Mark Willson, IBM

Editor's Notes

• #3: This study includes some of the most exciting results we have uncovered throughout the CxO series. CMOs today are on the threshold of major changes and this study takes a closer look at those forces impacting the marketing function and CMOs’ responsibilities. We found that CMOs are keenly aware of the shifting marketplace they are in. But how well are they prepared to manage the flood of change coming their way?
• #4: This report is IBM’s first study of CMOs – and the fifteenth in the ongoing series of C-suite studies developed by the IBM Institute for Business Value . The CMO Study follows the same tradition as the studies preceding it, with fact-based insights derived from in-depth conversations with executives around the globe.
• #5: This report is IBM’s first study of CMOs – and the fifteenth in the ongoing series of C-suite studies developed by the IBM Institute for Business Value . The CMO Study follows the same tradition as the studies preceding it, with fact-based insights derived from in-depth conversations with executives around the globe.
• #6: Between February and June 2011, we met face to face with 1,734 CMOs in 19 industries and 64 countries to better understand their goals and the challenges they confront. This sample size and approach makes our study statistically very strong. It also enables us to dive deeply into many of the segments, whether by industry, geographic region or even country. There are a number of other CMO studies in the marketplace, but they are either focused on a particular geography or industry, or rely on online surveys, which cannot capture the depth, nuance and candor that comes from an in-person dialog. This is what sets this study apart from the rest – it is large enough, and comprehensive enough to provide a true reflection of what CMOs around the world are thinking and feeling.
• #7: CMOs are well aware of the challenges that confront them. They recognize, like CEOs, that the world in which they operate is much more volatile, uncertain and complex. Increasingly interconnected economies, enterprises, societies and governments have given rise to huge new opportunities. But greater connectivity has also created strong – and often unpredictable – interdependencies. And like CEOs, CMOs don’t feel completely ready to handle the situation. A full 79 percent of the CMOs we talked with believe the level of complexity will be high or very high over the next five years. But only 48 percent feel prepared to cope with it. These percentages mirror those from the 2010 CEO study, when we asked CEOs the same questions about future complexity.
• #12: CMOs can carry on as before – and continue to feel stretched. Or they can seize the opportunity to transform their marketing function by responding to these new realities: • The empowered customer is now in control of the business relationship • Delivering customer value is paramount – and an organization’s behavior is as much a part of the value equation as the products and services it provides • The pressure to be accountable to the business is not just a symptom of hard times; it is a permanent shift that requires new approaches, tools and skills.
• #13: At IBM, we mean that intelligence is being infused into the systems and processes that make the world work—into things no one would recognize as computers: cars, appliances, roadways, power grids, clothes, even natural systems such as agriculture and waterways. Today, it's not a question as to whether the technology to build a smarter planet is real. Now, we need to know what to do next. How do you infuse intelligence into a system for which no one enterprise or agency is responsible? How do you bring all the necessary constituents together? How do you make the case for budget? Where should you start? We've learned a lot over the past year about what it takes to build a smarter planet. Importantly, we’ve learned that our companies, our cities and our world are complex systems—indeed, systems of systems—that require new things of us as leaders, as workers and as citizens. A smarter planet will require a profound shift in management and governance toward far more collaborative approaches.
• #14: Overview: SNS Bank worked with IBM to create an inbound marketing machine built on a Software platform to define business rules allowing them to act on buying signals to extend the most relevant offer to any customer at any given time. SNS Bank departed from the traditional marketing approach where product is the key and focused on the needs of the consumer combining real time customer characteristics such as product ownership, demographics and transactional data with the consumers online surfing behaviour to extend the right offer to the right customer at the right time. Example: Someone is looking to open a savings account and uses an internet search engine to find current charges and interest rates. Through the optimised search process they end up on the home page of SNS Bank, because the search terms used where ‘savings’ and ‘interest’ the individual was presented with a SNS Bank savings account offer. SNS Bank have taken a multi-channel approach with personal and relevant offers being extended through all sales channels from ATM’s to SNS in-store Banks creating a multi-channel dialogue via all channels.
• #15: Overview: Best Buys philosophy is that the role of a Marketer is to arbitrate customer conversations throughout the customer lifecycle and to support long term customer engagement with relevant and timely dialogues. This philosophy is being driven by the highly competitive retail landscape where to survive Best Buy must acquire and maintain a highly loyal and engaged customer base they are achieving this from a marketing campaign automation perspective by: Delivering messages that help customers with some of the hurdles of the product lifecycle Take the insights gleaned from customers through interactions and take them back to the business to find areas our value proposition may not be serving their customers well Example Best Buy suggests to a customer who may be coming towards the end of a contract to use an online tool where they can see if they are eligible for a free mobile phone upgrade. This approach delivers utility to the consumer and is an equally helpful tool for the business unlocking demand for Best Buy. The Enterprise Marketing Management Software platform provided by IBM has allowed Best Buy to shape and execute on their offers as well as optimise the cross-sell and up-sell process resulting in increased marketing contribution and profitability for the organisation