 "Technology can help brands stay relevant: Ray Velez")
Corporations must put the customer at the centre and start thinking of their brands as services, Ray Velez tells Masoom Gupte
What role can technology play in propagating brands' marketing communication messages?
The biggest thing that technology does is it gives consumers a choice and a voice. They can voice their views through social media. They can choose whether to or not to watch your advertisement or skip it and change channels. They can choose to go somewhere else and buy the content and not pay attention to the advertisement. The challenge for the marketer is creating a disruption there. And the role of technology is to help you stay relevant in a world where consumers have a voice and choice. The way to do it is to put the customer at the centre and thinking of the brand as a service. So what can I provide to the consumer that is true to my brand that creates this continual, 24X7 dialogue with the customer? What am I providing to the customer that makes my brand relevant?
There are many great examples out there. It's just that I had to replicate those and help allocate budgets to move into that world. Like Red Bull has a team with 400 people creating content so that they can entertain people. Or like Nike Plus and Nike Fuel. They have created a technology that makes them relevant to their customer all day long.
Any specific tools that you have developed at Razorfish to drive these objectives for your clients?
I'll break that question into two parts. There is a process and there is a set of tools that we use to enable that process. We took this originally as a software development process that was trying to fix something that is very broken in the way we build or develop native applications or websites. What it does is, it breaks down your goal, the new experience that you are trying to create - whether it is a native application or a website or a Facebook experience - into small iterations. And with each iteration, I can launch something on a desktop or any other device. I can learn from it and relaunch again. Since the consumer has a voice, I can't expect to be done with my work after I have launched something. The consumer is going to tell me whether she likes it or not. So that old fallacy that I am going to launch something perfect goes away because I can now tell you why it is not right.
That new process has forced us to think about new tools. One of the biggest tools that we have built around that is to take all the different touch points of data. Because, not only does the consumer tell me about their experience through social media but they tell me that through their usage. Are they using my new commerce website or native application? How are they using it? We had to create a new set of tools to collect all this data (from traditional advertising-related to digital- related) and bring it into a single 360- degree view. And then using artificial intelligence go through this data and gain insights about what is important to consumers. These insights can then be used to make communication relevant and contextual to the consumers.
Do you need to recalibrate these tools for usage across markets?
Technology is the one thing that is universally applicable. I mean there is universal love for mobile devices and smart phones. The adoption patterns in different markets show that. It does not matter whether it is a mobile device in India or China or the US. The marketer's core palette of tools to add to or drive conversation is the same. Of course, what I think is important is that messaging, the creative, the visuals have to be relevant to the consumers in the concerned market. The same creative can definitely not be used across markets.
Any example of how clients have used your tools and processes while designing their marketing communication?
The work we have done for Audi is a case in point. It leveraged the framework and concept of 5D. What it means is that every touch-point is an opportunity to interact with the consumer. How do I bring together a consistent version of that usage?
Like in our Audi Cities where we have implemented some of our work, if I put our mobile device on a table, I can share a whole new level of information about the consumer. Similarly, if you are in this dealership, you can figure all the information you need, throw it on the phone and take it with you. Just like the NFC (near field information)-enabled business card. You can take the card, tap it to the phone and see the information thrown out on the phone. How this has manifested for Audi is through building the world's first carless showroom in Piccadilly Circus in central London, where there isn't a lot of real estate. We built a showroom that was very rich and immersive in technology. There is a massive video wall (necessary to let you experience the car) and you are using gesture and tactile feedback on the floor to help experience what the right components of the car are. And then you go through the different parts of the car to choose and configure and build the car. You can take all this information back on a little USB stick to share with your friends and family. Or you can simply ring up and say you are ready to buy the car and they'll bring it around.
* Highlights from his recent client work include architecting and developing digital properties for Bundle.com, Citibank, Ford Motor Company, and the National Football League. In addition, Velez has developed enterprise dashboards, intranets and technology infrastructure for corporations such as Pepsi and GE
The Indian market is still driven by the touch and feel aspect of purchase. Do you think technology like this can find acceptance in India?
I think such technology will find more acceptance in the Indian market than any other market. What this created was a more human experience. A tighter interaction where you can sit next to the person and experience the car. In the older setup, you would go to a showroom and sit across the table from each other. But in this new world you are standing together and dreaming up the experience on this big rich visual screen and talking without barriers. To that end new technologies are actually creating more personal experiences.
Another company that we can talk about here is Square in USA. It has created a little device that you can plug into your mobile handset's audio jack, where you plug in your headphones, allowing a store to accept payments via it. What we see is that stores are getting rid of cash registers. The sales person is standing with you in the aisle helping you pick your products. You don't have to stand in a crowded queue to make your payment. Imagine how helpful that can be in a crowded store in India. That is a technology-driven experience.
Let us take another example of an experience that we are developing in China for whisky tasting and how to learn to appreciate the taste of whisky. In China everyone wants to share everything through their social networks. If you do a whisky tasting, the experience is normally restricted to just you, the whisky and the bartender. What we have created is an augmented reality experience. So you are visualising your tasting experience by guessing the flavours, describing the aromas etc and sharing that experience live with your networks.
Digital is thus enhancing the experience rather than replacing it. The two together are making the experience bigger and ruling out the question of either-or.
What role can technology play in propagating brands' marketing communication messages?
The biggest thing that technology does is it gives consumers a choice and a voice. They can voice their views through social media. They can choose whether to or not to watch your advertisement or skip it and change channels. They can choose to go somewhere else and buy the content and not pay attention to the advertisement. The challenge for the marketer is creating a disruption there. And the role of technology is to help you stay relevant in a world where consumers have a voice and choice. The way to do it is to put the customer at the centre and thinking of the brand as a service. So what can I provide to the consumer that is true to my brand that creates this continual, 24X7 dialogue with the customer? What am I providing to the customer that makes my brand relevant?
There are many great examples out there. It's just that I had to replicate those and help allocate budgets to move into that world. Like Red Bull has a team with 400 people creating content so that they can entertain people. Or like Nike Plus and Nike Fuel. They have created a technology that makes them relevant to their customer all day long.
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Any specific tools that you have developed at Razorfish to drive these objectives for your clients?
I'll break that question into two parts. There is a process and there is a set of tools that we use to enable that process. We took this originally as a software development process that was trying to fix something that is very broken in the way we build or develop native applications or websites. What it does is, it breaks down your goal, the new experience that you are trying to create - whether it is a native application or a website or a Facebook experience - into small iterations. And with each iteration, I can launch something on a desktop or any other device. I can learn from it and relaunch again. Since the consumer has a voice, I can't expect to be done with my work after I have launched something. The consumer is going to tell me whether she likes it or not. So that old fallacy that I am going to launch something perfect goes away because I can now tell you why it is not right.
That new process has forced us to think about new tools. One of the biggest tools that we have built around that is to take all the different touch points of data. Because, not only does the consumer tell me about their experience through social media but they tell me that through their usage. Are they using my new commerce website or native application? How are they using it? We had to create a new set of tools to collect all this data (from traditional advertising-related to digital- related) and bring it into a single 360- degree view. And then using artificial intelligence go through this data and gain insights about what is important to consumers. These insights can then be used to make communication relevant and contextual to the consumers.
Do you need to recalibrate these tools for usage across markets?
Technology is the one thing that is universally applicable. I mean there is universal love for mobile devices and smart phones. The adoption patterns in different markets show that. It does not matter whether it is a mobile device in India or China or the US. The marketer's core palette of tools to add to or drive conversation is the same. Of course, what I think is important is that messaging, the creative, the visuals have to be relevant to the consumers in the concerned market. The same creative can definitely not be used across markets.
Any example of how clients have used your tools and processes while designing their marketing communication?
The work we have done for Audi is a case in point. It leveraged the framework and concept of 5D. What it means is that every touch-point is an opportunity to interact with the consumer. How do I bring together a consistent version of that usage?
Like in our Audi Cities where we have implemented some of our work, if I put our mobile device on a table, I can share a whole new level of information about the consumer. Similarly, if you are in this dealership, you can figure all the information you need, throw it on the phone and take it with you. Just like the NFC (near field information)-enabled business card. You can take the card, tap it to the phone and see the information thrown out on the phone. How this has manifested for Audi is through building the world's first carless showroom in Piccadilly Circus in central London, where there isn't a lot of real estate. We built a showroom that was very rich and immersive in technology. There is a massive video wall (necessary to let you experience the car) and you are using gesture and tactile feedback on the floor to help experience what the right components of the car are. And then you go through the different parts of the car to choose and configure and build the car. You can take all this information back on a little USB stick to share with your friends and family. Or you can simply ring up and say you are ready to buy the car and they'll bring it around.
| On the tech trail |
| * Velez is the global chief technology officer for Razorfish, leading the team that focuses on digital and web technology. His background includes senior technology architectural consulting in enterprise systems and web architecture as well as strategic IT planning * Velez has extensive experience of the entire application development life cycle from application inception to application rollout. He has applied his expertise to some of Razorfish’s largest implementations for clients and has trained and developed curricula in various technologies and methodologies. He has also led the rollout of the Razorfish Agile+ process to help move Razorfish and clients toward a more innovative iterative approach |
* Highlights from his recent client work include architecting and developing digital properties for Bundle.com, Citibank, Ford Motor Company, and the National Football League. In addition, Velez has developed enterprise dashboards, intranets and technology infrastructure for corporations such as Pepsi and GE
The Indian market is still driven by the touch and feel aspect of purchase. Do you think technology like this can find acceptance in India?
I think such technology will find more acceptance in the Indian market than any other market. What this created was a more human experience. A tighter interaction where you can sit next to the person and experience the car. In the older setup, you would go to a showroom and sit across the table from each other. But in this new world you are standing together and dreaming up the experience on this big rich visual screen and talking without barriers. To that end new technologies are actually creating more personal experiences.
Another company that we can talk about here is Square in USA. It has created a little device that you can plug into your mobile handset's audio jack, where you plug in your headphones, allowing a store to accept payments via it. What we see is that stores are getting rid of cash registers. The sales person is standing with you in the aisle helping you pick your products. You don't have to stand in a crowded queue to make your payment. Imagine how helpful that can be in a crowded store in India. That is a technology-driven experience.
Let us take another example of an experience that we are developing in China for whisky tasting and how to learn to appreciate the taste of whisky. In China everyone wants to share everything through their social networks. If you do a whisky tasting, the experience is normally restricted to just you, the whisky and the bartender. What we have created is an augmented reality experience. So you are visualising your tasting experience by guessing the flavours, describing the aromas etc and sharing that experience live with your networks.
Digital is thus enhancing the experience rather than replacing it. The two together are making the experience bigger and ruling out the question of either-or.