Technology is changing at lightning pace and, for Digital Marketers, the change is so rapid, that it’s hard to keep up. With change comes new business requirements and opportunities but also challenges. Marketers need to create more content to assuage the exponential consumer thirst for customised experiences on all channels, but continued economic turbulence means that budgets and team sizes remain the same or, at worst, are shrinking. There is no magic equation for producing more for less,...

Stepping up to the digital experience challenge is a mammoth task for any business. The demand for personalised experiences across the ever-expanding number of available channels is driving a proliferation of customer segments and context-based decisions that are becoming increasingly hard to manage. Digitally mature businesses are investing in the capability to unlock their content supply chain and deliver dynamic content to the right people, on the right channel, at the right time. But what...

Over half of all retail spend worldwide is now online. And consumers have increasingly lofty expectations when it comes to shopping, with over 64% claiming in Wunderman Thompson’s annual global survey that they wished brands and retailers could be more innovative in their use of digital technology to improve the customer experience. With channels such as social and marketplaces and now gaming continually upping the game, what do shoppers really want and how can brands, and retailers better...

B2B ecommerce worldwide is forecast to surpass $20 trillion by 2027 and, with online already accounting for 49% of all purchases, it’s not surprising that B2B customers are demanding more.  In fact, 92% of buyers say they are looking for a B2C experience when making business purchases. In this month’s episode of The Experience Makers, we’re talking to Wunderman Thompson Technology’s Kieron McCann & Sitecore’s Aswin Mannepalli about what B2B organisations need to do to win online. Join us...

It can sometimes feel like everyone is talking about AI, and it can feel like a minefield trying to work out what it is, what it does, how it does it and what the tangible benefits or use cases actually are.   In this month’s episode of The Experience Makers, CEO of leading AI technology company, Satalia, Daniel Hulme and Wunderman Thompson Commerce’s Head of Innovation, Naji El-Arifi touch upon the findings from their new report (Adopt or fail: why business needs AI) and delve into the...

Today consumers shop everywhere. At home, at their desks, on the move. And they shop across channels, from marketplaces to social media to brand websites. However, despite the lockdowns over the past two years, customers still love to shop in-store.   This represents a challenge for brands desperately trying to build a single view of their customers to serve them with relevant communication better and personalise their experiences. Whilst building a picture of how customers behave online is...

Orchestrating customer experiences for an omnichannel world is a key challenge for businesses today. Not only is it demanding new technologies but also new ways of working and even entirely new operating models. Central to the evolution of all of these is the application of AI and machine learning. In this episode, The Experience Makers talks to Sitecore’s Senior Digital Strategist, Jacqueline Baxter and Wunderman Thompson Technology, Experience’s Chief Technology Officer, Lukasz...

The Metaverse is where our digital and physical lives converge. It takes our current digital lives to a new virtual level where people, brands and businesses can exist alongside their real lives - socialising, gaming, creating, trading and owning anything from real estate, to art, to clothing. According to Daniel Miller, professor of anthropology at UCL, “The smartphone is no longer just a device that we use, it’s become the place where we live”. This has huge implications for brands and...

Hastened by the pandemic, shopping has changed. We've seen marketplaces strengthen their positions, an abundance of new 'direct-to-consumer' offerings popping up, advances in social commerce, and the rise of the aggregators.   To win online, it's vital that businesses know how consumers are shopping across channels and markets, and how they will shop in the future.    Following the launch of the fifth edition of The Future Shopper Report by Wunderman Thompson Commerce, this month The...

In 2021 digital experiences have the power to make or break relationships with customers yet delivering them has never been more of a challenge for brands. The demand for personalised experiences across multiple channels is becoming increasingly hard to manage. Marketers are facing a proliferation of customer segments and context-based decisions and require the strategy, processes and technology to drive the right content, to the right channel, at the right time. The Experience Makers...

In a post-pandemic world, retailers need to embrace the fact that having a flexible, agile and future-proof commerce solution is critical to success. Consumer expectations are now higher than ever before, and fashion retailers need to remain at the forefront of new trends and technologies. It's no surprise that this front is increasingly being fought digitally. In this episode, The Experience Makers brings together the technical, strategic and experiential skills of Wunderman Thompson...

Data is one of the most valuable assets a business can have & has a huge impact on its potential to grow – informing decisions, shaping produce development and driving customer experience. In order to collect sufficient data, brands have relied for years on cookies created by third-party technology companies. However, what started as a convenient way for brands to get to know their customers & serve them relevant content online has led to data scandals, growing concern from...

With an estimated population of 1.85 billion, people with disabilities (PWD) constitute an emerging market the size of China plus the European Union. Their Friends and Family add another 3.4 billion potential consumers who act on their emotional connection to PWD. Together, they control over $13 trillion in annual disposable income (RoD Group). These statistics show that inclusion and accessibility aren’t just questions of legal requirement and box-ticking, they should be part of your growth...

In 2006, Clive Humby coined the phrase, ‘data is the new oil’. That was 14 years ago, and yet still today, marketers are grappling with the challenges of making sense of their customer data to deliver actionable insights that improve the customer experience and build competitive advantage. In this episode, The Experience Makers explore these challenges and the technologies that are now looking to solve for them.

History will remember COVID-19 not only as a deadly disease but also as a huge accelerator for change. It brought with it an estimated 5-year leap in digital adoption from both consumers and businesses in just 12 weeks. Now, as the world enters an early onset COVID-induced recession, what lessons can brands learn from past recessions? Check out Wunderman Thompson’s recent report titled ‘How Brands Can Win in a Recession’ here:...

As COVID-19 took its grip and the world went into lockdown, people everywhere turned to online services to facilitate their every need. Purchasing habits changed overnight but, as lockdown eases and shops start to reopen, what does this really mean for brands and retailers both online and instore? How can they make it easier for consumers to purchase, whenever and wherever they need to? In short, how can they make every moment shoppable?

Research shows that search, while still powerful, is starting to decline in importance, while social media plays an increasing part in purchase consideration, awareness and purchase. How do marketers drive their brand across a multichannel strategy and can they trust external channels like social media or influencers to accurately reflect their customer experience?

With almost half of shoppers aged 16-24 beginning their customer journey on social media, the dominance of search, brand sites and online shops are waning. Instead, younger customers are gravitating towards a shopping experience that includes a multitude of touchpoints. In this episode, The Experience Makers  explore how brands can own that omnichannel experience. Making every experience shoppable is the new retail holy grail – what is the key to unlocking these new commerce opportunities?  

In such unprecedented times, how can we help our clients help their customers? In this episode of the Experience Makers, Gemma Milne is joined by Neil Godber and Marie Stafford from both from WPP’s Wunderman Thompson. Together they will consider the impacts and considerations of the COVID-19, focusing on the way in which people's lives are changing and how brands are and should be responding to the crisis.

Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg said, “In future, there will be no female leaders, there will just be leaders”. In this episode, The Experience Makers asks whether we are any closer to reaching that point in the technology sector. Sarah Gunderson from software giant, Adobe, joins Cognifide’s Kat Edmondson for this authentic and positive conversation with host, Gemma Milne, to mark International Women’s Day. 

This week's discussion is focused on culture change and how it relates to digital transformation. Gemma Milne is joined by Lisa Humphreys; WPPs UK Strategy Development Director and Leo Rayman; CEO Grey Consulting to explore ideas around what culture change looks like, its impact in business and practical ways to enhance culture change within organisations.

For the very first episode of the new decade, The Experience Makers are joined by Karen Blackett, Chair of MediaCom and UK Country Manager at WPP; Tag Warner, CEO at the Gay Times and Daniel Painter, Senior Consultant at Cognifide. The conversation focuses on practical ways that businesses can promote diversity and inclusion to inspire creativity and increase productivity. It particularly looks at the importance of an inclusive workforce in an industry that is creating experiences in a...

How do you give a brand a voice? This episode of The Experience Makers look at how companies can use audio and voice to enhance customer experience effectively and emotively. Gemma Milne is joined by Steve Dunlop; Founder and CEO of A Million Ads and Sam Miller; Data and Insights Lead at Cognifide.

The special guests for this episode are Jedrzej Osinski; Senior QA Engineer at Cognifide and Mario Coletti; UK Managing Director for NextAtlas. They join host Gemma Milne, to discuss artificial intelligence and how it is impacting the marketing world as well as the world as a whole.