Words of advice from the American Marketing Association’s M-Planet conference 2009 keynote speakers Anne Mulcahy of Xerox, John Hayes of American Express, Mary Dillon, McDonald’s, RK Krishna Kumar, Tata Brands, and Larry Grisolano, Obama Presidential Campaign. Key themes echoed by many of the speakers include the need to use customer insight more effectively, the need for marketers to be bold and experiment in these times of uncertainty, to resist the urge to cutback and hunker down, nurture brands, and to constantly be innovating their products and services. A back-to-basics approach was advised, and speakers called for new products and services to address current human truths (e.g. the need for affordability and value), for companies to exhibit social responsibility, and to build trust with their customers.

Anne Mulcahy, CEO of Xerox, focused on the proliferation of information coming at consumers daily, and the need to deliver useful information that cuts through the clutter and truly addresses their needs. She offered four pieces of advice: (1) Change the little “i” in “IT to a big “I” – in other words, start using technology with information. Technology is part of the solution but it’s not the full solution: we still need strategy to decide what to say, whom to message to, and how to message to our customers. (2) Get intimate with your customers: pay attention to what they’re telling you or someone else will. At Xerox, the 20 top executives are assigned a day each month to be the “Chief Customer Officer” during which they’re responsible for resolving all customer issues…and unlike typical companies, in Xerox’s case, the customer tells them when the problem is resolved. (3) Get “b-to-b”: back to basics with clear, consistent messaging. Choose a few messages that you can clearly communicate, and stick to them. (4) Now more than ever is a time to nurture our brands: many people think of a brand as look and feel, but brand is really about the promise you make to your customers. It’s the Northstar and should guide everything your company does. Your brand needs to evolve with the times, so keep it current. Anne mentioned developing the new Xerox brand took 18 months and was worth waiting for: don’t cut corners in this area. Anne ended by saying “there is no more important time for research and innovation than right now – it will play a part in the economic stimulus.” She suggested companies “stay the course with research and innovation,” adding, “this is the time it counts. Don’t trade off long term investment for short-term profit.” Finally, she urged companies to be bold and come forward with new thinking.

John Hayes, CMO of American Express had this to offer: (1) Establish new customer listening posts and visit them daily. Discussions with your customers should be a dialogue, not a monologue. Listening, in today’s world, is the most powerful sales tool we have. (2) Resist the temptation to “hunker in the bunker” during this tough economic time; marketing leaders need to bring about change, and now is the time to do so. (3) Innovate: make the necessary innovations you need to be visionaries. Look to the outside world for inspiration: leaders in the arts, retail, and sciences can give us new perspectives. He urged us to “practice self reflection of your brand.” John too focused on customers as being key to business success, telling us “the customer defines what’s real, what’s possible, and what’s next.”

Mary Dillon, EVP and Global CMO, of McDonald’s also focused on the importance of customers: Consumers are equal partners in growing your brand. Let them participate in your brand and offer their spin on it. She stressed McDonald’s “continuous commitment to customer insights” and showed a TV ad featuring two teenagers rapping about McNuggets. The video was discovered in YouTube while monitoring their social networking activity. Mary also offered her perspective on playing in the global marketplace: being a global brand, she said, necessitates being able to stand out, and fit into a culture at the same time.

R.K. Krishna Kumar, Chairman of Tata Coffee and Vice Chairman of Tata Tea and Indian Hotels talked about the need for brands to project trust and responsibly to their customer base. He urged us to make products that are truly valuable to our customers: for example, Tata makes bottled water with nutrients, and developed a $2000 car in order to bring necessary products to a less-than-affluent consumer base.

Larry Grisolano, Senior Communications Strategist for the Obama Presidential Campaign wrapped up the keynotes. Grisolano told of harnessing idealism to create a team of visionary thinkers that grew the Obama campaign organically. He stressed the simple yet effective messaging strategy the campaign used: a few simple messages, delivered with confidence, consistently throughout the campaign. He suggested that oftentimes consumers are “one little piece of information away” from buying your product or service, and our job as marketers is to give them the information they need to get them to the next step. Grisolano talked about the campaign’s massive data collection effort which has resulted in a database of huge proportions, which continues to be a marketing asset even now. On the practical side, the campaign had “5 times more people involved in opinion research” than any other campaign ever run. This emphasis on gathering customer insight manifested itself in surveys, polls and focus groups before and after critical campaigns, and a rigorous test and learn approach. He emphasized the value of the brand, even in this “perfect storm” of the 2009 campaign.