Shiny New Object

If lockdowns around the world have brought us one good thing, it’s the benefit of limitless collaboration as workers at all levels of organisations and from offices worldwide have been able to engage in virtual collaboration more than ever. Moreover, working remotely means that teams can literally work around the clock, as collaborators in a different time zone pick up where you leave off at the end of the day.   This is why Mark Brown, Marketing Director for Northern Europe at General Mills, has picked boundary-less collaboration as his Shiny New Object in the latest podcast episode.   Mark thinks we’ll inevitably bounce back to some form of office life, but that virtual engagement with teams from all levels and from all over the globe has accelerated the production of great marketing work and will be here to stay. 

As Digital Transformation Leader for Consumer / Healthcare / Pharma at Sanofi, Caitlyn Nguyen oversees the whole APAC market as well as China, Eurasia, the Middle East and Africa, using “everything digital” to bring value in marketing and sales while catering to customers’ needs. Her Shiny New Object is the future of connections in the time of Covid, specifically the need for increasing data-led empathy with consumers.

Working through the pandemic and experiencing challenges in a different way as brands and as people, we’ve become more open to the concept of vulnerability and to communicating our struggles. According to Michelle Webb, Commercial Director at the NFL, this is a valuable change in the way brands communicate with people and in the way we present ourselves to the industry and those around us.   Michelle’s Shiny New Object is showing vulnerability as a brand and as a person. On the latest episode of our podcast, we talk about how the Covid-19 pandemic has made it more important than ever to acknowledge vulnerability, but also to show what brands are doing to support their customers and fans during this time.

Our latest guest on the podcast is Paul Szumilewicz, Head of Agile, Global Marketing at HSBC. His Shiny New Object is diversity and he talks to us about how he’s changed his mentoring habits to ensure he speaks to people who are not a “mirror image” of himself on a regular basis.

When Google launched the Google Glass a few years ago, augmented reality glasses didn’t catch on in the B2C market. However, there could be a rich future for them in B2B, according to Monika Schulze, Head of Customer & Innovation Management at Zurich Insurance. On the latest episode of the podcast, Monika tells us why her Shiny New Object is AR glasses. Thanks to how they enable specialised workers to make the most of their on-site or practical work whilst still being connected to additional data and even video-conferencing, AR glasses can become an extremely useful tool. They do, however, need to improve from a technical and user experience perspective first.

Do you ever feel that brands are following a script that was laid out a couple of years ago and just rolling it out now? Adapting to our current reality and developing a more meaningful connection with consumers in the present situation are elements that, according to our guest on this week’s podcast, are missing from a lot of today’s ads.    Atilla Cansun is the CMO of Alliance Healthcare and his Shiny New Object is digital empathy - re-exploring the notion of empathy in the digital era. While brands do more of the same with their ads, they will get a mediocre response at best. However, getting close to what customers need to hear and see today is what will increase engagement and bring about positive results.   To find out more about Atilla’s approach to digital empathy, as well as his advice on chasing big ideas, listen to the podcast or read the write-up on MAD//Fest. And is there a brand you want to commend for speaking in line with our new reality? Let us know in the comments!

Talking to Oatly’s Creative Director, Michael Lee, is an exercise in thinking differently about marketing and the organisation of a marketing department. His Shiny New Object is very particular: inmates running the asylum, i.e. a marketing team that has full creative control and follows its own instincts.

When Pandora was faced with closing stores nationwide during the lockdowns related to Covid-19, it looked like a large number of customers who normally shop in-store would be lost during Q4 of 2020. However, resorting to augmented reality has helped them overcome this obstacle and actually convert more customers than before.   Our guest on the podcast this week is Jim Cruickshank, VP of Global Digital Development & Retail Technology at Pandora. His Shiny New Object is augmented reality in the retail space and we talk about his recent successful case study.   Jim also shares his advice for budding product managers and his top tips from his long experience in developing and managing successful innovations.    Check out Jim live at http://www.futr.today

In her role as Head of ManulifeMOVE, a behavioural insurance product that keeps customers active as part of their life insurance policy, Sushmita Munshi is always learning from testing and listening to the customer. Her Shiny New Object is behavioural insurance itself, a new way to engage with customers and understand their motivations and how to leverage them for better life habits.

Ashish Porwal, Head of Insights & Analytics at GSK South East Asia & Taiwan looks at data as onions that need to be peeled to get the right answer. This is why his Shiny New Object is to see through the glare of shiny new objects!

Tugce Aksoy is the Senior Global Brand Manager for Magnum Icecream at Unilever. She says she wasn’t “born a marketeer” but she combines her engineering degree with a passion for writing to harness practical and creative sides in her role. Her Shiny New Object is breaking bias with tech and marketing, specifically looking at how our ingrained stereotypes have driven marketing and product development and what we can do to change that.

As the VP of Marketing & Product at Hyundai Motor Europe, Andreas Hofmann has to “catch the taste of the European customer” and compete to find the best car for his mainstream customer segment. During the pandemic as well as in the face of increased digitalisation, his Shiny New Object has become the balance between physical and digital in the customer journey. As cars remain an emotional purchase, this is more difficult to find than it might first seem.

Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK and all-around marketing legend, is our latest guest on the podcast. Talking about his early adoption of the internet and new technologies led us to explore the way in which his Shiny New Object can change the future of marketing: social norming of video calling can make a huge impact for businesses and change the way we approach clients, beyond just our meetings.

As the Senior Director and Category Head of P&G ISC Feminine Care, Chetna Soni oversees a team focused on marketing for feminine care products across the Indian subcontinent. Her work is closely interwoven with a campaign to keep girls in school in India, which links to her Shiny New Object: purpose-led brand building. Combining a vocation for being a force for good with a brand’s marketing work is key to driving societal changes, according to Chetna.

When picking up a product based on its advertising, have you ever considered what stereotypes it may perpetuate?   For Costa Coffee’s Global Head of Coffee Innovation Sandra Ferreira, the role that marketing plays in driving the inclusion agenda is crucial and forms her Shiny New Object.    From the language advertisers use, to the packaging or design of products, marketing can either play to societal assumptions and reinforce stereotypes, or serve to debunk those and drive a more inclusive mindset in society. In the longer term, if brands stick together in promoting inclusivity, this could alter the general societal attitudes to many current preconceptions.    To find out more about how brands can embrace inclusivity and follow our debate on marketing and diversity, listen to the podcast, or read the write-up on MAD//Fest.

Mondelez’ Emanuel Gävert ended up in marketing after being a youth activist, bringing with him a strong desire to make a difference through the work done by the brands he looks after. His Shiny New Object is using business as a force for good, starting with the small steps that make a difference today, and ultimately overhauling business models to create more sustainable consumption patterns.

David Pugh likes to say he’s not a marketer at all. He started his career in engineering, then switched to business and eventually started working in the automotive industry – today, he is the Marketing Director at MG Motor UK Ltd. Despite his love of analytics and numbers, David’s Shiny New Object is something unexpected: the TV remote.

Have you ever considered how paternity leave could make men better marketers? Becoming a new dad has transformed Riley Dunn, Brand Manager for Dove Men+Care at Unilever, showing him the importance of being grounded in human nature and spending time at home during his paternity leave. Taking a step back and thinking of the long game are all benefits of being able to enjoy this time, as well as triggers to do marketing differently.

At WW (formerly Weight Watchers), Wesley Boas is the Head of Consumer Products - Strategy, Innovation & Marketing and works to elevate the brand and its products to help members throughout their health journey. With a lengthy career in consumer packaged goods (CPG) started at Unilever, Wesley’s Shiny New Object is the shift to online shopping, especially the significant uptake seen in recent months during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Anirban Basu is the Innovation Director at Danone, focusing on the cutting edge of marketing developments and how to harness these in specialised nutrition. With an illustrious background in marketing in the food and drinks industry, Anirban believes that the next big thing, his Shiny New Object, will be the combination of UGC and AI – two acronyms that we delved into on the podcast.