The CMO Show

Ever dreamed of deploying an ad to a customer standing right outside your door staring at their phone? Shobhit Shukla, co-founder of Near joins us to share a future of automated, real-time analytics which reach into the real world.

How do you get audiences excited about your branded virtual reality content? VR expert Ariel Shimoni and StartApp's Director of Virtual Reality, says you don't need to, at least not at first.

Join hosts Mark Jones and Nicole Manktelow for a journey into the future of content creation, 360° advertising, analytics and awesome experiences on this week's immersive episode of The CMO Show.

"Effectively what it is," begins Adam thoughtfully, "is understanding our users better. Actually talking to people."

As bluegg's Digital Design Director for more than five years, Adam Faulkner has developed a distinct approach to understanding Customer and User experience. Surprisingly, it involves a lot of time offline, IRL.

"It's really easy to design something in digital space and not talk to anybody," he says, before explaining the importance of reaching out to user demographics whose experiences might differ substantially from your own.

In one example, Adam worked with a hotel booking client whose userbase was women aged 25 and 34. He prioritised conducting interviews with users to understand their particular needs.

"What I considered important was completely different [to the typical user]," Adam says. "I was thinking about getting the local restaurant right, whereas for our users, safety and security were really important, you know?"

Despite its costly reputation, Adam is quick to point out that conducting in-person research doesn't have to be enormously expensive.

"When you do interviews," he says, "you only need five of any type of archetype or persona or demographic to get pattern recognition and from those patterns, very clear insights."

Before beginning research it's vital to understand who your users actually are, because they're not always just your customers.

Working with a bank, Adam discovered more than 140 extra software tools in a single branch that its employees were using to overcome limitations in the bank's ERP systems.

Join Mark Jones and his new co-host, Nicole Manktelow, as they discuss the nature of customer experience, why it's vital to understand offline and how to turn every sad moment in the customer journey into a happy one, on this fascinating episode of The CMO Show.

The future of marketing will be driven by machines – we'll just need to nudge them in the right direction, says Volvo's chief futurologist Aric Dromi.

It's about shifting mindsets, Dromi says, away from computers as vehicles for serving up data needed to perform analysis, and towards embracing technology as a powerful tool to free up our time for "more human" pursuits of empathy and creativity.

"I think one of the greatest lacks in the industry right now is imagination," he says.

"We have all these great tools that enable us to collect information, but don't have the right people to actually convert that information into creative, crazy ideas that can create engagement with users, customers and consumers."

There's a new social contract emerging between users and digital engagement, Dromi says, where privacy is a commodity we happily exchange for value.

"We need to stop thinking about privacy when we're looking at these things, and more about the value exchange that we get because we are willing to expose ourselves if we get the right value.

"It's as simple as that."

Join hosts Mark Jones and JV Douglas as they discuss the coming decades of marketing automation, the true value of Snapchat, and how blockchain is actually a philosophical model for digital engagement on this forward thinking episode of The CMO Show.

When she became director of Customer Experience at L'Oreal Australia and New Zealand, Emma Williamson was determined to shift the conversation from assuaging customer dissatisfaction to embracing customers as brand advocates.

It's a mindset shift the marketing leader says, and one that is very different to a traditional care role where interaction with customers was kept to a minimum.

"The more contact we have, the more we are able to actually refine the way we work," Williamson says. "And that is really a way that we can be successful and engage with consumers. I want to actually have consumers advocating for us."

Ethics are central to this process, Williamson adds. "It's all about being ethical and showing that you stand for something more than just the bottom line."

"That aligns with what consumers want these days. Their expectations of businesses are so much higher than they were even two years ago," she says.

Tune in as hosts Mark Jones and JV Douglas discuss the challenges of localising content, the value of customers as brand advocates, and the importance of being open to feedback on this cracking episode of The CMO Show.

For generations of Australian travellers, Qantas' iconic red tail has been a symbol of adventure and home alike.

Today, as its Frequent Flyer loyalty program turns 30, Qantas faces a unique and interesting challenge: Maintaining that strong emotional connection whilst bringing the brand into the digital age. For Stephanie Tully, Qantas' executive manager of Group Brand and CMO, this is the perfect challenge.

It's all about empowering the company's thousands of frontline staff to deliver authentic and personal experiences, says Tully, who started her career with the airline as a cabin crew manager more than a decade ago.

"It's important that our staff who spend the most time with our customers are equipped to have those really authentic interactions," says Tully.

However, authentic interactions and conversations can also come from a variety of digital channels, she says, as long as an organisation fundamentally embraces cross-channel integration.

"I think lots of businesses, including us, are on the journey of stitching together all of their channels so that they can talk to customers across channels in a seamless way.

"I think more and more, you know, there's a future coming where there aren't many channels that are left that are not being used in a one-to-one way. Even television and radio will end up being personalised."

Tune in as Tully joins CMO Show host Mark Jones to discuss the future of customer experience, the value of data driven personalisation and the complexity of building different emotional connections with customers all over the world.

How well do you really know your audience? Do you understand what they want, why they follow you and how to connect with them?

The task of building an audience is not new to marketing, but crafting meaningful connections with a legacy audience poses its own set of challenges.

And it's a challenge that Grant Torrie, acting CMO at Fairfax Media New Zealand, knows all too well. From his early days at Fairfax to now, Torrie and the executive team have worked hard to develop marketing automation literacy across the organisation, breaking down organisational silos and replacing the "spray and pray" approach to marketing.

It's the soft skills such as empathy that he says are critically important in effectively communicating with your audience and managing organisational change.

"I don't necessarily know that people fear change but they do fear loss," says Torrie. "We need to understand the grieving process that comes with changing things and taking away things is real and totally valid." Tune in as hosts Mark Jones and JV Douglas explore what it means to fully embrace marketing automation, how to understand your audience, and why your team are the agents of organisational change.

With 63% of mothers feeling that advertisers don't understand them, how can we start making mum happy?

We all have one, yet when it comes to mothers, it turns out that advertisers and marketers may not be as familiar as they claim to be. Enter Katrina McCarter, founder and CEO at Marketing to Mums.

Driven to her wits end by a string of poorly suited advertisements, McCarter's on a mission to answer one question: What does mum really want?

Presenting her findings at AD:TECH 2017, McCarter says advertisers are swamping mothers with outdated stereotypes and inauthentic messages on "the perfect life".

"Many marketers actually think that mums are aspirational and that mums are striving to attain this perfect life," she says. "It's real suicide for a brand because mum immediately turns off."

Instead, McCarter has found that mothers are demanding more authenticity from advertisers that doesn't gloss over the complex "juggling" act of their daily lives. Now is the time to show what motherhood is truly like and reflect mum's other interests, warts-and-all, she says.

Listen along as Mark Jones and JV Douglas get the scoop on the role of influencers for this market segment, how the generational divide is shaping messaging to mothers of all ages, and why making mum smile is the best type of relationship builder.

With 63% of mothers feeling that advertisers don't understand them, how can we start making mum happy?

We all have one, yet when it comes to mothers, it turns out that advertisers and marketers may not be as familiar as they claim to be. Enter Katrina McCarter, founder and CEO at Marketing to Mums.

Driven to her wits end by a string of poorly suited advertisements, McCarter's on a mission to answer one question: What does mum really want?

Presenting her findings at AD:TECH 2017, McCarter says advertisers are swamping mothers with outdated stereotypes and inauthentic messages on "the perfect life".

"Many marketers actually think that mums are aspirational and that mums are striving to attain this perfect life," she says. "It's real suicide for a brand because mum immediately turns off."

Instead, McCarter has found that mothers are demanding more authenticity from advertisers that doesn't gloss over the complex "juggling" act of their daily lives. Now is the time to show what motherhood is truly like and reflect mum's other interests, warts-and-all, she says.

Listen along as Mark Jones and JV Douglas get the scoop on the role of influencers for this market segment, how the generational divide is shaping messaging to mothers of all ages, and why making mum smile is the best type of relationship builder.

China; It's one of the most crowded and competitive marketplaces in the world. How do you stand up to a challenge like that?

To say Matthew McKenzie, cofounder and director at The Export Group, is a man with a passion for Asian business would be a complete understatement. And with an impressive record working across Australia and Asia for some of the world's biggest brands, he knows what it takes to make or break it in the Chinese market.

This episode of The CMO Show takes a deep dive into the world of launching new brands to market in one of the most crowded places in the world: China. It's recognising the sheer size and volume of competition across the many markets within China that sets successful brands apart, says McKenzie.

"If there is no history of your product and your brand and in many instances there's not a long history of the category in China, you really need to be thinking quite differently," he told CMO Show hosts Mark Jones and JV Douglas.

"It's an exceptionally fragmented marketplace from a brand perspective and every brand, regardless of their size and scale back in their home market, comes up here as a junior."

Tune in as Mark and JV discover what it takes to redefine yourself from market leader to market challenger, how to understand Chinese market demographics, and why to think about these things before you attempt to break in. All that plus plenty of cultural anecdotes!

Every January, as the weather hits peak wonderful and the city truly blossoms to life, Sydney delivers a summer celebration like no other.

For Tina Walsberger, chief marketing and customer service officer at Sydney Festival, it's a race against time (and money) to create the cut through needed to pique interest and attract visitors. After all, what she's selling isn't physical; It's experiential.

With more than 700,000 people in attendance across the 146 events held as part of this year's Sydney Festival, Walsberger says she knew that traditional marketing methods just weren't going to cut it in 2017.

"We're in an era now where 89 percent of marketing falls completely on deaf ears," she says. "Marketing in its traditional sense is just much, much less effective than it ever has been."

Her response to this revelation? Authenticity.

Shifting gears to make the most of having a small team with minimal budget, Walsberger took to engaging influencers to spread the word. A strategy, which she says, paid massive dividends with more than 20 million views for one event alone.

Listen along as Mark Jones and JV Douglas discuss the changing role of influencers in marketing communications, how Walsberger uses surprise and sensory experience to increase participation, and why the most authentic messaging occurs when CMOs immerse themselves in the experience.