THEARTOFMOBILEPERSUASION
TableofContents
TheArtofMobilePersuasion
Introduction
TheMobileUniverse
Personalization
Retail
Trust
CustomerJourney
MachineVs.Human
WhereAreWeWithMobile?
NewTechnologies
HowtoViewInnovation
NewBreedofMarketer
Epilogue
Notes
Acknowledgements
TheExperts
AbouttheAuthor
TheArtofMobilePersuasion
HowtheWorld’sMostInfluentialBrandsareTransformingthe
CustomerRelationshipthroughCourageousMobileMarketing
Featuringinterviewswiththeworld’sleadingmobilemarketing
executives,fromCoca-ColaandREItoGoogle,Lord&Taylorand
more.
Copyright©2015byJeffHasen.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
distributed,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,including
photocopying,recording,orotherelectronicormechanicalmethods,
withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher,exceptinthe
caseofbriefquotationsembodiedincriticalreviewsandcertain
othernoncommercialusespermittedbycopyrightlaw.For
permissionrequests,writetothepublisher:
OrderingInformation:
Quantitysales.Specialdiscountsareavailableonquantity
purchasesbycorporations,associations,andothers.Fordetails,
contactthepublisherattheaddressabove.
FirstEditionISBN978-0-9861483-4-7/978-0-9861483-3-0
BUS018000BUSINESS&ECONOMICS/CustomerRelations
BUS090010BUSINESS&ECONOMICSE-CommerceInternet
MarketingTEC061000TECHNOLOGY&ENGINEERING/Mobile&
WirelessCommunications
Formoreinformation,visit:www.frontierprojectpress.com
Thisbookisdedicatedtomywife,Kathryn,whosawsomething
inmeandinusthatchangedmylife;tomymother,whoforeverhas
hadmyback;andtothememoryofmyfather,whopowersme
forwardandiswithmealways.
Introduction
TheBigRelationship
Thisisabookaboutrelationships.
And unlike the 314,011 other titles onAmazon that attempt to
provideinsightsonhimorher,onloveandmarriage,thisisabook
abouttheonerelationshipmanyofusprizeaboveallothers:
Theonewehavewithourmobilephone.
Yoursmay look thesameas someoneelse’s.Youmaysharea
case,oraringtone.Butwithmorethanthreemillionappsavailable
fordownload–and1,000beingaddedtotheAppleAppStoreevery
singleday–it’slikelythatyou’vetrickedoutyourdevicedifferently
thanyourneighbor’s,anddifferentlythanmine.
You’ve also placed bookmarks on your favorite web pages.
You’ve added yourmust-see videos and photos. And you’ve likely
createdaone-of-a-kindhomescreen–thepictureofyoursonathis
firstbirthdayparty,or theKingCharlesCavalierSpanielwearinga
“12thDog”jackettocheeronyourbelovedSeahawks.
“People don’t have a relationship with a television set or their
computer,”longtimeadmanHankWasiaktoldme.“Maybetheydo
with their car. Maybe. But they all have a relationship with their
device.Itispartofthem.”
Nosurprisethatbrandmarketerslikeusaredesperatetogetin
ontheaction.Butwillconsumersletusin?Iftwoiscompany,does
three create a crowd? Is it possible thatmarketing could enhance
thisvital relationship, improving themobileexperience for theuser
by providing value? And is that what the wireless device owner
wants?Atwhatprice–forusandforthem?
TheBigChallenges
The number of smartphones sold worldwide in 2014 exceeded
1.2billion.AdultsintheU.S.spent23percentmoretimeonmobile
phonesduringanaverageday in2014 than in2013.Brandsknow
thatthechannelprovidesunmatchedopportunities.Google’sJason
Spero believes that we as marketers are now in the “urgency”
phase.Thetimetoactisnow.
Butwehavemorethanasmalllistofchallenges.Amongthem:
Even if a consumer invites us into theirmobile lives,
how are we brands to operate? Standing in the
doorway like strangers hawking wares from door to
door? Or like old friends who put their feet on the
furnitureandstayallnight?
Andhowdowehandleuserexpectations?I’venever,
everhadameatballsandwichfromyourquick-service
restaurant, but you,MeatballMarketer, should know
frommypurchasehistory thatmydiet is vegetarian.
SowhyamIstillgettingthosedamnmeatballads?
Whataboutthecustomerjourney?IfI’mlookingatan
Armani tie online tonight, should you target me
tomorrowwhenI’mnearNordstrom?What’spersonal
andwhat’screepy?
Howdoes theever-increasing“self-sufficient”mobile
shopper force us to re-shape our definition of
differentiatedcustomerservice?
What’s the role of today’s marketer? Are we
replaceable by mechanized data parses and auto-
targeting?
Itoldyouthechallengesweren’tsmall.Ifyou’rereadingthis,you
knowhowbigtheyare,andhowlargetheyloom–presentinevery
meeting, hovering over every budget decision, and haunting every
campaign.
BigThinking
They’rebigchallenges.Butthey’reourstoconquer.Butonlyifwe
thinkbig.
I visited some of the brightestminds inmobile,marketing and
business,seekinganswersthetoughestquestionsfacingmarketers
in the mobile era. Answers came from Google, The Coca-Cola
Company, REI, ESPN, Lowe’s, Expedia, Lord & Taylor, and more.
This book is built on their discoveries. The insights gleaned and
lessonslearnedareforallofuswhohavemobile-fueledaspirations
tobringabrandclosertothecustomer.
Someofthosebrightlightswilltalktousaboutinnovation–how
todefineit,howtoenactit,howtosellitintoorganizations,howto
deliverit,andwheretolooknextinamobileworldthatisconstantly
changing. Others will talk about the central values that guide us
through uncharted territory. Things like Satisfaction, Dreaming,
Motivation–threethatSperoholdsupasthedeepreasonsweall
usemobile in the firstplace.Still otherswill inspireus toembrace
thewindsofchangetobecomemarketersequippedtoactonthese
newpathstopersuasion.
One of those interviewees, Tom Daly, a senior executive from
Coca-Cola, toldme thathewon’t restuntileveryconsumeron the
planethas“aCokeinonehandandamobilephoneintheother”.
He’s not the only one thinking big. I heard from ESPN that its
goal is to have the sports network on the homescreen of every
wirelessdeviceonEarth.
Thosearebigdreams.Fitting,becausethesearehighstakes.To
thewinners,gothespoils.Andthelosers, inthewordsoflongtime
marketerSteveGershik,getdispatchedto“marketingpurgatory.”
There’s no question that you’ve gottamobilize. And there’s no
timetowaste.
Let’sgetgoing.
SIDEBAR
FouryearsagoIwroteabookonmobilemarketing.Today,whenI
tellpeopleaboutit,Itellthemit’saprettygoodhistorybook.The
speedofchangeisimmeasurablyswift.We’reinsideMoore’sLaw,
butmultiplied.Withthisbook,Icommittedtotakingadifferent
approach:thisbookwillneverbeoutdated.Everymonth,I’llupdate
itwiththelateststatisticsandthebestnewinsights.Mobilephones
updateeachseasonandtheiroperatingsystemsmoreoftenthan
that.Shouldn’tabookonmobilemarketingdothesame?Wethink
so.
VisitArtofMobilePersuasion.comtoseetheupdatescheduleand
downloadthelatestiterations.
CHAPTERONE
TheMobileUniverse
GettingOnTheSamePage
First,alevelset.
MorepeopleonEarthhaveamobilephonethanatoothbrushor
a toilet. Wireless penetration in the United States exceeds 100
percent;meaning, there ismore than onemobile phone for every
person.
The cellphonehas changed thewaywecommunicate (ordon’t
communicate). It’s transformed the way we buy, how we share
news and insight and opinion. How we perform the functions of
everydaylife:depositacheck,takeaphoto,makeacall,listentoa
song.It’sforevermodifiedhowwelearnaskill.Howwegaugeour
health.Howwecreateandcompose.
In developing countries, the mobile phone is a literal lifeline,
leadingtocleanerwater,morediagnosisandtreatmentofdisease,
andbankingfortheunbanked.
Look at it in numbers. But look only for a moment: these
statisticsaremerelydirectional—mobilemorphsthatfast.
Smartphone usage in the United States reached 77
percent or approximately 250 million people in the
winterof2015.1
At the same, time, a milestone was reached across
the pond with more mobile users taking to
smartphones than less-capable feature phones in
Europe’s top five markets—France, Germany, Italy,
SpainandtheUK—forthefirsttimeinhistory.
EightoutoftenAmericanstextonaregularbasis.
Sixintenaccessthewebonamobiledevice.
Inexcessof50percent readandsendemail, anear
identicalnumbertothosewhodownloadapps.
Time spent in digital media has swung in mobile’s
favor,withPCsoftenbeingleftathomeordownstairs:
weviewtheInternetmoreonawirelessdevicethana
computer.
U.S.adultsover18spentanaverageof43hoursand
31minutespermonthconnectingwithmobilecontent
viaanapporwebbrowserduringthesecondquarter
of2014.2That’salmosta10-hourpermonthincrease,
yearoveryear.
Nearly four of fiveMillennials spendmore than two
hoursadayusingtheirsmartphones.3
Wireless usage spans generations: 84 percent of
teenagersownamobilephone.And83percentof6-9
yearoldsuseatablet.4Conversely,nearlyeightinten
seniorsownacellphone.
Approximatelyonetrillionphotosweretakenin2014,
with a huge number being snapped with mobile
devices. Nearly twomillion pictures are shared daily
onsocialmedianetworksandotherplatforms.
One more stat for now: 84 percent of U.S. mobile
phone owners use their device while watching
television.
Thisallmeanswhat?Simple:Ifweasmarketersfailtoadaptto
thisradicaltransition,ourcustomersandprospectswillbesomeone
else’s customers and prospects. And the early scorecard on our
effortsshowsusbehind.
Forrester’s Julie Ask tells us that 62 percent of marketers still
treatdevicesassimplysmallerPCs.5Moredamning:inmanycases
marketershavebeen ill-equippedorunwilling to take time to read
the signals. According to Ask, 89 percent of companies have a
mobilestrategytohaveconsumerscometothem.6
What’s wrong with that? Consumers expect brands to engage
withthemwheretheyare.
Themobileuserissophisticatedanddeservesmorecredit.Those
whocarrythesedevicesarepickingsides,andthey’redoingsowith
moreintelligencethanconsumershaveeverpossessed.
IncreasedExpectations
Thenexttimethatyoureachintothenightstand—orthatdrawer
that you sworewouldn’tbecomeacollectionof junk—pull out the
BlackBerry that’s gathering dust as quickly as it’s fading into your
memory.
Remembertheexperience.Youdidn’tfullyunderstandtheextent
of its impact, but deep down you knew: that Blackberry was life-
changing.Likeneverbefore,youwereconnected.Empowered.And
inescapablefromyourboss.Itcamewiththegoodandthebad.
Speaking of the bad, think about the web experience on that
device. Buffering entered our vocabulary rapidly. The expletives
camefasterthantheloadtimes.
We expected more. And in 2007, our expectations were met.
Apple introduced the iPhone. We could surf, engage with apps,
watch videos, take pictures, and post instantly to websites like
FacebookandTwitter.
That advancement, and others that followed, literally changed
ourlives.Andonlyincreasedourexpectationsjustasrapidly.
Consider:
Twenty-one percent of U.S. consumers have the
expectationofanything,anywhere,anytime,Forrester
says.Another29percentaretransitioningthere.7
Two-thirdsofU.Ssmartphoneuserschecktheirphone
withinfifteenminutesofwakingupandwithinfifteen
minutesofgoingtobed.8Theymustbeintheknow.
More than 85 percent of consumers delete an email
immediately if it doesn’t render properly on their
mobiledevice.9
Four in ten Americans abandon a mobile shopping
sitethatwon’tloadinthreesecondsorless.10Infact,
Amazon determined that a page load slowdown of
onlyonesecondcouldcostthecompany$1.6billionin
saleseachyear.11
Icouldgoon.
“Wherewearewithmarketers?”Google’sSpero,VicePresident
of PerformanceMedia, said tome, repeatingmy question. “There
are different points of the crawl, walk, run continuum. Many
marketers areworking on themost basicmobile experiences. The
first generation ofmobile experienceswas cut and paste desktop
experienceswithsmallerweightimages.Novideo,noFlash.
“Where we’ve gotten to: (some) marketers have come to
understandthatIwantadifferentexperiencewhenI’monthis”—he
holdsupamobiledevice—“thanwhenI’monthis.”Hepointstoa
personalcomputer.“Nowyou’vebuiltamobile-specificexperienceif
you are any good. You start to ask questions about signals. You
start to be able to say, ‘Howdo Iwant thatmobile experience to
changeifI’mwithinamileofaPizzaHutandamlookingforpizza?’
Marketersaretryingtofindwhichofthosesignalsarerelevant.”
EnablingDesire
Thefirstthreewords inmy2002MobilizedMarketingbookare:
Sell more beer. The opening chapter connects current-day
MillerCoorsmarketerSteveMurawithhispredecessors,whogoall
thewaybackto1855.
Thebond?Attheendoftheday,eachhadtomoveproduct.The
factis,withmobile,everythinghaschanged–andnothinghas.We
stillhavethesameobjective.It’sthehowthatisdifferent.
MillerCoors ishardlyananomaly.Coca-Cola,oneoftheworld’s
most recognizable, beloved, and successful brands is another
fulfilling its long-established mission in an increasingly-large part
throughtheuseofwirelessdevices.
“Ourmobile strategy was really articulated in the 1920s when
RobertWoodruffdescribed the roleofTheCoca-ColaCompanyas
putting our brands within the arm’s reach of desire,” Tom Daly,
GroupDirector,MobileandSearch,toldme.“Theonlythingthatis
differenttodayisthatattheendofthatarm,betweenitanddesire,
isamobiledevice.
“Tothedegreethatstrategyisachoice,thechoicethatweare
making is to have mobile enable desire. The alternative is to do
nothing and have mobile become a barrier. That doesn’t sound
smart.”
Daly is a hands-down, first-ballot entrant in anymobile hall of
fame. He is responsible for The Coca-Cola Company’s global
strategyformobilemarketing.Additionally,hehaslongbeenoneof
the most influential evangelists for the channel, often speaking
around the world and serving in difference-making roles on the
MobileMarketingAssociation’sboardofdirectors.
Asyoumightexpect,Coca-Cola isnonewbiewhen itcomesto
innovation.
The company’s website says that the first marketing efforts in
Coca-Cola history were executed in 1887 through coupons that
promotedfreesamples.Atthetime,thatwasground-breaking.
TheinitialservingsofCoca‑Colaweresoldin1886for5centsa
glass.Sales inyearoneaveragednineservingsperday inAtlanta,
thecompany’sheadquartersthenandnow.Today,dailyservingsof
Coca‑Colabeveragesareestimatedat1.9billionglobally.12
Whereprojectedsalesareheadingisasmuchofasecretasthe
product’s formula. What isn’t hidden is Coca-Cola’s embracing of
mobile, which does in fact sound smart.Much of its international
customer base is far more connected via wireless devices than
computers.
“The course thatwe are looking to set connects our stories to
everybody in the world around them, wherever they may be, on
every occasion, by enabling desire—and the instant before—while
makingtheworldbetterforit,”Dalysaid.
Alignedwithitsbroadermission,Coca-Colahasinclusivenessas
a core mobile tenet. Throughout the world, it has utilized text
messagingtoreachnotjustsmartphoneusers,butthosewhohave
carried–andcontinuetouse–thesimplestdevices.
While themobilemixvariescountry tocountry,Cokemarketers
remainconsistentlytruetoDaly’sdirectiveofspendingthemajority
oftimeandresources–Dalyhasmentioned70percent—oncore
wireless products and services. Another twenty percent go toward
othermobileeffortsthathavemorerecentlyprovedtheirworth.The
final10percentareforwhatDalycalls“newthings.”
“Seventy-twenty-ten isn’t in stone,” Daly told me. “It wasn’t
established from themountain. It’s apointof view thatgovernsa
wayofprioritizingyouractivity,energyandresources.Theideaisto
spendmore time on the things that you knowwork. You spend a
smaller amount of your time, 20 percent, tomake the things that
youknowwork,workbetter.Andthenyouspend10percentonnew
things.Isitaformula?No.Ititaconstruct?Yes.”
Alloftheeffortshaveenablementandsalesasgoals.
“TheysaythatyoucanidentifyaCocaColabottlewithyoureyes
closed,”hesaid.“You’llrecognizeitbrokenonthefloor.Howdoyou
keepthatfresh?Whenwedothingslike‘ShareaCoke’,whenwedo
thingslikealuminumbottles,therealmagicofCokeistheabilityto
keepwhat is very familiar,what peoplewant, but also tomake it
fresh,innovative,andexcitingattheverysametime.”
TOMDALY
TomDaly,globalgroupdirectorformobileatCoca-ColaCo.,has
entered the Mobile Hall of Fame for outstanding leadership in
evangelizingmobilewithintheworld’slargestsoftdrinksmarketand
also to forums across industry sectors. Tomhas been tireless and
enduringinhiseffortstopushbestpracticeinmobileandweavethe
medium into marketing across channels. As a member of Coca-
Cola’s global connections team for thepast 10 years, he currently
leads the company’s strategy for mobile marketing, collaborating
with internalandexternal teamsworldwide todelivermanyof the
marketer’shighestprofileonlineinitiatives.
CHAPTERTWO
Personalization
BalancingAct:Swrve
Amongtheircross-channelsolutions,companieslikeMarketo
andExactTargetareincludingmobilemarketingautomation,newto
thepartybutgrowinginimportanceastheconsumerbouncesfrom
devicetodeviceandchanneltochannel.Doneright,Marketo
suggestsitcannetuptoa30percentincreaseinconversionrates.13
“Youneedthreethingsinordertoachievethevisionof
personalization,”saidSteveGershik,ChiefMarketingOfficerof
Swrve.Aleadingmobilemarketingautomationcompanysimilarto
FollowAnalytics,Swrveboastsanopenplatform,partnershipswith
Marketoandothers,andclientssuchasSonyandWarnerBrothers.
Worthnoting:Gershikwasbehindnotableeffortsinonline
automationwhenheservedasVicePresidentofMarketing
InnovationatEloqua–whichgrewfrom$3millionto$35millionon
itswaytoasuccessfulIPOandacquisitionbyOracleduringhis
tenure.
“First,youneedawaytosegmentusersbasedonanynumberof
randomattributes.Ithinkoftheminthreebuckets.Oneiswhatthey
say to you about themselves explicitly. Another bucket is their
behavior, or what we sometimes call digital body language: it’s
whatyoucanobserveaboutthem.Andathirdbucket iswhatyou
can infer about them from other sources—from other commercial
databasesor connections to other companies—thatmight provide
youwithuseracquisitioninformationorpointofsaleinformationat
aretailestablishment.”
Thencameanefficientwaytorunprogramsatscale.
“The second thing you need is a strategy to manage the
channelsofcommunicationwiththoseusers,”Gershikexplained.“In
themobilespace,you’vegotthreewaysofinteractingwithauser.
A) You can personalize the actual app experience—what Jeff
seesisdifferentthantheappthatStevesees.AndinfactwhatJeff
seesinthemorningmightbedifferentdependingonwhereJeffwas
thenightbefore,orwhathehasdoneinthemeantime.”
B)Youcansendin-appmessagestoencourageausertoexplore
otherareasoftheapplicationoranythingelsethatIasamarketer
would want to prompt you to do as part of our ongoing
conversation.
C) Push notifications to bring people back into the app and to
reengagewith themwith compelling offers to get them back into
thatimmersiveexperience.
“Butthosearejustchannelsofcommunication.Unlesstheytalk
to all the other marketing channels, then you run the risk of
becomingcompletelyobsolete.”
GershikonPersonalization
1.SegmentUsers.Whattheysay.Whattheydo.Whatyou
caninfer.
2.ManagetheChannels.Andmakesuretheytalktoeach
other.
3.Measure:Knowwhatworks.Optimize.Thenpredict.
Andyoucanbetthattoday’schannelsaren’ttomorrow’s
channels.
“Thechannelsarealwaysgoingtochange,”Gershiksaid.“Ihad
toexplaintomysonwhatafaxmachinewasandhe’s16yearsold.
Hehadnoidea.Butthatwasakeypartofsomeindustry’s
marketingstrategiesnottoolong.Beingabletotakeadvantageof
alltheexistingmarketingchannelsandallthenewmarketing
channelsisanotherkeyattributeofgettingclosertothis
personalizationandoptimization.”
Butthereisonemoreelementtoconsider.
“Thelastpart,thenecessarybutunsexypart,ismeasurement,”
Gershiksaid.“Howcanyoutellwhat’sworking,andthenhowdo
youoptimizewhatyoudonextbasedonwhatonwhatyou’vedone
inthepast?You’reseeingalotoftechnologiesemergingaround
predictiveanalytics,tryingtomakeinferencesaboutwhatyour
usersaregoingtodobasedonwhatthey’vedoneinthepast.”
Thethree-partstrategyseemsclear,butonequestionremains:
Howpersonaldoestheconsumerwantthemarketertobe?
“Thoseofuswhogrewupinanerathatwaspre-Millennial,we
stillholdontothisquaintideaofprivacy,”Gershiktoldme.“Every
timeweseeanewwebservicethatallowsyouinrealtimeto
publishallofyourcreditcardtransactionssoyourfriendscansee
whatyouarebuyingreactinhorrorathowtheworldhas1984ized
itselfallonitsownusingallthetoolsthatareavailabletoit.”
Butratherthanthrowuphishands,Gershikmakesthebestof
theinevitability.
“Evenforoldguyslikeuswhogrewupinanerawherepersonal
privacyisimportant,westillperformthementalcalculationinour
headsifwhetherwhatwearereceivinginexchangeforourpersonal
informationismorevaluabletousthangivingupthatbitof
informationismorevaluabletousthangivingupthatbitof
information,”hesaid.“Thatcanbeanythingfromouremailaddress
toourphonenumbertoourphysicallocationtosomethingthatwe
careabout—aproblemthatwe’rehavinginbusiness,forinstance—
toalotmorepersonalthings,likewhereweareanytimeofdayor
night.ApplicationslikeUberhaveproventhatpeoplewillgiveup
thatmostprivateattributeinordertoreceivesomethingofvalue.
“IlovetheWazeGPS(globalpositioningsatellite)appthatwas
acquiredbyGoogle,withthefullunderstandingthattheyknow
exactlywhereIam,howfastIdriveonaverage,andatanypointof
thedaywhatbusinessesIpass.Iknowthatthereisatremendous
amountofinformationthatI’mgivinguptotheWazepeople.Idoit
willinglybecausetheyprovidemewithagreatexperience.Ihave
implicitlysaidthatwhattheyaregivingmeismorevaluablethan
theprivacyinformationthatI’mgivingout.Ifwearerelevant,ifwe
arecontextual,thenpeoplewillletusgetveryintimatewiththem
withthemostintimateofdevicesthattheycarryrightnexttotheir
body.”
STEVEGERSHIK
With over 20 years of experience in product marketing,
socialmedia,demandgenerationandbrandbuilding,Steve
GershikistheChiefMarketingOfficerforSwrve.Steveisan
expert inwhatB2B companies need to do to surviveand
thrive in competitive environments today. Steve has also
spoken at SXSW Interactive, DMA, AMA, BMA,
DemandCon, SiriusDecisionsSummit,AdTech, andEloqua
Experience.
In-Store,In-App:REI
RetailpowerhouseREIpridesitselfonknowingitscustomers.But
itstopsshortofsayingthatallinformationobtainedandinferredis
fairgame.
“Onpersonalization,Ithinkwe’reabitearlyinthegame,”said
JeffKlonowski,REI’sDirector,DigitalRetail-Mobile&Business
Development.“Ithinkthat’smoreofalongertermvisionfor
retailers.Rightnow,yougetintothecreepinessfactorandhow
muchistoomuchveryquickly.WhatIlookatfirstisthisusecase:‘I
lookedatanitemonlinebutthenIspecificallycameintothestore.’
“DoI,asaretailer,wanttopushadditionalmessagingand
contenttothatcustomer?Whenyoubecomeveryproactiveinthe
retailstore,sendingadsornotificationssimplybecauseoflocation,I
feelthatprobablytakesitonesteptoofar,atleastintheshortterm.
Alotofretailersarestilltryingtofigurethatout.”
ButKlonowskisaidthatthereisplentyofappropriateand
effectiveindividualmarketingthatcanbedone.“Let’slookatthe
loyalusers,”hesaid.“Saysomeonehastheretailer’sappandhas
settheirpreferencesandoptedintoreceivewhattheywant,etc.
Thensaywecreatesomesortofin-storemode—whichalotof
retailersarelookingatfortheirmobileapps—settochangethe
app’scontentwhensomeoneisinthephysicalretailstore.
“Thenyouaresaying,‘YouopenedtheREIappinstore.Here’sa
featureset.Andbytheway,youdidlookatthisitem,here’swhere
it’satinthephysicalstore.Doyouwantmoreinformationorcanwe
leadyoutoit?’
“Ithinkthatiswherewearegoing.Closertothatkindof
approachversusanad-basedmodelwherejustbecauseoflocation
andknowledgeofpreviousactivity,I’mgoingtosendyouapush
notificationoratextmessage.Ithinkthat’sgoingalittlebeyond
whatthecustomeroptedinfor.”
JEFFKLONOWSKI
Jeff is responsible for leading REI cross-divisional
strategies, including mobile, payments, and business
development. He is customer focused and passionate
aboutdeliveringbest-in-classcustomerexperiencesacross
digitalscreenstodelightcustomersandpositionREIasthe
leadingoutdoorspecialtyretailer.
PersonalizedMagic:Disney
Thecynicssaywewillprotectourprivacyatallcosts.
Thedoubters say that there isn’t anything to entice us in large
numberstojoinpermission-basedprogramsrunbybrands.Wewill
betrackedandspammed,theypredict.
Thedoomsdaygangsaysthatwearealltoobusytonoticecalls
toactionthataskustodosomething.
They’reallwrong.
Inthemosteye-openingpermission-basedwirelesssuccessto
date,byearly2014,DisneyWorldhasenticedmorethanhalfofits
18.6millionannualparkvisitorstouseitsMagicBandwearable
device,andtheaccompanyingapp,toengagedifferentlywiththe
park.Fromorderingfoodtochargingpurchasestotheirroomto
jumpingpastthelinesforridesandentertainment.Andasmany
usersattest,itevenaddstothefun.
Added fun.Andaddedvalue.To theparkand themasses.And
it’s not something that you canonly find in Fantasyland—it’s here
now.
“Thethingsyouwanttodoattheparkallbecomethefamily’s
mission,”TomStaggs,Disney’schairofparksandresorts,told
Wired.“Beingabletolockthatmissioninde-stressesyourwhole
vacation.”
And there’s value all along the journey, making the Happiest
PlaceonEarthevenhappier.
ARadio-frequencyIdentification(RFID)chipletsresortguests
swipetheirbandstopayatanyregisterinDisneyWorld,access
expresslines,andunlocktheirhotelroom.Readersthroughoutthe
parkflashthewearer’snamesoemployeescangivepersonal
greetings.Visitorsuseanapptopre-selectthreeridesforwhichthey
canenterexpresslines.Takingintoaccountrideavailabilityand
proximity,theappplotsthosechoicesintoitineraryoptions.Theapp
alsooffersupdatesonwaittimesforeveryride.Visitorscanusethe
apptoreserveatableandselectamealatBeOurGuest.Whena
visitorwithaMagicBandcrossesthebridgetotherestaurant,ahost
greetshimorherbynameandthekitchenisalertedtopreparethe
food.Sensorsinthetableslettheserversknowwherethepatronis.
Disney has seemingly thought of everything. The battery in the
bandworks for twoyears—because it knows togo to sleepwhen
thewearerleavesthepark.Andthedesignofthebandensuresthat
itfitseverywrist.
It’sallsensibleandvaluable.Andnearly10millionvisitorshave
usedit.Tradingprivacyandanonymityforanenhancedexperience.
usedit.Tradingprivacyandanonymityforanenhancedexperience.
The lesson? Some might want to protect their anonymity. But
whenthevalueisright,notmany.
Manyofthoseaforementionednaysayersclaimthatlocation-
basedservices,includingonesemployingbeacons,willbeinvasive
distributorsofspam.
Disney showed the opposite. A responsible marketing and
customerserviceprogramcanputasmileonone’sfacefasterthan
alightningrideonSpaceMountain.
13WaysofLookingatPrivacy
Different typesof informationelicit different levelsof sensitivity
amongAmericans,accordingtoacomprehensive2014reportbythe
PewResearchCenter’sInternetProject.Socialsecuritynumbersare
universally considered to be the most sensitive piece of personal
information, followed by health information and content of phone
conversations.Media tastesandpurchasinghabitsareamong the
leastsensitivecategoriesofdata.
In a separate Pew report that same year that polled experts,
severalthemesemerged.
Livingapubliclifeisthenewdefault.Itisnotpossible
to live modern life without revealing personal
information to governments and corporations. Few
individualswillhavetheenergyorresourcestoprotect
themselvesfrom‘dataveillance’;privacywillbecomea
‘luxury.’
Therewillbenoglobalstandard.Thereisnowaythe
world’s varied cultures, with their different views
aboutprivacy,willbeable tocome toanagreement
onhow toaddress civil liberties issueson theglobal
Internet.
TheInternetofThingswill furthercomplicateprivacy.
People’s homes,workplaces, and the objects around
them will “tattle” on them. The incentives for
businesses to monetize people’s data and
governments to monitor behavior are extremely
potent.
We’re headed toward further complexity. Some
communities might plan and gain some acceptance
for privacy structures, but the constellation of
economic and security complexities is getting bigger
andhardertomanage.
Those trends notwithstanding, large groups of consumers have
taken proactive actions to keep away from ads, personal or
otherwise.On laptops and PCs, as ofmid-2014, therewere about
144millionactiveadblockusersaroundtheworld—andusagegrew
bynearly70percentbetweenJune2013andJune2014.14
But options for blocking ads onmobile devices are limited and
usageisuncommon.Andbecausethedeviceisperceivedasmuch
more personal, the stakes are higher for the relationships built or
strainedbetweenbrandsandmobileusers.
WhenIspokewithveteran internationalagencymarketerThom
Kennon,heputitbluntly:privacy,hesaid,was“delusional.”
“Idon’tthinkforthelast70or80yearsofconsumerismhavewe
enjoyedthisPollyannaishviewofwhatprivacyanddataprotection
weregoingtohave,”hetoldme.“Idon’tbelieveevenaspirationally
that it’s attainable. I believe smart brands, smart platforms, smart
publishers have figured out ways to create a value equation with
consumers that says if you surrender a number of data points,
you’regoingtogetbetterstuff.You’regoingtogetlessclutter,less
advertising, and going to get more personalized, more tailored
contentandservice,andthere’sahugebenefittobothofustodo
that.”15
MarketerMarioSchulzkeagrees.“Ifyoulookedattheearlydays
of television, there was a very clear connection between the
program that youwatched and the company that sponsored that
program,”saidSchulzke,auniversitymarketerandteacher,founder
ofIdeaMensch,andalong-timeadvertisingagencyleader.
“Back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, there was ‘Gillette Friday Night’
boxingnight.EverybodyknewthattheygottoseeliveboxingonTV
becauseofGillette. I think in the last20years in traditionalmedia
that connection has gotten lost. I don’twatch a sports game and
seeacertainadandsay,‘I’mthankfulthatBudLightisbuyingthese
adsbecausethat’swhyIgettowatchthisshowforfree’.”
Schulzke then takes the discussion to the web and to mobile.
“ThesameistrueontheInternet,”hesaid.“ThinkaboutGooglefor
asecond.They’vegottheiremail—weallhaveourGmailaccounts.
NoneofuspayforGmail.Wegetincrediblevalueoutofit.Noneof
us pay for Google Calendar. Nobody pays for Facebook. Nobody
pays for Twitter.Nobodypays for Instagram.Yetweget somuch
satisfaction and somuch utility out of these tools. The reason for
thatisthattheyaregoingtomonetizeuscommercially.
“Ithinkifyouunderstandthatfromaconsumerperspective,then
you get to make the choice whether you don’t want to be on
FacebookorhaveaGmailaccount.”
Schulzke recentlydiscussed thevery issuewithhisUniversityof
Montanamarketingstudents.
“Everybody thought that it was kind of creepy,” he recalled.
“Therewasasenseofhesitationwhentheyfoundoutthatbyusing
your Gmail account andwhen you log into different services, and
loggingintoFacebook,thatyouareabletobetracked.
“But then when I asked the question, ‘Would you not go on
Facebook,wouldyougiveupyourGmailaccount?’theanswerwas
aresoundingno. I felt like therewas this feeling that itwasunfair
that this ishappeningbut it’s just tooconvenient to stayon these
tools.Theyarefreeandtheyaregreat.”
What they need to be, in the view of Schulzke and other
marketersIinterviewed,aremoretransparent.
“What’simportantforcompanieslikeFacebookandGoogleand
Appleandtheseverylargeplatformsistojusteducateconsumersa
little bit about what it is that you’re doing and give people some
waystooptinandIoptout,”Schulzketoldme.“Andyou’regoingto
beabletooptoutofeverything.Andmostpeoplewon’tbeoptedin
toeverything,either.Ithinkthattherewillbealittlebitofastruggle
butbeingout thereandputtingout information I think thatwillbe
importantanditwillresolvethat.Honestly,Idon’tthinkyouwillbe
creepy—Ithinkitwillbekindofassumed.”
As much as there needs to be a mindset change with those
college students, adjustments need to enter the marketing
department,too.
“Let’sfaceit,”Schulzkesaid.“Marketingwasonceallabouthow
canIinterruptyoufromwhatyou’redoing,catchyourattention,and
somehow persuade you to take whatever action it was that I
wantedyoutotake?Ithinkthat’schanged.
“As marketers if we want to be successful, rather than think
abouthowwe’regoingtodisrupttheconsumerbehavior,weneed
tothinkhowcanweaddvaluetotheconsumerbehavior.”
MARIOSCHULZKE
MarioSchulzkeistheAVPofMarketingattheUniversityof
Montana and founder of IdeaMensch, a community he
started to help people bring their ideas to life. Before,
Mario spent 10 yearsmanaging digital strategy teams at
adagenciesupanddowntheWestCoast.
InSearchofGuidingPrinciples
GSMA, the largest global association of mobile carriers and
related companies, has established a set of high-level privacy
principles. Openness, Transparency and Notice; Purpose and Use;
UserChoiceandControl;DataMinimizationandRetention;Respect
User Rights; Security; Education; Children and Adolescents;
Accountability and Enforcement. (You can read the specific
language around these in the Appendix.) Similar practices are
advocatedbytheU.S.FederalTradeCommission.
Where these guidelines will get us remains to play out, but
expertspredictalackofconsumercontrol.
BobBriscoe,chiefresearcherinnetworkingandinfrastructurefor
BritishTelecom,wrote,“Lackofconcernaboutprivacystems from
complacency because most people’s life experiences teach them
that revealing their private information allows commercial (and
public) organizations to make their lives easier (by targeting their
needs),whereas thedetrimental cases tend tobevery seriousbut
relativelyrare.”16
Kalev Leetaru, Yahoo fellow in residence at Georgetown
University, says, “While… people publicly discuss wanting more
privacy,theyincreasinglyusemediainawaythatgivesawaytheir
privacy voluntarily—for example, broadcasting their location via
phone GPS when posting to social platforms, photographing their
entire lives,etc. People seem towant to be famous, documenting
their livestothemost-minutedetail, inwaysthatwouldhavebeen
unheardoftoapastgeneration.Moreover,eachtimeamajorsocial
platform reduces privacy even further, there is a roar of public
backlashandpromisesthatpeoplewillleaveenmasse,butnoone
actually leaves the platforms, and in fact, more sign up. Thus,
peoplearenotvotingwiththeir feet.Companieshaveno incentive
to increaseprivacy,which reduces revenuepossibilities in termsof
sellingadvertisingandproductsbasedonidentityanddesires.”17
And finally, here’s Jonathan Grudin, principal researcher at
MicrosoftResearch:
“There is an inevitable tension between potential commercial
exploitationof personal informationbybusinesses, including those
that are well-intentioned, and the desires of some individuals.
Businesses will always be motivated to push infrastructure
boundaries,whatever theyare. In fact, themoreworkwe invest in
developingaframeworkthatseemsbalanced,themoreabusiness
can find grey areas, workarounds, and loopholes in good
conscience.Youngpeoplearemoreused toaworldwithcameras
everywhere.Theoldergenerationdevelopedbehavioralhabits that
assumed a degree of privacy that young people have not
experienced.Whatoldsterswouldhavetogiveup,youngpeoplewill
notmiss.In2025,moreofthepopulationwillhavegrownupinthe
newworld,soconcernaboutprivacywilldecreaseandperhapsshift
in emphasis.Of course, the dwindling ranks of dinosaursmay not
seethingsmuchdifferentlythantheydonow.”18
TransformingTravel
Alistofthechangesthathavereshapedthetravelindustrycould
stretchacrossconcourses.Fromreengineeredseatsandredesigned
cabinstoreimaginedloyaltyprogramsandcorporatemergers.From
thedisappearanceofsnacksandamenities to thenow legendarily
poorserviceandincreasedfees.Nottomentionthesecurityhurdles
travelersleapenroutetotheirgate.Theoldwayofdoingbusiness
haslongsinceflownaway.
Forsome,theonlyappropriateresponseissatire.AlaskaAirlines
and my former ad agency WongDoody poked at much of the
changes in a series of television spots showing mythical SkyHigh
Airlines.
In “Polite-a-Prompter”, a SkyHigh Airlines ticket agent
experiences difficulty with his teleprompter glasses as he feigns
customer service when greeting customers. ‘Vouchers” shows
SkyHigh flight attendants handing out rain checks for blankets,
water and toilet paper. In “Banjo”, a SkyHigh employee gives a
customer a song and dance rather than customer service. “Bench
Seating” has SkyHigh passengers packed together with shared
seatbelts.
Canairlinesfareanybetterwhenitcomestothetransformation
inmobile?Theopportunityisobvious,evenifthepathtocapitalize
onthatopportunityisjustnowbecomingclear.
Morepeople than everwere engagedwith travel on
mobile; the majority who booked on their device
woulddosoagain
Mobile usage in the planning stages has increased
since2013
Fortypercentofthetravelaudienceismobileonly
TabletusegoeswayupandPCusegoeswaydownin
evenings when looking at share of traffic to travel
properties
Luxury travelers are more likely to book travel on a
mobiledevice
Ofthe104millionpeopleengagingwithtravelcontent
on amobile device, 92 percentwere using amobile
browsertodoso.19
Expectations–andExceedingThem:Alaska
Airlines
“We realize that consumer expectations are rising. The
companies out there—the Googles, the Amazons, the Ubers—are
increasingthepaceofinnovation.Weneedtobereallypurposeful.
Consumerexpectationsarenotjustbeingsetbyairlines,”saidCurtis
Kopf, Vice President of Consumer Innovation for Alaska Airlines.
“When a customer uses our app, the bar is being set by Uber or
Apple or Starbucks. When a customer walks into the airport,
expectationsarebeingsetbyanAppleRetailStoreforaStarbucks
oranREI.
Inshort,Kopfsaid, customersarebringingnewexpectations to
the airport, driven by broader technology and innovation trends,
including the emergence of the always-connected mobile
consumers,digitalsignage,andtouchscreens.
“The reality is these thingsdon’thappencleanly,”he said. “It’s
not like all of a sudden smartphones are here and everyone has
themondayone.It’smessy.Emergingtechnologyisusedforalong
time alongside existing technologies. So we have to deliver
information in thechannel that thecustomerwants.We’regetting
close to two million customers who are using our mobile apps.
That’s growing in double and triple digits, and it’s going to get
biggerandbigger,andwewanttodoagreatjobthere.”
But the job is “messier than that.We know that some people
maynothavea smartphoneor theymayhavea smartphoneand
theytravelwithusonceayearandtheyarenotgoingtodownload
our app,” Kopf said. “In those instances we would deliver
informationviatext.Youcansignuptodaytogetinformationabout
agatechangeviatextifthatishowyouprefertogetit.
“Wealso have it on screens andwe have agentswho can tell
you.Forsure,allofthesethingscoexist.Wehavetodoagoodjob
foreverycustomer,howevertheyengage.”
Customers bring a common set of priorities to the concourse:
Comfort,food,retail,information,entertainment,andpowerfortheir
devices.Kopfpredictsthattheongoingtransformationwillmeetor
evenexceedconsumerexpectations.
“Whenyou thinkabout the lobbyofanairport, it’sstillapretty
crowded placewith a lot of people,” he said. “During busy times,
there are people standing in line doing things that, increasingly,
they’lldobeforetheygettotheairport.This ideaofa lobbytoday
with a ticket counter and all these agents standing behind things,
that’s going to slowly change. People will just walk through the
lobby.
“Soon,you’llseeacrossthewholeindustry—notjustairlinesbut
hotelsagents,too—aregoingtobeusingiPadsinsteadofstaringat
agreenscreen.”
Whether airlines can pull this off very much matters—to the
entireecosystem.According to JDPower’sNorthAmericanAirport
Satisfaction Survey, passengers that report high levels of
satisfaction at an airport tend to spend up to 45 percentmore in
retail shops, on average.20 Through data from its mobile tracking
initiativesatNorthAmericanairports,airportmanagementcompany
SITAreportedthatanextra10minutesinasecuritylinereducesan
averagecustomers’retailspendby30percent.21
So what would make a more satisfied customer?What would
increasethesenseofvalueatraveler receives fromanairlinethey
patron?Thoseanswersarebecomingclearer.
A late 2014 study released by FlightView revealed that 93
percent of travelers said they nowwant airports to push alerts to
themonimportantday-of-travelinformation.
That’slowhangingfruit.Here’smore:
84percent expectairports to keep themupdatedon
theirflight’sstatus
79percentwantupdatesonsecuritywaittimes
48percentwouldvalueupdatesontrafficdelays
38percentwanttobekeptupdatedontheweatherat
theirdestinationcity
24percentwantupdatesonparkingcapacity
16 percent would value being sent information on
available airport amenities, like lounges, shopping,
travelservicesandmore.
FlightViewfoundthatthere’sagrowinginterestamongtravelers
toallowairportstoanonymouslytracktheirmobiledevicesinorder
to collect and provide more actionable information, such as real-
time updates on security lines, wait times at customs and ticket
counters,andwalkingtimesbetweengates.22
IfwaittimesandenjoymentmattersintheleisurelandofDisney
World,imaginehowmuchmoreitmattersintheurgentatmosphere
oftheairport. Ifeverpersonaldatawascurrencyworthtradingfor
betterinformation,thisistheplace.
CURTISKOPF
Curtis Kopf is Vice President of Consumer Innovation at
Alaska Airlines and is charged with making Alaska the
world’s easiest airline to fly. Curtis’s teams span key
customer touch points, including ecommerce, digital
marketing,distribution,airportexperience,R&D,employee
tools, customer insight andmobile. Curtis hasworked for
bothAmazon.comandMicrosoft.
SellingInAHurry:JetBlueandHotelTonight
Long before they get to the airport, consumers are making
destination, flight, rental car andaccommodationdecisionson the
goandontheirwirelessdevices.
“Travelmoves very quickly when it comes to airline seats and
inventory,”saidJonathanStephen,JetBlue’sformerHeadofMobile
&EmergingTechnologies.“Sometimescustomerswillseefaresales
andthoseseatsarelimited.Bythetimetheygettotheircomputer
topurchasethattransaction,theseatsaregone.
“A lot advertising has gone toward ‘Act now on your mobile
device’. Especially in regard to travel. Experiences are more
optimized. People aremoving a lot faster. They are booking trips
moreimpulsively.Peoplearemakingdecisionslastminutebecause
theyhavetheabilitytodoit.Inthepast,youwerestuckwithwhat
youhadbecauseit’shardtomakethosedecisions.Thetechnology
hasallowedpeopletobemoreimpulsive.Infact,youstarttoseea
lot of bookings in mobile happen closer to the date and time of
travelthenifyouplanneditallinthepast.”
Among the more successful in moving inventory at the last
minute is HotelTonight, an app featuring last-minute sales on
accomodations.
“It’s niche— If you want a hotel two or three weeks out, you
can’tusethatapp.Youareprobablygoingtouseamoretraditional
one—but there’s a need for this. And that’s why that technology
wascreated,”Stephensaid.
“I think it’sexciting. It’sgreat for the travel industry: itgivesus
more ways to sell our inventory and better ways to service our
customers. We’re getting a different segment of customers now.
Perhapstheywillpayalittlemoretogetoutoftownsooner.”
Expediaversusthe“Frankenstein”
Expedia.comhelpsmillionsof travelersamonthplanandbook
travel.Incredibly,itsresearchshowsthatpeopletypicallysearch48
timesacross sitesbeforepurchasinga flight. It isn’t hard tomake
the jumptorealizethatmobileofferingsarefastbecomingvital to
thebrand’ssuccess.
“Although we started by taking what we knew about desktop
and‘frankensteining’itintoamobilephoneortabletapp,wefound
out–surprise–thatanexperiencelikethatdidn’treallyreflectwhat
customersweredoing.Orwhattheywantedwhentheywereinthat
mode,”saidChiefMarketingOfficerDavidDoctorow.“Weshipped
product wrong, we designed content wrong and we marketed
wrong.
“Bynowwe’vestudiedeveryclickandeverymovepeoplemake
across devices and we understand somuchmore today than we
oncedid.Anditallgoesbacktotreatingpeoplenotastransactions
butaspeople.And thisholds true regardlessof thedevice they’re
on.”
It also goes back to meeting or exceeding expectations by
acknowledgingandservicingcustomersallalongtheirjourney.
“Now I better know that you, Jeff, visitedExpedia thismorning
onyourworkdesktoptosearchforaflighttoSanFrancisco,sothat
when you pick up your phone on your lunch break to repeat the
search,Icanhighlighttheupdatestothecontentyouwerelooking
for,” Doctorow said. “You want the feel and look and quality of
Expedia topersist,but the interface to follow the traitsyouexpect
onwhateverdeviceyou’reinteractingwith.
“The result of our combined content, product and marketing
strategy is increased engagement on the devices people are on
becauseit’sanexperiencedesignedforthemodethey’rein.”
Currently Expedia is seeking to differentiate through a product
feature that it calls Scratchpad, a tool that remembers searches
regardlessofthedevicethatavisitorison.
“Today, you have to be logged in to your Expedia account for
Scratchpad to work most effectively,” Doctorow said. “But once
that’sdone,we’lltakethehotelyouwereperusinginthemorningat
Starbucksandmakesureit’sonyourScratchpadwhenyouhopon
yourdesktopathomelaterthatnight.
“This is one of our features that embraces the interactions
peoplearemakingacrossdevicesandmakessure thecontentwe
presentisrelevantandpersonalized.”
Fordecades,globalmarketerslikeExpediahaveneededtoaccount
forculturaldifferencesanddiverseconsumerpreferences.Thathas
followedsuitwithmobile.
SaidDoctorow:“InAsia,wediscoveredthatthebuttonswehad
become familiarwith on our phones in theU.S. are different than
what local companieswere creating – largely because of theway
the characters display, but also in the typeof actions people take
whenusingthem,andwhattheyrespondto.InEurope,forinstance,
we’ve found thatpeople responddifferently tomarketing text that
reads ‘50 percent off’ than they do here in the states. And that
differs from saying ‘half price’ or even by giving a specific dollar
amount.
“Therearebigdatatrendsthatyieldsmall,actionablestepsthat
we can take to create a winning strategy for personalization that
goesbeyondtheperson.AndthisappliestopeopleinSydneyjustas
it applies to people in Seattle. There’s a combination of art and
science that goes into getting this right across the product and
marketingorganizations.”
Whatmakes the jobparticularlychallenging is the fact that the
sameindividualoftenmorphswhenheorshemovesfrombusiness
roadwarriortofamilyvacationplanner.
“Who Iamwhen I travel forwork is verydifferent fromwho Iam
when I’m travelingwithmywife orwithmy kids,”Doctorow said.
“That7a.m.flightandbusinesshotelisadisasterformyfamilysoI
don’twantyoutoalwaysshowmetravel informationthat’sbased
onwhatyouknowaboutmeingeneral.
“Instead, Expedia can tap intobigdata thatmarrieswhat they
knowaboutmewithwhat theyknowaboutpeoplewhosearch in
similarways to thespecificsearch I’mdoing rightnow–and then
ExpediacanpresenttheinformationthatreflectswhatIamactually
lookingfor.”
AnopenquestionisnotwhetherthatwilldifferentiateExpedia.It
already is. The question is for how long.With travel services and
sitesofallkinds lookingto leveragebigdataforgrowth,youraise
thebarandeverybodylearnstojumphigher.
DAVIDDOCTOROW
David is currently Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer at
Expedia.Aseasonedmarketingprofessionalwithnearly20
yearsofexperience,Davidhasawealthofknowledgeasa
changeleaderandmarketingexecutive.AtExpedia,David
drives customer acquisition, retention marketing, mobile
marketing, business development, and strategy for the
Expedia brand around the globe. David earned his MBA
from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business
andaBA in InternationalRelations from theUniversityof
Pennsylvania.
CHAPTERTHREE
Retail
Thesedays, itseemsliketheconsumerhasasmanychoicesas
youwillfindinan11-storydepartmentstore.Thatis,ifyoucanstill
locatesuchanexpansiveretaillocation.
In one important way, the modern-day consumer is like those
whohavecomebefore.Ingoodeconomictimes,wefillourclosets
withmoreshoes,shirtsandjeans—whetherweneedthemornot—
and everyone from the customer to the business is happy. In the
rougher patches, such as the recession that lasted from 2007 to
2009,salesdropandsilencedescendsonretailsites:youcouldhear
apindropinnear-emptybrick-and-mortarstoresandmalls.
Of course, e-commerce upended many brick-and-mortar
businessmodels.Onlythestrongandforward-lookingsurvived.And
nowmobile devices have brought new consumer capabilities and
expectations.Productreviewsareaclickaway.Show-roomingisthe
norm:aconsumerputshisorherhandsonaproductinabrick-and-
mortarstore,onlytomakeapurchase—likelyfromacompetitor,at
alowercost,thatincludesfreeshipping—onahandhelddevice.
Thatlastmove—theorderingonamobilephonewithoutthehelp
ofaclerkorthetouchofasalesperson—isindicativeofasignificant
shift toward consumer self-sufficiency. Many mobile users want
nothing more than to do it all themselves. According to a report
releasedbytheConsumerElectronicsAssociationinlate2014,more
58percentofshopperswhousemobiledevicesindicatedthatthey
prefertolookupinformationontheirdeviceswhileshopping,rather
thantalktostoreemployees.Thiswasespeciallytrueamongmen.
Andshoppersaged25-44.23
Nearlytwo-thirds(62percent!)ofmobileshoppersperceivedthe
information they gather via theirmobile device asmore beneficial
thantheinformationavailablein-storeviaproductdisplaysorsales
literature–orsalespeople.
Whatisaretailertodo?
NeverStopImproving:TheLowe’sApproach
If youare Lowe’s, a Fortune100home improvement company,
andaSoutheasternseptuagenarian,youpracticewhatyoupreach:
“NeverStopImproving.”
Sean Bartlett, Director of Digital Experience, Product, & Omni-
channel Integrationat Lowe’s, ledan initiativeby the chain toput
42,000iPhonesintothehandsofsalesassociatesasawaytohelp
customersgetamoresatisfyingexperiencefromthebrand’siPhone
app.
That was no small endeavor. Lowe’s serves approximately 15
millioncustomersaweekintheUnitedStates,CanadaandMexico.
With annual sales exceeding $50 billion, Lowe’s has more than
1,830 home improvement and hardware stores and 260,000
employees.
Theintent:tocreateavirtuouscirclebyenablingsalespeopleto
help their customers,who had alreadymademobile a big part of
theirdailyroutine.
In2013,Lowe’s introduced“product locator”mobile technology
to make shopping easier. Today, Lowe’s customers can find over
100millionprecise,in-storeproductlocationsandstoreservicesvia
customized,interactivemapsdisplayedontheirsmartphones.Allin-
stockitems’aisleand/orbaylocationsarerepresentedaspinsonan
interiormapofthespecificLowe’sstore.TheLowe’sapp,integrated
with technology from Seattle-based Point Inside, also provides
store-specific product search, prices, inventory availability, detailed
productinformation,customerratingsandreviews,andweeklyads.
In addition, customers can create and manage personalized
shopping lists thesamewaytheywouldonapieceofpaperusing
naturallanguagetermsorbyscanningproductbarcodes.
“That’s obviously a big nod to the in-store experience and
makingitmoreefficient,”Bartlettsaid.“Ourstoresaregenerallyin
the 100,000 square foot range,with a couple of dozen aisles that
are fairly long. So to the extent that we can get people to the
productthattheywant,we’regoingtopushforit.”
For those who still prefer a personal interaction, the product
locator solution helps Lowe’s in-store associates better serve
customers, as the tens of thousands of iPhones used by in-store
associatesalsohaveaccess to the searchandmapping capability
throughLowe’sstoreassociateapp.
“Our associates are regularly trained,” Bartlett said. “Any new
capabilitygoesthroughourinternalprocesswhetherthat’sthrough
our internal social collaboration tool, trainingmaterials, videos, or
walkthroughs.It’saprettystandard,butrigorous,process.
“It’sthesameforourcustomer-facingproperties.Weincludeitin
emaildependingon thescopeof thecapability.Weuseoursocial
team.We’ve taken over the home page of ourwebsite. Now you
can do preview videos in the app store. For larger things, like
product locator, also known as wayfinding, we did an overview
videothatsitsoutonYouTubeandwepushtrafficthere.”
One of the ways Lowe’s accomplishes a streamlined Web
experienceformobileusersisputtingstorehoursfrontandcenterin
the store locator feature. When mobile users comes to the store
locatorafterhours,theyseewhattimetheneareststoreopensthe
nextmorningandareofferedanopportunitytobuyonlineandpick
upinthestore.
“Indeterminingnewcapabilities,whetherit’stechnology,design
oroverallcustomerexperience,wereallylookforcustomerbenefit,”
Bartlett said. “We saw this recently with Touch ID (a fingerprint
recognition feature designed and released by Apple) where there
was a clear customer benefit to allowing people to log into their
account using their fingerprint. Passwords are an archaic way of
authenticating, or validating, someone’s ID and people still have
troublewith them. They use various email addresses.We look for
clear customerbenefit, not ahuge technical hurdle, and the value
thatitcouldbringtothecustomerandthebusiness.
“Intermsofwaitingtoseehowthingsplayout,Ithinkyousawa
lot of that in the retail industrywithNFC (payments via near-field
communication),even though ithasbeenout forquitesome time.
Themajorityoffolkssatonthesidelinetoseehowthatwasgoing
to play out, particularly with device manufacturers, consumer
adoption, and again you need to imagine the customer and see
what is thevalueproposition. Is it reallyeasier touseNFCthanto
swipeacard?”
Saying yes or no to a new technology is no simple task,
especiallywhenBartlett,his team,andothers,consider the impact
onoperations.
“Welookatoverallimpact,”hesaid.“Ifyoulookatourbusiness,
$50 billion plus in annual revenue, if you just look atmobile as a
standaloneentity, youcandoanicebusiness there. If you lookat
theoverall affect that youcanhaveonassociatesandcustomers,
being the digital arm of a $50 billion organization is a lot more
leverage that looking at yourself as a standalone business.
Everything is done with the context of impacting the customer
experience as well as the overall experience. There’s almost no
channelspecificactivity.”
AndBartlett’syardstickforsuccess?
“We very closely track the performance and feedback that we
get—whether it’s commerce, customer satisfaction, engagement,”
hesaid.“We introducedMyLowe’s,our loyaltyprogram, tomobile
quite a while ago. We’re looking at repeat usage. It’s pretty
widespreadbutdependingonthecapabilityorthefeature,thereare
specificmeasurestolookto.Obviouslynoteverythingisjudgedthe
same.”
Bartlett believes that one should ask these questions when
analyzinganymobilemarketingproductorinitiative:
Isitcompelling?
Isitincremental?
Isitfriendly?
Isitpersonal?
SEANBARTLETT
SeanBartlettistheDirectorofDigitalExperience,Product,
andOmni Channel Integration at Lowe’s. Sean serves as
an internal authority on the topics of digital strategy,
customerexperience, emergingplatforms, innovation,and
high-performanceteamculture.
ClimbingToNewHeights:REI
IfLowe’swalks thewalk,REI literally lives itsvision—andthose
ofitscustomers:climbingtonewheights.
Thattakesmanyforms,includingitseffortsindigitalandmobile.
Accordingtotheretailer—whichwasstartedbyclimbers in1938—
digital accounts for nearly a quarter of all REI sales.Whilemobile
figures haven’t been publicly discussed, there is no argument that
theyaresignificantandgrowing.
Thecompanysaysthat75percentofcustomerswhobuyinone
ofits135storesacross33statespreviouslyvisitedtheREIwebsite,
or other digital properties such as a mobile app to research the
items.
“Thetemptationistofolloweverynewinnovationortechnology
idea. But that is not a winning strategy,” REI President and CEO
JerryStritzkesaid.“Differentiationiswhereyouwillprevail.”24
Behindmanyoftheefforts—andtheevaluationofotherpossible
mobilemountains toclimb—is JeffKlonowski,amobilevetwho is
nowDirector,DigitalRetail-Mobile&BusinessDevelopmentatREI.
“Therearealotofnewbrightshinyobjectsoutthere,”Klonowski
toldme.“Wecertainlytakeaviewpointthatinsomecases,wewant
tobealeader.Inothercases,wewanttobeafastfollower.Itreally
justdependsonthecontextofthings.
“We’renota retailer that isgoing tochaseeverynew ideaout
there.However,weevaluatea lotofthoseideasandtakeapretty
hard look at them and say, ‘OK, does this make sense for our
membersandfortheco-op?Doesitfittothetypesofofferingsand
featuresandfunctionalitythatourcustomerswant?’”
REI’s member base is largely made up of well-off adventure
seekerswho also happen to primarily use Apple products. As you
wouldimagine,thoseattributesarekeywhenthecompanylooksat
whatwouldbenewadventuresindigital,likewearablesandmobile
payments.
“Therearesomeprettycompellingusecasesforwearables,but
maybenotnecessarilyinthephysicalretailstorespace,”Klonowski
said.“InthecaseofREI,whichisabrandinandof itself,wehave
theREIsnowreportapp.Isthereatie-inwithasmartwatchlikean
AppleWatchthatcouldbeprettycompellingthatisn’tnecessarilya
commercedrivertoourretailstores,butitbuildsthebrand?
“ForApplePay,yes, itwouldbegoodtobefirst tomarketand
gainApplesupportandridethecoattailsoftheirmarketing,butthe
realitysaysthatthereareonlysomanyiPhone6and6Plussesout
theresofar.”ThesearetheonlydevicesatApplePay’sintroduction
capableof facilitatingApplePay. “Whenwill it reach criticalmass
forourcustomerbase—whenaregoingtoneedtobethere?
Given its customer base of heavy smartphone and iPad users,
REI’sinclusivestrategybeginswithitswebpresence.
“Wewantthattobetheubiquitouschannelthatworksacrossall
screens,” Klonowski said. “When you think of REI.com, it has to
workasafullsite,itneedstoworkandbeoptimizedfortablets,and
itneedstobeoptimizedforsmartphones.”
Likeeveryretailer,REIneedstoaddresscurrentcustomerneeds
anddesires,butalsotoanticipatewhatisnext.Inotherwords,the
companynotonlyisscalingthemobilemountain,itistryingtoplan
forwhatisonthebackside.
CHAPTERFOUR
Trust
Somethinginterestinghappenswhenaconsumeristreatedwith
realservice.
Wecan thinkabout the flightattendantwhogoes rowby row,
seatbyseat,tothankpassengersfortheirbusiness.Smilesappear
on people’s faces. I know that it’s rare – I’ve seen it only twice,
despite getting on thousands of flights over the years. Or the
employees of the tire retailer who run to greet a customer when
theydriveintotheparkinglot.Doesn’tthatmakeanimpressionand
createshopperloyalty?
Longbeforethemobileerabegan,IbegantoexplorewhatIcall
Moments of Trust, touchpoints with consumers that can make or
break brands. Public relations textbookswill tell you that you can
losethebattleforpublicopinionintwohours.
Ibelievethathasshiftedtosomethingclosertotwominutes.
Why?Becausemobilephoneshavebecomemegaphones,giving
consumersavoiceandawaytoexpresstheirpleasureorangerina
mereinstant.
That cockroachcrawlingup thewall in the restaurantbecomes
content in amobile-powered video that canandwill beposted to
YouTubeandFacebook.
In a 2015 study by Edelman, nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of
respondents refuse to buy products and services from a company
theydonot trust,while58percentwillcriticize themtoa friendor
colleague. Conversely, 80 percent chose to buy products from
companies they trusted, with 68 percent recommending those
companiestoafriend.25
Accenture estimates that the “Switching Economy” puts
potentially$5.9trillionofglobalrevenueupforgrabs.Thefirmsays
that companies that capture the changing nonstop customer
dynamics inanewwaywilldefine the revenuepotentialdrivenby
consumerswitching.26
Take a look at successful brands and you are sure to see
extraordinary Moments of Trust wins. It’s that important to the
bottomline.
Says Amazon founder, and customer-centric advocate, Jeff
Bezos:“Weseeourcustomersasinvitedgueststoaparty,andwe
arethehosts.It’sourjobeverydaytomakeeveryimportantaspect
ofthecustomerexperiencealittlebitbetter.”
ReinventingtheShoppingTrip:Lord&Taylor
LikeMillerCoorsandCoca-Cola,wecanmeasureLord&Taylor’s
historyincenturiesratherthanyearsordecades.Andsimilartothe
beer and beverage companies, Lord & Taylor can look at its
pioneeringeffortsaskeytoitssustainabilityandsuccess.
Let’s briefly take a look at some of what came before mobile
phonesarrived.
1826: Lord&Taylor founded. To sell hosiery,misses’wearand
“elegant Cashmere shawls,” the retailer was one of the first to
present windows filled with holiday displays rather than
merchandise.
1916: The company openedwhat became its flagship store on
FifthAvenueinNewYork.Thisstartedatrendofnotabledestination
shoppingexperiencesinthecity.
1946:Lord&TaylorbecamethefirstmajorstoreonFifthAvenue
tonameawoman,DorothyShaver,aspresident.Previouslyheadof
thecompany’sComparativeShoppingBureau,shewasaninnovator
in implementing one-to-one customer service, dubbed Red Rose
PersonalShoppingService.
Late 1950s and early 1960s: The company employed female,
uniformed elevator operators with redheads working on one side
andbrunettes toilingontheother.Beforeeachshift, theoperators
hadtheirmakeupandhairdoneattheLord&Taylorsalon.27
Today:Lord&Tayloroperates50full-linestoresintenstatesand
the District of Columbia, four Lord & Taylor outlet stores and
lordandtaylor.com,thecompany’sonlinestore.
Butitallhasn’tbeenroses.Theretailerhasundergonenumerous
ownershipchanges,afailednationalexpansionafterittinkeredwith
thisproductmix,andtheshutteringofmorethan30stores.Ashas
been the case for nearly two centuries, the key to the company’s
successistounderstandandcatertoitscustomerbase.
Enterbeacons.
The first thing to knowabout beacons is that theyare tools to
reachconsumerswhodownloadamobileappandgrantpermission
tobereachedthroughlocalnotifications.
Infact,beaconsarenothingmorethansmall,inexpensivepieces
of hardware that broadcast a Bluetooth signal intended to be
recognized when a Bluetooth-enabled mobile device is in close
proximity. Beaconswork in conjunctionwith amobile app and an
associated content/campaignmanagement platform to enable the
app to identify its location and proximity to points or items of
interest.
Beaconshavecaughtonforagoodreason:theyenableretailers,
brandsandpublisherstoproviderealvaluetoconsumers.
When done with the best interests of opted-in mobile device
ownersinmind:
Marketersenhancecustomer interactionbyproviding
localized,relevantcontent
Mobile campaigns are managed and measured
throughaccesstoreal-time,detailedcustomerdata
Businesses experience an increase in customer app
use,leadingtocustomerloyalty
Beacons play an important role in completing the
omnichannel customer profile – delivering an
understandingofin-mallandin-storeactivity
In2014,Lord&Taylorwasamongthefirsttotrialbeacons.Ina
three-month test, more than 50 percent engaged with a push
message.Morethan20percentclickedtogetacoupon.
Thosenumberswereenoughtogetthecompanytoexpandthe
efforttoeachofitsstores.
Lessonslearned?
“Theeducationexternallyforthecustomer.Ithinkyouobviously
needtomakeitaseasyaspossiblebutbeasupfrontaspossible,”
saidRyanCraver, formerSeniorVicePresident,Strategy,ofparent
companyHudson’sBay.“Ihatethethoughtofactuallyputtingsigns
instoresthatsay,‘WelcometoLord&Taylor.Ifyouheardaboutour
beacon experience, download our app.’ I think that automatically
calls for potential customer service issues, and it causes potential
customercomplaints,etc.
“Wewanted tomake surewedidn’t speakabout it too loudly.
We justmadesure that if thecustomercameacrosssomething, it
wassimpleandeasyforthemtouse.”
Onepath:buildoutandgrowtheLord&Taylorapp.ButCraver
believedthebetterapproachwastoinitiallyteamwithSnipSnap,a
coupon app that at the time had approximately four million
downloads.Buthealsohadsomestipulations.
“Whenconsumersdownloadedthatapp,wemadesurethatany
beaconnotificationswerecrystalcleartothecustomer,tellingthem
thatsomethingmaybecomingtheirwayandtheycanoptinoropt
out,”hesaid.“Iftheyoptout,andtheywanttooptinlater,makeit
easyforthem.Iftheyoptinbuttheywanttooptoutlater,makeit
easyforthem.
“WemadesurethatSnipSnapwouldshowaparticularscreento
show themwhat actuallywill be pushed to them.Wedidn’twant
them to say, ‘Inorder toexperience this, godownload theLord&
Taylorapp’.That’s justnotagoodexperience.Youthinkaboutthe
customer going into the app store. Maybe they can’t find it. We
wantedittopopuponotherappssothattheyweredelightedwith
it.”
Customerawarenesswasonehurdle.Employeeknowledgeand
acceptanceofnewtechnologywasanother.
“Internal training is very, very toughbecauseyou’vegot20,000
associates,” Craver told me. “You’ve got associates that are
churningata25or30percentannualbasis,you’vegotabunchof
tempshittingyouatseasonalperiods,you’vegottofocusonwhat
youtrulyreallyneedtotellthem.
“Webuiltplacardsthatweputatpointofsale.Wemadesureat
thestoreralliesthathappenonaweeklybasisthat itwasbrought
up.Wesentacompany-widedistributionnewsletterthatcamefrom
thepresidentandoutlinedthevariousinnovationinitiativesthatwe
were working on with some detailed, one-pager FAQs (frequently
asked questions). And we just made sure that we kept blasting,
blasting, blasting communication, communication, communication,
tothepointofwherepeoplegotsoexcitedaboutit.Therewerelittle
scavenger hunts to figure out where these little beacons were
placed.Youstartsmallandyougrow.”
Andthenyoucontinuetoeducate.
“We made sure that all the regional small managers were well
aware of how beacons worked, and they started to provide that
communication,andwemadesurethateveryonerealizesthatonce
a rollout starts, because you have all that turnover, the
communicationcan’tstop,”Craversaid.“It’sfrequentlygiventothe
store associates. And you also encourage them to download the
appstoexperiencethemselves.”
TheBeaconContagion
Otherretailershavemadebetsonbeacons,too.
SimonProperties is the largemalloperator in theworld.And it
has intention to deploy beacons in the nearly 240 malls and
shoppingcentersthatitownsorhasaninterestin,inordertohelp
merchants connect with their customers based on real-time data
regarding each shopper’s location at those sites. The solution, in
mall commonareas, isprovidedbyMobiquityNetworks,a leading
nationallocationbasedmobileadvertisingentity.
Like Simon and every other smart brand, Lord& Taylor knows
thatstandinginplaceputsitbehind.
“Ithinktodaythatbeaconsarethecoolestthingthatwe’vegot,”
Craversaid.“Butwearesoearlyinwhatbeaconsareandwhatthe
experience can be in store to bridge online and offline, that I’m
excitedaboutwhat’s tocomeversuswhat iscurrentlyhere.Today
we’re shooting smarter advertising and promotions, tomorrow we
shouldbequeryingcustomerservice,providingmobilepaymenton
phone…weshouldbedoingalotmore.
“Thatmaybetheanswerrightnow.Orwhatwethinkiscoming.
But Iwouldn’tbesurprised if it’sacombinationofWi-Fi,beacons,
mobilepoint-of-sale…orsomethingelse.Theyallhavetoworkfrom
acustomer’sperspective.Andbeseamless.”
ReactingorLeading
Tosome, itappears that retail is reacting tochangemore than
creatingit.Andthat’shardlyagoodthing.
“In general, retail is playing catch up to a bunch of other
industriesthathavealreadybeendisrupted insomeway,shapeor
form,”Craversaid.“TheeasiestonetouseisprobablytheUbersof
the world, the Lyfts of the world, that have started to disrupt
transportation in someway through the use ofmobile phone and
throughthingslikeGPS(globalpositioningsatellite)andbeingable
toprovideon-demandservices.
“But then if you start to look at where they started to impact
immediately,Ithinktheclosestonetothatisprobablyquickservice
restaurants and restaurants where you are sitting down. The
examplethatIliketouseisOpenTablewherenowinNewYorkand
San Francisco you have the ability to not only pull together your
reservation, youhave theability toorder in the restaurantwithout
evenspeakingtothewaiterorwaitress,paywithouteverspeaking
tothewaiterorwaitress,andalsocallinyourUbercarasyoutake
inyourfinalscreeninOpenTable.”
The experience is both impersonal and effective. And a sign of
thingstocome.
“I think thatwaveof self-sufficiency is going topush itself into
other industries,”Craverexplained.“The immediatequestion: if it’s
alreadytakingovercasualrestaurantsorsit-downrestaurants,why
hasn’titbridgeditselfintoretail?Ithinkthatitwill.Whenyoustart
tothinkofhowonlineisbridgingitselfintooffline.
“Ithinkaboutitinthreephases.Thefirst:analytics.Wesawalot
of companies come together to utilize eitherWi-Fi or Bluetooth to
figureouthowthecustomergoesthroughthestore,howfrequently
thecustomergoesintothestore,that’sphaseone.”
Phasetwo?
“It’sallaboutmarketing,”Craversaid.“Taking that information
fromtheanalyticsphaseandfiguringouthowthehelltomonetize
it.
“Phasethreeisservice.Howtotakealltheonlinetoolsandthe
mobilephoneand figureouthowtheyprovideabetter,moreself-
sufficientservicewithinthestores.”
Much like the dress a consumer can buy in a brick-and-mortar
store,anonlinestore,oronmobile,onesizedefinitelydoesnot fit
all.
“There’snevergoing tobeoneanswer forall. Eachoneof the
retailers, and the experiences that they want to deliver, and the
types of customers that they have coming through the door, vary
greatly,”Craversaid.
“IfyoutakeaLord&TaylororMacy’s,undertheHudson’sBay
Companyumbrella,customersarecominginthedoorbecausethey
knowofpromotions.Theywanttocomeinveryquickly.Theyknow
exactlywhattheyarelookingfor.Theytend,thoughnotallofthem,
to expect less of a customer service model and more of a self-
sufficientmodel.”
Butthentherearetheluxurybrands,likeNordstromandothers.
“Yougotothehigherend—theBergdorfGoodmansoftheworld
and the Saks of the world—those have some promotional
customers,butthemajorityoftheircustomershaveanexpectation
ofahighlevelofservice,apersonalshopperlevelofservice,where
theyareengagingwithaperson,”Craversaid.“Apersonalshopper
is providing them with feedback on what they are trying on and
offeringadditionalsuggestiveselling.
“Thestoresthathaveacustomerwhoiscoming inveryquickly
and looking for self -sufficient service—they will be the ones that
adaptquicklytothenewapproaches.TheSaksof theworld—they
won’t rely on it in the same way, but they will need to provide
something.”
RYANCRAVER
Ryan Craver was formerly a Senior Vice President of
Strategy at Hudson’s Bay Company. Ryan’s natural
fascination with the intersection of retail and technology
has ledtoacareerof inspiringand leadingretailers tobe
on the forefront of the evolving “connected retail”
environment. Ryan enjoys tackling changing consumer
dynamics and defining how retail organizations can
leverage technology to strengthen their competitive
position.
SeekingBalance:REI
InnowayisREIabandoningitshigh-touchmodelinstoreswhere
customers come as much for knowledge as they do for running
shoes.
Said REI’s Klonowski: “Where the in-store capabilities become
reallycompellingfromanREIperspective,especiallywhenaGreen
Vestisnotpresent, ishowdowegivecustomersaveryproductive
compellingexperience that ismoreutility-based thatcanget them
alloftheinformationandtheexpertisetheGreenVestwouldusually
provide just in a digital format where they can quickly get that
information.
“AdditionallythereisalotofopportunitytogetourGreenVests
engaged with our customers. We have them armed with mobile-
sellingassistantsorin-storedeviceswithcapabilities.Butwhatifwe
createanin-storemodeandknowwhenacustomerisinthestore?
Howdowe tie those together? Is it alerting aGreen Vest, ‘Hey, I
needhelp?’OrisitschedulingaGreenVestsometimetofigureout
all the products that I might need for this backpack trip that I’m
goingon.Wegoalittlebitmoreonthepersonaltouchsideversusa
self-servemodelthatabigboxretailerwouldtakeon.”
But,aswithmostthingsinmobile,therearenoabsolutes.
“InthecaseofREI,Ithinkit’sabalance,”Klonowskisaid.“You’re
always going to haveGreen Vests and that relationship is always
goingtobecriticallyimportant.Butyouarealsogoingtoneedtobe
abletodeliver tocustomerswhoaremoreself-sufficientandwant
to consume that type of information that they would get from a
Green Vest in a different format, not necessarily with a personal
touch.
“Asaspecialtyretailer,thatwillalwaysbeafocusofours:toget
acustomertoengagewithaGreenVest,becausetheyarethemost
knowledgeable people out there. But how do I supplement that
knowledgewithadditionalfeaturesandfunctionalityusingdigital?”
Thisleadsusbacktothequestionofwhether,inthismobileera,
weagainwillseeadaywhenlarge,broad-offeringstoreswillbein
favor.
“The death of department stores is not going to happen. But I
think the continued decline of department stores will happen,”
Craver toldme. “They are probably going to see themost pricing
pressure as anyone. The days of having an 11-story department
store can’t continue. And the reason why it can’t continue is
becausethemajorityofthestoreiscurrentlysellingspace.Asmore
and more stores bring on auto-locate and omnichannel and they
make their inventorymoreproductive, thesellingspacehasgot to
godownandthefulfillmentspacehasgottogoup.
“IfyoulookatNewYorkspecifically,andtheMacysandtheLord
& Taylors, at some point, there is going to be 30 percent or 40
percentof thestoreallocateddirectly to fulfillmentofproduct.The
payrollmodelhas toshiftwhere it’s lesscommissionedassociates
that are selling and there are more associates that are actually
doingthefulfillmentofproduct.”
Still, Craver said, there is a distinct place for brick-and-mortar
offerings.
“I haven’t yet seen anything within e-tail that can replace the
ability to walk into a store and canvas the entire store within 30
secondsjustwithineyesight,”hesaid.“Thathasn’tbeenreplicated
onlineinthewaythatwebrowse.”
CHAPTERFIVE
CustomerJourney
ReachingMarketing’sGoal
AsMcKinseyandothersputit, ifmarketinghasonegoal, it’sto
reach consumers at the moments that most influence their
decisions. To some, the decades-old funnel concept in which
consumersmove fromabroadchoiceofpotentialbrandsdownto
the one they purchase is as antiquated as the “Brick” (the first
wirelessphone,soldbyMotorolaastheDynaTAC.)28
Why?
Closertothetruth:theimageofanyoneofusinteractingwitha
phone,acomputer,a tablet, theconnectedhome thermostat,and
thewearable.Simultaneously.
“Thefunnelconceptfailstocaptureallthetouchpointsandkey
buying factors resulting from theexplosionofproduct choicesand
digital channels, coupled with the emergence of an increasingly
discerning, well-informed consumer,” McKinsey wrote in its
Quarterlypublication.29
AccordingtocomScore,nearlytwooutofthreehouseholdsinthe
U.S.havethreeormoredevices.Onethirdhasat leastfive.Which
begs the question: does a consumer gain anything by marketing
effortsthatarespecifictowhatheorshewasviewing?
SaidCraver:
“IfyouareshoppingArmanionyourmobilephone,orsearching
foritonyourmobilephone,oronyourdesktopcomputerthenight
before,and thenyoubringyourself into retailer:as longasyou’ve
beenaskedupfront,‘Areyouwillingtoshareyourlocation,areyou
willing to share past browsing behavior?’ and then the marketer
provides the customer something as part of the ad—perhaps a
discountorexclusivecontentorsomethingelse—Ithinkpeopleare
slowly but surely coming around to understanding that that is the
way inwhichmarketing isgoing tobeserved. It isalsosomething
thatyouneedtopayattentiontointermsofhowoftenyousendit,
andhowfrequentlyyoucomeafterthem.”
AnotherexampleofwhatCraverthoughtaboutwhenhestarted
using beacons to know that opted-in users are in the brick and
mortar location:“Wethoughta lotaboutcartabandonmentonline
and how frequently we need to do something similar in stores.
Certainonlinestoresoncartabandonment,likeAmazon,willhityou
upthedayafter,hityouupsevendaysafter,andhityouupmaybe
twoweeksafter.Thereareother stores, likeUrbanOutfitters, that
willevenhityouupsixmonthslater.”
SoCraverandhisteamsetbusinessrules.
“Forusasaretailer,whenyoucomeinforthatArmani,ifwehit
youonceandthenwehityoutwovisitslater,wethoughtthatmight
beabitalienatingand reaching too farback,”he said. “But if it’s
immediate,meaningitwaswithinthelastcoupleofdays,Ithinkit’s
worthwhile.IthinkpeoplearebecomingdesensitizedtoBigBrother
andtothiscreepinessfactor.”
While it stops short of calling customer journeys perfect,
McKinseybelievesthattheeffortgivesbusinesseswhat’sneededto
compete.
“Optimizing a single customer journey is tactical; shifting
organizational processes, culture, and mind-sets to a journey
orientation is strategic and transformational,” Alex Rawson, Ewan
Duncan, and Conor Jones from McKinsey wrote in the Harvard
Business Review.30 “Journey-based transformations are not easy,
and they may take years to perfect. But the reward is higher
customerandemployeesatisfaction, increased revenue,and lower
costs. Delivering successful journeys brings about an operational
and cultural shift that engages the organization across functions
and from top to bottom, generating excitement, innovation, anda
focusoncontinuousimprovement.Itcreatesaculturethat’shardto
build otherwise, and a true competitive advantage goes to
companiesthatgetitright.
WroteIBMinitsInsightsnewsletter:
“Keep inmind that nomatter how you decide to look at your
customer experience metrics – by the touch point or as an
accumulated score, your customers’ collective impression of your
companywill never be fully containedwithin those numbers. Your
customers are constantly creating their own model of how they
should interact with you – by deciding howwell your product fits
theirneeds,andbyhowthedynamicworldoftechnologycontinues
toreframetheiroptionsandtheiropinionsonwhatyou’reselling.”31
WHERETHECUSTOMERJOURNEY
FALLSSHORT
Otherswhom I spokewithwerequick topoint to limitations in
marketingbasedoncustomer journeydata.“I thinkof thecaseof
Amazon.comwhich created a phenomenal personalization engine;
they are leaders in making recommendations to you for products
that youmight be interested in,” said Swrve’s SteveGershik. “But
initiallytheyhadarealproblembecausetheyforgottoaccountfor
thefactthatwhenI’mbuyingproductsontheirservice,Imaynotbe
buyingthemformyself.ForawhileafterImakeapurchaseformy
son, I might be seeing offers for Thomas the Tank Engine
(locomotive)toysandtracksandmasksandthe likeandthoseare
completely irrelevant tome.But itwasAmazon’s earlyattempt to
takeaholisticview.Butyouhavetofactor inthat Ican’tbeeasily
placedintoabucketandmarketedtoasifeverypersonwhomakes
thesamepurchasesImakealsohasthesameattributes.
That’swhereIhaveaproblemwiththisideaofjourneysbecause
ajourneyisaconvenientwayformarketerstobucketusersthatis
pleasing to us but ultimately doesn’t reflect how people live their
lives and go about their interactions with our brands and our
services.Peoplearemorecomplicatedthanthat.”
ANewErainTargeting
The idea of targeting and retargeting is not new. What’s
changing is the potential for cross-device targeting.We nowhave
thecapabilitytotakethesearchdoneforanArmaninecktieonaPC
and use it as a trigger to send a mobile user a related
communicationatalaterpoint.
Butshouldwe?
FewareasequippedtoanswerthatquestionasGoogle’sJason
Spero,wholiterallyhaswrittenTheMobilePlaybook32thatisrelied
onbysomanymarketers.
“Ifyouadmiresomeone’sshoesortheirtie,inthemobileandthe
digitalworldwhenyoudidn’thaveconnectivityatthatmoment,you
wouldfile itaway inyourheadormakeanotetoyourself,”Spero
said.
“As human beings, we’ve always had impulses, fears, hopes.
What happens when you see that tie, you have connectivity. You
canactonitinawaythatyoucouldn’tinpreviouseras.Theideaof
persistentconnectivitymakesitpossibleforyoutoactonallthose
impulses.Youmaynotactonallofthem.It’sprobablyabadthingif
youactonthemallbecauseyouareprobablybuyingstuffthatyou
don’t needand tweetingout stuff that peopledon’twant to read.
Buttheideaofconnectivitymeansthatyoucan.”
“The consumer knows that he or she is connected and
empowered in all these ways,” Spero explained. “The consumer’s
expectation is theywantaneasyway tobuyanArmani tie if they
decideto.Andthat’sacombinationoftheMacy’sappandGoogle
searchandmaybeimagesearchintime.Lotsofdifferentthingswill
fuel that. But all are powered by the idea that you have a
broadbandconnectionwithyouconstantly.
“The consumer also knows that their device has a sense of
geospacialrelations.Youasaconsumerknowthatwithyourdevice
at any point, with a couple of exceptions, it can tell you what’s
aroundyoutohelpyousolveproblems.Youcangooutandgetthe
world’s information with your connection or you can map the
physical world around you. You know the nearest place to get a
hamburger.OrwhichsubwaywillgetyoutotheUpperEastSide.Or
what the check-in time is at your hotel. All these things are now
available to you: the digital world and the physical world at your
service.”
Andwiththat,Sperosaid,comesaneedformarketerstolookat
theworlddifferently.
“Ifyoustarttotalkaboutitasacommercialjourney,weusedto
besatisfiedwithengagingtheconsumeronlythroughoutherdigital
journey,”hetoldme.“Butbecausewejustsaidthattheconsumer
journey is in and out of the physical worlds, presumably across
manydifferentdevices,thedigitalexperiencenowhastoevolve.”
Sperothenofferedsomereal-worldexamples.
“I’m in theprocessofplanningourgirls’springbreakrightnow
and Iwant togotoKauai,”hebegan.“I’veneverbeen. I’veheard
it’sbeautiful.I’vebeenonTripAdvisor,I’vebeenonAirbnb,I’veseen
awholelotoflookingatKauairealestateandI’velookedatflights.
I’vedonethatfromtwodifferentphones,atablet,mywife’sPCand
myownPC.Iwasinmyparents’homeovertheholidaysandIvery
easily could’ve borrowed theirmachine. I don’twant to start over
with my research on Airbnb every time I come back to the front
door.Whichmeans I want there to be a contiguous experience. I
thinkthatdesirehasimplicationsforhowmarketersdesignanykind
ofconsiderationandpurchaseprocess.
“IfI’mresearchingatableatCrateandBarrel,andIcomeback
onadifferentdevice,don’tcomeoveratthefrontdoorofCrateand
Barrelandask,‘Howcanwehelpyou?’’BecauseyouknowthatI’ve
looked at a table and I’ve looked at a sofa and I’ve looked at
whatever the heck else it is. Give me a way of continuing that
experience on another device. Part of that that is very, very
important tomarketers—not just thepeopledesigning thatUX—is
the idea that that we have a greater view into this expanded
purchaseprocessthaneverbefore.”
We also potentially have greater context that can be used for
retargeting.
“Have you ever used Google Location history?” Spero asked.
“Whatyouwillfindisanopt-inservice,ifyouwant,thatallowsyou
toseewhereyourphonewentthroughouttheday.Youcanpickthe
date range and see the geo-position of your device. That’s a
location-trackingcapabilitythatweonlyuseforyourentertainment.
But if you think about every node on that location history,
theoreticallyitcouldhaveamomentwhereyou’vewatchedavideo
oramomentwhereyoudidasearchoryouwenttoTripAdvisoror
whatever else. You now have this literal customer journey, a
physical experience in theworldwith a data overlay.We have to
work on all the different rules around that and policy implications
andallthat,butwhatyouhaveisgreaterinsightintothecustomer
journeythanwe’veeverhadbefore.
“It’s vastly important for marketers and how they craft their
message and engage the consumer. It creates the need for the
marketertobesmartaboutthemoment,smartabout,‘Jeffissitting
in a hotel and it’s 2:45 in the afternoon and he’s searching for
restaurants.He’sprobablylookingforareservationforthisevening’.
It’sstartingtobesmartaboutthosemomentsandhowtoservethe
right consumer experience and that’s what CMOs are trying to
understand.”
JASONSPERO
Jason Spero serves as the Global Head of Performance
Media at Google. He was previously the Head of Global
MobileSalesandStrategyatthefirm.Heisresponsiblefor
the global priorities and overall commercial strategy for
Google’smobile offerings including Search,GDN,AdMob,
YouTubeandDoubleClickPlatforms.
ReadingandReactingto“Signals”
Speroreferstoconsumeractionsassignals,richwithinformation
thattellsusagreatdeal.
“Ihavelotsofimpulses,includingsocial,whereIaskquestionsin
socialmedia,includingallthesedigitaltouchpoints,”hesaid.“What
wearetryingtohelpmarketersdoisengagetheconsumeratthose
moments, on top of those impulses, and to understand those
moments as part of a holistic journey. We as an industry and
certainly we as Google have been over-careful with how to use
someofthenewsignals.
“Youought tobeable to leta retailer,PizzaHut, targetpeople
whoarewithinaradiusoftheirstore.Thosepeoplearemuchmore
likelytowalkinandhavedinner.IfExpediaisrentingcarsandhotel
rooms, targeting people in airports and train stations is very, very
valuable. That’s based on a geo-target. I don’t want to allow
Expedia to followmearoundanddoawholebunchof retargeting
andremarketingprivacy-invadingthingsbasedonthatgeo-position
pathbutalsomydigitalpaththroughouttheday.”
Butattherightmoment,followingontherightconsumersignal,
it’s a match that adds value to marketer and user. How to find
these?Sperosuggestswe look for“newfoundations forconsumer
engagement”.
“Sometimes that isabouthowcloseareyou tosomething,”he
said.“Sometimesitisabouttimeofday.Ifyouseearetailqueryat
9 in the morning, that’s very likely going to be more ecommerce
orientedthanIwanttoendupinastore.IfPizzaHutisopenfrom
noonto10p.m.,andifit’snotduringthosehours,Iwanttooffera
differentexperience.Or if someone isnotwithinacertain radius, I
probably want to lead with delivery in my consumer experience
versusaninvitationtovisitastore.”
Andthereactionfromconsumerswhoarebeginningtoseemore
relevantexperiences?
“Consumers understand personalization,” Spero said. “My
YouTubeisnotyourYouTube.MyGoogleMapsisnotyourGoogle
Maps. And not just because we have different viewing habits on
YouTube.IfyouareinNewYorknowwithaviewofdowntownand
I’m inSanFranciscowitha viewof thebay,weshouldbegetting
different YouTube experiences based on time of day, location and
what the site knows about us because presumably we are both
loggedin.Thatiswhattheconsumerhascometoexpect.
“Similarly I don’t think you have to sellmuch to say to people
yourmapandmymapshouldbedifferentbecauseyouareinNew
York and I’m in San Francisco. But even if we were sitting in the
hotelnexttouswithanicepaintingbehindus,ourmapsshouldstill
bedifferent.Bothofuswouldappreciatethatyourmapshaveyour
favorite slide of pizza joints in New York, andmymaps havemy
favorite taquerias. All the things that I’ve starred because I’m a
heavyGoogleMapsuser,alltheplacesthatI’vevisitedandchecked
inorall the thingsthat I’vesearchedfor,willshowuponmymap
butmaybe not on yours. I think consumers expect that andwant
that.Iwouldjustputthatalldowntopersonalization.”
Buttherearelimits,inSpero’sview.
“WhereIthinkweneedtobecarefulasanindustryisasweuse
thoseprofilestotargetandretargetconsumerswithads,especially
intheareaof location,”hesaid.“Google isbeingextracarefulnot
to monitor location and serve ads based on location. There are
thoseintheindustrywhoarebeingmuchmoreaggressivethanwe
are.Butourbeliefis:first,everythingshouldbecoveredwithaterm
of service so the consumer should always knowwhat’s going on.
Second,weneedtobeevenmoreprominentwithouropt-outsand
havepeopleunderstandhownottohavecertainthingshappen.
“There are conversations with consumers we need to have in
which we ask what is the line of personalization, what is
inappropriate.Idon’tthinkyouwalkrightuptothelineandgetas
close to it as you can. For Google, it’s a simple question: canwe
deliveragreatconsumerexperienceandletthemknowwhatwe’re
doingwithout following themaround? Formally and informallywe
are absolutely doing that. If you think aboutGoogleNow,we are
constantly testing, experimenting, putting things into Google Now
andtakingthemout.EveryonewhoisusingGoogleNowisoptedin
andtheyhaveseenthetermsofservice.We’rewatchingwhatparts
of that resonatewithpeople. It’snotaconversation likeyouand I
would have in a bar or in a focus group. It’s absolutely pressure-
testing, data-testing usage and features. Do they make a lot of
senseornot?”
Butgoingoverthelinehasn’tbeenthebiggestconcern. It’snot
beingcuriousenoughaboutthepossibilities.
“Ihavemoremarketersthat I’mconvincingtobecuriousabout
thosesignalsthanmarketerswhoareoverusingthosesignalstothe
pointofabuse,”hesaid.“Myproblemisn’tmarketersareafraidto
use those signals because they over-respect them or think the
consumersdon’twant it.Mybiggerproblem ismarketers that still
don’tknowhowtoactionthemostbasiccapabilitiesinmobile.
“We have all the signals we need to deliver a great UX. But
we’vegotaheckofalotofworktodotogetthere.”
CHAPTERSIX
MachineVs.Human
I’veknownadmanHankWasiakformorethanadecade.Beyond
hismassive talent and the knowledge gained frommore than 50
yearsinthebusiness,Wasiakisassuccessfulasheisbecauseofhis
empathy.Inperson,helooksyouintheeyeeverytime.
Hedoesthesamethingwithhismarketing.
“Wehavemovedfromconsumerengagementtowhat(marketer
and author) Brian Solis calls the ‘embrace’,” Wasiak, former vice
chairmanofMcCannEricksonandnowownerofTheConceptFarm,
toldme. “Toget to theembrace,marketershave tohumanize the
experienceinbothmindsetandpractice.
“First,wemeettheconsumerwithafirmwelcominghandshake.
Next,maybeanappreciativepatonthebackthatopensthedoorto
an occasional hug. That earns a big heartfelt embrace. The
handshakeisjustthebeginning.”
As towhethermobileuserswantus tooffer ahandshakeora
hug,Wasiakhasencouragingwords.
“Gary Vaynerchuk has an interesting take on consumer
engagementwithaphilosophyhecalls‘Jab,Jab,Jab,RightHook’,”
Wasiaksaid.“Ilikethesentiment,butIthinkthemetaphorsetsupa
confrontationalmindset.
“Theconsumerneedsafriend,someonetoholdtheirhandandgive
himorheran‘attaboy’everyonceinawhile.Handshake,patonthe
back,hug,embrace.Fromthere,anythingispossible.”
While there are a multitude of actions we can digitize and
mechanize,Wasiakremindsusthatwestillwanttobepeopleand
haveconversationsthatarereal.
“There’sadifferencebetweenengagingwithahumanbeingand
havingahumanexperience,”Wasiaksaid.“Anycompany,brandor
retailer shouldmake believe that they are having a FaceTime call
with them. It’s the next best thing to being there. You’re on
FaceTime. Icalled,you’veaccepted.Youseeme,youknowwhat I
want. You know the situation that I’m in. I can tell by the toneof
yourvoiceandthelookonyourfacehowyoufeel.Ifyoucantryto
drawthosepicturesinyourmindthroughdata,it’sbettertogetthat
attitude that I’m having a FaceTime call. This just isn’t a digital
connection.
“Smartphone-enabledconsumershavekickedopenthedoorsto
atotallynewanddynamicmarketinglandscape.Thisisfirsttimein
my50-yearmarketinglifetimethatwehavetheopportunitytobein
servicetotheconsumervirtuallyanytimeoranyplaceintheirdaily
lives. An awesome opportunity that comes with a huge
responsibility.”
HANKWASIAK
Hank Wasiak is the former Vice Chairman of McCann
Erickson and owner of TheConcept Farm, one of today’s
hottest creative companies. Hank is also a best selling
author, keynote speaker, teacher, 14 time Emmy
nominatedExecutiveTVProducer,and3timeEmmyaward
winningtelevisionhost.
TheEndoftheHumanRace
In2014,TeslaandSpaceXfounderElonMusktoldanaudience
atMITthat“withartificialintelligencewe’resummoningthedemon.
“IfIhadtoguessatwhatourbiggestexistentialthreatis,”hesaid
then,“it’sprobablythat.”
Thatwas followedbyphysicistandprofessorStephenHawking
tellingtheBBC,“Thedevelopmentofartificialintelligencecouldspell
theendofthehumanrace.”
“We’ll never be at that day,” countersmarketer SteveGershik.
“There won’t be a Ray Kurzweil’s style of singularity — the idea
where humans will merge with machines, and that by 2020,
machineswillgetsosmart that theywillbe indistinguishable from
humanbeings.Mybelief isthatwecangetclosetothatbutwe’re
nevergoingtobethere.Humanbeingshavethisannoyingtendency
ofhavingfreewillandbeingunpredictableandbehavingrandomly.”
WorkingnearSiliconValley,Gershikfrequentlyhearstalkabouta
displacementofthemarketerbymachine.
“There is almost a fetishization of IT—as if the developer can
solvealltheworld’sproblemsandmakeitsuchthathumansareno
longer required in interactive and communication experiences,” he
said.“Youhear that fromMarkAndreessenwhosays thatcode is
eating the world or that developers are the new rock stars in
business.Noneofthisstuffisanewidea.
“PeterDruckercameupwiththeideathatthepurposeofafirm
istwofold: it’s innovationandmarketing.Whatwe’retalkingabout
is innovation. All these technologies are enabling these really
interesting experiences and interactions with and through various
devices.”
ButGershikremindsusthatDruckervaluedthehumanelement.
“We forgot the other half of what Drucker said: the marketer.
Theonewhohas tohave theconversationwith thecustomer,”he
said.“Idon’tthinkanyoneissayingtheITguy,orthedeveloper, is
the best person to have conversations with your customers. You
can’t 100 percent disintermediate your marketing team from the
customer.Youcan’tshiftthatengagementfullytotechnology.
“Gartner looks a lot at what it calls the rise of the Chief
MarketingTechnologyOfficerwhichlooksalotlikeaCTOtomebut
is someone who sits in marketing purely because the budget for
technology has shifted so over to the marketing department that
youhavetoputthe ITguy inthemarketingdepartmentsohecan
exercise control over the marketing expenses. He was getting
marginalizedforthelast10-15years.Thesolutionwasn’teliminate
the role, butmove the role insideofmarketingand thenhave the
technologybeat theserviceof themarketing role,whichmakesa
lotofsense.Youseethatinlargecompanies.”
AndGershikseeslargeproblemscomingalongwithit.
“Thetoolsaresuchthattheycanonlybeusedbysomeonewho
can respond in real time to customer preferences and end user
expectationsare thatyouaregoing tobeable toprovidemewith
relevantinformation,withoffersaspartofthisperfectconversation
idea,anytimethatIwantwhereverIam,”hesaid.“IfIdon’tgetthat
from you, I’m going to ignore you. I’m going to send you to
marketingpurgatorybecausethereareplentyofotheropportunities
formetoengagewithbrands thatdorespectmypreferencesand
docommunicatewithmeinrealtime.
“That runs contrary to this idea of data science and having
people doing deep analysis. You have to shift that thinking to
machinessothattheycandoitatthespeedthatmarketersneedto
respondandreact.Marketersneedthatdatabuttheycan’twaitfor
aweek foradatascientist todoa regressiononyour information
and present it back to you because by then the consumer has
movedon.We’llhavetechnologythatwillbeintheserviceofyour
cavemanmarketerswhoarestillgoingtobetheonesthathavethat
conversationwiththeircustomers.”
However,thereisoftenwisdomincomplementinghumanefforts
withmachine-drivenalgorithms.CompaniessuchasSantaMonica-
based startup Retention Science aggregate customer data, then
applymachinelearningandpredictiveformulastoprofilecustomers
and predict behaviors. Its platform analyzes and predicts an
individual customer’s lifecycle to create a series of targeted
campaigns,suchaswelcome,winback,engageandconvert.
In the case of consumer goods company Honest, Retention
Science managed to deliver a 170 percent conversion lift over a
control group receiving the company’s generic email marketing
campaigns,aswellasan80percentliftinaverageordervalue.
CHAPTERSEVEN
WhereAreWeWithMobile?
Byeveryyardstick,includingsmartphonespurchased,megabytes
of data used, and sales generated, mobile is making historic
advancements.AstudybyFlurrysaidthatsmartphoneadoptionhas
been 10 times as fast as the consumer reception to the personal
computer.33
Duringthe2014holidayshoppingseason,wirelessdeviceswere
theconduittomeaningfuldollarsforretailersandotherbusinesses.
Infact,smartphonesandtabletsaccountedformorethanathirdof
online sales on Christmas Day aswell as 57 percent of all online
traffic.Sales34madefromAmazon’ssmartphoneappdoubledyear
overyear.Animpossible-to-ignore60percentofAmazoncustomers
shoppedonamobiledevice.35
Still,wewereleftwiththeimpressionthat,whilemarketerswere
inthegame,theyweren’tallin.
Asan industry,wehavebeenslow ineffectivelymeasuring the
impactofmobilemarketingandadvertisingcampaigns.Toooften,it
has been vendors with vested interests who have hyped the
opportunity.
WhatResearchTellsUs
Acknowledging the need formore proof, theMobileMarketing
Associationand influentialmemberssuchasTomDaly fromCoca-
Cola and John Costello from Dunkin’ Donuts, launched a global
initiative called SMoX, an acronym for Smart Mobile Cross
MarketingEffectiveness.
The first case study, released in 2014, attempted to show a
missedopportunity in themulti-channel introductionofaMotorola
deviceatAT&T.36
Thecarrier’stargetdemographicwasolderthan18yearsoldand
television,online,print,andmobilewere included in themarketing
plan.AT&T’sobjectivewastomaximizetheawarenessof thenew
device.
A TVmedia buy produced a reach of nearly 20million people,
much more than any of the other channels. The SMoX research
showed that mobile’s impact was twice that of TV because the
televisionbuyhadgottentoapointofdiminishingreturns.
Specifically, foreverydollarspentonmobile, threepeoplewere
impacted (became aware of the device offering from AT&T);
whereas for every dollar spent on TV, around 1.5 people were
impacted.
By reallocating dollars to mobile in the campaign’s second
phase, AT&T learned that it could raise product awareness by 2.5
million people or 12 percent more. That number is almost the
equivalentoftheentirepopulationofChicago.
The MMA concluded that optimal mobile advertising spending
forthiscampaignwouldhavebeen16percentofthebudget.
As you could guess, marketers need more to be convinced.
AdditionalSMoXresearchcontinues.
“Iseeacceleration,”Google’sJasonSperotoldme.“Here’showI
would tell you this. I’m thinking of the names inmy narratives. In
2011, my narrative was called ‘Why Mobile?’ In 2012, my
overarching starting place was ‘It’s Not Too Late To Be Early.’ In
2013,thenarrativewas‘MovingFromWhyToHow.’Peoplegetting
outofwhytheheckshouldIdothistowhattheheckdoIdo?
“In2014, Idon’tknowthat Ihadanamefor it.But Istartedto
see marketers feeling urgency. If I were to name it, I would say,
‘GrowingUrgencyorBroadUrgency.’In2015,Ithinkwe’rereaching
anunderstandingofall thedifferentactionsthatpeoplearetaking
onthesedevices.”
And that, Spero said, is finally getting brands mobilized in a
seriousway.
AFeelingofUrgency
“Marketers everywhere are waking up and feeling urgency
aroundtheunderstandingthat forsomeof theirconsumers, this is
theonlyplacethattheyengagein,especiallyyoungerpeopleandin
developingmarkets,”Sperotoldme.“Formanyoftheirconsumers,
the consumer is choosing to domuch of the engagement on the
mobiledevice.
“If Iwere toname2015, I’dsay it’s “We’veAchievedUrgency’.
Arounddeliveringonconsumers’mobileexpectations.”
Aspragmaticamarketerasyouwillfind,SeanBartlett,Director
of Digital Experience, Product, & Omni-channel Integration at
Lowe’s,appreciatesthedistancethatwe’vetraveled.
“It’s pretty amazing where mobile has come from if you look
backatit,”hesaid.“Igotintheindustryin2005,soI’mcomingup
on10yearsofit.It’sprettyincredibletolookbackatthe(Motorola)
Razr as a cutting-edge device and comparing it to what you see
today.Alongthewayyougetsolostinit-youaresoheadsdownin
it, it justmakessense.Whenyoustepbackandyoustumbleupon
an old phone in a closet, you kind of look at it and it’s pretty
remarkable.
“What I’ve hoped that would happen by now, or what will
happenmaybe in ‘15, is thatwegetaway from thenotionof just
talkingaboutmobileandgenerallyjusttalkaboutthebusiness.Four
or five years ago, the companies at the forefront of the mobile
industrywerestandingupmobileorganizationsandputtingVPsof
mobilemarketingandmobileproducts intoplace. The folksat the
forefront are going to collapse those mobile teams back into the
base business so that you just have a digital organization, or a
customer experience organization, andmobile is just how you do
businessanditnolongerbecomesthisspecifictalkingpoint.It’sjust
the assumption of how business operates. That’s kind of an
aspiration. It probably won’t happen for a few years. But that’s
where I hope to see it going.We did that earlier (in 2014). It just
makessense.”
DelMonte’sMacTillman,Director,MediaStrategyandPlanning,
believesthatthenewageofmobileanddigitalcallsforsmartsand
goodinstincts.
“Weknowmobileisimportantinthepre-shopexperience,inthe
store,and in thepost-shopexperience,”Tillmantoldme.“Wealso
know that if you don’t get it right, what was supposed to be a
solution,becomesanannoyance. ‘You’regetting in thewayofme
and my objective.’ You need to understand what the consumer
wantsfromyou.
“Forinstance,DelMontehaswhatwecalltheHealthyExplorer.
They looktocook.Whatdefines them isexperimentalcooking.On
mobile, they are looking for recipes. They know the ingredients of
chili that they’vemade in thepast,butwecanoffer themagreat
chilirecipewheretheycantakeitupanotchwithacanofcornto
add texture and sweetness. Then you can deliver an offer. If you
provideanofferoutofcontext,it’stransactionaljustliketheperson
whoisgivingoutcouponsinthefrontofthestore.
But mobile measurement limitations have been a barrier for
some.
“Youcanmeasureadvertising,consumerpurchases,SundayFSIs
(free standing inserts),” Tillman said. “Digital doesn’t have a long
historyofanalytics.Westruggleintheredzone–fromthe20-yard
line to the goal line. We’re doing different things in different
platforms.
“Inthenewemergingmedia,ifitfeelsrightandlinesupwiththe
brandsand the company, and you can keep the risk low, you can
getoutandlearn,”hesaid.“Brandsneedtohaveideasaswellas
products.
“All of us are trying to figure it out – how to be part of a
consumer’slifeandnottobeintrusive.That’sthebiggestchallenge
we face. There’s complexity in marketing because it’s driven by
many channels.Weneedmore content – you can’t just use a 30-
second commercial everywhere.Onmobile, you have to think if a
consumerwants a 15-second commercial even for a product that
theylike.
“But managing increased complexities has made us better
marketers.”
WhatHasHeldUsBack
Mobilemarketingmaybeonly10yearsold,butifyou’vebeenat
it since thebeginning, youcanstill becalleda lifer.And Jonathan
Stephen is certainly one. He has the perspective that comes from
beingon thevendor side,working insideat theMMAasmanager
and director of global industry initiatives, and in key positions at
JetBlueandSilverAirways.Heisnowdirectorofmobilestrategyat
EliteSEM.
“I’mhappywiththeprogressthattheindustryhasmade,butI’m
not happy with the way that we’ve gone about it,” he told me.
“What I mean is technologies have come out and instead of
(vendors)figuringoutawaytomakeitstandardizedorsuccessful—
QRcodesisagoodexample—theyweresofocusedonbeingthe
sole provider that they didn’t think as an industry how thiswould
happen.
“Thecustomerswereallconfusedaboutthetechnologybecause
theywere left out of it. Therewas no education for them. To this
day,peoplesay,‘Here’saQRcode,dosomethingwithit.’Theywill
takeouttheirphoneandtakeapictureofit.Theywon’tknowwhat
todowithit(scaninsteadofsnappingaphoto).Companieswereso
focused on shoving technology out there. They did the ‘Field of
Dreams’thing.Ifyoubuildit,theywillcome.It’ssofalse.”
ButStephenisobservingasignificantchange.
“What we see today is we’re having to backtrack and get
consumerstotrustusaboutthetechnologythatweputoutthere,”
hesaid.“Vendorsweresosoldonsellingtechnologytothebrands
that they didn’t teach them how to use it. And subsequently the
brandsdidn’t teach thecustomershow touse it.Youhadvendors
whomadealotofmoney,andalotofretailerswithbadexecution.
Youhadcustomersfeelingslighted.
“Canwefixit?Absolutely.Ithinkcustomersaregettingsmarter.
They are educating themselves. They are learning about these
technologiesandnow theyarewatching forwho is going todo it
better. People are using these technologies. They know when
someoneisusingitwellandwhensomeonedoesn’tdoitsowell.”
Andtheyarerewardingorpunishingbrandsasaresult.
“You actually have customers get frustrated when they don’t
haveanoptimizedwebsite,somethingassimpleasthat,”Stephen
said. “Years ago you were happy to load a page on your phone.
Nowconsumersaregettingpicky.‘Thisbranddoesn’thaveamobile
site-Idon’twanttouseit’.
“Ifvendorscanbeaforcetostandardizetechnologythat isout
thereanddon’tfocussomuchonbeingthefirstanddon’tlockitup
inaproprietaryplatform,anddoitinawaythatyourbusinesscan
helpthebrandgettowheretheyneedtogetto,ultimatelyitworks
all around. The companies that stand the test of time are the
companiesthatunderstandthattechnologywillchangeandbrands
willbethereandcontinuetoworkwithyoubecauseeverythingthat
you’vedoneinthepasthasworkedfortheircustomers.Itallcomes
around full circle. If the industry can standardize itself, and help
everyonearoundhowitshouldbeused,Ithinkthattheindustrywill
continuetogrowattheratethatitis.Butitwillbemoresuccessful.”
JONATHANSTEPHEN
Bringingmore than 11 years of experience in themobile
and digital industry, Jonathan Stephen is currently the
DirectorofMobileStrategyatEliteSEM.PriortoEliteSEM,
Jonathan spent time in the airline industry heading up
mobile and digital strategy for airlines including Silver
Airways and Jetblue. At JetBlue, he led the Mobile &
EmergingTechnologiesteamforoverthreeyearswiththe
responsibilityofdrivingtheiroverallstrategy.
SaidREI’sKlonowski:
“SinceIstartedbackatSearsin2008(asasenioranalyst)there
have been a couple of levels of adoption. Around that time, the
iPhonecomesout in2007, theAppStorearoundayear later,and
Android follows suit. Organizationswere treatingmobile as a test
andlearninitiative.Ithasbeenthatwayforthebetterpartoffouror
fiveyearsifyoufastforwardtothe2012or2013timeframe.
“Now what I think you are seeing is that companies are
beginning to realize, ‘Now wait a minute. Large portions of my
traffic are now coming through these devices. There is a lot of
revenue and dollars going through these new touchpoints. Now I
havetotreatthisandrunthis likeabusinessinsteadofatestand
learninitiative’.”
Thatwill only happenwithmorededicated resources, including
personnel,Klonowskitoldme.
“What’s happening now,” he said, “is thatwe’re probably in a
two-year period, maybe three years, and we’re probably halfway
through that, companies are saying, ‘We have to build out the
structurethatIneedtomanagethisbusiness’.Itcouldbeanything
frommore robust analytics to ‘How do I optimizemy app for the
app stores?’, or something like app store SEO (search engine
optimization),aswellasmonitoringtools.Companiesarekindofnot
caught flat-footedbut theyare trying to figureouthow toput the
structureinplacetocontinuethisgrowth.
“I thinkwe’reactually in thesecondwaveandreallypickingup
steamagain,certainlyontheiOSsidewithiPhonecomingoutwith
biggerscreens.“
And not just bigger screens. Bigger groups of consumers are
usingsmartphones.
“Fromacustomeroruserperspective,Ireallythinkwe’regetting
to the point of critical mass,” Klonowski said. “We know the
percentageofuserswithsmartphonesissignificant.Theadoptionis
there.
“What is changing from the customer is the expectation. Now
we’reseeingtheexpectationisthatwhatIusedtobeabletodoon
aPCorlaptop,Icandoonanyscreen.Somecompanies,REIisone,
attimes,saythatit’snotaseasytodothisonsmartphonesoraPC.
Companiesneedtobeabletodeliveraconsistentexperienceonall
screens.”
TheCokePerspective
In 2014,Coca-Colawas namedMarketer of theYear by online
newspublicationMobileMarketer.Somewouldsay–and Iwould
not argue— that the company should get the award and others
everyyear.
TomDalyisproud,butheisneitherrestingnorcontent.
“There is language that we use at Coke – Constructive
Discontent,”hesaid.“AmIhappy?Hardtosay.Istheremorethan
we can be doing? Yes. Arewe doing everything thatwe could be
doing?Probablynot.
“ButwhenIstarttalkingaboutthethingsthatwehavedone,(as
of late 2014) 70,000machines that accept NFC payments, 65,000
beacons deployed, the data (being obtained) about the role of
mobile advertising, things like that are real and tangible and
impactful stuff thatwasn’t therebefore, now it is. I guess Iwould
havetositback.Inanaudience,peoplemightlookatthatandsay
that’s pretty progressive, that’s pretty good. Do I think it’s
everything?No.”
AmongthemorenotablerecentinitiativeswasCoca-Cola’s2014
expansionintotheUnitedStatesofits“ShareACoke”programthat
beganinAustraliain2012andcametomorethan50countries.
Onbottles,thecompanyreplacedCoke’siconiclogowithoneof
250of themostpopularnamesamongyoungpeople.Otherswith
less-common names were able to obtain a mini-can customized
withtheirnameatoneofthebrand’s500stopsacrossthecountry,
or go online to personalize a virtual bottle and post it on social
media.
As you might imagine, delighted consumers wanted to share
their experience through pictures taken by mobile devices and
postedtosocialnetworkswiththehashtag#shareacoke.
Becausemobilecan’tliveonamarketingisland,ofcourse,Coke
supporteditwithanine-weekadcampaignthatfeaturedtelevision
commercials,ads inmoviehouses,socialanddigitalefforts,digital
billboardsandexperientialactivations.
AccordingtoTheWallStreetJournal,overa12-dayperiod,there
weremore than 125,000 posts about the campaign. Impressively,
butnot surprisingly, 96percentof consumer sentiment toward the
campaignwaseitherpositiveorneutral.
Really,whatwastherenottolike?
Not to be excluded in any discussion of Coca-Cola’s mobile
effortsareitsprogramsthatdogood.Amongotherinitiatives,they
have included the creation with (RED) of a mobile game to raise
awareness and help fund efforts to end mother-to-child
transmissionofHIVby2015.
Also,Coca-Cola has teamedwithQualcommand individuals in
20 developing countries to bring EKOCENTER, an initiative that
brings a locally tailored mix of products, services and resources,
including safe drinking water, electricity, wireless communication,
refrigerated vaccination storage, health education, and other
functionality to jump-start entrepreneurship opportunities and
communitydevelopment.
“In a partnership, we can extract clean drinking water from
anything that hasmoisture,” Daly said. “Even in themost remote
parts of the world, where there is zero infrastructure, these
EKOCENTERscanbeusedtocreatecleandrinkablewater.Weare
workingtomakethoseplaceswhereyoucanconnectforpurposes
ofhealthcaredelivery,education,andeconomicempowerment.”
As to what overall grade Daly would give himself and his
teammates,theexecutiveansweredthisway:
“Have things unfolded? I don’t know how to answer that
questionhonestlyandhumbly.Howevermuchyouwant to rewind
the clock, five years, six years, seven years, as long as I’ve been
talkingabout this stuff, I’d like to think thatwe’ve foundaway to
reallyunderstandandinterpretthetrendsandwehavebeenpretty
determinedandfocusedonexploitingthosetrendseversince.”
OnthemorningofDec.25,2013,whenthemoststrenuousthing
Ihaddonewastopushthebuttononmycomputer,mynewFitbit
ForceshowedthatIhadburned861calories.
IconsidereditaChristmasmiracle.
Or a sham. I figured that despite an exercise program thatmy
doctorsaidputmeinthetoponepercentofhispatients,Iowedit
tomyself,myprofessionandmyguttotryonthis“wearable”thing.
Former New York Times personal technology columnist David
Pogue,nowreportingforYahoo,hadputtheFitbitForceonthelist
orproductshepersonallywouldbuy.Thatclinched it formewhen
mywifeaskedwhatIwantedforaholidaypresent.
Firstcametheso-called“unboxing”.Poguehadwarnedreaders
aboutthedifficultyforsomeingettingthebandtostayonthewrist.
Absolutely,thatwasthecase.Itfelloffseveraltimesinthefirstfew
daysofuse.
Setupwassignificantlyharderthananelevatorride.Thelauded
FitbitdongleforsyncingisatinyUSBstickthatcouldeasilyendup
in the mouth of a child or puppy. Keeping it permanently in one
computer isn’t practical for me since I work on three. So it could
easilybeheretoday,gonetomorrow.
IespeciallywasinterestedindownloadingtheapponmyiPhone
andiPadandsyncingonthefly.Fitbit’sappisnotoptimizedforan
iPad,butthatwashardlymybiggestcomplaint.
I created a personal profile, but the numbers immediately
seemed inaccurate.Whywouldonebuyawearable if it couldnot
producerealmeasurements?
Then, formore than twodays, thebandand iPhoneappwould
not sync. Igrabbed theshippingbox incase Ineeded tosend the
product back to Best Buy, but finally seemingly worked out the
issues by going to the problem-solving page of fitbit.com, then
rebootingandresettingseveralthings.
I knew ahead of time that I would have to input my food
consumed.ThatmakestheForceanythingbutsetupandgo,but it
wasapricethatIwaswillingtopay.
ItookmysagatoTwitterandfolksIpersonallyknowanddon’t
know expressed surprise that I called the experience
underwhelming.
“I’veseenthemonallsortsofpeopleand just likeworkingout.
It’saboutcommitmentandnotentertainment,”onetweetread.
Entertainmenthadnevercrossedmymind.Informationformeto
makebetterchoicesisallthatI’mafter.
It took my friend Mario Schulzke, interviewed in this book, to
explaintomethatweburncaloriesevenwhenwesleep.Duh.ButI
wasn’ttheonlyoneinthedarkonthat.
Takeaway:Fitbitdidn’tpackenougheducationinitsbox.That’sa
common problem with a category that runs circles around others
whenitcomestohype.
CHAPTEREIGHT
NewTechnologies
Be it the Internet of Things, the smart home, virtual reality or
something else, change is coming. Or at least change will be
presentedtous.
Iwalked the Las VegasConventionCenterwith 150,000 ofmy
closest friends attending the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show.
Televisions were impressive, but incremental in benefit to the
viewer.Automobileswerenot just trickedoutwithsound,butwith
connectivity likeneverbefore.Smarthomehardwarewasplentiful.
Whether they were solving consumer problems – alerting us that
thereisaleakunderoursinkorthatourbeersupplyinthefridgeis
low–isanotherquestion.
What,ifanything,wins?
“Theconsumerisgoingtodecide,”saidSeanLyons,GlobalChief
DigitalOfficer atHavas. “A lot of theseearly thoughtsabout how
things will be used are often wrong. And it’s not because people
aren’t intelligent. It’s because we haven’t really found what the
behaviorsareyet.
“Just thinkabouthow long it took for something like the video
phone callwhichwas introduced in the ‘60s toactually come into
use. Even now, we’re Skyping (and only using a voice capability).
Other people might be doing FaceTime. But it’s not our main
method of communication. What’s envisioned is often not what
happens.Tomethat’sthefunpart,especiallyforbrands.Onceyou
realize that youarenotgoing tobeexpected tohave theanswer,
andyoujustkindoffeelyourwaythroughit,thebetteryouwillbe.
That’s going to allow you to not have the pressure of solving the
problem.Youshouldbesimplyobserving.”
Lyons issureofonething–advertisingcan’tbombardus like it
didtoTomCruise’scharacterin“MinorityReport.”Inthe2002film,
atalkingbillboardblastedChiefJohnAndertonwiththismemorable
and irrelevantcommunication thatmakesanyone’sMarketingHall
ofShame—“Goodafternoon,Mr.Yakamoto.Howdidyoulikethat
three-packoftanktopsyouboughtlasttimeyouwerein?”
SaidLyons:“Ifyoulookattheconnectedhomespace,youcan’t
lookatitasaplacewhereasbrands,we’regoingtoinsertadsinto.
If that’s all what we’re thinking about, then we are completely
missing the boat. The functional element has to be solved.What
problemisthissolvingfortheconsumer?Wedon’tnecessarilyhave
aproblemthatexiststodaybutaswegetmoreandmoredevices,
therewillbeanobviouslymorefrictionlesswaytocontroleverything
inourhome.
“Alotofthebrandsthatweworkwithareinthehome.Inaway,
there isarightforthemtohelptrytosolvethoseproblems.When
youhavealargeinstalledbaseoftelevisions,howdoesthatinteract
withthesecurity inthehome?It’ssodependentonthebrand.The
way I’ve spentmy career and thought about it, it really starts by
providingsomethingusefultosomebody.”
SEANLYONS
In2013SeanLyonswasnamedGlobalChiefDigitalOfficer
atHavasWorldwide,whereheservesasexecutiveleadon
all digital efforts across the network. His responsibilities
include oversight of digital strategy, development and
operations; enhancing the agency’s current offering; and
introducing new digital platforms and capabilities for the
agencyanditsclients.SeanhasaBFAwithaconcentration
inElectronicMediafromCarnegieMellonUniversity.
One of the early winners has been Nest, which was sold to
Google for$3.2billionafterbringing in controllable thermostats to
themarket.
“I love the Nest,” said Julie Rezek, Managing Director,
Wunderman, Seattle. “I think it’s brilliant. The Nest obviously is a
physical thing at home, but it’s powerful because of its mobile
application.HowIcanbecominghomefromWhistlertoSeattleand
heatmyhousebeforeIarrive?
“Ihavearelationshipwithmythermostat.Ilovemythermostat.I
talk to it all the time. The fact that I do that is insane. The only
reason I do that is because I get Nest updates on how energy
efficient I am and I know that I can turn upmy Nest and turn it
down. It’s thatmobile device interaction thatmakes it thatmuch
richer.”
Said Doctorow, CMO of Expedia: “The wearable category is
definitely important to Expedia, but we’re still identifying to what
extent. We know there’s a careful balance between pushing
customers the information thatwould be helpful to them on their
wrist,versusspammingthem.Ourcurrentpushnotificationsonour
mobileappsaredesignedtoalerttravelerstodatatheyneed.
“To date, we’ve focused on providing helpful reminders while
peopleareembarkingontheirtrip.Thingslike,‘Yourflightdepartsin
twohours,’ ‘Yourhotelcheckout isat11a.m. today,’etc.The little
pushes thatmean you don’t need to open your phone to look for
information.Andthisisthetypeofcontentweimaginewillbemost
relevantinthewearablesspace.”
It’s possible that wearables will be an ingredient in Expedia’s
attempttodifferentiatebasedonservice.
“Wealmostwant toactasabutlerof your travelexperience–
providingagentlenudgewhenit’stimetoheadoutthedoor,oran
updateifyourplaneisdepartingfromanewgate,”hesaid.
OutreachThatFits
Let’sreturnforaminutetothe“MinorityReport”scenario.Even
among accomplished marketers, there isn’t only one view on the
subjectof thesendingofadsasmobileusersgoabout theirday’s
activities.
Julie Rezek welcomes outreach by brands that have a firm
understandingofwhatshewants.
“Theyknow I’m looking forawhiteshirtand I’mwalkingdown
thestreetandIgetthreeoffers,”shesaid.“OnefromtheGap,one
fromBrooksBrothers,onefromNeimanMarcus.That’sthenirvana
ofwheremobilewillbe.”
Google’sJasonSperoisn’tsosure.
“Ithinkpushisaninterestingmetaphor,”hetoldme.“I’dlikeus
tobesmartenoughfromanalgorithmicperspectivetoidentifythat
person but I think we will annoy the heck out of people if we’re
pushingmessagesatthem.That’saJasonviewandaGoogleview.
“Therewillbe timeswhereanalert ina feed is relevant. If you
walk down Columbus Avenue from 93rd Street to 50th Street,
someone told me, I may be exaggerating, that you pass 20
Starbucks. I don’t want a Starbucks alert for every single one of
those. And that’s before I getmywhite shirt alerts andmy Kauai
gooddealsalertsandmy, ‘Hey,youwere inNordstromyesterday;
I’mgoingtoretargetyou’alerts.”
Speropointstowhatheconsidersabetterway.
“From my perspective, “ he said, “If we put ourselves in the
customer’sshoes,Ithinkwhatwe’retryingtodoifwegetitrightis
to be so savvy thatwe can anticipate your needwithout pushing
thingsatyou.
“I want us to get to a point where we understand customer
needssowellbasedoncontext,basedonthemoments,basedon
ourunderstandingoftheiridentity,thatwecananticipatethatneed
and then run the test to see if the consumerwantspushor if the
consumerwantsustobewaitingwhentheyaskusforsomething.”
INTERLUDE
HowtoViewInnovation
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said that innovation separates
leaders from followers. Serial entrepreneur Jason Calacanis says,
“You have to have a big vision and take very small steps to get
there.”
The pace is in dispute, but the need in mobile to advance
technologiesandfindnewwaystoengagewiththenearalways-on
wirelessuserisuniversal.
Buthow?Andwhatshapedoesthattake?
“If you have a real specific need for doing it and you think it’s
goingtosolveaproblem,beinganearlyadopter (oftechnology) is
great,”JonathanStephentoldme.“Youarequicktofailandquick
tobeingsuccessful.Thereareothersouttherewhothinkthiscanbe
an enhancement to an experience andmaybe those are the ones
who don’t necessarily jump on the early bandwagon but they
continue to see as the technology improves itself, that they will
adaptover timeanda lotof thekinkswill havebeenworkedout.
Best practice would have been created and they would have
followedthoseguidelines.
“Itreallydependsonthepositionthatyou’rein.Ifyou’vegotthe
capital to do that kind of investment, by allmeans I always think
thatbeinganearlyadopterisfantasticbutyouhavetobeprepared
tofail.You’renotgoingtogetitrightthefirsttime(allthetime).No
oneeverhas.”
Sometimesbeingsecond,thirdorlaterhasitsadvantages.
WhatsApp, built by former Yahoo employees as a text-
messaging alternative, is a cross-platform mobile messaging app
thatallowsusers toexchangemessageswithouthavingtopayfor
SMS. In 2014, Facebook purchased the company and access to
morethan600millionactiveusersfor$19billion.
“Ialwaysuse thephrase, ‘Imaynotbeearly to thepartybut I
alwaysliketomakeanentrance,’”Stephensaid.“Sometimesthere
are technologies out there and Iwasn’t the first to get to it but I
definitelywanttomakesurethatIgetnoticedwhenIlaunchedthat
technology. It takes a lot of thought. It takes a lot of strategy in
termsofwhat isbehind it. It takesa lotofhumility to takeastep
backandrealizewhereyouwillbesuccessfulandwhereyouwant
theretogo.
“Therewillbea lotofsuccessesanda lotoffailures.You learn
thatovertime.Butmorethananything itgoesall thewaybackto
thatbusinessstrategy.”
Credibility is more important than that new widget, something
that Stephen thinks about each time that he walks into senior
managementwithaplanandandasksforresources.
“Falsepromises iswhatcreatescontentionwithin theexecutive
level,” he said. “You don’twant to change theway your business
has been running. If your business hasn’t been innovative in the
past,ifthegoalistotakeyourbusinessoutofthe1950sandgetit
into the futurewhere you become this early adopter - it takes an
organizationalchange todo that.Youcan’t force technologyupon
anorganization.”
NoClear-CutDefinition
Curtis Kopf of Alaska Airlines has seen – and been part of
innovation–inlargeenterprisesincludingMicrosoftandAmazon.
AtAmazon,hewaspartofahand-picked14-personteaminthe
U.S.,EuropeandAsiathatscaledandextended“SearchInsidethe
Book,”adiscoverytoolthatsearchesanddisplaysthefullcontents
ofhundredsofthousandsofbooksfromdomesticandinternational
publishers.
“Everycompanywrestleswiththis,”Kopfsaidofinnovation.“We
allcomefromdifferentplaceswhetheryouareanairline,abank,or
Amazon.com.I’veexperiencedthespectrumofcompaniesbasedon
theirbusinessmodelandwhotheyarehavedifferentcomfortlevels
andappetites.
“Amazon.com is going to be a company thatmakes really big
bets—thingsthatmaynotmaterializeforfiveyearsorsevenyears,
eventenyears.Othercompanieswon’tviewtheworldthatway.”
Everyone,Kopfsaid,hasaplace.
“There’sdefinitelyacontinuumofinnovationandthenthereare
obviouslycompaniesouttherethatarecategorycreators,”hesaid.
“Clearlyalotofthecompaniesthatwethinkof innovatorsweren’t
first. Obviously Google wasn’t the first search engine (in fact, 20
were launchedearlier,accordingtoWikipedia).They justdid it ina
new and better way. Apple definitely wasn’t the first to do a
smartphone.Theyjustdiditinanewandbetterway.
“Innovation is talked about so much that it is almost become
meaningless. Every company on the planet says that they are
innovative. It’s part of their mission statement. Obviously as
consumerswe all interactwith these brands and the truth is that
theyarenotallinnovative.”
AtAlaskaAirlines, Kopf andhis teamhasabroaddefinitionof
innovation.
“Being an airlinewewant tomake sure sincewe have 13,000
employees,many of whom are not technologists, that people are
clear that innovation isnot justabout technology,”Kopfsaid.“We
define innovationassolvingproblems innewways.Justkeep itas
simple as that. And then there is a range of innovation from
incrementaltodisruptive.
“Being first is great. There are times that being first could be
reallyimportant.Ifyoucangetitanadvantagethatyoucansustain,
there’s some buzz and credit that you get from customers by
introducing something first. But I don’t think innovation in and of
itselfmeansbeingfirst.Itcouldbetakingsomethingthatsomeone
elsestartedanddoingitinanewway.”
WheretoDiscoverInnovation
OneplacetoviewthelatestistheannualSxSWconference.It’s
wherecheck-inpioneerFoursquareandOculusRift,avirtualreality
gaming headset, were introduced. Where Periscope made its
mainstreamsplash.ManymakethetriptoAustin,Texaspurelyfor
thetechnology.Lowe’sexecutiveSeanBartletthasunearthedother
benefits.
“South By (Southwest) has an interesting mix of what are
perceived to be cutting edge talks or technologies that are really
prettybasic,” he said. “There isalso the technology itselfwhich is
interesting.Andthen,whatIthinkismostimportant,withrespectto
whatI’vetakenawayfromSouthByinthefewtimesthatI’vebeen
there,ismoreculturalandhowyouthinkaboutthings.
“OneofthethingsthatItookfromapanelacoupleofyearsago
that has actually become a guiding principle of the team is this
notion of commitment to craftsmanship. I saw a panel of well-
knownstartupCEOstalkingabouttheirproducts.Oneofthethings
thatreallyhithomewashowtheytalkedaboutcraftsmanshipand
qualityoftheproductandtheoverallexperience.It’satruecultural
takeaway that you can bring back and put in effect immediately.
YoucomebackfromtheshowandonaMondayyoucanreallystart
todrivethatmessagehome.That’sonethatalwayssticksoutwhen
Ithinkaboutthatparticularshow.”
CHAPTERNINE
NewBreedofMarketer
AMobileMarketingAssociationstudyprojectednearlyatripling
of mobile jobs from 2012 to 2015. Those predictions have been
tracking well. Qualcomm said that mobile technology created 11
milliondirectjobsin2014.37
Because so many diverse skills are needed, the makeup of
marketing organizations has evolved to meet the challenges of
reachingthemobilizedconsumer.
“There’s a lot of demand formarketers right now,” saidMario
Schulzke, an accomplished, 30-something digital marketer who is
AssistantVicePresidentofMarketingattheUniversityofMontana.
“What is starting to happen is that these kids are coming from
different backgrounds.Nowadays you have a lot of peoplewhose
background is technology becoming marketers. Or whose
background is accountingor finance. Theyall of a sudden findan
avenueinmarketingthatisinterestingtothem.
“WhenIwenttoschoolyoulearnedadvertising,youlearnedPR
(public relations). If you wanted to write, you got into PR. If you
wantedtobecreative,yougotintoadvertising.”
But geeks and number crunchers have found a way in. Even
better, they have wanted to come in, which speaks well for the
profession.
“Nowadaysyoucanworkinmarketingwhenyouareinterested
in technology,” Schulzke said. “Fifteen years ago if you were
interested innumbers,everyagencyhadoneaccountant,oneCFO
(Chief Financial Officer) and a couple of bookkeepers. Nowadays
every agency has 10 analysts. All they do is crunch numbers and
analyzenumbers.Sonow if you’re incollegeandare interested in
workingwithnumbers,workingwithmoney,workingwithdata,all
thesuddenthereisanavenuewithininmarketing.
“The modern marketer that we’re seeing emerge from our
undergraduateandgraduateprogramsisthatmuchstrongerfroma
data analysis perspective. They can be much stronger from a
technology perspective. You still have your people who want to
write.Youstillhaveyourpeoplewhowanttobeartisticandwantto
becreative. It’s justadifferentkindofpersonthen itwas15years
ago. Truth be told, I think it’s a smarter person than when I
graduatedcollege.”
REI’s Klonowski is also an instructor and boardmember of the
Mobile Strategy & Marketing Program at the University of
Washington.Hesaidthatwhilesupply iscatchingupwithdemand
in themobile industry for productmanagement, it is still short on
talent for marketing as well as a business technical side that
includescustomerinsights,competitiveanalysis,andanalytics.
TheNewAgency
At some point – and we can spend a considerable amount of
timedebating theexactmoment—mobile inamarketer’sbagof
trickswasanicetohave.
Butwhat is indisputablenow is thataplanwithoutmobile isa
hugemissedopportunity.Withoutwireless,you’rewaybehind,andI
saythatnotjustfromabusinesspointofview,but,asyou’veseen
inmanyexamplesinthisbook,fromacustomerexpectationspoint
ofview.
We’ve reached the point now where mobile users are simply
rewarding businesses that have a good mobile presence and
punishingthosethatdon’t.
Andwenowhavemanymore tools,productsandservices that
weneedtoemployinourmobilemarketing.FacebookandGoogle
aremobilestrategiesnow.Ifyouwanttoreachyourcustomers,you
have to gowhere they are. And if they’re on Facebook orGoogle
(whichtheyare),itwillbeincreasinglymobilized.
Two years ago a digital marketer might be able to focus only
online.Today,that’sonlyonepartoftheirjob.
AgencyShifts
Ithasbeenadifficultadjustmentforsome.
Beyondindividuals,manyso-calledtraditionalagencieshave,to
givethemthebenefitofthedoubt,reviewedthemobileoptionsand
resisted change (the truth is that others inexplicably have never
givenitaseriouslook).
Why?
Thelistislong.
Forone,traditionalagencieshavestruggledwithamonetization
strategy.Mobileis,ofcourse,morecomplicatedthanbuyingmedia
and adding a service layer on top of it. There aremany products,
most of which aren’t built within agency walls. So, money would
needtogooutthedooriftheywereincludedinmobileplans.
The Software As A Service (SaaS) model, where licensing fees
are tied to theuseof technology,has foundacold reception from
traditional agencies that for decades have billed off of TV ads,
outdoor billboards, and eventually digital primarily in the form of
websitecreationandadcreationandbuying.
Then there are the fear of the unknown, the unmistakable
element of the profit-center tug-of-way (for instance, Chicago not
wanting to give away revenue to a sister office), the interest in
maintaining the status quo, and the fact that many agency folks
don’tunderstandmobile.
SaidLyonsofHavas:“Everyagencyisatadifferentpoint.Every
brandisatadifferentpoint.Thebigrealityisthattherearesomany
waystoapplycreativitytodaywhereyearsagotherewereahandful
of formats that advertisers were involved in. Now it’s very, very
broad.
“Oftentheagency’srolebecomesstrategicandasaconsultant.
We often make the stuff that we’re proposing but the consulting
piece issokey.Havingacreativeunderstandhowtheseplatforms
work.”
Havas and Wunderman are among the more progressive
agenciesthatarerewritingjobdescriptions.
“You reallyneed toexpandyourdefinitionofwhat creative is,”
saidHavas’Lyons.“Youneedtobring inabunchofpeople,broad
thinkerswhoaremakingsuretheyaredevelopingbigbroadcreative
platform ideas, but you also need awhole bunch of specialists to
come in. You’ve got to work on broadening your skill sets. That’s
always awork in progress. That’s part of the fun of the job - it’s
gettingthesepeopletogether.”
Andit’saboutbreakingdownwalls.
“Four of five years ago, it was social,” said Julie Rezek,
ManagingDirector,Wunderman, Seattle. “Three years ago, itwas
we have to bemobile first.We’ve got to hire amobile strategist.
Andweneedblah-blah-blah. I always knowwhen it’s ingrained in
theagencyor in thework thatwedowhenweno longerdefine it
thatwaybecauseitbecomesthechannelinwhichwegotomarket
andnotsomething thatweneed topush forwardbecausenoone
knowshowtodoitornooneknowshowtosellittotheclient.
JULIEREZEK
Julie is theManagingDirectorofWundermanSeattleand
heads a team of 250+ makers, doers, artists and data
wizards who do award-winning work for Fortune 500
companiessuchasMicrosoft,T-Mobile,TheGAPInc.,Nike,
REI,GroupHealthCooperative,andothers.Juliehasbeen
invited to speak at marketing conferences and events
hosted by the Digital Marketing Association, American
Advertising Federation, Seattle Interactive Conference,
American Marketing Association, and the University of
Washington’s Foster School of Business. She was also
named one of the Puget Sound Business Journal’s “40
Under40”honoreesin2012.
“Back in the day, I was the head of the digital department at
Wunderman in Toronto. Now we don’t even have a digital
department.Everythingwedoisdigital.Anytimewedosomething
foraclient,wethinkmobilefirst.Ifwe’regoingtobuildawebsite,
howwill itbemobilefirst?Wedesignandthinkinthatmindspace
before we do anything. How do we make mobile the lifeline of
everythingwedo?”
That answer, assuming everyone is in agreement, has been
elusive.
“Withmobile,youhaveamuchhigher touchandamuchmore
careful approach,” Lyons told me. “Brands and agencies really
haven’thit their strideonhowtodo thatcarefullyandwell. If you
look at startups, they do that exceedinglywell because theywere
borndigital.
“JustthinkaboutUberandthinkabouthowseamlessandclean
Uberisandhowwelldesignedtheircommunicationsare.Thetrain
where I live was shut down for five weeks because they had to
repairthetunnelfromHurricaneSandy.Threedaysbeforetheyshut
it down, I received a coupon for a free ride (fromUber) and a 20
percentdiscountonmynextride.TheyknewwhereIwasandthey
knewthatmytrainwasshutdown.That’sincrediblyhelpful.I’mnot
sure other brands could ramp that fast. The bigger ones need to
changefaster.”
And the pace of change certainly needs to come to ad firms.
Fast.
“On the agency side, it’s connecting the data people with the
agency folks,” Lyons said. “We’re doing thatmore andmore and
makingsurethatwebuildteamsthatare integratingtogetherand
lookingtosolvetheseproblems.”
I challenged Lyons on the notion that the left brains and right
brainsinagencieshavecometoacceptoneanother.Thatwouldbe
aseismicandwelcomechange.
“Withmobile, it’sfindingthoserightmoments,hesaid.“It’snot
necessarilyinthelaunchofanewproductwherewehavetocreate
broad attention and awareness. It might be regarding a loyalty
programforacoffeecompanyorabeveragecompany.Andabout
howtolookattheirexistingcustomers—howtheyusetheproduct,
howoften theyconsume itandwhere.Creatives love tohear that
stuff because it’s actual real material they could use to develop
ideasagainst.Thattangibilityissomethingthatisirreplaceable.
“Many brands are still very reliant on television and television
canworkforthemandtheirproductandtheircategoryandtheyare
busyexperimentingwithmanyother things.Theagency’s job is to
morph and adapt to the client’s organization and do our best to
bringtherightpeopletothetable.Inourindustryingeneral,Ithink
there’s a lack of data intelligence being applied to the creative
process. It’s not either or. You need to blend instinct and creative
gutwithsharp,datadriveninsights.”
Lyons is convinced that while everything has changed with
mobile, the role of the agency has fundamentally remained the
same.
“Inanagency,youneedtobethestewardofthebrandwiththe
brand,” he said. “And you need to help present that brand to the
worldandthatgetspresentedobviouslythroughadvertisementsbut
alsofunctionality.Thebrandhastobehaveinacertainway.
“If you look at wherewe are today and the complete reliance
that we all have on our phones, the brand experience is often
mediatedthroughaphone.Thelevelofimportancefordesigngoes
wayup. If InevergotothephysicalbankandIonlybankthrough
my Chase app, my entire experience with Chase is going to be
through that app. It better be extremely well designed. It better
reflect the ideals of the brand. It better be modern. It better be
helpful.Itbetterbethebrand.Thatmeansthelevelofattentionthat
you need to put in that is incredibly high. With banking, they
obviouslyrecognizethat.That’sanobvioussector.”
Howabouttheothers?
“Many more brands need to think through that and try to
understandhowtheygetperceived,”hesaid.“Oftentheymayfeel
theirperceptionisthesumoftheircommunications.Butithasalot
todowithhowtheyinteractwiththeirindividualsthroughcustomer
servicethatismoreandmorebeingmediatedthroughmobile.”
Anadditionalfactorinrelativelyslowmobileuse,insomecases,
isthetimeittakestogetclientbuy-in.
“With a lot of our clients, we have big idea meetings,” said
Wunderman’s Rezek. “That’s where we pitch a lot of these
innovativethingstogetthemoutoftheircomfortzone.Weactually
putaproposalinfrontofthemsotheycanseewhattodo.
“We were pitching a client, and after a year, they said, ‘Yes,
we’re in’. Every client has the intention of doing something great.
Butittotallydependsaretheyanoldschoolorganization?Arethey
progressive?Aretheyrisk-takers?Everyonelivesinadifferentstate
ofthatworldeveryday.”
Among theconcerns forbrandmanagers is theway reinvented
marketinginitiativeswillaffectbusinessresults.
“Given clients having to meet stock market pressures and
revenuesandROI,therearealotofpeoplewhoaretherementally,
but I’venevercometoapointwhereaclient ispushingusharder
thanwearepushingthem,”Rezektoldme.
Asmuchaswecan’tlabelmobileuserswiththesamebrush,we
can’t put advertising agencies in a homogenized group of either
“mobilesmart”or“mobileinept”.
TheInconsistentEvolution
HankWasiakhasseentheinefficientside.
“Overall,ingeneral,Ithinkclientsarewayaheadofagencieson
mobile,” he said. “They understood it better and first. They
recognized that they couldn’t do things the old way and their
compensationmodelsweren’ttiedtoallofthesethings.
Agencies are getting better but they are not nearly as far in
seeingtheimportanceofthemobilefirstmindset.
“Ichallengeyoutowalk intoanagency,saythatyouaregoing
todoacampaignandsay‘givemeyourideasinabout3hours’.Not
oneisgoingtooptimizearoundthemobileexperience.I’llgiveyou
$1,000 if you find one. (Instead) they still say ‘here’s a great
commercial.’
“They look at mobile as more of a delivery device for their
creative work. It is supposed to be something where they can
creatively integrate their ideas.Mobile is just a big turnaround for
themandthentheydon’tgetityet.Ifeelclientsgetitbetter.They
allagreewithit.”
Someseethepacepickingupnow.
One of those, Jaime Robinson, executive creative director at
Pereira&O’Dell,saidthatmarketinghaslivedinthesame“box”for
decades.
“Whenyouchangethebox,whatthehelldoyoudowithit?”she
asked.
“The creative magic is in the context. It freaks creatives out
becausewedon’tknowhowtodealwithit.Mobileisnotaone-way
broadcast – it’s a two-way conversation. Creatives are starting to
understandit.”
And they are starting to receive awards for it. Hardware has
alwaysbeenalureforthisgroupAsamodel,Robinson,whoserved
aspresidentoftheCannesLionsInternationalFestivalofCreativity
mobile jury in 2014, points to a Nivea campaign to prove that
imaginativemobilecampaignsareascompellingasthosedonefor
othermediums.
Nivea ads appearing in a Brazilian magazine featured a
detachable,traceablebraceletforachildtowearsoaparentcould
keeptrackofhisorherwhereabouts.
Theadultjusthadtodownloadanapp,enterauniquecodefrom
thebraceletandsetthedistancethechildwasallowedtoroam.If
the child went outside that area, the parent was alerted with an
alarm.
Thecampaign,createdbyadagencyFCBBrasil,wontheGrand
Prixawardinthemobilecategory.
Robinson told Advertising Age that the idea was one that
“universallylit[thejury]uplikeabunchofChristmastrees.”Further,
shecalleditthe“perfectmarriageoftherightmediadeliveringthe
right utility, delivering the right brandmessage and the right time
andplace.
“Itwasareallycoolblendofsomeoftheoldestmediumsinthe
world,”shesaid.
Shoulditevenbeadvertisingagenciesthattaketheleadonmobile?
JAIMEROBINSON
Jaime Robinson is the Executive Creative Director for
Wieden + Kennedy. Jaime was formerly the VP and
ExecutiveCreativeDirectoroftheaward-winningPereira&
O’Dell,aglobaladvertisingagencybasedinSanFrancisco
and helped steer the agency’s celebrated social film
projects for Intel/Toshiba, including “Intel Inside” and
“Beauty Inside.” The latter of which earned three Grand
Prix awards at the Cannes Lions festival in 2013 and a
daytimeEmmyAward.
Not according to Edelman PR President and CEO Richard
Edelman, who said at Edelman’s 2014 Academic Summit that
mobile “stresses relevant, substantive storytelling, stakeholder
engagement trust and, above all, shared value for customers,
organizationsandshareholders.Itdoesnotfavorclassicadvertising
ormediabuying.”
For the foreseeable future, it’s likely that brand marketers will
turn to whomever they feel will give them the best chance to
connectwithmobileconsumers.AsCoca-Cola’sTomDaly toldme
nearlyadecadeago,anyonewhocanhelpfigureitouthasaseat
atthetable.
BuildingAMobilizedTeam
It should go without saying: Mobile should map to business
goals.
Beforeanythingelse,determinewhatthebusinessneedstodo.If
you do that first, before you even think digital, or mobile, or
traditional,oranythingelse,youat leasthavestartedyourdayon
therightfoot.
Given that, startwithunderstanding thecustomer.That’swhy I
always talkabout “everything and nothing” having changed with
mobile.It’sthesamebecausewealwaysneedtosellmorestuff.It’s
different, because now weactually have an opportunity to
understandthecustomerevenmorethanweusedto;wehavethe
ability to follow them throughout their day, to glean customer
insights, and to becomemore relevant, more personal, and bring
morecontexttothem.
Don’t let the technology get ahead of smartmarketing. I think
stayingabreastofwhat’snewisagoodthing,butthere’sdangerin
thataswell.Therearealotofcoolthingsyoucoulddoindigitaland
mobilespecifically,buttheyaren’tnecessarilyreadyforprimetime.
They are technologies to keep an eye on, but not technologies to
implement.Yet.
Besuretoregularly reviewbestpracticesandcasestudies. Ifa
weekgoesbyandyouhaven’t tapped into the industrynews,and
you haven’t checked inwith the influencers to keep upwithwhat
hashappenedinthelastweek,you’llfallbehind.
Indigital,andmobileinparticular, ifyou’relivingoffaplaybook
basedonwhat you learned in the last quarter or two, you’re at a
disadvantage.
I’m both a huge believer – and a big doubter – in integrated
marketingefforts.
Intheorythewaythisintegratedapproachworksisverysimple.You
identifythebestSEOperson,thebestmobileperson,andsoon,and
youbringtheminaroomandsay,“OK,you’remyteam.Nowhere’s
thebusinesschallengeweneedtosolve.Go.”Onpaper,everyone
throws downhis or her uniquewisdom from the vantage point of
expertise,andyouwalkoutoftheroomhavingdonewhat’sbestin
everychannel.
In reality, I’ve seen that work exactly twice (and I’m not an
especiallyyoungman).
Youneedpeoplewhoareteamplayersratherthanpeoplewhoare
experts. More than identifying a skill set, you need to identify a
personality, because building a team means first and foremost
findingpeoplewhoenjoylearning,andwhoworkandplaywellwith
others.
Populateyourteamwithpeoplewhoareabletoevolvewiththe
times.Oneofthemostexcitingandvaluabletraitsyourteamshould
haveistheabilitytoforgeafutureandrollwithit.
You don’t want somebody who knows what he knows and is
going to just come in every day and continue to do only that. If
someone’s looking forapredictable jobwhere theyknowthe train
arrivesatthestationat8:53everydayandleavesat5:07everyday,
digitalandmobilearen’tforthem.Thereasonwe’reinthisbusiness
isbecausewedon’twantthosejobs.
Buildateamthat’spassionateaboutlearningandgrowing,and
creating opportunities to do something different and exciting that
drivesbusinessresults.
Recruitinganentrepreneur intoan integrated team isadifficult
task. They’re used to doing things a certain way and having a
certainideaofhowthingsgetdone,andnowallofasuddenthey’re
goingtobeamemberofanintegratedeight-personteam.They’ve
beenwearingstripesandnowyou’reaskingthemtowearsolids. I
thinkthatmightnotgoverywell.
Eliminatingdistinctprofitcentersfromsuccessmeasurementisa
hugekey. IfyourPPC lead ismeasuredsolelyby theprofitsof the
PPCcampaignsshemanages,she’sunlikelytopitchinherexpertise
totheSEOdepartmentbecauseshe’sbusysomewhereelsefocused
onherownnumbers.Shehasadistinctsiloedmotivationthat’snot
companycentric.
Make sure thateveryone isalso judgedby the companygoals,
andnotjusttheirgoaloftheirsilo.
Keeping the team focused on quality output means providing
ongoingeducation,andanongoingunderstandingofrolesandtheir
interdependence.Everyteammembershouldbeatleastconversant
inalltheotherfunctionswithinthedigitalmix,sowhentheteam’s
working together they know what their collective resources can
accomplish.
Asamanager, youneed to understandwhat canand can’t be
doneby thevariousdigital functions, soyoucanprovidewhat the
team needs to be successful. You need to understand them well
enoughtoknowwhatkindoftrainingtheyneed,theresourcesthey
require,andthesortsoftimelinesthatarereasonable.
Forgetaboutmobile,PPC,andSEO.
Internally,Googlehasdoneawaywiththeconceptof“mobile”or
“PPC” or “SEO” as distinct silos, skill sets, or tools. It’s no longer
“mobilefirst”…Iguessyoucouldcallit“everythingalways.”
It’sallbeblended,andmarketers (and theirmanagers)will just
worry about advertising, with an understanding that it’ll show up
everywhere.
Thewindowforgettingoutfrontis,atbest,gettingsmallerevery
day.Atworst, ithasclosed.But throwingupyourhandsat that is
thelastthingyoushoulddo.
WHERETOGOTOLEARN
There are hundreds of conferences that either exclusively
presentcontentaboutmobileoratleastfeaturemarketers
and case studieswith insights and results fromprograms
usingthechannel.
Duringanygivenweek,youlikelywillfindatleastonefree
webinaronmobilemarketingjustbykeyingthetermintoa
searchbox.
The Direct Marketing Association is one of many
organizations that has in-depth multiple-day mobile
trainingaspartofitsnationalconference.
For those who want to learn on-demand, I would be
pleasedifyoucheckedoutthelessonsthatI’vecreatedfor
MarketMotive.Morethan50hoursofcontentisavailable
witheachsessiondeepinactionablestepstotakeonsuch
subjectsasbuildingamobilewebsite,marketingamobile
app,andbestpracticesinbuildingandmonetizingamobile
loyaltyclub.
Epilogue
A relationship can be exhilarating, complicated, disappointing,
fleeting, or everlasting. It can be new, old, taken for granted, or
appreciatedeveryminuteofeveryday.Ifanything,arelationshipis
aworkinprogress.
Andthat’swherewesitasmobilemarketers.Somedayswesay
and do the right things. Other times, we show up at the most
inopportunemoment.
Some of it may not be our fault. Given how fast our world is
moving, it’s often difficult to envision what’s ahead. It’s easy to
breaktheruleswhennobody’swrittenthemyet.
McKinsey and Co. tried to capture it in what it called Scenes
FromTheFuture.38
Curious about her friend’s headset, Diane taps it with her
phone.Bothhavenear-fieldcommunications(NFC)capabilities.
Diane’sphonepromptshertophotographherfaceandthen
displayshowtheheadsetwouldlookonherinvariouscolors.
She’stheninvitedtosendherphototoherFacebookfriends,
whoareaskedtovoteamongachoiceofcolorsthatbestsuit
Diane.
Meanwhile,shereceivedatextalert fromSpotifyofferinga
free month’s subscription to its premiummusic service if she
buys the headset (the manufacturer’s data show she isn’t a
subscriber).
Friendsliketheheadsetinfuchsia,andDianecompletesthe
purchase.
Whentheheadsetisdeliveredthenextday,amessageasks
if shewould like to post a “wow” picture on Facebook of her
wearingit,withalinkforotherstobuyitaswell.
When she meets those friends in person, her cellphone
reminds her of theNFC chip in her headset andoffers her an
additional freemonth of Spotify’s service for each friendwho
tapsandbuysaheadset.
Every week, she gets a “club gig of the week” message,
offering discount access to a venue if she wears the headset
whenshewalks in thedoor.Aclubvideoboardwelcomesher
byname.
When Diane listens tomusic, Spotify reminds her that the
headsetmanufacturerhasbroughtherthislisteningexperience.
At a gym a fewweeks later, Diane gets an opportunity to
buyanddownloadanexerciseprogramthegymoffers.Shecan
accesstheprogrambytappingherphoneonanearbydisplay.
The scenes were written in 2013, forecasting what we should
expect in 2020. In an article included in the April 2013 McKinsey
Quarterly, authors Peter Dahlströmand David Edelman concluded
thatthefuelforon-demandmarketing isthe“continued,symbiotic
evolutionoftechnologyandconsumerexpectations”.
They opined: “The forces enabling consumers to expect
fulfillmentondemandareunstoppable.Acrosstheentireconsumer
decision journey, every touch is a brand experience, and those
touchesjustkeepmultiplyinginnumber.”
MuchofthefuturethatisDiane’sexperienceisheretoday.Butit
isn’t everyone’s future. Some will use only their phone to pay for
things,givingupcashforever.Othersmaygetthereovertime.Still
otherswill foreverbypassmobilebankingand theATMsallacross
townforthetried-and-trueexperienceofdealingwithateller.
It’sabout relationshipson themobileuser’s terms.Sometimes the
exchange will happen on a device. Other times, it will take a
physical embrace. The only certainly lies in the fact that more
changeisafoot.
SaidRezekofWunderman:“Theworldaheadofusisgoingtobe
better and more inspiring with what comes out because it’s
obviouslyalwaysevolving. I think it’s going toevolve inways that
make our lives richer and make us more efficient and effective.
Obviously there are going to be a lot of learning curves and
meatball sandwichads that someonewill get if theyarea vegan,
butitwillbeinterestinginacoupleofyearswiththesynchronization
of big data, what it means, and really smart targeted mobile
experiences.
“Itwill also happen organically:we’ll allwake up one day and
say, ‘Wow, do remember yesterday? We had this.’ It will just be
incremental,andsuddenlyjustapartofourlives.”
And,ifwedoitright,consumerswillviewbrandsontheirmobile
devicesasadditive,notasintrusion.
“I go back to a great quote from (advertising pioneer) Bill
Bernbach,” Hank Wasiak concluded. “Great marketing, great
advertising, is the art of persuasion. It always has been that. And
that’swheremobile’spromiseis.“
GLOBALEPILOGUE
In2012,IhadthegreatpleasureofvisitingSouthAfricato
keynote a marketing conference, conduct a daylong
trainingsession,andtogoonsafari.Infact,alltheseyears
later,thehomescreenonmyiPhonefeaturesaphotoofa
show-stopping, majestic elephant that I encountered in
PilanesbergNationalPark.
Oneofmyotherlastingmemoriesfromthetripisascene
attheconferenceinJohannesburg.Severalsuccessfuland
progressivemarketerswereusingBlackBerrydevices,with
morethanafewactuallycarryingtwo–oneforworkand
oneforpersonalbrowsing,messagingandemail.
By 2012, of course, most of us in the United States had
movedaway fromBlackBerrys,and the crisisofResearch
inMotionhadbecomeobvious.ThoseinAmericawhostill
used a Blackberry were often called out and put on the
defensivefornotgoingtheiPhoneorAndroidroute.
A continent and a hemisphere away, the world was very
different.
Itwasagreatlessonformeaboutmobileadoption.While
mostof theworld isgoingwireless,we’re takingdifferent
pathstogetthere.
In my book Mobilized Marketing, international mobile
expert Peggy Anne Salz, an American living in Germany,
gavemeanearly lookintothephenomenonofWhatsApp
and other group messaging products that got their start
andgainedtheirpopularityoutsidetheU.S.
Since then, such important advances as mobile banking
andmobilehealthhavetakenflightindevelopingcountries
andinareaswherecomputerownershipisrare.
As Reuters reported, in Afghanistan, a service has been
introducedtosendpolicesalariesdirecttotheircellphones
viaacodetheypresenttoanagentorbankforcash.This
hasreducedcorruption,wherepolicepaywasoftencut in
halfasitmadeitswaythroughthebureaucraticchain.39
But we are still in the early days. Equitable fees are still
being worked out. The sustainable expansion of such
programstoincludethemassesisstilloffinthedistance.
Asmobilemarketing andmobile advertisingmature, it is
natural to expect that global brands will seek to create
initiatives thathave international scale, able to reach into
thefragmentedandunpredictablefrontiermarkets.Thatis
already happening with The Coca-Cola Company. Each
country has autonomy, but Tom Daly has balanced that
independencewithbestpracticesthatareasapplicableon
the streets of Johannesburg, on the Parisian walkways,
Americanmalls,andBrazilianmarketplaces.
In2014,hewasbehindeffortsthatresultedinavideotitled
EnablingDesire:MobileasCoke’s ‘6thSense’ thatspeaks
toCokemarketerswherevertheyare.40
As you likely suspect, thoseof uswhodon’twork for the
bottlercan learnfromthenearlythreeandahalfminutes
ofsmarts.Iencourageyoutocheckitout.
The global happenings in mobile are equally parts
fascinatinganddisorienting–it’sdifficulttogaugewhatthe
changemeansinplacesasdifferenceasSouthKoreaand
Nigeria. For instance, QR codes made a relatively big
splash in Asia but turned into an also-ran product that
American brands mostly dismissed. Will such tools be
useful in emerging markets? As with so many questions,
theanswerissimply“toosoontosay.”
Howarewetoknowwhattodoandwhattoimplement?
My recommendation is simple: rely on consumer insights.
Notjustanyconsumer,though.Yourcustomer.Heorsheis
the only one that matters to you. Listen to them. Listen
again.Andgivethemwhattheywant.
Everythingelse inmobile—whether it’shappeningablock
oracontinentaway—isforsomeoneelsetotackle.
Notes
Chapter1
1.“comScoreReportsFebruary2015U.S.SmartphoneSubscriber
MarketShare”,comScore,Inc.,April10,2015,
http://www.comscore.com/Insights/Market-Rankings/comScore-
Reports-February-2015-US-Smartphone-Subscriber-Market-Share2.
“Tech-Or-Treat:ConsumersareSweetonMobileApps”,Nielsen,
October30,2014,
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/tech-or-treat-
consumers-are-sweet-on-mobile-apps.html3.“Smartphone-Toting
MillenialsFuelDemandforMobile-OptimizedSites”,
eMarketer.com,October23,2014,
http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Smartphone-Toting-Millennials-
Fuel-Demand-Mobile-Optimized-Sites/1011361
4.HeidiCohen,“55USMobileFactsEveryMarketerNeedsFor
2015″,HeidiCohen.com,December8,2014,
http://heidicohen.com/2015-mobile-marketing/
5.ChantalTode,“62pcofbusinessesstilltreatmobileasanew
technology:Forrester”,MobileMarketer.com,December17,2014,
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/19376.html6.
ChantalTode,“62pcofbusinessesstilltreatmobileasanew
technology:Forrester”,MobileMarketer.com,December17,2014,
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/19376.html7.
ChantalTode,“62pcofbusinessesstilltreatmobileasanew
technology:Forrester”,MobileMarketer.com,December17,2014,
http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/research/19376.html8.
“WhenDoYouCheckYourSmartphone?”,eMarketer.com,August
29,2014,http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Do-You-Check-Your-
Smartphone/1011164
9.“NewSurveyRevealsConsumerviewsonEmailMarketing”,
BusinessWire.com,August27,2014,
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140827005258/en/Survey-
Reveals-Consumer-Views-Email-Marketing#.VXbk01xVikp10.Kit
Eaton,“HowOneSecondCouldCostAmazon$1.6BillioninSales”,
FastCompany,March15,2012,
http://www.fastcompany.com/1825005/how-one-second-could-cost-
amazon-16-billion-sales11.KitEaton,“HowOneSecondCouldCost
Amazon$1.6BillioninSales”,FastCompany,March15,2012,
http://www.fastcompany.com/1825005/how-one-second-could-cost-
amazon-16-billion-sales12.“CocaColaAtAGlance:KO101Video
andInfographic”,CocaColaCompany,June2014,http://www.coca-
colacompany.com/our-company/infographic-coca-cola-at-aglance
Chapter2
13.“MarketoTransformingMarketingwithIndustry’sMost
AdvancedCustomerEngagementPlatform”,PRNewswire,April8,
2014,http://investors.marketo.com/releasedetail.cfm?
ReleaseID=838864
14.“Adblockinggoesmainstream:PageFairandAdobe2014
Report”,PageFairandAdobe,2014,
http://downloads.pagefair.com/reports/adblocking_goes_mainstream_2014_report.pdf
15.JeffHasen,MobilizedMarketing:HowtoDriveSales,
Engagement,andLoyaltyThroughMobileDevices,May1,2012,
http://www.amazon.com/Mobilized-Marketing-Engagement-Loyalty-
Through/dp/1118243269
16.SarahParvini,“Willonlineprivacyproblemsbesolvedby
2025?ExpertsrespondinPewstudy”,LATimes,December18,2014,
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-pew-study-
internet-privacy-20141218-story.html,17.LeeRainieandJanna
Anderson,“TheFutureofPrivacy:OtherResoundingThemes”,Pew
ResearchCenter,December18,2014,
http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/12/18/other-resounding-themes/
18.LeeRainieandJannaAnderson,“TheFutureofPrivacy:Other
ResoundingThemes”,PewResearchCenter,December18,2014,
http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/12/18/other-resounding-themes/
19.“ImpactofMultiscreenDevicesonTravelContent
EngagementandAudienceBehaviorRevealedinNewStudyfrom
ExpeidaMediaSolutionsandcomScore”,November12,2014,
Reuters,http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/12/wa-expedia-
media-idUSnBw125229a+100+BSW20141112
20.Flightview,“BuildingConnectedAirportsthatEnhance
CustomerExperience,ImproveOperationsandDriveRevenue”,
skift.com,December2014,http://skift.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/12/FlightView-dec.-2014-survey.pdf21.
Flightview,“BuildingConnectedAirportsthatEnhanceCustomer
Experience,ImproveOperationsandDriveRevenue”,skift.com,
December2014,http://skift.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/12/FlightView-dec.-2014-survey.pdf22.
Flightview,“BuildingConnectedAirportsthatEnhanceCustomer
Experience,ImproveOperationsandDriveRevenue”,skift.com,
December2014,http://skift.com/wp-
content/uploads/2014/12/FlightView-dec.-2014-survey.pdf
ChapterThree
23.CEA,“MajorityofMobileShoppersTurnToTheirDevices
OverStoreEmployeesandIn-StoreInfo,AccordingtoCEAStudy”,
ce.org,December2,2014,http://www.ce.org/News/News-
Releases/Press-Releases/2014/Majority-of-Mobile-Shoppers-Turn-
To-Their-Devices.aspx24.JenniferOverstreet,“InsideREI’sDigital
Strategy”,nrf.com,September30,2014,
https://nrf.com/news/inside-reis-digital-strategy
ChapterFour
25.Edelman,“TrustandInnovation”,2015,
http://www.edelman.com/insights/intellectual-property/2015-
edelman-trust-barometer/
26.Accenture,“DigitalCustomer:It’stimetoplaytowinand
stopplayingnottolose”,Accenture.com,
http://www.accenture.com/sitecollectiondocuments/pdf/accenture-
global-consumer-pulse-research-study-2013.pdf27.Wikipedia,“Lord
&Taylor”,https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_%26_Taylor
ChapterFive
28.McKinsey,“TheConsumerDecisionJourney”,McKinsey.com,
June2009,
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/the_consumer_decision_journey
29.McKinsey,“TheConsumerDecisionJourney”,McKinsey.com,
June2009,
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/the_consumer_decision_journey
30.HBR,“TheTruthAboutCustomerExperience”,hbr.org,
September2013,https://hbr.org/2013/09/the-truth-about-customer-
experience
31.IBM,“IBMInteractiveExperience”,ibm.com,http://www-
935.ibm.com/services/us/business-consulting/interactiveexperience/
32.JasonSpero,“TheMobilePlaybook:TheBusyExecutive’s
GuidetoWinningWithMobile”,
http://www.themobileplaybook.com/en-us/#/home
ChapterSeven
33.StephanieMlot,“SmartphoneAdoptionRateFastestinTech
History”,pcmag.com,August27,2012,
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2408960,00.asp
34.IngridLunden,“IBM:ThanksgivingOnlineSalesUp14%,
One-ThirdOfSalesOnMobileLedbyiOS”,techcrunch.com,
November28,2014,http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/28/ibm-
thanksgiving-online-sales/
35.“AmazonPrimeExperiencesAnotherRecord-Breaking
HolidaySeason”,phx.corporate-ir.net,http://phx.corporate-
ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=176060&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=2002024
36.RexBriggs,“SmartMobileCrossMediaEffectiveness”,
mmaglobal.com,May6,2014,
http://www.mmaglobal.com/events/sites/default/files/smox.pdf
ChapterNine
37.DeanTakahashi,“MobileTechnologyhascreated11million
jobsand$3.3trillioninrevenues”,venturebeat.com,January15,
2015,http://venturebeat.com/2015/01/15/mobile-technology-has-
created-11-million-jobs-and-a-3-3-trillion-in-revenues/
Epilogue
38.PeterDahlstromandDavidEdelman,“Thecomingeraofon-
demandmarketing”,McKinsey.com,April2013,
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/marketing_sales/the_coming_era_of_on-
demand_marketing39.JeremyWagstaff,“Forthe‘unbanked’,
mobilemoneystillhassomewaytogo”,Reuters.com,March5,
2015,http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/05/us-tech-mobile-
money-idUSKBN0M12HY20150305
40.“EnablingDesire:MobileasCoke’s‘6th-sense’”,
youtube.com,November12,2014,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C51OFCQZCrk
Acknowledgements
Jason Allen Ashlock from The Frontier Project has been a true
partner, providing wisdom and support all along the way. Scott
Wayne has treated me as one of the family and enthusiastically
gottenbehindthisproject.
Ihavewonderfulsupport fromfriendsandcolleaguesallacross
theglobe.Special thanksgo toMarioSchulzke,HankWasiak,and
thecourageousandinspiringLisaChurch.
Mybrothers,DarrylandRick,arethereinsomanyways.
ThisjourneyisalsosharedbyLoriKleinandthekids,VivianRiley,
JeanWalker,andBobWalker.
TheExperts
SeanBartlett
SeanBartlett is theDirector ofDigital Experience, Product, and
Omni Channel Integration at Lowes. Sean serves as an internal
authority on the topics of digital strategy, customer experience,
emergingplatforms,innovation,andhigh-performanceteamculture.
RyanCraver
RyanCraverwasformerlyaSeniorVicePresidentofStrategyat
Hudson’s Bay Company. Ryan’s natural fascination with the
intersectionofretailandtechnologyhasledtoacareerofinspiring
and leading retailers to be on the forefront of the evolving
“connected retail” environment. Ryan enjoys tackling changing
consumer dynamics and defining how retail organizations can
leveragetechnologytostrengthentheircompetitiveposition.
TomDaly
TomDaly,globalgroupdirectorformobileatCoca-ColaCo.,has
entered the Mobile Hall of Fame for outstanding leadership in
evangelizingmobilewithin theworld’s largest soft drinksmarketer
and also to forums across industry sectors. Tomhas been tireless
and enduring in his efforts to push best practice in mobile and
weavethemediumintomarketingacrosschannels.Asamemberof
Coca-Cola’s global connections team for the past 10 years, he
currently leads the company’s strategy for mobile marketing,
collaboratingwith internalandexternalteamsworldwidetodeliver
manyofthemarketer’shighestprofileonlineinitiatives.
DavidDoctorow
DavidDoctorow is currentlyChiefMarketing&StrategyOfficer
atExpedia.Aseasonedmarketingprofessionalwithnearly20years
ofexperience,Davidhasawealthofknowledgeasachangeleader
and marketing executive. At Expedia, David drives customer
acquisition, retention marketing, mobile marketing, business
development,andstrategyfortheExpediabrandaroundtheglobe.
DavidearnedhisMBA fromStanfordUniversity’sGraduateSchool
ofBusinessandaBA in InternationalRelationsfromtheUniversity
ofPennsylvania.
SteveGershik
With over 20 years of experience in product marketing, social
media,demandgenerationandbrandbuilding,SteveGershikisthe
ChiefMarketingOfficer for Swrve. Steve is an expert inwhatB2B
companies need to do to survive and thrive in competitive
environments today. Steve has also spoken at SXSW Interactive,
DMA, AMA, BMA, DemandCon, SiriusDecisions Summit, AdTech,
andEloquaExperience.
JeffKlonowski
Jeff Klonowski is responsible for leading REI cross-divisional
strategies, includingmobile, payments, andbusinessdevelopment.
He is customer focused and passionate about delivering best-in-
class customer experiences across digital screens to delight
customersandpositionREIastheleadingoutdoorspecialtyretailer.
CurtisKopf
Curtis Kopf is Vice President of Consumer Innovation atAlaska
Airlines and is charged with making Alaska the world’s easiest
airline to fly. Curtis’s teams span key customer touch points,
including ecommerce, digital marketing, distribution, airport
experience, R&D, employee tools, customer insight and mobile.
CurtishasworkedforbothAmazon.comandMicrosoft.
SeanLyons
In 2013 Sean Lyonswas namedGlobal Chief Digital Officer at
HavasWorldwide,wherehe servesasexecutive leadonalldigital
efforts across the network.His responsibilities include oversight of
digital strategy, development and operations; enhancing the
agency’scurrentoffering;andintroducingnewdigitalplatformsand
capabilities for the agency and its clients. Sean has a BFAwith a
concentrationinElectronicMediafromCarnegieMellonUniversity.
JulieRezek
JulieRezekistheManagingDirectorofWundermanSeattleand
headsateamof250+makers,doers,artistsanddatawizardswho
do award-winning work for Fortune 500 companies such as
Microsoft, T-Mobile, The GAP Inc., Nike, REI, Group Health
Cooperative, and others. Julie has been invited to speak at
marketingconferencesandeventshostedby theDigitalMarketing
Association, American Advertising Federation, Seattle Interactive
Conference,AmericanMarketingAssociation,andtheUniversityof
Washington’sFosterSchoolofBusiness.Shewasalsonamedone
of the Puget SoundBusiness Journal’s “40Under 40” honorees in
2012.
JaimeRobinson
JaimeRobinson is theExecutiveCreativeDirector forWieden+
Kennedy.JaimewasformerlytheVPandExecutiveCreativeDirector
oftheaward-winningPereira&O’Dell,aglobaladvertisingagency
based in San Francisco and helped steer the agency’s celebrated
social film projects for Intel/Toshiba, including “Intel Inside” and
“BeautyInside.”ThelatterofwhichearnedthreeGrandPrixawards
attheCannesLionsfestivalin2013andadaytimeEmmyAward.
MarioSchulzke
Mario Schulzke is the AVP of Marketing at the University of
Montana and founder of IdeaMensch, a community he started to
help people bring their ideas to life. Before,Mario spent 10 years
managingdigital strategy teamsat adagencies upanddown the
WestCoast.
JasonSpero
JasonSperoservesastheGlobalHeadofPerformanceMediaat
Google. He was previously the Head of Global Mobile Sales and
Strategyat the firm.He is responsible for theglobal prioritiesand
overall commercial strategy forGoogle’smobileofferings including
Search,GDN,AdMob,YouTubeandDoubleClickPlatforms.
JonathanStephen
Bringing more than 11 years of experience in the mobile and
digitalindustry,JonathanStepheniscurrentlytheDirectorofMobile
StrategyatEliteSEM.PriortoEliteSEM,Jonathanspenttimeinthe
airline industry heading upmobile and digital strategy for airlines
includingSilverAirwaysandJetblue.AtJetBlue,heledtheMobile&
Emerging Technologies team for over three years with the
responsibilityofdrivingtheiroverallstrategy.
HankWasiak
HankWasiak is the former Vice Chairman ofMcCann Erickson
and owner of The Concept Farm, one of today’s hottest creative
companies. Hank is also a best selling author, keynote speaker,
teacher, 14 time Emmy nominated Executive TV Producer, and 3
timeEmmyawardwinningtelevisionhost.
AbouttheAuthor
JEFF HASEN is one of the leading strategists, evangelists and
voicesinmobile.Companiesbenefitingfromhistalentshavelanded
onWired’slistofmostinnovativeentitiesonEarthandbeennamed
pioneersintheburgeoningmobilemarketingcategory.Namedatop
Chief Marketing Officer on Twitter by Advertising Age, Jeff
(@jeffhasen) is the author of two books, The Art of Mobile
Persuasion, and Mobilized Marketing: Driving Sales, Engagement,
and Loyalty Through Mobile Devices. His jeffhasen.com blog on
mobileanditsimpactonmarketersisoftennamedoneofthetopin
the category, and he has spoken across theworldmore than 175
times. A co-creator of the certification program for the Mobile
MarketingAssociation,heistheonlymobilecertificationtrainerfor
theDirectMarketingAssociation,andafacultymemberinthemini-
MBAprogramatRutgersUniversity.JeffresidesinSeattle,WA.