R3 Study Uncovers Five Digital Demands for CMOs

An analysis of best practice in digital marketing, the first-time study covers global, regional, and local work from six continents to offer 40 best examples of technology in advertising

Based on a new study by R3, the world’s best marketers and their agencies are moving quickly to integrate technology into more aspects of their marketing initiatives. Entitled AdTech 40, the global consulting reviewed hundreds of submitted cases from around the world to put together the report.

The work is a collection of the 40 top technology-driven marketing approaches from the past year. According to R3 Principal, Greg Paull, within five years, the CMO will spend more on technology than the CIO. As such, understanding the latest five new digital demands will be crucial to their role.

All cases were judged using four criteria to qualify: (a) proven on top brands, (b) proven on innovation, (c) proven and recognition, and (d) proven on results. The final 40 highlight innovative cases from companies such as Coca-Cola, Tesla, Samsung, Unilever, and more. The research helped R3 identify five digital demands.

Tech Must Transcend Borders – Almost a full quarter of the case studies included in the report are global campaigns. In addition,Asia and North America each accounted for 30% of the winners. With over 60% of the world’s population, coupled with skyrocketing internet and mobile penetration, it isn’t surprising that Asia is taking the lead when it comes to tech innovations. For example, MasterCard’s Priceless Engine was a global initiative driven out of Asia to generate a 16% lift in GDV.

Engagement is King – R3 separated the winning campaigns into four categories (Engagement, Acquisition, Tracking, and Performance) and found that 47% of the winning case studies leveraged technology to increase engagement with consumers. The leaders in the sector are creating individual brand experiences using big data. For example, Tesla showcased its new retail experience tool in the report, building more customised sales as business increased 85% in 2015.

Mobile First & Mobile Sustainable – By some measurements, mobile ad spending will account for nearly a quarter of total media spend in 2016. Brand strategy has to start with mobile; it can no longer be just a secondary channel. Almost a fifth of the winners in have a mobile app component while several of the brands’ campaigns were designed for a completely mobile experience. Several of the other top trends identified point to the importance of mobile in tech-driven marketing to include social innovation, cross-screen, and gamification. For example, the Taco Bell mobile app received more than 4.7 million downloads and generated a 20% increase in average check.

The Agency Model isShifting – In R3’s previous report, Integration 40, it highlighted the Six Degrees of Integration and demonstrated a trend towards digital at the centre. AdTech 40 supports those findings, showing that marketers are moving away AORs; it’s all about collaboration. Whether it is agencies working with other agencies, tech vendors or the marketer’s own internal teams, one thing is clear: whoever has the best idea wins. A Coca-Cola entry, Lyric Coke, was led by the brand’s digital agency and supported by five others, increasing sales by 10% during the campaign period.

DataDrives Everything – Building an integrated, personalised campaign which makes a consumer feel that the brand is speaking directly to them is done by leveraging data. As the Internet of Things (IoT) connects more and more devices, there will be more data available to marketers than ever before. For example, The Economist used big data and real-time marketing in a featured case to drive lifetime revenue up by $18 million on their customer base.

Ultimately, the 40 winning case studies in the report provide a deeper look into what works when leveraging technology to improve business results. They also shed some light on how marketer and agency relationships are continuing to evolve. The cases themselves span all types of technology and all different categories.

“The digital ecosystem is expanding at breakneck speeds. We were driven to identify the upcoming tech trends by client requests to look for best practice when integrating digital both into their own working processes as well as into their agency relationships,” said Paull.