Dmexco: Unilever CMO, Keith Weed, discusses the power of mobile, social and data
"The advent of mobile, social and data will take marketing to a whole new level," Keith Weed, chief marketing officer for Unilever has predicted during his keynote speech at Dmexco.
In a talk entitled 'Yours Digitally', a reference to the traditional UK sign off in a letter, Weed discussed the company's new marketing strategy; 'Crafting Brands for Life'.
During the 30 minute keynote, Weed examined how technology has been involved within the delivery of the strategy, beginning with a personal example of how mobile was enabling him to do his job and continue to maintain communications with his family, a connection he doubts he would be able to maintain without the technology.
He presented campaigns across three strategy pillars; Putting People First, Building Brand Love and Unlocking the Magic, presenting the Dove 'Real Beauty' online campaign, which has over 170 million views online and, he expects, will break the 200 million mark, to represent the first pillar.
The second, Building Brand Love, was represented by the Cornetto 'Cupidity' crowd sourcing campaign, however it was the third pillar, Unlock the Magic that seemed to be his focus for the tech audience, utilising data to best engage with consumers.
That power of data was exemplified by Weed who presented a taxi advertising campaign that ran in London, and would only be visible depending on whether it was the right time of day, if the cab was near shops that sold ice cream, or if was sunny or above a certain temperature.
"It's all about engaging people when they need it the most...that is the power of digital advertising," he stated, before running a video for Axe Apollo deodorant and highlighting its search to send 24 people to a space academy and into eventually into space.
"This campaign wouldn't have been possible unless you engage on a very broad scale," he said, explaining that the technology is only now available to make such an idea possible.
"This is an incredibly exciting time to be in marketing at Unilever and Crafting Brands for Life not only guides our overall marketing but it also guides our digital marketing too," he said while building to his conclusion.
"Digital marketing is changing fast. It enables you to bring real magic into your marketing. Real creativity in a way that wasn't possible before. And equally important, it makes you build logic into your marketing with data and this is going to carry on growing and growing and the next big thing that is going to unlock us all is going to be the advent if mobile, coming together with social and data to take marketing to a whole new level."
More on the Crafting Brands for Life campaign can be read following alums Di Como's presentation at Ad Tech last week.