Category: Interviews

CMO Insights: Preserving Customer Loyalty

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Following the year of “content marketing” that was 2013, we can only hope that 2014 is destined to be as rewarding a year for consumers on social media. Many brands are figuring out that earning customer loyalty via great content is on par with nurturing a real, face-to-face relationship, in that being a supportive, useful and interesting friend will almost always earn you an invite to the birthday party.

Some, like Torani, are well ahead of this curve. For a product like Torani, which relies on retailers to establish the first relationship with customers, it pays to keep tabs on the rolodex by not just touching base over social media, but also adding to their daily lives in a fun, relevant way. CMO Julie Garlikov, who won a President’s Circle Award at the recent CMO Club Awards, explains the ways Torani grows and manages its loyal fan base on a modest budget.

Drew: A CMO has a lot of choices in terms of where they invest their time.  What have been your top priorities in the last 12 months?

Our business continues to grow like crazy.   I am most focused on growing our consumer business and improving household penetration.  This includes some significant product innovation, as well as educating and engaging our consumer in new ways.

Drew: Have there been any big surprises in terms of what’s worked really well and what hasn’t?

We’ve launched a lot of new products this year.  What’s surprising is how long it has taken to get some of them off the ground, especially when you’re educating a market on a new behavior.  The other big surprise to me this year is the explosive growth in mobile, which now accounts for almost 30% of our online traffic.  We’re rapidly adapting our ecommerce platform to be better optimized for mobile.

Drew:  Has the fact that Torani does not have a huge multi-million budget forced you to be more innovative?  

We have to find the right partners to work with us who believe in our brand and who want to work with a great, local, family-owned business.  And, we need to focus more on things like PR and creating social buzz to get the word out.  We can’t do a lot of mass tactics, so we look to build really high loyalty with our business and consumer users, turning them into uber fans.

Drew: Have you been able to link your innovative marketing activities to the kinds of business metrics favored by CEOs?

I use a lot of test/invest methodology, trying things out small scale, proving that they deliver and then expanding.  It’s the only way to make ensure the best ROI on limited budgets.

Drew: Marketing seems to be getting increasingly complex in terms of ways to spend and ways to monitor. Has it gotten more complex for you and if so, how are you dealing with that complexity?

Julie: For such simple products, we have a very complex business with many channels and differing needs.  When you add all the new ways to market, it is complicated, and that’s what makes it interesting.  We’ve really focused the team on specific channels and segments and that helps them market the most successfully.

Drew: How do you stay close to your end users when the relationship with these folks is mainly owned by your retailer partners?  

Julie:  We get a great sense from social media and listening of what’s important to our user.  We’ve also been doing a lot of event marketing and mobile tours the past two years so we can hear more directly what our users like.  Between our retail partners and our foodservice distributors, we can be one step removed.  So, we have to create opportunities to engage regularly and we do a lot of research like ethnographies to really understand what our consumer wants and needs.

Drew: Has social media played much of a role in the driving your brand?  If so, how has it helped or how do you see it helping in the future?  

Julie:   We have a very active, loyal fan base that we engage with daily on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.  We also have done a lot of blogger outreach and engage with various bloggers on a regular basis, sending them new products, etc.  This helps get the word out on a small brand and is a big part of our acquistion strategies.

Drew: Content marketing is hot topic at the moment.  Are you increasing your investment in this area?

Julie:  Yes, this is a huge area for us.  We’ve developed videos and will be producing even more as the year wraps up.  Everything from how-to videos to funny content.  We also continue to create enticing inspirational photos and editorial, almost like what you see in a food magazine.  We’ve found that inspiring people with seasonal recipes and super on-trend ideas generates significant sales lift, so content is key for us.

Drew: Do you agree with that notion that marketing is everything and everything is marketing and if so how have you extended the boundaries of your job beyond the normal purview of the CMO?    

Julie:   This is so true.  We’ve actually created a social media/buzz marketer position within our department and moved consumer service into marketing.  That way, if someone engages on Facebook or Twitter or the old school phone, we’re able to have one seamless approach to dealing with their experience.  And, we’ve got a team who does the same thing for our commercial user too.

 

CMO Insights: Marketing Innovation

Posted on by Drew Neisser

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Look around your home, and you’ll find that you own at least one product by 3M. Chances are you own many. And the brand isn’t only an American staple, it’s made its way into marketplaces across the globe. From Post-It Notes and reflective traffic signs to your dentist’s favorite cleaning tools, 3M prides itself on providing useful products to customers around the world.

Part of what keeps 3M so successful is its ability to innovate and adapt to consumers’ changing needs in the digital space. Heading up this effort is Raj Rao, who chatted with me during the CMO Club Awards, where he took home a much-deserved Programmatic Marketing Award. And with a title like VP for Global eTransformation, it’s no wonder—Rao lives and breathes marketing innovation on a day-to-day basis. Enjoy, as he gives us a glimpse into the eCommerce operations behind 3M.

Drew: I love that your title suggests forward movement and innovation. What are your responsibilities?
My role in the organization is to use social and digital channels to strengthen 3M’s product innovation and eCommerce commercialization programs product roadmap activity for multiple brands in several global locations. As a marketer, my responsibility is to drive digital excellence through the adoption of world-class cloud and on-premise services that enable our marketers to get to real-time engagement and strengthen the competitiveness of 3M brands in industrial, professional, government and retail channels. A second key responsibility is to foster new skills and capabilities at all levels of our marketing and sales teams so that they can embrace new tools and insights that accelerate our commercialization programs.

Drew: A CMO has a lot of choices in terms of where he/she invests their time. What have been your top priorities in the last 12 months?
The top 4 priorities for my team have been a) content excellence programs that improve our social and online brand engagement programs, b) ROI and marketing analytics that focus our investments on the right portfolio of programs, c) eCommerce webstore functionality and SEO/organic search optimization to lead to higher sales conversion, and d) migration and upgrade of 3M marketing platforms to responsive design capabilities, leading to optimized desktop, tablet and mobile experiences.

Drew: Have there been any big surprises in terms of what’s worked really well and what hasn’t?
The big wins have been the real-time personalization using heuristics and our self-solve tool box. We have seen a significant increase in eCommerce conversion and lower costs of sales lead management as a result of these programs. I was also surprised at the rapid rise of marketplaces in China (like TMall), which eclipses all other 3M eCommerce channels in the APAC region. What has not delivered for 3M is apps. We have not been successful at driving branded engagement in the markets where we have invested. I am not sure that there is a real opportunity for branded apps.

Drew: Many people don’t realize that a huge part of the 3M business model is dedicated to developing new technologies. What roles do technology and innovation play in your marketing strategies?
We strive to create extended product experiences through digital channels. This has been evident in the cloud library service that we have successfully launched, in the custom car wrap business and in our health care brands. The digital channels play a key part in providing a differentiated user experience in all these businesses. Recently we unveiled an innovative partnership between our Post It brand and Evernote. We have an exciting pipeline of innovative solutions that exemplify the inherent technology strengths in diverse 3M markets and channels. Our marketing strategies are to promote user engagement and strengthen our insights so that we can drive focused commercialization programs.

Drew: Content marketing is a hot topic at the moment.  What’s your perspective on content in terms of its effectiveness? Are you increasing your investment in this area?
Yes, we do believe that content marketing holds the key to success with our top two digital priorities. Through our work in the healthcare (dental) industry, where we’ve invested in several content marketing programs, we have seen strong progress with eCommerce sales and actionable insights based on customer engagement. In the social media programs, content marketing is driving much stronger brand engagement, fueling the growth of advocates and influential followers on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. In China, our content programs in TMall and Weibo are leading to remarkable improvements in sales for both B2B and B2C sales.

Drew: How do you evaluate/measure the success of your marketing?  Are there some channels that work a lot better for you than others?
We measure 3 ways: the adoption of world-class tools and processes by brand teams and product marketers; the impact of the programs by audience and stage of engagement; and, the competitive benchmark performance. It is clear to us that our brand URLs are particularly effective for conversion tactics, while YouTube and social channels are well-suited to drive contextual engagement. The call center and webchat are very useful for issue resolution and responding to user issues. I am very impressed by the role that Amazon is playing in delivering high quality eCommerce programs for our consumer portfolio, and increasingly with our long tail B2B markets where we can increase market coverage and deliver new product applications.

Drew: 3M is the parent company of nearly a dozen different brands and operates within nearly every market segment. How do you stay close to your customers when you operate in so many markets and have so many different types of customers?  
3M has over 25 strategic global brands in consumer, industrial, professional and electronic markets. We also have a large portfolio of local brands that are organized by regional or local market. The key to success is the sustained investment in technology platforms that enable these brands to deliver compelling customer experiences. The $1.5 billion R&D budget provides a continuous supply of new formulations, advanced packaging formats, improved sustainability and differentiated benefits that are continuous and aligned to mega trends. We like to keep the customer insights separate yet connected with the technology roadmaps. This enables us to deliver a concurrent stream of “new to market Class V” innovations like the 3M Cloud Library, with “adjacent innovation Class III” products like Scotch Brite brand dish wands.  In fact, the diversity of brands, customer touch points and technology platforms is a tremendous source of strength for 3M. It drives our competitiveness and provides an endless stream of innovation outcomes.

Drew: Innovation is a sexy word but not as sexy to a CEO as ROI. Have you been able to link your innovative marketing activities to the kinds of business metrics favored by CEOs?
Our marketing activities enable the commercialization of 3M Innovation. Our CEO has challenged the teams to achieve a 40% NPVI metric by 2016. This means that new products and services need to account for 40% of 3M’s revenue in 2016. We are not far from that metric, but it is challenging to meet that goal while continuing to delivering 8-10% EPS growth each year. Sometimes this causes a paradox of choice. Should I optimize the current portfolio to drive margins, or should I create new products and invest in telling a new story to my customers? I think it’s a fine balance. Marketing activities like social media programs and YouTube video enable us to remain connected with influencers, while eCommerce initiatives allow us to test price points and packaging configurations ahead of finely-tuned broad market execution. Our CEO also wants our brands to exemplify the innovation positions in their markets in a manner that supports higher prices and premium margins. This can only be achieved when marketing activities are closely aligned to these objectives and allow us control over the conversations we need to have with the customers, versus relinquishing that to the channels.

Drew: How are you integrating social media into marketing efforts at 3M? Have social platforms proved to be a valuable channel for your brands?
Yes, social media has been a significant driver to value to our brands and corporate reputation. Recently, Interbrand called out our social media efforts as a key contributor to our position on the Global 100 Power Brands list. It provides the means for engagement with investors, employees, customers and media. Each of them is a voice for our brand and our global programs. Social media has also become a source for inspired ideas that translate to new products. For example, in China we developed a new line of pedestrian safety solutions, based in large part on social media listening programs that identified unmet needs and a groundswell of interest in new solutions. We also have used social media as a means to drive new product reviews that enable us to have stronger engagement with trade channels. By knowing how customers use our products in daily situations, we are better positioned to place the products in the right store aisle, optimize search results on digital eCommerce platform and train the instore sales personnel on what to recommend. In Latin America, some of the brands are using social media channels like Facebook to lunch new products. This is a really interesting proposition for 3M since it allows us to rapidly assess buyer sentiment.

Drew: Finally, I’ve heard it said , especially when it comes to the customer experience. Do you agree with that notion that “marketing is everything and everything is marketing,” and if so, how have you extended the boundaries of your job beyond the normal purview of the CMO?  
This is a really interesting point. My perspective is that the CMO needs to have strong operational knowledge of sales and customer service. Customers no longer follow a linear path to purchase, nor are they tied to any single channel. They are using digital tools like never before, amplifying brand experiences without any relationship boundaries and demanding more service options as part of the product purchase. So, the role of CMO needs to have that broader perspective on the customers’ experience journey and be prepared to generate appropriate content for that diversity. The big challenge is designing learning experiences for different levels of the organization that foster a new level of understanding, yet challenge us to break free from current channel or buyer/persona silos that are no longer relevant. To achieve this, we need to have courage and be prepared to risk losing some of the cultural heritage that has become embedded in our operational DNA. 3M is very well positioned for this change, and has already taken big steps in several business teams to make the leap forward.

CMO Insights: Global Sponsorships

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Phil Clement, Global CMO, AonHere is the 2nd part of my extensive and enlightening interview with Aon’s Global CMO Phil Clement.  This part covers Aon’s highly effective global sponsorship of Manchester United and the impact that program has customers, partners and employees.  I have no doubt that just about any marketer will find what Phil has to say instructive.  So read on…

Drew: It seems that Aon’s sponsorship of Manchester United is a big part of your marketing program. How does that fit into your go-to market strategy?

We’re in 120 countries, and in every country we have additional stakeholders—vendors, governments, regulators—and we have community groups that we interface with. Having a globally established brand is important. The Manchester United sponsorship has been a big part of that because we can use the same team, same language, same sponsorship material, same explanation for what we’re doing, how we’re doing it, and why we’re doing it across the world, because Manchester United is understood in every country.

Drew: In light of that, how do you measure the success of your programs?

Manchester United merits its own type of point system. We focused on three objectives. Because we are a company that has grown via 435 acquisitions, we called the first one Aon United, and we measured that by employee survey. Do [our employees] believe we have an important and engaging brand? Are they proud to work at the firm? We did extraordinarily well. Pride and whether Aon has a strong brand were the two highest responses in the survey. Prior to the sponsorship, the brand one was the lowest, and pride was not nearly as high. We know from our research that positive brands automatically have higher engagement.

The second way that we measured it was in marketing equivalency. We took some of the sponsorship fee and applied it against that. Then we used third party, almost public domain-type measures on the value of the advertising on television and in media, PR, online and in chat rooms. The third measure was client engagement. We looked at renewal rates, new business and crossover efforts. We counted the margin on that business, divided it by half, and did a calculation on whether or not it was a better investment than stock buyback. Everything else—like the fact that our recruiting lines in India went from 25 to 1,000, wrapping around the block—didn’t go into the calculations. The fact that employees were wearing jerseys to work, you can’t count that.

Drew: It’s interesting that this program had such a powerful effect on your employees, and ultimately they are your greatest brand ambassadors. Were you conscious of that going into this sponsorship?

It was very conscious. There’s always a gravitational pull that takes apart companies that have grown through acquisition. So, it’s extraordinarily important to provide additional substance to why you work together, and also excitement and symbolism to gather around. Manchester United has certainly done that for us.

Drew: Do you have a brand police? Does corporate have to approve local activities? 

I have to approve any sponsorship that is above $25,000. Anybody that is good at one profession doesn’t make good sponsorship decisions without the help of others. Our sponsorship strategy is that we want to be the only sponsor there. We want to make sure that it’s consistent with our messaging and that we can talk about 6 pillars that we use in all sponsorship activity: Risk, Talent, Health, Retirement, Data & Analytics, and Access to Capital. We also have pretty good ideas on pricing, which would merit an intervention.

Drew: Does social play a role in your business?

Our core client base does not use social media to get information, because there’s an aversion to talking about your health and benefits policies on social media. They look for things like articles on what it means to have an aspiring manager. It’s a mix of having the right content in the right places and realizing that the decisions of our clients are not driven by social media.

Our colleagues have found that the most effective way of connecting a 22-year-old colleague in India with someone in the U.S. is to provide a forum on Facebook or our internal platforms. We did a program a couple years ago called Pass it On, which focused on getting our colleagues to pass on their knowledge. We had three teams; one flew to Australia, one to Africa and one to South America and we handed off footballs through three routes back to England. Every time a ball came to your city, you did things to celebrate the culture with clients, colleagues and the community.

Drew: As CMO of Aon, what are your New Year’s resolutions? What do you hope to accomplish next year?

A couple things. Over the last 8 years we’ve done a really good job of developing an awareness of our brand. We also need to develop an understanding of what we do. Because we’re loosely affiliated with insurance, and people understand the insurance as consumer insurance they, don’t really get what we do. Internally, I would like to be more connected with my colleagues across the globe. I’m hoping I can create a global dialogue around what I think is the best profession in the world.

Final note: It’s easy to see why Phil was a recent CMO Club Awards winner.

 

CMO Insights: Innovative Marketing

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Geoff CottrillConverse is the creative world’s favorite party guest, which may be why it has so many friends—over 37 million on Facebook, to be exact. Just how did the sneaker brand get so popular? Not by being the life of the party, but by practicing good people skills and good social etiquette, says CMO Geoff Cottrill. Rather than stepping on toes and dominating the social conversation, Converse lets its audience guide the dialog, knowing that the brand belongs to those who wear it. Geoff shared these insights and more with me during this year’s CMO Club Awards, where he won honors for innovation in marketing—and after you read our conversation, you’ll understand why.

Drew: Have you been able to link your innovative marketing activities to the kinds of business metrics favored by CEOs?

We are fortunate to have a massive and loyal following who is willing to post content on our behalf. To know that we have millions of friends on Facebook and hundreds of thousands of photos tagged #Converse on Instagram is humbling. But for us real success is defined by our ability to build meaningful relationships that are true to our core values, spark creativity and inspire advocacy.

Drew: The Converse page currently has more than 37 million likes – one of the top 10 most popular pages on Facebook. How did you build such an active following on social media?  

As a global brand that speaks to personal style and expression, social media presents itself as a natural forum for us to communicate with our consumers. It’s absolutely a focused part of our overall communication efforts but at the same time we understand that we are not leading that communication, nor do we want to. We are a welcomed party guest. We keep it simple.  Be interesting, think creatively, think globally, believe in what we are saying, and take a step back to listen and watch.

Social media is a tremendous vehicle to learn about your consumers, what they like (or don’t like about you), what they are interested in hearing from us, what they’re doing in their lives, and what they are saying to each other. This brand belongs to the people who wear it.

Drew: We love your campaign to support up and coming musicians by giving them free recording time and promoting them via social media. How did you decide to get involved in the music industry?  

One of our goals as a brand is to give back and help inspire a new generation of musicians.  We talked to a lot of musicians and it became apparent that studio time was costly and unaffordable for many emerging artists who had turned to home studios and their bedrooms to record.  By opening Converse Rubber Tracks, it’s a way for us to say thank you to musicians all over who have helped us become the brand we are and to provide a place for new artists to have access to resources they may not be able to afford. It is Converse’s way to invest in the future of music.

Drew: Marketing seems to be getting increasingly complex in terms of ways to spend and ways to monitor. Has it gotten more complex for you and if so, how are you dealing with that complexity?

We don’t see it as being complex because our philosophy hasn’t changed. We strongly believe in building goodwill in communities and creating long-lasting brand ambassadors for the brand. It’s not just about selling sneakers.

Drew: A CMO has a lot of choices in terms of where they invest their time.  What have been your top priorities in the last 12 months?

In the next few seasons, Converse sees a huge potential of opportunities within avenues such as our wholesale accounts and securing key leadership positions with these important retailers through exclusive partnerships and product offerings. Another category with tremendous opportunity is young men and to truly get after the young male consumer from a head-to-toe perspective, encompassing footwear to apparel to accessories. The plan to reach them will be through the re-launch of the CONS segment, targeted specifically to their street culture, sport-inspired lifestyle.

Drew: Have there been any big surprises in terms of what’s worked really well and what hasn’t?

Our consumers are always surprising us! But we see these surprises in a truly positive way because we can always do better and are constantly seeking improvements.

Drew: What’s your perspective on content marketing?   

Our philosophy on content marketing is built on driving meaningful relationships that are true to our core values, spark creativity and inspire advocacy. Whether it’s about showcasing a musician that has just recorded at Converse Rubber Tracks in Brooklyn, a showcase we put on at SXSW, a street art exhibit in Beijing or a Three Artists One Song collaboration – we focus on developing stories that are compelling for our consumers. 

Drew: Converse has been in business since 1908. How do you balance respecting the tradition of the Converse brand with innovative marketing?

Converse has a long history in music. It has been worn on stage by legendary punk bands in the 1970s and adopted by kings of hip-hop, new wave, rockabilly, grunge and others throughout the decades. Musicians and creative people are our core audience, and we need to do everything possible to foster this community. We want to be useful to the community and never take advantage of it or overstep our place. We want to bring cultures together and celebrate music. In other words, we want to be in it, without getting in the way.

Drew: How do you evaluate/measure the success of your marketing?  

We believe that success is not measured in the traditional sense (i.e. ROI).  The number of deep relationships we can foster with the creative community—not media impressions, and content views, measures success for the brand.

Drew: Do you agree with that notion that marketing is everything and everything is marketing?  How do you as a marketer impact the entire customer experience? 

Marketing is not everything and everything [is not marketing] to Converse. It’s has always been the brand’s intention that our products and consumers drive the marketing, not the marketing driving our product. Our approach to the consumer experience is to invest and grow our connections to consumers. As a brand, Converse is on a mission to own “sneakers” and this will be communicated across all our messaging. We want the word “sneakers” to become synonymous with unleashing the creative spirit.

 

“Pi-Shaped” Marketing

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Why is it that whenever I talk to a Brit I immediately think of one or another scene from Monty Python? Blame it on a misspent youth, I guess.  So you can imagine where my mind first drifted to when Ashley Friedlein, CEO of Econsultancy, started talking to me about pi-shaped marketers:

Okay, now that I’ve taken you to instructions on pie silliness,  let’s get back to Friedlein who offers seriously heady counsel on why marketers need to get both sides of their brain’s working (thus the pi-shape) if they hope to succeed in today’s data-rich environment.   (For those of you unfamiliar with Econsultancy, founded in 1999, its a research and training group specializing in all things digital.  I am a big fan of their research and highly recommend subscribing to their blog.)

Drew:  You’ve talked about the rise of the ‘pi-shaped marketer’ in today’s modern marketing environment. First of all, how do you define the term, and what kind of background or experience would a pi-shaped person bring?

One thing that has become apparent with the rise of digital marketing is the sheer number of channels and techniques at the disposal of companies. There are a huge variety of ways to engage your customer base. That number is still growing. What this means is that companies at the cutting edge need to be able to maximize their results across all these channels, particularly as marketers move towards becoming the CEOs of tomorrow. In my opinion, this requires a special mix of many talents and attributes.

A pi-shaped marketer is essentially someone who has a wide breadth of skills and knowledge across various marketing disciplines, but crucially possesses both ‘left-brain’ and ‘right-brain’ abilities. These marketers are both analytical and data-driven, yet understand brands, storytelling and experiential marketing. The qualities that these people bring result in the potential for creating brilliant customer experiences that also have a real impact on the bottom line.

Drew:  How do you explain business’s growing interest in attracting pi-shaped marketers to their digital teams? Is it is consequence of marketers skills changing, or business needs evolving/functions merging?

What we’ve seen is that behind great digital experiences lies both a great deal of creative talent and a deep understanding of what the customer needs. Businesses looking to create great customer experiences need to have people who can tie these elements together. Business needs are changing in reaction to consumer expectations.

The other aspect to consider is the rapidly changing nature of digital business today. Skills need to be relearned constantly. People who are pi-shaped are naturally more resilient to change than those who aren’t, as their broad range of capabilities makes them able to adapt as change continues.

Drew: Are there particular marketing ‘prongs’ that are more in demand than others?

Data analysis is obviously in demand. But being good with numbers isn’t the only area generating increasing interest. There is a need for marketers to communicate this understanding of data into a clear narrative that drives business results and wins board buy-in. This is where creativity can come into play.

Drew:  Witnessing the growth of job titles such as ‘creative technologist’ or ‘chief marketing technologist,’ it seems the gap between analytics and creative roles is closing. So what are the structural implications for businesses bringing in pi-shaped people?

I don’t think pi-shaped people alone pose structural implications for businesses, but one structural change we are seeing is an increase in the fluidity of company structures as the speed of change continues to rise. Decision-making is being gradually woven throughout levels and departments, and digital people with broader understanding are becoming empowered to drive business change more quickly. Connections between different departments are also important, and marketers who span multiple disciplines will propel collaboration.

Drew:  So is there no longer a place for T-shaped people, those with deep specialist knowledge of say a specific industry or SEO or who may be simply a brilliant copywriter?  And how about generalists, who may fall into middle management, will they lose out?

I wouldn’t say that there isn’t a place for T-shaped people. In fact, people can be pi-shaped and T-shaped, although those who are the former are better positioned for leadership roles.  Digital will continue to need people with particular expertise in their domain, and deep skills to work at the coalface and drive results. T-shaped people are still important. The added benefit comes from those who can join their domain to others, which is where pi-shaped employees come in.  One thing I can see happening in the future is a lower importance placed on middle management as we move towards self-organizing agile teams. Generalists won’t necessarily lose out, as they can act as effective playmakers in bringing different groups of people together.

Drew: Finally, is raising the bar when it comes to pi-shaped hiring requirements asking too much?

I think companies will have to look at addressing the requirement for both creative and analytical nous more explicitly if they haven’t done so already. Hiring people with a broad business knowledge and deep understanding key specialism’s is a big ask, but those people are out there. A lot can also be done in-house through effective training, coaching and mentoring.

If this is done and opportunities to exercise both hemispheres of the brain are provided, then the right foundations can be laid for business success. Quite frankly, it would be a mistake not to refocus hiring and training programs for a digital focus.

 

CMO Insights: Keeping It Personal

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Think of customer service in today’s airline industry, and “human” may not be the first phrase that comes to mind. JetBlue, on the other hand, has been putting faces to names for quite some time. Marty St. George, SVP of Marketing and Commercial Strategy, caught up with me during this year’s CMO Club Awards and clued me in to the strategy behind JetBlue’s marketing operations. For starters, the airline keeps it personal by shunning a corporate persona and getting the whole crew involved—literally—by treating the planes’ staff as an extension of the marketing team. After all, the flight is the most important customer touch point of all.  Not surprisingly, Marty is a very bright guy and has a lot of good advice for anyone who is smart enough to ask for it.  So I asked and you’re the beneficiary assuming you read on…

Drew: CEO David Barger famously posed the question ‘How do we stay small as we get big?’ to the JetBlue team. As CMO, how do you take on this challenge?

Marty: Every leader at JetBlue takes full ownership of that challenge. There are elements of the JetBlue experience that naturally lend themselves to helping us stay small.  We don’t ask our people to do anything that we wouldn’t do.  (For example, when we are flying on a trip and we arrive at the gate, we ALL clean it, not just the flight attendants….on the holidays, many of us work at the airport helping customers during the busiest days.)  But specifically as CMO, I am focused on making sure that our mission and values come through in every communication we do, both internal and external. When we start looking like a faceless conglomerate to our people, we will have lost the battle.

Drew: JetBlue operates within a notoriously difficult industry. Much of your success has come from effectively connecting with your customers. What steps do you take to better understand and communicate with your customers?

Marty: I am very lucky, in that our founders gave us a mission and a set of values that are core to our DNA. Our mission is to inspire humanity, and part of what we try to accomplish is that personal connection between the brand and our customers. Our customers feel personal ownership of the brand, and they are very vocal about the things they love, and the things they want us to change.  

Drew: Innovation is a sexy word but not as sexy to a CEO as ROI.  Have you been able to link your innovative marketing activities to the kinds of business metrics favored by CEOs?

Marty:   Luckily we have a CEO who recognizes that innovation is part of the brand personality of JetBlue.  We report brand metrics to our board, just like we report financial metrics and the board expects us to push the envelope.

Drew: What is the biggest marketing risk you’ve taken at JetBlue? How did it play out?

Marty:  There have been a lot of them, but I think the biggest risk was the “Election Protection” promo we ran in New York during Fall 2012. The simple idea: if you’re one of those folks who says, if my candidate loses I’m moving to XX? We will give away 2,012 free tickets out of the country. It was risky because election promos are inherently risky; voting is a sacred duty, and there are many examples of brands commercializing the election to their detriment. Luckily, we played it perfectly and got more buzz than we ever imagined, and zero blowback. ( http://www.mullen.com/election-protection-from-jetblue-make-sure-to-vote/ )

Drew: How do you evaluate/measure the success of your marketing?  Are there some channels that work a lot better for you than others?

Marty:  Two key methods; first, on a macro level we look at brand metrics for us and our competitors. On a micro level, we measure every dollar we spend digitally and translate it into a cost-per-booking.  We share our metrics with our media partners and expect them to help improve campaigns and targets to get our CPB lower.

Drew: Has marketing become more complex for you and if so, how are you dealing with that complexity?

Marty:  We deal with it by keeping up with technology, and by finding partners in that space who can help keep us current. In fact, every year we have a “digital day”, where we invite current and potential marketing partners in to pitch our entire team. We’ve found several exciting new technologies and channels that way, just through an open “casting call”.

Drew: Content marketing is hot topic at the moment.  What’s your perspective on content in terms of its effectiveness?  Are you increasing your investment in this area?

Marty:  I think “content” is a concept that’s going to become obsolete very soon – rather than focusing on content as a means, we focus on engagement as the end. Content is one of many ways to create engagement, but certainly not the only way.  We have done some innovative programs (like Getaway with it – http://www.google.com/think/campaigns/jetblue-getaways-get-away-with-it.html ) but we do it with the goal of engagement.

Drew: What have been your top priorities in the last 12 months?

Marty:  My top 3 priorities are talent, talent and talent. We are always looking for brand evangelists. It’s easy to find people who can do the work, but it’s much tougher to find people who treat the brand like it’s their baby.  

Drew: Have there been any big surprises in terms of what’s worked really well and what hasn’t?

Marty:  We did a promotion called “Carmageddon” – when the 405 Freeway was closed in LA, we flew for a day back and forth between Burbank and Long Beach. When the team brought the idea to me, I said “I can’t imagine this getting buzz but feel free to do it, if you can do it cheaply.”  For about $10,000 in spend, we generated almost $10mm in impressions.  We had captured the moment in a fun, creative way.

Drew: Do you agree with the notion that marketing is everything and everything is marketing and if so, how have you extended the boundaries of your job beyond the normal purview of the CMO?  

Marty:  Absolutely agree; and luckily at JetBlue we all recognize that the experience is the ultimate manifestation of the brand, and our people learn this on day 1.  How?  Every month we hold an orientation for new Crewmembers at our training center, and many senior leaders attend.  When I speak at Orientation, my first line is to welcome everyone to the Marketing team – since everyone who touches a customer owns a piece of the brand.