On April 13 at New Yorks Trump SoHo Hotel, an elite group of marketing leaders gathered to share ideas that underscore how risk-taking and reinvention are among todays best tools for successful brand strategies in these times of dramatic change. Many in the room and at the podium had recently been named to The Internationalists annual list of 100 Marketing Leaders from around the world. These accomplished executives are using their experience, insights and expanded responsibilities to develop new marketing solutions amid todays global complexity and redefined business objectives.
The expanded role of a 21st century marketing leader carries far greater levels of accountability than ever before. These marketers are charged with building brands nownot over timein an environment that stresses increased sales today. Working in real time with accelerated decision-making and instant data feedback demands that a smart marketer execute and evaluate simultaneously-- perhaps for the first time in the history of business. And all of this must be done with smaller staffs.
A Marketing Leader must be a companys visionary and its expert on trends, while demonstrating adeptness at both internal and external communications. Add a global overlay of regulations, carbon footprints, CSR, cultures, languages, political environments and all manner of differing perspectives, and youve described one of the worlds most challenging occupations-- played on a very public stage fraught with immediate customer reaction that directly affects a brands potential for success.
Through discussion and sharing of best practices, participants in THE 100 demonstrated how they are:
Reinventing ways in which their products and services interact with consumers lives.
Presenting a consistent worldwide image that establishes overall consumer confidence while working to connect on an individual customer level.
Discovering how brand value today is directly tied to being a champion for local economics or for larger, sustainable initiatives.
Recognizing that a combination of art and science is now critical to solid marketing programs that brings results.
THE 100 was underwritten by the following companies: BBC World News, CoreBrand and Out There Media as Premium Sponsors; Bloomberg, Euronews and The Financial Times as Supporting Sponsors and Dentsu Network West, Publicitas North America, SCAN International, Sony Pictures Television, The Wall Street Journal, World Media and The Yomiuri Shimbun as Participating Sponsors.
THE 100 opened with a provocative presentation entitled The End of the World by Toby Hoden, CMO of ING Investment Management and Larry Oakner, Managing Director of CoreBrand, the firm who helped ING consider its branding options. They addressed what happens when, in our new economic re-setting, a global company shrinks its world as ING Investment Management goes from Global to Local. The companys marketing team took on the unique branding challenge to transfer the equity of a global company to regional businesses with an entirely new brand. Toby Hoden and Larry Oakner shared the process by which they considered the companys best options in Europe, Asia and The Americas.
Katy Giffault, Vice President/Global Consumer Insights at Hasbro presented how reinvention can be used to a companys best marketing advantage. Hasbro has reinvented of some of the worlds best-loved brands. MONOPOLY, now 75 years old, has transformed from board game to digital fun on Facebook, while SCRABBLE, now in its 63rd year, has become Toy of the Year, thanks to electronic tiles. Reinvention, reimagining and putting the consumer at the center of all strategy has been critical to keeping these brands relevant.
Luis Gallardo, Managing Director Global Brand & Marketing at Deloitte offered his view on Marketing Darwinism or Survival of the Fittest by suggesting that Think Global, Act Local is no longer enough when describing the cross-border pollination of ideas and products in todays global economy. Instead, he advocates a 360-degree view of how we can best prepare businesses for sustained, long-term profitable growth. We need THAP or Think Holistic, Act Personal.
Henrique De Castro, President Global Media, Mobile & Platforms at Google helped the audience prepare for whats next by outlining some of the key trends that will affect the evolution of marketing. He discussed how everything will be digitalfrom convergence to mobile advertising to real-time marketing to social marketing. Among those areas where we will see the greatest change are: 1. contentwhere a vast amount more coming online, 2. next generation adsbe better tailored with information relevant to an individual and 3. an emphasis on buying audiences rather than sites due to a new unbundling of audiences and content as we learn to better aggregate like-minded consumers.
Simon Jimenez, Vice President of GlobeScan, focused on the potential of the corporate brand by asking those marketers in the room a simple question: What do you stand for? GlobeScans worldwide research has found that there is a growing demand among consumers to better understand what a business (not its products) stands for and believes in. This may be best described as a companys sense of purpose-- beyond the goods and services they sell. It is an increasingly powerful driver of trust, loyalty, and supportive behavior toward a company in an era of radical transparency.
A panel discussion followed with Paul Woolmington, New York Founder of NAKED, Jessica Kornacki, SVP Marketing & Sales at Wyndham Worldwide Resorts and Liz Miller, Vice President of Global Programs & Operations at the CMO Council on how innovation today is increasingly driven by the integration of marketing with technology. With customer experience frequently dependent on the level of personalized interaction, content relevance and timely response, marketers have to be more adept at teaming with IT groups and to innovate and improve web sites, call centers, social media, mobile touch and point-of-sale or service transactions. Brands from Zip Car to Nike have proven they can differentiate themselves by allowing technology solutions to enhance the innovation process.
In a lively Question & Answer session, Nakeds Paul Woolmington talked with Morten Alb
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