The first instalment of IBM's global C-suite study reveals that while a lot has been achieved in the digital marketing world, a lot of ground remains uncovered.

IBM interacted with 4,183 top executives from over 20 industries to find out how they are earning the loyalty of digitally savvy customers. The study classifies CMOs under three groups: the traditionalists (those who hardly use digital media), the social strategists (who use social media but don't look at the overall digital picture) and the digital pacesetters (who are constantly innovating digitally).

Overall, the CMO is seen as the custodian of the brand, especially in digital pacesetters-led organisations. They use data analytics to target customers and better their experiences. A good example of this would be the Jaguar's virtual shopping experience. Jaguar has developed the 'Jaguar Land Rover Virtual Experience', a 3D application deployed on a PC-based system, that allows customers to examine and change components of a 3D rendering of a car, using motion-detection technology, in the dealer showroom. Built in collaboration with IBM, the virtual showroom experience begins with a customer signing in with a tablet device and selecting a car, which is projected on a nearby screen.

Motion-sensing technology enables the customer to use his or her body to control the image of the car and inspect its features, such as opening the driver's door to examine the interior. She can then customise the car's colour and other features according to her preference.

This is an example of how digital technologies are transforming the offline shopping experience. In addition, such an exercise allows for the collection of important data that may not be possible to record in a showroom environment - such as if a customer has been admiring the seats for a long time, it could be an area to highlight in the marketing campaign.

"The marketing team needs to sit with the design team and the engineering team to put this together. It is interesting how digitisation is enabling the next wave of collaborative marketing," says Vasantha Kumar, director, marketing and communications, IBM India and South Asia.

The next wave

Take luxury fashion retail chain Zara, which is modeled on the concept of fast fashion, where the brand goes from ramp to rack in a matter of weeks.

Part of its success can be ascribed to smart marketing and store display. A bigger factor is its ability to predict fashion trends and produce merchandise in time for delivery to the far-flung outlets. That calls for a very efficient supply chain. As one doesn't know what will actually end up flying off the shelves, it is also important to decide when to run a promotion and what percentage markdown (discount) should be given. Further, different audiences come to different store locations, and different merchandise will move differently at different outlets. A lot depends on its ability to give discounts depending on the location catered to. All these facts are based on very sophisticated analytics.

"A lot of Zara's success can be put down to its markdown model and its supply chain, which highlights the importance of data. Here too, one sees how marketing is required to work in collaboration with functions such as supply chain, pricing, finance etc," says Kumar. Data - whether one talks of 'big data' or internal transactional data - can then be the new source of competitive advantage.

North Face - the outdoor equipment retailer - is another example of how companies can use analytics to create personalised customer experiences.

The company is experimenting with a virtual shopping concierge, Fluid Expert Personal Shopper, that is powered by cognitive computing capability, IBM Watson. If a customer simply tells Watson (through its app) about an upcoming camping trip to, say, Vermont in February, the technology will immediately anticipate the camper's needs and come up with a list of supplies that the customer might not have thought of. This is a way to use technology to help customers get exactly what they need.

The mobile way

Forget digital-first strategies; marketers may soon have to think 'mobile-first', and with good reason. The mobile phone is probably the first gateway to the internet for many. Cracking mobile data can give a marketer contextual information about the user, location, interest etc. The IBM study suggests that by 2015, there will be 20 times more mobile data and 40 times more mobile transactions in India compared to 2010. "That is the kind of growth we are seeing," says Kumar. After all, people have their mobile phones next to them for 18-20 hours a day.

Social media too is making its presence felt in determining business results. Red Funnel, the ferry carrier in Europe, was looking for ways to make its passengers' journeys more efficient. When an IBM Master Inventor devised a solution designed to predict the actual arrival and departure times of each Red Funnel ferry, the company was keen to explore the customer service benefits. By applying data analytics to information gathered from sensors onboard its ferries, Red Funnel can inform customers of the arrival or departure of its vehicles real-time via Twitter. Imagine the value it offers to its 14,000-strong fleet and 23,000 Red Jet passenger sailings every year!

Well, that's some way off for Indian brands but as many of the cases we have illustrated over pages 2 and 3 of this issue will demonstrate, work is underway to get there... sooner rather than later.