How to Think Like a Futurist
Why Power is Everyone’s Business
Creativity in the Virtual Age
PAGE 20
PAGE 26
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The Magazine of the Rotman School of Management UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
FALL 2021
THE SOCIALLY-CONSCIOUS BUSINESS PAGES 6, 32, 108
MANAGEMENT
Now What?
QUESTIONS FOR
Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Mastercard
Q &A
A Fortune 500 CMO describes the crisis being faced by Marketing, and what lies ahead for practitioners. Interview by Carolyn Drebin
You believe that the field of Marketing is in crisis. How so?
In a recent survey of global companies, nearly 70 per cent of CEOs expressed a lack of confidence that their Marketing Departments could drive profits. Many have already started eliminating the role of CMO, citing a lack of value in the position. Instead, they are introducing new roles such as Chief Growth Officer, Chief Revenue Officer or Chief Customer Officer. Here’s the problem with that: Take away growth, revenue and customers, and all that’s left for marketers is branding. The Classic 4Ps of Marketing (product/price/ place/promotion) are being done, almost exclusively, by other departments. Logistically, Marketing is barely hanging on. Even among the new generation of graduates, Marketing no longer has the gravitas it once did. It used to be ranked as the most popular major by college students, offering both glamour and substance as well as a mixture of right and left brain thinking. Today, it is rated below both Accounting and Nursing. What are the five paradigms of Marketing?
Marketing has always been practiced by organizations in some rudimentary form, and it has continuously evolved with cultural and societal shifts. The first paradigm, product marketing, was all about the product itself and the decisions buyers made based on logic and rational thinking. Next came emotional marketing. Through behavioural sciences such as Psychology and Sociology, stories were brought to life on radio and television. Then came data-driven marketing. The invention of the Internet and data analytics were revolutionary watershed moments that totally changed the face of Marketing. Until that moment, data used to exist mainly in the realm of economists and scientists. The fourth paradigm began in 2007, with the first-generation iPhone. Having a mobile device on us at all times has totally changed our world, keeping us constantly connected from the moment we wake until we go to sleep at night. When this was combined with the emergence and scale of rotmanmagazine.ca / 111
Facebook and other social media, the way we market was forever altered. The fifth paradigm is Quantum Marketing. It represents the future of marketing and how it needs to adapt to the tsunami of technology and data coming at us. How do you define Quantum Marketing?
Up until now, there were a handful of technologies that propelled Marketing from one paradigm to the next. But with over 2,000 technologies currently emerging, we are on the precipice of a deluge. From artificial intelligence and augmented reality to holographic projections and smart appliances — the list of new marketing opportunities is endless. This isn’t merely a futuristic sci-fi scenario. These technologies exist and are being commercialized with each passing day. Smart speakers are already present in 40 per cent of homes in developed countries, and AI, augmented and virtual realities are taking root across the board. Current theories and frameworks will be upended. This is happening now and it’s happening fast. We need to totally reimagine and rewrite the Marketing playbook. From multi-sensory marketing to data collection and cookies, how can Marketers make use of the latest technology?
Traditionally, marketers have been right-brain thinkers, trained in psychology and creativity, while excluding left brain thinking like data analysis and technology. We now need to ensure marketers are educated in the emerging areas that comprise Quantum Marketing. They don’t need to be experts, but they do need to fully comprehend what these new technologies can do, ask the right questions and understand the answers. They must be able to differentiate between ‘fluff ’ and substance in upgrading and updating their knowledge. This is critical at every stage of marketing professionals’ careers — whether they are a veteran or just starting out. If marketers don’t have the aptitude for understanding all the new technological tools, they need to surround themselves with people who do. Data has been hugely effective in enabling marketers to understand consumer behaviour and subsequently offer them relevant and compelling, but ultimately, we must be respectful of people’s privacy. Even with explicit permission, we as marketers have the responsibility to keep data safe and secure. Going forward, everything must be designed within a privacy-first framework in order to maintain consumer-centricity. What are your thoughts on the state of brand loyalty?
As an industry, we spend billions on loyalty programs and 112 / Rotman Management Fall 2021
incentives, but I don’t believe that brand loyalty as a concept will be able to continue in its current form. If people can’t stay loyal in their personal lives, why would we, as marketers, expect them to be loyal to a brand? We need to rethink our approach in this respect. The objective should be to convince the consumer to repeatedly choose or reuse your product on an ongoing basis — which is quite different from seeking loyalty. A customer-centric brand is not about the consumer being loyal to the brand but, rather the opposite: It’s about the brand being loyal to the consumer, and I call this the Preferential Management Platform. Whether through information, incentive or motivation, the goal is to have the consumer choose your brand above all others. This calls for a new kind of architecture for managing consumer interactions and engaging in them without being intrusive or annoying. It honours the customer first and foremost as they make a choice. You have said, “Advertising as we know it is dead.” Please elaborate.
Advertising as we know it today will very soon be obsolete. When ads suddenly ‘pop-up’ on our screen or we are repeatedly interrupted while watching a video, it is a horrible consumer experience. As a result, people are willing to pay extra for an ad-free environment and many consumers are installing ad-blockers on their devices, making them out-ofbounds for marketers. In a world where people hate ads this much and are willing to spend to keep them away, marketers simply cannot persist with the old model. We need to dramatically change. In a way we already have, by reverting to the old days and using word-of-mouth as the most powerful form of marketing. This time around, however, we can create and credibly amplify that word-of-mouth. The need to communicate about products to consumers doesn’t go away—but the method evolves and changes. Talk a bit about how these new principles for B2C marketing affect B2B marketing.
For me, there is no difference between B2B and B2C marketing — and yet, B2B is at least a generation behind B2C. It is uninteresting and data heavy. Consumer marketing, on the other hand, needs to be more about measuring return on investment. As long as human beings run businesses, it is all people marketing to people, so business marketing and consumer marketing should be exactly the same. Marketers must communicate with people in organizations as individual human beings, just like consumer marketers. A person making a decision is susceptible to the same processes and
emotions, whether on behalf of their company or for themselves. While we must understand nuances, the basics manifest in exactly the same way. With so many positions changing in the C-Suite, how would you describe a Quantum CMO?
A Quantum CMO must have incredible curiosity and a love of learning. They should not merely be marketing specialists, but general managers who understand multiple fields. They should be able to connect the dots between data, technology, finance and public relations as they pertain to marketing and the business overall. They also need to change the perspective on marketing itself. People need to view marketing as something different than manipulation. Consumers are increasingly feeling distrustful — of companies, politics, even the news. They no longer know what or who to believe, and as a result, marketers must perform at the highest levels of integrity to build consumer trust. The ability to achieve this will be a huge differentiator for Quantum Marketers and their brands. Globally, there has been a real cultural shift. People are more community conscious and environmentally aware, and brands and marketers who tap into these dynamics and operate with a sense of purpose and social good are the ones that will prove ‘you can do well by doing good’ — which I call ‘purpose-driven marketing.’ Quantum Marketers who embody these kinds of qualities, who operate ethically, without deceptive practices, will win over consumers by earning their trust. Coming out of this pandemic, what parting advice do you have for marketing professionals?
Marketers must understand what their brand truly stands for and represent it in the most authentic way possible. They must be committed and consistent, holding steady for the long term rather than jumping on bandwagons. My advice is to follow through on brand values and characterizations based on your organization’s core beliefs — not trends. Consumers today can see through inauthenticity. Additionally, no one wants to get lost in a sea of sameness, where each brand is almost identical to the next. Find your brand voice and be true to it. And most importantly, don’t go dark. At times of crisis, customers expect you to show up to serve, not to sell. Play the long game, rather than focusing on short-term gains. What may seem advantageous now could backfire. Businesses in general, and marketers specifically, must be acutely cognizant that a crisis is a context where you can truly build trust. In the end, this is what will win — and keep — customers.
Characteristics of a Quantum CMO 1. Multifaceted, excelling at art, science and the technology of Marketing. 2. Business leader who understands the business. 3. Knowledgeable about foundational and classical aspects of Marketing. 4. Appreciation of contemporary and emerging fields of Marketing. 5. Technologically savvy. 6. Able to connect marketing activities to business outcomes. 7. Inspires other leaders with a big vision. 8. Strong, empathetic leader who can inspire and guide their team. 9. Evangelical about Marketing, able to reach across the aisle and ‘rebrand’ it as something to embrace. 1 0. Curious, agile, lifelong learner. 1 1. Global mindset. 1 2. Team builder. 1 3. Ambassador of their company. 1 4. Part of the larger Marketing ecosystem and community. 1 5. Involved in shaping the new world of Marketing and formulating the regulatory environment. 16. Good partner. 17. Agency realist. 18. Optimal physical health. 19. Good mix of IQ, EQ, CQ (creative quotient) and DQ (decency quotient) 20. Energized about the work.
Raja Rajamannar is Chief Marketing and Communications Officer and
President, Healthcare, at Mastercard. Raja serves as President of the World Federation of Advertisers, is among Business Insider’s Top 25 World’s Most Innovative CMOs, Forbes World’s Most Influential CMOs, Adweek’s most tech savvy CMOs and ANA Educational Foundation’s Marketer of the Year. He is the author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Quantum Marketing: Mastering the New Marketing Mindset for Tomorrow’s Consumers (Harper Collins, 2021). rotmanmagazine.ca / 113
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