100 marketing directors.pdf

INTERVIEWS WITH

MARKETING DIRECTORS

M ARK ET ING PROFI LE

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Each year, the Electronic Business Group solicits the marketing directors in its network to conduct an extensive study of the developments in their profession and their challenges. We do not just ask them to complete a multiple choice form or to answer a few questions: we arrange to meet with them in their offices for one to two hours, to talk about the issues and projects that interest them in detail and to listen to their points of view and their stories.

Conducted with the support of our two partners, SAS and Deloitte, we have drawn on these extremely rich and diverse discussions to try to draw a picture of how marketing departments adapt to their company’s business environment, its market, and the economy in general.

Whereas in the first survey we emphasized the impact of the digital revolution, this year we chose to look more closely at how marketing interacts with the rest of the organization. Indeed, if there is one finding that stands out among the rest in the 2015 Marketing Profile, it’s that the function is increasingly shifting towards a role of conductor or platform for dialogue between the market and the company and within the company itself.

The book you hold in your hands is an abridged version of the full study that can be downloaded (in French) for free from EBG’s website (www.ebg.net). In this version, we will focus on three aspects that particularly caught our attention: the trend in the fundamentals of marketing, the integration of marketing into a central role within the company, and the positioning of digital technology compared to organizations’ strategic challenges.

Introduction

www.ebg.net

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Contents

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Introduction

1. The role of marketing director in 2015: between consolidation and innovation

1.1. Marketing director’s objectives

1.2.Marketing fundamentals remain the number one challenge for marketing directors

1.3.The most profound changes are often linked to new ways of processing information

2. The marketing department to play a crucial role within the company

2.1.A function that is becoming more central

2.2.The relationship between marketing and IT is critical

3. Marketing departments and digital integration within the organization

3.1.Better integration of digital technology for better sales

3.2.Leveraging digital technology at the point of sale

3.3.Digital implementation at the appropriate level of the organization

Conclusion

1.The role of marketing director in 2015: between consolidation and innovation

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To better understand the everyday life of a marketing director, we asked each of our interviewees to tell us the objectives on which they spend the most time. The 23 objectives we uncovered are summarized in the table below and organized according to their degree of novelty and impact.

1. Business-as-usual objectives (e.g. growth or profitability) that remain a challenge for marketing directors.

2. New, major trend objectives which are fairly broad and for which marketing directors are trying to define their position and approach.

3. Weak signals or what could potentially indicate how the function will evolve.

Objectives of the marketing director

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1.1

Objectives Type Number of occurrences

CATEGORY"understand and serve the

customer"(40 occurrences)

Improve customer knowledge / personalization Major trend 11



Improve customer satisfaction Business As Usual 9CATEGORY

"understand and serve the customer"

(40 occurrences)

Improve customer relationships / customer journey Weak signals 8CATEGORY

"understand and serve the customer"

(40 occurrences)Work on value as perceived by the customer Weak signals 6



Improve the customer experience Weak signals 4



Reaching customers Major trend 2

CATEGORY"rework the marketing mix"

(38 occurrences)

Reconstruct the offering Business As Usual 17


(38 occurrences)

Improve / strengthen / work on branding Business As Usual 10


(38 occurrences)

Work on communication Business As Usual 4CATEGORY"rework the marketing mix"

(38 occurrences)Improve the relationship with the network Weak signals 3


(38 occurrences)Improve multichannel marketing Weak signals 3


(38 occurrences)

Work on the relationship with the ecosystem Weak signals 1

CATEGORY"transform marketing

and the company" (34 occurrences)

Digitize marketing Major trend 16



Navigate uncharted waters Major trend 7CATEGORY"transform marketing


Drive internal culture change Weak signals 6


and the company" (34 occurrences) Support the company’s transformation Weak signals 3



Improve the image of marketing Business As Usual 2

CATEGORY"contribute to growth/value " (31 occurrences)

Contribute to growth / value Business As Usual 30CATEGORY"contribute to growth/value " (31 occurrences)

Protect the business Weak signals 1

CATEGORY"seek efficiency"

(24 occurrences)

Improve processes Business As Usual 9


(24 occurrences)

Improve profitability Business As Usual 8CATEGORY"seek efficiency"

(24 occurrences)Improve / implement tools Business As Usual 4


(24 occurrences)Strengthen marketing expertise Weak signals 3

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An examination of this table reveals that marketing directors mainly focus on business as usual objectives, which represent 54% of the occurrences. These are the so-called “traditional objectives” they have always been tasked with: contributing to growth (the most commonly cited objective, 38% of CMOs), improve customer satisfaction and profitability, etc. We got the impression during interviews that the pressure was greater than ever to achieve these fundamental objectives, probably because of the crisis and the increased competition the crisis brought with it.

The second category is that of major trends: digitize marketing, improve customer knowledge and personalization, navigate uncharted waters, and succeed in reaching customers. In these areas, marketing directors are trying to find the right model by experimenting, taking risks, and learning from their mistakes. Everything is still up in the air, but there are a few lessons that can be learned for the future.

Finally, the third category is that of weak signals. Only some CMOs cited these objectives, which are still not fully defined, but which could be harbingers of how marketing will evolve in the future. You can sort them into three main groups: the objectives related to the cross-functional role (e.g. support the company’s transformation, enhance marketing expertise, or change the internal corporate culture); objectives related to its role as “conductor” (improve the relationship with the network, work on the relationship with the ecosystem, etc.), and objectives tied to improving the customer and/or consumer experience and journey (e.g. improve customer relationships and work on the value perceived by customers).

When we look closer, this classification shows that the marketing function is undergoing a radical shift. Nearly two-thirds of the objectives either correspond to a major trend that did not exist in the past, or to weak signals, only affecting some companies.

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Type of objectives

39 %

17 %

43 %

Business As Usual Major trend Weak signals

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Ranking of marketing directors’ objective categories by occurrences

0

10

20

30

40

50

Understanding and serving the customer

Reconstructing the marketing mix

Transform marketing and the company

Contribute to growth/value

Seek efficiency

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Is this because of the recent crisis? Or because—in contrast to what we read in industry magazines—the profession is slowly evolving?

Nonetheless, the marketing directors we interviewed mainly emphasized the importance of understanding the market, developing the right products, and pricing them accordingly so that the business can grow. In other words, the basics of the profession. The marketing director of Carrefour told us that his primary concern was to succeed with the fundamentals.

Of course, these fundamentals are not set in stone forever: they evolve with the market and modernize. Marketing is expected to move faster than before to achieve these traditional objectives.

Marketing fundamentals remain the number one challenge for marketing directors

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1.2

Carrefour Thierry Pelissier Director of Marketing and Communication

Interview

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Eric Vessier, Functional Advisor, Solutions Integrated Marketing Management, SAS

The fundamentals remain even though the tools are changing.

« What is a marketing manager basically looking for?

The answer has not changed: to be able to easily identify the key values and have tools that really help with decision making. Marketing managers can detect new opportunities, respond quickly to important developments for the company, and adapt their communication to the customer.

To achieve this, there are still a few major hurdles: access to relevant and representative information, processing time, communication of results and their obsolescence. How do you successfully convince your colleagues or your customers if the quality of your data is questionable, if it takes too long to conduct qualitative/quantitative studies, if you are the only one who understands the findings, or if the life cycle of your customer segmentation is too short?

Not only do today’s tools support your decision making with information validated by everyone, but they also allow you to take it one step further and analyze the more complex aspects of marketing, while making the results easier to read and therefore interpret. This is all due to enhanced visual representations and easier, more relevant, and interactive means of perusing the data. And all this with shorter processing times. Moreover, you can access this data immediately and from anywhere. You become more agile and thus responsive, and you actively collaborate in decision-making processes. »

Avis d’expertExpert opinion



“What is a marketing manager basically looking for? The answer has not changed: to be able to easily identify the key values and have tools that really help with decision making. Marketing managers can detect new opportunities, respond quickly to important developments for the company, and adapt their communication to the customer. To achieve this, there are still a few major hurdles: access to relevant and representative information, processing time, communication of results and their obsolescence. How do you successfully convince your colleagues or your customers if the quality of your data is questionable, if it takes too long to conduct qualitative/quantitative studies, if you are the only one who understands the findings, or if the life cycle of your customer segmentation is too short? Not only do today’s tools support your decision making with information validated by everyone, but they also allow you to take it one step further and analyze the more complex aspects of marketing, while making the results easier to read and therefore interpret. This is all due to enhanced visual representations and easier, more relevant, and interactive means of perusing the data. And all this with shorter processing times. Moreover, you can access this data immediately and from anywhere. You become more agile and thus responsive, and you actively collaborate in decision-making processes.”

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In some areas, the profession is slowly changing. But there are other areas where we see radical innovations that are causing marketing departments to undergo a genuine transformation. These changes are very often related to new ways of exploiting data, helping to better understand and to address the customer in a completely new way.

Banks and insurance companies in particular stand to gain tremendously by developing the analytical capabilities of their customer data: the BPCE Group offers an excellent example.

If we can get to know our customers more precisely, we are able to speak to them in a more personalized manner and even completely transform the way we talk to them. For the Bel Group, data is changing the paradigm of the brand’s relationship with its customers.

The most profound changes are often linked to new ways of processing information

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1.3

Groupe Bel Mariana Paula Coronel Director of Marketing Development

Interview

BPCE Cédric Mignon Member of the BPCE Executive Board, Director of Business Development at Caisse d’Epargne

Interview

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New analysis capabilities allow us to address customers in a different way, as well as make the company’s value proposition stand out better. This ultimately makes the value proposition more easily quantifiable, comparable, and actionable. This is especially true in a B2B context such as that of Vallourec, whose marketing director developed a new method to establish the strengths of its offer with industrial customers.

In conclusion, after getting a better understanding of customers, a better way to address to them, and a better way to position the company’s value proposition, the data ultimately helped improve the offering itself. Many of the companies we interviewed told us they wanted to enrich their service offering by leveraging new digital opportunities.

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Vallourec Jean-Marc Scemama Vice President of Corporate Marketing

Interview

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Mouloud Dey, Director of Solutions and Emerging Markets, SAS

Creation of new service offerings by leveraging new data

« Digital transformation and contestability.

Beyond the technological innovations, the digital era has profoundly shaken company practices and called into question “proven” models. The first movers managed to develop asymmetric disruptive strategies that are gradually unsettling large parts of the traditional economy.

Faced with this logic of “contestability” (more so than competition), the more traditional brands are now urgently raising the question of accelerating the company’s digital transformation.

This transformation requires a fundamental rethink of the relationship with the consumer, in addition to product design, promotion, marketing and distribution methods, and pricing models.

In the age of the Internet of Things, where the product is less important than the service, ownership less decisive than usage, free products or services sometimes more profitable than paid, and distribution becoming both virtual and physical, marketing has to constantly invent new approaches that are focused on the consumer experience.

Take the case of the automotive sector. While connectivity in vehicles is gradually becoming the norm, the challenge for manufacturers is to make communication devices that offer their users a personalized experience. The digital transformation forces manufacturers to not only manufacture and sell vehicles, but to imagine an ecosystem and new business models



Creation of new service offerings by leveraging new data.

“Digital transformation and contestability. Beyond the technological innovations, the digital era has profoundly shaken company practices and called into question “proven” models. The first movers managed to develop asymmetric disruptive strategies that are gradually unsettling large parts of the traditional economy. Faced with this logic of “contestability” (more so than competition), the more traditional brands are now urgently raising the question of accelerating the company’s digital transformation. This transformation requires a fundamental rethink of the relationship with the consumer, in addition to product design, promotion, marketing and distribution methods, and pricing models. In the age of the Internet of Things, where the product is less important than the service, ownership less decisive than usage, free products or services sometimes more profitable than paid, and distribution becoming both virtual and physical, marketing has to constantly invent new approaches that are focused on the consumer experience.

Take the case of the automotive sector. While connectivity in vehicles is gradually becoming the norm, the challenge for manufacturers is to make communication devices that offer their users a personalized experience. The digital transformation forces manufacturers to not only manufacture and sell vehicles, but to imagine an ecosystem and new business models centered around implementing new digital

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Creation of new service offerings by leveraging new data

« Digital transformation and contestability.

Beyond the technological innovations, the digital era has profoundly shaken company practices and called into question “proven” models. The first movers managed to develop asymmetric disruptive strategies that are gradually unsettling large parts of the traditional economy.

Faced with this logic of “contestability” (more so than competition), the more traditional brands are now urgently raising the question of accelerating the company’s digital transformation.

This transformation requires a fundamental rethink of the relationship with the consumer, in addition to product design, promotion, marketing and distribution methods, and pricing models.

In the age of the Internet of Things, where the product is less important than the service, ownership less decisive than usage, free products or services sometimes more profitable than paid, and distribution becoming both virtual and physical, marketing has to constantly invent new approaches that are focused on the consumer experience.

Take the case of the automotive sector. While connectivity in vehicles is gradually becoming the norm, the challenge for manufacturers is to make communication devices that offer their users a personalized experience. The digital transformation forces manufacturers to not only manufacture and sell vehicles, but to imagine an ecosystem and new business models

Avis d’expert

services. The data generated by vehicles and the daily experience of their users will be the main fuel these models run on, generating—asymmetrically—major growth drivers for other activities or other economic sectors.

The marketing revolution is a revolution of data and its uses.”

Expert opinion

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2.The marketing department to play a crucial role within the company

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The take-away from most of our conversations is that marketing is starting to occupy an increasingly central role within organizations to the point where it has almost become a platform for the company and its market to contact and interact with each other. This is true even in areas where it was traditionally not considered the most strategic department. Such is the case with Saint-Gobain, for example.

The fact that the marketing department is occupying an increasingly central position in the company is mainly due to the desire to make the customer a key part of the corporate strategy. New digital channels that bring brands and consumers closer together and an increasingly competitive environment mean that this fact has to be taken into consideration at all levels of the organization. The marketing department is generally seen as the most legitimate entity to represent the customer. This is the vision at Sephora, for example.

« We are mainly seen as the customer’s defender, the department that fights for the interests of customers in internal debates. » Sephora, Elizabeth Anglès d’Auriac, Chief Marketing Officer for Europe

A function that is becoming more central

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2.1

Saint-Gobain Fabrice Didier Chief Marketing Officer

Interview

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In addition to its traditional functions, the marketing department is increasingly taking the role of an internal customer ambassador. This is the vision shared by Carrefour’s Chief Marketing Officer.

Taking this logic even further, the Chief Marketing Officer of Yahoo! has even gone so far as to evoke the possibility of marketing losing its function once it has successfully accomplished its goal of creating a customer-centric culture within the company. This is still a distant horizon though.

Stronger collaboration between different departments and mutual understanding needs to happen first, and this is generally the direction things are moving in.

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Interview

Yahoo! Jean-Christophe Gombeaud Chief Marketing Officer

Interview

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Among the departments that marketing has to collaborate with more closely, there is one in particular where mutual understanding seems absolutely critical today: the IT department. The specifics of this understanding are different depending on the company, with varying degrees of proximity and interconnectedness. But almost every marketing director told us that the quality of their relationship was a key success factor. Anthony Belliot, the Chief Marketing Officer at Universal Music, for example, explains how this collaboration works: « IT offers us genuine support and is an ally. Take the redesign of our site, for example. We had to produce very detailed specifications and we couldn’t have done it without the validation and support from IT. It’s a very on the ball and highly qualified team. »

The importance of information technology for marketing is not a new phenomenon of course. Software and hardware are needed to segment the customer base and manage campaigns. The growth of CRM in the 1990s was one of the most striking events, and it is not yet finished. On the other hand, how decision-making authority should be shared is now being questioned. When IT-related issues affect marketing, who should take the lead: the marketing or the IT department?

If this has become a current issue, it is because the nature of IT tools has changed. The mutation of the Web into a platform for running software (what Tim O’Reilly has called the “Web 2.0”) followed by the rise of cloud computing has made these tools much more intuitive to use. Solutions vendors are more focused on “business” as opposed to “systems.”

Their sales force has also begun to talk directly with marketing directors, side-stepping IT altogether.

The tools that were traditionally the hardest to master have not escaped this trend. For example, analytics has become more accessible to non-technical staff, thanks to the introduction of data visualization software.

How can we therefore ensure that solutions directly adopted by business units fit into the entire enterprise application ecosystem? How should IT and marketing roles evolve?

Repositioning is often needed in organizations. This was the case at Banco Sabadell.

The relationship between marketing and IT is critical

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2.2

Banco Sabadell Pier Paolo Rossi Director Business Intelligence

Interview

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In addition to the extensive set of technological tools to which marketing has access, we saw above how the ability to intelligently process data is a key success factor for marketing and for the company. However, this also implies an understanding between IT and the marketing department.

This need for collaboration between IT and the marketing department is further reinforced by the digital turning point—another issue that is strongly impacting how CMOs’ jobs are evolving.

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Nicolas Terrasse, Business Solution Sales Driver, SAS

Collaboration CIO - CMO : une collaboration au service de la marque

« At a time when everyone in the company should consider information as an asset to be widely shared, there are still divisions between IT and other departments.

A recent study has shown that more than 80% of company data remains “dormant,” or inadequately used, and is therefore worthless or, even worse, has negative value due to the cost of processing and storing it. Data is sometimes stored at a loss. Either because it’s not available in the right format at the right time, or because it’s not shared and used by as many people as possible in the company.

In terms of the information value chain, there are two conflicting time constraints:

• First, providing the data users from business units need in a timely fashion (“Time to Data”);

• Second, the time that the users can or should legitimately allocate to studying and analyzing such data. (“Time to Insight”)

These constraints influence the responsiveness, or even the pro-activeness, of users in terms


Collaboration between the CIO and CMO: a collaboration for the brand

“At a time when everyone in the company should consider information as an asset to be widely shared, there are still divisions between IT and other departments. A recent study has shown that more than 80% of company data remains “dormant,” or inadequately used, and is therefore worthless or, even worse, has negative value due to the cost of processing and storing it. Data is sometimes stored at a loss. Either because it’s not available in the right format at the right time, or because it’s not shared and used by as many people as possible in the company.

In terms of the information value chain, there are two conflicting time constraints: • First, providing the data users from business units need in a timely fashion (“Time to Data”); • Second, the time that the users can or should legitimately allocate to studying and analyzing such data. (“Time to Insight”) These constraints influence the responsiveness, or even the pro-activeness, of users in terms of decision-making. For IT departments, “Time to Data” is therefore a

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Nicolas Terrasse, Business Solution Sales Driver, SAS

particularly important issue. It is almost symbolic of a service level agreement that ties them to the other departments.

Only an approach that favors governance can provide various departments with the information value chain and the data usage value. But this governance should no longer be limited to providing traditional decision-making information systems. It also has to release the creativity of the other departments and consider their new needs.”

Expert opinion

This need for collaboration between IT and the marketing department is further reinforced by the digital turning point— another issue that is strongly impacting how CMOs’ jobs are evolving.

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3.Marketing departments and digital integration within the organization

Digital technology is no longer a luxury: it is a necessity that needs to be integrated far upstream by marketing directors: “We need to ‘think digital’ whenever a service is launched,” explains Eric Allombert from Bouygues Telecom. “Imagine from the outset what form it should take on the Internet, and then maybe apply that to the other channels.”

Several CMOs we interviewed told us that the spread of digital beyond strictly digital channels—especially to points of sale—is a key success factor for marketing. They also try to associate it more closely with different levels of the company. What for? They gave us several hints.

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Digital is clearly a lever for sales growth. This is not surprising if we consider that almost 60% of French people made an online purchase in 20141 and that 90% of Internet users look to user reviews on the Web before making a purchase2. It is easy to understand how important it can be to effectively integrate digital channels in the company’s offering.

The ability to buy directly and easily on the Internet has become an essential element of competitiveness, even in B2B situations, as Laurence Lucadou from GDF Suez explains: « Digital options are very important, with a clear sales orientation, including online sales. For a few months now, users have been able to subscribe for service completely online. This is a real differentiator: in B2B, taking out an energy contract online is not nearly as easy as buying something online in a B2C situation. »

The same can be said in some B2C sectors where customers’ expectations in terms of fluidity and simplicity have become extremely high. All things digital have to be perfectly integrated into the company’s processes to avoid being abandoned. Club Med is well aware of the impact on revenue of a customer experience that seamlessly integrates all the channels.

Better digital integration for better sales

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3.1

1 Source: Federation of e-commerce and remote sales (FŽdŽration e-commerce et vente ˆ distance Ð FEVAD), key Þgures for 2014 2 Source: Orange Labs and MŽdiamŽtrie study

Club Med Mathilde Lamazère CRM and Internet Director

Interview

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The relationship between digital technology and points of sale has been (and remains for some) complex to manage—physical stores sometimes tend to view digital channels as internal competitors. Marketing departments have sometimes had to push hard for them to be positioned as an ally of the point of sale. Today, there is a remarkable creativity in how synergies between these two long-antagonistic worlds are being leveraged. This is the case with the global leader in optical distribution, GrandVision: « Current geolocalization tests allow us to speak to the customer that is closest to the store, both for promotional purposes but also for customer service, » explains Chief Marketing Officer Florence Chaffiotte. « For example, if the customer goes into a mall, he or she will receive a notification suggesting that they stop in to have their glasses checked for free. Again, this helps to maintain the relationship directly at the point of sale, whilst escaping the purely transactional framework. »

For this relationship to work and be beneficial to the company, it is of course crucial that the two entities’ respective roles are clearly defined. Then, the channel that should be put forward can be defined depending on each scenario. Açoreana Seguros prefers to promote the agency rather than digital technology for taking out insurance policies.

Of course, marketing’s creative ways to better align digital and point of sale channels do not stop at the entrance to the store! Many people are looking for ways to integrate digital with point of sale in order to create a richer visitor experience. The Chief Marketing Officer of Sephora revealed its projects to improve the quality of the relationship between its customers and store staff and to make the experience more emotional for visitors.

Leveraging digital technology at the point of sale

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3.2

Açoreana Seguros Manuel Leiria Director of Marketing and Products

Interview

SephoraElizabeth Anglès d’Auriac Chief Marketing Officer for Europe

Interview

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Most of the CMOs we interviewed reported that digital marketing is an important part of the company’s strategy and not a silo within the marketing department. For maximum relevance, it is crucial that digital concerns be dealt with at the right level of the organization, upstream. This is the task that LCL’s Chief Marketing Officer has set for himself for example.

We may need to simply stop looking at digital technology as a separate issue and instead concentrate on how customers are using it in order to have a consistent approach. Jean-Marie Culpin, Chief Marketing Officer for the Orange Group, insists on the fact that the concept of channel does not come from the customer. The customer is multi-channel by nature.

Digital implementation at the appropriate level of the organization

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3.3

LCL Frédéric Lapeyre Chief Marketing Officer

Interview

Orange Jean-Marie Culpin Chief Marketing Officer

Interview

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The entire company needs a sea change for digital systems to be taken into consideration at the right level of the organization and for them to be perfectly integrated upstream of the strategy. General digital acculturation is necessary so that certain business units do not turn into blockers. This sea change is generally referred to as the “digital transformation.” However, because of their experience and their involvement, marketing directors need to be at the forefront of this transformation and to act as catalysts for change. This is the point of view of Michael Chrisment from Nestlé.

In addition to being the customer’s spokesperson and providing a platform for the company and market to interact, marketing directors are also positioned to lead the digital transformation within the organization.

Nestlé Michael Chrisment Nescafé Global Integrated Marketing Director

Interview

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Conclusion

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In this abstract, we touched on some of the priorities on which the marketing directors interviewed for this survey insisted: ensuring the fundamentals of marketing, welcoming innovations that come from analytics, orchestrating collaboration with other departments and especially IT, and putting digital ambitions where they should be in the company—at the center.

The CMOs are facing a multitude of challenges and are caught up in a revolution that they are confronting with creativity. Digital technology, smart phones, and analytics are changing how you approach the market and enter into a relationship with customers.

We have learned from our interviews that the function is being pulled in multiple directions: there is tension between an analytical, scientific, and a more intuitive approach; tension between the need for solid, fundamental marketing skills and at the same time complementary skills (e.g. business or social media); tension between customers’ desire for more personalization and more social interconnectedness.

Should we worry about these tensions? Probably not. They are the types of challenges any leader would have to question and overcome. The real question is what will marketing directors need to bravely overcome them, so they do not end up zigzagging from one option to another. How can they make choices that appease the tension on either side? This is where the human element of marketing comes into play: psychology, sense of nuance, subtlety and finesse are key.

These are perhaps the qualities that best define what a CMO must be in 2015.

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Currently, market drivers like the cloud, big data and the Internet of Things are revolutionizing the software industry, and agility is key. As billions of data-generating devices become connected, the raw data they generate becomes collectively valuable. The challenge is drawing insights from that data. SAS is positioned to do just that.

As the leader in business analytics software and services, SAS transforms your data into insights that give you a fresh perspective on your business. You can identify what’s working. Fix what isn’t. And discover new opportunities to leverage large amounts of your data.

SAS is the leader in business analytics software and services, and the largest independent vendor in the business intelligence market. Through innovative solutions, SAS helps customers at more than 75,000 sites improve performance and deliver value by making better decisions faster.

Optimize interactions at each touch point. Develop meaningful relationships with each customer.

Each customer journey is unique. And every interaction along this journey is an opportunity to maintain and further the relationship with the customer. The SAS solution covers all marketing functions by focusing on what you know about your customers. Data synchronization, data quality, and analytical functions bring value to each bit of information and allow you to better understand the customer journey as a whole, regardless of how complex and discontinuous it may be. You optimize the customer experience at every touch point. A closer customer relationship will provide a real competitive advantage and drive profitability.

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Mouloud DeyDirector of Solutions and Emerging Markets - SAS France

With degrees in mathematical economics, computer science, and marketing, Mouloud Dey has devoted his career to new information and communication technologies, working as a consultant or in management and covering the main areas of

business intelligence. His understanding of companies’ strategic needs makes him a trusted partner for the world’s largest companies in various analytical capacities. He regularly offers his expertise and vision about innovative issues in the digital age: Big Data, networks and social media, digital marketing, customer experience, data monetization, etc.

Eric VessierConsultant SAS - Customer Intelligence Functional Advisor - SAS France

Eric Vessier is the Customer Intelligence Functional Advisor at SAS. Eric studied statistics, economics, and computer science at university and over the past 20 years he has worked for the marketing departments of several major corporations. He has

helped several companies with managing the challenges of optimizing their marketing data and customer targeting. He joined the Pre-Sales Department at SAS five years ago where he works on developing new sales for accounts in multiple sectors, including banking, insurance, telecommunications, and distribution.

Blandine ColasPre-sales consultant for Integrated Marketing Management - SAS France

Received her postgraduate degree in decision-support mathematics from the University of Nancy I, Blandine Colas has worked with marketing departments for the past 13 years on automation, personalization, and optimization challenges related

to customer interactions. Her expertise is in leveraging data with predictive methods and data visualization.

Ariane Liger-Belair Academic Director - SAS France

Schooled in international business in the United States, Ariane Liger-Belair began her career as secretary general of a multimedia group before joining SAS. For more than 16 years, she has been assisting colleges and universities as a business analytics

professor and researcher, thus bridging the gaps between academia and business—particularly in the banking, insurance, retail, and food processing sectors—and consulting firms.

Nicolas TerrasseSenior Sales Specialist for the Integrated Marketing Management offering - SAS France

A graduate of economics from the Business Administration Institute in Aix-en-Provence, Nicolas Terrasse has sold software and services and developed partnerships with various software vendors. Since he joined SAS 10 years ago, he has been a

marketing solutions expert—from customer knowledge to digital interactions—in various sectors including retail and banking.

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World leader in innovative and multi-disciplinary business services, Deloitte helps clients to review, formulate, implement and execute their strategy. In France, Deloitte is committed to serving its 100,000 customers of all sizes and every industry.

Its 9,000 partners and staff in France work with stakeholders to help them anticipate, organize, secure, and implement complex projects and changes with which they are confronted. Deloite offers a host of best practices drawn on the expertise of its unique global network of 210,000 consultants, auditors, accountants, and tax specialists. Deloitte has extensive experience managing challenges related to strategy, roles, and functions within organizations, and has developed another high-level offering for its clients’ marketing and digital departments (CMO and CDO).

Driven by the Monitor Deloitte (strategy consulting) and Deloitte Digital (digital transformation consulting) teams, these experts are backed by renowned leadership and the skills of 45,000 consultants who work in B2B and B2C at companies in France and around the world.

Strategy consulting teams work alongside marketing and digital directors to develop and deploy global sectoral strategies, to create or transform business models, to reshape the role of marketing within the company, and to develop talent and leadership. Its consultants work on every aspect of the value chain: innovation, brand strategy, portfolio review, customer segmentation, category management, organization, cost optimization, ROMI maximization, digital strategy, and more.

Monitor Deloitte also advises corporate executives on all their strategic and operational challenges. It has a proven track record of designing, supporting, and implementing organic growth projects using a highly collaborative approach with its customers. This approach offers access to knowledge and promotes skills transfer in key areas of expertise, including digital technology, CRM, data analytics, risk services, sustainability advisory, and talent development.

Consultants from Deloitte Digital assistwith digital transformation projects that are technology driven. They draw on complementary talents across 16 countries to design and develop digital experiments and to assist their customers in defining and integrating every aspect of their digital vision, from strategy to implementation. Deloitte Digital relies on the multidisciplinary expertise of the firm to carry out these projects in three main categories of online expertise: business, creation, and data technology.

VOS CONTACTS

Jean-Marc LIDUENASenior Partner, Monitor Deloitte+33 1 55 61 23 [email protected]

Sébastien ROPARTZPartner, Deloitte Digital+33 1 40 88 75 [email protected]

Rodrigo GUZMANPartner, Monitor Deloitte+33 1 58 37 94 [email protected]

François-Xavier LEROUXDirecteur, Deloitte Digital+33 1 40 88 43 [email protected]

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mailto: [email protected]




EBG is France’s largest business community and its members, who include decision makers from industrial and service companies, media groups and more, all share the common desire to promote innovation.

The following notable people sit on EBG’s board of directors:

• Stéphane Richard, Chairman and CEO of France Telecom Orange• Didier Quillot, Chairman of Coyote System• Jean-Bernard Levy, Chairman of Vivendi until June 2012• François-Henri Pinault, Chairman of PPR • Wu Janmin, President of the Institute of Beijing Diplomacy, President of

the Bureau International des Expositions• Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft • Sir Martin Sorrell, Chairman of WPP• Philippe Rodriguez, Treasurer• Pierre Reboul, Secretary General

LES ACTIVITÉS DE L’EBG

EBG aims to coordinate a network of skills and expertise by every year organizing more than 120 round tables for senior executives to share their experiences.

There are ten active EBG communities: CEOs, procurement officers, decision-making and IT officers, financial officers, legal and HR officers, marketing officers, web marketing/e-commerce officers, media officers, mobility officers, and communication officers.

Each community meets at least once a month to discuss and take stock of new practices in their field. The meetings are filmed and broadcast live on ebg.net.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT EBG OR BEST PRACTICE DOCUMENTATION:

Arthur HAIMOVICIHead of Research Department +33 1 48 01 65 [email protected]

Ligia RodriguesResearch Department Project Manager+33 1 48 00 00 [email protected]

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EBG’S ACTIVITIES



xxviii

Copyright © 2015 EBG-Elenbi – Deloitte – SAS

All rights reserved. This book can in no way be reproduced in whole or part, in any form whatsoever or by mechanical or electronic means, including electronic data storage and retransmission without permission from the publishers, EBG-Elenbi,

Deloitte, and SAS.

Trademarks have been cited with no intent to advertise. Despite the efforts of and checks by EBG-Elenbi, Deloitte and SAS, they accept no liability for unintentional errors or omissions which might occur in this book.

Electronic Business Group / Elenbi – Deloitte – SAS

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Graphic design/layout: Joaquin Jacome and Cédric Breuilliée

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Avis d’expert

Is this because of the recent crisis? Or because—in contrast to what we read in industry magazines—the profession is slowly evolving?

Nonetheless, the marketing directors we interviewed mainly emphasized the importance of understanding the market, developing the right products, and pricing them accordingly so that the business can grow. In other words, the basics of the profession. The marketing director of Carrefour told us that his primary concern was to succeed with the fundamentals.

Of course, these fundamentals are not set in stone forever: they evolve with the market and modernize. Marketing is expected to move faster than before to achieve these traditional objectives.

Marketing fundamentals remain the number one challenge for marketing directors

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Back to basics

“Our first and foremost goal is to continue to be successful with the marketing fundamentals, meaning that we execute our marketing strategy extremely well. For example, we work on keeping prices really low (an absolute imperative for everyone), and a pricing image that is consistent with this reality. This is why marketing came up with the ‘lowest price guarantee.’ Another example is how to guarantee the freshness of fresh produce (or Products?). To this end, marketing introduced the ‘freshness guarantee,’ allowing a dissatisfied customer to be immediately refunded at the store without any argument. Implementing this guarantee means continuously modernizing stores and maintaining a very lean supply chain.”

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Data is like a brain that only uses 10% of its capacity

“Caisse d’Epargne banks have always been proud of the amount of data they have. Even though we barely use 10% of the data we could, the rest offers some promising new insights. This data should allow us to more effectively target customers, get a better rate of return, and increase the likelihood of knowing our customers with greater precision. It should also offer more predictability, for example, about insolvency, purchases by younger generations, etc. The data can be used to implement tools that give us a better, more discrete vision of our customers. By combining the data we purchase with that of our own databases, we can develop more tailored offerings.”


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Digital innovation that weaves emotion into the customer relationship

“Digital is more than just an area of interest for us. It is a tool we use to maintain our relationship with consumers. We do this in two ways:

• Claim: this is the traditional, one-way approach of telling a story to consumers via traditional channels such as television. • Play & Talk: this is when we back up our stories with some sort of proof in the form of experiences. We believe this is the best way to create a conversation with them.

Today, we invest 80% of our budget on the claim. We want to see that drop to 60% and increase the share of Play & Talk to 40%. This objective is very important because we have come to realize that it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain a competitive advantage with “rational” arguments or product innovations. The consumer relationship, experience, and engagement—and the emotional strings that are attached to them—are what will enable us, in our opinion, to differentiate ourselves in the long run.”


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New analysis capabilities allow us to address customers in a different way, as well as make the company’s value proposition stand out better. This ultimately makes the value proposition more easily quantifiable, comparable, and actionable. This is especially true in a B2B context such as that of Vallourec, whose marketing director developed a new method to establish the strengths of its offer with industrial customers.

In conclusion, after getting a better understanding of customers, a better way to address to them, and a better way to position the company’s value proposition, the data ultimately helped improve the offering itself. Many of the companies we interviewed told us they wanted to enrich their service offering by leveraging new digital opportunities.

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Vallourec Jean-Marc Scemama Vice President of Corporate Marketing

Interview

Marketing focused on value propositions

“It’s a marketing method that works for large industrial companies, and one I have used for the past ten years. It identifies the levers of value creation that are important for our customers, helps us understand what our competitors are offering, and quantifies the creation of additional value that can be generated with our own products or services. This method is systematic: we start by working internally, then we interview our clients. Finally, we create tools to quantify the data. We applied this method two years ago for a large project off the coast of Ghana. We were able to identify the creation of potential value by doing three things at the same time: supplying under-water pipelines, welding them together, and insulating special deep-offshore pipelines. Then we quantified this value for the client, which helped us win the bid. To implement this value proposition method, we trained a hundred of the Group’s engineers and sales people, and we always have a portfolio of fifteen such projects at any given time.”


The take-away from most of our conversations is that marketing is starting to occupy an increasingly central role within organizations to the point where it has almost become a platform for the company and its market to contact and interact with each other. This is true even in areas where it was traditionally not considered the most strategic department. Such is the case with Saint-Gobain, for example.

The fact that the marketing department is occupying an increasingly central position in the company is mainly due to the desire to make the customer a key part of the corporate strategy. New digital channels that bring brands and consumers closer together and an increasingly competitive environment mean that this fact has to be taken into consideration at all levels of the organization. The marketing department is generally seen as the most legitimate entity to represent the customer. This is the vision at Sephora, for example.

« We are mainly seen as the customer’s defender, the department that fights for the interests of customers in internal debates. » Sephora, Elizabeth Anglès d’Auriac, Chief Marketing Officer for Europe

A function that is becoming more central

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Saint-Gobain Fabrice Didier Chief Marketing Officer

Interview

Marketing, from guide to leader “Saint-Gobain is a company with a culture of engineers and R&D. Now is the time for marketing to do more than just support the rest of the company. Marketing needs to start guiding and pulling it. Marketing’s primary mission is to infuse the group’s various activities with synergy when they serve the same market.”


Get out of the building: the key to establishing marketing’s legitimacy

“What is the role of marketing, if not to make the customer a key focus of the company? This is what gives us our legitimacy: whenever we propose something, we do it with the intent of reaching our customers better. We have a form of natural leadership when it comes to these issues. Marketing is inspiring. Afterwards, at operational level, it’s procurement or stores—which are the most demanding—who actually kick-off operations. And it is a key success factor. We cannot embark on pure marketing operations. Our actions have to speak to the group’s 110,000 employees who may not necessarily possess this marketing awareness in the beginning.”




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Marketing is a function that can claim success once it has permeated every aspect of the company

“Marketing is at the service of products and business. A company could do without marketing teams if listening to clients, product positioning, and product promotion happened naturally. I like the idea of working towards my own job being obsolete, so that products sell themselves. In the meantime, marketing should be a business accelerator and facilitator.”




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Among the departments that marketing has to collaborate with more closely, there is one in particular where mutual understanding seems absolutely critical today: the IT department. The specifics of this understanding are different depending on the company, with varying degrees of proximity and interconnectedness. But almost every marketing director told us that the quality of their relationship was a key success factor. Anthony Belliot, the Chief Marketing Officer at Universal Music, for example, explains how this collaboration works: « IT offers us genuine support and is an ally. Take the redesign of our site, for example. We had to produce very detailed specifications and we couldn’t have done it without the validation and support from IT. It’s a very on the ball and highly qualified team. »

The importance of information technology for marketing is not a new phenomenon of course. Software and hardware are needed to segment the customer base and manage campaigns. The growth of CRM in the 1990s was one of the most striking events, and it is not yet finished. On the other hand, how decision-making authority should be shared is now being questioned. When IT-related issues affect marketing, who should take the lead: the marketing or the IT department?

If this has become a current issue, it is because the nature of IT tools has changed. The mutation of the Web into a platform for running software (what Tim O’Reilly has called the “Web 2.0”) followed by the rise of cloud computing has made these tools much more intuitive to use. Solutions vendors are more focused on “business” as opposed to “systems.”

Their sales force has also begun to talk directly with marketing directors, side-stepping IT altogether.

The tools that were traditionally the hardest to master have not escaped this trend. For example, analytics has become more accessible to non-technical staff, thanks to the introduction of data visualization software.

How can we therefore ensure that solutions directly adopted by business units fit into the entire enterprise application ecosystem? How should IT and marketing roles evolve?

Repositioning is often needed in organizations. This was the case at Banco Sabadell.

The relationship between marketing and IT is critical

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Banco Sabadell Pier Paolo Rossi Director Business Intelligence

Interview


Towards a rebalancing of the marketing-IT relationship

“When I arrived, the relationship with IT was a bit complicated. Our IT has a lot of power because it is the largest department in terms of personnel. The best way to work is to combine the forces of the sales and IT departments. Marketing is its own kind of customer and IT the supplier, but their vision is that we are the users and they are the last step before the decision. We have to inform the IT department about our needs and the projects that we intend to carry out. The solution is a collaborative relationship. It is the only way to work smarter, by combining our business needs and IT skills.”

Digital is clearly a lever for sales growth. This is not surprising if we consider that almost 60% of French people made an online purchase in 20141 and that 90% of Internet users look to user reviews on the Web before making a purchase2. It is easy to understand how important it can be to effectively integrate digital channels in the company’s offering.

The ability to buy directly and easily on the Internet has become an essential element of competitiveness, even in B2B situations, as Laurence Lucadou from GDF Suez explains: « Digital options are very important, with a clear sales orientation, including online sales. For a few months now, users have been able to subscribe for service completely online. This is a real differentiator: in B2B, taking out an energy contract online is not nearly as easy as buying something online in a B2C situation. »

The same can be said in some B2C sectors where customers’ expectations in terms of fluidity and simplicity have become extremely high. All things digital have to be perfectly integrated into the company’s processes to avoid being abandoned. Club Med is well aware of the impact on revenue of a customer experience that seamlessly integrates all the channels.

Better digital integration for better sales

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1 Source: Federation of e-commerce and remote sales (FŽdŽration e-commerce et vente ˆ distance Ð FEVAD), key Þgures for 2014 2 Source: Orange Labs and MŽdiamŽtrie study

Club Med Mathilde Lamazère CRM and Internet Director

Interview


Digital: the consumer’s ally for high impact purchasing decisions

“We are already present on several channels: phone, physical branches, website, and mobile apps. We are working to gradually synchronize them and offer our customers a seamless experience. During this experience, the decision time prior to a purchase is very important. It can take up to two months, and goes through several iterations. A vacation for four or five people in the Maldives costs a pretty penny: we know that this is not decided all at once. It is therefore essential that each channel plays its part and allows customers to move forward in their journey, without starting from scratch each time. The mobile app is now a major focus in our cross-channel thinking. The idea is to have it be a part of each step along the customer’s journey: information gathering, simulation, reservation, and even purchasing. Then during the trip and their stay.”





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Digital technology as business levers for agencies

“We have an online solution for insurance where customers can make simulations, request documents and so on; however, we are not promoting it intensively, because we prefer that they contact their agents. This online solution will lead customers and prospects to the agent the system thinks is best suited to fulfill their request. The sales path will be redirected according to different criteria: the type of request, the location of the person, the level of satisfaction of a given agent, etc. With regard to the latter aspect, an agent will get more prospects if they performed well during a mystery shopper visit. All agents are informed of these rules in order to motivate them.”

How to use digital to bring together personalization and socialization in stores

“In 2014-2015, our main watchwords are personalization and socialization. These two trends may seem contradictory and yet they are complementary. In terms of personalization, the most visible project we can talk about is My Sephora, which provides individual advice to each customer. The second trend is the need for socialization. The store is like a community, where customers meet in a given physical place and share a common experience. When a customer goes into a store, we really want her to have an emotional experience. (…) All innovative projects need to foster a genuine relationship with the customer.”





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Invisible digital or back office digitalization

“We are not satisfied by simply adding a digital layer to our operations. We are bringing the entire “factory” into the digital age which means our operations are going digital from within. We have to do work at several levels. For example, if we want to make it possible to start a sale on one channel, then interrupt and resume it on another, the underlying contractual documents have to be the same. This is why we are working on simplifying and harmonizing our contracts.”





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The most important thing is not the channel, but the customer

“A distributor’s vision is one of entering through the channel and not through the customer. We prefer to start out by looking at customer behavior. We have now formalized eight typical customer journeys. It is a valuable tool, used by the product managers for their launches. It helps them identify the strengths and weaknesses of each offering and launch. These customer journeys are free of the channels. You might even say that product managers are on their own customer journey and can decide which channels they want to focus on at different stages.”


Marketing: the incubator of the Digital Transformation

“We launched a strong, worldwide initiative to get marketers to use social networks more often for their actions. We started a Digital Acceleration Team (DAT) program to bring in about a dozen employees from around the world for eight months and teach them everything there is to learn about digital marketing. We use this approach to ensure cross-functional control of marketing and to bring more teams on board with digital marketing. We are now supported by a CDO, or Chief Digital Officer, who reports to both marketing and corporate executives. The CDO helps the Nestlé Group to digitize both from a corporate and branding standpoint.”

The entire company needs a sea change for digital systems to be taken into consideration at the right level of the organization and for them to be perfectly integrated upstream of the strategy. General digital acculturation is necessary so that certain business units do not turn into blockers. This sea change is generally referred to as the “digital transformation.” However, because of their experience and their involvement, marketing directors need to be at the forefront of this transformation and to act as catalysts for change. This is the point of view of Michael Chrisment from Nestlé.

In addition to being the customer’s spokesperson and providing a platform for the company and market to interact, marketing directors are also positioned to lead the digital transformation within the organization.

Nestlé Michael Chrisment Nescafé Global Integrated Marketing Director

Interview

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100 marketing directors.pdf

Documents

Transcript of 100 marketing directors.pdf