7 trends for new graduates should know before starting a career in Marketing

INTERNAL
Vivek Bapat
SVP, Marketing and Communications
SAP
7 trends every new graduate should know before starting a career in
Marketing

2INTERNAL© 2018 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company. All rights reserved. ǀ
Marketers are in service of the business model & the organizational culture
Your career will be defined by this truth
If you aren’t contributing to growth, you will be largely irrelevant
Outcomes matter more than activities.
ALL (B2B and B2C) Brands are becoming more human
Learn to be great storytellers
Rise of P2P (Person to Person) Marketing - The “Third” (social) conversation is vital.
Understand how you can enable and contribute to it. Hint: Content is the key.
Digital Personalization (mobile, video, voice) is the future of customer engagement.
Become part of this future. Experiment often. Context and Relevance Matters
Brands compete for Usage, not just Perception
Know your product intimately. Learn the demo(s).
Interdisciplinary skills (art, humanities, science, technology, engineering) will define your success.
To earn a seat at the table, its not enough to just know Marketing.
7 trends every new graduate should know before starting a career in Marketing
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Marketing is one of the most dynamically changing functions in a business.
CMO’s believe that they cannot
exert maximum impact because
of unrealistic expectations
74%
Years on the Job
Most chief marketing officers have not been in their positions long.
More than 40% have been in their roles two years of less, and
57% have been in them three years of less.
Source: “CMO Impact Study,” 2014 and 2015, by Kimberly A. Whitler
From “Why CMOs Never Last,” by Kimberly A. Whitler and Neil Morgan, July-August 2017

Marketers are in service of the organizational business model and culture1
Commercialization Role
Spurs sales through
marketing communications.
Responsible for advertising,
digital content, social media,
promotions, and events.
Enterprise-wide P&L Role
Delivers profitable growth by designing strategy
and overseeing commercialization. Responsible
for innovation, product design, sales, distribution,
pricing, and marketing communications.
Strategy Role
Designs growth strategy. Responsible for
innovation, customer insight and analysis, and
product design.
From “Why CMOs Never Last,” by Kimberly A. Whitler and Neil Morgan, July-August 2017
Three Types of Roles
Marketing jobs are not all alike. Some focus on strategy, some on
commercialization, and some on both.

If you are not contributing to growth, you will be mostly irrelevant
Coca-Cola — widely regarded as one of the top
marketers in the world - recently eliminated the role of
CMO and replaced it with a Chief Growth Officer.
The previous CMO was known for his focus on
campaigns and was thanked for “improving the
productivity of marketing” and leading a “resurgence in
the quality of advertising.”
In contrast, the CEO explained the leadership changes
as necessary to “respond to the fast-changing needs”
of customers, employees and partners and to
“transform our business for the future.”
HBR: There are four futures for CMO’s. Some are better than others
Mark Bonchek, Gene Cornfield, https://hbr.org/2017/09/there-are-4-futures-
for-cmos-some-better-than-others
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Source: Gartner (February 2018)

ALL Brands are becoming human. Learn to become better storytellers.
Source: http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/state-farm-a-good-neighbor/308243
State Farm (B2C Advertising) SAP (B2B Advertising)
Source: SAP
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Shared Constructs: Personal Appeal, Values, Purpose

Example: Evolution of SAP Advertising over the years (1980’s – 2015)
Source: https://tom-pfister.com/2016/06/13/sap-advertising-evolution-over-4-decades
Features & Functions Customers and Technology Customers Run SAP
Future Vision (Analytics) Run Better (Mobile) Run Live

Example: Today - Purpose

P2P ( People to People) Marketing is on the Rise –
The “third conversation” is the one that might matter the most
Up to 90% of spend goes to advertising and retail promotions. Yet the
single most powerful impetus to buy is often someone else’s advocacy.
1K
Word of Mouth on
Social, Digital, Mobile
Advertising on
Digital, Print
Break into
existing niches
1M
10M
Innovation and Growth
Brand Equity
HBS Case Study (2016): How Uber, Etsy, and Airbnb attracted their first 1000 customers
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NumberofCustomers

Digital Personalization (Mobile, Video, Voice) is the future of engagement.
Become part of this future.
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Global digital ad spending beat TV for the first time in 2017
Source: MAGNA | Data for 2017 and beyond are forecasts • Created with Datawrapper

Example: The great Volvo Interception ( Super Bowl)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnNfSgMf78Q

Marketers now compete for Usage/Addiction, not just Perception/Attention
N=5011; evaluations by those familiar with brand
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More likely to buy70%
More advocates2x
Higher premium7%
Less likely to switch8%

Interdisciplinary Skills will define your success
2018 Marketing Hiring Trends
Digital Tech + Storytelling/Content + Data Science + Domain Expertise + Humanities
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Contact information:
Vivek Bapat
SVP, Global Head of Marketing and Communications Strategy, SAP
@vivek_bapat
Thank you.

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