Encouraging marketing innovation

6 examples of businesses building new systems to innovate their marketing using digital technology

Against the backdrop of CMO’s spending more on technology than CIO’s there has been a lot of debate about where digital strategy should exist within an organisation. Is this missing the point though?  Perhaps the question we should be asking is when will corporate and marketing strategy simply become part of an overarching digital strategy that is responsible for the direction of business as a whole.

Since I work in a digital agency you could say I’m bound to see things this way but let’s take a look at the facts.  At present many of the conversations that we at Blueleaf have as an agency will start with a brief for a new website but increasingly such discussions go on to encompass marketing issues that are fundamental to the organisation as a whole.

G.R.I.N. and bear it

This is because digital technology is becoming the operating system upon which successful modern businesses compete.  Whether we like it or not our businesses are being swept by huge forces of change which are driven by the exponential growth in key technologies.  This could be the more obvious things such as the launch of a new device or it could be from more esoteric technology such as the wonderfully named G.R.I.N. tech (genetic, robotics, information and nanotechnology).

You might ask what have robotics got to do with your business but Google’s recent acquisition spree of a number of leading robotic firms the answer might ultimately be quite a lot.  Things dreamed up in labs are finding their way to market quicker than ever before and are affecting our businesses in unexpected ways.

Exponential Strategy

To keep up with and anticipate such rapid and disruptive change, corporate and marketing strategy needs to be agile enough to adapt in real-time.  Thankfully technology and data are connective by their very nature and in the right hand they can provide the necessary tools for such corporate survival.

Those 'right hands' are increasingly the senior managers within an organisation who get digital.  Many believe that the digital leaders and e-commerce directors of today are the CEO’s of tomorrow.

However it is not enough to just bring digital thinking to the centre of the organisation.  The corporate inertia of larger organisations makes rapid innovation difficult and so they need to either create specific business units with their own distinct culture or they need to look outside of the organisation if they are to stay up to date.

This is why we are seeing the proliferation of labs, start-up incubators and venture funds in so many large companies like the recently launched Unilever Foundry, John Lewis’ incubator JLAB (described in the Smart Insights post on Skunkworks examples) and @WalmartLlabs  These are aimed at creating a porous surface area for the organisation through which good ideas and business models can be quickly absorbed.

Data will be to business, what water is to fish.

As a company Blueleaf operate in the digital industry but it seems that the definition of digital is shifting and getting broader.  The lines between technology, communication and media are blurring and at the same time the online proposition of a company is becoming integral to the product and service offering itself.  The driving force behind this is that as individuals and businesses we are increasingly living our lives online.

We are also entering a new era with the internet of things and the proliferation of sensors which will slowly close the gap between the physical and virtual worlds.  In this new age of ubiquitous computing it is not a question of software or hardware but 'everyware'.  Data will be to business, what water is to fish.

Systems not products

Undoubtedly there will be more casualties as business model’s crumble and industries to come and go.  Organisations of all sizes will face structural and existential challenges as new players will find different ways of working that open up unforeseen opportunities.

For companies to survive they will need an exponential strategy that is focused not only on developing the next big product ideas but also on creating a digital platform that underpins a self-sustaining commercial system that is adaptable enough to thrive in such fluid market conditions. 

Somewhat exhaustingly real-time analytics and response will not be enough.  Organisations must learn to anticipate the threats and opportunities that are hurtling towards them.

Recent announcements hint at just such a shift in strategic thinking across a diverse range of businesses.

Microsoft’s new CEO Satya Nadella has laid out his new vision in which he embraces such seismic change.  He wants to position Microsoft as 'a productivity' and platform company…that thinks about productivity for people, teams and the business processes of entire organizations as one interconnected digital substrate'.

He also wants to put the user squarely at the centre of everything they do and the rebirth of Office as the more cloud-led Office 365 suggests that they are on the right track.

Such obsession with customers must be part of the modern business mantra.  We need to become experts at crafting user experiences at all levels.  Whether this is minute attention to website conversion rate optimisation or creating brand campaigns that can cut through the white noise of media saturation across multiple touchpoints.

Elsewhere the recent announcement of a partnership between Apple and IBM will mean a combination of Apple’s desirable and user friendly devices and software with IBM’s data and analytics firepower.  If the two giants are able to play well together the output of such a relationship could further equip businesses with the tools to cope with the future.

More traditional organisations are also looking to achieve digital nirvana.

Tesco has always pursued a wide and often disparate corporate strategy that has seen it enter everything from banking to garden centres. However recent results show that trading conditions are brutal and changing consumer behaviour means it must look hard at its core strategy.

As an organisation Tesco has always been a pioneer of technology such as the early success of it Clubcard and the introduction of its self-service tills.  However with the threat of Amazon moving into fresh and chilled grocery are the top brass at Tesco taking digital seriously enough?

The answer seems to be that it is trying to look beyond the success of the Tesco website to create a broader digital platform of its own.  Over the last few years we have seen it invest in video-on-demand service Blinkbox and launch its first tablet ,the Hudl, soon to be followed up by its first smart phone (nicknamed the Phudl). More recently it has rolled out face scanning technology at its petrol stations through Amscreen.

It has just renamed its group digital product division as T-Digital and it is recruiting heavily to build its own internal team having opened a mobile app development campus near Silicon roundabout.  It’s Tesco Labs exists in 'perpetual start-up phase' exploring new technology such as wearables via things like its HealthBuddy app.

All of this is part of a broader repositioning to move it towards being a tech-focused business and away from being simply a retailer.

If the incoming CEO Dave Lewis can arrange all of these working parts into an interconnected digital system that is aligned with the way people live today then they could be in a position to take the fight to Amazon’s door.

No such thing as future proof

To increase life expectancy, organisations need to view their future through the lens of digital strategy. It should not be simply a department or an initiative but the very substance the business is built on.  Although there is no such thing as future proof with the right people at the top of the organisation and an adaptable digital platform in place then the chances of survival go up.

Finally the customer should be at the centre because as Ev Williams the founder of Twitter said:

'The march of technology is the incessant march of convenience'.

Thank you to Jonathon Palmer for sharing his thoughts and opinions in this blog post. Jonathon is Head of Strategy at digital agency Blueleaf where he works with new and existing clients to develop insight based digital strategy that leads to growth. He’s been working in the branding, communication and digital industry for over 17 years. You can connect on LinkedIn or via Twitter @JonathonPalmer.