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Digital Marketing Spend Roars Despite Weak Privacy Concerns And Capability Performance

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By Christine Moorman

 

Results from the August 2018 CMO Survey indicate that marketers are charging ahead with digital spending. At the same time, concerns about privacy and the state of digital marketing capabilities lag.

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Let’s begin with the spending. Digital marketing expenditures are expected to increase by 12.3% over the next year and marketing budgets, which are currently 44% digital, are expected to reach 54% digital in the next five years. Consistent with this, spending on social media climbed more sharply over the past year than in any 12-month spell since the survey began. Companies currently spend 13.8% of their marketing budgets on social media, 4 percentage points more than a year ago. That is expected to increase to 16.3% over the next year, and to 22.9%—almost a quarter of marketing budgets—in five years. The Survey also found mobile marketing accounts for 9.4% of marketing budgets, with that share expected to double in the next three years. The proportion currently spent on mobile has more than doubled since February 2017.

Percent of Marketing Budgets Spent on Social and MobileThe CMO Survey

Now to the lags. Sixty-two percent of marketing leaders reported that use of online customer data increased at their firms in the last two years, and 70% said they expect to use more online data in the next two years. These numbers are lower for use of customer data from third-party aggregators, with only 31.3% of marketers reporting increases over the last two years and a slight decrease to 29.7% expected in the next two years.

Has Your Company’s Use of Online or Third-Party Data Changed?The CMO Survey

Amidst all of the concerns about the use of customer data from third-party aggregators, companies do appear to be making changes to the way in which they use customer data. At the same time, privacy concerns do not, however, loom as large as they should with only 10% of firms “very worried” about their use of online or third-party customer data. Looking at this question more closely, we asked marketing leaders to report the extent to which they were worried about their companies use of online or third-party customer data where 1=not at all worried and 7=very worried. The mean response in both cases was below the mid-point, indicating less than moderate levels of concern, on average. We will have to see how this plays out, but I think there is an opportunity for marketers to turn customer concerns about privacy into a competitive advantage and to get in front of regulations that may ultimately be introduced in the U.S. Creating advantage from data collected from customers online while toeing the line on privacy concerns should be front and center for marketers. There is room for innovation here and perhaps this should be the digital capability marketers prioritize.

Marketer Worry Use of Online or Third-Party Data Will Raise Privacy ConcernsThe CMO Survey

The other area that lags in light of digital marketing spending are ratings of digital marketing capabilities, which are only just above the mid-point on a 7 point scale where 7=excellent and 1=poor. B2C companies rate their digital marketing capabilities significantly higher than B2B companies as do companies that generate more of their sales from the Internet. We measure capabilities across all major strategic areas, including developing, executing, and measuring the success of digital marketing strategies, connecting marketing and digital marketing strategies, learning about what works and doesn’t work for digital marketing strategies, and managing external digital marketing partners and agencies.

Strength of Company Capabilities in Digital Marketing Activities (1=poor, 7=excellent)The CMO Survey

Survey results point to this lag by showing that although firms are spending more on social and mobile, there has been no lift in the contributions of these expenditures to company performance. It’s time to build a sustainable engine for converting digital investments into digital bottom line performance. At present, almost 60% of marketing leaders report they build marketing capabilities on their own by training current or hiring new employees with those skills while only 38% engage in some type of partnering with agencies, consultancies, or companies in their value chain. Just 2% acquire other companies to help them learn. It may be time to shake up these knowledge acquisition strategies if the current “build” strategy doesn’t pay off soon!

Read all The CMO Survey results here.

By Christine Moorman

Christine Moorman is the T. Austin Finch Sr. Professor of Business Administration, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University.

I am the founder and director of The CMO Survey, which collects and disseminates the opinions of top marketers in order to predict the future of markets, track market excellence, and improve the value of marketing to companies and to society since 2008. I am also the co-auth…MORE

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‘Retail Apocalypse’: 12 Key Takeaways For Marketers

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Sourced from Forbes

According to a report by The Atlantic, hundreds of shops and malls are closing their doors, while several massive retail chains have already gone bankrupt, as e-commerce sites take over the consumer shopping industry. With brick-and-mortar locations becoming a thing of the past, it makes sense that more businesses will fall victim to bankruptcy, store closings and decreasing revenues.

As a business that chooses to continue to operate out of a physical location, you need to consider what your options are online. Reaching consumers online is the future of retail, and your company needs to take an aggressive approach to meet their demands for e-commerce.

Twelve members of Forbes Communications Council share what marketers with both online and offline retail brands should take away from the recent “retail apocalypse.” Here’s what they recommend:

Members give their best advice on how to market during a retail “apocalypse.”Photos courtesy of the individual members.

1. Focus On Big-Picture Customer Experience 

It’s about customer experience — Toys ‘R’ Us often didn’t have competitive prices, needed to lower online shipping costs and made it difficult to return items in store, while sales associates hassled customers, only gave store credit, etc. Brands that will survive and thrive, whether in-store or online, need to provide a good product at a good price with good customer experience. Word gets around. – Amanda Ponzar, Community Health Charities

2. Offer Ease And Convenience

Marketers should understand that ease and convenience are always present in the minds of customers, and modern marketing has made online and offline retail easier than ever before. Our means of production, shopping and acquisition are getting faster every day. And customers have developed a taste for anything quicker or easier than conventional shopping methods. – Jeff Grover, Best Company

3. Embrace Explorers

When a customer walks into your store they are in exploratory mode. Position products that are best experienced through personal interaction. Embrace try-me stations in your retail design. Empower your staff to encourage customers to try out products. This will help consumers create a personal connection with your business, grow brand loyalty and improve sales, while boosting social mentions. – Alysia Gradney, Vision Source

4. Diversify Quickly

Some retailers have found successful solutions that incorporate their physical and online stores. For example, Best Buy Canada is a strong retailer and baby products are a fast-growing vertical, even though they are historically known for consumer electronics. They diversified to stay relevant, and services like ‘buy online, pick up in store’ help integrate their retail stores with e-commerce. – Tony Holbrook, Ingram Micro Commerce & Lifecycle Services

5. Commit To In-Store Innovations

In the wake of the ‘retail apocalypse,’ successful specialty outdoor retail partners of ours are rallying in inspiring and creative ways to offer value-added experiences only brick and mortar can deliver. Examples include in-store coffee shops and/or bars, live music and educational events with outdoor influencers, and yoga or fitness classes. These efforts are a great way to position stores as a community hub to lure customers in on a regular basis. – Janine Robertson, Insect Shield Repellent Technology

6. Show Customers You Value Them

I love the new concept that Nordstrom is debuting, Nordstrom Local — upscale shops just for online shopping. You can comfortably shop online or hang out. You can also pick up online purchases and try on. There are even tailors available if your purchase does not fit perfectly. It’s about building that, ‘I value you’ experience that seems to be missing in traditional stores. Smart marketing! – Denise Joyner West, Technology Concepts Group International

7. Use The Store As A Stage

One of the unique benefits of brick and mortar is the ability to use the space as a stage. Retail marketers have the unique opportunity to create compelling experiences that can attract customers into the store and solidify the brand relationship. All things equal (and even if price is slightly higher), entertainment and education win. Give your audience something they can’t get online. – Scott Schoeneberger, bluewatertech.com

8. Unify Content And Commerce Across All Channels

With the convenience of online shopping, customers expect a seamless experience between digital channels and brick and mortar. Retailers need to differentiate themselves by providing inspirational and engaging experiences for their shoppers. Bringing in experiential marketing (e.g., using virtual reality headsets, free beauty classes, interactive showrooms, etc.) will drive engagement and loyalty. – Morgan Kelleher, Amplience

9. Offer More Than Just Convenience

Convenience is no longer enough reason for shoppers to go to brick-and-mortar store locations. Stores need to think creatively to offer more to their customers because you’re not going to undercut Amazon and other massive online shopping sites. Offer expert service on products, make personal connections with customers, accept returns with issues; in short, offer amazing customer service. – Stephan Baldwin, franchisegator.com

10. Adapt To The Expectations Of A New Generation

Physical and digital presence should give exactly the same experience because the new generation is digitally native. Brick-and-mortar stores should be able to provide the same experience online that the customer gets in store. In my opinion, this is not a ‘retail apocalypse,’ but rather the fact that there are different expectations from a generation that is looking for the same experience both online and offline. – Anshu Agarwal, Stealth start-up

11. Implement An Omnichannel Solution

Try to figure out how to implement an omnichannel solution. Move the customer from the shops to the internet and vice versa. Take advantage of new technologies. Observe the emerging startups. Every year, many modern omnichannel solutions are introduced to the retail market, especially in the area of advertising personalization and user identification. – Pawel Kijko, TimeCamp

12. Give Customers A Good Reason To Go

It’s not so much that consumers don’t ever go to physical stores, but there has to be an overarching reason to go. Sometimes, convenience happens because there is a physical store nearby and sometimes it happens because I can buy something online. The real issue is that brands need to keep up with where and how their consumers want to buy and then find ways to meet that demand. – Kat Krieger, Joyride

Forbes Communications Council is an invitation-only, fee-based organization for senior-level communications and public relations executives. Find out if you qualify at forbescommcouncil.com/qualify

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The Favorite to Lead WPP After Sorrell Is Already Making a Mark

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As WPP Plc closes in on appointing a successor to its long-time former CEO and founder Martin Sorrell, one man stands as the front-runner: Mark Read.

Read, Sorrell’s former strategy and digital chief, is the favored candidate internally to run the world’s largest advertising group. There’s growing confidence that he will get the role after a drawn-out process that’s already lasted four months, according to a dozen WPP executives, who asked not to be named discussing a company matter.

Ousted in April, Sorrell built WPP into a global powerhouse from a wire shopping basket maker, became the doyen of the industry and a prominent voice on global trade, appearing regularly on TV and at conferences including the World Economic Forum. Read would be a more operational choice for the board, someone who doesn’t seek the limelight, but who understands the complexities of the business and can act to address its difficulties because he already has an intimate understanding of WPP.

The delay in selecting a successor to Sorrell comes at a critical time for WPP, which has lost a third of its market value over the past 18 months as major clients like consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble Co. spend less on marketing and internet giants Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google threaten to cut out the agency middlemen.

For more on the challenges facing the ‘Mad Men’, read this.

WPP reports half-year financial results on Sept. 4 and is likely to make an announcement about Sorrell’s permanent replacement at some point in that month, according to a person familiar with the matter. The longer the appointment takes, the more investors may fret about the lack of permanent leadership to steer the company through the industry’s major shift.

Unilever’s chief marketing officer Keith Weed, Dentsu Aegis CEO Jerry Buhlmann, IBM executive David Kenny and Tim Armstrong, the CEO of Verizon Communications Inc. subsidiary Oath, have all been mentioned as potential external candidates challenging Read.

WPP declined to comment, as did Read. Sorrell didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Read, the interim co-chief operating officer alongside Andrew Scott, is already making an impact. Here are some of the ways in which he’s filled Sorrell’s shoes, according to those who work with him:

Communication

Sorrell micro-managed WPP, a global network of hundreds of ad agencies, incessantly firing off emails to lieutenants about business minutiae and continuing exchanges long into the night. While still seen as appropriately responsive, Read has dialed back the correspondence during unsociable hours. And even then, decisions are being made faster. WPP staff put that down to a shift in power away from head office and bypassing the log-jam of Sorrell’s phone.

Read’s tone is also softer, with executives describing him as more thoughtful and less combative than Sorrell, and as a good listener who doesn’t assume he has all the answers. Quarterly reviews with Sorrell were often a dressing down, an impression absent when meeting Read, according to one executive.

Collaboration

While Sorrell regularly spoke of the importance of WPP’s different divisions working together, that cooperation has become more prevalent under Scott and Read. There is a new-found spirit of collaboration between company bosses, with more meetings between WPP agency leaders over the past few months than at any time under the former CEO, one executive said.

Profile

Despite being Sorrell’s de facto replacement for the past four months, Read has kept a relatively low public profile. He made limited appearances at the Cannes Lions festival in June — the ad industry’s annual jamboree where Sorrell made a splash.

While Sorrell would frequently appear in media and cultivated a celebrity image, Read is seen as more modest and reserved. His day-to-day preferred method of transport is Uber and public transport instead of a chauffeur-driven car and he has a limited entourage.

Restructuring

Read has been circumspect about what he would change at WPP, careful not to over-step his mandate as interim co-chief operating officer. But he has discussed how WPP could be re-shaped, including floating ideas such as merging creative agencies with faster-growing digital or media businesses.

For Read’s first interview with Bloomberg in June, click here.

He’s also looking at ways to simplify WPP’s organization — Sorrell had more than 100 direct reports, a practice Read would look to change. WPP is also moving out of its long-standing small Mayfair headquarters in a symbolic break from the Sorrell era.

Feature Image Credit: Mark Read Photographer: Aidan Crawley/Bloomberg

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Netflix sets the record straight over plans to introduce ads

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By Gillian West

With news spreading Netflix is adding ads, the streaming service has stepped in to set the record straight – it’s testing skippable video promotions between episodes and movies.

Introduced quietly this week, Reddit users sparked confusion when some claimed they saw a video in between episodes they weren’t able to skip, while others spotted a ‘skip’ button.

With users threatening to quit over the addition of ads, Netflix issued a statement on Friday reading, “we are testing whether surfacing recommendations between episodes helps members discover stories they will enjoy faster.

“It is important to note that a member is able to skip a video preview at anytime if they are not interested.”

A spokesperson for Netflix added the videos were not ads or commercials, but personalised recommendations for other shows and movies on the service. They claimed it conducts hundreds of tests per year, most of which aren’t adopted.

The addition of video previews that play while browsing were added in 2016, with Netflix revealing they cut down the amount of time people spent browsing “significantly”. Since then it has been experimenting with different kinds of video such as this.

Worldwide, Netflix boasts 130 million customers. In April, The Drum reported Netflix was investing “more in marketing of new original titles to create more density of viewing and conversation around each title.”

Source: CNN

Netflix

Netflix, is an American entertainment company founded by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph on August 29, 1997, in Scotts Valley, California. It specializes in and provides streaming media and video-on-d…

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Feature Image Credit: Netflix has set the record straight on the addition of ‘ads’

By Gillian West

Sourced from The Drum

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Amazon Music animates Ariana Grande, Kendrick Lamar and SZA in ad campaign for the service

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By Kyle O’Brien

Amazon Music is pushing its paid streaming music service with a new campaign as a way for listeners to power their preferences by using Alexa.

The service is building on its momentum with the launch of ‘A Voice is All You Need.’ The campaign highlights the powerful vocals of notable songs while demonstrating the simplicity of voice with Alexa, featuring leading artists at launch including Ariana Grande, Kendrick Lamar, SZA, Queen and Kane Brown.

The ad creative, developed with Wieden+Kennedy, celebrates the growth of Amazon Music against rivals like Apple and Spotify, by noting its lead in voice innovation while playing off isolated vocals from notable artists in a journey through the voice experience with Alexa on Amazon Music.

In the first video, Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s All the Stars gets animated in a 30-second spot that starts off with brightly hued lips singing the lyrics. The lips then turn blue as the Lamar’s rap begins, then morphs into the Amazon arrow, which also turns into a mouth and asks Alexa to play the song as it promotes the 30-day free trial for the service.

Another ad rises high above Times Square to push Ariana Grande’s new album, Sweetener. The three-tiered digital ad starts with the ‘A Voice is All You Need’ phrase, then turns rainbow colored with a pic from the album and the text: “Alexa Play New Ariana Grande.”

Launching at a time where the number of Amazon Music hours streamed globally on Alexa-enabled devices has doubled over the past six months compared to the same time last year, ‘A Voice is All You Need’ will begin appearing today in select US cities, and will expand to the UK and Germany throughout the year across media channels including national online video, radio, and out-of-home billboard advertisements in support of upcoming new releases. Select creative from the campaign will also appear on national TV later this year.

By Kyle O’Brien

Sourced from The Drum

 

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5 Digital Marketing Trends for Busy Small Business Owners

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Sourced from Vavmy

Small business owners wear numerous hats. One minute you’re the CEO, the next minute an assembly line worker, or an end-of-the-day accountant. As a result, your marketing efforts may not get as much attention as you would like. According to the 2017 Small Business Marketing Trends Report created by Infusionsoft, finding time for marketing is the top challenge small businesses will face in 2017.

With such limited time for marketing, it’s imperative for small business owners to work smarter and not harder. The good news is, there are several effective digital marketing trends you can easily take advantage of that will yield a good return on your investment.

Mobile. Mobile is the most upwardly trending platform in media today. Think about it. When are you not in an intimate relationship with your phone on a daily basis. Mine knows more about me than my wife. With more and more consumers using their mobile devices to read email, surf the Web, and check social media, it’s important that each part of your digital footprint is optimized for mobile.

Video. Most social media platforms have video capabilities—and consumers are racking up millions of hours watching this content. Producing videos for Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Snapchat is an excellent way to increase engagement with your audience and inspire brand loyalty. And if the videos are live streamed, that’s even better as it creates a sense of intimacy between you and your followers.

Furthermore, small business owners can derive great benefits from the use of their promotional video, commercial, content tease, or sales pitch as a pre-roll through YouTube’s network. You’ve seen these spots that precede the video you’ve chosen to view. Guess what. They work. Statistics show more and more users are either viewing the entire spot or clicking through to an actionable web page.

Influencers. It’s not a coincidence that businesses turn to celebrities to help market their products: People are most likely to take recommendations from those they trust and admire. But just because you can’t afford to get Kim Kardashian to tweet about your business for $10,000 a pop doesn’t mean you can’t leverage the power of influencers. Chances are there is a social media influencer in your market—like a popular blogger or YouTuber—who you can hire to be a brand ambassador for you. You may even be able to save money by entering into a barter arrangement with that person.

Personalization. If you think that adding your subscribers’ names to your email campaigns is all you need to do to personalize your marketing, you’re not doing nearly enough to build a connection with your audience. In order to truly personalize your digital marketing, you must understand your customers’ habits and preferences—which will go a long way toward getting their attention and cutting through the advertising noise they experience every single day.

Metrics. According to Infusionsoft, 47 percent of small business leaders have no idea if their marketing campaigns are effective or not. To understand what your customers click on and what they share, take advantage of the analytical tools provided by Google and social media platforms. This will allow you to produce more of the content your audience responds to—and eliminate the content that isn’t worth your limited time.

Although trial and error is a natural part of marketing, as a busy business owner, you simply don’t have time to mess around with techniques that aren’t going to be effective. By incorporating these growing strategies into your marketing plan, you can expand your reach while still getting the best return on your time and money investment.

Sourced from Vavmy

 

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Are you feeling it? Why consumer companies must master the experience economy

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According to an influential analysis of the consumer economy, companies have to offer their customers unforgettable experiences in order to succeed (see Figure 1).¹

This vision of companies selling experiences is now becoming a reality. The breakthrough has been made possible by the explosion in connectivity, the advances in analytics and artificial intelligence, and the growing profusion of smart devices and sensors that we have witnessed over the past few years.

This new reality is forcing companies to reconsider whether their current revenue models and offerings are adequate to stand out from the competition. The move from offering products to offering experiences shifts the focus from outputs to outcomes, whether for the individual or for wider society.

The experience economy is one of four themes that we believe will be central to the digitization of the consumer industries over the next decade. The other themes we examine are consumer data flow and value capture, omni-channel retail and digital operating model.

Hyper-personalization in goods

With painstakingly curated Instagram pages and Facebook profiles, today’s consumers are also used to customizing their online world. They now expect the same level of personalization in many of the products and services that they buy. The business rationale for companies to offer hyper-personalization varies. It may be to build brand loyalty or to create a niche within a premium segment. For others, particularly e-commerce platforms where competition is fierce, offering hyper-personalized products can be a point of differentiation from their rivals.²

For hyper-personalization to be successful, operating models need to become more flexible and companies may also need to implement a cultural change. Investments in areas such as data mining, analytics and production processes are needed. The potential rewards for businesses could be substantial, with personalized products and memorable experiences translating into brand loyalty and the opportunity to charge a premium. Hyper-personalization, while beneficial for consumers and companies, could have a potential environmental downside by increasing the amount of packaging material used, waste generated or delivery miles incurred.

Case study
 Burberry and Fendi

Burberry first launched a made-to-order catwalk as part of London Fashion Week show in 2013. It offered a personalization service that allowed consumers to order products and have their name engraved into the coat tag or bag plate. Similarly, Fendi is manufacturing ‘personalized handbags’, offering customers the opportunity to create a one-of-a-kind handbag by selecting the color and material and having their name or initials woven into the body of the bag.

From products to services and experiences

With recent advances in technology, the digital economy is now able to deliver a wider range of services and experiences that people are looking for. Uber epitomizes this preference for a service: it is more convenient to pay a small fee and summon your chosen vehicle and ‘personal chauffer’ with a couple of taps on a smartphone than to buy a car, make sure it is properly fueled and insured, and find somewhere to park it. Offering services to complement products enables businesses to develop a longer-term engagement with their customers. With that engagement comes the potential for newer methods of capturing value and the chance to build strong customer loyalty.

Case study
 Nespresso

Nestlé has managed to convert its Nespresso product into an experience by building branded boutiques that showcase coffee machines and capsules, while at the same time closely integrating these with online ordering and fulfillment services.³

Companies that manage to create unique, personalized and memorable experiences for their customers will generate the most value. It’s been forecast that by 2018, B2B sellers that incorporate personalization into digital commerce are set to realize revenue increases of up to 15%.⁴ This requires investment in service design and possibly also in the physical environment where the experience will take place.

Health and wellness-driven goods and services

The cost of caring for people with chronic diseases is increasing, and now accounts for 75% of health expenses in the United States. This development is driving growth in healthcare spending. With a large population of consumers looking to live healthy lives, there are significant opportunities for companies offering health-based services. For example, the market for healthcare wearable devices is expected to grow at 30% a year until 2019.⁵

Case study
 Samsung and Fitbit

Samsung decided to introduce health-related sensors, such as pedometers, in some of its latest smartphones. These phones help users track exercise schedules, food intake, weight, sleep patterns and heart rate. A health wearables company, Fitbit, allows users to share their health outcomes and compete with a community of friends.

Products of this kind encourage a healthy lifestyle, and the experience helps drive health outcomes for societies dealing with malnutrition or obesity. For companies entering what could be a booming segment of the consumer market, a key point of differentiation will be how credibly they can market real health benefits to consumers. A crucial capability for these firms will be the ability to demonstrate transparency in their supply chain, nutritional data and products.

Footnotes:
1. The Experience Economy, B Joseph Pine, James H Gilmore
2. Moss Bros. is poised to hyper-personalize its interactions with consumers
3. Accenture, “The Future of Consumer Goods: Moving From Analog to Digital”, 2014
4. Gartner, Gartner Says IT Leaders Will Need to Develop a Stronger Relationship With Marketing, 2015
5. Datamation.com, Health Wearables a $41 Billion Market by 2020: IndustryARC
6. Sleepreviewmag.com, Wearable Healthcare Devices, Services Markets to Grow at CAGR of 30.42% through 2019

Sourced from World Economic Forum

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QA and Build Test Engineer – Dublin

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Jobbio is expanding its engineering team in Dublin and is seeking an experienced QA and Build Test Engineer.  The candidate will have at least 3 years of commercial experience in technical test roles in modern web applications, frameworks and APIs.

What you will do:

  • Building and Running automated technical test scripts
  • Raising issues and reports in tracking tools such as Jira
  • Working with the development team to plan test schedules, review test results and sign off software releases
  • Discussing product requirements with Jobbio’s Product Team
  • Working with the Engineering Team to create deployment scripts in Amazon Web Services and GitHub
  • Verifying Server Deployments and Environments

Who you are:

  • Minimum of 3 years experience as a Quality Assurance Engineer
  • Work using Tracking and Planning Tools like Jira
  • Drafting Test Requirements based on discussions with Developers and Product Managers
  • Scripting Test Suites for Python or similar languages
  • Passionate about creating an exceptional products and services
  • Creative and conscientious approach to work, with a high level of organisational skills
  • Excited about working with one of the fastest growing tech companies in Ireland

Technologies

  • Linux based environments, including Ubuntu and SE Linux
  • Web Application Software, including Python and JavaScript
  • Application Frameworks like Django and EmberJS
About Jobbio

Jobbio is an employer branding and inbound hiring company that connects smart people to smart companies.

We’re an exciting Irish-founded startup with offices in Dublin, London and New York. Currently, we have 60 employees and promote a culture of collaboration, exploration and disruption.

The startup environment is fast-paced and ever changing, so if you’re a self-starter who is passionate about evolving technology, this is the place for you!

CLICK HERE TO APPLY FOR THIS JOB

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It’s the dawn of a new era for hotel points obsessives

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By Rosie Spinks

For most of us, booking a hotel room is an equation of convenience, affordability, and comfort. But for hotel points obsessives, each night away from home is a strategic stop on the way to the promised land of elite status.

Points- and status-chasers can be a mystifying bunch. The basic premise is this: By staying only in hotels that fall under a chosen loyalty program—and generally using co-branded credit cards to book them—status chasers rack up a slew of benefits at different tiers. This can range from late checkout and free breakfast all the way to free stays in ultra luxury properties. For the most part, people who have to travel for business use the points and status they amass while working to use in their leisure travel.

In this niche of the travel world, this week marks a big shift with the merger of two marquee programs: Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest. The latter, known to the cognoscenti as SPG, includes brands such as St Regis, W Hotels, Aloft, Westin, and Sheraton, and has hitherto been considered one of the most rewarding programs to hitch your travel wagon to.

In 2016, somewhat to the dismay of SPG-ers, Marriott acquired Starwood for $13.6 billion, forming the largest hotel company in the world: 29 brands, 6,500 properties, and 127 countries. This Saturday, August 18, the two reward programs will merge. The resulting program—which won’t be given a new name until 2019, and will also fold in the Ritz Carlton Rewards program—will be a loyalty program with 110 million customers.

When the news was first announced, Gary Leff, a prominent and easily-peeved travel blogger wrote a post entitled “Time to start gnashing teeth: Marriott is buying Starwood.”

For the 21 million SPG-ers who are essentially being folded into the Marriott universe—which was previously less known for its hip brands and more its stingy breakfast policy—the particulars of this merger have been nervously anticipated and hotly debated for months now. When the news was first announced, Gary Leff, a prominent and easily-peeved travel and points blogger, wrote a post entitled “Time to start gnashing teeth: Marriott is buying Starwood.” Above all, there has been a perpetual fear that the former SPG-ers will be treated as second class status-chasers in a Marriott-owned program—and that the continued consolidation of rewards programs will leave travelers with devalued points and fewer places to defect to.

Some background: Travel loyalty programs first began in the 1980s, when major US airlines released versions of their own. Over the decades, they have morphed from a casual way to incentivize brand loyalty to an entire cottage industry—one that’s perfectly suited for the kind of fanatical quibbling that internet forums were made for. Marriott’s pre-merger program has an annual meet-up, which is attended by Marriott executives, entitled TIPPLE: “The Insider Points, Pints and Liquor Extravaganza.” The ultimate goal of points chasers is to attain the thrill of getting something for nothing—or, at least, something luxurious for what you’d already be paying for anyway.

Flueck has managed a Herculean task: to marry the two programs, each with its own methods of valuation and levels of perks, without terribly pissing off some of the most pedantic people on the planet.

Marriott has appeared aware of how high stakes this merger is; they hired a former SPG executive, David Flueck, to iron out the wrinkles. And indeed, by most accounts Flueck has managed a Herculean task: to marry the two programs, each with its own methods of valuation and levels of perks, without terribly pissing off some of the most pedantic people on the planet. As the online authority The Points Guy put it, “if you hold status with either SPG or Marriott you’re either retaining that status level or, in the specific case of current Marriott Golds, earning an upgrade.” Even teeth-gnashing Leff called it “the best possible outcome we could have expected.”

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some objections. One of the hacks that SPGers used to maximize their points will no longer be permitted because Marriott Rewards has done away with an SPG quirk that counted “stays,” rather than actual nights, as a way to earn status. This means that hotel hopping—where you check into three different hotels over a three-night trip, to maximize distinct “stays” on one business trip—will no longer work.

Marriott did not opt, however, to link status to the amount of money spent on a room, rather than number of nights in a room—a big relief for points obsessives. This means that frequent business travelers who stay at mid-market properties in middle America, say, will still amass as many points from their business trips as those who often stay at more expensive hotels in Rome, Tokyo, and London.

Another, perhaps more existential, sticking point is how this new mega-family of travelers will get along. How will they see each other as they glide through various gleaming lobbies on their way to business meetings? As Bloomberg noted, due to the different brand identities of each former program’s hotel portfolios, there is a general sense that SPG-ers are “culturally savvy” while “Marriott enthusiasts were captives of convenience.” (Translation: SPGers seek out hip properties like W, while Marriott folk will stay anywhere convenient.)

One thing they do have in common, of course, is their shared love of status.

By Rosie Spinks

Sourced from Quartzy

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Account Executive – Dublin

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Jobbio is continuing to grow which means we need people to help drive our story forward. We are looking for ambitious, target driven inside sales execs to join our incredible team. As an Account Executive, you will be part of the team leading the growth of our business.

Reporting to the Head of Strategic Sales, you will drive our mission to get people hired! Thousands of companies use us to find the best talent and hundreds of thousands of candidates use us to find the best job. Join us to make that number grow!

How you will spend your day
  • Navigate a high volume of sales calls and activity on a daily basis
  • Building trust and effective relationships with your assigned client portfolio
  • Build sales pipeline and portfolio daily through calls, emails, campaigns and networking
  • Qualifying sales opportunities and leads
  • Creating and presenting solutions to clients based on your qualification
  • Demonstrating our products to clients virtually and in person
  • Record all activity in Salesforce CRM

What skills do I need?

  • Previous sales experience (technology, staffing or solution led sales experience is a plus)
  • Excellent communication skills both written and spoken
  • Comfortable building relationships quickly through meetings, cold calling, attending events and email
  • Proven experience in hitting and exceeding weekly and monthly targets
  • Experience in using CRM software e.g. Salesforce (not essential)
  • Third level degree
  • Enthusiastic about technology

CLICK HERE TO APPLY FOR THIS JOB

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