Later this month my colleague Tim Shaw and I are looking forward to co-presenting at the Aprimo Summit (Las Vegas, February 28 to March 1). Our session, titled “Connected Consumer Relationships” is described as follows:
Companies and brands have an unprecedented opportunity to connect with individual consumers in ways never-before-possible to increase sales, loyalty and Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI). Doing so requires a new generation of process and technology that reigns-in large volumes of diverse marketing data often residing outside the business, and in the process creates actionable insights into consumer behavior. Leading Consumer Goods brands are turning to Aprimo | Teradata for this capability, including sophisticated Enterprise Data Management functionality and Cross-Channel, opt-in Campaign Management to deliver relevant and timely communications based on life-stage, intra- and cross-brand affinities, and the most profitable incentives.
We will discuss the opportunities and challenges facing CPG (and really all businesses) around Connected Consumers, but also dig into details of the core technologies available from Teradata to power Connected Consumer relationships -- namely, Aprimo Relationship Manager and Aprimo Master Data Manager.
The timing of our presentation could not be more perfect, given escalating interest from leading CPG companies in taking advantage of the Connected Consumer opportunity. Just the other day, an article from CPGmatters.com titled “P&G to Rely More on Digital Marketing to Boost Brand Sales” points out:
“…consumers tend to not make a lot of additional shopping trips because they get more information online; that, of course, is bad for CPG marketers and traditional retailers. But for CPG brands that can effectively reach shoppers during that decision-making process, the ROI can be significant. More consumers are forming their shopping lists and making decisions about products before they enter the store.”
It’s not just P&G that’s moving in this direction. Other leading CPGs, such as Pepsico and General Mills, have made similar proclamations. Consider this statement from Pepsico’s Global Head of Digital, Bonin Bough:
“…the common denominator of the top 50 brands showing the fastest growth both in depth of customer relationships and financial value between 2000 and 2010, is a strong use of technology (and other means) to be more ideal driven, and play a more critical role in consumer lives. Using technology as a vehicle to not only communicate with our consumers, but become directly tethered to their everyday lives in ways that make them smarter, stronger, healthier and more informed citizens is paramount to PepsiCo.”
And this, from General Mills CMO Mark Addicks, excerpted from a recent TweetChat:
“I am really excited by having direct one-to-one relationships with our brand champions, not going through intermediaries…but being able to engage directly and being able to provide specific, customized solutions where/when/how the brand champion wants us to deliver a solution. In a one to one relationship – with consumer permission – we can now be more predictive and thoughtful, more helpful than ever before.”
Competition for the Connected Consumer will be intense. Consumers have limited mindshare, tend to buy the same products at a similar frequency, and as noted by P&G, the purchase decision is increasingly made outside the confines of the store (see this post about ZMOT). The CPGs that do the best job connecting with consumers have the best chance to influence the path to purchase in their favor.
The way to accomplish that with any degree of confidence is to base decisions and actions on integrated data and analytics. The best decision possible a CPG leader can make today is to work with Teradata to create winning Connected Consumer relationships. That’s what Tim and I will be talking about in a couple weeks.
Gib Bassett
