CSA Exclusive: Six expert predictions for marketing in 2022
Top marketing executives from retail, hospitality and CPG brands including Michaels, McDonald’s, and Del Taco are sharing insight on the year ahead.
Chain Store Age recently spoke with members of Loyalty Innovators, a digital community for marketing executives and loyalty innovators to connect and share best practices, to ask their opinions about what they expect the hot marketing trends to be in 2022. Following are forecasts from marketing leaders at Michaels Companies, McDonald’s, Del Taco, Shell, Marriott International, and Hanesbrands.
Loyalty’s rise as a critical strategic imperative
Loyalty will continue to be a critical strategic imperative to support business growth as it enables first-party data activation, provides value to customers throughout their lifecycle, helps with channel integration, and it is the force behind personalization to ultimately create brand love and advocacy.
Paulo Claussen, senior director loyalty, Michaels Companies
Personalized marketing - More than just a name
Personalization is more than just knowing a customer’s name; it’s about leveraging customer data to build relationships with consumers that deliver relevant and compelling experiences. Consumer’s busy lives mean that they have less time to search for products and information – by providing the most relevant content at the right time allows companies to keep their products top of mind.
Bryce Boothby, senior manager, U.S. loyalty, McDonald's
Personalization is a have-to-have
Personalization used to be a nice to have but now it is a have to have. It is an expectation of the customer that they receive relevant offers to them. We are tasked with knowing what they have told us and what they haven’t told us but done in order to personalize their experiences.
Erin Levzow, VP of marketing & digital technology, Del Taco Restaurants Inc.
Delivering on customer’s rising expectations
COVID-19 accelerated adoption of digital technology and enhancements in technology across several industries. It has resulted in notable changes in consumer preferences and elevated their expectations on receiving relevant and customized experiences. Simply put, they expect that brands know what they want based on their preferences and data collection. These consumers will naturally gravitate towards brands that recognize their need and deliver experiences seamlessly.
Anjali Iyer, Director insights, strategy & analytics at Marriott International
Meaningful personalization at scale
Brands can create value by building experiences and emotional connection with consumers, thereby creating relationships that transcend the sale of goods and services. As consumers, I believe we build the deepest relationships with brands that personalize their outreach and experiences. Meaningful personalization at scale is perhaps the biggest challenge and opportunity for brands today.
Leo Griffin, VP, technology & global head of consumer at Hanesbrands
Fueling rewards engines while balancing privacy and trust
Brands will continue to learn and adopt personalization in many aspects of the customer experience and loyalty schemes will equally continue to gain grounds as a source of primary data. The tech advancement will enable more and more marketers to use reward engines to serve the right offers to the right loyalty member at the right opportunity.
Similarly, artificial intelligence and machine learning will enable more brands to personalize in a smarter way using data beyond transactional data. However, finding the right balance of personalization, data privacy and customer trust remains a critical point.
Pavel Los, commercial marketer, loyalty expert, country chairman, Shell
[Read more: Survey: Consumers open to marketing tech, have privacy concerns]