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he 2016 Marketing & Tech Innova-
tion Summit & Awards is all about
how marketing teams are using
conventional and cutting-edge technolo-
gies to innovate their marketing and im-
prove business performance. In this com-
pendium of coverage from the conference,
we share the strategies that award-winning
marketers are using to transform innova-
tive marketing ideas into profitable reality.
What Wins in Marketing Today Pg. 3
The 2016 Marketing & Tech Innovation
Awards Case Study Category Winners Pg. 4
Stars of MarTech Pg. 10
Platform Winners Pg. 13
The Summit: Lessons Learned Pg. 16
What Wins in Marketing Today
Commonalities among the winners of DMN's 2016 Marketing&Tech Innovation Awards shed light
on what it takes to be successfully innovative in marketing today. By Ginger Conlon
In the run-up to announcing our 2016 Marketing&Tech Innovation transformation, and then literally helping to write the manual(s) for
Awards, I spent a great deal of time reviewing nomination forms, [the company] to drive/retain revenue.”
examining judges’ scores and comments, and reading winners’ pro-
files. Not surprisingly, a few commonalities emerged that shed light On trend: From omnichannel consistency to mobile engagement, sev-
on what being successfully innovative in marketing requires today. eral winners stood out for recognizing and acting on trends that have
Here are a few attributes that surfaced. real impact. A judge remarked that one winning entry, for instance,
“is revolutionizing consumer engagement and the links between our
Balance: Today, even the most creative marketers need to embrace physical and digital selves.” Another pointed out that a winner “out-
their more analytic side. Similarly, data-crunching marketers need smarted” the competition through its highly successful use of the sec-
to think creatively and use data to tell stories that will help their ond screen to engage TV-watching consumers on social media.
colleagues in marketing and on other customer-facing teams make
strategic and tactical decisions. Impactful: Sometimes great marketing is about more than just
serving individual customers; it’s about addressing multiple audi-
Customer centricity: While some of the winners focus on person- ences, or even the greater good. This was evident in several win-
alization in terms of messaging and content, others aim to connect ning entries. For instance, one judge noted that a winner stood out
with customers based on their behavior or where they are in their because it’s “building components that matter to both retailers and
purchase or lifecycle. Indeed, one judge scored a winning entry high customers.” Another was cited for “incredibly important work [that]
in part because it’s “a good example of [being] customer driven — sheds light on a significant, material problem for marketers world-
aligning content and propositions based on where the customer is wide and that will help save advertisers millions/billions and pro-
on [his] journey.” Another judge said about a winning entry, “Its tect consumers.” A third was praised for its broad appeal on social:
personalized lifecycle marketing strategy is highly effective.” “I love the promotion of goodwill,” one judge said.
Outcome driven: “Loved the in-depth measurements of suc- Disciplined: Knowing what not to do is often just as, if not more,
cess” was but one example of the comments judges made in citing important than knowing what to do. One judge, for example, called
metrics-related attributes that made award winners stand out. Hav- out a winning entry for having “the discipline to actually turn off
ing success metrics and expected outcomes associated with their content that wasn’t working.”
initiatives are musts for all marketers today, as the pressure to prove
the value and ROI of marketing increases. Consider: One winner Check out “The 2016 Marketing&Tech Innovation Awards” to see
was cited for an approach that “brought clear business benefits to the the full profiles on this year’s winners — and to see why, as one
company,” as well as for finding “areas for business improvement/ judge so aptly said, “Forget the basics…That’s award-worthy.”
The 2016 Marketing &Tech
Innovation Awards
This year's award winners show how marketing technology can
help transform innovative marketing ideas into profitable reality
JUDGES FOR THE 2016 CASE STUDY CATEGORIES Instead of swinging into testing right away, Golf-
MARKETING&TECH smith decided to avoid any unnecessary bunkers and
INNOVATION AWARDS ANALYTICS INNOVATION: use the Experian Marketing Suite’s Identity Manager
GOLFSMITH to clean and complete its customer data, as well as
MICHAEL BECKER
Managing partner, mCordis boost its in-house list by obtaining mailing addresses
Digital marketing has been a game-changer that has for top customers. This step was especially impor-
ADAM BRAVO caused many marketers to loosen their grip on more tant, Lewis notes, because Golfsmith hadn’t consoli-
Executive director of
traditional channels, such as direct mail. Not Golf- dated its disparate data sources before.
loyalty marketing, MGM
smith. The specialty golf retailer used data and ana- “We never had a view into what happened online
Resorts International
lytics to better segment its customers and drive more and what happened in-store combined,” she says.
GEMMA CRAVEN targeted, cost-effective campaigns. “They were always viewed separately and we had no
SVP, director of social and Golfsmith started as a catalog retailer, so its market- idea how the customer purchase behavior overlapped.”
mobile, McCann
ers have always had an affinity for print. But, as the
MARTYN ETHERINGTON company became more digital, the marketing team Results are a hole in one
CMO and SVP business started to send larger batch-and-blast campaigns. Once the data had been cleaned and organized, Golf-
operations, Jasper Although these campaigns were still effective, Golf- smith used Experian Marketing Suite’s Intelligence Man-
smith’s VP of omnichannel marketing Kim Lewis ager tool to analyze the results of the 2014 direct mail
NICHOLAS HENDERSON
thought there was an opportunity to optimize its list holiday test.
Publisher, programmatic-
targeting and content strategy. According to Lewis, the analysis showed that the
advertising.org
That opportunity came in 2014 when marketing less expensive postcard outperformed the more expen-
ALIA KEMET agency DMN3 proposed testing whether Golfsmith sive mini-catalog among moderate spenders; however,
U.S. media and digital
could generate the same lift in sales during the holi- there was a higher response rate among high-spending
director, IKEA
day season with a less expensive medium — specifi- customers who received the catalog.
RYUN LAMBSON cally, a postcard versus a mini-catalog. “Interestingly, we found that this type of direct
Database marketing Golfsmith had never sent a postcard as part of its mail format targeting is actually pretty rare and
manager, Best Western holiday mailings; however, it gave it a go and random- sometimes lost in the digital-focused media strate-
Hotels and Resorts ly sent one of the two mailings to each of its customers. gies of today,” she notes. “So, while digital is also
After running the test, Golfsmith needed a way to critically important to us, customers’ email inbox-
JAMIE LAROSE
VP, digital marketing, analyze the holiday mailing piece’s performance. So, es are overflowing and we found that getting the
Wells Fargo in August 2015, it started using two solutions within right direct mail piece in front of the right customer
Experian Marketing Services’ suite to analyze the at the right time to be just the thing to cut through
BRENT LEARY
customer response rate to each mailing and, ultimately, the clutter.”
Managing partner,
use these insights to drive better targeting and ROI Based on this insight, Golfsmith was able to further
CRM Essentials
for the upcoming holiday season. segment its customers and create a new strategy for
E
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DMP experts discuss the pros and cons of technology Attendees network during a break in the action
the 2015 holiday season. The company sent postcards agency worked with Oracle to email a survey to its own
ALEX LIRTSMAN to a greater percentage of customers and, therefore, database as well as to the marketing technology provid-
Founding partner and cut back on total costs. er’s. Stein IAS also fielded the survey on LinkedIn and
chief strategist, Ready In fact, the company saved so much money it was able at the World B2B Chief Marketing Congress in Shang-
Set Rocket to use the existing campaign budget to create an incre- hai. It collected responses from 300 chief marketers.
mental pre–Black Friday direct mail piece encouraging
STEPHANIE LOSEE
customers to opt in to the retailer’s email program to re- Survey as lead-gen tool
Executive director of
brand content, Politico ceive offers during the holiday season and beyond. Early The survey quizzed marketers about their profi-
results show that the 2015 campaign generated a double- ciency in four key areas of digital marketing: reach
LIZ PEDRO
digit increase in response rate over 2014 — proving that and attract, engage and inspire, nurture and convert,
Marketing director, Mitel
analytics helped Golfsmith hit the green. — Elyse Dupré and analyze and optimize. After the respondents
DR. NATALIE PETOUHOFF answered the questions, they received personalized
VP and principal analyst, CONTENT MARKETING infographics showing how their digital marketing
Constellation Research INNOVATION: STEIN IAS dexterity compares to other B2B marketers’.
B2B marketing is evolving as rapidly as B2C mar- But the content creation didn’t stop there. In exchange
JEFFREY RAYPORT
keting. But with so much focus on digital marketing for participating in the survey, Stein IAS promised re-
Professor, Harvard
Business School among B2C companies, it can be difficult for B2B spondents early access to its DMMI report — a summa-
marketers to benchmark themselves against their ry of the study’s overall findings along with the agency’s
PEDRO L. RODRIGUEZ
peers. Global B2B marketing agency Stein IAS want- commentary. Stein IAS also posted the report on its site
Director of integrated mar-
ed to find an easier way for marketers to compare so interested marketers could download it by filling out
keting, People en Español
their digital marketing aptitude to others and more an online form and providing information such as
SIPING ROUSSIN thoroughly understand where they need to improve. their name, title, company, and contact details. Pairing
Analytics and optimiza- So the company launched its Digital Marketing the survey responses with the data gathered through
tion manager, Lenovo Maturity Index (DMMI) campaign in March 2015. gated content helped Stein IAS generate leads.
“Digital marketing maturity is a burning issue in To prove that its DMMI approach worked, Stein
GEOFFREY SANDERS
VP, digital marketing, our prospect community,” states Tom Stein, chair- IAS based its campaign strategy on the same four ar-
CRM and loyalty, Gilt man and chief client officer of Stein IAS. “It’s some- eas featured in its report. For the reach and attract
thing that people [are] seeking to understand and stage, the agency promoted its report through email,
AMANDA TODOROVICH
make the best progress they can, make the best bets social, Web, display, and PR. It also used its inter-
Director, content
they can, [and] organize themselves as best they can.” active tool to engage and inspire marketers and en-
marketing, Cleveland Clinic
The DMMI is an interactive tool that allows users to couraged users to try the tool through nurture emails.
CHARLOTTE TSOU measure their performance against their peers and de- The agency is still working on the nurture and con-
SVP, head of analytics tect areas of improvement by answering a series of ques- vert and on the analyze and optimize stages, but so
and CRM, HSBC
tions. Stein IAS conducted a survey of B2B marketers to far the results are promising. In addition to receiving
assemble the data needed to create the assess ment. The media coverage and social mentions, the campaign’s
Attendees shoot the breeze during a break Marketing professionals partake in Intelligent Connection roundtables
emails have generated a 3.14% click-through rate — exceeding the created a matrix of elements that would dynamically populate an
B2B average of 2% — and a 65% conversion rate. Plus, people are email with targeted content based on a traveler’s specific scenario.
spending an average of four minutes on its website, and the com- For example, one member may receive an upgrade message based on
pany has generated numerous high-quality leads. her itinerary and seat assignment, while another passenger might re-
Stein says the campaign isn’t over. Inspired by its success, the agen- ceive location-based recommendations based on his final destination
cy plans to make this content initiative an annual effort. — Elyse Dupré or layover. The airline uses Experian Marketing Suite’s Interactions
Manager tool to incorporate these elements into each prep email, and
EMAIL MARKETING it sends these trigger messages seven days before each person’s flight.
INNOVATION: DELTA AIR LINES The company uses the Experian Marketing Suite’s Intelligence
Getting a new email program off the ground isn’t easy, but Delta Air Manager solution to report program measurement. After the pro-
Lines took its SkyMiles frequent flier emails to new heights by using gram ran for 60 days, Delta analyzed some of the initial results so it
data to deliver relevant segmented messages. could adjust and optimize its messaging.
Previously, Delta sent SkyMiles members about 11 to 16 emails For example, the airline discovered that Comfort+ upgrade mes-
per month, excluding transactional notifications. These messages sages performed far better than the First Class upgrade messages, so
often contained broad content and didn’t provide the first-class per- its marketers reprioritized the mailings. The analyses also revealed
sonalized experience today’s customers expect. As a result, Delta’s that response rates changed by loyalty tier. A member who has
engagement metrics started to descend. reached the highest Diamond Medallion tier, for instance, might not
Delta’s marketers know that every traveler experiences elements of respond as well to packing tips as a less frequent flier might, Harry
travel (such as packing, checking in) differently. As Delta’s GM of digi- explains. In addition to analyzing response rates, Delta conducted
tal marketing Amy Harry puts it, there’s no one-size-fits-all method. qualitative research to collect customer feedback.
The airline’s marketers needed a way to send members critical Constant optimization is part of Delta’s route to success. Harry
travel information that was also contextually relevant and added says the company takes an “editorial” approach to its email content
value to each customer’s trip. Still, they didn’t want to resort to clog- and updates it each month to keep members engaged.
ging up members’ inboxes. So, after hosting a series of brainstorm- After months of testing, Delta officially launched the program in
ing and planning sessions with its agency DigitasLBi and marketing May 2015 and customer engagement has soared. Along with cutting
technology provider Experian Marketing Services, Delta launched back on email clutter, the Flight Cycle emails produced open rates of
the beta phase of its Flight Cycle email program in January 2015. 60% (doubling Delta’s 30% benchmark) and a 17.4% click-through
rate — up from 4%. The airline also experienced a 5% incremental lift
Route to success in Delta Comfort+ upgrade revenue, and Flight Cycle is the third-
Unlike its original program, which consisted of sending members highest American Express acquisition trigger — an extra perk for its
broad messages a dozen times a month, Delta’s Flight Cycle Pro- partners. — Elyse Dupré
gram sends targeted triggered emails during the four key stages
of their travel experience: plan, prep, fly, and home. For the beta MOBILE MARKETING INNOVATION: SAMSUNG
launch, Delta focused solely on prep. When you’re a mobile provider that constantly touts its product
Using its airline, location, transactional, and loyalty data, Delta innovations, your mobile marketing had better be innovative, as well.
L-R: Julie Smalstig, AccuWeather; Michelle Gudema, NY Times; Stephanie Miller, New Food Economy Matt Greitzer, Accordant Media, making his point
“We build ‘meaningful innovation’ into every product and the the charm of a buddy movie blended with the unexpected plotlines
campaigns must demonstrate that,” states Yeji Kim, senior manager of a docudrama — always placing product into the stories in a permis-
at Samsung. sible way — we felt strongly we had a winning formula,” Kittle notes.
In fact, looking for ways to innovate its marketing helped Sam- The campaign rolled out in three phases. During phase one, Mancu-
sung grab attention and build engagement when it launched its Gal- so and McBride came to New York (which averages the greatest num-
axy Note 4 in 2014. Working with marketing services firm Harte ber of tweets per square mile that are complaints), learned the Note
Hanks, the mobile provider put a unique spin on the idea of pro- 4’s new features, and shared their creative processes with each other.
ductivity — a key selling point of the mobile device — to reach the During this phase the duo created their usual Instagram, Snapchat,
under-30 target audience Samsung was looking to engage. and Vine content using the Note 4; Samsung Mobile captured and
Harte Hanks conducted research to help inform the campaign; it shared behind-the-scenes videos of their content creation processes.
revealed an interesting, and useful, data point: Samsung’s under-30 Phase two launched into the core of the #NoteMyDay campaign.
audience is significantly more expressive emotionally in its social Using Twitter’s API, Harte Hanks created a tool that searched Twit-
posts than are consumers over 30. ter for negative tweets within five miles of the campaign’s home
One way this was evident: Younger social media users are as open base in New York. Mancuso and McBride then selected the tweets
about discussing bad days as they are good days. Harte Hanks saw about bad days that they wanted to turn into good days.
that as an emotional hook for Samsung’s campaign: using the Galaxy The catch: They had to use the Note 4 to do so — that same day. In
Note 4’s productivity capabilities to turn bad days into good ones. one case they selected a person who works underground and tweeted
“Millennials use social channels to share everything, every day,” says about the cold — chosen because he also posts lots of selfies — and had
Alan Kittle, Harte Hanks’ global executive creative director. “But we’d him join McBride in a cherry picker to go high above Central Park
never seen a brand take direct action and find ways to make the bad and shoot selfies with an amazing view of the park behind them.
days better, even though turnaround stories are popular. Using smart- During phase three the duo used a combination of Twitter and
phone features to create happy endings felt so unusually emotional.” their own preferred social channels to create more content focused
on resolving select tweeters’ bad days — within an hour of finding a
Start tweetin’ the news tweet and drawing from a global audience of tweeters.
The research also showed a notable shift to Vine and Snapchat Each piece of content delivered a message meant to improve the per-
among Samsung’s under-30 audience. So the campaign’s social focus son’s bad day and included a gift. One tweeter who posted about being
would center on those touchpoints, as well as Facebook, Instagram, stressed got a response tweet showing a photo of the duo wearing robes
Twitter, and YouTube. and with cucumber slices on their eyes, along with a message that the
But Samsung Mobile’s low following on Vine and Snapchat would tweeter was going to receive a day at a spa to help relieve his stress.
need a boost to ensure success. The mobile provider partnered with Mancuso and McBride together turned around 18 bad days across
Vine star Rudy Mancuso (who has more than 6 million followers) and 10 countries over the course of three days. Harte Hanks and Sam-
famed Snapchat artist Shaun “Shonduras” McBride. The two would sung filmed the entire process and uploaded videos to Samsung
use Note 4s to create social content focused on turning around bad Mobile’s YouTube page each day. The videos capture how Mancuso
days as part of what would be Samsung’s #NoteMyDay campaign. and McBride collaborated to create their responses and posts and
“[With] the on-screen chemistry between two social stars, we had showed how they used the Note 4 to do so.
Direct Marketing News' Elyse Dupré conducting an interview Attendees discuss the many topics of the day during a break in the action
“The most outstanding success was the response to our final make the ominichannel experience a reality for their customers.
phase, our three Twitter Takeover days, when we took our idea “Technology enables the entire process, from campaign promo-
global,” Harte Hanks’ Kittle notes. “Trending in country after tion to the dynamic transactional messages,” Rempell adds.
country as we moved across time zones — creating content and giv- AEO wanted to use consumers’ everyday digital experiences to
ing gifts to just one person, shared with millions simultaneously — drive in-store traffic and purchases. That’s why last spring AEO
was so affirming it kept us going even though the team was utterly developed a program called Reserve, Try & Buy. The idea behind
exhausted by the time we were done. When people started using the program is to give customers the flexibility to shop exactly how,
#NoteMyDay to share their stories it was electrifying.” when, and where they want.
The campaign successfully dialed up engagement for Samsung’s AEO, however, needed technology to enable that ideal experience
Galaxy Note 4. Along with 1.3 million interactions (commenting, — one where the brand meets shoppers anyplace, not just in stores.
retweeting, revining) with the content from Mancuso and McBride, “American Eagle Outfitters has made tremendous strides to provide
Samsung’s nine videos garnered 15.2 million views and 226,000 our customers with a brand experience that flows seamlessly between
tweets included #NoteMyDay, which trended on Twitter in six key digital and in-store,” Rempell states. “Omnichannel represents the
global markets. Best of all, the social engagement helped Samsung future of the brand, and future of the retail industry, for that matter.”
reach 13.5 million units sold in Q4 2014. One example of AEO’s approach: Customers reserve merchandise
“We briefed the team at Harte Hanks to deliver an idea that was orig- through a mobile app or on AEO’s website. The store nearest each of
inal, compelling, yet simple, and they managed to deliver on all three of those customers receives an alert of the shoppers’ requests, at which
these with #NoteMyDay,” Samsung’s Kim says. “It was our first signifi- time store employees confirm that the items are in stock. If so, using
cant attempt to integrate real-time marketing into a campaign, which tools from Experian Marketing Suite, the retailer sends the customers
delivered strong numbers to support our sales targets, product aware- a series of real-time email and text messages to confirm their orders.
ness, and satisfaction metrics. Internally, senior leadership labeled it one Those messages include the local store’s hours and location. Store
of the most innovative campaigns of the year.” — Ginger Conlon employees set aside the items; shoppers can hold as many as five
items in the store that will remain there until the customer comes to
OMNICHANNEL MARKETING INNOVATION: the store and buys them — up until the close of the next business day.
AMERICAN EAGLE OUTFITTERS “Omnichannel customers are often a brand’s most valuable custom-
Marketers for retailer American Eagle Outfitters (AEO) recognize ers because they engage more with the brand, and they purchase more
that shoppers today are multidimensional, transient, and always on. frequently from that brand,” confirms Yara Lutz, VP of client services
“We know that customers are increasingly pre-shopping online for Experian Marketing Services. “We found that mobile transaction
prior to coming into our stores,” confirms Michael Rempell, EVP rates were more than 10 times higher than those for email campaigns.”
and COO at American Eagle Outfitters. “Over the past few years
our teams have worked hard to build digital and mobile capabilities Get with the program
to meet our customers’ expectations.” He says the team at AEO Marketers at AEO tested the program in 13 cities and launched the
understands that shopping experiences today start in consumers’ full program last July.
hands — through mobile, on the Web with their devices, in emails, “Consumers expect cross channel — and cross channel is a seam-
and through SMS notifications. Marketers need technology to less experience,” Lutz divulges. “This is a difficult expectation for
Julie Smalstig, AccuWeather, discusses data as an asset Jay Wilson, Healthgrades (l), and Stephanie Miller, New Food Economy (r), with friends
brands to meet, but it becomes feasible if you can sift through the second was to create conversation that tapped into — and was fueled
noise and link data across channels.” by — the Super Bowl hype, but created a dialogue that infused talk
AEO’s Rempell says that although technology was the cornerstone of of the brand and its next generation of cars.
the program, data was its backbone. Message preference data and in-
ventory data dictated the contents and cadence of each triggered email. The immaculate interception
AEO used tools in the Experian Marketing Suite to measure the Volvo turned to Grey New York to implement a social contest en-
success of the program. titled “The Greatest Interception Ever.” The concept was simple:
“One of the exciting outcomes we’ve seen since launching the Re- Volvo asked viewers of the Super Bowl to tweet using the hashtag
serve, Try & Buy program is that customers are making additional #VolvoContest and say who they think should get a Volvo XC90
purchases once they’re in our stores,” Rempell explains. Customers and why. Tweeters could win one of five new Volvo trucks. But
reserve an average of one to two items with the Reserve, Try & Buy there was a catch: Viewers had to tweet the hashtag and their pitch
program. But when they arrive in the store, they end up buying whenever a competitor’s car commercial aired during the Super
more than three items on average. Bowl, taking away attention from competitors’ messages, drawing
“We understand that our multichannel customers spend more attention to the Volvo brand, and sparking conversation around the
than double the amount of single-channel shoppers,” Rempell re- next generation of vehicles at Volvo. The guerrilla marketing move
calls. “This program promotes that multichannel behavior, which stole some of the thunder from those $4.5 million Super Bowl TV
increasingly converts more customers into multichannel shoppers ads and rode the excitement and attention centered on the big event.
for the brand.” — Natasha D. Smith Volvo sent auto-responses to respondent tweeters so they could
finish their entries and accept the terms and conditions of the con-
SOCIAL MARKETING INNOVATION: VOLVO test. Rana says the results were astounding.
Traditionally, the 30-second ad spot during the Super Bowl has been “We exceeded all of the sales targets and metrics for this cam-
the gilded standard for advertisers. But marketers at Volvo know paign,” he points out. “The campaign resulted in accelerated
that coveted spot is extending to the second screen — the mobile growth during February with the highest sales lift of any vehicle in
devices viewers are using to engage in the event and with friends. Volvo’s segment.”
“Volvo couldn’t afford to spend $4.5 million on a Super Bowl TV Volvo saw a nearly 71% YoY increase in XC60 sales in February.
spot, but still wanted to be a part of the conversation,” says Amol About 20,000 users tweeted #VolvoContest more than 56,000 times
Rana, account director of activation at agency Grey, which crafted during the game, causing Volvo to trend three times nationally and
a second-screen strategy for the car maker. “So we turned the atten- globally. More than 10,000 users completed contest entries, and 5,000
tion to Twitter, where the conversation was already happening on- new consumers opted in to receive communications from Volvo.
line, which was proven by the fact that the previous year’s Super “The idea itself was simple and effective but truly innovative,”
Bowl was the most tweeted live event in history.” Rana adds. “Volvo is a brand that places people first. This cam-
Marketers at Volvo decided to do two things for its 2015 social paign leveraged that brand ethos by inviting consumers to behave
marketing campaign for the Super Bowl: The first was to focus on in a way that brought the focus on people to life. Consumers weren’t
the people who matter most to consumers rather than run pricey car entering to win a Volvo for themselves; rather they were nominat-
commercials that highlight what’s important to the company. The ing a deserving person.” — Natasha D. Smith
Vivek Sharma, Movable Ink, talks about real-time marketing Yacov Wrocherinsky, Orion Global Solutions, on aligning customer-facing processes
STARS OF MARTECH healthy, and delicious,” Sachs states of one of his clients. “What
we do is get people to choose their recipes instead of going to
Food Network.”
CONTENT MARKETING SCRIBE:
Sachs calls what OneSpot does “content sequencing” and likens
Steve Sachs, CEO, OneSpot
it to the level of personalization Amazon has been able to achieve
What’s now called content has been part of with its customer base. Just don’t call what Sachs does advertising.
Steve Sachs’ life since he delivered papers for “There are companies that see content as a form of advertising,”
The Baltimore Sun as a schoolboy. His print he says. “We don’t work with them.” — Al Urbanski
media journey eventually took him to one of
the industry’s highest peaks. Two decades at DATA SCIENTIST:
Time Inc. landed Sachs in the office of EVP of consumer marketing Christopher Penn, VP of
and sales at the venerable publisher. marketing technology,
He helped shepherd the company through a painful transition Shift Communications
period to content creation and monetization on this new medium In the right brain–left brain miasma of digital
called the World Wide Web. marketing, employers lament the scarcity of
“And now, of course, it’s the leading channel, with new content marketing-tech amphibians. But lifelong techie
created every day — by professionals, by non-professionals, by Christopher Penn thinks non-techies can be
every body,” he explains. just as adaptable as he’s been. The secret, he says, is to forget about
It was because Sachs saw a better way for brands to act as bona all the clouds and platforms.
fide content providers outside of standard paid advertising channels “If you already know how to get a nice crust on a steak, do you
that he left Time for OneSpot three years ago. need to understand the science behind your broiler?” Penn asks.
“Brand marketers can absolutely deliver people content on the or- “What we have going on in marketing is a lot of people who don’t
der of that delivered by major publishers. They just have to be able know how to cook, but are buying all of these fancy appliances.”
to determine what feels relevant and what does not,” says Sachs, Penn’s case in point for focusing on the steak rather than the broil-
whose key contribution to their cause is to direct them to the chan- er: A U.K. client, Slimming World, asked Shift to find out if it would
nels where they’ll find optimum relevance. be worth its while to enter the U.S. market. Using data from the
USDA, Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Bureau
It’s not advertising of Economic Analysis, Penn cross-referenced obesity rates with de-
Not surprisingly, he does this in part through OneSpot’s platform, mographic factors such as income and distance to stores and came
which is a cross-channel content disseminator. It tracks visitor be- up with an answer of “yes,” and then suggested branding strategies.
havior on a client’s website, recommends content for individuals, Of course, Penn does know how marketing tech works, and he’s
remarkets them across mobile and social, and drives look-alike con- made it easier for account people at Shift to get cooking with it
sumers back to the site with relevant content. through a marketing technology team that tests and perfects mar-
“Look at Whole Foods. They’ve got something like 4,000 recipes, tech initiatives.
great recipes that have the same consumer mission of natural, “We got going on marketing automation in my first three months
Attendees enjoy the view and a cold drink during a celebratory cocktail party RAPP founder Stan Rapp addresses Entangled Marketing
Description:Digital marketing has been a game-changer that has “We never had a view into what happened online .. The company's agency, Anagram,.
