Although at first glance our industries have little in common, for digital marketers the evolution of the automotive and manufacturing industries over the past 100 years hold valuable lessons.
Henry Ford is credited with the major revolution that brought the motoring experience to the masses by creating a fundamental shift in the manufacturing method. Prior to Ford's revolution, vehicles were manufactured on a single spot with the skilled workers rotating around the factory to complete each vehicle. Just over 100 years ago in 1913, Ford introduced the idea of keeping each step in the manufacturing process on a fixed spot, with the cars moving past them. There were sacrifices in the process: you couldn't have a customised product because the process was fixed and you could have any colour you liked, as long as it was black.
Today manufacturers still use the same philosophy but can now offer huge configuration choice for consumers without the expense of the bespoke manufacturing that Ford revolutionised.
Like Ford, digital is disrupting the relationships between consumer and brand in the way that products are taken to market. Digital is fundamentally changing the way in which brands are able to communicate with their customers.
Many organisations are still operating the equivalent of pre-Ford manufacturing, with each digital "vehicle" a bespoke offering with different architecture, design, supplier etc. Brands, campaigns and projects are created and presented to the consumer with little or no reuse or learning propagated between them.
In the new world of digital disruption this approach is no longer acceptable for the majority of organisations. Those that want to gain an advantage in the modern consumer landscape need to embrace the agile technology that affords marketers the ability to create and test campaigns quickly. This agility allows them to respond quickly to changing market conditions and adjust when something is failing. Equally they are able to learn what does work and recreate this for new projects, constantly testing and adjusting to ensure they stay ahead of the game.
Ford introduced one seamless process to deliver a single version of the automotive experience - freedom of the road at a price that people could afford. The latest digital technologies allow organisations and their marketers to deliver the best digital experience to the customer in a way that is both agile and cost effective. With interfaces that are straightforward to use and easy to adapt, marketers can quickly and easily make changes to campaigns without needing to be technological experts themselves. Just because you drive a car does not mean that you want to be a mechanic too (I’m keeping with the automotive analogy here).
After Ford's revolution, car manufacturers enhanced the process to allow customisation of colour, design, engine and other options. By making use of personalisation platforms, marketers can identify their website visitors, categorise them based on their demographics, browsing habits and buying preferences and adjust the look, layout, features and offers that each visitor sees, to optimise the visitor experience. By instantly being able to see which consumers respond best to which offerings, and with tools that can quickly adapt and learn as a visitor browses, we can create ever more tailored content to enhance the user experience. Disruptive digital technologies allow marketers to provide consumers with the best digital experiences and to meet the demands of an increasingly digitised and tech-savvy market.
Ford had the vision and bravery to make critical changes to the ‘accepted norm’, altering and disrupting his industry forever and, ultimately, securing its future. I wonder if Ford saw the effect that his simple change would have 100 years later. Those digital marketers who embrace the latest technologies, taking disruptive possibilities and turning them into opportunities to advance their market position, can certainly be seen as the pioneers of this newest revolution.
By Emma Acton.
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