What does it take for brands and agencies to succeed in the Engagement Economy, where everyone and everything is connected and data transforms and disrupts marketing?
We posed that question to top marketers at Adweek and Marketo’s The Future of Ad Tech at Marketing Nation Summit. What we heard were frank comments about the intersection of technology and marketing, which has created a world where it’s all about engaging with and understanding customers—not just marketing to them. Watch the video above for five takeaways from the conference, or check out some of the highlights below.
Takeaway #1: The marriage of ad tech and mar tech is transforming engagement
“The marketer, at the heart, has to consider the customer. And they have to think about the personalized experience for the customer and all touch points along the journey. It’s a not single ad, it’s not a single impression, it’s about the experience over the lifetime of that journey.” —Karen Steele, GVP of Corporate Marketing, Marketo
Takeaway #2: A single view of the customer is the only way to win
“Tying the data that we have about our customers together really is the only way that we can create a holistic sense of who each customer is—so we can treat them in a way that is meaningful and relevant to them.” —Jeff Wright, VP, Data Analytics and Automation, Autodesk
Takeaway #3: Agencies must transform to survive
“One of the biggest shifts in how agencies are functioning… is being very focused on customer experience and integrating that into our data and our technology. In fact, we are looking at customer experience as one of the tenets, the most basic things that we are doing, with almost all of our clients.” —Jamie Gutfreund, Global CMO, Wunderman
Takeaway #4: Teams must work together to succeed
“The one thing that organizations need to do to be successful, as ad tech and mar tech are coming together, is work better as teams. Often times, the problem is not the technology or the lack of understanding of technology stacks and platforms. Often times, it’s simply that you have different people that are in charge of different platforms, and while the platforms are integrating, the people aren’t.“ —Adam Broitman, Managing Partner, MEC
Takeaway #5: The role of the CMO is more important than ever
“The CMO really has a seat at the table now in the… executive suite. It’s a double-edged sword and you’ve got to be ready to go and have your team’s head in the game because the expectations are high.” —Carrie Palin, SVP & CMO, Box
Animation by Eran Mendel
