According to computer and marketing cloud powerhouse Adobe, or more specifically its digital marketing guru, GM and EVP Brad Rencher, marketers need to me more concerned about creating “goosebumps and smiles” and getting out the way of the consumer – or risk being phased out by the almighty shopper.
“We are now at the cusp of a tectonic enterprise shift where enterprises will be forced to transform in ways they haven’t had to in decades,” Rencher explained at the company’s digital marketing summit this week.
“This disruption is driven by rapid advancements in technology that are changing the buying patterns of consumers.”
He went on to say that we are now at the early stages of the ‘third wave’ of enterprise disruption that’s taken place within the last 50 years. The first wave of disruption was in the back office; looking at backend systems, improving production and manufacturing – and improving the systems thanks to digital advancements. The second wave of transformation was the front office – which saw the CRM evolution and efficiencies made in the sales area.
“The previous two waves were about us – they were about businesses - they helped us do our jobs more efficiently and make ‘our’ lives better, but this wave is not about us, its not about what we sell it’s about ‘her’, the consumer,” Rencher explains.
“It’s about the experience that we provide the consumers when they shop, buy and use our products. This wave is about goosebumps, it’s about smiles and bringing people closer together.
“It’s even about nothing – yes nothing. It’s about doing our jobs so well that the consumers don’t even know that you (marketers) and I exist because we are closing the gap between people and the things they want to do and the people they want to be with.”
Stewards of the experience
He added that “our job is to deliver that and then get out of the way”, and explained how of all of the people in organisations, from the CEO to the receptionist, are now deemed the “stewards of the experience”.
He sad this new “experience business wave” is about “surprisingly and delighting” customers at every single touch point and part of their lives.
“The experience business wave is the new competitive battleground,” he says. “It will be the state of play for all of us on how we compete in the market.
The first to adapt and evolve will be wildly successful - the lagers will get called out by their customers publicly and loudly because the experience business wave is democratic, everyone has a voice now and boy do they use that.”
He stressed that in the last 15 years alone more than half of the Fortune 500 have completely fallen off the list – urging businesses to step up to the changing landscape before they suffer the the same fate.
“We are here together in this room as we know the stakes are that high. We know how big the opportunity is and how dire the consequences will be if we fail – the question is ‘are you an experience business?”
Did you catch: McDonald’s CMO: "It’s about step change transformation at the core"
AdNews traveled to the Adobe Summit as a guest of Adobe.
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