquet said of the ndings:

Its a proof of humility, and with all these touchpoints to manage, to be consistent, to have the right content andtargets, its very tough. I do think that everything changes so quickly, and in terms of new trends, new actors in thmarket, we need to be very humble in what we can do. I think people are saying they can improve, and they ar

focusing on doing that.

Rutherford agrees with him:

Im not surprised - I dont know that well ever be done in this new world we live in. When you say multi-channelthere are new ways to engage your audience with your brand that are popping up every day. In the last 6 months

weve spent time playing around with Vine and Viddy and other opportunities to engage.The speed, and thcreativity, with which things are moving these days means we are constantly going to be learning about these new

opportunities to connect, I dont think were ever going to be done.

Conclusion

Getting better at multi-channel marcomms is evidently a significant challenge for your peers. Its also undeniab

a key focus for 2013 - whether one works in marketing and communications.

There are huge advantages to a more multi-channel approach to your outreach program, not least the increasedpervasiveness, personalisation and engagement levels when one can orchestrate a truly multi-channel campaign

And yet the challenges - notably the huge upscale in complexity inherent in marketing and communicating acrossuch a fragmented landscape - leave many feeling they simply are not prepared for this shift.

That is why were running a large-scale business Summit discussing this very issue. We have Chief Marketing anCommunications Officers from Sony, LOreal, Aflac, Arbys restaurants and more sharing their insights on this topicIf you want to find out more, you can download a sneak peek for marketers here, and for communicators here.


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Secure your place with our ultra-early bird passes

and SAVE $895on your ticket atwww.incitemc.com

incitemc.com #IMCSUMMITSeptember 18-19, New York

Your SNEAK PEEKinto how the Incite 2013 Summit is shaping up!

Map the Future of Multi-channel,Customer-centric Marketingand Communications

at a glance: Insight on some of the big issuesAGENDA

The Customer-Centric Future

Change yourcorporate culture tofocus better on thecustomer

Moving Customer-Centric WithoutCausing Chaos

Get a customer-centricinternal organisationthats simple, notcomplex

How To Listen,So You Can TalkBack Better

Get more usefulinsight about yourcustomers, anduse it to do betterCommunications

Build UniqueCustomer Experiences

Manage a complexCommunicationslandscape and integratemany channels to buildone effective stake-holder experience

Less Silos =More Success

Break down internalbarriers and geteveryone singing fromthe same hymn sheet

we have already confirmed to contributeSPEAKERS

Sony ElectronicsMike FasuloChief Marketing Officer

AflacMichael ZunaChief Marketing Officer

SearsJennifer DominiquiniChief Marketing Officer(Seasonal and OutdoorLiving)

Restaurant.comChristopher KrohnChief Marketing Officer

ArbysRussell KleinChief Marketing Officer

BASFRobin RotenbergChief CommunicationsOfficer

MetLifeClaire BurnsChief Customer Officer

ChobaniNicki BriggsChief CommunicationsOfficer

Ericsson/CoinstarNora DenzelNon-Executive Director

CitigroupBen EylerVice-President, Marketingand Communications

Barnes & NobleSasha Norkin

Vice-President, Digitaland Channel Marketing

Home DepotFred Neil

Vice-President,Marketing, CRM andCustomer Insights

DiageoMichelle Klein

Vice-President, GlobalMarketing (Smirnoff)

Hewlett PackardRob Wait

Vice-President, Marketing

Whole FoodsBill Tolany

Head of IntegratedMarketing

Yum BrandsAmy SherwoodVice-President, PublicRelations and ConsumerAffairs

SprintDoug DuvallVice-President,CorporateCommunications

Cardinal HealthcareJill LaNouetteVice-President,Public Affairs

McDonaldsHeather OldaniHead of USCommunications

NestleDoug HawkinsVice-President,Public Affairs &Policy (Nutrition)

The Incite 2013 Summit


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Who are we?

A community of corporate marketing and communications professionals

A strident editor of debate

A tool for you to drive the future of marketing and communications

What do we do? We bring together senior marketing and communications executives -

online and in person

We work with you to ask them the questions you need answering We share those answers, and spark a debate

We help you do better marketing and communications

We incite challenging debate. We find the best corporateminds. You ask the questions.

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