How is the Marketing Function Changing in the Digital Era
Highlights from MASS Analytics and Massmedia Morocco at The African Digital Summit in Morocco
The African Digital Summit marked the start of the partnership between MASS Analytics and Massmedia Morocco.
The event, in its 5th edition, took place in Morocco on the 2nd and 3rd of March 2023. Dr. Ramla Jarrar represented the partners in a panel titled “The Transformation of the Marketing Function in the Digital Era”. This panel was moderated by Hassan Rouissi, Cofounder and Associate Director of NextClick, and it was formed of:
Dr. Ramla Jarrar
Co-founder and President
MASS Analytics
Mehdi Alamia
General Manager
The Coca-Cola Company
Karin Du Chenne
Chief Growth Officer
Kantar MENA
Achraf Faida
Chief Marketing Officer
Danone
The panelists touched on a variety of topics in relation to the future of the Marketing function in the digital era. But the key takeaways could be summed up in 4 main points.
RESPECT USER PRIVACY SHOULD BE A STRENGTH IN MARKETING
When the moderator opened the parentheses of user privacy concerns in the age of data privacy regulations, Dr. Jarrar responded that consumer privacy must be respected, and that It’s possible to personalize without jeopardizing the privacy of our customers. The solution for this, according to Dr. Jarrar, is not to look for shortcuts, instead, we should use attribution techniques that inherently respect privacy. The example she gave was Marketing Mix Modeling, a technique that allows businesses to understand their business drivers and identify the ROI of every channel without breaching any privacy regulations and jeopardizing the privacy of their customers.
THE FOUNDATION OF THE AGENCY/ BRAND RELATIONSHIP
1. Data integration:
A guarantee for smooth transactions between the partners to reach the goal of measuring the effectiveness of the brand’s marketing activities and staying relevant to their customers.
2. Transparancy
A two-way road; on one side of it the brand shares what needs to be shared, and treats the agency as a partner, and on the other side, the agency leads with transparency about their methodologies.
3. Trust
The foundation of the rapport between the agency and the brand.
Dr. Jarrar closed this part of the panel by stating that these three elements combined, will support advertisers in building brands with purpose.
BUILDING A SHARED
PERSPECTIVE ON
DATA INTEGRATION
underbrace {y}_{Sales} = underbrace {beta_{0}}_{Base Sales}+underbrace {beta_{1}x}_{Advertising Impact}+underbrace {varepsilon}_{Random Error}
Dr. Ramla called on advertisers to harmonize perspectives on data. She emphasized that data collection was not enough. Instead, the more important aspects were the quality of the data and the transformations applied to it, as those are the decisive factors in the quality of modeling. She clarified that advertisers and agencies should be aware of this fact and should strive to develop industry standards to improve the quality of the data being collected.
As we say in modeling: Garbage in garbage out. So we need to straighten the lines when it comes to data
Dr. Ramla Jarrar
FUTURE OF
MARKETING
The panel agreed with Achraf Faida, from Danone, that the post-COVID marketing ecosystem has adopted a third component next to art and science, and that is technology.
To this, Dr. Jarrar added that AI and tech shouldn’t be perceived as a threat to the media and advertising agency and should, on the contrary, be embraced to pursue efficiency.
underbrace {y}_{Sales} = underbrace {beta_{0}}_{Base Sales}+underbrace {beta_{1}x}_{Advertising Impact}+underbrace {varepsilon}_{Random Error}
Modeling is one of the axis of the future of marketing
These technologies have not changed the fundamentals of marketing. What they have changed -and will continue to revolutionize- is the efficiency of their execution. However, the human touch remains crucial as automation will only drive the decline of banal and repetitive tasks. Tools like Chat-GPT for example, give an advantage of speed and efficiency but cannot be a full substitute for the creativity and personal touch of humans. In the same context, Dr Jarrar emphasized that off with one another: online and offline synergy is a proven fact.
A POSITIVE OUTLOOK
ON THE FUTURE
OF MARKETING
underbrace {y}_{Sales} = underbrace {beta_{0}}_{Base Sales}+underbrace {beta_{1}x}_{Advertising Impact}+underbrace {varepsilon}_{Random Error}
The panel acknowledged the fast-paced changes that occurred recently in the marketing function and agreed that its fundamentals remain the same. However, they insisted that the future of marketing is one where consumer privacy is a must, and it’s possible to preserve it while maintaining personalization thanks to technologies like Marketing Mix Modeling. They also added that with the abundance of data in the digital era, there should be a mutual of understanding that the quality of the data is essential for accurate marketing measurement.
Read more about the African Digital Summit event and the Partnership between MASS Analytics and Massmedia on :
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