Five Trends for Marketers to Watch

In marketing, it can be hard to distinguish between a fad du jour and a real, game-changing shift. To help you cut through the clutter, the top minds at Landor have identified five major trends that will shape the industry for years to come.

1. Big data: A race to be first

Big data is unavoidable; as GE chief marketing officer Beth Comstock puts it, “If you don’t like

data, you won’t like the future.” Every day we read new articles about how big data will help us track the customer journey, build loyalty, predict behavior, and ultimately help drive sales. For all big data’s promise, however, few are prepared to take advantage of it. According to IBM’s recent C-Suite Study, 82 percent of CMOs don’t feel ready to

take on the data explosion. This leaves marketers racing to be the first to master the new resources available—whether this means building up an in-house team or partnering with an outside agency.

T-Mobile USA worked with a big data partner to integrate massive amounts of customer data. By comcombining and analyzing customer information, web logs, billing data, and social media engagement, the brand was able to identify which customers were likely to switch to another company. Using these insights, T-Mobile was able to cut defections in half in a single quarter.

2. Rethinking retail to battle showrooming

Showrooming is the retailer’s scourge. Shoppers

are still visiting brick-and-mortar locations to sample wares, but they’re going online to buy the same products less expensively or determine if another store is offering a better deal. Retailers are making in-store experiences extraordinary in order to convince customers that it’s worth paying a little extra to buy their goods on the spot. Experience retail is here to stay.

BMW recognized that its customers were demanding better retail experiences and set about creating a more inspiring dealership. It opened its first reconceptualized BMW Brand Store in Brussels

in 2014, introducing a multisensory...