Why Brand Builders Need IT (And Vice Versa)
As every CMO should know, great brands are built not just with advertising and promotions,
but by harnessing the power of customer information—turning data into useful,
action-oriented insights. But, we still see marketing and branding teams who have
access to important customer data, but don’t have the IT tools to make sense of it all.
Whom should the CMO turn to for help? As keepers of the enterprise’s data, the chief
information officer should be a natural ally of marketers who are working to deepen
and expand customer relationships and build great brands. Moreover, added information
doesn’t have to lead to more complexity. The best CMOs are simplifiers, and the more
clearly they understand IT, the better their ability to build more effective brands and
deliver simpler, straightforward selling propositions.
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICERS ARE FROM VENUS, CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICERS ARE FROM MARS. BUT THAT DOESN’T MEAN THEY CAN’T GET ALONG. IN FACT, SUCCESSFUL CMOS ARE INCREASINGLY JOINING FORCES WITH THEIR CIO PARTNERS—AND TAKING NEW ADVANTAGE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT).
The debate about what’s “art” and what’s the “science” of marketing has become academic.
Both are essential. What’s more, CMOs are learning that “hard” IT data can support new
marketing investments. In addition, increasing access to customer data through CRM and
other tools gives marketers a wealth of information that can be turned into action. Smart
marketing professionals are learning to form lasting partnerships so they can influence
the entire spectrum of customer touchpoints, not just those that have traditionally been
seen as marketing.The divide between CMOs and CIOs is closing. As the demand for more accountability
in the marketing function increases, CMOs who have built deeper relationships with
the IT function have realized a variety of tangible and intangible benefits.
Here are two recent, powerful examples of CMO/CIO alliances that are beginning to bear fruit:
Harrah’s Big Bet on IT
One organization that has led the way in building this kind of partnership is Harrah’s, one
of Las Vegas’ most successful operators. CEO Gary Loveman has bet heavily on using
technology, not just gut instinct, to identify and attract the most attractive visitors to
Harrah’s, Caesar’s, Bally’s, and the firm’s other brands. In many ways, Harrah’s is a
technology-driven marketing machine that happens to be in the gaming business. Armed
with a sophisticated data warehousing system and network backbone, the company can
track the behaviors of not only the “high rollers” but also other key segments, wherever
they are in Harrah’s 28 casinos. Its Total Rewards loyalty program, the customer-facing
manifestation of its extensive CRM capabilities, has been an integral part of the company’s
growth and success in building customer loyalty and driving impressive revenue gains
for five years running.
Harrah’s big bet on IT-intensive brand building is clearly paying off, as measured by
reactions from customers: The company’s Web site, harrahs.com, has recently received
the number-1 ranking in the Hotel Reservations category, as measured by Market Metrix,
a customer-satisfaction researcher in the hospitality business. According to a 2004 Market
Metrix study, Harrah’s has maintained its superior customer satisfaction scores well in
excess of its peer group, which includes a wide range of airlines, hoteliers, and
car rental companies.
Genworth Discovers “Unheralded Touchpoints”
Even routine, everyday customer interactions can benefit by the smart application of IT.
Genworth Financial, an insurance and annuity provider that recently spun off from GE,
committed the entire organization to a new customer promise around the concept of
“making complexity simple” in 2005. Shortly after the spinoff, the company began
running national advertising around this promise, but had not successfully driven
simplicity into its agent communications, policy documents, invoices, illustrations,
and other “unheralded touchpoints.” Worried that the advertising might have set up
a series of unfulfilled customer expectations, Genworth’s CEO, Mike Fraizer, ordered a
company-wide review of all customer and agent touchpoints, with the mandate to
drive simplicity into every key interaction.
Scott McKay, senior vice president of IT and operations at Genworth, along with his
CMO counterpart, Lawrence “Buzz” Richmond, set up a cross-functional task force
that involved a series of training exercises for employees responsible for creating
customer- facing materials. These exercises included a best practices review of other
financial services companies who had successfully applied simplification principles to
their everyday communications, along with an audit of the IT processes used to
generate these communications. Several key documents were chosen for prototyping,
including variable annuity illustrations and new account forms, because of their
importance to driving new revenue streams.
Genworth organized teams of marketing and IT professionals to take these prototypes
into production. This joint development approach decreased the time from prototyping
to rollout to a matter of months, a far cry from the usual 12-24 month lead time that
is typical in new application development projects. What made this effort a success was
the close working relationship between IT and marketing that was forged from the outset,
a relationship that is now becoming visible across a wide range of Genworth’s customer
communications.
Hopeful Signs
We see hopeful signs of deeper, more robust partnerships between CMOs and CIOs. The
traditional role of the marketing team is changing—they’re not just managers of
advertising campaigns, but real contributors to driving top line growth. In this changing
role, CIOs can be their biggest allies.