Page 26 - MYM 2015

the traditional media. Customers themselves have started acting as media by running blogs and going on Facebook and giving their opinion of best products. Today’s customers can use the Internet to nd out virtually anything they want to know about a company: its products, reputation, and nancials. Customers are king today, and companies must gure out how to win their attention and their preference in the face of intense competition.
Procter & Gamble is now using 35 percent new media in their media mix and we believe this will rise to 50 percent shortly. Chief Marketing Of cers (CMOs) and their staffs need to artfully blend new and traditional media synergistically. They need to learn how to measure the impact of each new digital vehicle. Not many marketers are at that level. We are not sure that senior marketers are up to the task of using the new media. Companies will have to hire more digital natives and marketing departments will grow younger over time.
Marketing is moving from being a highly tactical function trying to build the best advertising campaign to a highly strategic function trying to decide what businesses to be in and where to pursue them geographically. Chief Marketing Of cers (CMOs)
have to help their companies identify the best new opportunities in different locations around the world. They have to search for customer insights that will help them nd and leverage new differentiations to win more customers. Marketers need to determine which products should be marketed in each country and they need to be more focused, fast and bold in going after target markets.
The new idea is that companies must not just use marketing communications to bring about an immediate sale. Companies need to undertake customer involvement and engagement if their customers are to become loyal. Companies need
to supply interesting “content” to customers to help them live better and more interesting lives. This is called “content market” and might consist of Starbucks telling customers about the exciting history of coffee or describing the differences between different coffee beans from different
parts of the world. Coca Cola does a good job on Facebook offering new ideas and activities for young fans of Coca Cola. John Deere has put together a park with their large tractors that buyers can visit and use the equipment. Porche runs an auto racetrack in Leibzig Germany for potential buyers to experience the joy of driving a Porsche.
Value-oriented marketing 3.0 has just started. Although advanced nations including Japan have mature markets, communication forms are still in the middle of advancement. The emergence of new media has been further changing the relationship between companies and customers as well as the skills required for marketing.
Marketing is fast becoming a science as well as
an art. Marketers are building marketing mix models and using statistical tools such as multiple regression, predictive analysis, discriminant analysis and factor analysis to extract findings from Big Data. Using neuroscience, marketers are learning more about how the brain works in responding to different print and video communications. Hopefully, this invasion of scientific tools will enhance and not displace the creative side of our best marketers. Every marketing group that wins in the competitive race will have a good mix of creative and scientific marketing minds at work.
Reference:
Harvard Business Review Japanese Edition - October 2014; Publishing Company: DIAMOND, Inc.
Author: Kohzoh Takaoka is the CEO of Nestlé Japan
26 I October 2015