‘Marketing is about making mistakes’
Marketing leaders from Just Eat, Hailo, and General Electric agree that making technology work for your brand comes with some risk, but mistakes are just a learning curve.
Today’s (15 Jan) Leaders Meet Innovation event in London saw the marketing executives participate in a panel discussion, which examined how successful businesses are responding to digital opportunities.
With multiple digital trends emerging at a fast rate, it is hard for marketers to know when to jump on board. The leaders have insight into how they approached these challenges, it was said.
Gary Bramall, the chief marketing officer for Hailo said: “It’s about making a lot of mistakes, because when you get the right message it can create mass revenue.”
But even successful brands have some hiccups. Hailo has been experimenting with ibeacon technology to notify consumers near taxi ranks of its vehicles nearby. It is something that Bramall says the consumers are not yet ready for.“ Making the right move also has to do with relevance and time,” he said.
Mat Braddy, chief marketing officer for Just Eat agrees that more experiments need to be taken to lead successful strategies. He said: “We tend to be quite a playful company. We started by engaging with customers on Facebook when we had no money and that playfulness put us up to the same standard as Domino’s.”
Braddy is frustrated by the lack of risk taken by marketers with new technology, and encourages industry experts to experiment with new devices, he said: “Why aren’t marketers and technology leaders playing with Oculus Rift? This is what you should be doing to become an industry leader, and as a marketing director you are a leader.”
Through experimentation Braddy mentioned that the brand has decided to avoid building a Google Glass app in the future.
Ahmed Hasan, chief digital officer for General Electric is in agreement. He said: “When attempting to find the value in trend, the important thing is to try and see what it can do.”
The leaders were also asked how they build trust when leading groups that are innovative and take risks.
Braddy believes it’s about creating the right relationship with consumers. He said: “It’s about building a brand, because you have the leverage when you have consumers behind you.”
Bramall argues that it’s about creating commonality between Hailo’s drivers and consumers, the brand has attempted to “breakdown barriers” by showing profiles of the consumer and driver to one-another before they meet.
Hasan says it lies with further engagement with consumers. “We want to provide value to our customers through engagement and loyalty,” he said.
