You won’t believe what it says about email

1. Page 1 of 6
Science reveals the fascinating link
between lying and technology
You won’t believe what it says about email
Fast Company
12 November 2021
If we’ve learned anything from each pivot and zigzag during the past 18
months, it’s that things can—and do—change in an instant.
That’s why we at Google spend a lot of our time thinking about readiness. It’s
a simple idea that’s always been key to business success, and it’s never been
more important for marketers.
Today, a successful brand is ready for volatile markets and disruptive shifts
in consumer behavior, supply chains, and society at large. It’s also ready to
respond to the needs of every single customer, wherever they are—whether
it’s for the first time or the 100th.
If we aren’t clear about what we mean by “digital
transformation,” then it’s easy to imagine a long,
complicated journey.”
--Bethany Poole

2. Page 2 of 6
We’re in a new era in which COVID-19 has accelerated digital consumption
habits so much that analysts talk about seeing a decade’s worth of change
happening in a few short months. Marketers must create messaging that’s
agile and responsive enough to capture short-term opportunities, while also
building long-term business resilience. But how?
The standard answer has been “digital transformation,” but too often, the
term is used as a buzzword. And if we aren’t clear about what we mean by
“digital transformation,” then it’s easy to imagine a long, complicated
journey.
At Google, we don’t think transformation should be a grand project. It should
be a self-guided, step-by-step journey, propelled by a flywheel like the one
below. We call it the “Route to Ready.”
An animated flywheel highlights each step on the “Route to Ready”: planning
and budgeting; talent, teams, and culture; data and insights; customer-
centric marketing; new customer experiences; and outcomes and agility.
The journey also will depend on your company’s needs, and that is why this
approach allows you to choose the entry point, based on what makes the
most sense for your business.
To inspire and help you begin the “Route to Ready,” below are examples of
how three successful brands got started on their journeys.
Mondelēz International
For Mondelēz International—one of the world’s biggest snack food
companies—the entry point was customer-centricity.
Its “Route to Ready” began with a single insight: that meeting each consumer
where they are means evolving from a mass-marketing strategy to one that

3. Page 3 of 6
delivers a more personalized, helpful set of experiences. This helped
galvanize the entire company.
With customer-centricity as the guiding principle, teams from across
Mondelēz International—from marketing and information business systems
to finance and customer service—broke down their organizational silos to
align on shared goals and adopt an agile approach to a companywide
initiative called “Empathy at Scale.”
Deploying its digital strategy across multiple markets has helped Mondelēz
International focus on building deeper, longer-lasting relationships with
consumers.
An example is the “Don’t go far for hunger” campaign the company launched
in India for its Cadbury brand, which used automation to drive consideration
among specific audiences. The optimized ad creative combined eight
consumer passion points, like cricket or Game of Thrones with six other
contextual elements, including time, day of the week, and location. In all, the
process generated 92,000 unique, personalized assets that drove a 50%
increase in ad recall, and a click-through rate 2.6 times higher than
the consumer packaged goods (CPG)benchmark.
Deploying its digital strategy across multiple markets has helped Mondelēz
International outpace the rest of its sector and deliver double-digit growth in
ROI. It has also given the company a template for reorganizing its entire
long-term business strategy to focus on building deeper, longer-lasting
relationships with consumers.
Ford Motor Company
Well before the pandemic, automakers like Ford Motor Company faced
massive disruption from self-driving cars, electric vehicles, and shared
mobility. But COVID-19 dealt the industry another blow, forcing dealerships

4. Page 4 of 6
to close lots and sell cars online. Supply chain shortages also slowed vehicle
production. In 2020 alone, U.S. auto sales sank by 15%.
While years of disruptions led Ford to begin its business transformation,
those efforts took on new urgency under the leadership of CEO Jim Farley
and global CMO Suzy Deering. Both executives believed that providing new,
differentiated customer experiences would be a key to long-term resilience.
Getting—and staying—ahead of auto consumers’ evolving needs required
putting technology at the center of Ford’s business.
“The biggest transformation for us is to a software services–dominated
company and brand,” Farley says. “We have to invest in electric architectures
and build software know-how in the company. And we need to integrate that
know-how in ways we’ve never had to before.”
Getting—and staying—ahead of auto consumers’ evolving needs required
putting technology at the center of Ford’s business.
For now, Ford is leaning on this technology to aid in vehicle electrification
and develop other digitally connected products. To facilitate this shift, it has
tapped strategic partners like Google to integrate software into its vehicles.
Beginning in 2023, for example, the Android operating system—with built-
in Google apps and services—will power millions of Ford and Lincoln
vehicles. For example, millions of Ford and Lincoln models will be powered
by the Android operating system, with Google apps and services built in.
Crate and Barrel
The pandemic also accelerated the digital transformation already under
way at Crate and Barrel. Its online sales have jumped more than 40% since
the pandemic started, and online sales now comprise more than 65% of its
overall business.

5. Page 5 of 6
But the retailer has not abandoned its physical stores for an exclusively
digital storefront. Crate and Barrel has focused instead on making shopping
experiences more inventive and inspirational, both online and offline.
To enhance its customer experience across channels, Crate and Barrel
leaders knew they needed a better way to understand and measure the full
customer journey, and to respond to those insights in near real time. So the
company’s transformation journey has centered on building a more unified
view of its customers, through a strategy that prioritizes
organizational agility and outcomes.
Crate and Barrel began by leaning into the power of cloud computing to
gather diverse data from various touch points—like in-store traffic
information, mobile shopping patterns, and other online purchasing
behaviors. Then Crate and Barrel created a single data source to represent a
holistic picture of the customer.
No matter where your business starts its “Route to Ready,” these actions—
whether individual or collective—will pay immediate dividends.
To save time preparing data sources, the company relies heavily on Google
Cloud’s BigQuery data warehousing and analysis tool, which allows it to
draw on 10 times more information sources compared to a few years ago.
Data is then analyzed and transformed into actionable insights that can
influence a customer’s next interaction and, in turn, drive revenue.
BigQuery’s machine-learning capabilities have also helped Crate and Barrel
develop more models and recommendations at scale, without raising costs
or overloading resources.
No matter where your business starts its “Route to Ready,” these actions—
whether individual or collective—will pay immediate dividends. They’ll help
you infuse agility into your plan and create marketing-driven growth for your

6. Page 6 of 6
company’s bottom line, all while future-proofing your business so you’re
ready for whatever comes next.