On Wednesday, May 3, our CEO, Mark Logan, joined senior executives and decision makers at the 2nd annual Luxury Roundtable hosted in New York City by Luxury Daily. The goal of the roundtable was to discuss a serious issue facing luxury marketers: how to drive and sustain demand from Generations X, Y and Z whose shopping habits are strikingly different from the silent generation and baby boomers.
Mark joined a panel of experts to discuss “Ecommerce and Mobile: Symbol of the New Path to Purchase.” The focus of their session was how to deploy online and mobile channels to generate new business while retaining existing customers for generations who live on their smartphones. Mark shared how WealthEngine can provide useful insights on customer segmentation and the critical importance of personalization.
WealthEngine has put together a useful resource to help luxury marketers use predictive analytics and modeling. You can download it here.
For more on the roundtable, including slides and other panel summaries, click here.
Wealth intelligence allows luxury marketers to truly understand the affluent consumer and their wealth, demographic and lifestyle attributes. This insight is critical, as marketers work to build targeted marketing strategies that reach the most qualified consumers with compelling offers and a seamless brand experience.
The global market for luxury goods represents over $1 trillion USD, across several categories including fashion, retail, travel, hotels, food & beverage, and spas. The key to understanding customer segments within these categories is through data and analytics.
We know that by using data and predictive analytics, luxury marketers have a means to better target and engage their customers. Data and predictive analytics allow you to uncover opportunities to drive repeat or additional purchases so you can create a closer tie to the customer. Analytics allow you to truly understand the customer and their wealth attributes, so you can target the most qualified luxury consumers and offer a compelling and seamless brand experience.
With this in mind, we developed this whitepaper to show the value of wealth intelligence and predictive analytics when developing an effective marketing strategy.
Key topics in this whitepaper include:
Today’s trends and challenges for luxury marketers looking to grow your business
WealthEngine’s unique approach to developing and utilizing wealth scores
Best practices and practical tips for applying custom predictive analytics
Determining the optimal solution to meet your goals
At WealthEngine, we know wealth. We also know how important marketing and building relationships are to our clients.
The entire WealthEngine team believes you can never stop learning: whether it’s knowing more about your customers and prospects or understanding what your ideal customers look like.
We also believe there’s a lot we can learn from leaders who are always looking at things a little differently, who are ahead of the curve and who are continually learning and sharing what they learn with others. These 10 Chief Marketing Officers do exactly this for the companies they work for and the marketing community we share.
Andy Donkin
Chief Marketing Officer, Under Armour
Donkin comes to Under Armour from Amazon, where he served as head of worldwide brand and mass marketing. As Under Armour’s new chief marketing officer, Donkin has assumed the oversight of all of the brand’s global marketing initiatives. A heavily data-driven marketer, Donkin has led several impressive campaigns while working for Amazon, most notably the company’s first Super Bowl campaign in 2016. The campaign focused on shedding Amazon’s corporate image and replacing it with a genuinely emotional connection to its customers. Instead of focusing on activities on the bottom of the marketing funnel, Donkin prefers to focus on activities at the top of the funnel, saying:
“There is a place for both functional and emotional advertising within your portfolio. As a group, we look across Amazon businesses and say ‘Which are the products that connect best with the targets that we have?’ TV advertising doesn’t have to be the only answer. Online advertising can be very powerful.”
This vision will prove to be valuable to Under Armour’s digital expansion efforts. The retailer has spent $560 million on apps like MyFitnessPal, a fitness app that tracks eating and exercise habits, and Endomondo, a personal training app. These platforms combined have over 140 million users, a valuable customer base that Under Armour is hoping to use as a platform for communicating with athletes and gathering large-scale consumer insights. With this wealth of information, combined with Donkin’s significant experience with data-driven marketing, his appointment will bring about exciting developments to Under Armour’s brand.
Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (GS&P), a full-service advertising agency based in San Francisco, recently named former client Julia Mee to serve as the agency’s first chief marketing officer. Mee comes from an impressive background building recognizable brands, including Cisco, Hewlett-Packard, and Yahoo!, and is responsible for overseeing GS&P’s overall marketing and strategic communications with employees and clients, both current and prospective.
Mee previously served in client-side positions, most recently as Cisco System’s senior director, global advertising, media and sponsorships. She collaborated with GS&P on Cisco’s “Internet of Everything” campaign, with notable ad “The Last Traffic Jam.” Mee has spoken highly of her relationship with GS&P:
“For 15 years at three different companies, GS&P was my trusted agency partner. They listened closely, dug into the business, gathered deep customer insights and provided strategic thinking that went far beyond what many expect from an ‘advertising agency.’
We built global campaigns together that made significant contributions to the business, and, along the way, they made me and my teams look really good. Now it’s my turn to help contribute to their business. I’m honored to join their ranks.”
The University of Oregon graduate has made a name for herself in the marketing industry, and with her experience and vision, she is sure to make impressive moves in the upcoming year.
Chief Digital Officer for Wealth Management, Morgan Stanley
Earlier this year, Morgan Stanley announced Naureen Hassan as the global investment bank’s new Chief Digital Officer for Wealth Management, a new position that puts her in charge of leading the strategy and marketing of digital tools and platforms that serve Morgan Stanley’s 16,000 financial advisors and 3.5 million clients. She brings a fresh perspective to the team, with a goal of using digital tools to streamline processes so that advisors can spend more time with their clients. During an interview, she said:
“Why not let technology do what it does best? Modern technology has the power to simplify advisors’ lives by automating mundane tasks — opening accounts, rebalancing portfolios — freeing them up to spend more time with their clients.”
Previously, Hassan served as Executive Vice President, Investor Services Strategy, Segments and Platforms for Charles Schwab, where she drew attention with the success of her leadership of the Schwab intelligent Portfolios and the Institutional Intelligent Portfolios platforms. Morgan Stanley COO Jim Rosenthal says that the firm is delighted to bring Hassan to the team:
“Her record of successful innovation bringing exceptional digital resources to financial advisors and clients will sharpen our ability to compete for today’s high-net-worth individuals as well as those emerging in the next generation.”
The Princeton and Stanford Business School graduate has been recognized on San Francisco Business Times’ list of Influential Women of 2015 and continues to bring her expertise to each challenge set before her.
In April of 2015, Greg Hoffman was named as Chief Marketing Officer for Nike, where he is responsible for developing a unified brand voice across the company. Hoffman originally joined Nike in 1992 as a design intern, and has worked his way through the ranks, with the roles Vice P resident, G lobal B rand C reative and E xperience and V ice P resident, G lobal B rand D esign under his belt prior to his promotion. Hoffman works hard to cultivate the brand’s global image consistently through various platforms and mediums.
Hoffman oversaw the unveiling of Nike’s “Unlimited” campaign at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, which Nike sponsored for the first time in 16 years. A series of films, including “Unlimited You” and “Unlimited Together,” features everyday athletes alongside famous athletes, and is centered around the idea that any athlete can push past their limits into an “unlimited” mindset. Hoffman says:
“Our Nike Unlimited Campaign celebrates both the everyday athletes and the champion athletes who push their limits daily and who are proving their unlimited potential, whether that’s on the world’s greatest stage this summer, or just in a pickup game in the park.”
The campaign left an impression, with over 480 million views across social media channels and over 1 billion TV impressions. Adweek reported that over 34% of consumers remembered the campaign, beating out Coca Cola. Other campaigns that Nike has rolled out this year include “Come Out of Nowhere” and “The Conductor.” The creativity and innovation involved in these campaigns have earned the brand Marketer of the Year 2016 from Footwear News. Hoffman himself was named as one of the 50 most innovative chief marketing officers by Business Insider.
In July 2016 Tom Garzilli was announced as Brand USA’s new Chief Marketing Officer. With a very impressive 35-year track record in the travel industry, he has been hailed as one of its most well respected members . With his entrepreneurial attitude and partner-focused approach to marketing destinations, that title is hardly surprising.
Garzilli led Brand USA’s first major initiative behind the great outdoors in the form of the giant-screen film National Parks Adventure. The film serves as a showcase of the majesty and grandeur of United States’ national parks, aimed to attract international visitors to US national parks. Currently showing in 100 theatres in 18 different countries, the film continues to receive positive reviews at its worldwide premieres. Of the film, Brand USA says that the project “supports each of our strategic foundational elements to create innovative marketing, market the welcome, build trusted relationships, add & create value, and drive results.”
Garzilli first joined Brand USA in 2013 as a Senior Vice President, Global Partner Marketing until he was promoted to Senior Vice President, Global Sponsorships in 2015. Under these positions, Brand USA has raised over $350 million in contributions from over 500 partners, and has developed award winning partner programs, including partnerships with The BBC, The Travel Channel and Food Network, and National Geographic. He is an integral part behind the team driving Brand USA’s storytelling, content-driven platforms, and digital marketing initiatives.
Charisse Ford joined the PANDORA Jewelry team in 2015 as Chief M arketing Officer of the Americas, where she is responsible for all aspects of integrated marketing across the Americas Region. Since joining, she has introduced a high level of marketing analytics to the organization, increasing marketing effectiveness and efficiency and yielding double-digit savings for the organization within her first year.
Ford was instrumental in PANDORA’s transition from a simple “charm bracelet” company to a popular affordable luxury brand with Grey’s “The Art of You” campaign. This integrated marketing campaign, which highlighted PANDORA’s affordable luxury collections, helped shift the perception of the brand across key purchasers, drove increased engagement in social, and tripled PANDORA’s earned media expectations. In 2016, she oversaw the launch of PANDORA’s US e-commerce platform, which saw 12 million unique visitors, and continues to drive business growth for the organization in consumer, retail and digital brand marketing.
Ford has been a force in the marketing industry, and shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon. She was recently named one of Baltimore Business Journal’s Bizwomen’s Women to Watch of 2016. In 2015, she was named an Internationalist of the Year, a list that recognizes innovative marketers around the world. She’s also been named as one of the most influential women in corporate America by Savoy Magazine and has been honored as a trailblazer in the beauty industry by More Magazine.
EVP Chief Marketing Officer at National Hockey League
In September, Heidi Browning was announced as the new Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for the National Hockey League (NHL), where she is responsible for executing the League’s marketing campaigns, with a special focus on digital and social initiatives. She also leads the NHL’s environmental and social initiatives, including NHL Green and Hockey Fights Cancer. This announcement marks a significant milestone within the sports industry, as Browning is now one of four women who hold the CMO position in major sports leagues:
“It is a great honor and privilege to join the NHL for their centennial year as a powerful, passionate, and enduring brand,” Browning said. “This is also a milestone for women leaders. Three women now sit in chief marketing officer roles at three of the major sports leagues.”
Browning joins the team from popular music streaming service Pandora, where she served as Senior Vice President, Strategic Solutions. She built Pandora’s B2B brand into a leading industry force in the digital audio and mobile advertising field, and leveraged marketing data insights in order to create a personalized, customer-first approach to marketing. She brings this experience to NHL, where she plans to incorporate marketing technology into the NHL’s current campaign strategies and broaden the brand’s reach across traditional and digital channels.
Vice President Marketing, Digital, Loyalty, & Partnerships, Starwood Hotels/Marriott International
Daniel Kerzner is a global marketer based in Belgium with over 15 years of experience in the travel and hospitality industry. Currently, Kerzner leads digital, loyalty, and partnership marketing for Starwood Hotels for nearly 300 properties in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. With such past successful initiatives as Starwood Hotel’s Ambassador program, and the more recent “LetsChat” Starwood messenger platform, Kerzner is experimenting with modern technology to provide targeted content and personalized experiences for guests all over the world. He believes that technology is the key to “loyalty beyond reason,” constantly asking, “What are those small things, what are those intrinsic touch points that we have with our guests that make them so loyal to Starwood that they always want to come back[?]”
This level of personalization is apparent throughout the initiatives that Kerzner oversees. As a marketer, Kerzner understands the value of customer data and how to use it effectively to provide guests with the best experience possible at any one of the Starwood Hotels properties. In an article by CMO.com, Kerzner describes how managing customer expectation and customer experience is about putting “credit into a bank account,” and how Starwood builds its credit with its customers using customer data and social media channels in order to drive personalized experiences:
“It’s not so much transactions, but how to find opportunities to have interactions with our guests,” Kerzner said. “Data allows us to understand that it’s a guest’s birthday, for example, and then use that information about the customer to wow them.”
While it’s nearly impossible to provide a guest with a perfect experience every time, Kerzner understands that the key is for brands to maintain a consistent core experience that is great every time:
“Each opportunity puts some credit into the account,” he said. “We know our guests aren’t coming to us for that ‘shoe’ experience every time, so it’s about how we give you a great stay every time, then one experience in the customer lifecycle journey that wows you.”
Along with these personalized efforts, Starwood is building partnerships with apps such as Uber to provide guests with even more targeted services. Kerzner, the mind behind these data-driven marketing campaigns, remains as open to change as ever. He was just named one of Hot Topics’s 100 most innovative CMOs in the world in 2016, and continues to innovate the hospitality marketing space by taking advantage of the data-driven technologies available today.
Senior Vice President of Brand Marketing, Capital One
If you hear the phrase “What’s in your wallet?” and think of Capital One, you have Senior Vice President of Brand Marketing Marc Mentry to thank for that. The campaign, which has been running since 2000, has pushed universal brand recognition to 99%. Nowadays, Mentry is focusing on keeping the Capital One brand integrated across various channels, including social media, TV, and sponsorships.
Capital One’s efforts included a live-streamed concert from the Capital One Orange Bowl on the WatchESPN app. The concert featured musical artists Macklemore & Ryan Lewis and Imagine Dragons, and was the second most live-viewed event on the app at the time, second behind ESPN’s World Cup Coverage.
Most recently, Capital One has turned its attentions to Facebook for its new campaign #DefineYourDream, which features uplifting stories from Capital One customers. The company has not ignored traditional media, recently airing a TV campaign starring celebrity Samuel L. Jackson.
Maureen Waters, a veteran commercial real estate executive with over 25 years of experience, was announced as Ten-X’s new chief marketing officer of its commercial division in August 2016 year. Ten-X, an online real estate transaction marketplace, leverages desktop and mobile technology to allow people to complete real estate transactions safely and easily online. Waters will be responsible for aligning the company’s marketing efforts with its overall business strategy, as well as providing insight into the company’s core customer segments.
Waters has the honor of holding executive roles in almost every area of real estate, from marketing to research to sales. Before joining the Ten-X team, she served as head of real estate and asset management at Bill Gates Investments. Prior to that, she served as chief marketing and strategy officer at Cushman & Wakefield, and spent six years at CBRE directing regional marketing, communications, technology, and research. Waters brings this unique mix of experience to Ten-X, saying:
"Over the course of my career, I have had the unique privilege of working in various capacities where I’ve been exposed to all aspects of the transaction process. I look forward to employing that valuable knowledge with Ten-X as the company continues to position itself at the technological forefront of this ever-evolving industry."
Waters has established herself as a titan in the marketing industry and has been named a “Women of Influence” by Real Estate Forum and a “Star to Watch” by Commercial Property News. She has also received recognition for her accomplishments from the YWCA’s Academy of Women Achievers. She also is a national board member of Girls, Inc.
To narrow down this list, we reviewed the work, backgrounds and points of view of numerous CMOs across B2C verticals. We chose our final ten based on their influence in the marketing space and the work they have done to use modern data and marketing technology to reach their customers and prospects in compelling and inventive ways. We expect to see exciting things from the CMOs we listed here.
Is there anyone you’d like to see added to the list? Let us know in the comments below!
We’re not the only ones recognizing movers and shakers in the marketing space.
Last week, we covered the various ways marketers could use consumer-level data to help their outreach. Go back and read for yourself if you missed it. This week, we shift our focus to the sales team as we wrap up our post on how sales and marketers can use consumer data to drive increased revenue opportunities.
Lead Scoring
You have a list of leads. They may have come from marketing, a list you purchased, or through your own prospecting. You’re ready to work through this list. Now, who do you call first? What about second? Third? Fiftieth? This is difficult to answer without data. As easy as it would be to start with the A’s and work down to the Z’s, that’s not efficient. You want to focus on the leads that have the highest chance at driving conversions and maximizing revenue first.
Drive Better Sales Conversations (and Conversions!)
Let’s face it. You sell to people, not to companies. I don’t care if you’re in B2B, B2C, B2H, or B2[Insert Any Letter] sales, at the end of the day, you finalize your deal by interacting with a person. It’s obvious that if you know more about that person, you can drive a better conversation.
According to the Brevet Group, only 13% of customers think that sales people understand their needs. Sure, this also relates to their business problems. But it’s also focused on understanding the person. Having some information about someone’s interests, attributes, and who they are as a person can arm a sales person with content that can drive better meetings and, ultimately, higher conversions.
Cross-Sell / Up-Sell to Existing Customers
Well executed cross- and up-selling is a great way to drive revenue for your business. It’s also an effective way to increase customer satisfaction, as you are pairing consumers with products that can better fit their needs and/or are complementary to their purchase. Typically, this practice is done based on the type of product they purchase. For example, if you’re selling a laptop, you may try to up-sell the customer more RAM or cross-sell them a laptop case.
Using data about the specific consumer is another way to drive more up-sell or cross-sell opportunities. By having information, such as a consumer’s net worth or interests, you can help guide them to a product that will better fit their own needs or budget.
There are a number of ways in which consumer data can help drive sales and marketing efforts; these are just a few of them. Companies that are embracing information and using it to enhance their sales and marketing processes are giving themselves a competitive advantage. If you’re not on board with this revolution, it’s about time you got started. Don’t get left behind.
We want to hear your stories about how you’re using consumer data in your sales and marketing. If you have one, please share in the comments below.
Or do you want to learn more about helping your business become more data-driven? Contact us for a preliminary conversation.
Marketing has become a data-driven function at most companies. Gone are the days when the Don Drapers of the world thought up extravagant marketing campaigns and executed them without running tests or conducting detailed ROI expectation studies. According to a Teradata survey, 78% of marketers feel pressure to become more data driven in their day-to-day jobs. Gut instinct, while still a valuable skill, can’t be the only tool in a marketer’s tool belt. Instead, a marketer must be literate across all digital channels, along with the wealth of data that comes with them.
As the data revolution has gained steam, companies that provide information on consumers have increased along with it. Companies such as Acxiom, Experian, and of course WealthEngine help to highlight consumer data that can help companies drive more revenue and make better decisions. There are use cases for consumer data across all parts of a business, but arguably no more than there are in sales and marketing.
Today, we’ll stay on the marketing side and discuss the first three ways you can use consumer data to drive revenue. Next week, we’ll finish up the post with the last three ways that you can use consumer data to help your sales.
Personalization of Marketing Content
Personalization is not just a fancy buzz word – it’s a real marketing trend that is made possible by the digital enhancements that have been made over the years. However, personalization is not possible unless you know information about the person for whom you are trying to customize your content. Understanding more about a particular person, such as the car they drive or their interests, can help you focus on the content that is going to best resonate with them.
Build Targeted Campaigns
Have you ever received a marketing piece that just wasn’t meant for you? We’ve all been on the receiving side of that. As a marketer, I can tell you that this happens sometimes – particularly if you can’t build detailed segments of your prospects. The more generic your segments, the more likely you’ll swing and miss with a good number of people that receive your communications. By using consumer-level data, you can go deeper with your levels of segmentation. By doing so, you can become much more targeted with your campaigns, ensuring that the right people see your materials and you won’t waste a touch with the wrong ones.
Increase Marketing Automation
Marketing automation platforms have become more sophisticated every year. You now have the capability to build detailed campaigns that could go in a number of different directions based on user actions. You can also vary the steps of a campaign through other triggers, such as a characteristic about a person. Some of our customers connect directly to our data through an API and use wealth as a trigger, routing potential prospects through different journeys based on their wealth.
Rich consumer data can be a game changer on the marketing front. By employing some simple tactics, your marketing campaigns can transform from generic into highly focused conversations.
Join us next week as we finish the post by focusing on the ways sales teams can use consumer data to improve their processes. And as always, if you have a story in which you used consumer data to improve your marketing efforts, let us know about it in the comments below.
Every year consumers lament that they don’t even get through Halloween before they start getting inundated with holiday marketing pitches. This is compounded with the complaints companies are starting to receive around their remarketing. If a consumer has just made a purchase from a retailer, the last thing they want is a barrage of offers to buy the very same handbag they just purchased. Right?
So what can you do this year to improve your results and empower consumers to do more of their holiday shopping with you?
Here are a few tactics to incorporate into your overall marketing strategy for the holidays.
Base your discount offer on their net worth. For example, you might offer $10 off a $100 purchase to one segment and $50 off a $500 purchase to another depending on their income and assets.
Look at price points of products you would like to promote and feature those that align with the household income and spending capacity of your customers, specifically.
Take the data you already have around your customers and their buying behavior and then let WealthEngine help develop a model of your ideal customer using our wealth scores and analytics. By modeling your best customers, you can then create messaging to increase loyalty for increased business this year and capture market share from your competitors.
Surprise and delight new potential customers in a way that entices them to subscribe to your list in time for holiday offers.
Direct mail is not dead. Use our WE Prospect tool for audience development and to identify new prospects. Building a target list takes just minutes and since you can focus only on those households who look like your best customers, you can invest more in the offers to entice them to sign up for your email list or follow your social media accounts.
Develop a geo-targeted list and further narrow it down based on wealth and lifestyle factors to bring new customers into your store. Consider hosting an event after-hours for this exclusive group, or provide VIP access in advance of your store opening and provide special offers and experiences for those in attendance. During the event, inspire sharing on social channels with lots of photo opportunities.
There are always people who wait to shop at the last minute, make sure your offer is the one that brings them joy vs stress.
Bucket your list into two segments: those who have already shopped with you during the holiday season and those who have not. For those who have purchased, be sure to suppress any offers they have already responded to and instead, build an offer based on their wealth and complementary products and services. For those who have yet to make a holiday purchase, be sure your offer is one they can’t refuse.
This year, smart marketers will take a more respectful approach and reap the rewards. With all the marketing noise between now and the holidays, the retailers who take the time to understand not only buying behavior, but also holiday budgets and capacity to spend, will win.
Want to find out more about how WE can help you with your holiday marketing this year?
Are you sick of hearing the words “Big Data” yet? While “Big Data” has quite a history, it’s relatively new to those on marketing teams. And while it might sound repetitive, there’s a reason it’s what CMOs are talking about. Big data is at the core of what we do here at WealthEngine. Last week, I tweeted my first published post on LinkedIn on why Big Data is more than just a buzzword. I hope you’ll read what I had to say and comment.
Also, another word I’m still on the fence about whether or not we’ll hear it a lot is the term datasexual. It’s a provocative term to say the least and I’m sure that Michael Kaushansky meant to be provocative when he wrote “Data Saves the CMO” for MediaPost recently. However, I think those of us that eat, breathe and live data in our daily lives as marketing practitioners probably don’t want to include that in our LinkedIn profiles or resumes. Or do we?
Have ideas for alternative terms to “datasexual” to describe those who use data to drive marketing business decisions? Tweet them to me at @MichaelJLees.
In case you missed it last week, we’re hosting our #WECMO Series events in San Francisco next week and New York City the following week. Bryan Kramer, CEO at PureMatter and author of the book “Shareology”, and I will be talking about marketing personalization at scale in San Francisco on July 15. Those attending the event will receive a free copy of his book, being released on July 14! On July 21, Bill Evans, Chief Digital Officer at WPP, will join me in a follow-up from our webinar last week and we’ll be talking about data, digital, wealth and predictive prospecting. If you are a marketing leader, make sure you RSVP to our NY WE CMO Series event and our SF WE CMO Series event as soon as possible as space is limited.
Would love if you would join the conversation
Data is coming to the rescue of CMOs – "Datasexuals! People trained and eager to analyze the heck out of data" http://t.co/bTNjg7IEuZ
Michael Lees is Chief Marketing Officer at WealthEngine. His “Week in Review” is a weekly round-up of conversations, insights and inspiration he’s discovered around the web. Have something you want him to take a look at and weigh in on? Tweet him @michaeljlees and tag #WECMO.
As marketing becomes more data-driven, companies want to make sure they are capturing and synthesizing the metrics they need to understand their customers and behavior more effectively. For those that aren’t sure where to start, I recommend starting with your team. Last week, I tweeted what I think is some great advice on building a data-driven marketing team from Business2Community.
As we look at analytics to drive our business decisions as marketers, we need to make sure we don’t forget that marketing still requires creativity. While some may argue that marketing is a science, I think it’s important that we remember it is, in a lot of ways, still an art form. What do you think?
For our friends in San Francisco and New York City, I hope to meet many of you at our #WECMO Series events. Bryan Kramer, CEO at PureMatter and author of the book “Shareology”, and I will be talking about marketing personalization at scale in San Francisco on July 15. Those attending the event will receive a free copy of his book, being released the same week! On July 21, Bill Evans, Chief Digital Officer at WPP, will join me in a follow-up from our webinar last week and we’ll be talking about data, digital, wealth and predictive prospecting. If you are a marketing leader, make sure you RSVP to our NY WE CMO Series event and our SF WE CMO Series event as soon as possible as space is limited.
Michael Lees is Chief Marketing Officer at WealthEngine. His “Week in Review” is a weekly round-up of conversations, insights and inspiration he’s discovered around the web. Have something you want him to take a look at and weigh in on? Tweet him @michaeljlees and tag #WECMO.
It’s officially summer. For many companies, that’s when things tend to slow down. For us here at WealthEngine, though, we’ve got a lot going on, and I’m excited to share it with you.
Last week, I tweeted the WealthEngine’s list of 10 CMOs to Watch. As a CMO myself, I know how important it is to avoid working within a vacuum and to keep a constant read on the pulse of what is going on within our space. Learning from other marketing leaders like these keeps me inspired and it’s why I encourage the people on my own team to seek out and take advantage of professional opportunities.
I was also tweeting about a big webinar I’m hosting tomorrow with WPP Team Chemistry’s Chief Digital Officer, Bill Evans. While we’ll be talking about some pretty heavy stuff – marketing personalization, data intelligence, digital and privacy – I promise we’ll make it fun. Best of all, you get to pick our brains – for free – during the hour of the webinar. Register for “How the C-Suite Uses Data Intelligence for Audience Development”.
Michael Lees is Chief Marketing Officer at WealthEngine. His “Week in Review” is a weekly round-up of conversations, insights and inspiration he’s discovered around the web. Have something you want him to take a look at and weigh in on? Tweet him @michaeljlees and tag #WECMO.
At WealthEngine, we know wealth. We also know how important marketing and building relationships are to our clients.
The entire WealthEngine team believes you can never stop learning: whether it’s knowing more about your customers and prospects or understanding what your ideal customers look like.
We also believe there’s a lot we can learn from leaders who are always looking at things a little differently, who are ahead of the curve and who are continually learning and sharing what they learn with others. These 10 Chief Marketing Officers do exactly this for the companies they work for and the marketing community we share.
Trish Mueller
Chief Marketing Officer at The Home Depot
Mueller has a long history of leading marketing at major retailers including Montgomery Ward, ShopNBC and The Sports Authority. Her leadership role at The Home Depot reflects this as she has ownership of marketing, advertising and strategic branding. Notably, she oversees database marketing, consumer analytics, CRM and research insights.
Understanding the mind of the ideal customer is clearly at the top of Mueller’s priority list. Not only does The Home Depot have a cut-out image of two of their ideal customers in every conference room at the company headquarters, but she also shared the following advice with Direct Marketing News:
“You cannot market to people you do not know. If you truly understand the audience, you’ll speak from a position of authority and the efforts you make in your field will be successful—and so will you.”
Mueller is also known for her success in empowering consumers to take action via social media. According to The Home Depot website:
“By taking a data-driven approach, the company has experienced double-digit growth in customer engagement and sales driven by social while also being lauded by the industry as the ‘top social media team in retail.’”
Nevraumont oversees integrated marketing for the senior living advisement company. Prior to that, he led Expedia’s loyalty and database marketing, having created both the Expedia Rewards programs along with the VIP and Elite programs. He marries analytics with customer experience, bringing together both quantitative data and qualitative insights. It’s likely his approach was honed at McKinsey & Company where he led consultant teams as an engagement manager.
Nevraumont is passionate about sharing what he has learned over the years. He’s written a book, Marketing is Easy and teaches an Online Marketing and Analytics class at University of Washington’s Michael G. Foster School of Business. He thinks marketing teams should be paying more attention to attribution. He makes the point that when you accurately understand how your customers are finding you, then you can make better decisions on where to spend time and money:
“Before you can understand the value of a channel, you first need to understand the channel of origin of each of your customers. And that problem turns out to be a lot harder than it looks at first glance.”
A graduate of Queen’s University, Nevraumont earned his MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s The Wharton School. You can find him tweeting at @Ednever, blogging at Marketing Is Easy and on LinkedIn.
Teri Lucie Thompson
Chief Marketing Officer at University of Arizona
While you won’t find a CMO at a lot of colleges and universities right now, there’s indication that you we’ll continue to see more marketing leaders like Thompson make the transition from corporate to higher education. After leading marketing teams at insurance companies, where she earned the reputation of being a pioneer in segmentation, Thompson was first tapped as CMO for Purdue University before her current role at University of Arizona.
She offers the following advice for anyone considering making the transition, that comes with a culture shock, from corporate marketing to higher ed:
Between leading the marketing organization at University of Arizona and winning awards, including the American Marketing Association’s “Higher Education Marketer of the Year” in 2012, she’s also written a book, Tuning In to Mom: Understanding America’s Most Powerful Consumer.
Global Managing Director Digital Marketing & Communications at Accenture
Klier takes a self-describe “audience-first” approach to marketing. She came to Accenture from Microsoft where she led both B2B and B2C marketing and where she spearheaded their influencer programs.
An influencer in her own right, fellow CMOs look to her for insight and advice on digital marketing and developing customer communities to engage audiences across paid, earned and owned media channels.
You can follow her on Twitter at @KatrinaKlier and on LinkedIn where she publishes regularly around digital marketing and marketing leadership. You can also find her asking and answering questions on Quora.
How has Merry used data and analytics to drive customer customer engagement? One example is through listening to conversations and measuring sentiment analytics around the “Boomstick”, what can only be described as an epic hotdog at the ballparks run by Delaware North. By turning those analytics into insights, Merry was able to shift the ideal audience persona of this food creation from solely men to families, particularly moms, and position the Boomstick as a great value for the money.
Before Delaware North, he led global marketing strategy at Unisys and Member Insights at BJ’s Wholesale Club.
Leading marketing at Delaware North, with operations at sports venues around the world, is a great fit for this sports fan who has an affinity for the Bruins and is a graduate of Middlebury College with an MBA from Boston University. You can find him tweeting about both his personal and professional life at @TMerryCMO and connect with him on LinkedIn.
David Feinberg
Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President at New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Feinberg started his career in consumer products at Procter & Gamble and Clairol before moving into healthcare. He’s responsible for marketing, advertising, digital and patient/visitor communication strategies at the hospital.
Feinberg has taken marketing personalization to a new level with a successful series of advertisements that spoke to different audiences that represent the diversity of the community the hospital serves. Feinberg tells AdAge:
“Consumer response has been so remarkable because these are real people telling real stories in their own words. We have worked very hard to eliminate hype and hyperbole, so their honesty comes through loud and clear. While New York-Presbyterian has always been well known for advanced, sophisticated medicine, this campaign adds a new dimension, a focus on the patient and all aspects of their care.”
This ad series was extended and NYC residents could find them on the sides of buses as well as during the 2015 Super Bowl.
Chief Communications Officer at Liberty Mutual Insurance
Alexander started his career as a Circulation Marketing Manager at Time magazine and then worked his way up through prolific brands such as Procter & Gamble and Campbell Soup Company. At Liberty Mutual, he’s established the Social Media Center of Excellence where they are “leading social listening, moderation and analytics resources to track and improve overall strategy and execution.”
He’s as likely to be found speaking to The Ad Club in Boston about how Liberty Mutual features personal and persuasive content to reach consumers as he is to be rubbing elbows with Olympic athletes on behalf of Liberty Mutual, an official sponsor for Team USA.
Director of Global Sales and Marketing at Virgin Atlantic Airways
Sebastian leads her international team from company headquarters in London. No stranger to the airline industry, Maria comes to Richard Branson’s company after rising through the marketing ranks at American Airlines in Dallas.
This year, Premier Traveler name Sebastian one of the “Most Compelling Women in Travel”. She was also named as one of the “Power 100”, a list recognizing the top marketers in the UK by Marketing Magazine. This comes as no surprise because Sebastian did, after all, play a part in bringing in designer Vivienne Westwood to outfit Virgin Atlantic’s flight attendants to celebrate the airline’s 30th anniversary.
Her accolades don’t stop there, though. She was also tapped by Marketing Week as one of their Vision 100 this year. She shared with them:
“Having always enjoyed combining the analytical with the creative, it wasn’t until I took on my first marketing role (a decade into my career) that I found a path that allowed me to regularly combine both.”
Pearl was recently hired as Chief Marketing Officer at the National PTA after serving as CMO at AFP (Association for Fundraising Professionals). Along with having an impressive tenure in the non-profit space, he’s also an entrepreneur, having founded and sold a technology company, and very active in the startup world as an advisor.
There’s no question that the work he does with startups, including user experience and having started using segmentation before many were even thinking about it, helps to transform how the National PTA will reach and engage with their members across the country.
He’s been called a “game changer” by people who have worked with him and he’s sought as a speaker at conferences and events.
Chief Marketing Officer & SVP Digital at Alex and Ani
Bonifacino is one of the youngest on our list of CMOs to watch having skyrocketed to success since graduating from the University of Delaware in 2005. A Direct Marketing News 40 Under 40 Award Winner in 2014, he indicates his first job really helped set the trajectory:
“My first job was with a think-tank that focused on artificial intelligence and predictive analytics. That was called Quantum Leap Innovations and gave me a foundation for the heavy tech side.”
Based in New York, he’s paying his success forward as a Co-Founder of New York Fashion Tech Lab, a collaboration between Springboard Enterprises and The Partnership Fund for New York City to promote fashion technology innovation and job creation in New York. He has also served as an advisor for University of Rhode Islands Harrington School of Communications and Media (Alex and Ani is headquartered in Rhode Island).
Narrowing down this list wasn’t an easy feat. We reviewed the work, backgrounds and points of view of numerous CMOs across B2C and non-profit verticals. We chose our final ten based on their influence in the marketing space and the work they have done to use analytics, listening and/or data to reach their customers and prospects in compelling and inventive ways and who we think others should keep an eye on as we believe we’ll continue to see innovation and inspiration from the CMOs we listed here.
Is there anyone you’d like to see added to the list?
Also, we’re not the the only ones recognizing movers and shakers in the marketing space.
