After a year of pandemic-induced adaptation and acceleration, marketing leaders from brands that were able to pivot and find their footing in 2020—including Walgreens, GE, McDonald’s, Petco, and The Home Depot—came to MMA IMPACT Virtual to share insights on embracing agility, clearing a path for innovation and focusing on the customer experience.
After going through the shared and surreal experience of COVID-19, marketers are figuring out how to balance rapid response with sustainable growth. At MMA IMPACT Virtual, the following themes bubbled up to the surface as critical success factors for the future:
Each presentation at MMA IMPACT Virtual shed light on the major themes in unique ways. For example, Zara Mirza, Global Head of Brand Marketing for GE, explained that finding a brand’s soul means understanding its history and DNA. In 2020, GE did extensive interviews and research to develop its purpose-driven positioning: We rise to the challenge of building a world that works. “Purpose can’t be contrived,” Ms. Mizra said. “It’s a philosophy, not a campaign.”
That being said, GE leveraged its purpose during the pandemic to build greater trust with customers and partners and increase perceptions of brand credibility and favorability.
Lots of the marketing leaders who spoke at MMA IMPACT Virtual talked about the importance of taking creative risks, from showing a more human, vulnerable side to innovating with new forms of engagement. Two technologies that marketers are looking at are immersive augmented reality experiences powered by 5G and AI that decides which messages individual consumers receive across channels.
Naturally, data was another topic of strategic import at the conference, now that a world without identifiers is imminent. If you’re curious about which new solutions will help fill in the gaps, be sure to attend the MMA’s Great Debate Series on Identifier Solutions starting Friday, April 16.
Several marketers stressed the importance of first-party data, with Amy Adams, McDonalds’s Global Head of Personalization, going so far as to say that reward and loyalty programs will be the foundation for the future growth and evolution of customer data.
Janet Balis, Americas Customer and Growth Market Leader and Marketing Practice Leader at EY, provided valuable information about developing a roadmap to consumer data maturity, which leads to an AI-enabled future.
A significant portion of MMA IMPACT Virtual was devoted to technology. Marketers in attendance learned:
All of the sessions at MMA IMPACT Virtual were designed to help marketers create a winning marketing organization (WMO). According to research sponsored by the MMA and coordinated by Dr. Sundar Bharadwaj, WMOs are more customer focused, complex and decentralized, and develop a high degree of fit by aligning performance to capabilities that matter to future performance. In fact, each 1% increase in a marketing organization’s capability fit leads to a 2.5% increase in sales growth.
Benchmark your marketing organization’s capabilities now
The MMA is dedicated to helping marketers succeed in all market conditions. If you missed MMA Impact Virtual, we invite you to watch select presentations now. And be sure to register for upcoming events that will help you leverage the power of agility, innovation and customer experience.
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