I’m a bit obsessed with customer experience at the moment. It could be because after 12 long months, our expansive audit of over 100 points of customer content engagement with 25 major brands is over. I have been surrounded by the assessments of our auditors who engaged with those brands, surprised by some reactions, disheartened by others. I am...obsessed.

So, how has this manifested? At the CMO Council, we are undergoing a major revamp of the experience with our website...more on that in months to come. But, what would happen if we had included the Obama and McCain campaigns in our Variance in Customer Experience audit? So here we are: The Variance in Voter Experience: The Election Edition. Here is what I found...

Web: Edge to Obama
The official Barak Obama website does a tremendous job with pulling visual identity elements (most notable the graphic of the sun/flag emblem that has become the apparent “logo” for the campaign) and verbiage that pulls in the brand promise of “change.” Change is a common word used across most of the content, constantly reminding the reader that Obama is a brand for change. The site is easy to navigate, however, if you land on the donation page, there is no clear direction that can get you back to the main site without donating. The Obama site also clearly indicates that it is Web 2.0 savvy providing home page links to everything from Twitter to Faithbase, even an Obama Mobile campaign where you can text HOPE to a shortcode...although I wonder why they didn’t pick CHANGE.

This is not to say that the McCain campaign does not do a good job. The site includes a bit of “personalization” in that you can state you are a decided or undecided voter. The McCain camp has selected an emblem, a star, that does a nice job of pointing to the main promise of “Country First”. However, there is little consistency and tie in from the verbiage or images that connect the two throughout the site. Navigation on the site is also a bit frustrating as pages were not linked correctly or did not actually contain the content I expected. The regionalized state pages are also inconsistent with some states not having much to say by way of local news, commentary or local ties to the campaign.

Contact center: McCain over Obama
Both campaigns have rather large operations in this regard. The call centers mirror the message, rhetoric and promises that can be found in most available online campaign material. Both appeal for support, both in votes and cold hard cash. I will say that the McCain operator was SUPER excited to talk to me and had ready access to answers and options. He asked some great questions at the front end of our conversation and really wanted to engage in conversation the minute I said the golden words, “undecided voter.” I did have a hard time actually getting off the phone. But, again, as this isn’t about the content he had to offer, I can’t hold it against him.

The Obama campaign does a nice job in automating the system, but again the McCain call experience is all about ease of use with lots of options to get the caller what they want, faster. The Obama campaign also positions their “donation trouble shooting” in a more negative light, actually providing the option to select if you have had problems with donations online or are calling regarding a problem with the donation processing. Sure made me think I should be looking for a problem.

Both campaigns miss a golden opportunity to do more on the phone however. This campaign is all about personal connection…yet neither campaign has the candidate speak in the pre-recorded message...is this a connection opportunity missed? The message is also focused on the function at hand, not really leveraging the time with the audience.

This is where I stopped in the engagement. The thought of treking through the streets looking for a campaign office or rally was just above and beyond even my obsession. But, as you can see, it is easy to spot the good, bad and inconsistent when you are truly looking at how content engages with an individual voter/customer. If you’d like me to turn the lens on your customer experience, by mid-November, I’ll have a void in the campaign-watch schedule, so let me know!

Until November,

Liz Miller
VP, Programs & Operations
CMO Council

Marketers’ Top 10 Wish List for Agencies of the Future

The Agency of the Future Survey is a national survey designed to provide insight into what marketers want from their agencies in the next 12 months. Sponsored by Sapient, the survey was conducted via email and polled more than 200 respondents, all of whom are either directly or indirectly responsible for managing digital marketing budget allocation across multiple channels.

Greater knowledge of the digital space is at the top of marketers’ list of what they want from their advertising and marketing agencies in the next 12 months, according to a Sapient-sponsored national online survey of some 200 CMOs and other senior marketers.

As it is, more than a quarter of marketers surveyed said from half to all of their marketing is done via digital channels, and nearly 40% foresee that in 12 months from half to all their marketing will be done via digital channels:

The respondents, all of whom are either directly or indirectly responsible for managing digital marketing budget allocation across multiple channels, were asked about the top qualities they sought in their advertising and marketing agencies in the coming year.

Based on the survey results, Sapient Interactive, Sapient’s marketing services group, issued a Top 10 Wish List for Agencies of the Future:

1. Greater knowledge of the digital space. More than one-third of marketers surveyed said they are not confident that their current agency is well-positioned to take their brand through the unchartered waters of online digital marketing and interactive advertising.

Nearly half (45%) of the respondents have switched agencies (or plan to switch in the next 12 months) for one with greater digital knowledge or have hired an additional digital specialist to handle their interactive campaigns. Regarding an agency’s area of expertise, 79% of respondents rated “interactive/digital” functions as “important/very important.”

2. More use of “pull interactions”. Nine in 10 respondents (90%) agree that to engage consumers with their brand it is increasingly important that their agency uses “pull interactions” such as social media and online communities rather than traditional “push” campaigns.

3. Leverage virtual communities. An overwhelming 94% of respondents expressed interest in leveraging virtual communities (public and private) to understand more about their target audience.

4. Agency executives who use the technology they are recommending. 92% of respondents said it was “somewhat” or “very” important that agency employees use the technologies that they are recommending - such as Facebook, Flickr, wikis, blogs, - in their personal social media mix.

5. Chief Digital Officers make agencies more appealing. 43% of marketers surveyed said agencies with chief digital officers are more appealing than those without.

6. Web 2.0 and social media savvy. 63% of marketers surveyed said an agency’s Web 2.0 and social media capabilities are “important/very important” when it comes to agency selection.

7. Agencies that understand consumer behavior. 76% of respondents deemed this as an “important/very important” aspect of their agency’s online digital marketing and interactive advertising area of expertise.

8. Demonstrate strategic thinking. 77% of marketers surveyed ranked strategy/brain trust capabilities at the top of their agency wish list.

9. Branding and creative capabilities. 67% of respondents ranked branding at the top of their agency wish list while 76% ranked creative capabilities as “important/very important.”

10. Ability to measure success. 65% ranked analytics at the top of their agency wish list.

“Marketers want agencies that can deliver on these demands today - not by 2009 and beyond,” said Gaston Legorburu, chief creative officer, Sapient. “As the interactive channel becomes increasingly important, only those agencies that can create, manage and measure multi-channel campaigns will stay relevant and thrive in an uncertain economy.”

Future Tense: The Global CMO
A report from the Economist Intelligence Unit sponsored by Google

The chief marketing officer (CMO), a title that barely existed 15 years ago, is under growing pressure to keep pace with rapidly changing digital media and globalisation. The rise of the Internet has changed the face of marketing from one to two-way communications with customers. The increasing adoption by business of interactive technologies, for example, wikis, blogs, mashups and other tools, has enabled consumers to interact with firms as never before, creating unprecedented opportunities for marketers at global companies. A new report from the Economist Intelligence Unit, Future tense: The global CMO, sponsored by Google, examines these issues and suggests that CMOs at global companies must recast marketing operations to meet these 21st-century objectives. Leading marketing executives must move beyond traditional advertising, marketing and brand awareness to a more transformative role, driving innovation across the entire business.

The CMO’s traditional dilemma of demonstrating effectiveness, return on marketing investment and relevance to the business persists. However, the democratisation of how information is consumed, produced and disseminated is forcing the global CMO to adopt a broader role in engaging all corporate stakeholders, from their traditional audience of customers and prospects to investors, employees, government regulators and others. This often entails remaking operations into integrated marketing and communications organisations that work collaboratively across the enterprise to gather, develop and use customer intelligence while blending talent with a nuanced understanding of their business. Successful CMOs must not only evolve the marketing function into an integrated, strategic component of the business—rather than simply a cost centre—but are also draw on long-practised but previously separate disciplines of PR and corporate communications to build integrated marketing and communications operations that encourage ongoing dialogue with customers and focus on long-term relationships.

Key best practices illuminated by this study include the following:

• Balancing global brand awareness with local market relevance. Centralising global marketing functions such as advertising development and production can create economies of scale and save money, but they must be guided by the needs of the local market and customer insights. At the same time, budgets must be freed up so that regional directors can make appropriate decisions based on market demands.
• Integrating marketing with other forms of corporate communications. Both the interactive nature of Web 2.0 technologies and the transparency of corporate messages among different constituencies—such as customers, investors, media, regulatory bodies and employees (past, present and future)—demand the integration of various forms of marketing and communications. Businesses can no longer segment audiences and messages as if audiences don’t talk to each other.
• Adopting new media. In particular, there should be a specific budget for experimentation with the newest Web 2.0 technologies. To remain competitive, companies must engage customers and fully exploit the interactive nature of digital media to create a stronger affinity with their brands among consumers and other stakeholders. The CMO should have the foresight to anticipate how different constituencies will respond to different events, messages and channels, and should be able to deal with the proliferation of new-media tools and expanded audiences.
• Developing new skills, capabilities—and partnerships. CMOs must not only position their companies, but help define them. To do so, they need to understand the fundamental business model, brand, culture, policies and values of the organisation. Equally important in terms of adapting to the evolution of new media are partnerships with vendors whose expertise can be used to get new initiatives to market faster—and more effectively—than a company would on its own.
• Championing innovation. The need for greater accountability for marketing expenditure is pushing global companies towards digital marketing campaigns with higher returns than traditional media. The interactive nature of the latest digital-media vehicles provides the opportunity to develop deeper insights into customer dynamics and allows the CMO to become the corporate champion of customer insight.

Download the full complimentary report (PDF) »