Back to the Future: Reflections and Predictions 2012

By: Cary Hatch [MDB CEO]

[Back To The Future Title ©1986 Universal Studios]

As 2012 unfolds, if you are a leader willing to embrace change (and invest the time and resources to capitalize on them) there are considerable challenges that present significant opportunities for the next three to five years.

With three decades of advertising experience, I learned early on that our success is based solely on the value we provide (and continue to provide) for our clients. In our industry (as with most) that means “leaning forward” to pursue knowledge and to examine and vet methods and channels that can advance our client's brands.  Period.

If there’s one thing we’ve learned it’s take time to adapt and adopt now – or risk becoming irrelevant. Here’s our take on 10 items of note for the coming years.

1. The Velocity of change. Never before have our lives been as significantly impacted by the velocity of change. Yes, we’ve all seen change over the last several decades – but none as rapid as the period we’re in right now. In order to continue to provide value and counsel to our brand leader clients, we must remain “curious” and continue to learn in order to lead.
2. FOMO – “Fear of missing out” will continue to be a driving force for marketers to manage and capitalize on. “Needs, wants and must have” psyche accelerate as major consumer drivers.
3. Urgency and the “digital day” – A “24-hour public relations response is no longer adequate”.  An eight- hour “digital day” now defines the outer limits of response time.
4. Harness the explosion of data: Understanding the current (nearly real-time) marketplace and, therefore, opportunities, is paramount. After all, 90% the world’s data has been created in the past two years alone.  
5. Embrace social media as a conventional marketing channel: 56% of CMO’s (chief marketing officers) view social media as a key engagement channel, but struggle to extract actionable customer insight from the unstructured data customers and prospects produce.
6. Lead in a maelstrom of complexity: 78% of CMO’s expect more complexity over the next five years, but only 48% are prepared to deal with it. Marketing counselors who can provide clarity will be in high demand.
7. Demonstrating success is critical: 63% of CMO’s believe that ROI (return on investment) will be the most important measure of their success by 2015. Metrics, metrics, metrics.
8. Mainstream mobile initiatives: Four-fifths of CMO’s plan to use mobile applications more extensively in the next three to five years.
9. Embrace the advantage of real-time/adaptive targeting: In the future, the ability of marketers to adapt and respond to real-time consumer data in order to make meaningful adjustments to their marketing programs will be paramount to success. Just like the Neural Network Algorithms that enable fraud protection, a consumer action like clicking on a banner, registering on a site or making a purchase generates data that represents targeting characteristics. Therefore, as consumers respond, targeting adapts – in real time. And that means we will have the possibility to target and market in real time. As our consumers respond, we will be able to create products that can fit their needs better, communicate those improvements and continue the cycle. Very efficient indeed.
10. Look for procurement in the agency c-suite- In response to the challenges of government and corporate procurement, leading agencies will establish CPO’s (corporate procurement officers) for their agency’s management team. This is likely a foot-forward in navigating the complexity and competitive nature in contracting for marketing services. The hope is to be on the same page with client procurement managers in discussions of the measures that truly matter and what is used to define success. Because not all metrics are useful and in fact some may be misleading.

Here’s hoping for the continued acceleration of knowledge, and success for those willing to evolve advance and lead.

2011 IBM Global CMO Study