'Digital marketing powers brands'

Mark Phibbs, senior director at Adobe Systems for Asia Pacific

By Cho Mu-hyun

There are few places in the world where more people are tech-savvy and prone to digitalizing everything than Korea.

Noted global marketing experts said Tuesday that it was high time local businesses took that high penetration of technology and applied more digital marketing as well as boosting the role of chief marketing officers (CMO) in business.

“In Korea, given that you have so many global brands competing on the global stage, unless these companies become world-class in digital marketing, they are going to lose out,” said Mark Phibbs, senior director at Adobe Systems for Asia Pacific, in an interview with The Korea Times. “For example Samsung, recognizing the importance of digital marketing, is already one of our customers using Adobe marketing tools to look at these areas of social marketing and Web experiences

“You are going to see more and more of that. It is imperative, as if they don’t, one of their competitors is going to do a better job than them,” he said.

Phibbs has been in the information technology industry for over 23 years, including 10 years in senior management roles within Microsoft in Australia and Europe.

As a veteran in both things digital and marketing, the executive said he was absolutely sure Korea, backed by its world-class products, will become a place where businesses become market driven to rival the West.

“There is no reason why Korea shouldn’t lead the world in digital marketing. You have already proven yourself from an innovation point of view. If you can apply that same rigor and intelligence to digital marketing, there is no reason why you can’t be best in the world,” he said.

“In a sense I see the new world as people going online comparing social products they want to buy with friends. They are not doing this in a vacuum where as in the past they might have gone to a store and be shown a product.

“All that comparison now takes place online. So in fact, the role of the marketer is more important because traditionally a salesperson on a shop floor might have shown the customer that. Now due to the high penetration of digitalization, by the time customers go into a retail outlet, they have fundamentally made their decision.”

Phibbs stressed that even in an offline store people are constantly going back to the Internet thanks to smartphones. Price comparisons and any other last minute details before a purchase are done via touch-screen devices. Most importantly, consumers accessing Web content on their phones throughout the process is now ultimately driven by digital marketing.

“It is surely going to change because of consumers’ demand for more digitalization. Consumers want to interact with brands,” said Phibbs. “That is what boards and CEOs are demanding as well. If you are not in the digital world it is hard to provide returns.”

“The reality is that the world is looking at Korean businesses. They are looking at Korean consumers,” said Liz Miller, vice president of global programs and operations at Chief Market Executive Council, a global affinity group of 6,000 of the world’s leading marketers, also present during the interview. “Digital consumers in Asia are actually ahead, specifically in mobile technology, than the rest of world. I think Korea is an amazing example of that. When you think of how many Koreans have email accounts, when you think of the adoption of social media, engagement through these have been explosive.”

Miller said the homework for marketers in Korea is to come up with strategies that can leverage this huge digital consumption of content to drive the company forward.

“It is more in-depth than what most originations will simplify: When all of these channels ― email, social media, websites, mobile experiences and engagement ― really tie a consumer into a continued long-lasting engagement, that is digital marketing,” she added.

According to a study released Wednesday by Adobe Systems and the CMO Council, 92 percent of Korean marketers believed that digital marketing will drive competitive advantages for their companies. “We are seeing a new breed and optimistic Korean marketers. Korea as a market has demonstrated that consumers are more open to digital engagements. QR (quick response) code consumption is higher than most markets, mobile commerce is higher and there are is a huge shift in consumer mindset.”

Cloud-based digital marketing solutions offered by Phibbs and his company allow them to assess their cost-return in marketing, allowing them to reap more benefits per money spent.