DIGITAL IS ... OUTDATED !

Digital, Digital, Digital ... The End of Marketing as we Know It ?

Everybody is using the word "Digital" now, to an extent which has become over the top...

• Advertising agencies pretend to have Digital Creatives. 
• Consulting firms pretend to have Digital Labs. 
• Marketing Officers pretend to be Digital Officers. 

Well, it is true that 10 years ago, when Facebook was born, no-one could claim to be digital, as Social Media barely existed. That said, it is really exaggerated to claim being 100% digital in 2014. 

I have authored a study called "Digital: The new frontier of marketing" ... Worth reading :-)

I believe that Digital is an integrated part of Marketing, as other components like advertising, consumer insight, shopper studies, brand development, category management, trade marketing... are of have been!

Many constituents of the so-called Digital World are essential tools to be a great marketer, or to run a world-class marketing function. Nowadays you need : Big data and analytics ; Open data and co-innovation ; Multi-channel sales ; Tribal marketing for social media communities ; Online co-creation etc...

But Digital today seems to me nothing more than a set of tools !

Digital and digitization cannot be seen as a new function, an end in itself, a new business philosophy nor a new business model.

Digital is simply a means to an end, a new component of our daily business and personal lives, a new way of working, a new toolbox ... It can be very useful to marketers indeed. 

Therefore, Digital will not be a substitute to Marketing - definitely not!

The role of digital in the marketing function has become huge, as Consumer Product giant companies such as Procter & Gamble spend up to 1/3 of their media spend on digital media (internet enabled such as YouTube, Google, Facebook...). Other giant companies such as Unilever have appointed some top executives in charge of Digital within their marketing function, e.g. a Senior Vice President Food Digital, a former "traditional" brand manager. 

So let's not be confused (or over-whelmed) by "Digital" or "Digitization" verbal diarrhea... The digital phenomenon is simply a new way to look at things and to do business. 

My belief is that the newly appointed "Chief Digital Officers" will soon return to their formal job titles of "Chief Marketing Officer" or "Chief Information Officer", depending on where they came from originally. 

And as Marc Pritchard, P&G global marketing officer, recently said: "The era of digital marketing is over. It's almost dead. Now, it's just brand building". 

Digital is dead, long live Digital !

Let's be digital, inspired and connected. 

YESTERDAY WAS ALL ABOUT FOOD... AND THE FUTURE IS FOOD TOO !

Star entrepreneurs from Michel & Augustin and Sushi Daily 

Yesterday night we held a great "premiere" conference with INSEAD Alumni in Paris... a "Vertical" event about an industry, viewed from all possible angles (leadership, marketing, finance, technology etc.), but most importantly through the eyes of Top Entrepreneurs.

Being in France, the industry choice was easy and quite obvious : Food !

Having worked in this sector myself for the past 15 years, first at Unilever (Knorr, Lipton, Ben & Jerry, Magnum) and then in strategy consulting, advising food companies such as Unilever, Nestlé, Ferrero, Orangina Schweppes... I came to yesterday's event with high expectations, not only because the sector is great, but also because the panel of speakers was just fabulous, amongst others :

• Michel de Rovira (INSEAD alumnus), co founder of Michel et Augustin, delicious tasty sweet food (cookies, yoghurt). The start-up already generates revenues of €25M, and they just raised €12M funding from F-H Pinault the CEO and owner of luxury group Kering.

• Jérôme Castaing (INSEAD alumnus) and Kelly, founders of Sushi Daily, world class shop-in-shop chain. They have opened a first corner shop within a Carrefour hypermarket in 2010, and they now own more than 200 shops globally, employ over 1200 people, and generated revenues above €100M in 2013.

We were not disappointed yesterday night ! All 150 guests enjoyed the evening and the final tasting. My personal learnings are the following :

• Food is all about passion, taste, quality and excellence : Successful retail concepts are not enough, one must focus 100% on the product, which needs to be outperforming standards and outstanding. For instance, Sushi Daily seek to produce and sell "the best sushis in the world". Michel & Augustin seek to produce "the most fun and tasty cookies in France and abroad".

• Food innovation can be "frugal" : There is no need to invest millions of euros on R&D or Marketing... It is simply amazing to see that some Food companies that started a few years ago only with a few thousand euros in loans now generate enormous revenue and substantial profits. What matters is the perseverance of the founders, and the development of good Food in a garage or basement ... like the Tech and Digital entrepreneurs basically.

• Food staff management, talent training and retention is hyper critical : It is clear that thousands of candidates want to work in Food... But the need for excellence and outperformance requires that senior executives apply the toughest standards to their people. Kelly, the founder of Sushi Daily told us that she came in France as an Asian immigrant, eager to succeed, with huge appetite for success in her new life. The minimum skill she is looking for when recruiting is NOT food knowledge, but rather a high level of motivation, that equals or surpasses hers !

• Food trends for tomorrow are well known; they provide great opportunities for Food start-ups : safety, ethics, religion, health... are the most obvious trends and points of attention in the industry. But a great one, notably vis-a-vis youngest consumers, is YAWYE : "you are what you eat"... The cool, healthy, innovative brands who address this new consumer insight will definitely strive in the coming years.

All in all, we can be proud in France to have so much talent and successes in the Food market... which is partly coming from our history ("la tradition culinaire"), but also certainly from the entrepreneurial and creative talent we have in this country.

As there is a "Silicon Valley" in the USA for Digital innovation and progress, we have in France our own "recipes" for success in the "Food Valley" !

Let's talk next time about our "Cosmetic Valley" if you want...

Dear Epicurean friends of Food : Let's be Inspired & Connected !