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BILLY LOIZOU

LEND ME YOUR EYES

Creating A WINNING STRATEGY FOR RETAIL

8/17/2021

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ZERO TO LOYAL 💯

Recently, I started to think about some of the challenges that specifically retail marketers are facing. I couldn't help but illustrate what I believe, are the three key themes in the industry and how they are interrelated.

Let me explain by starting from the bottom of the pyramid:

1. Building direct-to-consumer relationships are king - The third-party phase-out has created a reason for brands to get closer to their customers. In order to build trust with today's customers, you need a data strategy that is built and governed around regulations and consent. A zero-party data strategy is important and once you have the data collection strategy you can work on planning the right engagement and experiences to connect across any point of sale.

2. Continue to demonstrate ongoing value - Today’s customer is flippant and has limited attention - so it’s your job as a brand to answer the big question “what have you done for me lately?” Well, now that you have data in place, foster a relationship built around the key lifecycle moments and provide content and offers which are relevant to the individual. You must however start with permission and access to the right 'ongoing' data created through the value exchange in point 1 above.

3. Embrace your brand and be confidently different - Creativity is becoming more important than ever; how can you elevate your brand to have distinct differentiation and utility - start by looking at your data and solve real consumer problems. No longer can you think about marketing channels in isolation and just rewarding customers on spend. A holistic approach will allow you to successfully navigate both the physical and digital mediums, this should be tightly integrated and allow you to predict and react to the customer whenever they raise their hand.
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PERSONALISATION MATRIX

8/17/2021

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PersonAlisation is a buzz word that is thrown around in conversations without much thought of what it actually means.

The technology you need to drive true personalisation is only going to be as effective as the strategy you deploy and the data you collect to action. The power of true omni-channel personAlisation is still yet to be fully unlocked in most businesses.

Below is a diagram I have designed which should help illustrate Customer Value vs the Customer Experience using the 4R's of personalisation.
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THE DATA DIFFERENTIAL

9/21/2020

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3 Customer Tenets For Successful Modern Loyalty Programs

4/3/2019

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Loyalty is not a new term to marketers, however, it is quickly becoming a winning proposition for brands all across the world. Since the emergence of digitisation through e-commerce and digital payment infrastructure a new chapter of loyalty programs has arrived. 
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Marketers need to shift their focus from creating absent cookie cutter one-size-fits-all loyalty programs to immersive personalised and unique loyalty experiences. We need to start being responsive to customers across the channels of their preference, relevant to customers based on their changing needs and enable them to choose how they would like to be rewarded.
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​Loyalty History Lesson

Let’s start with a brief lesson on how customer loyalty programs first kicked-off. Loyalty programs have stories dating back to the 18th century where retailers apparently used redeemable copper coins for future product purchases.
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The late 1900s saw the birth of one of the most well-known loyalty programs ever created: Frequent Fliers. Often regarded as the first full-scale card-based loyalty program of the modern era, American Airlines' launched their Frequent Flier program in 1981. The program revolutionised customer loyalty and now boasts over 50 million members in their revamped AAdvantage program.

In 1995 Tesco launched the revolutionary loyalty club card. The science and messaging behind the program itself became quite sophisticated and changed the game for Tesco. Edwina Dunn (co-founder of dunnhumby) explains, "First and foremost it was a thank you and that thank you was money off, so people visited the store one more time, which led to millions and millions of pounds’ increase [in revenue]. They would occasionally put another item in their basket which translated to a huge sales uplift."
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Today, programs such as Starbucks Rewards is optimised for mobile and the app acts as a rewards program and a mobile payment method. Members will soon be able to choose how they would like to redeem their "stars" for a wider range of rewards. The app is a utility to drive customers in-store and bridge the loyalty gap across the digital and physical environments. Other loyalty programs also reward points on social media shares and referrals as it helps drive new customers and grow revenue - rewards are now almost endless. With the rise of digitisation consumers now expect more for their loyalty - the big question they are asking is how is the brand being loyal to me? Customer loyalty is about the company acting loyal to its customers, not just the vice versa.
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The 3 Customer Tenets

The true source of modern loyalty is to create lasting customer relationships and to recognise and reward them as individuals; not as nameless, faceless point collectors. To demonstrate your commitment to the customer beyond just purchases it’s time you start delivering on these three key tenets:

1. Be Responsive
Relationships are built on two-communication. Today’s consumer wants to be part of a loyalty program that cares about what they have to say and responds to them on their preferred channel. With so many digital experiences available at their fingertips, customers have grown accustomed to good design and responsive interfaces. Providing access to your program via both website and mobile app has a significantly positive effect on customer satisfaction. More than 60% of consumers in Asia Pacific are now able to interact with their loyalty programs online. This implies that 40% of consumers can’t interact with their loyalty programs on their channels of choice^.

Loyalty programs should offer members a succession of experiences from the moment they join to the time they first earn points, first receive a points statement, and redeem and beyond. Each of these experiences presents as a moment of inspiration and can have a very meaningful impact on how a member perceives and engages with a program. 

In order for brands to provide these experiences, they need to be able to respond instantly to any customer data signal, such as demographic, preference, behavioural or location. Businesses need access to this data in real-time so they can activate this data and communicate at the moment.

2. Be Relevant
In a recent whitepaper created by MasterCard, when consumers were asked whether they will be willing to share personal information with their loyalty programs in order to receive a more relevant experience or benefits, 71% reported being willing to do so. Positive personalised experiences for a member is what it is all about, however, only 36% of consumers are highly satisfied with the level of personalisation in their current loyalty programs^.
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Companies need to start treating data like it’s a precious gift; customers need to be aware of what data you have about them and how you are using it. You will be surprised at how much information a customer is willing to share if you just ask them the question and share the benefit. It’s time to step away from the basic first name, last name, gender personalisation and start looking at the things that really matter.
Companies need to start treating data like it’s a precious gift; customers need to be aware of what data you have about them and how you are using it.
Use data to provide useful content, personalised offers and lucrative rewards based on the customer's data signals. Present opportunities for customers to respond to a wide range of challenges from photo, video and social challenges to polls and surveys, contests, games and sweepstakes. All these engaging brand experiences can be activated by leveraging your data and communicating through the customer's channel of preference, whether it be through email, mobile push, mobile wallet, SMS, social, website or in-store via point of sale.

3. Be Rewarded
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While your customers might be interested in the same types of products, they’re not all interested in the same kinds of rewards. Loyalty programs which offer only one type of reward can box itself into a corner by lowering its perceived value for prospects, especially in highly competitive discount-driven markets such as retail or cosmetics.

This might be showing my age, but I remember the excitement of being able to choose my toy when purchasing a Happy Meal at McDonald's. I get the same enjoyment today when looking at the Virgin store and deciding what to spend my points on. The opportunity here is how can all businesses apply that capability to their existing loyalty programs. Smile.io’s Kristen Burkard says that "Combining transactional rewards with experiential ones will help your program stand out."

The types of rewards can differ based on the customer like discounts, free swag and less tangible but equally valuable rewards like VIP access to sales. Sephora does this well with their ‘Beauty Insider’ program by allowing members to redeem their points in rewards.
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​Find a unique way to add this to your loyalty proposition and give customers a choice on how they want to redeem their points. This gamification element will automatically increase the appeal of joining your program and add a level of personalisation that customers crave.

References
^ Achieving Advocacy and Influence in a Changing Loyalty Landscape - A MasterCard Asia Pacific Study
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Is It Possible To Create A World Where YOU Own Your Data...And Get Paid?

3/25/2019

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We live in a world today where data is king. Every business decision we make, marketing strategy we create, customer touchpoint we design is informed by or built to capture data.
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Since working in marketing for over 10 years the holy grail for every organisation is to have a single customer view; a platform where they can store millions of different data points about their customers that can be viewed in one place. Marketers and I.T departments globally have invested billions of dollars in data lakes, data warehouses, DMPs, CDPs and the list goes on and on.

What if as an industry we got it all wrong?

I am loyal to around 4 brands; Apple, Nike, Brixton & Woolworths. I buy all my technology at Apple, shoes at Nike, hats at Brixton and groceries at Woolworths. Every single one of these businesses have a different perspective on Billy Loizou. Im sure all my demographic information is the same but there would be differences in almost every other data set. I don't mind receiving marketing material from these brands through email or social, BUT all of a sudden every Tom, Dick & Harry brand wants to use any of my 'so called' publicly available data through social platforms or via media agencies to target me. I get it, sometimes it's effective but I have never given you permission to message me, so now it has just become extremely annoying.

With GDPR soon to be mandated globally, Facebook getting dragged over the coals for their most recent behaviour with Cambridge Analytica and allowing anyone to be searchable with their security mobile number - TRUST is at an all time low with consumers and data SECURITY is at all time high with businesses.

What if we flipped the data value exchange model upside down?
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Imagine a world where YOU the customer owned your data and had a single brand view; a platform where you can store all the different data points brands have about you in one place. You control and manage a simple profile of all your information and decide what data can be used for marketing and targeting purposes. Any change you make to your address, preferences, interests, subscription, updates every database you are apart of - or the brands that want to target you have to access this secure database which you control.

All of a sudden this model changes how business start paying for advertising, instead of paying media agencies and social giants to target "customers who may be interested in blah blah blah" - they pay you the REAL customer. Not only do you have complete control of your data but you also can get paid to be advertised to. I personally think a world like this is achievable.

Im a dreamer, if you are too I would love to connect over a coffee and chat anything to do with marketing.
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Mega, Macro, Micro: How to Balance your Marketing Mix

12/18/2018

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It’s now been over 130 years since retail magnate John Wanamaker said “It’s the most famous problem in marketing. I know only half of my advertising works. The problem is, I don’t know which half.”

The ingredient list for today's marketing mix just keeps getting longer. The question every marketer asks themselves is how do I balance and prioritize my efforts between short-term sales activity and long-term brand building?

The Triple Threat Model
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In basketball, the most effective player on the court is the one who can impact the game in multiple ways and not just by scoring. The player is coined a “Triple Threat,” as they excel in all three key skills — passing, rebounding, and scoring.
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How does this relate to marketing, you might ask? Well, based on my experience in marketing within agencies, technology vendors, and brands — plus supported by research performed by the “Godfathers of Advertising,” Les Binet and Peter Field — I’ve identified three key moments that marketers should master. I crafted a model which aligns the mega, macro, and micro of marketing campaigns to enable short-term results and long-term brand building.
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Mega Marketing — Creating Brand Cut-Through
Audience: Mass Market
Medium: Broadcast, Print Media, and Out-Of-Home
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A successful mega-marketing campaign drives brand awareness, sparks conversation, and ultimately, fosters loyalty. Most big brands launch a campaign like this yearly and, based on the research from Binet and Field, emotional brand building is the key to long-term profits.
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Nike turned heads with their most recent 30-year celebration of the “Just Do It” slogan. They showed their brand mentality and they got people talking about them by using Colin Kaepernick as the face of the campaign, the ousted and unfairly maligned NFL quarterback who made headlines for his protest during the national anthem by kneeling instead of standing.
Macro Marketing — Driving Sales Activation
Audience: Targeted Segments
Medium: Website, Display, Search, Social, Email & SMS
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Effective macro-marketing campaigns target specific audiences, demand engagement, promote value and ultimately, drive sales. Most of these campaigns are tied to a commercial or seasonal calendar such as Christmas, tax time or holiday periods and excel with the use of rational-based messaging.
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Nike is one of the few brands that doesn’t need to rely on discounts to drive sales. They provide their customers value by encouraging them to sign up to exclusive content, products, and offers via email. Throughout the different seasons, they introduce new looks and trends straight to the inbox and their customers anticipate each new release.
Micro Marketing — Earning Customer Loyalty
Audience: 1:1 Messaging
Medium: Email, SMS, Push, Direct Mail
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Data-driven, micro-marketing campaigns typically are hyper-personalized and loyalty-focused, and ultimately, enable memorable experiences. Most of these campaigns are predictable in nature and are triggered based on a customer’s interaction with a brand.
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Nike+ is a beautifully designed rewards program for athletes. Customers are motivated by the ethos of authentic athletic performance. They have created a rewards program that is tailored to each member and delivers personalized product discounts that last your entire birthday month and exclusive VIP experiences. The more you shop and use the Nike+ app the more tailored it becomes.
What You Can Do Today To Impact Your Marketing Effectiveness
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  1. Perform a gap analysis on your current marketing activity. The first thing you should do is plot your current Mega, Macro, and Micro moments so you can analyze where there are opportunities in your marketing strategy.
  2. Create balance in your marketing efforts. Marketers should use their advertising campaigns and budget split across brand building, sales activation, and creating customer loyalty. Marketing budgets are shrinking, so efficiency is key.
  3. Define what a loyal customer looks like and means to your business. Typically 55%-70% of a company's revenue comes from 15%-20% of their customers. The question is, are we treating these loyalty customers any differently? And if we could, what would we do to make them customers for life?
  4. Analyze your current customer experience. Identify where micro programs can improve the experience and drive significant ROI for your business by triggering a real-time email, SMS, or push notification. Typically, easy-to-implement programs such abandoned cart, post-purchase, or re-engagement can make an immediate impact on sales.
  5. Personalize your messages to improve customer engagement. Customers today don’t just want personalized communications, but products and services that are also tailored to them in real-time via the channels of their choice. How can you use the data you have today to improve content relevancy?
  6. Inject emotion into your brand-building messages. The most effective way to maximize customer value and long-term profits is to connect with customers at an emotional level.
  7. Stop discounting. Customers become accustomed to frequent discounting, resulting in a shift in focus from the value your brand provides. Frequent discounts are dangerous and erode long-term profits.
  8. Promote share of voice. Listen to your customers, anticipate their needs, and design offline and online experiences which empower them to promote your brand.
  9. Don’t be afraid to be creative. Capture your audience's interest, influence their response and inspire them to take action. This can be exceptionally powerful when combined with gamification or loyalty programs. Creativity can make your money go further.
  10. Test different marketing channels. Too often I read articles about the death of email or the end of print, it’s time to put those conversations to bed and test what works with your customers. Typically a mix of channels and messaging provides the best results for businesses today.
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No Money, Mo’ Problems as Marketing Budgets Decrease

12/18/2018

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After spending the last 10 years of my career working with marketers and leading customer experience with some of the world’s most trusted brands, I thought it was about time I grounded myself in my own research project – to speak with and learn from 50 marketers in just 50 days.

To be honest it seemed like an achievable challenge – didn’t anticipate that organising 50 different marketers diaries was near impossible. I was successful however and the conversations were invaluable. I was lucky enough to meet with CMOs from all over Asia Pacific across retail and banking to not-for-profit.

Importance of customer experience
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One thing that we all agreed on during the 50 days was how customer experience continues to become more important and is quickly becoming the new competitive battleground for brands. The investment today in global customer engagement is north of $3.6 billion dollars according to multiple marketing reports. Marketers understand the importance of technology and data to deliver great customers experiences, however most aren’t achieving the results they were promised or thought were possible.

Decreasing budgets
The fact that many marketers aren’t getting the return on their technology investment may have something to do with the fact that marketing budgets have decreased for the first time in four years according to Gartner’s latest Spend Survey. Marketing leaders must now justify their past spend and show the returns they deliver. It is clear that expectations in the boardroom are not being met and it’s time to show results that are actually delivering real business outcomes.
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The biggest hit has been the investment in martech as it has fallen by 15%. CMOs are pulling back on last year’s high spending commitment amid concerns over marketing’s capability to acquire and manage technology effectively. The need today is far greater than it has ever been in re-evaluating your technology investment, reviewing the capabilities of your resources internally, and creating alignment across the whole business.

Setting Priorities
So what becomes extremely important as marketing budgets are shrinking? Combining the right marketing platform with the right people to execute your strategy successfully.

Over time the obsession for marketers investing in shiny objects has led them to some cold hard truths. In the Mad Men era marketers invested heavily in agencies to think creatively about how they could advertise and communicate their brand to the masses. Many strategically sound concepts were presented. Fast-forward to today and marketers are investing heavily into marketing clouds and futuristic-sounding technology to advertise and communicate their brand at a 1-to-1 level. Technology is not a strategy. It is an enabler to help you implement and achieve your strategic vision.

Mark Ritson, award winning columnist and marketing professor, said shiny objects such as virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence etc. are distracting us from our real jobs and the big challenges that we are all facing. He said, “The history of marketing is not filled with death. It is filled with evolution and change. Disruption use to look like a VHS recorder. When it was launched in Australia we all assumed that cinemas would die. Except they didn’t. They thrived and they had their best decade.” History tells us we learn to live together and blend together. Things slow down. This same theory goes for marketing. The tactics may be changing but the fundamentals stay the same.

Use design thinking
Elon Musk has pioneered and transformed industries with the launch of Tesla and SpaceX. Musk is the type of businessman who learns by doing. His businesses thrive using the principles of design thinking, in which they are constantly prototyping and failing quickly in order to progress. Tesla however has faced mounting public pressure amid a production slowdown for its Model 3, its lower-priced car. The company recently revealed that it missed its target to produce 2,500 cars a week, disappointing investors.

Musk made a bold statement following the news. “Yes, excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake. To be precise, my mistake. Humans are underrated.” In this one statement he summarises the issue most marketers are facing: the relationship between people and technology. Many of us have shifted to relying more on technology than human beings.

Rely on people
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In today’s marketing landscape, you should be increasing your reliance on people and partnerships that align with your desired business outcomes. Businesses need to create internal alignment across five key organisational pillars: Brand, Strategy, Technology, Performance, and Experience.

There isn’t a magic marketing machine that will do all of this for you. You need great colleagues. You need excellent marketing partners. And in many cases, you’ll want a level of service with your marketing technology. Software has led many companies to create self-service portals and automated support, and marketers are starting to feel this backlash. Despite technological advancements, sometimes you need a pat on the back and to hear someone say, “we’ve got that covered for you.”
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People aren’t talked about as much these days. We’re intrigued by AI, machine learning, VR, AR, and other newer technologies. After many years of marketing to marketers and cramming in 50 meetings with marketing leaders into 50 days, it is clear to me that we can start to solve the marketing performance problem with people, strategic alignment, and plain-old execution.
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HAS FACEBOOK BROKEN OUR TRUST?

3/25/2018

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I was on the phone to a friend of mine the other day, and I was talking about how much I was craving Vegemite. A few hours later, when I opened up Facebook, the first thing I saw was an ad for Vegemite!! How weird!! Has Facebook been listening to my phone calls? Does this sound familiar?...Well it could actually be true!

​Earlier today I came across a tweet from Dylan McKay claiming that he'd downloaded his Facebook data as a zip file and it bizarrely included his entire call and sms history. See for yourself.​

Downloaded my facebook data as a ZIP file

Somehow it has my entire call history with my partner's mum pic.twitter.com/CIRUguf4vD

— Dylan McKay (@dylanmckaynz) March 21, 2018

@dylanmckaynz #DeleteFacebook #facebookshit I just downloaded my facebook ZIP and ran your script ., the length of contact info page itself scares me.
It contains all my SMS,MMS,call logs and contacts from Sep 2015 to Dec 2017 pic.twitter.com/rMp3SCc8eK

— pcm mushthaq (@mushthaqpc) March 25, 2018
So I decided to do some digging into my own Facebook data. After downloading my personal data directly from Facebook I realised the immense amount of data they have available on me i.e. my posts, messenger activity, timeline, friends, places I have been, ads I have interacted with, instagram specific interactions and strangely my entire phone contact list. I admit, I was aware of most of this data being available however not my phone contact list.
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​Access your own Facebook data by going to settings and clicking on the "Download a copy" link. Example below.
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Companies regardless of them being a fashion retailer or technology giant need to give control back to their customers. Allow your customers access to control the information you have, the information you collect and more importantly the information you use. This should also be designed in a way that is clear and simple to understand - not designed in a way that is strategically complicated so users abandon the process.

It seems Facebook has worked tirelessly over the years to gather as much data on users as it can – and to profit from it. As of the fourth quarter of 2017, Facebook had 2.2 billion monthly active users. Facebook's revenue grew from 7.87 billion in 2013 to 40.7 billion US dollars in 2017, it accumulated a net income of 15.9 billion US dollars and majority of that revenue was generated via advertising.
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Why am I not surprised?

In 2004 Zuckerburg used the term â€śDumb fucks” when he described the users of Facebook for trusting him with their personal data.  Zuckerberg also talked about what Facebook insiders called radical transparency, an idea that partly amounted to an insistence that old ideas about privacy were becoming outdated. “To get people to the point where there’s more openness – that’s a big challenge,” Zuckerberg said. “But I think we’ll do it. I just think it will take time. The concept that the world will be better if you share more is something that’s pretty foreign to a lot of people, and it runs into all these privacy concerns.” 

Facebook has gone to great lengths to convince members of the public that it’s all about “connecting people” and “building a global community”. In 2016 this became the tale of Facebook & Cambridge Analytica, a saga that highlights the awful mess that the biggest player in billions of online lives has enabled. If you aren’t familiar with the story Cambridge Analytica spent more than $1 million dollars harvesting personal data through Facebook so they could micro-target you with advertising. Advertising which Christopher Wylie (ex Director of Research at Cambridge Analytica) claims is grossly unethical and uses new constructs of psychology to target you based on personality. He say’s they used apps such as games that have special behaviours that harvest your data and pull all your friends data while they are at it. Once they have this data they know how to talk to you, via what medium and how often they have to show you a message in order to change your behaviour. This strategy is what most claim was used in the 2016 US presidential election which led to Donald Trumps success and in the same year Brexit. Chris says they are responsible for creating the worlds largest psychological warfare tool and full service propaganda machine who can influence how people behave and react. They did this by whispering in the ear of each and every voter using Facebook. In my opinion this is one of the worlds biggest data breaches.

To dig more into the revelations surrounding the Cambridge Analytica scandal click here.
"People change culture and if you change the people, in theory, you can change the culture. If you want to win a war in this example a political war you need to start by building cultural weapons. Once you destroy the existing culture, you can rebuild it however you want!” - Christopher Wylie explaining the psychological warfare tools they created.

WHAT DO I PLAN TO DO ABOUT IT?

​Well I’m not Elon Musk and won’t make headlines about joining the #DeleteFacebook movement, but I plan on taking a stance. Data should be treated like a precious gift and until Facebook start to take peoples data more seriously I will be deleting my personal account.
“We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you,” - Mark Zuckerburg
Actions speak louder then words Mark. Make it happen!
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Rise Of The Intelligence Economy

1/8/2017

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2015 was the year of the Customer Journey, 2016 was the year of Design Thinking....so what's does 2017 have in store for businesses and marketers across the globe?

To find an answer I decided to do some research on how the economy has changed over the last 50 years. It was evident that consumers are willing to pay a premium for a product or service based on it's perceived value; such as does it save me time? does it create a memorable experience? does it have long lasting qualities?

Thanks to Joseph Pine II and James H Gilmore they made it quite simple to understand with an article on HBR called 'Welcome To The Experience Economy.' They simplify the entire history of economic progress across the four stages of evolution using a birthday cake as the example:


  1. The Commodities Economy: As the agrarian economy advanced, mothers made birthday cakes from scratch, mixing farm commodities such as flour, sugar, butter and eggs. That together it would cost a dollar - however it took time to buy the ingredients and make the cake.

  2. The Goods Economy: As the goods-based industrial economy boomed, mothers paid a few dollars to Betty Crocker for premixed ingredients, where all you had to do was follow the recipe and bake the cake - you saved time and ingredients by buying it all in one box.

  3. The Services Economy: When the service economy took hold, busy parents ordered quality made cakes from the bakery or grocery store. It would cost $10-$15, far more then packaged ingredients however it was convenient, desirable and saved you time in the kitchen.

  4. The Experiences Economy: In the time starved late 90's, parents neither make the birthday cake nor even throw the party. Instead, they spend $100 or more to outsource the entire birthday event to Mc'Donald's so they can stage a memorable event for the kids - and the cake is thrown in for free.

An experience occurs when a company intentionally uses services as the stage, and goods as props, to engage individual customers in a way that creates memorable events. Experiences have always been at the heart of the entertainment business - think Walt Disney. However if you could charge admission for consumers to interact and engage with your brand, what would you do differently? - thats a good place to start brainstorming.
Today the concept of selling experiences is spreading beyond theatres and theme parks
​Customer experience today has become one of the key pillars for organisations around the world - irrelevant of industry. Consumers desire experiences, whether it be buying a laptop at the Apple store, staying at the Hilton for a few nights on a business trip or going into an ANZ bank branch to take out a mortgage on a new home.

​The Digital Evolution = The Intelligence Economy

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Over the last 10 years we have seen amazing advancements in digital technology - from cloud computing, mobile smartphones, virtual & augmented reality and now the explosion of machine learning. This has made a significant change to customer behaviour as now not only do we expect a personlised service from all brands but it has created a need for us to have access to that information and knowledge on demand.

Good businesses today meet customer expectations through seamless, invisible service that predicts their needs and wants. Welcome to the intelligence economy where experiences are driven by customer data, underpinned by artificial intelligence and personalised to the individual through the channel of their choice. Let's simplify it by bringing it back to the birthday cake.

The Intelligence Economy: In the digital evolution during the internet boom, parent's want to be able to order the cake or book the event while on the go from their mobile phone, they would also like personalised recommendations based on there searches, inspiration from social sources and access to the information (recipes) and tools (applications) so they can recreate the experience themselves if needed. Delivery to the front door will be included in the cost of the cake.
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The businesses that utilise their data and serve it in meaningful powerful ways to help there customers will charge ahead in 2017. Creating intelligent and smart tools that allow consumers from their homes to have meaningful interactions with your brand are the next battleground.
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How about a bank that provides you the tools to scenario plan and budget for your future using your real-life data, such as transactional history i.e where am I spending my money? what investments can I make? How about a gym that tracks your activities on the treadmill, then through a Fit-bit to provide tailored food plans to help you reach your desired weight? How about a real-estate agency that guides you through a lifestyle application online and then can recommend a suburb for you to live in based on it's demographic profile? The list of possibilities goes on when you combine data, technology and creativity...
2017 is the year of Artificial Intelligence
The goal is to turn data into information, information into insight and insight into actions
We are going to see some amazing advancements in this space - IBM Watson and Salesforce Einstein are just the beginning. If you are interested in this space pick up a book called "The Master Algorithm" by Pedro Domingos.
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We cannot change anything if we cannot change our thinking!

8/19/2016

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In today's fast paced world a lot of us get caught up in the noise of the day to day grind and forget about the big picture. We start to think that the company we work for and a job title defines who we are. From time to time we all need a bit of perspective, so last weekend I felt like I needed to recalibrate my thoughts and I decided to jump into a sensory deprivation tank for an hour (I can’t recommend this enough, if you are into mindfulness meditation then give it a shot.) What came out of this experience were these 12 life lessons that I thought I would share with you.  

I know what you are thinking….."You are just over 30 years old, what do you know about life lessons." I completely agree with you, I'm not Steve Jobs, Bill Gates or Richard Branson; however the last 10 years for me have been quite the adventure and I feel the need to share.
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  1. We are so focused on making money, we forget about humanity. What I mean by this is we get so caught up in generating sales and flogging product that we forget we are talking to real people.

  2. Technology should be used to help humans, not to replace them. Think drones, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, 3D printing - these are solutions that will enhance our world, provide more opportunity, automate repetitive tasks and remove high risk jobs.

  3. Learn to listen to that quiet voice in the back of your mind, its called intuition. 

  4. Your personal brand is just as important as the brand you work for. It’s time to start investing in yourself.

  5. Listening is important, you have two ears and one mouth for a reason.

  6. Collaboration is key, start by building on the ideas of others. As humans we always feel the need to trump other peoples ideas or stories.

  7. Stay hungry & stay foolish, never be satisfied and always push your self to be better. Just because someone has told you it can’t be done doesn’t mean they are right. This world was built by people no smarter then you.

  8. A good mentor can be more effective then an MBA. The moment I found a mentor my career accelerated - find great mentors through the inspiring people you’re already interacting and working with now. They need to be people to whom you have already demonstrated your potential – who know how you think, act, communicate and contribute.

  9. You don’t buy things with money, you buy it with your time....the time you used to create that money. This concept alone changed my life.

  10. Giving back is more rewarding than receiving. Numerous studies have shown that happier people are those who are selfless.

  11. The disparity between the rich and the poor is not always because of work ethic. It comes down to opportunity - be grateful.

  12. Most of the time you need to fail in order to succeed.
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