Page 57 - BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2014

Section 03 | Thought Leadership

TRANSFORMATION
Innovation and fragmentation
Once the target operating model has been deined
the data and technology strategy can be developed.

Over the past 15 years brands have adopted digital In conjunction with your IS colleagues, build
marketing technology in a fragmented, tactical way a data framework and technology architecture
THROUGH that supports your brand engagement strategy
creating massive ineficiencies and preventing them and operating model and make sure you have the
from future optimization and innovation.
right people in place to manage the new tools

“Effective management
and data sets.

TECHNOLOGY
of technology has become Lastly, ensure that a thorough and ongoing
adoption program is put in place to drive home
a competitive advantage the transformation. Training and education is vital,
but equally important is measurement and
for marketers.”
comparability through the use of common KPIs
Some marketing technologies such as ad serving and business beneits.

and search campaign management were outsourced The limits of technology
to agencies, while others such as email marketing,
web analytics and social listening were often
managed by specialist internal business units. Rarely Through the smart and structured adoption of
did anyone pause to map out the entire range of technology brands can achieve better customer

consumer touch points and brand engagements in visibility, more meaningful engagement, better
order to design a truly customer-centric technology attribution of success and an agile platform for
strategy and operating model.
ongoing marketing innovation.

But today, leading marketing organisations are But it is vital to remember that technology is simply
Stephan Pretorious
realizing that the ability to curate a consistent and an enabler. Without the required adjustments to
President
relevant brand experience across all touch points business process, without properly trained staff in
Acceleration relies heavily on the ability to manage all the tools, clearly deined roles, without a strong vision for how
platforms, and data sets that deliver those you want to improve your marketing practice, and,
stephan@acceleration.biz
experiences in an integrated whole. Customers crucially, without the cultural willpower to change
expect to be recognized and presented with highly your organization, no transformation program can

relevant offers and experiences across multiple be a success.
different channels, but this requires the integration
and coordinated use of a large number of disparate
tools. And each time a new media platform becomes
popular with consumers, or a new VC-backed Imperatives for

software platform provides new features and Success
functionality, the complexity is exacerbated.

In order to combat the fragmentation that can result 1. Secure a strong executive mandate –
from ad hoc adoption of new technologies, brands Transformation is fundamentally about

need a strong technology strategy and an operating culture and vision, not simply tools and
model to support it.
processes, and that has to come from
the top.
Transformation in action
2. Build a strong partnership with IS –
“It is not the strongest of the Technology strategy, procurement,
The process of creating a marketing technology
species that survive, nor the strategy and then driving change throughout a architecture, program and service
most intelligent, but the one complex global organization with multiple divisions, management are tasks IS teams are much
better placed to deliver on.
most responsive to change.” brands and suppliers can be time-consuming and
expensive. It is therefore imperative to secure a 3. Develop a strong business case – Business
strong executive mandate from the start, backed by
Charles Darwin
a solid, measureable business case. It is also critical beneits should focus on quantiiable
Acceleration crafts digital marketing capability for global
that marketing strategy leads technology and not improvements in marketing effectiveness
Marketing has evolved at an unprecedented pace as well as cost eficiencies realized through
during the last ive years. Brands are bigger than brands and industry leaders. We are digital natives who early on the other way round.
technology standardization, scale and de-
ever, competition is global, and consumer behavior understood the radical impact that technology would have on the duplication.
future of brands. A rare breed of individuals with comprehensive Always start with the brand engagement strategy:
is changing faster than most businesses can experience of building marketing capability, driving best practice What does our current customer experience look
accommodate. In response, there has been an and implementing marketing technology.
and feel like and how do we want to improve it? Are 4. Be customer-centric, not technology-
explosion in the development of software tools to centric – Technology can be a highly
manage virtually every aspect of marketing practice we artiicially limiting the customer experience as a effective enabler for improved brand
and in recent years these tools are being Operating at the intersection of technology and strategy, insights result of our own organizational structure or silos?
engagements and customer insights, but it
incorporated into ever-more-comprehensive and consumer engagement to build the speciic capabilities mustn’t lead the process.
needed to grow market share and expand global reach. We have a Next, deine the operating model that will best
platforms of business software by companies such reputation for accelerating value-delivery for brands on the road support the delivery of your brand engagement
as Adobe, Google, IBM, Oracle and Salesforce.
to digital transformation. Part of WPP Digital, and with 14 years’ strategy. Which functions are managed internally

Marketing has changed, and at its core is a experience, we employ over 150 strategic marketing technologists and which ones are outsourced? Do we need to
technological revolution.
globally. For more details visit www.acceleration.biz
operate across brands and markets? How do we
integrate processes with stakeholders in IS,
corporate affairs and insights?

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