
The CEO of a major multinational told me about an epiphany that recently hit him “like a bullet train” during a discussion about big data: He realized that social media is like a two-way mirror. The advent of digital technology and social media has allowed his marketing team see what their consumers like to eat, what they do, whom they meet, where they go, and where and what they buy. For years, they were thrilled with this great one-way mirror for marketers, he recalled. Then, with increasing amounts of data at hand, it hit them — consumers could see them, too. “Our brand has not been consistently managed across our offline and online places and it’s so obvious,” he said. “We are a mess, and our customers know it.” In an era where consumers control the brand, and the brand drives business, marketing is back to being a “chief” concern.
The transparency of today’s digital world can leave companies with an unclear brand vision, making it increasingly apparent that chief executives need to re-engage in marketing. CEOs want agency partners that can help them refocus on the core truth of the brand, clean up the disparities between how their brand is portrayed online and offline, and manage this with clarity and consistency across all disciplines.
Flash back to the 1960’s “Mad Men”-era CEOs portrayed in Don Draper’s world. They worked directly with their ad agencies as the captains of the ship, navigating the consumer landscape hand-in-hand with the stewards of their brand. In those days, CEOs were often the name and the face of the company. They had direct accountability, carrying what was often the family’s heritage on their shoulders. But over time, organizations became bigger, and with globalization, more complex. Ownership became more disperse, and media more fragmented as the digital era dawned. Marketing departments grew and the CEO stood back more and more, somewhat disconnected from the brand and rarely feeling accountable for communications.
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