We welcomed leading marketers to breakfast to discuss innovation. Here are some of the highlights from our discussion. Is disruption dead? How does innovation in marketing differ between startups and enterprises?
4. “The new generation of marketers
tend to have a completely different
skillset and focus to traditional
marketers.
Young performance marketers sit at
their desks with multiple screens and
a dashboard where they can access
information on RT, CPA and other
metrics.
This focus on the numbers leads
them to seek out iterative
improvements.”
Jono Lewis, Marketing Director at Ascential Plc
5. “There is a difference between
innovation of solutions and
innovation of thinking; meaning
comes from the latter and this is the
type of organisation that we’re
seeing people increasingly buy from.”
Mark Magnacca, Founder of GigCMO
7. “Big budgets in enterprises can
actually be detrimental; startups are
forced to be as efficient as possible.
It’s FinTech companies such as
Monzo and Transferwise who are
really leading the way in developing
innovative customer experiences.
Who knew 10 years ago that finance
would be sexy!”
Marietta Ferreira, Head of Marketing at FairFX
8. “In enterprises, innovation tends to
be looked at as a destination rather
than a continuous process. It gets
checked off the list once they’ve built
an innovation lab.”
Sam Gregory, Consultant (formerly Google, OVO Energy)
10. “KPIs can make it hard to innovate if
they focus too much on short-term
objectives. Innovation has to come
from the top with dedicated time set
aside to let it happen.
Enterprises in particular find it hard
to innovate, and while setting up
accelerators can help, it is far from a
magic pill.”
Diane Perlman, Unruly
11. “Adoption of technology is often
obstructed by internal politics - there
is a fear of being personally
accountable for large scale
technology implementations.
Decisions are often very “tech-first”
and are detached from the company
strategy.”
Morys Ireland, Mindshare
13. “At Treatwell, we collect NPS scores
and reviews following every
customer experience. Negative NPS
triggers a notification in Slack for a
customer support team to get in
touch immediately.
This sort of actual need should drive
innovation in marketing.”
Robert Simons, Group Head of CRM at Treatwell
14. “Partnerships can be a great source
of innovation. It is the brands that
are becoming aggregators for
customers, such as TripAdvisor, that
win customers.
Innovation that allows marketers to
meet their customers’ needs pre-
emptively will change the marketing
industry.”
Claire Farrington, Partnerships and Marketing Manager
at Grange Hotels
15. “Innovation needs to be timely. If
innovation comes too early, it risks
not being adopted and being a sunk
cost for marketers.
Enterprises ought to shift their focus
from innovation labs to creating
partnerships with startups.”
Ian Hucklesby, Digital Marketing Expert and Consultant