Page 10 - Internationalist Magazine 2015 75

O

FRONT

rganizing for Growth in a

Digital Age

According to Millward Brown Vermeer, re-engineering reshape category rules, digital has become a strategy tool,

an organization’s operating model for marketing in a a constant topic in board rooms around the world.

digital age requires a holistic approach across structure, These changes in marketing are massive and complex.

people, process and tools. Whether a marketer choses to Gone are the days when a generalist marketing team solely

tackle the entire operating model at once, or implement developed long-term brand strategies based on traditional

practical initiatives across people, structure, process and market research. Now the organization of marketing is under

tools one-by-one, as long as a company takes the holistic much more scrutiny; outdated organizational silo structures

perspective, they’ll be ahead of the game. that fuel departmental and divisional separatism are simply

In today’s digital world, what marketers do has obsolete.

changed almost beyond recognition; the tactics used to Winning CEOs and CMOs are taking a holistic

drive brand awareness, interest and loyalty are completely approach, addressing fundamental questions about what

different from the marketing mix of just a few years ago. business they are in, why they exist, and how to build their

But interestingly, how the marketing function is organized organization together. Historically, brands only addressed

has not changed much since the discipline of brand these questions once a generation, but they are now being

management was rst developed over fty years ago.
revisited much more frequently.

Looking forward to the year 2020, many global

business leaders are asking themselves how to best PEOPLE

prepare their organizations to effectively connect and It starts with the right people, and there is a real war

interact with customers and consumers to drive business on great talent. But just as important is the culture that

growth. To tackle this question, MB Vermeer and Google prevails in the organization-- building a culture where

partnered to identify what it takes to win, speci cally
innovation, risk taking and curiosity are promoted is

how to align the marketing organization structure and critical. These cultural shifts are often accompanied by

capability with the strategy for success in a digital age. symbolic changes; AB InBev created the beer garage in

The results are a holistic framework encompassing Palo Alto to experiment with innovation, discover and

structure, people, processes and tools – the organizational collaborate with start-ups, and learn new digital marketing

building blocks for tomorrow’s winning marketing tools. Adidas has written risk-taking and an “all-in” spirit

organizations.
into its entire corporate literature, while Virgin Media

in the UK has created a whole new set of hiring criteria

DIGITAL BECOMES A STRATEGY TOOL
including “curious, bold and adventurous.”

Many of these changes are being fueled by digital, and In winning organizations, a new type of leader often

crafting a winning strategy has sparked debate all the way plays a very active role, igniting change and inspiration by

to the top of the command chain. Digital began as simply example. These new marketing leaders think differently

a new media channel choice, and then over the years about talent and partner closely with HR to recruit and

quickly transformed into a marketing mix element. Today, train. They empower employees by moving away from

with new disruptors leveraging digital technology to
“command and control,” and create future leaders by

8 the internationalist