PIM marketing trend rapport 2012

PIM Marketing Trend Report 2012
Mission Impossible: 8

1"
Information
Technology
2"
Integration
4
Internationalisation
5"
Integrity
6""
Investment
8"
Identity
3"
Intelligence
Personal and
Strategic Ambition
Technology as
a Lifestyle
Actionable
Synthesis
WW Net Neutrality
Market Power Equality
Data, Metrics
Magic Wand
Marketing =
Building Sustainable Business
Strategy and Implementation
Transparency
Me, You, Us
Gebaseerd op Moenaert, Robben, Bray and Gouw,
november 2011
7"
Inspiration
Market Dynamics
Experiences
Refreshing crisis thoughts:
The marketing agenda of 2012
2

Never waste a good crisis…
My apologies… Last year I quoted in the PIM Trend Report that we are
ascending out of the crisis that started in 2008. I couldn’t foresee the
Euro-crisis and it’s impact on the world. Actually we can affirm that we
have a crisis upon a crisis, the double dip... So, I was wrong… but also a
tad right by saying that we aren’t there yet. This crisis may last a few
years, perhaps. Afterwards, the world will never be the same, so… time to
create or own new world then! How? Be creative, work hard and be
smart, and most of all, get engaged with both your customer and supply
chain. Social is the word, relationship is the key… So, turn the world
around is not a Mission Impossible => Mission Impossible: 8.
What you have in front of you is the PIM Marketing Trend Report 2012. It
is the eighth time Platform Innovatie in Marketing (PIM) has published a
report like this. The third time from Peter Gouw’s hand, the first five times
the Trend Report was written by Egbert Jan van Bel. The assignment for
Peter Gouw, as editor of the Marketing Trend Report 2012, was to
describe what your company needs to do to use the present situation to
maximise your interests, using statistics, global research and best
practice.
With the title Mission Impossible the report will walk you through eight
subjects: Information Technology, Integration, Intelligence,
Internationalization, Integrity, Investment, Inspiration and Identity. The key
purpose of the PIM Marketing Trend Report is to be food for thought,
discussion and reflection. The aim of this report is not to give a complete
overview of all the trends in marketing, but to shed light on the most
relevant marketing trends that will impact our work throughout 2012.
Extremely necessary in times like this. Its purpose is to help marketers
make better decisions and provide guidelines for their work. It is not a ‘
how-to’ manual. It is, however, indicative, case-based and contains a lot
of valuable statistics. The report looks at today’s trends - trends that are
observable and tangible - and discusses what is going on now and what
will be important in the short term.
The still growing Platform Innovatie in Marketing’s vision and mission is to
recognise and monitor the most important and distinctive marketing
trends and share our knowledge with you. Just looking and debating not
enough: action is needed. At PIM there is a continuous, healthy
examination about developments in the marketing field, a reflexion which
we want to share with you! One of the accomplishments we share is the
PIM Marketing Trend Report.
As always, the report will be distributed to PIM members and others
involved in innovation in marketing. Peter Gouw is the report’s editor. A
record number of other marketers have also contributed to the report!
Thank you all for the hard work!
I hope this report will guide you to improve your marketing results and
realise your goal in customer value for 2012. We as "Platform Innovatie in
Marketing” wish you loads of inspiration with this new Marketing Trend
Report 2012. Enjoy reading it!
Drs. Hans Molenaar
Chairman Platform Innovatie in Marketing
Preface Hans Molenaar
3

In this trend report you will not ﬁnd short lists of trends and hypes.
Nor warnings or intimidating facts. And this report is also not about
an insightful description of what the trend will be in 5 to 10 years
from now.

The assignment of the board of PIM is clear. Where do we stand as
marketers today, why should we step up the plate and what should
we do in 2012? We focus on the missions marketers / managers
have this year. We have distinguished 8 special missions.
Impossible missions, let’s see and discuss, but for sure we have to
work off-the-grid (again). That’s what this trend report is all about.
Real marketing focus, facts, tips and opinions of our PIM Marketing
trend watchers’ network in order to help improve performance in
2012. Providing marketers / managers insights and explanations
they can use immediately within their Business to Business (B2B)
or Business to Consumer (B2C) activities and of course to inspire.
Peter Gouw

Colophon
January 31st, 2012
Publisher: Platform Innovatie in Marketing
Translation by Euro-Script Utrecht
Video : Dimitris Krisilis
Price per copy 95 Euro incl. VAT
Free copy PDF download for PIM members
Editors
Rudy Moenaert (TiasNimbas)
Henry Robben (Nyenrode)
Egbert-Jan van Bel (Beeckestijn)
Jan Havermans (GfK)
Pim van Geest (van Geest)
Michel van den Bosch (StratEx)
Focus Trend Rapport
4

Visual Mission Impossible: 8 2
Foreword 3
Focus Trend Report 4
Content 5
Trend 1 Information Technology 12
Trend 2 Integration 17
Trend 3 Intelligence 22
Trend 4 Internationalization 27
Trend 5 Integrity 29
Trend 6 Investment 33
Trend 7 Inspiration 38
Trend 8 Identity 43
PIM Marketing Trend Watchers 2011 51
Our Sponsors 52
1
Information
Technology
2
Integration
4
Internationalisation
5
Integrity
6
Investment
8
Identity
3
Intelligence
7
Inspiration
Table of Contents
5

What key trends are on the commercial radar in the years to
come?
Tom Cruise is starring yet again in the recently released movie Mission
Impossible 4, and we sincerely hope this will be his last MI appearance!
But he should perhaps rise to this challenge because the marketing
world is already a few sequels ahead of the Tom Cruise bunch. Today, we
are looking at MI:8. We will use alliteration, a century-old technique
widely used in poetry and music, to convey our thoughts on the
marketing agenda for the coming years. We have been accustomed to
this particular literary device ever since McCarthy propelled the 4 Ps into
marketing stardom.
The challenge for today’s marketing managers is all about boosting the
customer experience; it is about deploying the interactive aspects of
information technology to appeal to demanding target groups both old
and new. You want to develop activities that fully integrate into your
customers’ lives in a seamless manner, using intelligent solutions, is fact-
based and focused on actual behavior. In the meantime, economic
growth is shifting towards the Far East. Growth in European markets is
stagnating, and even a decline is on the cards. The Far East, with its
rapidly growing population and economies, is now more interesting and
relevant than ever. Doing good business requires transparency to keep
the house clean. No business is immune, although perhaps a few may
attempt to prolong the current blur for as long as possible. The Return on
Marketing concept is rendering marketers accountable in the true sense
of the word. We need strong marketers, not funny marketers. They must
put emotion into their products and services to give customers a reason
to buy and employees a reason to be proud. This is what will bring an
end to the discussion about the added value of marketers and their
identity crisis. To coin a phrase, make marketing cool again. The epithet
Business Model Innovation no longer relates to the challenges that await
the skillful marketer of today and tomorrow. MI:8 is nothing more or
nothing less than a Business Model Turnaround.
The reason behind this report
Change in the world is gaining momentum. Late 2010, the Western world
was geared for new growth hoping that the crisis would subside. There
was an air of hopefulness, but the fundamentals were still in a shambles.
And from a marketing perspective, we would have to rethink our position
in the business environment. Eight professionals from their own particular
ﬁelds of expertise have written this report to impart their knowledge and
reveal the trends for the coming year or two. We are not striving for a
Focus
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long-term vision, but simply focus on a pragmatic understanding of the
current environment.
The information in this report combines empirical insight, personal views,
and extensive discussion and debate among marketing trend watchers in
the Netherlands who are associated with PIM (Platform Innovatie in
Marketing).
Structure
The distinct ﬁelds of interest for the coming year, our Mission Impossible:8
are:
• Information Technology
• Integration
• Intelligence
• Internationalization
• Integrity
• Investment
• Inspiration
• Identity
This teaser is a holistic view of the 8 subjects covered in this report. The
following chapters give more detailed information about these areas.
1. Information Technology: Facebook, SAP, Tripadvisor, FourSquare,
Siebel, Groupon, Booking.com, iTunes, Twitter… The list of IT-enabled
businesses that have converted formerly fragmented markets into winner-
takes-all or winner-takes-most markets is nearly endless. Innovation guru
Michael Cusumano rightly argues that we must no longer think product
but rather product and services (“Staying Power”, 2010.)
Cusumano is actually behind the times. We're now moving way beyond
thinking about 'products and services' as we should be thinking
‘experiences.’ Apple's explosive growth is not about products or services:
it's about creating a seamless, yet open experience with every interaction.
It's about a commitment to the elegance of simplicity. It's about building
an emotional connection with every customer. It's their ethos. And it
pervades every touch point, every product - throughout their eco-system.
Organizations that evolve and get this right will be the ultimate winners.
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2. Integration: Generation Y has made its first inroads into the
organizational pyramid. Also known as Echo Boomers, they are true
digital natives. The sequel to the 1990 classic ‘Home Alone’, starring
Macaulay Culkin, would today be called ‘Never Alone’. Generation Y
expects nothing less than transparency and authenticity of the people
around them, and their employers. The forty-somethings who currently
head up the marketing departments in many organizations may find
themselves not only outmoded, but most likely also outwitted by their
younger colleagues. Just watch a toddler used to the iPad interface try to
swipe its way to the next screen on your PC. Well… that toddler is your
next customer!
Again, it's about the experience. For digital natives, it’s more about
absorbing a technology that IS their lifestyle rather than a technology that
meets their specific needs. For digital natives, the best technology for
them is a technology they want to use 24/7/365 simply because it's
about their lifestyle - their everyday experience. It's not something they
turn off when they leave work.
3. Intelligence: We continue to be profoundly amazed at how
inadequately the academic community reacts to the opportunities
afforded by the new scenery. The Internet provides huge opportunities to
study customers, competitors and other stakeholders in real time, and as
a business ecosystem. As a test, we screened a few of the leading
textbooks that are currently used in top-notch American business
schools. It is simply frightening to see how disconnected marketing
research methodology is from the connected world it is probing. Folks,
there’s a lot more to focus on than the methodological principles
underlying ad hoc marketing surveys.
However, the next big trend in intelligence is how to synthesize all the
collected data and present them in a condensed and digestible format.
Take, for example, a company like CIRadar. They deliver a daily briefing
covering several metrics about you, your customers, and your
competition. The briefing covers a significant amount of data that would
take a team of 10 to 15 people to collect manually. This dashboard of
meaningful, insightful and actionable information is available for a very
reasonable $12K per year.
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4. Internationalization: In the past, the Western world viewed
developing countries as low-cost production centers and avenues for
channeling Barbie, beer and cosmetics. However, the business’ center of
gravity is rapidly shifting towards the Far East. The 7th billion person on
this planet was born recently in Manila. Citizens in the Far East no longer
consider themselves as passive outposts, slavishly implementing the
agenda of Western headquarters. No, driven by pride, people and the
power of money, they are now building their own global corporations and
brands. A voiceover in a new edition of “How the West was Won” might
just suggest it all started in the Far East. Chris Burggraeve, the
Chief Marketing Officer of AB Inbev, put it quite simply: “The
Belgian marketer of the future will be international, or he won’t be
a marketer”. A very valid observation.
However, there is a wildcard in the equation. The concept of
worldwide net neutrality has been a catalyst to breaking down
borders and isolated cultures. Some geographies are doing their
utmost to gain control and limit Web access. This could change
things or at least slow down the openness of information.
5. Integrity: Any relationship between two people actually involves three
entities: the first person (‘me’), the other person (‘you’), and the
relationship between both of them (‘us’). In the age of one-way
communication, the company (me) was
able to define the relationship at its
discretion. Personally, we do not think
for a moment that the presidential
ambitions of DSK, the brand label
generally used for Dominique Strauss-
Kahn, would have been dented at all by
his escapades if they had occurred
some 50 years ago. We have, however,
entered the age of transparency.
Morons, however high in the
organizational chart, are today
confronted with a ‘you’ who wants a greater say in ‘us’. This is something
that is very much needed. We do not want idiots like Bob Diamond, CEO
of Barclays Bank, saying in a parliamentary committee in January 2011:
“There was a period of remorse and apology; that period needs to be
over. We need our banks willing to take risks,
to be confident and to work with the private
sector in the UK to create jobs and improve
economic growth”. Vineet Nayar, author of
“Employees First, Customers Second”, is
right: transparency keeps the house clean.
And if we may be so bold, it keeps idiots like
Bob Diamond under scrutiny. Even Michael
Porter himself calls for shared value rather
than shareholder value.
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6. Investment: The book ‘Marketing Strategy & Organization’ (4th
Edition, LannooCampus, 2011), quotes Sir George Bull, a long-time
veteran of the British beverage industry. He observed: “The marketing
function bears all the hallmarks of abstract art – it costs an arm and a leg,
it bears only a passing resemblance to real life, and you’re never quite
sure what you’ve got at the end of it all”. Return on Marketing is still a
gypsy metric. It need not be. Marketing activities are an investment in a
ﬁrm’s business model. We need marketers who not only understand the
ins and outs of an advertising campaign, but who can also calculate and
sell the net present value of search engine optimization, international
brand expansion, new product development and sales force recruitment.
We need strong marketers, not funny marketers.
7. Inspiration: Are you inspired to lead the change and manage the
journey through the commodity game, through ﬁnancial market
disruption, through the battle for energy and the environmental
challenge? As marketing leaders we should and need to be inspired by
these fundamental trends. It is inevitable - you will have to demonstrate
vision and leadership more than ever before, and lead your company by
building a sustainable business roadmap with a competitive edge. By
embracing the new reality, look differently, look forward, ask yourself
WHY and use the full potential of your company strengths, resources,
opportunities, and commit fully to all this. Involve your entire organization
and bring emotion to
the people and
customers. Giving
them a reason to buy,
work your ‘you’. The
question might be:
“Does your inspiration
come from the crowd
or from yourself?” As
life is becoming more
individualistic and
self-reliant, are we
seeking collaboration
to get the right
proposition out there?
Life is a journey -
enjoy the ride!
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8. Identity: The questions currently being asked by marketers and heard
in marketing discussions reveal that marketing is undergoing an identity
crisis. When asked which marketer we admire the most, Steve Jobs is
more often than not our unanimous answer. We do not believe that Steve
Jobs’ business card read: “Chief Marketing Ofﬁcer”. He wouldn’t have
accepted that. What Steve Jobs did was real marketing; he impressively
transcended the two disciplines that are generally used to illustrate the
ﬁeld: marketing research and marketing communications. In reality,
marketing is building sustainable business. The marketer is the architect
and manager of the core commercial processes of an organization. Well,
it’s high time to rethink these core marketing processes and organizational
structures. “What ultimately constrains the performance of your
organization is not its operating model, nor its business model, but its
management model” (Gary Hamel in The Future of Management).
Business model turnaround has always been the #1 decision screen for
good marketers. The mediocre marketer operates effectively as a
caretaker and guardian of the status quo. True marketers attempt to peel
back the layers of perceived truth, they are driven towards insight rather
than data, they are motivated to perform and use creative problem-
solving to identify new opportunities and cater for a real customer need.
To put it simply, the business model innovation label no longer captures
the challenges that await the skillful marketer.
There is no choice: MI:8 means Business Model Turnaround.
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Natural user interface: from Search Engine to Answering
Machine
In 2012, Apple’s virtual assistant, Siri,
will pose serious competition to
Google. Users of Apple’s Siri platform
for the iPhone and iPad do not have
to search through thousands of
websites for what they’re looking for.
Siri provides answers to questions,
makes a reservation in a restaurant,
sends messages, or orders a taxi.
You can strike up a conversation with
Siri, ask a question and Siri will give you the answer and provide it in text.
Apple makes a search more relevant – ask for information and get the
answer.
Google on the other hand seems to be sticking to ﬁnding web pages.
Google+ is a step towards the next search levels, and predicts what you
and I want to ﬁnd.
Trend 1 Information Technology
The year of the natural user interface
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Natural user interface: Near Field Communication (NFC)
With the introduction of Near Field Communication (NFC), banks stopped
investing in the ChipKnip. NFC technology means paying is simple – just
swipe your smart phone across a reader at the cash desk, or touch
another phone with your phone to transfer money from your account to
the owner of the other phone. Google Wallet is currently the market
leader, but banks are also experimenting.
NFC makes paying more user friendly. You no longer have to ﬁnd a
charge point. You will
be able to charge
your wallet on the go,
even fully
automatically, so you
can be sure you
always have funds
available.
Natural user interface: MultiTouch
Interactive Glass: Imagine a shop window where we can pick and choose
from the complete range, examine your choice to your heart’s content,
and then drag it to a shopping basket - all without even entering a shop.
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Multitouch glass will start to appear in the home and office and in public
spaces. There will be Multitouch glass where interactivity and information
coincide, providing people with yet another way to interact with an
organization.
The next step: Hand Gesture Recognition (2012: Innovators)
Natural user interface: Robotics in customer service
2012 will see companies investing in robotics for service processes. So
far we’ve seen this mostly in production processes. At some point in
2012 it will reach the tipping point for customer services.
Sberbank in Moscow is probably the first bank where technology has
won out over the employee. Using scanners for passports, fingerprints
and 3D face recognition, this bank will provide fully digital banking
services. You can now open a bank account, or order a new credit card.
Clients must still answer a few questions verbally, and lie detector
software will detect whether they are telling the truth. If this is the case,
your verbal characteristics will be stored on your card whereby the
system learns and improves itself.
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Social impact: The end of hierarchy
Natural user interfaces will make technology and its intelligence available
to all. Individuals will have more influence, and be less dependent on
others. This, in turn, will free them from hierarchical systems based on
control and inequality. They will look for equal relationships as citizens,
employees or customers. If they’re not satisfied with the service provided,
they will join up with others in the crowd to be heard.
Social impact: Social judgment
Bringing a case before court will be increasingly difficult and more
expensive in 2012. In fact this is no longer a viable option for many
people. It’s either too expensive or time consuming, and consequently its
popularity as an option is on the wane. No worries, crowd-based
solutions are at hand. Technology currently available makes connecting
with others in the crowd easy. It is highly effective and easy to use. So, for
example, if you have a problem with a company, and you shared this
problem with others and with employees in that company, the latter will
swiftly attempt to remedy whatever was wrong. Everybody wins, and it’s
light years faster than going to court.
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Social impact: The Boardroom sandwich
To date, politicians and young people have been active on numerous
different social platforms, but the board members of big multinationals
didn’t seem to care. Today this attitude is no longer viable and may even
be destructive because communication with all stakeholders in a
company has become crucial. They have to prepare for an openness and
transparency that was not previously required of companies - the
boardroom must step up to the plate or be phased out.
Social impact: Digi crime
A word of warning: the frantic
pace of digital development and
dwindling ﬁnancial funds will lead
to an increase in cyber crime. The
greatest threat is identity theft, so
protect it!
Nano world
Although still in its infancy, nanotechnology will evolve rapidly and in the
next year or two we will be seeing its ﬁrst practical applications in
everyday life. By the late 2010s, ubiquitous, unseen nano devices will
provide seamless communication and surveillance among all people
everywhere. Humans will have nano implants, facilitating interaction in an
all-pervading network. Everyone will have a unique Internet Protocol (IP)
address. Since nano storage capacity is almost limitless, all conversation
and activity will be recorded and recoverable. -- Gene Stephens,
"Cybercrime in the Year 2025," July-Aug 2008
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Have you ever met somebody from Generation Y? Well, they are now
entering your organizational pyramid or taking over your own household if
you have teenagers or older children. These Echo Boomers, Youngsters,
Generation Why, Millennials, Generation Next, Net Generation, Einstein
and .com Gen were born between 1980 and 1996 and are true digital
natives. They have grown up in
a world resounding with
commercial messages. They
are adept at ﬁltering out
messages that are irrelevant.
They are skeptical about
product novelty or brand
uniqueness. They take heed of
their friends, of shop staff and
family rather than websites and
brand brochures. And key to
brand building are
transparency, authenticity and
connectivity. The needs,
behavior and habits of this
generation is the angle for
explaining some of the
integration challenges
marketers will face in the
coming years.
Transparency
Society is currently moving towards total transparency and there will be
no room for corporate rhetoric about adding value to commoditized
products. There are no secrets. Companies can no longer hide behind
happytalk websites. Generation Y expects nothing less than transparency
– of the people around them, and of their employers.
Authenticity
Brand authenticity drives consumer
choice. But perceptions of authenticity
change. The young generation considers
the old interpretation of authenticity i.e.
origin, brand history and heritage, to be
less relevant or important. In their eyes
authenticity means being unique, honest
and ethical. If marketing managers have
to tell people that their brands are
authentic then they are not - Generation Y
consumers will decide for themselves
what’s authentic and what’s not.
Connectivity
Generation Y demands connectivity. They
don’t just buy brands, they join them. And
so they want to be connected to them
just like they want to be connected to
their friends. They use social networks,
microblogs and blogs in order be part of a
conversation, part of a community. This is why many successful brands
use social platforms and behave like friends by providing involvement and
control over the brand.
Trend 2 Integration
Integration is constant evolution
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How do you compete to gain their trust and give them a reason to buy
from you or work for you? They are also perceptively called Generation
Why because they don’t take things for granted. Generation Y
“demands” flexibility and telecommuting choices, and is generally
optimistic, highly social and rather moralistic. They have a complex and
strongly tribal social structure built on their social networks. Work and
social life are blurred (global
workplace study, Johnson
Controls Inc.'s). Generation Y
brings new energy with their
virtual collaboration &
communication, networking,
knowledge sharing and their
second-nature use of online
tools. This comes as a big
challenge if you happen to be
a traditional marketing (offline)
manager. The Johnson
Controls study showed that
over 70% of respondents say
they want recycling programs
in the office, and 47% would
like to see solar panels on site
at work. And 79% prefer
working in an urban
environment. Are we ready for
this? Or will they “come round”
once they have experienced
the financial and economic crisis and act “normally”?
The Values of Generation Y employees:
• Meritocracy. Only the talented survive and people with talent should be
able to succeed.
• Camaraderie. Working with others, in teams or just collaboratively;
group accomplishment is sweeter than solo success. A sense of
mentoring, or mentors, in the workplace.
• Non-traditionalism. Doing things differently from in the past while
making the point that “this is
different”.
•Integration of work and personal
life in a number of ways: co-
workers are “family”, work and
social life blend, and personal and
social activities are merged into the
working day or night.
•Fierce independence: in choice of
company to work for, when to
leave, how to get the work done,
and how the work should be done
are all individual decisions, with
input from social and professional
networks. The result is that there is
little loyalty to employers.
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Generation Y employees see themselves as:
• Unique. They consider themselves to be a breed apart, talented, skilled
and in demand. They strongly believe in the value of their work and
expect “the rest of the world” to appreciate it.
• Proud. They are confident of their skills and enjoy being looked to for
advice and guidance and admired for their special talents.
• Confident. They show little fear of the future, believing that their skills will
always be in demand, and they have a strong support network in place
through family and friends.
• Realistic. They are, however, realistic about financial compensation in
turbulent economic times.
• Are they too arrogant and without the right experience and knowledge
for them to have power?
Implications for Business
Financial compensation.
Young knowledge workers
may be realistic about
variations in compensation
because of economic
fluctuations, but the
underlying expectation of
high compensation
remains.
Caring. The sense of being
nurtured and indulged by
the organization is central.
Career opportunities.
Generation Y workers
expect that their
organization will
provide learning and
growth opportunities:
the chance to do
creative, challenging
work, with career
prospects.
Collaboration. Young
workers seek a work
culture that is
organized around
teamwork and
collaboration.
Social Responsibility.
Business should
espouse a social
cause that goes beyond the traditional bottom line.
Is this a generation of “cherry pickers” with company devaluation as the
result? Well as Don Tapscott stated in his book: Grown up digital (2009),
“this newest generation of workers entering the workforce is changing the
way that we live and work”.
In the years to come, marketing managers will face a shift in their tasks. In
an era of digital technologies and empowered customers, it is more
important to become a “content supply chain” manager by managing
content through coordinating messages in the media rather than just
publishing simple content. Marketing managers will have to become
marketplace intelligence leaders by taking a lead in distributing customer
19

insights gathered through the digital touch points across the organization.
Online marketing and social media are not just new channels that can be
used for the same commercial message – they are much more.
Just watch a toddler used to the iPad interface try to swipe its way to the
next screen on your PC. Well… that toddler is your latest customer!
Generation Y was raised in the world of digital information technologies.
They can’t imagine a life where consumers are not able to connect with
each other, talk about products and services, share opinions and assess
what other consumers have to say. They are active producers of media
information and are constantly looking for interaction. Companies are
starting to acknowledge this “power to the people” movement.
A study by Junco and Mastrodicasa: “Research on ‘The
Net.Generation,’” found that 97% of students owned a computer, 94%
owned a cell phone, and 56% owned an MP3 player (iPod, Zune, Sansa,
etc.). The same study also found that 69% of students polled had a
Facebook account, 28% owned a blog and 44% read blogs. At home,
Gen Y inﬂuence 81% of their families' apparel purchases and 52% of car
choices.
Nike found out the hard way that Generation Y is different. Although still
hugely popular among teens, the brand actually lost its hold on the
market at the turn of the century, according to Teenage Research
Unlimited, a Northbrook market researcher. Nike's slick national ad
campaigns, with the emphasis on image and celebrity, helped build the
brand among boomers. Yet these ad campaigns backﬁred with Gen Y
who said: ''It doesn't matter to me that Michael Jordan has endorsed
Nikes''. Bad moves such as Nike's disastrous attempt to sponsor
Olympic snowboarders and allegations of inhumane overseas labor
practices only fuelled Gen Y's scorn. As Nike has discovered, success
with this generation requires a new kind of advertising and a new kind of
product. The huge image-building campaigns that led to boomer crazes
in everything from designer vodka to sport-utility vehicles are less
effective with Gen Y. ''The old-style advertising that works very well with
boomers, ads that push a slogan and an image and a feeling, the
younger consumer is not going to go for,'' says James R. Palczynski,
retail analyst for Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. and author of YouthQuake, a
study of youth consumer trends. Instead, Gen Y respond to humor, irony,
and the seemingly untainted truth. Sprite has scored with ads that parody
celebrity endorsers and
Paul Polman
CEO Unilever
“If they can bring Egypt government down in
six weeks they can bring us down in
nanoseconds.”
20

carry the tagline ''Image is nothing. Obey your thirst.'' J.C. Penney &
Co.'s (JCP) hugely successful Arizona Jeans brand has launched a new
campaign showing teens mocking ads that attempt to speak their
language. The tagline? ''Just show me the jeans.''
Nike has learned from its mistakes. When the company wanted to
contract Rihanna and Chris Brown to promote their skating products,
they ﬁrst asked their fans, who, in turn, didn’t think it was a good idea.
Gen Y consumers said that both stars had nothing to do with skating;
they don’t even know how to skate! These celebrities would not lend
credibility to the campaign. And so Nike did not contract them. But they
did sign a contract with a young Paul Rodriguez, also known as P-Rod, a
young street skateboarder turned professional at the age of 17. They shot
a video in the most beautiful places in New York popular for skating, with
P-Rod demonstrating his most spectacular and difﬁcult skateboard tricks.
Nike’s commercial with P-Rod got hundreds of thousands clicks on
YouTube.
The sequel to the 1990 classic
‘Home Alone’, starring Macaulay
Culkin, would today be called
‘Never Alone’. Generation Y was
raised in a world in which total
connectivity is normal.
Technology is not just a device,
it’s a part of their lives. The way
they make purchasing decisions,
start friendships, communicate
and make career choices is
affected by their use of online
technologies. Because this is the
world they grew up in. The best technology for them is one that they want
to use 24/7/365 since it's about their lifestyle - their daily experience, it's
not something that’s turned off when they leave work.
You gain Gen Y’s attention by being available 24/7, listening to them, by
being creative,
green and
responsible. Be
competitive by
staying true to
your brand DNA
and connect to
the spirit of the
new generation -
this is the secret
to becoming part
of their choices.
Just as Darwin
once said, it’s
not the strongest
of the species, in
this case
companies, that
survive nor the
most intelligent.
But the one most
responsive to
change.
21

Marketing intelligence
There is a distinct difference between market intelligence and marketing
intelligence, or can we combine them as business intelligence? In these
economically challenging times, companies and individuals are
increasingly looking for pragmatic ways to conduct research and make
sure it is relevant to their business. It will become easier to communicate
with the market via online questionnaires, portals and other user groups.
It is no longer the domain of the big research companies, although they
still play a major role. But the individual is now empowered through
various apps to get the right information that is essential for them and
their division or company. Since most relevant information is now in the
public domain, companies like Google, Facebook and LinkedIn provide a
wealth of information to targeted users through groups and specialized
apps. The big research companies like Nielsen, Kantar, Synovate and
GfK must reevaluate their position in the current marketplace if they are
to provide viable and up-to-date tools and insights for specific groups to
use. And even if they do this well in the coming years, Google will be by
far the largest market research institute in 5 years’ time because they
created a total new market research playing field – a new business
model.
The networked company, the real relations within the
company
If we go beyond the hierarchy, and see the company as a network, we
gain new insights into how organizations truly work. This also means that
information flows are no longer top-down or run by just a handful of
people. Getting everybody involved in a company’s strategic goals means
Trend 3 Intelligence
Power shifts to the User, Information becomes focused
22

getting the very best out of people and not just having them perform their
designated tasks. Using the best that networks can offer, both inside and
outside the company, fluid project teams are better equipped to focus on
specific goals. And once the target is reached, the team dissolves to
make way for new projects. In 2005 Bill Gates drafted a memo headed:
“the new way of working” to encourage his company, Microsoft, to shift
towards this new norm. Even though the memos are already seven years
old, it was only the Dutch division that managed to fully implement his
views successfully. However, increasing pressure to create a viable work-
life balance will mean that this new way of working will be implemented in
many more companies across the board. Failing to provide this flexibility
will put your team or company at a distinct disadvantage when attempting
to attract the right employee. Another great innovation in providing value
to the customer as well as the company is KLM’s Social Seating. The idea
is to allow passengers to select seat-mates on the basis of what their
Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+ profiles say about them.
Apps
in business, getting things done
ERP systems used to be the norm in larger companies. Even though
they’re very useful, more and more startups provide applications to
present data in a more useful manner. So look beyond the big systems to
get the right applications for your team or company. Faster time-to-
market and implementation can be guaranteed if you’re able to define
your specific requirements for the goals at hand. Integration of specific
marketing information can be extracted from proprietary systems as well
as public domain information from dashboards instead of bulky reports.
23

Information becomes
actionable, clutter is
reduced, and there is
no unnecessary focus
on too many KPIs.
Finding the right
applications for your
business is a challenge
simply because new
apps are cropping up
every day. Analyzing large amounts of data, ﬁnding meaningful patterns
and aggregating them to useful data does not have to take place within
the company. New services will provide you with the necessary insights
to propel your company towards achieving its goals. Online surveys will
become more sophisticated and easier to implement as will interaction
with the customer through gamiﬁcation to monitor behavior and conduct
interactive research.
A wealth of new programs is available from numerous app stores. iPhone
users’ cell phone addiction is not only the result of its design - every new
app means they are more locked in. They can’t stop using their iPhone
and tend not to switch to the competition. They can no longer live
without the integration and intelligence afforded by Apple. More on
developments in the App-World in the recently released book “The App
Effect” by VINT.
Beyond Excel, be the guru or provide actionable information
People sometimes talk as though Excel were better than sex! What on
earth has happened to our lives! Yes, Excel is an excellent tool but it also
has its limitations. Ask yourself what information is essential for achieving
the company or team goals and what seems to be unnecessary detailing.
Provide the team with meaningful aggregated data instead of
bombarding them with yet another list. It also means that intuition, based
on experience and input from multiple sources, places increasing
importance on decision-making. A project and result focus will diminish
the need for bulky reports and increase actionable data presented in
dashboards and scorecards.
Look for proprietary systems provided by ERP vendors like Business
Objects, Cognos, SAS enterprise BI server, Oracle enterprise BI server
and of course Microsoft products. And don’t forget nonproprietary
systems from vendors like QlikView, WebFocus or even open-source
24

software like Actuate and Pentaho. Share your vision with us, tell us what
you think is excellent, challenge us and give feedback.
Redefining your business model for true focus and
collaboration
Our economy is a networked economy. More and more companies will
focus on a specific role within the supply chain and they will become
experts as a result. This will mean they can be more efficient and therefore
profitable. It also means that relations with other members of the supply
chain become increasingly important. It is no longer possible to ignore this
trend (it’s one of the winning business trends, Moenaert, Robben and
Gouw), as the geographical boundaries no longer exist. Information on
prospective partners is readily available through Internet technology, and
should be used accordingly.
One of the best examples of a company that shifted from the traditional
business model towards a completely new one is Springer. Springer, the
second largest academic publisher in the world, fully embraced
digitalization and it has become very profitable in today’s market.
Cloud-based computing
All the previously mentioned tools can be provided in the cloud. This
poses a whole new set of challenges and opportunities. Where previously
the IT department dictated what software people would use, now they will
look for the tools that best suit their needs without consulting or even
25

informing the IT department. The result: loss of control, a raft of security
issues and more influence on what tools to use. On the other hand it
provides the user with targeted solutions on their smart phone or mobile
devices. iOS, Android and Windows mobile where HTML 5 will become
the new standards. It also makes the tools independent of their
workspace and blurs the boundaries between time and place.
Using currently available computing power, interactive data visualization is
becoming a requirement and even a necessity in order to keep up with
current demand.
The US elections, which are always very much data driven, will provide a
wealth of new applications and insight into what is currently possible.
To warp up
In the coming year marketing intelligence will provide accurate and
actionable data for project teams and the company as a whole. In order
to get the right information at the right time, take a good look at your
business model and for more focus redefine it if necessary, and involve
the whole company and all its stakeholders to get things done. The
availability of public domain data and tools to access specific information
will shift power from the vendor to (expert) user. Give the employees the
freedom to explore these avenues and learn to adapt quickly. In the
coming years mobile applications will develop quickly and give users
more self-reliance. This means they will have to learn new skills and
adapt rapidly to a changing environment that places increasingly more
importance on social media.
26

What is a Shift in the Center of Gravity?
In the past, the Western World was the center of gravity when it came to
setting standards for trends and creating a need for new products and
innovations. The global population is growing rapidly, the 7th billionth
person was recently born and we are moving towards a global population
of 8 billion. Today, the pace of population growth in the Western world is
diminishing, whereas populations in other parts of the world are growing
signiﬁcantly faster, creating a shift of people and economic power.
Emerging regions - Africa, the Middle East and Far East – are home to the
10 fastest growing cities in the world: China (Beihai), India (Faridabad,
Surat, Ghaziabad), Bangladesh (Chittagong), Afghanistan (Kabul), Yemen
(Sanaa), Mali (Bamako), Nigeria (Lagos), Tanzania (Dar Es Salaam).
With the rapid population growth in these emerging regions, bolstered by
the Net and social media, these markets are expanding rapidly. New
global companies are emerging at a rapid pace, led by pride, people and
the power of money. This is generating new international top competitors.
New rich appear; new markets open up for trade creating opportunities
for alliances, partnerships and acquisitions.
The growth in wealth and prosperity is guaranteed to accelerate fast in
these emerging regions and with increasing connectivity, it creates
enormous commercial opportunities. However, growth has a downside,
and resources such as water, energy and food will come under serious
pressure. Socially aware societies are emerging and stepping up to
address the resources issue, asking businesses, governments and NGOs
to take responsibility. As this next group of people will be a tremendous
commercial opportunity, they will also need to operate responsibly and
contribute to a world pervaded by ‘healthy societies’.
Trend 4: Internationalization
Center of Gravity Shift
27

The Statistics Netherlands internationalization Monitor for 2011 states;
“Economic globalization is characterized by increasing international trade,
foreign investment and international sourcing. For the Netherlands, this
concerns activities by Dutch multinational companies abroad as well as
foreign enterprises in the Netherlands.” Important findings in this Monitor
are:
• The share of imports from BRIC countries quadrupled since 1996 from
4 to 16 percent in 2010, making China the third most important source
of Dutch imports.
• One in ten firms in the Netherlands is active in international trade. The
top 1 percent of traders generated 74 percent of Dutch imports and 71
percent of exports in 2008.
• In 2009, 1 percent of companies in the Netherlands were foreign-
owned. They generated over a quarter of the added value, one-sixth of
employment and nearly a third of turnover in the private sector.
(Source: www.cbs.nl)
Beware of the unknown and unexpected, create flexibility, and make sure
to choose your business path wisely, select your partners with great care,
take responsibility and pro-actively translate the shift of gravity to
commercial opportunities.
28

Creating Sustainability
‘Sustainability’ is part of the mission of many companies. In the past
sustainability was about creating a way for your company to keep your
shareholders, customers, consumers and employees satisﬁed. Today it is
only a ticket to ride. In order to create sustainability, leading companies
are now focusing on all stakeholders, also involving governments, NGOs,
institutions and social societies.
With a global increase in the consumption of resources, there is a
signiﬁcant trend among international companies towards increasing
awareness of sustainable, durable and green business needs. This has
led to a shift from governments and NGOs establishing legislation to
companies and social societies creating legislation. The shift will probably
not be endless, but it will get to a point where governments, NGOs,
companies and social societies will work together to introduce
improvements to our world and society, setting new standards and
creating ‘green, durable and sustainable’ international legislation.
Co-leadership is an essential ingredient for creating co-operation among
the different stakeholders needed for setting the new rules of the
sustainability game. An inspiring and visionary view by Tex Gunning, board
member at AkzoNobel on co-leadership can be viewed on YouTube.
Next,
AkzoNobel is
trying to set the
new standard
with support
from social
societies. They
really
understand the
need to build
trust and gain
the support of
social societies
that is needed
to achieve
sustainability. An excellent example of how AkzoNobel is creating this
trust is the Let’s Color Project (www.letscolourproject.com).
29

Philips is a company that
continues to innovate to stay
ahead of the competition.
Within this innovation
process, besides customers
also opinion leaders and
government ofﬁcials are
already involved in the
innovation process. Philips
has clearly taken the direction of focusing on all stakeholders by working
with governments and NGOs. See also: YouTube)
According to Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, there is a commitment gap
between what governments say and what they deliver on sustainability,
which provides an opportunity for business, NGOs and society to take up
the challenge. This challenge shows that Unilever already has all
stakeholders in its sites. Unilever Press Releases on sustainable change.
Next, he expresses the urgency to think about how to better shape your
business models and a new future. Watch on YouTube
It is also deﬁnitely worth watching the following Youtube movie entitled
“One Young World Global CEO Panel”, with 5 speakers. Watch on
YouTube.
30

Integrity is often associated with
good-evil conflicts, mostly in the
sense of personal characteristics.
If we follow this association for
marketing, it is easy to get lost in a
race to be the ‘most respectable
person in the class’.
We would say that reducing
integrity to a ‘good-evil problem’
will lead to too narrow a
perspective, and the marketing
capabilities from the integrity trend
will be much greater if we
approach it with a broad
perspective.
Integrity – consistency – relation
The word integrity comes from the
Latin word integer, which means
‘untouched’, ‘flawless’ or ‘whole’. A
‘flawless whole’ implies something
made from parts, and that all its parts
are interdependent and interact.
When we talk about integrity we want
to emphasize two core concepts:
• Consistency
• Unity in relation
In the Netherlands, integrity is often used as in the second concept: act
from a just understanding of a relationship. With a marketing approach it
is more about productivity and an emphasis on consistency, on top of the
necessary emphasis on unity in relationship.
Integrity marketing is a
consistent mix
In short we believe integrity
marketing is about the absence
of internal contrast combined
with customer insight, product
characteristics, services,
packaging, brand, price,
advertisement, promotion,
sales promotion, personal
sales, publicity and distribution
channels. No matter what the
marketing strategy of a
company might be: as soon as
there are inconsistencies (and if
they are there, they will emerge
sooner or later) it will have a negative impact on sales.
Take a practical example from the B2C market: the claim that a product
or ingredient is ‘natural’ is obviously vague. The consumer will have an
idea of the product, but the consumer’s image and the real product mix
can be quite diverse because of this vagueness. These kinds of
inconsistencies between the product mix and the experience will cease to
Trend 5: Integrity
Consistency – Unity in relation
31

exist according to market researcher Mintel. Producers will emphasize
the usability of the product, instead of what the product is made of.
Background: Everything is visible
The driving force behind this trend towards integrity and consistency is
the recent increase in transparency in the B2C market. This penalizes
knowledge arbitration, and has led to a transparency spillover from the
B2C to the B2B market. The
visibility of the value chain in
consumer markets has led to an
increase in the availability of
information and a subsequent
strengthening of consumer
activism.
As a result, consistency in the
marketing strategy will
increasingly become more
important. Transparency attracts criticism of the inconsistencies, whether
intentional or not, with all the subsequent consequences. Companies
must therefore take a close look at their own value chain, and replace the
parts that don’t fit their marketing strategy.
New marketing: consistency & moral contracts
This is a big opportunity for both consumers and marketers: B2B
represents the largest part of economic activity and adding consistency
could lead to a new branch of marketing. In this type of market the
marketer will be a positive alternative to the compliance officer.
The compliance officer attempts to
enforce ‘rule-based’ integrity. Using
what is referred to as a ‘tick box
culture’ the marketer can use his
imagination to contribute on a
‘principle-based’ solution that meets
the wishes of the customer. Where the
compliance officer uses integrity as a
brake, the marketer uses it as an
accelerator.
Marketers do this by
implementing a consistent
marketing strategy that covers
all the parts of the value chain
and is true to the spirit of the
relationship that the consumer
has with the product. The
consumer receives positive
confirmation of his moral
contract with the producer
when consuming the product
or service. The consumer
becomes a fan. Integrity
doesn’t lead to new
paternalism but to new
marketing!
32

The banking crises of 2008, and the world economic crises of 2011 have
resulted in turbulent times. And something even worse may possibly be in
store if we consider the political and financial issues that must be solved
in 2012. In the meantime, customers throughout the world continue to
connect with each other,
developing global trading habits,
getting closer and closer to one
another, leaving very little room
for distribution companies
because these customers are
doing business more cheaply
and quickly directly with the
producers.
Our planet is not only too small
to maintain the pace of our
growing population; it is also too
small to contend with significant
number of large businesses
operating on the world market.
Be more pragmatic about the
choices you deal with because:
We have no choice other than
to think about the right way we
should be doing things.
We must start to listen again to
others and ourselves in order to understand what we both need.
We are returning to a sense of reality. We have become consumers on a
global scale, with almost no goods being made locally. We are triggered
to act in this way by countless marketing campaigns. Large companies
are waging war with consumers and other competitors in an attempt to
preserve their own market.
We have forgotten how to re-pair,
re-use, produce and to re-
produce.
A good example is guerilla
gardening in cities. It is
flourishing because it is not only
a financial issue, it is about
human nature and the need to
create and re-produce. Give
seeds to children, and they
want to put them in the ground
and watch them grow.
Give seeds to adults and they
first look on the Internet to find
out about the ideal soil,
temperature, and moisture
levels… and by the time the
seeds should be in the ground,
our children will be harvesting
their produce.
It is essential to learn again how
to re-connect with our planet,
and re-connect with our neighbors, family and friends. Our digital lives
have changed the way we interact with the world, but our needs as
human beings have not changed at all.
Trend 6 Investment
Choosing the Investment to make
33

So what should we be doing in 2012?
Look at the momentum surrounding social media, use the energy that is
being brought by individuals into those digital worlds and connect to
people. Think about re-connecting with Mother Nature and think about
the urge to create.
Re-think how you conduct business and ask yourself: Am I going to
continue to be a producer?
If survival is your aim then it is time for a huge paradigm shift. You will
have to come up with something new and worthwhile for individuals if
you are in B2C, or worthwhile for companies, both new and old, if you
are in B2B.
If you truly want to survive and you are seriously motivated, then it is time
to re-organize your business.
Be practical, follow this
recipe:
Ingredients:
• A large piece of white paper
(as large as you can ﬁnd)
• Color pencils
• A quiet place to think
This is not childish, it is very serious, unless of course you want to spend
time looking on the internet for solutions instead of planting seeds to
harvest this year.
Just draw, it is only for you and no one else will see it unless you want to
show it off. Be honest, don’t draw just to satisfy your brain, use your
heart for the best effect.
Follow these instructions:
1. Draw your customer in the center of the paper.
2. Choose bright colors and draw something you expect your customer
to be happy about.
3. Choose a dark color and draw something your customer would be
disappointed about.
4. Don’t touch the drawing for at least 24 hours.
5. Then add some new features: one bright, and one dark.
6. Repeat the drawing-rest session at least 5 times.
7. Look at your drawing again.
34

Be honest - did you repeat the process at least 5 times? If you did;
congratulations.
If you didn’t, you are not going to make it through the difﬁcult times
ahead. It’s all about you. We are simply trying to help here, but you are not
willing to re-think what you have been doing all the time. You are just
hoping that things will keep on being the same, and with luck even be
better than in the past. But this isn’t real! Too bad. Too late, Too old.
The signiﬁcance of the drawing.
If asked to do this exercise, children throughout the world would make a
drawing straightaway, but adults feel they need to practice because they
have been trained to converge, whereas creativity requires divergence.
If everything is ok, you will have a drawing in your hands that depicts your
customer’s needs. You have
put your brain and heart into
action, and this is where
your success is going to
come from. This time keep it
stupid and simple.
We could talk to you about
facial coding and the use of
webcams, or send you
some linking points about
neuromarketing. But save
your money for 2012: it’s
going to be a tough year for
everyone and you might
need a lot of cash to stay
alive and grow the right
team around the real needs
of your customers. Stay
focused. (If you really have
guts, let your customers see
your drawing and let them
add their own features and
colors.)
35

This is all very nice and simple: having sufficient cash to spend this year
and the need to make the right investment is not enough. So now for
something really worthwhile!
Almost all industries have witnessed tremendous shifts. The expected
shift this year will be in banking, with huge companies interested in
having a piece of the financial cake. Google, Facebook, Isis are the
biggest players in this field and you won’t be make it with 100 million.
No way!
You will need to find something different: let’s look at Waste
Management. We produce some 1.6 billion tons of waste every year on
our planet! This is a field that has seen no major changes for years. We
are not talking here about improved methods of sorting rubbish. We are
talking about a revolutionary new way of looking at our garbage. It
probably doesn’t sound very attractive, but this is where the gold mine of
the future lies: everyone is concerned about our dependence on scarce
metals to fuel our technological growth. We also worry about the fact that
most resources only seem to be available in China. But what we must
not forget is that ultimately everything ends up in the dustbin and that’s
the place to look.
Current waste management is not capable of attaining a level of return
higher than 42%. The major reason for this is the fact that everything is
either burned, or even worse - dumped in landfills. New technology
makes it possible to recycle up to 99% without anything being burned! It
uses techniques from the aviation industry (autoclave) and a catalyst to
transform plastic into oil, with a return of 1.1 liter of oil for each kilogram
36

of plastic. You only need to invest 10 million to start and you will be the
ﬁrst one, because this revolution hasn’t yet started - almost nobody is
attracted to invest in rubbish. This is a market where money is going to be
made by transforming the value chain.
What will happen if we do nothing? We will reach the point of no return
and be forced to live on a destroyed planet. But what can be achieved if
we all take action today? We can do something about it now. It’s not all
about money, but in this case, just doing the right thing could throw up a
lot of cash.
This is how we will look at industries in the coming few years: focus on
your market, love your customers and be sustainable all the way.
37

Business context is changing
Four fundamental trends are emerging globally. Neither governments nor
institutions will be able to lead the change. Solutions will go beyond
national borders. It’s business that needs to come up with an integrated
approach to address these trends. We’re looking at an inspiring journey:
Business context is changing
Four fundamental trends are emerging globally. Neither governments nor
institutions will be able to lead the change. Solutions will go beyond
national borders. It’s business that needs to come up with an integrated
approach to address these trends. We’re looking at an inspiring journey:
The Commodity game
The cost of raw materials is difficult to predict. We’re in a volatile market.
Questions are arising about commodity availability – with a growing world
population and increasing use of raw materials, we’re moving into a
period of scarce resources.
Financial markets
They will continue to have significant impacting on consumer behavior.
But also on the availability of resources (financing). Not to forget the
impact financials have on stock exchange listed companies, having direct
impact on strategic ambition and capabilities because of the quarterly
market performance publications of market expectations – short term vs
long term.
The Energy battle
Emerging economies like China and Africa will consume more energy in
the coming decades. Their current consumption is already directly
influencing the prices of energy in The Netherlands today, and will
increase by every year.
The Environmental challenge
The most recent climate top in Durban (South Africa) showed again that
there is little sense of urgency among political leaders to take full
responsibility for and ownership of the challenges we’re facing. Delegates
will work on a new, legally binding accord to cut greenhouse gases, to be
decided by 2015 and to come into force by 2020. (Extension of 1997
Kyoto Protocol). Unexpected, no, tragic, yes.
As Marketing Leaders we should and need to be inspired by these
fundamental trends.
We can, will and should influence in a better and more effective way than
our governments do.
Recent research by Deloitte among Marketers and Buyers show that
Leaders see more opportunity in sustainability.
Trend 7: Inspiration
Times are changing: Be inspired to lead the change!
38

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of
changing himself. - Leo Tolstoy
To be relevant as a business in the future, marketers should create more
and better insights into the effects and the potential impact of the
emerging trends on their business. The winners will be those capable of
building and managing a transparent, open value chain, being responsible
and socially connected with society.
Building Sustainable Business: Vision and Leadership
Leaders must be inspired by the challenges associated with the changes
we face. This is a clear invitation to approach business from a totally
different angle. As Joseph Jaworski stated in his book Synchronicity: New
leadership should be based on fundamentally new insights on how we
view the world dynamics and underlying trends. Newton’s vision as
applied in many businesses, is still dysfunctional in our current business
context where there are much greater dependencies. What will be the
new roadmap for the new leaders in Marketing?
39

Leaders: “stand up and embrace the new reality!”
What is a LEADER?
Oxford Dictionary:
The person who leads or commands a group, an organization or
a country. Defining a leader by the existence of followers has a
long tradition, but is not useful in attempting to improve
leadership of organizations. We define “leader” as an ordinary
human being with both a commitment to produce a result whose
realization would be extraordinary given the current
circumstances as seen by the participants, and the integrity to
see the commitment through to its realization.
Simon Sinek (Start with Why? - How great leaders inspire everyone to
take action) says:
All great leaders have clarity of WHY; an underlying belief in a
purpose or cause bigger than themselves. It’s the underlying
optimism that even the most complicated problems can be
solved. He believes we can find ways to remove obstacles to
ensure that everyone can live and work to their greatest potential.
It inspires.
Everyone can give a number of inspirational examples of great leaders,
but what inspires YOU to engage and be committed to a purpose?
40

Unlock the opportunities by looking at the trends with
different eyes!
As you continue to do the same thing as you’ve done before, at
best you will get the same results (if you’re lucky) - Albert
Einstein.
Prof. M. Yunus founded the GRAMEEN bank for the purpose of lending
money (micro credit) to people who otherwise don’t have access to
capital. Prof. Yunus is inspired to put poverty into a museum by applying
social business principles.
Danone was inspired by the ambition and dream of Prof. Yunus and
became committed to building a business in the spirit of the social
business principles without compromising their standard of quality. It is
now an integral part of their business model. A leader is someone who
sees the opportunities with different eyes and takes action.
‘Re-think’ the capabilities required to be ‘FIT’ for the future
The way marketing was deployed in the past is now history. The 4-P
model is still a strong marketing toolkit, but in order to move forward,
social media and CSR need to be included.
The enabling marketing organization should understand and define the
capabilities required in the upstream and downstream marketing roles and
responsibilities.
Take a close look at your objective and roadmap, and clearly define the
gaps.
Don’t limit yourself to your own organization. We live in a virtual and
extremely dynamic world. Define what you will ‘own’ and ‘do’ yourself and
which alliances will you forge with companies that will be an extension to
your marketing organization to support the required skill set.
41

Be positive and
passionate in
what you do in the
good and in the
challenging times
•We can conclude
that the future
business context is
changing. Against this
background we, as
leaders, need to take
cognizance of the
emerging trends and
their impact on the
future of your business.
• We will meet obstacles along the way. But change does require
passion and commitment to the purpose.
• Everyone wants to be successful, but the winners are those who are
prepared to plan to
be successful.
• Stay true to your
purpose. Be
positive and
passionate about
the future.
• Be a leader. Be the
change you want to
see. Inspire and be
inspired!
Life is a journey - enjoy the ride!
Don’t look back. You are in the driving seat. It is fascinating to
understand how much time is spent looking in the rearview mirror
assessing the business. The past is history. We can learn from the past,
but more importantly, as leaders you should be looking forward. Be
inspired by what you see in front of you. Build scenarios and connect in a
compelling way with your organization to be sure that you’re programs
will hit the market, building a sustainable business for tomorrow!
42

#Crisis #OMG, what went wrong with marketing? #fail
The last trend in our MI:8 model is about identity or finding a new identity.
We used to be the rebels, creatives, conquistadores of new territories and
an uncontested marketplace. Our current position as marketers and
questions as to our added value reveal that marketing is undergoing an
identity crisis.
So what is an identity crisis?
Theorist Erik Erikson coined the term “identity crisis” and believed that it
was one of the most important conflicts people face. An identity crisis is a
time of intensive analysis and exploration of different ways of looking at
oneself. Erikson described identity as "a subjective sense as well as an
observable quality of personal sameness and continuity, paired with some
belief in the sameness and continuity of some shared world image. In
medical circles, the malaise known as an “identity crisis” is defined as “a
period of confusion concerning a person’s sense of self and role in
society” (Mosby’s Medical Dictionary, 2009).
Some key symptoms
include:
• an increasingly confused
and blurred perception of
self;
• an unfolding exploration of
different identities;
• gathering uncertainty
about one’s real role in life;
• a deteriorating ability to
face future life challenges.
Hmmm, the current
marketing outlook looks
exactly like an identity crisis. So, how can the patient be treated?
Trend 8: Identity
43

Solving an identity crisis the easy way
Many self-help books will advise you to write down your goals and a
mission statement. You have probably done that before. Here is another
solution to finding out who and what you are: pretend you're Sherlock
Holmes! Look for clues and be unconventional if you have to dig deep.
• I can say what my interests are by looking at the books on my shelf:
art, culture, science, history, philosophy, metaphysics, health and
business.
• I can tell what's important to me by what I strive for: financial security,
seat on the board, respect, meaning and spirituality.
• I can say what my hobbies are by looking at how I want to spend my
time: music, conversation, art, nature, exercise, studying and working.
• I can tell what qualities I appreciate by looking at my friends: intelligent,
diverse, talented, trustworthy, philosophical, amusing.
Identity crises are common in today’s rapidly changing world. Exploring
different aspects of yourself in the different areas of life, including your
role at work in the company, can help strengthen your identity.
Time to achieve: the changing role of marketing
Somehow the current crisis has taken us by surprise as a credible
business discipline: companies with a CMO would do better on the stock
exchange. Marketing and innovation really are the two most powerful
elements in making a company stronger. Unfortunately, most evidence of
the decline is the erosion of marketing’s influence in boardrooms.
It’s the calculators in the financial department, those ‘who know best’,
who we have to convince today. Without positive metrics, it is not even
worth trying to start. Legal and compliance constraints mean that most of
our marketing propositions have been downgraded something that is just
nice to have. Those involved in sales, finance and production appear to
have assumed full control of strategic decision making, usually allowing a
production-led organizational philosophy to flourish at the expense of a
customer-led approach. In others, external “strategic marketing
consultants” are occupying marketing’s empty seat at the strategy table.
44

Is marketing part of our DNA or everyone’s identity?
History teaches us a funny lesson: the writing has been on the wall for
almost forty years – believe it or not, the identity crisis in marketing was
first mentioned in 1974. Marketing frameworks, concepts and models
have been adopted, refined, developed and applied by other fields - such
as strategic management, operations management, accounting and
finance. If we do not innovate as a discipline and continue to imitate our
finance and sales colleagues, we will end up becoming an intrinsic and
ubiquitous quality of every professional. So everyone will be a marketer,
so marketing is dead.
It’s time to change: Occupy the boardroom with new value creation. Step
up on behalf of those 99% who want inspiration and some real marketing
instead something only on paper to placate the financial books!
Back to colonizing marketing’s strategic responsibilities
When asked which marketer we admire the most, Steve Jobs is more
often than not our unanimous answer. We do not believe that Steve Jobs’
business card read: “Chief Marketing Officer”. He was Steve, focused on
his dreams and his clients. Researchers have established that people who
have made a strong commitment to an identity, and dreams, tend to be
happier than those who have not. One thing is conspicuously clear: Steve
Jobs was very much aware of his identity.
45

How to regain an identity?
What Steve Jobs did was real marketing; he impressively transcended
the two disciplines that are generally used to illustrate the field: marketing
research and marketing communications. Again, learning from Steve
Jobs, who unfortunately passed away far too young, we would like to
examine the origins of his thinking. What made him real was his
dedication to finding solutions to real problems. This could be the Holy
Grail for marketing: to give marketing a meaning and therefore a true
experience. This will give marketing its new identity. We would like to put
forward the following steps with a view to creating a new marketing
identity:
1. Focus on your customer.
2. Find new sources of inspiration.
3. Dive into eco systems.
4. Trust your brain.
Focus on the customer
The current generation of consumers is spoiled: they know what they
want and they want it now. Another setback: today's customers are also
much better informed. Many organizations spend time pushing back,
hoping for the good old days when they could just put a product out
there and leave it to the customers to figure out how to use it and how to
integrate it with other products and services. This is no longer the case.
Instead of pushing back and complaining, companies must realize that
instead of just putting products out there, they really need to provide
solutions. We have been hearing this cliché for some time, but it is a
cliché that is very true.
Marketers need to help consumers figure out how their products and
services are going to fit into their lives and offer solutions, not just
46

ingredients. To do this, marketers need to facilitate the change from a
product-centric to a customer-centric strategy. Nearly every company on
the planet is product centric. If you organize the company around different
types of customers and have customer segment managers who are just
as powerful as today's product managers, giving them the right incentives
and the right resources and tools, this can actually be a more proﬁtable
way for many companies to go to market.
Find new sources of inspiration
To regain inspiration and truly new ideas, we advocate that marketers
start to do things their own way. Not posting and checking on Facebook
alone, or relying on market research companies. No, marketers must step
up their game. From interviews with numerous marketers, we came up
with the following two interesting points:
• Marketers should focus on staying more up to date with academic
literature. As the saying goes ‘life is too short to make all the mistakes
yourself’. It would be useful to keep abreast of marketing literature in the
widest sense to learn about new models and frontiers within the
marketing discipline.
• Marketers have to start looking for new sources of inspiration and
connection. As most other sectors have adopted most marketing
models, we believe it is important for marketers to create their own new
models from new insights into human behavior. Also: go to non-
marketing events, to unlearn and relearn. In addition to academic
marketing literature, also take a look at new ﬁndings in biology, attend
TED(x)/PIM like events and start meeting new
people. Start to explore. Think of what Occupy
would be like if it focused on the energy or telecoms
sectors, what the Arab spring could mean for the
labor union movements and company hierarchies.
Dive into ecosystems
We believe the time is ripe for marketing to look to Customer Ecosystems
(CE). This is the follow-up of social networks and cloud. CE self-organize
around things that customers care about and need to get done, like
managing their money, designing a winning product, taking a family
vacation etc. They’re customer-driven.
Several factors will place a marketer in a central role to accelerate
a viable Customer Ecosystem
• Help customers achieve and/or manage something they care about.
• Align the entire ecosystem to meet customers’ success metrics
(including attracting partners & suppliers).
• Embed, co-brand, market and be ubiquitous so customers will
encounter and use your brand no matter what their starting point is.
To be successful in this eco-system thinking, you’ll need to truly change
the way people are able to accomplish their goals and manage their
activities.
47

Case : Identity and the brain
At the 2011 Neuroleadership Summit, attendees learned how allowing
your brain to have an identity crisis (one identity clashing with another)
might be just the thing to improve personal and company performance. A
simple model for understanding the link between identity and brain, and
the effect on performance goes something like this:
• Identity drives motivation.
• Motivation drives action.
• Action drives results.
So why would it ever be a good thing for the brain to have an "identity
crisis". In many cases an identity crisis gives us a valuable clue that we
must drop an identity that doesn't serve us well if we are to be effective
at work. So if identity is what ignites the powerful chain reaction of
motivation, action, and results, it would seem that the major
preoccupation of business should be to create effective identities that
serve the company's goals. However, to date, few companies do this
well. Creating compelling collective identities is no small task but
companies that do so create "brain friendly" environments where
employees can work more productively on common goals, and avoid
limbic meltdowns that put employees conﬂicting identities at odds with
each other. However, a good place for most companies to start might
just be to ensure that all employees know and live the most basic tenets
of the company's identity: the mission.
Further reading: Why an identity crisis might be just what your brain
needs.
48

Case: NOKIA’s new life
Nokia is a brand that has, in a sense, always been near and dear to most
people. Nokia has always been one of the biggest phone manufacturers
in the market. Fast forward a few years. We are all witnessing what
appears to be the implosion of Nokia. In 2011, Nokia decided to clean up
and focus on their identity.
Stephen Elop was hired as CEO. From the beginning there were
grumblings about this choice of a former Microsoft employee. As the
months passed, Mr Elop announced that Nokia was abandoning the OS it
had used for years, Symbian, in favor of Windows Phone 7. Sales and
stock tumbled immediately. Nokia looked like a company with an identity
crisis, not knowing who they were or what they wanted, and as a result
people lost faith.
Turnaround: ship ahoy!
What happened? Nokia moved away from its competitors and started
looking for its own identity. Focusing on its strengths such as good phone
quality, and ditching their software for high-end smart phones, Nokia took
a good look at possible friends to see what they could do together, and
used their eco system philosophy to create a new, positive breed.
Though it still is a bit too soon to tell, marketing seems to be playing a
vital role again. Where everybody expected Apple and Samsung (Google)
to divide the market, Nokia has now created a third way. As things stand,
Nokia marketing US is now in the front seat with a USD 100 million
marketing push.
One of the many reviews of this revamp on the Internet:
Don't call it a comeback.
Nokia hasn't gone anywhere, per se. The company has enjoyed huge
market share since the days when cell phones were as big as bricks. But
they're mostly low-budget feature phones. Until, that is, Nokia joined
Microsoft to make a kick-ass line of new Windows Phone-powered smart
phones.
The Lumia 900 is Nokia's ﬂagship for the US market. It's powerful, it's
punchy, and frankly, it's damn good looking. The Finnish mobile giant is
regaining former glory in a big way with the new 900.
49

Wrap up
Crisis is nature’s way of regenerating, and economic crises throughout
history have proven to be Petri dishes for disruptive innovation and
change. Now, more than ever, this change is needed for marketing on
societal, infrastructural, organizational and personal levels.
The story of the finance-driven world may appear slightly dystopian, yet
oddly familiar, while the new identity story emanates a welcoming warmth
and agility. One thing will be inherently clear: the “current system” is a
terrarium of flies and lies, doctored memories and sweetened opinions,
not a place where marketers, or most other employees, flourish.
A Q4 2011 Gallup poll found that 71% of American workers are either
“not engaged” or “actively disengaged” from their work. Just 30% are
“engaged,” or involved in and enthusiastic about their jobs. The “new
identity” feels more natural, unpretentious and sustainable: it is the shift
that we want to make in work and in life.
After being dashed by declining sales and profits, and me-too marketers
in 2011, budgets for 2012 have gone down the drain. Most of the time
only the must-do’s are still on the list, with very little room to follow your
own marketing dreams. This may ultimately be a good point because you
have to go down to your identity. Steve Jobs did it his way, dropping out
of college, starting from scratch and following his mission and finding his
own kind of identity, a man who focused on what he found important.
For you, marketer, step up to the plate in 2012!
50

Egbert Jan van Bel Beeckestijn Business School egbertjan@vanbel.nl 06 5131 5591
Michel van den Bosch StratEx Solutions m.vdbosch@stratexsol.com 06 5336 2526
Jaco Brussé

Brussé

jacobrusse@gmail.com

06 5124 7956
Adrie Dolman DeKlantKiest.nl a.dolman@qualiﬁedmarketeers.nl 06 5137 2341
Bruno Fabre The Bright Id b.fabre@thebrightid.com 06 4920 0088
Pim van Geest Van Geest pim@pimvangeest.nl 06 1367 9161
Peter Gouw Vision2B peter.gouw@vision2b.com 06 2498 9909
Katherine Kucherenko Icons katherine.kucherenko@gmail.com 06 4239 2366
Jaspar Roos Dialogues Incubator jaspar.roos@dialoguesincubator.nl 06 2221 3854
Thomas Verhagen Dialogues House thomas.verhagen@dialogueshouse.eu 06 1028 0935
Ewoud Westerink Sensata Technologies BV ewoud_w@hotmail.com 06 3018 3253
Marcel Wiedenbrugge WCM Consult marcel.wiedenbrugge@wcmconsult.com 06 4590 2601
Trend Watchers 2012 in alphabetical order
51

We would like to express our gratitude to our sponsors and especially
to the sponsor of the PIM Marketing Trend Report Dialogues
Incubator / Dialogues House. Their support, enthusiasm, knowledge
contribution and long term commitment PIM has developed into a
great platform for more than 1.000 marketing lover. Enjoying on a
regularly base each others company, challenging visions and opinions.

Hans Molenaar
Chairman Platform Innovatie in Marketing

On behalf of the whole PIM board.
Watch our trend video:
PIM 2011 Trendvideo
http://vimeo.com/35730882
All links to videos and webpages can be found here:
www.stratexsol.com/pim2012
Sponsors
52

PIM marketing trend rapport 2012

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