Trendsetters: Beiersdorf's Martin Böhm Tells How Marketing's Shift to Data & Analytics is Changing Business Outcomes

For the past several years, Martin Böhm, the Global Head of Marketing/Sales Technology and Analytics at Hamburg-based Beiersdorf, has been driving innovation in digital marketing, e-commerce, analytics and knowledge management across the company's many brands. An expert in marketing analytics and data-driven projects, he has also been named one of The Internationalist's NEXT 50 in that both his skills and perspectives are changing the way a century-old global skincare giant, with brands like NIVEA, Eucerin and La Prairie, is approaching issues of market share, real-time data management and brand growth throughout the world.

Martin's broad mandate is to help shape the future of Beiersdorf by designing an IT landscape to drive digitalization as the company embarks upon its second century, and he stresses that to do so, one needs a very "different mindset." He has encouraged a "design-thinking" approach that he calls "empathic" in that the user is always at the heart of the solution. "Our goal," he says, "is not to create an IT project, but a business project that provides a solution to a real business problem."

As a result, Martin Böhm and his team have received a Beiersdorf Simplicity Award, which reflects how his work has cut through complexity to yield new innovation and better results. The Award acknowledged a solution that streamlined the compilation and harmonization of product-purchasing data from multiple sources across product categories and countries to provide the Beiersdorf marketing team with fast and easy access to in-depth market insights. He adds, "Not only did the tool help our marketers streamline the way they work, but we delivered exactly what our marketers needed, when they needed it, and intuitively-- at the touch of a button."

In addition, it is estimated that the solution has saved up to 40% of data harmonization costs, as well as significantly reducing global data processing costs. Plus, it lessened the usual time delay between global and local market reporting, while simplifying the administration and distribution of external market data throughout the company. By better understanding market details and nuances, Beiersdorf is now in a stronger position to make effective decisions by adapting the marketing mix, considering promotions, or simply responding faster to dynamic market conditions.

When Martin Böhm stops to consider how marketing-driven companies should consider their future, he acknowledges that innovative projects require time to build and implement. A sweeping project like the one described above can take nearly two years to complete-- even when working with an internal IT department and a dedicated innovation ecosystem.

He suggests there are tough, new decisions ahead for management as they determine how innovation should be part of an organization. For example, do they need to espouse a startup approach, seek specialized champions to energize key projects, or unify pockets of excellence throughout the organization? Right now, Beiersdorf is recognizing points of inspiration, which Martin likes to describe as "lighthouse" examples. Without question, Martin Böhm's work is a beacon for many within his own company and the industry at large.

Martin Böhm has work at Beiersdorf since 2007 in a number of varied roles, including: International Brand Manager for NIVEA body for four years, Head of Global Marketing Intelligence for four years, and now in his current role as Global Head of Marketing/Sales Technology and Analytics since June. He started his career at Nestlé in sales and marketing and product management. Martin has a proven track record of customer service excellence through creativity and innovation.

The Internationalist's NEXT 50 represent new marketing talent that is helping to shape the industry's future. They embrace today's fast-paced challenges, are technology-reliant, understand the impact of data, think differently, experiment, seek innovative ideas, and focus on measurable results.

The NEXT 50 represent a broad array of job titles, geographies, product categories, and organizations. Regardless of such differences, all share a passion for the new, a devotion to excellence, a belief in furthering marketing standards, and the recognition that reinventing marketing builds a stronger society and fuels economic development. They will be tomorrow's leaders.