Holistic Marketing Management, Volume 9, Issue 1, Year 2019

Vol ume9 , I s s ue1 , 2 0 1 9

Edi t or i al :TheRealNeedofBei ngEqui ppedwi t hFoodand Nut r i t i onEducat i on TheodorVal ent i nPURCĂREA

Or gani cFood:I dent i f y i ngAc t i onabl eSegment s

St ephenL.BAGLI ONE Loui sA.TUCCI J ohnL.STANTON

Di gi t alCus t omer s ,Di gi t alMar k et er s ,andKeepi ngupwi t h Tr endsi nToday’ sDi gi t alWor l d I oanMat ei PURCĂREA

“ Mar k et i ngSc i enceandI ns pi r at i ons ” ,Compr ehendi ngt heReadi ng ataDeeperLev el Cos t el I l i uț ăNEGRI CEA

Moder nMar k et i ng,CX,CRM,Cus t omerTr us tandI dent i t y TheodorPURCĂREA

Editorial Board of “Holistic Marketing Management” (A refereed journal published four times annually by the School of Management-Marketing of the Romanian-American University) Editor-in-Chief Theodor Valentin PURCĂREA

Bernd HALLIER

John SAEE

John L. STANTON

Léon F. WEGNEZ

William PERTTULA Levent ALTINAY

Andrew KILNER Dana ZADRAZILOVA Riccardo BELTRAMO Sinisa ZARIC Gabriela SABĂU Hélène NIKOLOPOULOU Vasa LÁSZLÓ Peter STARCHON John MURRAY Kamil PÍCHA

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President of European Retail Academy; President of EuCVoT, Member of the Astana Economic Scientists Club; Former Managing Director EHI Retail Institute, Germany, Chairman of the Advisory Board of EuroShop, Chairman of the Board of the Orgainvent, Trustee of EHI Retail Institute at GLOBALG.A.P. President - Association of Global Management Studies (USA); Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues & Former Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Management Systems, USA; Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, the Faculty of Business and Enterprise, Swinburne University of Technology; Member of France’s National Academy of Scientific Research (CNRS); Director - ESB International Teaching and Research Exchanges, Reutlingen University, Germany Professor of Food Marketing, Erivan K. Haub School of Business, Saint Joseph’s University Philadelphia, USA; Director, Institute of Food Products Marketing, Editor, Journal of Food Products Marketing; Hall of Fame of the European Retail Academy, Honored Personality 2016 Secretary General, International Association of the Distributive Trade, AIDA Brussels; Member of France’s Academy of Commercial Sciences; Doctor Honoris Causa of NUPSPA (SNSPA) Bucharest; Hall of Fame of the European Retail Academy, Honored Personality 2015; Administrator Secretary General of the Diplomatic Club of Belgium Internet Marketing Professor, College of Business, San Francisco State University, USA Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Research Area Leader, Oxford School of Hospitality Management, Faculty of Business, Oxford Brookes University, UK First MBA Director at the Rennes Graduate School of Business in France; Director of RAFME Research into Management Excellence; PhD (Cambridge), MBA (City, London) Faculty of International Economic Relations, University of Economics, Prague, Czech Republic University of Turin, Italy University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia Memorial University, Grenfell Campus, Corner Brook, Canada University of Lille 3, France Szent Istvan University, Hungary Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia Faculty of Business, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland Faculty of Economics, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice 1

Irena JINDRICHOVSKA Norbert HAYDAM Constantin ROŞCA Hans ZWAGA Roxana CODITA Dumitru MIRON Valeriu IOAN-FRANC Iacob CĂTOIU Virgil BALAURE Gheorghe ORZAN Luigi DUMITRESCU Marius D. POP Petru FILIP

Ion VOICU SUCALA Virgil POPA Alexandru NEDELEA Olguța Anca ORZAN Ana-Maria PREDA Ovidiu FOLCUȚ Doinița CIOCÎRLAN Marius Dan DALOTĂ Mihai PAPUC Gheorghe ILIESCU Costel NEGRICEA Alexandru IONESCU Tudor EDU Olga POTECEA Oana PREDA Nicoleta DUMITRU Monica Paula RAȚIU Elisabeta Andreea BUDACIA

Deputy Head of Department of Business Economics, University of Economics and Management, Prague, Czech Republic Faculty of Business, Marketing Department, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, South Africa President of Romanian Scientific Society of Management - SSMAR Kemi-Tornio University of Applied Sciences, Finland Technische Universität München, TUM School of Management Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest National Institute for Economic Research, Romanian Academy; Romanian Marketing Association; Romanian Distribution Committee Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca Dimitrie Cantemir University, Bucharest Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Management and Economic Engineering Department; University of Glasgow, UK, College of Social Sciences, School of Social & Political Sciences; Managing Editor, Review of Management and Economic Engineering Valahia University of Târgovişte Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy Bucharest Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University Romanian-American University

Associate Editors Diana SOCA Irina PURCĂREA Dan SMEDESCU Art Designer Director Alexandru BEJAN

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“Holistic Marketing Management” (A refereed journal published four times annually by the School of Management-Marketing of the Romanian-American University)

Volume 9, Issue 1, Year 2019

Contents

Theodor Valentin PURCĂREA - Editorial: The Real Need of Being Equipped with Food and Nutrition Education……………............................................4

Stephen L. BAGLIONE - Organic Food: Identifying Actionable Segments…………………..10 Louis A. TUCCI John L. STANTON Ioan Matei PURCĂREA - Digital Customers, Digital Marketers, and Keeping up with Trends in Today’s Digital World …………………………………………28 Costel Iliuță NEGRICEA - “Marketing Science and Inspirations”, Comprehending the Reading at a Deeper Level…………………………………………………38

Theodor PURCĂREA - Modern Marketing, CX, CRM, Customer Trust and Identity……….42

The responsibility for the contents of the scientific and the authenticity of the published materials and opinions expressed rests with the author.

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Editorial: The Real Need of Being Equipped with Food and Nutrition Education There is much to learn from inspirational and famous quotes by distinguished authors: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” - Hippocrates; “In health there is freedom.

Health is the first of all liberties” - Henri Frederic Amiel; “The first wealth is health” - Ralph Waldo Emerson; “All food will be organically produced and any food that is not will carry a health warning” - Organic Vision 2030, Online Consultation: Summary of Responses, IFOAM EU GROUP, September 2014.1 The above mentioned Summary of Responses from 2014 included also other many responses such as: “<< Health >> as main buying argument – if health benefits are not known, people will not buy organic”; “make it possible for people to see the difference between organic and conventional farming”; “Organic food and farming is the clearly leading food production movement when it comes to environmental-friendly, animal welfare promoting, economically sustainable farming and food chain solutions”. More recently, in October 2018, we read an article entitled “Benefits of Organic Food: What Research Tells Us” in which were examined these benefits (organic foods being “widely available in supermarkets as well as specialty health food stores and farmer’s markets”), and where it was made reference, among other aspects, to an online consumer survey by the reputed Food Marketing Institute (FMI) whose results suggested the belief of about half of organic food Americans buyers that it offers health benefits.

Allow us to cite from the beginning of the Introduction of this above mentioned FMI’s “Shopping for Health 2011”: “… this national survey examines shoppers’ interests and attitudes regarding health and nutrition, consumers’ efforts to manage their health, and the ways in which health and nutritional concerns play out in purchase decisions at the grocery store. Rodale and FMI are committed to bringing a practical understanding of the relationship between food shopping and health”.2 That made us recall again: ● how 28 years ago we wrote a number of articles (published in the “Journal of Businesses”, Romanian National Research Institute “Virgil Madgearu”, Romanian Ministry of Commerce) on Food Marketing Institute, on the supermarket of the future “Smart Store 2000” (after visiting the “Store of the future” model in Chicago, in 1991, within the framework offered by a FMI/NAWGA Program) and on “Category Management” (following our participation at the Food Marketing Convention in Chicago, see pictures below).3

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*** Organic Vision 2030, Online Consultation: Summary of Responses, IFOAM EU GROUP, September 2014, p. 7.

Retrieved from https://www.ifoam-eu.org/sites/default/files/ifoameu_comm_vision-2030-survey_201410.pdf 2 *** FMI’s Shopping for Health 2011. Retrieved from https://www.fmi.org/docs/health-wellness-researchdownloads/shoppingforhealth2011.pdf?

3 Purcarea, T. (2015). Expo Milano 2015, TUTTOFOOD 2015, and SHOP 2015, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, March 2015, Volume 6, Issue 1, pp. 18-35 Holistic Marketing Management

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● the significant meeting in Köln, Germany, in February 2011, on the occasion of the working

meeting of the European Retail Academy (ERA), with the distinguished Professors Bernd Hallier (Managing Director EHI Retail Institute, President of EuCVoT, President of ERA, Chairman of the Advisory Board of EuroShop, Member of the Advisory Board of “Transparent Food”, Chairman of the Board of the Orgainvent, Trustee of EHI Retail Institute at GLOBALG.A.P.) and John L. Stanton, Saint Joseph’s University Philadelphia (where he accepted the first endowed chair in food marketing in the USA), Department of Food Marketing, Founding Editor of the „Journal of Food Products Marketing” and Editor of the „Journal of International Food and Agribusiness Marketing”, who formed at Temple University in Philadelphia “The Institute for Food Nutrition and Health” and consulted for many of America’s Holistic Marketing Management

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largest food companies (at Saint Joseph’s University Dr. Stanton served two terms as chairman of the department and also directed a research center focusing on food and health; he has also worked as a food marketing practitioner, and he held other numerous different positions, served as an expert and expert witness to many food and beverage companies, being regularly quoted in the news media; he hosted an episode of the History Channel’s Modern Marvels entitled “The History of the Supermarket,” he was also among the first to author articles on health and nutrition advertising claims with articles in the Journal of Advertising Research as early as 1987). Professor John L. Stanton became Honored Personality 2016 of the European Retail Academy, being included in the ERA Hall of Fame.

● how at the First International Congress “Health-Nutrition-Wellbeing” (SANABUNA

Congress), which took place at Aro Palace Hotel, Brasov, Romania, 15-17 October, 2011, we were honored to welcome distinguished guest speakers such as the ones you can see in the picture below:

● how 4 years ago we wrote that: TUTTOFOOD, the International Food and Agriculture Show (which started two days after the official opening of “Expo Milano 2015”) offered a generous framework for the works of “SHOP 2015” Conference that invited to reflect, among other aspects, on the retail space as a crucial factor influencing the customer’s feelings, not forgetting Holistic Marketing Management

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that the foundation of retailing is understanding what customers want and need; our old friend Riccardo Garosci, President MIUR School and Food Committee EXPO 2015, was arguing on that special occasion that todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s children are the consumers of tomorrow who will change the market, and they need to be equipped with food and nutrition education as a result of the collaboratively working with organizations and institutions.4

It is also worth remembering that the distinguished Professors Bernd Hallier and John L. Stanton were special invitees of the Romanian American University (RAU), RAUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Diplomas for Special Academic Merit being awarded to both personalities in recognition of their wellknown outstanding contributions.

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Purcarea, T. (2015). Road Map for the Store of the Future, World Premiere, May 4, 2015, at SHOP 2015, Expo Milano 2015, Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine, Volume 6, Issue 2, pp. 36-45 Holistic Marketing Management

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Let us remember and understand the wise words of Professor John L. Stanton during his presentation at the First International Congress “Health-Nutrition-Wellbeing” (SANABUNA Congress 2011): << When considering what is health food we have many different “faces to solve.” We have the medical community telling us what is good and bad for our health. We have nutritionists telling us what not to eat and what to eat. We have food companies putting all sorts of things in advertising and on the packaging. We have academic researchers employing PR firms to broadcast their most recent conclusions. We have the media a willing partner to give any headline to any story that might garner readers’ attention. We have public interest groups attacking anyone that does not promote brown beans and rice. And of course the government, which tries to stand above the fray an act like the unbiased interpreter of all the above. But in most cases the information is misleading, wrong, or incomplete. My personal opinion is no one is actually trying to mislead but none the less all this advice from all these groups is not working…

What must we do? To begin if we expect the global community to be healthier we must: provide guidelines that are consistent with communities; have messages that are consistent and based on replicated science. Then: Insist on Multi-disciplinary research teams. Food companies must: invest in new science… provide firms incentives to conduct this research (a la patents); help monitor false claims – whistleblowers; reformulate foods to meet healthier standards.

Nutritionist must: learn about science; recognize what we don’t know; not declare as fact relationships still uncertain. Governments must: clarify (internationally) well understood links between diets and health, be clear what messages are allowed and act against those firms violating these messages; educate children how to cook, eat and farm; subsidize healthy behavior (fruits and veg, gym membership) rather than penalize unhealthy (fat/sugar taxes).

Medical Community: Learn Nutrition. Media must: develop guidelines to report on nutrition and health; use the same fact checking as other types of stories; try to present all sides of the Holistic Marketing Management

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research. >> A year after that, on the occasion of the Second International Congress “Health, Nutrition, Fitness and Wellbeing for Central & Southeast Europe”, SANABUNA 2012, the distinguished Professor Léon F. Wegnez, Member of the Scientific Committee of this Congress, sent a significant message about Food, Nutrition and Health.5 According to the 21st President of Harvard University, Charles W. Eliot who explored the role of education (understanding the interdependence of education and enterprise): “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.” Within this framework, allow us to say some words about two books published in 2008: ▪ “In Defense of Foods. An Eater’s Manifesto” (The Penguin Press, New York, 2008) by Michael Pollan. According to the author: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants… From Food Culture to Food Science… It is a large community to nourish and be nourished by. The cook in the kitchen preparing a meal from plants and animals at the end of this shortest of food chains has a great many things to worry about, but “health” is simply not one of them, because it is a given”. (pp. 5, 154, 201) ▪ “Dr. A’s Habits of Health. The Path to Permanent Weight Control and Optimal Health”, 2008,

by Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen. According to the author: “It’s our choice to be free and healthy…

I hope that you too have decided that optimal health is your fundamental choice… Organize the primary choices that will produce optimal health. Outline the secondary choices, or action steps, that will support those primary goals”. (pp. 28-29) And as an interesting coincidence, in the same year, 2008, we wrote that: “We are all consumers and we respond to communication messages, consumption including, in addition to tangible objects, intangible experiences, ideas and services.”6

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*** http://www.sanabuna.ro/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Leon-F.-Wegnez-MESSAGE-SANABUNA.pdf Purcarea, T., Purcarea, A. (2008). Distribution in Romania at the shelf supremacy’s moment of truth: competition and cooperation, Amfiteatru Economic, Volume 10, No. 24, June 2008, p. 24 6

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ORGANIC FOOD: IDENTIFYING ACTIONABLE SEGMENTS Authors Dr. Stephen L. Baglione Donald R. Tapia School of Business, Saint Leo University, Saint Leo, Florida, USA Dr. Louis A. Tucci Department of Marketing, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, New Jersey, USA, Dr. John L. Stanton Department of Food Marketing, Saint Joseph’s University, 5600 City Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to identify the segments for organic fruits and vegetables that are most likely to buy organic. One thousand and thirty-two respondents were segmented on statements about organic fruits and vegetables: price, quality, availability, variety, and purchase intentions. Latent class clustering was used to identify the segments and actionable demographic variables. A three-cluster solution reveals age, gender, prior organic fruit purchase, and knowledge differ by segment. Younger knowledgeable (i.e., organic food and vegetables and general food and vegetable knowledge) females who have purchased organic before have the highest propensity to purchase organic. Education and household size were indistinguishable among segments. However it appears that price is still an obstacle to greater penetration regardless of the segment.

Keywords: Organic Food; Actionable Segments JEL Classification: L66; M31

Introduction According to the United States Department of Agriculture, “organic operations must demonstrate that they are protecting natural resources, conserving biodiversity, and using only approved substances” (The United States Department of Agriculture, 2017). For organic crops, “All labels and marketing materials that use the USDA organic seal in association with certified products Holistic Marketing Management

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must be reviewed and approved by a USDA-accredited certifying agent before being used in the marketplace.” (The United States Department of Agriculture, 2016). Labeling makes identification by consumers easier. The Food Business News (2017) reported 2016 sales of U.S. organic products jumped 8.4 percent to $43 billion. Global sales are estimated at $63 billion in 2020 (AG Professional 2015).

Literature Review The average price premium consumers were willing to pay for organic food in studies from 2000 to 2014 is around 30 percent (Aschemann-Witzel and Zielke 2017). Credence attributes, such as production method, and country of origin have influenced consumers’ purchases of fresh fruit.

When credence factors are linked with quality, consumers will pay a premium for healthier and safer foods (Batte et al. 2007; Gao and Schroder 2009; Gao, Wong, House, and Spreen 2014).

Organic production is a credence attribute. The type of organic food and industry promotional intensity influence purchase (i.e., extensive category price and promotion competition) (Steenkamp, van Heerde, and Geyskens 2010). Fresh and virtuous (e.g., bread, cereals, dairy, vegetables, and fruit) categories see greater organic purchase than processed and vice (e.g., alcohol, cheese, cookies) categories (Van Doorn and Verhoef 2015). Purchasing organic in some categories leads to purchase in others (Juhl, Fenger, and Thogersen 2017).

For most, healthy content is the main reason for purchasing organic food (Nasir and Karakaya 2014; Paul and Rana 2012; Oraman and Unakitan 2010; Salleh et al. 2010; Wier and Calverley 2002). Purchase intentions increase the more people (Malaysian study) believe consuming organic food is healthy and safe (Ahmad and Juhdi 2010). Barriers exist to organic food purchase including price, appearance, and trust. A barrier to organic food purchases is high price (Akaichi, Nayga and Gil 2012; Radman 2005; Govindasamy and Italia 1999; Jones 2000; Mayfield et al. 2001). Lodorfos and Dennis (2008) found if prices for organic and conventional food were the same, organics would be purchased more. In an experimental auction, health (healthy for children and adequate for a safe diet) was the most important factor in consumers’ willingness to pay a premium for organic food (Akaichi, Nayga, Jr. and Gil 2012).

Appearance may also detract from organic food purchases (Radman 2005). “Organic apples, for example, may be slightly smaller, of unstandardized size, or may display a few stains or even pest marks,” unlike non-organics where unstandardized sizes are discarded and pesticide and chemicals employed to improve appearances (IFORM 2013).

Variables that influence organic food consumption include age, knowledge, education, gender, income, and children. Health considerations influence older consumers more than younger, who are influenced more by environmental factors (Wandel and Bugge 1997). However, older individuals purchase organic less than younger individuals (Onyango, Hallman, and Bellows 2007; Rimal, Moon, and Balasubramanian 2006), who are willing to pay a premium for Holistic Marketing Management

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pesticide-free food (Cranfield and Magnusson 2003) but may be limited by income (Stobbelaar et al. 2007). Many older consumers believe the damage to their bodies is already done (Connor and Douglas 2001), but other studies found them willing to switch for health-related reasons (Cranfield and Magnusson 2003; Sangkumchaliang and Huang 2012).

Women have a higher propensity to purchase organic than men (Aguirre 2007; Mathisson and Schollin 1994; Onyango, Hallman, and Bellows 2007; Wandel and Bugge 1997). Higher education levels also increased the propensity to purchase (Dettmann and Dimitri 2014; Cranfield and Magnusson 2003; Krystallis, Fotopoulos, and Zotos 2006; Sangkumchaliang and Huang 2012; Wandel and Bugge 1997), but other studies show a negative relationship, possibly because they see no food-safety problem or are unwilling to pay a price premium (Govindasamy and Italia 1999; Quah and Tan 2010; Thompson and Kidwell 1998).

Income positively correlates with organic food purchase (Oraman and Unakitan 2010; Aryal et al. 2009; Cranfield and Magnusson 2003; Quah and Tan 2010; Thompson and Kidwell 1998; von Alvensleben and Altmann 1987). This relationship was nuanced in another study where household income and organic vegetable purchases were positively correlated, but these households did not allocate a large share of expenditures to organic vegetables (Dettmann and Dimitri 2014).

However, in another study, the probability of being a regular organic food consumer and household income were unrelated, although it did affect organic food expenditures (Kriwy and Mecking, 2012). The likelihood of purchasing organic products increases with higher education and income, marriage, and access to organic food (Dimitri and Dettmann 2012). One study found no relationship between purchase intentions for organic food and education, income, and gender (Nasir and Karakaya 2013).

The number of children in the household has shown a negative relationship with organic food purchases (Cranfield and Magnusson 2003; Loureiro, McCluskey and Mittelhammer 2001), because larger families incur larger expenses: food, medical, clothing, etc., but the presence of children under 18 had a positive effect (Thompson and Kidwell 1998). Merely the presence of children in the household did increase purchase likelihood (Ward et al. 2012). Overall, higher purchase intentions for organics are related to age (young), education (higher), gender (females), income (higher) and children (presence of) (Govindasamy and Italia 1999).

Many groups are willing to pay a premium for organic food. College-educated females in their 40s with an optimist opinion toward the necessity of organic farming tend to pay a premium for and buy organic food. Consumers were willing to pay a premium for organic milk in an experimental auction; however, this decreased as purchases increased suggesting that promotional discounts may be necessary to sell additional units (Akaichi, Nayga, Jr., and Gil Holistic Marketing Management

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2012). Habitual and knowledgeable purchasers of organic food are more willing to pay a price premium than non-consumers with little knowledge, although the gap diminishes as the premium increases (Dias et al. 2012). An inverted u-shaped relationship has been shown to exist between age and organic food consumption (Kriwy and Mecking 2012).

The literature cited is either implicitly or explicitly positing a theory of behavior that suggests that positive changes in beliefs lead to positive changes in intentions or behavior. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) aims to explain volitional choice; that is, actions that the individual intends to make (Ajzen 1991). TPB is an extension of The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), proposed by Fishbein and Ajzen (1975). Both TRB and TRA posit that behavioral intentions are the outcome of individualsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cognitive processing of beliefs about the behaviors under consideration, such as the purchase of locally grown produce. Both theories conceive intention as a motivational construct indicating the amount of effort the individual is willing to expend to complete an action (Bagozzi and Warshaw, 1990). These models are ubiquitous in the literature and need not be represented here.

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) (Ajzen 1991) has been used to understand intentions to purchase (Dean 2012), and the results indicate that moral norms, self-identity, and past behavior are linked to purchase intentions. Kim and Chung (2011) found all TPB predictors, along with perceived behavioral control, statistically significant with intention to buy organic skin/hair care products. Chen and Lobo (2012), using TPB as its conceptual model, found Chinese consumersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; organic food purchases influenced by the product (i.e., sensory appeal including texture, looks, smell, and price perception: high nutritional value), government regulations and distribution, and variety seeking and self-indulgence (positive impact for both). Purchase intentions for organic food in one study were predicted by attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (Lodorfos and Dennis 2008). However, as will be demonstrated, there is great variation in who buys organic, why they buy them, and what benefits and attributes buyers seek. The purpose of this research is to demonstrate that there is a greater commonality among various groups of organic purchasers when a segmentation methodology is employed. Segmentation makes marketing of organic food more efficient and more effective.

Hypotheses Four separate hypotheses are developed to provide a basis for segmentation. We examine perceptions about organic fruits and vegetables and not the underlying motivations for consumption. We examined respondentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; self-reported knowledge about fruits and vegetables in general (quality and safety) and their knowledge about organic fruits and vegetables. As an alternative to examining by individual, cluster analysis was used to determine whether there were distinct groups of similar consumers based on their perceptions (six statements) about organic fruits and vegetables. These statements compare organic and conventional fruits and vegetables

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on safety, quality, variety, and price and purchase intentions for organic fruits and vegetables based on availability and price.

Segments were then analyzed to see which demographic variables were associated with cluster membership. This information will assist in creating a marketing campaign that is more efficient and effective than a mass approach. We propose the following demographic variables will differ across segments: age, education, gender, household income, and the presence of children under 18 in the household. Based on the previous research, the following hypotheses are proposed to understand the perceptions about organic fruits and vegetables.

H01a: Segments will differ on perceptions about organic fruits and vegetables and a comparison of conventional and organic fruits and vegetables (four statements).

H01b: Segments will differ on actionable demographic variables (i.e., age, education, gender, household income, and number of children).

H01c: Segments will differ on whether they have tried organic fruits and vegetables.

H01d: Knowledge about fruits and vegetable (i.e., general and organic) will differ by segment.

Research Methodology The sample was drawn from an Internet panel maintained by e-Rewards, Inc. The panelists are recruited via methods such as banner ads and e-mail invitations and compensated for participation. Panel managers limit the number of surveys members complete and have systems to eliminate fraudulent respondents. Internal questions were used to rule out respondents that did not meet the screening requirements, and the actual time to take the test and analysis of responses was used to eliminate â&#x20AC;&#x153;speeders.â&#x20AC;?

The six-item knowledge scale was factor analyzed, and two factors were anticipated. A threeitem scale measures general product knowledge about fruits and vegetables, with not at all (1) to extremely (7) as anchors, and organic knowledge is a three-item scale, with anchors of very little (1) to very much (5). Summed scales were created. The general product knowledge scale goes from three (low) to 21 (high). The organic scale goes from three (low) to 15 (high).

Once unidimensionality was examined through factor analysis, reliability was assessed through Coefficient Alpha. Factor analysis determines whether multi-item scales exist (Lattin, Carroll and Green 2003). The factorability of the data set was determined by sample size (above 300 being good), high bivariate correlations, (excess of .30), Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy (above .6), Bartlettâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Test of Sphericity (significant at the .05 level), and Anti-image Matrix (small off-diagonal values) (Hair et al. 2010). Eigenvalues greater than one Holistic Marketing Management

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and a Scree plot (eigenvalues by components where an elbow forms) is used to determine the number of factors. Coefficient Alpha was calculated for fruit and vegetable and knowledge statements. Alpha values of .70, an indicator of reliability, are also adequate in the early stages of predictive or construct validation research (Nunnally and Bernstein 1994). Scales were created by summing the items.

Latent Class Cluster Analysis (LCCA) (Wedel and Kamakura 2000) was used to determine how many clusters existed within the benefit statements. Latent Class Models have been used for food preference (Baglione, Tucci, and Stanton 2012; Semenou et al. 2007). LCCA, unlike other clustering methods, offers an objective means of determining the optimal number of clusters via the Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) statistic. The optimal number is indicated by the cluster solution with the smallest BIC value (Bartholomew et al. 2008). Also, the BIC imposes a penalty for overfitting (i.e., increase the likelihood by adding parameters). Respondents were assigned to a cluster based on the highest estimated probability of belonging to that cluster. L2 (chi-squared measure) is examined, where the â&#x20AC;&#x153;L2 for that model is not substantially larger than the degrees of freedom which is the expected value for L2 under the assumption that 1) the model is true and 2) L2 follow a chi-square distributionâ&#x20AC;? (Vermunt and Magidson 2005).

Misclassification, assignment to the class having the highest membership probability, should be close to zero. Bivariate residuals should be less than one (Vermunt and Magidson 2005). Next, cluster profiles were examined: demographic or behavioral variables associated with cluster membership. In LCCA, these variables are termed covariates.

Results One-thousand two-hundred and twenty-four respondents were surveyed. After eliminating respondents with missing data and outliers, the sample size was 1,032. The sample is predominately married (67%), female (59%), from the suburbs (64%), and working full-time (64%), with more than two-thirds having household incomes above $60,000 annually (Table 1).

Sixty-two percent of respondents have purchased USDA certified organic fresh fruits and vegetables, and eighty-one percent consciously eat healthy foods. (Note: The number of children below the age of 18 was excluded from the analysis for low variability, since 86 percent of respondents have children).

TABLE 1: DEMOGRAPHICS Variable Age 19-20 21-35 36-40 41-50 51-65 Holistic Marketing Management

Percentage 31 13 26 26 4 15

Area Urban Suburban Rural Children Under 18 in Household Yes Education Some high school High school graduate Some college College graduate Some graduate school Master’s degree Doctoral degree Household Income Less than $20,000 $20,000 to $39,999 $40,000 to $59,999 $60,000 to $79,999 $80,000 to $99,999 $100,000 or more

15 64 21 86 .1 10 22 35 8 18 6 3 12 18 21 18 28

The six-item knowledge questions were factor analyzed (Table 2). The model is factorable since the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure is .77, Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity is significant at the .000 level, but two values in the Anti-image Matrix are above .4. The correlation matrix has many large bivariate correlations. Principal Components extracted a minimum of 58 percent of the variability for each manifest variable (Table C). Two dimensions were extracted accounting for 72 percent of the variability. The scales were computed by adding each respondent’s scores on the items. Coefficient Alpha is .71 for the general scale and .84 for the organic, indicating reliability for the factors.

TABLE 2: FACTOR ANALYSIS (knowledge) Scale

Factor Factor Loading Loading (organic) (general)

Extractio n (variance explained )

Overall α = .71 Holistic Marketing Management

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How knowledgeable are you about the quality of fresh fruit and vegetables? 1 How concerned are you about food safety?

How knowledgeable are you about fresh fruit and vegetable safety issues?

Overall Îą = .84 How much do you feel you know about organic fruits and vegetables? 2 Compared to your friends and acquaintances, how much do you feel you know about organic fruits and vegetables?

Compared to an organic fruits and vegetables expert, how much do you feel you know about organic fruits and vegetables?

1 2

.59

.58

.88 .74

.76 .75

.89

.84

.84

.74

.79

.64

Scale: 1 (not at all) to 7 (extremely) Scale: 1 (very little) to 5 (very much)

Given our large sample size (n=1032), we estimated two- to nine-cluster models. All have statistically non-significant L2, which is good. The BIC is smallest for the six-cluster solution.

The misclassification rate, however, is 17 percent. Misclassification, assignment to the class having the highest membership probability, should be close to zero. None of the bivariate residuals for the six-cluster solution is above one (total of nine). The BIC for the three-cluster solution is only 86 points lower than the six-cluster solution, and the misclassification rate is 11 percent. The three-cluster solution is estimated with covariates because it is more parsimonious and has a smaller misclassification rate. Three bivariate residuals are above one. Finally, the three-cluster solution was more interpretable.

The model explains at least 14 percent of the variation in each claim, with a high of 48 percent (Table 4). Respondents see no difference in safety between conventional and organic fruits and vegetables, although the quality or organic is perceived superior. Organic would be purchased more if cheaper and more readily available. Variety is perceived as better for conventional over organic.

The following covariates were statistically significant across clusters: age, gender, knowledge (both factors), and whether they purchased organic in the past. Education and household income did not differ across clusters and were dropped from the analysis.

Hypothesis H01a is supported since the four health claims do differ by segment. Hypothesis H01b is partially supported since segments did not differ on age and household income. Hypothesis H01c is supported since segments differ on whether they have tried organic fruits and vegetables.

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Hypothesis H01d is supported, since segments different on general and organic knowledge about fruits and vegetables. Respondents differ on general and organic knowledge.

TABLE 3: CLUSTER SOLUTION (means and percentages) Question/Covariate 1) There is basically no difference between the safety of conventional and organic fruits and vegetables. 1 2) I would buy more organic fruits and vegetables if they were more readily available.

3) I would buy more organic fruits and vegetables if they were cheaper.

How do organically grown fruits and vegetables compare to conventionally grown fruits and vegetables in supermarkets and other retail facilities?

4) Quality 2 5) Variety 3 6) Price

pvalue 88.95 4.8e20 100.72 1.3e22 71.98 2.3e16

R2

100.36 1.6e22 60.97 5.7e14 46.65 7.4e11

.20

Wald

Knowledge General 4 Knowledge Organic 5 Gender Education Purchase Organic

23.58 6.75 6.53 1.47 63.30

Household Income Age

1.47 9.73

.14 .48 .21

.39 .21

7.6e-6 .034 .04 .48 1.8e14 .48 .01

1

Scale: 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) Scale: 1 (better) to 3 (worse) 3 Scale: 1 (higher) to 3 (lower) 4 Scale: 3 (low) to 21 (high) 5 Scale: 3 (low) to 15 (high) 2

Cluster One, the largest segment at almost half (49%), believes there is no difference between the safety of conventional and organic fruits and vegetables (63%) and would overwhelmingly buy more if they were readily available (87%) and cheaper (98%) because the quality is better than conventional fruits and vegetables (65%)(Table 5). Prices are seen as higher for organic fruits and vegetables (99%), and variety is lower (71%) than conventional products. This segment has the highest proportion of females, about two-thirds female (64%), and has Holistic Marketing Management

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purchased organic produce before (82%). More than half (56%) are 41 years of age or older. It has the second highest level of knowledge for fruit and vegetable safety and quality (8.57) and the second highest about organic fruits and vegetables (15.76).

Cluster Two, constituting 43 percent of respondents, is neutral on whether safety differences exist between conventional and organic fruits and vegetables (40%), but almost half are neutral on whether they would buy more if they were readily available (45%), although two-thirds would buy more if they were cheaper (67%). They believe quality between conventional and organic is similar (66%), with only a quarter viewing organic as better (24%). Variety is viewed as similar between the two (51%), but an equal amount view it as lower (48%). Organic is seen as higher priced (86%). This cluster is evenly split between men (49%) and women. Over 63 percent are 41 years of age or older. Less than half have purchased organic fruits and vegetables (43%), and they have the lowest knowledge about fruits and vegetables on both scales (13.91 for general and 7.30 for organic).

Cluster Three is the smallest segment at 8 percent. They view organic and conventional as similar on safety (69%) and overwhelmingly would eat more organic if readily available (87%) and cheaper (89%), because organic has higher quality (82%), which is almost universal with this segment. A quarter of the respondents view organic as lower priced (24%) than conventional with only half viewing it as more expensive (51%). Variety for organic is viewed as greater than for conventional (76%). This is our ideal segment because of its desire to consume more organic produce, and price is perceived comparable to or lower than conventional fruits and vegetables (49%). They are mostly female (62%) and most have tried organic before (84%). Almost half (45%) are under 35. It has the highest level of knowledge for fruit and vegetable safety and quality (9.30) and about organic fruits and vegetables (16.03).

TABLE 5: CLUSTER SOLUTION (means and percentages) Questions/Covariate Cluster (size)

One (49%)

Two Three (43%) (8%)

1) There is basically no difference between the safety of conventional and organic fruits and vegetables. 1 Strongly disagree Somewhat disagree Neutral Somewhat agree Strongly agree

3.76

3.04

3.87

.01 .06 .29 .43 .20

.07 .20 .40 .27 .06

.01 .05 .26 .45 .24

2) I would buy more organic fruits and vegetables if they were more readily available. 1 Strongly disagree

4.25

2.71

4.25

.00

.11

.00

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Somewhat disagree Neutral Somewhat agree Strongly agree

.01 .13 .47 .40

.27 .45 .17 .01

.01 .13 .47 .40

3) I would buy more organic fruits and vegetables if they were cheaper. 1 Strongly disagree Somewhat disagree Neutral Somewhat agree Strongly agree

4.81

3.85

4.48

.00 .00 .02 .14 .84

.07 .07 .20 .28 .39

.01 .02 .09 .25 .64

4) Quality 2 Better Same Worse

1.36 .65 .34 .01

1.86 .24 .66 .10

1.18 .82 .18 .00

5) Variety 3 Higher Same Lower

2.71 .00 .29 .71

2.47 .01 .51 .48

1.24 .76 .24 .00

6) Price Higher Same Lower

3.00 .99 .01 .00

2.83 .86 .11 .03

2.27 .51 .25 .24

Knowledge General 4 Knowledge Organic 5 Gender (female) Purchase Organic (yes) Age 19 to 35 36 to 40 41 to 50 51 and older

15.76 8.57 .64 .82

13.91 7.30 .51 .43

16.03 9.30 .62 .84

.32 .12 .25 .31

.27 .11 .29 .34

.45 .17 .20 .17

How do organically grown fruits and vegetables compare to conventionally grown fruits and vegetables in supermarkets and other retail facilities?

1

Scale: 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) Scale: 1 (better) to 3 (worse) 3 Scale: 1 (higher) to 3 (lower) 4 Scale: 3 (low) to 21 (high) 5 Scale: 3 (low) to 15 (high) 2

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Discussion Our research contradicts prior research where consumers are willing to pay a price premium for healthier foods (Aschemann-Witzel and Zielke 2017; Batte et al. 2007; Gao and Schroder 2009; Gao, Wong, House, and Spreen 2014) partly because there is no perceived difference between the safety of conventional and organic fruits and vegetables, although the quality or organic is perceived superior. Organic would be purchased more if cheaper and more readily available.

Variety is perceived as better for conventional over organic. It does support prior research indicating that if comparably priced organics would be purchased more (Lodorfos and Dennis 2008) and that price is a barrier to purchase (Akaichi, Nayga and Gil 2012; Radman 2005; Govindasamy and Italia 1999; Jones 2000; Mayfield et al. 2001). Our respondents have purchased organic fruits and vegetables which supports prior research for consumers purchasing fresh and virtuous products (Van Doorn and Verhoef 2015).

Organic foods are clearly not for everybody. Therefore, to be profitable the most efficient means of marketing a product to its potential must be utilized. While it may not be a â&#x20AC;&#x153;regularâ&#x20AC;? purchase for many consumers, the opportunity exists to make some sales especially to the segments that value organic foods. However, this study demonstrates that for a reasonably large segment of the population organic is or could be a regular choice. Two segments, comprising 57 percent of respondents are potential consumers of organic fruits and vegetables. While there may be a niche for the hard-core organic buyer who associates the purchase of organic with a lifestyle, there is a group of people that prefer organic for a variety of reasons, but may find it too expensive to purchase regularly. This contradicts prior research that consumers would pay a premium for healthier and safer For example, those who purchased USDA organic fruits and vegetables have a higher propensity to buy organic fruits and vegetables if cheaper and readily available. They perceive organic as better quality. Knowledge about fruit and vegetable quality and safety and organic fruits and vegetables moderates this relationship. The higher the knowledge, the greater is the propensity to purchase. Younger buyers are the most favorably predisposed to purchase confirming prior research (Onyango, Hallman, and Bellows 2007; Rimal, Moon, and Balasubramanian 2006). To a lesser extent, females are more likely to purchase, which confirms prior research (Aguirre 2007; Mathisson and Schollin 1994; Onyango, Hallman, and Bellows 2007; Wandel and Bugge 1997).

From a managerial perspective, the key factor is focusing the marketing attention on the consumer segments that have the highest likelihood of purchase. Product availability and promotional materials may be wasted or at least an ineffective targeting of consumers who do not appear to have any interest in organic. This research helps to focus marketing efforts on potential organic buyers. Income was an important distinguishing variable, purveyors of organic fruits and vegetables must justify the higher prices, and/or have promotional materials that Holistic Marketing Management

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reinforce the beliefs of organic quality and food safety. A sampling of organics may be an effective tactic in overcoming price resistance. This may partially occur by having consumers try the product. The difficulty is that distribution is perceived as limited. Since distribution is limited due to the availability of product, at least in the near future, efforts should be made to find the food retailers that emphasize and are associated with highest product standards and environmentalists. While the obvious choices are chains such as Whole Foods, Sunflower, and Wegman’s, it is just as important to avoid chains that are truly targeting the low-income families.

However, keep in mind that the benefits perceived by consumers of organic fruits and vegetables tend to be intrinsic use rather than extrinsic cues. One should not underestimate the value of point-of-sale information to the consumer is explaining both food safety and product quality.

Finding the most effective price level is also critical to the sales of organic foods. If retailers sell its organic food at too high a price, their market is often restricted to the hard-core organic shopper, too small a segment, and the supermarket loses potential margin. Finding a balance between price and potential market size is critical.

Limitations and Future Research The scales measuring knowledge were based entirely on self-reporting. We could not objectively verify respondents’ actual nutritional knowledge. Underlying motivations for purchasing organic fruits and vegetables were not gathered. We only examined one group of organic products. Additionally, a wider choice of organic foods including organic processed foods such as soups and cereal should be considered for future research. Finally, given the price sensitivity of many respondents, a tradeoff analysis, such as conjoint, could be estimated to examine at what price customers are willing to purchase organic fruits and vegetables.

Consumer perceptions also differ by country and benefit claimed (van Trijp 2007). Product costs knowledge could be correlated with objective knowledge to understand whether consumers are accurate in their self-assessment.

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Digital Customers, Digital Marketers, and Keeping up with Trends in Today’s Digital World Ioan Matei PURCĂREA

Abstract Marketers need actionable information, the business action depending on the customer insights obtained by analyzing customer data coming from end-to-end customer journeys, better understanding customers’ behaviors and shaping their improved experiences being a continuous challenge. Facing customer decision journey’s prevalence marketers are challenged to optimize content and CX, using innovations in digital media, technology, and data. The so-called Generation Digital is in full march, and both consumers’ headspace and marketers’ headspace are truly bombarded in today’s digital landscape. As a result, companies are committing to a nextgeneration operating model, adapting continuously their digital strategy.

Keywords: Digital Customers; Digital Marketers; Generation Digital; Next-Generation Operating Model JEL Classification: D83; L86; M15; M31; M37; O33

Facing customer decision journey’s prevalence marketers are challenged to optimize content and CX, using innovations in digital media, technology, and data As shown by McKinsey at the beginning of 2019, we are witnessing the prevalence of the customer decision journey and the expansion of new titles like “head of user journey” and “chief experience officer”, shifting marketing capabilities (a sensibility and a sensitivity to culture, comfort with on a company’s terms ambiguity, data management and analytics accordingly, and making difference between what a company really can do itself in-house or outsource) being required today to connect with consumers having completely changed expectations and to deliver on the whole new experience in the current digital era, marketers being challenged to face 40-50 marketing channel options and many hundreds of potential consumer audiences. (Gregg et all., 2019) As revealed by the Econsultancy’s 2018 Digital Trends report, published in association with Adobe: companies are continue to focus on CX (in order to deliver more compelling realtime experiences marketers being helped by AI) and the content which is facilitating it, content and experience management being organizations’ top strategic priority for in 2018; topperforming companies are recognising the importance of (in new growth) design and creativity capabilities to complement data and technology excellence, a prerequisite for success fastbecoming the investment in technology and related skills with integrated platforms. (Vatash, Holistic Marketing Management

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2018) In the figures 1 and 2 below there are some suggestive pictures from this report reflecting: last year’s most exciting opportunity – predicted vs. actual; which one area was the single most exciting opportunity for an organisation (or its clients) in 2018:

Figure 1: Last year’s most exciting opportunity – predicted vs. actual Source: Adapted from Vatash, P. (2018). Digital Intelligence Briefing, Econsultancy’s 2018 Digital Trends report, published in association with Adobe (work cited)

Figure 2: Which one area was the single most exciting opportunity for an organisation (or its clients) in 2018 Source: Adapted from Vatash, P. (2018). Digital Intelligence Briefing, Econsultancy’s 2018 Digital Trends report, published in association with Adobe (work cited)

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The above mentioned report (based on an online survey of digital marketing and ecommerce professionals, carried out between November 2017 and January 2018), also underlined, among other aspects, that marketers should focus on ensuring the right kind of leadership and culture are in place, prioritizing design and creativity (as also shown above), knowing their customers and then delighting them with the right content at the right time, budget for success, and investing in integrated technology (as we also shown above).

Figure 3: The integration of the digital marketing strategies across multiple channels (RACE), planning accordingly the digital transformation programmes, including by adequately approaching the different personas across the lifecycle (see the figure 3 below) and ensuring a seamless, integrated, and consistent experience (Omni channel Source: Chaffey, D. (2018). 8 business-critical digital marketing trends for 2019, Smart Insights, 08 Jan, 2019 (work cited)

At the beginning of this year it was again confirmed the continuous digital transformation supported by innovation in marketing (innovations in digital media, technology, and data), as demonstrated by Digital strategist Dr. Dave Chaffey (co-founder and Content Director of Smart Insights), who highlighted: the top five marketing techniques in the year ahead (content marketing, AI and machine learning, marketing automation, big data, conversion rate optimization â&#x20AC;&#x201C; CRO â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and improving website experiences; these are followed by social media marketing, mobile marketing, IoT marketing applications, communities etc. ); the different types of marketing management trends: the integration of the digital marketing strategies across multiple channels, planning accordingly the digital transformation programmes, including by adequately approaching the different personas across the lifecycle (see the above figure 3) and Holistic Marketing Management

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ensuring a seamless, integrated, and consistent experience (Omni channel); the use of digital marketing as a disruptor (on the basis of digital technologies and media), not only for market penetration); the improvement and innovating in digital experience (on the basis of improved insight, the improvement of the speed and personalization and conversational user interfaces); the search marketing trends (Google Marketing Platform, Google’s Speed Update, Mozcast SERPs features analysis); the social media trends (Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat; LinkedIn and Twitter ); Email marketing and marketing automation; Analytics and reporting; Content marketing; Paid and earned media. (Chaffey, 2018) “Generation Digital”, Consumers’ and Marketers’ headspace In 2012, Accenture coined the term “Generation D” (Gen D) after identifying a significant investor segment of more than 75 million people in the US (with nearly $27 trillion in assets) defined by their behaviors (not by traditional demographics) of being always-connected consumers, managing their financial accounts by using multiple devices in a given week, looking up investment information (on different investment related websites) and paying bills. At the end of December 2018, the Customer Communications Group Financial Marketing Blog attracted the attention on the fact that as the “Generation Digital” D mass affluents want to be recognized as important customers, financial marketers need shower them with VIP treatment (in order to help retain them), proving the truly understanding of their needs by providing highly targeted messages, offers, products and services.

On the other hand, there is no doubt at the level of the current year that both consumers’ headspace (so many products and services available, so much content) and marketers’ headspace (so many MarTech choices, so many overlapping solutions) are bombarded. (Gupta, 2019) It is well-known, for example, that content is considered the key ingredient in many user experiences, and while planning a mobile user experience (within designing information architecture for the mobile environment) content should be focused on mobile and on what’s important to the user when he is using a smartphone. (Interaction Design Foundation, 2019) And this the more so in today’s digital landscape, trying to reach company’s customers where they are, knowing that “an average consumer has three messaging apps on their phone’s home screen, uses three different messaging apps per week, and sends three messages per hour” (as revealed by the market research provider Vanson Bourne).

Committing to a next-generation operating model, adapting continuously the digital strategy Within the framework of the continuous acceleration of pace of digital-related changes McKinsey research (Bughin et all., 2019) showed that companies need to reallocate capital and people more quickly, continuously modifying their digital strategy, valorizing the digital platforms which create digital ecosystems which are, in turn, changing the way of evaluating including their customers’ needs (becoming broader and more integrated in an ecosystem-based Holistic Marketing Management

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world), and meeting them before their competition (the top-performing companies focusing on creating brand-new digital offerings). Of course, developing and implementing a digital operating model involves considering to include the need for the new set of basic capabilities (digital strategy, digital culture, digital innovation, digital insights) and their adequate support, knowing that this is not an easy change, taking into account not only both existing and lacking digital capabilities necessary to transform company’s operating mode, but also where is the more urgent need for action (red zone, see in the figure 4 below a suggestive heat map presented by Medium).

Figure 4: An example heat map of existing and lacking digital capabilities that are necessary to transform the operating model Source: The 5 Elements of a Digital Operating Model – Part 3: Capabilities, Medium, May 15, 2018 (work cited)

It is worth remembering that a year before the presentation of the above-suggested heat map by Medium, McKinsey (Bollard et all., 2017) introduced a – while approaching the nextgeneration operating model for the digital world – five approaches and capabilities to drive the next-generation operating model (figure 5 below) and a heat map providing a company-wide integrated perspective of the potential for impact for each end-to-end journey (figure 6 below).

McKinsey’s representatives pledged for the reinvention of the operating model in order to increase revenues, lower costs, and delight customers, mixing digital technologies and operations capabilities (ensuring an integrated operational-improvement program organized around journeys and adopting multiple levers in sequence so as to achieve compound impact), thinking holistically and avoiding this way to create new silos.

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Figure 5: Five approaches and capabilities to drive the next-generation operating model Source: Bollard, A. Larrea, E., Singla, A. and Sood, R. (2017).The next-generation operating model for the digital world, McKinsey & Company, March (work cited)

Figure 6: A heat map providing a company-wide integrated perspective of the potential for impact for each end-to-end journey Source: Bollard, A. Larrea, E., Singla, A. and Sood, R. (2017).The next-generation operating model for the digital world, McKinsey & Company, March (work cited) Holistic Marketing Management

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They (Dias, et all., 2017) also underlined – while revealing how to start building this next-generation operating model – that beyond the same set of building blocks there is a unique path to a new operating model for each company, depending on each company’s existing capabilities, desired speed of transformation, level of executive commitment, and economic pressure.

Conclusions Customers are responding to marketing and advertising efforts influenced by changes in their behavior and priorities, and in today’s digital world digital marketing changes continuously reflecting the replacement of the former one-way direction of the funnel with the flywheel and a subsequent focus on service, delighting and empowering company’s customers (as shown by HubSpot in the figure 7 below). (Decker, 2018) That is why marketers must keep the business and marketing ahead of the game with the most important marketing trends.

Figure 7: The flywheel and a subsequent focus on service, delighting and empowering company’s customers Source: Decker, A. (2018). The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Trends in 2019, HubSpot, Aug. 21 (work cited)

At the beginning of 2019, the above mentioned digital strategist Dr. Dave Chaffey (Chaffey, 2019) compared different examples of the well-known Gartner’s well-established Hype Cycle tools (highlighting the adoption of the new technology services within marketing technology), offering a big picture of changes in technology trends as techniques (such as content marketing and personalization) have moved along the Gartner’s Hype Cycle (the latest digital marketing and advertising Hype Cycle was published by Gartner in December 2018, as shown in the figure 8 below). Chaffey revealed some of the Gartner’s highlights such as: the challenge of improving CX (considering GDPR etc.); Blockchain for advertising; AI for marketing; Conversational marketing (chatbots); Personification (defined as: “Enabling marketers to deliver targeted digital experiences to individuals based on their inferred membership in a characteristic customer segment rather than on their personal identity”); Customer journey analytics; Multichannel marketing hubs. He also revealed his summary of the five stages of diffusion of innovation used by Gartner (Technology Trigger, Peak of Inflated Holistic Marketing Management

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Expectations, Trough of Disillusionment, Slope of Enlightenment, Plateau of Productivity), and made reference to Forrester’s “HERO” Project Effort-Value Evaluation tool.

Figure 8: Gartner Hype Cycle for Digital Marketing and Advertising, 2018 Source: Pemberton, C. (2018). 3 Insights From Gartner Hype Cycle for Digital Marketing and Advertising, 2018, December 5. Retrieved from https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/3-insights-from-gartner-hypecycle-for-digital-marketing-and-advertising-2018/

Allow us to also cite the Gartner’s representative Chris Pemberton: “Multichannel marketing hubs, a combination of digital marketing hubs and multichannel campaign management solutions, rose to near the Peak because they promise a more integrated approach.

They allow marketers to manage the life cycle of their programs across all channels within one solution.” (Pemberton, 2018) Holistic Marketing Management

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As we showed last year, (Negricea & Purcarea, 2018) there is no doubt about the increasing need of critical digital workforce skills within the digital transformation process adequately enabled, of better understanding and analyzing the customer journey and of making better-informed decisions by gathering deep customer insights and valorizing the window of opportunity for engaging customers effectively at the key micro and macro moments, proving a better understanding of customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; digital behavior and digital experience.

References Bollard, A. Larrea, E., Singla, A. and Sood, R. (2017).The next-generation operating model for the digital world, McKinsey & Company, March. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/the-nextgeneration-operating-model-for-the-digital-world Bughin, J., Catlin, T. and LaBerge, L. (2019). A winning operating model for digital strategy, McKinsey & Company, January. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/businessfunctions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/a-winning-operating-model-for-digital-strategy Chaffey, D. (2018). 8 business-critical digital marketing trends for 2019, Smart Insights, 08 Jan, 2019. Retrieved from https://www.smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/marketinginnovation/business-critical-digital-marketing-trends/ Chaffey, D. (2019). Latest Gartner Hype Cycles, Smart Insights, 18 Jan. Retrieved from https://www.smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/marketing-innovation/technologyfor-innovation-in-marketing/ Decker, A. (2018). The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Trends in 2019, HubSpot, Aug. 21.

Retrieved from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/marketing-trends Dias, J., Hamilton, D., Paquette, C. and Sood, R. (2017). How to start building your nextgeneration operating model, McKinsey & Company, March. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/how-to-startbuilding-your-next-generation-operating-model Gregg, B. and Esber, D., with Miller, M., Bellore, V. and Armstrong, S. (2019). Discussions in digital: Coping with the new normal between marketers and marketing agencies, McKinsey Podcast January 2019. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketingand-sales/our-insights/discussions-in-digital-coping-with-the-new-normal-between-marketersand-marketing-agencies?

Gupta, S. (2019). 3 Trends Impacting Marketing and Marketing Technology, Target Marketing Magazine, January 22. Retrieved from https://www.targetmarketingmag.com/post/3-trendsimpacting-marketing-and-marketing-technology/

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Negricea, C. I. & Purcarea, I.M. (2018). Digital Marketers challenged to create excellence in accordance with the expectations of digitally savvy customers, Holistic Marketing Management, September 2018, Volume 8, Issue 3, pp. 07-15 Pemberton, C. (2018). 3 Insights From Gartner Hype Cycle for Digital Marketing and Advertising, 2018, December 5. Retrieved from https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/3insights-from-gartner-hype-cycle-for-digital-marketing-and-advertising-2018/ Vatash, P. (2018). Digital Intelligence Briefing, Econsultancy’s 2018 Digital Trends report, published in association with Adobe. Retrieved from Econsultancy-2018-Digital-Trends *** Generation D. An emerging and important investor segment, Accenture, 2013. Retrieved from https://www.accenture.com/ae-en/~/media/Accenture/ConversionAssets/DotCom/Documents/Global/PDF/Industries_13/Accenture-CM-AWAMS-POV.pdf *** Get to know mass affluents’ digital banking habits, CCG Financial Marketing Blog, December 27, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.customer.com/blog/financialmarketing/getting-to-know-you-the-mass-affluent-digitals *** The Heart of the Matter, Information Architecture in the Mobile Age, Interaction Design Foundation, February 16, 2019. Retrieved from https://www.interactiondesign.org/literature/article/the-heart-of-the-matter-information-architecture-in-the-mobile-age *** 2019 Guide to Customer Messaging. Retrieved from https://www.twilio.com/learn/messaging/2019-guide-to-customer-messaging *** The 5 Elements of a Digital Operating Model — Part 3: Capabilities, Medium, May 15, 2018.

Retrieved from https://medium.com/@excubate/the-5-elements-of-a-digital-operating-modelpart-3-capabilities

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“Marketing Science and Inspirations”, Comprehending the Reading at a Deeper Level Costel Iliuță NEGRICEA Dean of the RAU School of Management-Marketing

JEL Classification: Y30 Competent readers already formed a memorable connection with this brand of the Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, “Marketing Science and Inspirations”. Our Partner Journal knows how to deliver the experiences readers want. By providing high-quality content, “Marketing Science and Inspirations” is always a successful event for the engaged readers and is continuing to work hard to ensure that the journal is a place where something really happens and it is a good match for new readers too. Consistent with its vocation, “Marketing Science and Inspirations” confirms with each issue the ability to treat readers well, like savvy customers.

We were happy to receive by post the Issue 4, Vol. XIII, 2018 of our Partner Journal „Marketing Science and Inspirations”, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia. The new issue of this well-known academic journal addressed to academics and practitioners covered again a wide range of interesting topics in the marketing research field: • “Evaluation of Eastern-Central European citizen’s decision-making style – a comparative study. Part II”. The author Barbara Nemethova analyzed the Western and EasternHolistic Marketing Management

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Central European adverts, and identified the prominence of fact-based commercials in ECE countries, whereas most of the western advertisements creatively take the audience to a journey, while showing limited information; her comparative study evaluated the reasons for the above mentioned phenomenon, while answering the following questions: What kind of identity emerges as a consequence of the turbulent political and economic changes, as consumers’ transition from a communist to a democratic country? What kind of adverts do ECE consumers prefer? What influences their decision-making? If in the first part of this research the author was looking at identity formation from an academic point of view (focusing mainly on Slovak consumers; there were identified possible reasons behind differences in decision-making styles, arising from the turbulent political and economic changes, ECE consumers having higher risk aversion, uncertainty avoidance and lower institutional trust, all these identified factors having an impact on ECE consumers’ information-searching behavior while creating a new consumer base with developing identity), in the second part the author analyzed the research findings, this research contributing to a better understanding of the potential for travel to change the way that adverts are seen among ECE consumers (travelling and exposure to different cultures earlier in life altering ECE consumers’ tendency to deconstruct transformational adverts). As shown by the author, based on the research findings a marketing strategy for foreign brands wanting to penetrate the ECE market was devised.

• “Specifics of online behavior of Generation Z”. The authors Petronela Klacanska and Lucia Kohnova showed that in the case of technological change it is necessary to explore and analyze the changes of the technology usage and the opportunities brought by the new technologies (not only to explore the development of technological environment), technological changes affecting people's behavior. Within this framework it is useful to better understand the specifics and differences of Gen Z, the customized access to its representatives, and also to explore the intergenerational differences.

• “Gender and generation differences in university students’ word of mouth willingness”.

The author Zoltan Rozsa start from the fact that student loyalty in the higher education sector helps college administrators to establish long-term relationships with both current and former students. Utilizing a quantitative design and conducted in a private university this research revealed that university’s students are mostly willing to spread positive information about their Alma Mater.

• “The utilization of multimedia research laboratories in practice. Part I”. The authors Romana Cockova, Peter Starchon, Lucia Vilcekova emphasized the importance of the innovations in the teaching of subjects focused on the active participation of university students on real projects within the liaison to cooperation with the subjects of economic practice, based on utilization of the potential of multimedia research laboratories within the context of the new approaches in teaching such as design thinking. The authors showed how current trends in higher Holistic Marketing Management

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education emphasize changes in teaching oriented on increasing the employability of graduates in the labour market, as well as in the creative economy which includes marketing, marketing communication and advertising.

• “GDPR issues from a marketing perspectives”. The author Peter Vesely started from the fact that a marketer is facing several problems in the case of running e-shop under the new conditions of the GDPR Regulation. He underlined that the interpretation of the regulation is not clear and few areas will limit its possibilities.

The „Marketing Science and Inspirations” Journal also includes other sections such as: “Marketing Briefs” (Pavel Strach – “Value-based marketing: Treating customers well to become better”); “Captured us” (“FLEMA Media Awards 2018”; “An announcement of the 14th edition of the Marketer of the year contest”); “Reviews” (Peter Starchon – “Vysekalova, Jitka and Holistic Marketing Management

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Mikes, Jiri: Advertisement. How to advertise. 4th Updated and supplemented”); “Dictionary of Useful Marketing Terms” (Dagmar Weberova).

We remember with pleasure that the Editor-in Chief of the „Marketing Science and Inspirations” Journal is Professor Peter Starchon, Faculty of Management, Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia, who is also a Member of the Editorial Board of the “Holistic Marketing Management” Journal and of the “Romanian Distribution Committee Magazine”. It is also our honor and pleasure to remember both the significant meeting in Koln, Germany, in 2011, on the occasion of the working meeting of the European Retail Academy (ERA), and the different significant moments when the ERA President, Prof. Dr. Bernd Hallier (also a Member of both above mentioned Editorial Boards), visited the Romanian-American University.

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Modern Marketing, CX, CRM, Customer Trust and Identity Theodor Purcărea

Abstract It is a real need to better understand the importance of maintaining company’s CRM applications and capabilities within the context of the spectacular evolution of the CRM industry, and the role of adequately calibrated CRM data in refining marketing strategy, better understanding the customer behavior, including by applying the emotional connection targeting framework on a company’s CRM data, knowing how CX is made up, and the significance of the (micro) moments throughout CX. We are in full debate centered on the “Internet of Things” (IoT) and “Internet of Everything” (IoE), on the significant use of Blockchain in CRM, on technology becoming our 6 th sense and customer intimacy at the confluence between operational excellence and emotional connections, on the higher impact of the seamless and unique customer journeys compared to touchpoints, on the essential digital CX channels and the digital CX must-haves for the long run. We are also witnessing the continuing preoccupation with regard to the modern marketer, beginning with Econsultancy’s “Modern Marketing Manifesto”, “Modern Marketing Model”, (M3), Modern Marketing Blueprint (MMB) and the new report “Skills of the Modern Marketer”, and continuing with NGData’s preoccupation to redefine the customer relationship with data so as to deliver value and contextually relevant CX every time an organization interacts with their customers engaged via both physical and digital channels, while applying best practices for data-driven marketing in accordance with the data-driven marketing strategy recommended by Smart Insights. There is no doubt, as demonstrated by the 5th Salesforce State of Marketing Report, that marketers are being particularly well positioned to take a leading role in CX initiatives, while needing a completely unified view of customer data and unlocking the data needed for personalization at scale, as well as to improve their ability to achieve true cross-channel engagement.

Keywords: Modern Marketing, CX, CRM, Customer Trust and Identity JEL Classification: L86; M31; O33

The role of CRM data in refining marketing strategy, better understanding the customer behavior Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is defined by Salesforce as “a strategy for managing an organisation’s relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers.” As also shown by Salesforce, people are usually talking about CRM as: Technology (also called a CRM system or solution - a technology product, often in the cloud used by teams to record, report and analyse interactions between a company and its users); Strategy (how to manage relationships with customers and potential customers); Process (a system ensuring nurturing and managing those relationships). According to Microsoft (Microsoft Dynamics CRM being offered in two categories: CRM online, a cloud-based offering; CRM on-premise, CRM application and databases being deployed on clients’ servers): “Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a system for managing a company’s interactions with current and future customers. It often involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize sales, Holistic Marketing Management

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marketing, customer service, and technical support. CRM can help reduce costs and increase profitability by organizing and automating business processes that nurture customer satisfaction and loyalty.”

Joseph Michelli, Ph.D., Official Member at Forbes Coaches Council, and author of wellknown books (such as: The Starbucks Experience, The New Gold Standard, Prescription for Excellence, The Zappos Experience), recalled more recently (Michelli, 2018) how the term CRM was coined in 1995, while in the late 1990s: was introduced the first mobile CRM solution (Software as a service/SaaS transforming CRM platforms); began moving CRM and sales applications to the cloud (thanks to companies like Salesforce). Michelli showed how businesses shift their focus from transactions to interactions with the help of CRM platforms whose benefits are evident (+44% more leads; +37% increase in sales revenue; +45% increase in customer relations; +52% faster integration of business apps), this tool of CRM platforms needing to be used by both established or startup enterprises, the next action being anticipated by the artificial intelligence (AI).

Marketers are challenged to adequately calibrate CRM data and act judiciously on the basis of the key elements of their business, including by avoiding misusing their CRM data, which could affect their business’ growth because of: outdated, incomplete, duplicate or invalid entry data; unnecessary or utilized fields; failure to automate lead management, lead engagement logs, lead nurturing, customer retention, organization and planning; lack of social integration; failure to define the top KPIs (such as: sales revenue, cost per lead, customer value, inbound marketing ROI, traffic-to-lead ratio); not acting on their data. (Smart Insights, 2018) That is why marketers need a CRM system ensuring the ease of use, the schedule management and the ability to see a clear snapshot of their data.

As demonstrated by Motista, the solution provider with regard to predictive emotional connection, an emotional connection matters more than customer satisfaction. (Zorfas and Leemon, 2016) According to Motista, the validation of emotional connection targeting begins by applying the same emotional connection targeting framework on a company’s CRM data. For instance, based on their analysis, they can: see if an existing customer of their client company is emotionally connected to this company’s brand, being likely to behave accordingly from the viewpoint of purchase frequency, spending thresholds etc.; look then at this existing customer’s actual purchase history stored in their client company’s CRM system to assess how accurate are Motista’s predictions. (Kaura, 2018) Speaking about emotion, it was also demonstrated recently that relationships with customers are all about emotions, a customer experience (CX) being made up of both the rational experience (things customers are doing) and the emotional experience (how customers are feeling about their experience, how they feel affecting how they behave), without forgetting about both the subconscious experience (customers not being aware of it even this is happening), and the psychological experience (how customers’ brains are influencing their interpretation of Holistic Marketing Management

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and behavior during their interactions), CX triggering reactions. (Shaw, 2018) That is why it was recommended that companies take an outside-in approach, putting themselves in customers’ shoes (considering how the moments throughout CX evoke customers’ emotions and how those emotions affect their next steps).

In their struggle for adequately manage their marketing efforts, marketers were in the best position to see and understand the evolution of the CRM systems till today’s mobile-optimized CRM software, when mobile CRM changed businesses’ supply and sales strategies. (Davis, 2018) One of the biggest ways from this point of view is for example the creation of clean and consistent reports (simplifying the CRM user interface) for the retail industry as shown by Repsly in the figure below:

Figure 1: Reports populated with real-time data keep your brand ahead of the curve Source: Davis, M. (2018). 4 Ways Mobile CRMs are disrupting the retail industry, Repsly Blog (work cited)

The importance of maintaining company’s CRM applications and capabilities, within the context of the spectacular evolution of the CRM industry, is largely recognized: significant resources are invested into artificial intelligence (AI) by main CRM vendors (such as Salesforce, Microsoft and Oracle); cloud services are becoming standard (as shown recently by Gartner’s Holistic Marketing Management

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research director for CRM and CX about 80 percent of all new CRM purchases are already in the cloud; CX projects are about 50 percent technology, the difference being covered by customer emotions, perceptions and related qualitative factors). (Harpham, 2018) And considering the proliferation of affordable SaaS solutions even small businesses can use powerful CRM software. (Bushnell, 2018) Smaller SaaS companies are continuing to fight to compete by adding valuable functionality (such as: click to call, live dashboards and collaboration tools), major players in the CRM industry trying to win small businesses (including the CRM giant Salesforce, for example) with more integrations for broadly used apps. (Bushnell, 2019) The term “Internet of Everything” (IoE) was coined by the worldwide leader in IT, networking, and cybersecurity solutions Cisco, which defines IoE as “the networked connection of people, process, data, and things,” its benefit deriving from the compound impact of this networked connection, and the value this increased connectedness creates as “everything” comes online. On the other hand, the “Internet of Things” (IoT), also according to Cisco: “refers simply to the networked connection of physical objects (doesn’t include the “people” and “process” components of IoE). IoT is a single technology transition, while IoE comprises many technology transitions (including IoT).” (Cisco, 2013) It is considered that IoT emphasis on machine-tomachine (M2M) communications is extended by IoE in order to describe a more complex system that also encompasses people and processes. (TechTarget) Very recently, the third annual Global IoT Executive Survey (including nearly 400 responses from key executives around the world, an in-depth research detailing the components which make up the IoT ecosystem) conducted by Business Insider Intelligence revealed among other aspects that in the opinion of the vast majority of respondents “blockchain will either be a tool that most companies employ at times, or a niche product that only certain solutions use.” (Business Insider, 2019) At the beginning of last year, the CEO of ConvergeHub (headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, whose CRM product has been positioned as the #1 Easiest Converged CRM for SMB and has been successively nominated twice in CRM Idol competition) made reference to Don Tapscott (first author of the Audiobook “Blockchain Revolution: How the Technology Behind Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies Is Changing the World”, Publisher: Brilliance Audio, Unabridged edition, May 2, 2017; ranked by Thinkers 50 as the fourth most influential management thinker in the world) who argued that IoE will need a Ledger of Everything, that is Blockchain. The CEO of ConvergeHub showed (Chaudhuri, 2018) that there are important case uses (Supply Chain Logistics, Healthcare, Real Estate, Voting, Charities and Non-Profit Organizations, Blockchain as a Service/BaaS) of Blockchain technology, and underlined the significant use of Blockchain in CRM by providing: a greater 360-degree view of the current state of company’s customers, a granular view of the demands of these customers (who are also enabled to make peaceful decisions with regard to their purchases on the Web), and a competitive advantage over company’s competitors (offering customers more personalized and accurate offers, making legitimate use of digital currency in the CRM space, ensuring an adequate customer loyalty and rewards management etc.).

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The new relationships with customers through the customer lifecycle.

Customer journeys and CX There is no doubt that relationships with customers through the customer lifecycle must be adequately nurtured, so as to continuously strengthen and improve these relationships, and turn leads into brand advocates, (Monroe, 2018) developing personal relationships with prospects and customers by starting from listening, understanding and caring about their challenges.

(Monroe, 2019) According to an Ontraport Growth Teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s representative, in order to connect this way with leads it is necessary to map out the customer lifecycle (see the figure below), to find opportunities to add valuable human interactions (such as: thank you notes, sales follow-up calls, new customer welcome calls, in-person appointments, annual customer check-in calls), and to personalize and humanize companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s automated interactions (by using sales automation technology).

Figure 2: Mapping out the customer lifecycle, Ontraport Source: Monroe, M. (2019). How to add a personal touch to your automated sales processes, Ontraport, February 12 (work cited)

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And as highlighted by Professor Steven Van Belleghem from Vlerick Business School (recognized as a thought leader on the transformation of customer relationships and the future of marketing), it’s time now (when technology becomes our 6th sense, when products are becoming digital and are starting to collect data, while going from digital first to mobile first, and from mobile first to AI first) for digital to become human because humans have become digital (the human transformation being the consequence of the digital transformation), creating a human touch becoming a necessity (emotion being at the confluence of empathy, passion and creativity). (Van Belleghem, 2018) In the opinion of Van Belleghem the new customer relationship involves taking into account the digital relationship adds, the human relationship adds, automation plus data, and empathy plus passion plus creativity, customer intimacy being at the confluence between operational excellence and emotional connections.

In December 2018, Bob Thompson, Founder/CEO of CustomerThink, underlined that journeys have higher impact than touchpoints (as revealed by McKinsey’s research) and customer journeys must be mapped comprehensively, considering both the top 5 differentiators of winning CX initiatives (developed personas for each customer segment; developed end-to-end future state journey map; included both rational and emotional factors at touchpoints; involved customers in creating and validating journey maps; clearly defined the customers’ end goal or desired outcomes), and some major recommendations such as define a vision for seamless and unique customer journeys. (Thompson, 2018) Within the same framework: Sarah Tarraf, Director CX at Gongos, Inc., (Tarraf, 2018) highlighted (while approaching the topic of “CX ROI: Getting Return on Investment and Involvement”) the need of giving employees an avenue to share their own customer-centric experiences, of identifying barriers to deliver a great experience plus co-creating solutions, and of integrating VOC (Voice of the Customer) with primary research, company’s CRM system plus sales data; Jeff Epstein, VP Product Marketing and Communications, Comm100, (Epstein, 2018) showed (while approaching the topic of “How to Get CX Value from Digital Support Channels”) that CX is a way of thinking and attracted the attention on the essential digital CX channels (Knowledge Base, Email, Live Chat, Social Media, Messaging, Bots and AI) and the digital CX must-haves for the long run (AI, Analytics, Security, and Reliability).

The Modern Marketing, CRM and Data-Driven Marketing Preoccupied to define the “modern marketer”, Econsultancy launched six years ago the so-called “Modern Marketing Manifesto” having twelve components: Strategy (marketers’ role in defining the organization’s horizon), Brand (marketers need a strong brand in today’s digital age), Experience (the persistent focus of modern marketing must be to improve CX), Data (modern marketers must turn data into insight and action, predicting future customer behaviour), Digital (embedding the digital thinking in marketing strategies), Personalisation (delivering value to customers in exchange for personal data), Technology (having increasing ownership of technology as an enabler), Creative (believing to the same extent in the power of emotions and the irrational, one hand, and of rational, on the other hand), Content (which become a vital Holistic Marketing Management

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expression of the brand, reinforcing its credibility and authenticity), Multi-screen (thinking and delivering CX without indicating the exact position of a boundary, considering all the screens which both control and mediate CX), Social (which is a must, businesses needing having social in their DNA), and Commercial (optimizing the customer journey along its entire path becoming a must, the ultimate click in the customer journey being the transaction within ecommerce).

(Friedlein, 2013) Going on this way and trying to identify a new unifying framework as a reference for the current state of marketing from the viewpoint of what an organisation’s marketing function does, Econsultancy introduced two years ago – as we already shown in our HMM journal (Purcarea, 2018) – the Modern Marketing Model (M3: ten elements broken down into four stages, see the figure below) as a holistic view (there were also highlighted competencies and capabilities aligned to M3 elements, considering the key challenge for each element). (Friedlein, 2017) According to Econsultancy, the only completely new element added here in M3 (considering that “Product” was changed to “CX”, and that “Price” was covered under “Brand & Value” and “Marketing Strategy”) is “Data & Measurement”, data being considered part of the marketing mix.

Figure 3: Competencies and capabilities aligned to M3 elements, Econsultancy Source: Friedlein, A. (2017). Introducing the Modern Marketing Model (M3), Econsultancy, October 3rd (work cited)

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After the presentation of M3 (seen as the world’s first digital makeover of traditional marketing models) for the first time, Econsultancy crafted the Modern Marketing Blueprint (MMB), with the view to help an organisation achieving the modern marketing competencies by taking actionable measures so as to ensure competitive performance (considering ROI, KPIs etc.). (Coates, 2018) More recently, the Econsultancy’s new report – entitled “Skills of the Modern Marketer” (both a quantitative study of over 500 marketers and a review of the academic and professional literature related to these marketing skills) (Donnelly, 2019) – revealed a shortage of generalist marketing knowledge and skills, as well as data acumen (strategy, data & measurement and brand management skills, considered the foundation of every professional marketer’s career, being confirmed by only 13% or less from respondents). (Robinson, 2019) This Econsultancy’s new report sets out what defines the modern marketer: Modern Marketing Knowledge (understanding marketing competence, concepts and the guiding principles), Modern Marketing Skills (so as to competently apply marketing knowledge and with some amount of confidence), and Modern Marketing Mindset (so as to drive the behaviours and attitudes necessary to build a sustainable career in modern marketing, coping with the possibility which digital creates).

We have seen above how important is for modern marketers to turn data into insight and action, predicting future customer behavior, data being considered part of the marketing mix, and data & measurement being a component of the foundation of every professional marketer’s career. It is also important to note that NGData , known as being focused on redefining the customer relationship with data, invites companies to take advantage of: the opportunity to extend the relationships and deliver value every time they interact with their customers engaged via physical and digital channels identified with great accuracy in our Omni-channeled, constantly-connected and instantly-gratified world; (Cross, 2019) all of the touch points and interaction moments with their on the go and constantly multi-tasking customers by being relevant in their customers’ context, on the basis of updated, accessible and available in real-time data adequately organized, CX being a very personal endeavor; (Cross, 2019) capturing and synthesizing customers’ data on the individual customer-level so as to deliver contextually relevant CX. (Cross, 2019) NGdata also invited companies for many years to use data (collected on every aspect of a user’s engagement) to derive marketing insights and inform decision-making, better understanding the process of data-driven marketing “by which marketers glean insights and trends by analyzing company-generated or market data, then translating these insights into actionable decisions informed by the numbers”. (Stringfellow, 2017) They were considering both the benefits (such as: improvement of audience targeting, analyzing the types of messaging and offers which consumers are most responsive to, optimizing CX) and the challenges (such as adequately leveraging data-derived insights, without affecting creativity and brand identity standards and values) of data-driven marketing. And while pledging for best practices for data-

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driven marketing, they also made reference to the “Data-driven marketing strategy” (Smart Insights, 2015) recommended by Smart Insights.

Instead of conclusions Last year, beginning with the first issue of our HMM we underlined: the significant reevaluation of the customer journey from end to end, integrating customer thinking across the business performance and customer perception, considering the evolution of customers preferences for channels and technology, and marketing co-creation with customers, using customer intelligence tools to create a better CX, including with the help of AI; (Purcarea, 2018) how CMOs need to face change driven by revenue and customer feedback, to align the customercentric marketing’s layers of meaning and brand authenticity with a continually improved CX, to build trust and mutual value by using the best customer engagement strategies and decoding connectivity, (Purcarea, 2018) accelerating the ways of adequately thinking and acting in the new world of the micro-moments, better understanding what drives not only CX and loyalty, but also profitability growth, linking marketing’s metrics to finance and embarking on growth. (Purcarea, 2018) We also highlighted finally that marketers’ need to delight customers at every touchpoint (by adequately managing the combination of X-data and O-data, and considering the employee experience and the conduct risk), to simplify their company’s marketing stack approach (and within their focus on creating an Omni channel view to consider both the opportunity provided by an all-in-one CRM and marketing automation platform, and the fact that customer feedback goes multi-channel), to give customers value and delivering them a great CX (with the help of a balanced approach of the four forces of marketing operations & technology), and in the midst of the next disruption of the CX market (which among other aspects will access AI to evolve from reporting to prediction) to continually increase their focus on insight and action. (Purcarea, 2018) Released on December 13, 2018, the 5th Salesforce State of Marketing Report (insights and trends from more than 4,100 marketing leaders across the globe) mirrors the remarkable amount of change of the marketing landscape (the explosion of data accessed by marketers, the proliferation of channels, the maturation of media, the granularization of market segmentations, the expansion of budgets), and especially the most noteworthy change – the experience a company provides it is considered by 80% of customers as being equally important as its products and services. To attract, acquire, and retain today’s savvy customers (benefitting of both more choices and more access to information) companies must act with more tact and precision than ever, and taking into account their unique perspective of customer needs, behaviors, and trends, marketers are considered as being particularly well positioned to take a leading role in CX initiatives. (Davis, 2018) This new Salesforce Report revealed among other aspects that: despite the fact that marketers have more customer data than ever before, only 47% of them have a completely unified view of customer data, and in the quest to unite customer data no universal solution has emerged, CRM system being ranked as no. 2 in the top of most common Holistic Marketing Management

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technologies used for customer identity purposes (see also the figure 4 below); marketers emphasize customer trust within the context of AI evolution, personalization being the job no.1 for them (see the figure 5 below) as their solution to unlock the data needed for personalization at scale being their turning to AI (marketers needing to balance personalization with privacy); as customers use now an average of 10 channels to communicate with companies, marketers also need to improve their ability to achieve true cross-channel engagement, real-time engagement being rated by marketers as their top priority and challenge; as CX takes priority, marketers are redefining success, and there is a clear shift of the key performance indicators (KPIs) tracked by them (see also the figure 6 below).

Figure 4: Most common technologies used for customer identity purposes, Salesforce Research Source: Davis, J.S. (2018). Introducing the 5th Salesforce State of Marketing Report: Here are the Top Trends Redefining the Profession, Salesforce, Dec 13 (work cited)

Figure 5: Percentage of marketers who say personalization improves the following, Salesforce Research Source: Davis, J.S. (2018). Introducing the 5th Salesforce State of Marketing Report: Here are the Top Trends Redefining the Profession, Salesforce, Dec 13 (work cited) Holistic Marketing Management

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Figure 6: Percentage of marketing organizations that track the above metrics, Salesforce Research Source: Davis, J.S. (2018). Introducing the 5th Salesforce State of Marketing Report: Here are the Top Trends Redefining the Profession, Salesforce, Dec 13 (work cited)

We have seen above that CRM system was ranked as no. 2 in the top of most common technologies used for customer identity purposes (as revealed by the above figure 4, according to Salesforce Research). This made us think to the article published last summer by Ryan Engle, the General Manager for the Neustar Customer Intelligence business (Neustar, Inc.), and entitled “Customer Identity Management: What It Is, Why It Matters, How It’s Done”. (Engle, 2018) Engle, who is also consultant to Fortune 150 companies and worked over 15 years for Nielsen (including as Vice President, Technology & Strategy, Nielsen Connected System, Top 3 Product – September 2016 - December 2017), demonstrated how the customer identity management (defined as: “the marketing method of connecting a customer’s data across every channel – and activating that information into more effective engagements at every turn”) helps companies within the context of a brand spreading out across any number of addressable channels to well coordinate their customer engagement across all of these channels, and to turn effectively the moment when the customer comes into view of any one channel into an opportunity. He showed, among other aspects, that there are three steps to a successful customer identity program: to Holistic Marketing Management

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diversify the data (by going Omni channel, and using not just shopping data but people data); to get accurate data (by starting with a clean-up, including considering that “precious few customers update brands’ CRM teams about their life changes, and working with authoritative data sources); to set organization’s strategy (by having a data strategy, taking into account that methods matter, and ensuring organizational alignment, plus knowing that to link the data it is necessary to link the teams). Finally, Engle recommended to think about getting all the data in sync (from the viewpoint of the corporate strategy), avoiding to think just in terms of the data alone.

As argued by Experian (which has a leadership position in identity management, being focused on putting people at the heart of companies’ business, making better marketing decisions and having more meaningful interactions with their customers), marketers need to prioritize customer identity and to link together differing systems of audience insights and engagement so as to develop a more seamless and personalized Omni channel CX. (Portoff, 2018) More recently, the CEO of Janrain, while approaching the topic of what’s next for Consumer Identity & Access Management (CIAM), underlined, among other aspects, that an urgent concern in 2019 will become the consumer “Crisis of Trust” (within the predicted decline of people’s trust in government, media and business like never before), the recover and re-establish of the consumer confidence in who and how their personal information is being used imposing the adoption of consumer identity solutions. (Kaskade, 2019) It is also interesting to note finally within this framework that Consumer Identity World EU 2019 Conference, October 22-24, Amsterdam, Netherlands, has as central theme “The Future of Consumer Identity & Access Management (CIAM) & Customer Experience”, the Key Topics being as follows: Consumer Identity, Data Protection, Biometrics, Strong Authentification, Privacy, Identity Management with Blockchain, Customer Experience, Behavioral Analytics, Marketing Automation, Trust building, Consent Management, and AI, Machine Learning & Bots. Highlights from this announced Consumer Identity World event revealed, among other aspects, that when it comes to the strategic definition of an organization’s CIAM the central starting point is CX, and that one of today’s biggest challenges is to adequately manage customer information in the digitally changing economy with many business partners in need of access.

On the other hand, in the presentation of the Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit 2019, 7 - 8 March, London, UK, it was highlighted that: << Businesses demand that IAM protect assets, ensure compliance and enable great customer experience the “digital way”: agile, efficient and customer-friendly >>.

References Bushnell, M. (2018). Best CRM Software 2018, Business News Daily, August 14. Retrieved from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7839-best-crm-software.html Bushnell, M. (2019). Best CRM Software 2019, Business News Daily, January 2. Retrieved from https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7839-best-crm-software.html

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Chaudhuri, M. (2018). What Is Blockchain and How It Can Revolutionize Businesses and CRM As We Perceived Today, Customer Think, January 23. Retrieved from http://customerthink.com/what-is-blockchain-and-how-it-can-revolutionize-businesses-andcrm-as-we-perceived-today/?

Coates, A. (2018). Modern Marketing and the C-Suite: Econsultancy US launches the M3 Blueprint program, Econsultancy, December 11th. Retrieved from https://econsultancy.com/modern-marketing-and-the-c-suite-econsultancy-us-launches-them3-blueprint-program/?

Cross, A. (2019). The Omni-Channel Customer Experience: Be Where Your Customers Are, NGData, February 14. Retrieved from https://www.ngdata.com/omni-channel-customer-experience-customers/ Cross, A. (2019). Customer Experience is Defined by Relevancy, NGData, February 11. Retrieved by https://www.ngdata.com/customer-experience-is-defined-by-relevancy/ Cross, A. (2019). For the Marketer, By the Marketer, NGdata, February 06. Retrieved from https://www.ngdata.com/for-themarketer-by-the-marketer/ Davis, M. (2018). 4 Ways Mobile CRMs are disrupting the retail industry, November. Retrieved from https://www.repsly.com/blog/field-team-management/4-ways-mobile-crms-are-disrupting-the-retail-industry Davis, J.S. (2018). Introducing the 5th Salesforce State of Marketing Report: Here are the Top Trends Redefining the Profession, Salesforce, Dec 13. Retrieved from https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2018/12/introducing-fifth-state-of-marketing-report.html Donnelly, S. (2019). Skills of the Modern Marketer, Econsultancy, February. Retrieved from https://econsultancy.com/reports/skills-of-the-modern-marketer/ Engle, R. (2018). Customer Identity Management: What It Is, Why It Matters, How Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Done, Neustar Marketing Blog, July 13th.

Retrieved from https://www.marketing.neustar/blog/customer-identity-management Epstein, J. (2018). How to Get CX Value from Digital Support Channels, Charting a Course to CX Success in 2019â&#x20AC;Ś and Beyond!

CustomerThink, Thought Leadership Webinar, Dec. 13, 2018, Comm100 and Gongos, webinar121318 Friedlein, A. (2013). Introducing the Modern Marketing Manifesto, Econsultancy, April 19th. Retrieved from https://econsultancy.com/introducing-the-modern-marketing-manifesto/ Friedlein, A. (2017). Introducing the Modern Marketing Model (M3), Econsultancy, October 3rd. Retrieved from https://econsultancy.com/introducing-the-modern-marketing-model-m3/ Harpham, B. (2018). 5 CRM trends for 2018, CIO, Oct 12. Retrieved from https://www.cio.com/article/3311556/customerrelationship-management/5-crm-trends-for-2018.html Kaskade, J. (2019). Customer identity predictions for 2019 - Janrain's path and what's next for CIAM, Janrain, January 18.

Retrieved from https://www.janrain.com/blog/customer-identity-predictions-2019-janrains-path-and-whats-next-ciam Kaura, V. (2018). CRM Validation of Emotional Connection Targeting, Motista, December 13th, 2018. Retrieved from https://www.motista.com/blog/crm-validation-emotional-connection-targeting?

Michelli, J. (2018). What is CRM? Joseph's Blog, Infographic {Guest Post}, March 16. Retrieved from http://www.customerexperienceupdate.com/edition/daily-customer-relationship-management-technology-2018-03-16?

Monroe, M. (2018). Nurture relationships through the customer lifecycle, Ontraport, December 6. Retrieved from https://ontraport.com/blog/marketing-automation/nurture-relationships-through-the-customer-lifecycle/ Monroe, M. (2019). How to add a personal touch to your automated sales processes, Ontraport, February 12. Retrieved from https://ontraport.com/blog/sales-force-automation/how-to-add-a-personal-touch-to-your-automated-sales-processes/ Portoff, D. (2018). Customer Identity: What Is It, And Why Should I Care? Experian, May 2. Retrieved from http://www.experian.com/blogs/marketing-forward/2018/05/02/customer-identity-care/

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Purcarea, T. (2018). Re-engineering marketing in the digital age, Holistic Marketing Management (ISSN: 2247-1189), Volume 8, Issue 2, pp. 04-06 Purcarea, T. (2018). Developing Marketing Capabilities by Mapping Customer Journey and Employer Journey, Considering the Blurring of Boundaries between Marketing, Technology and Management, Holistic Marketing Management, Volume 8, Issue 1, pp. 22-44 Purcarea, T. (2018). CMOs’ strategic empowerment by effectively managing customer feedback, Holistic Marketing Management, Volume 8, Issue 2, pp. 17-25 Purcarea, T. (2018). New Challenges for CMOs while Embarking on the Growth Journey, Holistic Marketing Management, Volume 8, Issue 3, pp. 16-25 Purcarea, T. (2018). An increase of marketers’ focus on insight and action, adequately approaching the marketing stack, Holistic Marketing Management, Volume 8, Issue 4, pp. 23-32 Robinson, R. (2019). Do Modern Marketers have the Knowledge, Skills & Mindset required? Econsultancy, February 15th.

Retrieved from https://econsultancy.com/modern-marketing-knowledge-skills-mindset/ Shaw, C. (2018). Seven key strategic questions critical to CX that you must answer, Customer Experience Update, November 8.

Retrieved from http://www.customerexperienceupdate.com/edition/daily-marketing-customer-base-2018-11-08?

Smart Insights Expert commentator (2018). 6 ways marketers are misusing CRM data and how to improve it, Smart Insights, 29 Jun. Retrieved from https://www.smartinsights.com/customer-relationship-management/e-crm-strategy/6-ways-marketersmisusing-crm-data-improve/ Stringfellow, A. (2017). What Is Data-Driven Marketing? A Look at How Data-Driven Marketing Works, Benefits, Challenges, and Best Practices for Implementing Data-Driven Marketing Campaigns, NGData, March 02. Retrieved from https://www.ngdata.com/what-is-data-driven-marketing/ Tarraf, S. (2018). CX ROI: Getting Return on Investment and Involvement, Charting a Course to CX Success in 2019… and Beyond! CustomerThink, Thought Leadership Webinar, Dec. 13, 2018, Comm100 and Gongos, webinar121318 Thompson, B. (2018). What Really Drives CX Success? Charting a Course to CX Success in 2019… and Beyond! CustomerThink, Thought Leadership Webinar, Dec. 13, 2018, Comm100 and Gongos, webinar121318 Van Belleghem, S. (2018). When digital becomes human, The customer in the day after tomorrow, Presentatie_Van_Belleghem.pdf Zorfas, A., Leemon, D. (2016). An Emotional Connection Matters More than Customer Satisfaction, Harvard Business Review, August 29. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/08/an-emotional-connection-matters-more-than-customer-satisfaction *** What is CRM? https://www.salesforce.com/eu/learning-centre/crm/what-is-crm/ *** Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Tutorials point. Simply Easy Learning, microsoft_crm_tutorial.pdf *** The Internet of Everything. Global Public Sector Economic Analysis, Cisco, 2013. Retrieved from https://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en_us/about/business-insights/docs/ioe-value-at-stake-public-sector-analysis-faq.pdf *** https://internetofthingsagenda.techtarget.com/definition/Internet-of-Everything-IoE *** [NEW] The 2019 IoT Report: Everything you need to know..., The IoT Research Team - Business Insider Intelligence <newsletter@businessinsider.com>, Wed 13/02, 16:10 *** Data-driven marketing strategy, Smart Insights, 20 Jul, 2015. Retrieved from https://www.smartinsights.com/digitalmarketing-platforms/big-data-digital-marketing-platforms/how-to-develop-a-data-driven-marketing-strategy/ *** Conference, Consumer Identity World EU 2019, Amsterdam, Tuesday, October 22, 2019 - Thursday, October 24, 2019.

Retrieved from https://www.kuppingercole.com/events/ciweu2019

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