The CDO is not dead

There needs to be a much wider appreciation of what the chief digital officer’s (CDO) role entails. It’s true that digital elements underpin many departments within an organisation but it would be erroneous to simply incorporate the senior digital role into that of the chief marketing officer.

In fact, it is the chief information officer (CIO) where there is a lot of crossover with the CDO. What about how connected insight and systems affect business operations? For example, how do you make manufacturing and the related process more digital? These are the problems the CDO and CIO need to be concerned with.

David Carmichael, director, service line marketing, sales & marketing services, Avanade

When being anti-social works

Companies that commit anti-social behaviour aren’t just doing consumers a disservice, they are doing their brand one too. While it may get them more fans or chatter, it is poor quality engagement and betrays a lack of strategy. 

Lack of transparency is often seen as one of the great crimes of social, and in the case of these anti-social brands it definitely is. However, as the fake Tinder account campaign shows, which turned sexts into men’s health education, by staying true to a clear strategic vision some anti-social behaviour can be justified.

Allan Blair, head of strategy, Tribal Worldwide

Data and the CRM test

Modern multichannel customers have set the bar so high now in terms of their expectations for brands, that good customer relationship management (CRM) is the minimum expectation. Excelling in today’s market requires exceeding customers’ expectations and delivering ‘great’ CRM to differentiate.

The root of great CRM? Big data. Many are still not harnessing the full potential of what they have, or indeed missing the true nuggets of insight. Identifying key pieces of information to understand which customers may be about to leave, or those with the potential to be much more valuable to a business, requires an absolute focus on business objectives and clearly defined parameters for what the data analysts need to look for.

Only when the board and data crunchers work together can this be achieved and CRM be truly great.

Emma Thwaites, client services director, Alchemetrics

Good service design

Service design and service innovation go far beyond those aspects mentioned in ‘Now for something completely different’. Service design touches every facet of a business and uses multiple disciplines to match expectation and experience. As Adidas’ Ted Mager points out, consumers need to be given the opportunity to experience every part of the brand to boost engagement.

Of course, understanding the customer journey is crucial. Moreover, service design isn’t restricted to retail – its application is applied across nearly every industry and improves the working lives of staff as well as customers. Conversely, a badly designed service can negatively affect staff morale and customer experience.

Ultimately, service design teaches marketers to think about all areas of their business and to be unafraid of marketing the service, not the product – no matter what sector or profile of the customer base.

Ben Reason, founding partner, Livework