THE CHALLENGES OF NEW MARKETING STRUCTURES: HYPER-MARKETING
By PATRICIA CHÁVEZ -
2019 has kicked off with great force and important movements at all levels in the marketing and communications market.
Communication groups that are fusing brands together (Y&R+VML; Wunderman+JWT+SCPF), established leaders that are launching new projects (Jaime Lobera, Chiqui Búa, Clara Marchán, Pancho Casis), communication groups that are announcing team reductions (Havas, PlayGround), platforms that are closing (BuzzFeed Spain and Eslang), brands that are opting for in-house content development (Ambev with their studio Draftline, content creation for social networks)…
Moreover, we are finding historical brands extending their services to outside of their ’natural territory’ (LIDL launching a trial vehicle rental service, VW Group are beginning to operate in the energy industry, BBVA are offering consultancy and technological services, and Google and Amazon are ready to be the new FinTechs). But what does this mean?
We find ourselves in the epicentre of the perfect storm; in the tsunami of development and business evolution (old and new). A new business model that entails a new marketing model, where old divisions have been broken and where almost all companies can and should reinvent themselves so as to not miss out on the opportunities that are appearing in the market; opportunities that, by the way, are more and more ephemeral but, at the same time, can be extremely lucrative.
Faced with this new market cycle, which has only just begun, marketing teams have a key and fundamental challenge: to become the epicentre of value in the brand-consumer relationship. That is, to be a brand that has multiple aspects in a product itself, and especially in the service it is offering, but must stay faithful to its main purpose and to the way they respond to the clients’ needs. This is achieved throughout the customer’s vital journey and throughout their whole experience with the companies’ tangible and intangible assets.
When there are so many bases to cover, the natural trend goes towards the hyper-specialisation of teams. It is a clear and logical response to a situation where you must be prepared for lots of specific activities in which you must maintain a balance of quality in all areas.
The CMO, together with the CDO/CTO/COO, needs to possess teams that are capable of successfully facing and activating all interrelated areas with clients and potential clients: generation and supplying of content platforms, social media, 1to1/precision marketing, sales, social commerce, marketplaces, reputation, programmatic… And all of this accompanied by skills in Data and technology that allow teams to be up to date on options that facilitate their work and speed up decision making.
And the true crux of the matter is that all of this universe of capabilities needs to be organised and working as one being, so that the experience is truly integrated and there is no feeling of interruption or mismatch in the relationship with the brand.
It is no longer enough to just do your job well. You must have the best teams, and they must be aligned and work organically so that they all benefit from what the team next door does; where the addition of one plus another, plus another (…), makes an arithmetic sum that is clearly greater. We now live in the algorithm era!
@patchg
Published in NEWSLETTER #1 / 2019