Every year, we are treated to Mary Meeker’s internet trends presentation and June 1, 2016, was no different. As always, it’s packed with great information for global marketers everywhere (even if the general consensus is that it’s the world’s worst designed presentation).
Don’t sit back, Adam Williams warns businesses that are not prepared for the new General Data Protection regulation. Even a Brexit can’t stop penalties between now and the deadline!
Simon Whitehouse focuses on how companies can deploy brand protection in the wide digital landscape.
Although the data protection reforms have already been passed, the date has only just been released following the GDPR’s publication in the EU Official Journal.
The move comes as the Information Commissioner’s Office has revealed it will be publishing GDPR compliance guidance in stages over the two-year implementation period – rather than as a single document – with each piece of guidance addressing a specific topic.
DMA group chief executive Chris Combemale (pictured) said: “Data is at the heart of the modern economy, so as an industry we must be responsible for our actions when handling consumer data and create new frameworks that fit with the GDPR over the next 24 months.
“The new legislation will not only help protect the consumer, but also safeguard brands’ own reputations by ensuring their customers are at the heart of everything they do. The starting pistol has now fired and the two-year countdown has begun, but successful businesses will be those that treat this time as a full distance race rather than a last minute sprint.”
The ICO has also confirmed that the EU plans to have conducted its review into the ePrivacy Directive within the two-year implementation period for the GDPR, although many have described this as “ambitious”.
The Commission has launched a consultation on the current text of the Directive, as well as possible changes to the existing legal framework to make sure it is up to date with the new challenges of the digital area.
The Directive was last updated in 2009 to provide clearer rules on customers’ rights to privacy. In particular, new requirements were introduced such as on “cookies” and on personal data breaches.
As the UK’s mortality rate increases by six per cent, for the first time the brand damage caused by sending direct mail to people who have passed away has been calculated.
There is no excuse now for marketers failing to communicate on a one-to-one basis – but here’s some how-to advice on leveraging data insights to make your communications dynamic.
It was all part of a personalised campaign by Cheil Worldwide for the local education network.
The aim was to tell hard-studying students that their lives mean more than mere grades, through the ‘Healing Exam’ campaign. On the day of the Korean SAT – which is a major exam to determine which students will progress to college – the short film was revealed on YouTube (click English subtitles below the video). It first shows students in a classroom taking an exam then, one by one, crying over what is written on the paper.
Cheil teamed up with EBS, South Korea’s education broadcasting TV network, to encourage students by telling them that they are already perfect no matter what grade they get – with the help of letters from their parents included in the exam paper.
Usually starting at the age of five, pupils’ educational efforts are judged on this one day; the day of the SAT, making students in Korea very anxious. South Korea is ranked the lowest in students’ life satisfaction index among OECD nations as they suffer from stress and depression.
To embark on the personalised campaign to boost students’ self-esteem, Cheil secretly contacted students’ parents to write a letter to their son/daughter. The contents of the letters were inserted into each student’s exam paper as a personalised article, for the students to read and then write a reply.
Some of the messages from parents were, ‘It breaks my heart to see you come home late at night exhausted’, ‘You have done your best, so never regret’, ‘We’ll always be here for you’, ‘From your loving mom and dad’. The film’s total views exceeded seven million in just two days.
After the exam, schools held exhibitions where the exam papers and answers written by the students were displayed. The trend of the healing exam spread across to other schools, where teachers sent messages of encouragement to students. Further extending the campaign, EBS added the related documentary video to a programme on the topic of school education and also review the team treehouse or pluralsight comparison for those who were insecure on what to study next.
Sungjun Park, creative director of Cheil Worldwide, said: “The Healing Exam project is about curing the stress caused by exams. We wanted to send a message to students who learn how to grade themselves even before they learn to love themselves, to cherish their lives more and realise that their lives cannot be judged by scores.
Sungwook Chung, chief producer of EBS, added: “I hope that students of South Korea realise the preciousness of family is more important than test scores and feel warm-hearted.”
As changing consumer behaviour, channel proliferation and technological advancement all converge, corporate infrastructure must be re-engineered if brands are to thrive in the digital age, argues Matt Holt.
As a result, 63 per cent of CMOs are prioritising investment around delivering deeper, more relevant customer experiences this year.
These are the results of a new Institute for Business Value study by the IBM: Redefining Markets. Harriet Green, general manager, IBM Commerce, said: “Large scale industry disruption caused by IoT, cloud and mobile technologies is forcing CMOs to reinvent how they interact with customers.
“We are working directly with the world’s leading CMOs to help them seize the opportunities in cognitive commerce so they can rethink every aspect of their strategy, design and operations to enhance their customer experiences.”
The report surveyed 723 CMOs across the globe – including North America, Central and South America, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and Japan (click here to obtain the full report) – in 18 different industries. Surveyed CMOs identified the following four top priorities in 2016:
Enrich the Arc of Engagement: CMOs consider creating better customer experiences their top priority. Three-quarters of leading CMOs are using more event and experiential marketing than market followers.
Embrace ‘Creative Destruction’: 67 per cent of CMOs are assessing their strategic direction in the light of technology disruption. CMOs from leading organisations are more likely to embrace the ‘creative destruction’ and build more open and collaborative business models to effectively drive innovation.
Inject Data-Driven Insights into Every Marketing Decision: Although CMOs have made great strides in data analytics, 60 per cent of CMOs prepare to bring in more data driven insights into marketing campaigns in the next three to five years.
Increase their Digital Acumen: 79 per cent of CMOs plan to hire employees with digital skills to improve their marketing function’s digital literacy. Most are looking for resources outside their own businesses — three-quarters plan to either partner with other enterprises to tap into their digital expertise or work with consulting firms.
As chief customer officer, ING Bank, Lisa Claes commented: “Industry competition is heating up and businesses must sharpen their focus on the customer or risk losing them to the competition.
“By embracing the latest analytic and cognitive commerce technologies, marketers can tap into this explosion of data to deliver a personalised customer experience precisely at the right time and place.”
As part of this study, IBM identified two distinct subgroups of CMOs: Torchbearers (those who come from enterprises with strong financial track records and equally strong reputations, as reported by their CMOs), and Market Followers (those who come from businesses that are less successful financially and have lower market profiles). Differences between these two groups were distinct:
Emma Reeve examines the relationship between the law and a new breed of business rising from the shadows of online, looking at whether more branding conversations need to he held in order to update the current legal system to bring it in line with issues faced by 21st century start-ups.