Deep Dive: Prioritizing creativity throughout your organization

Michael Falkensteiner, Director Brand & Marketing Communications, Telefónica Germany

“We figured out a way to make our invisible network visible for the very first time in a very spectacular stunt using technology and long-term exposure photography. And the result was just outstanding. We made it possible to achieve 28% improvement in our network perception compared with the previous year—a fantastic frog leap.”

Francesco Lagutaine, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, M&T Bank

“There’s symbolic value of the ampersand that brings with it all the positives of that connection and inclusion. And given that our brand is fundamentally about that, we’re using a line now that says, ‘Together, we can,’ which speaks to this notion of the collective as more powerful than the individual and always talking about the bank as an ingredient to people and communities and businesses’ success. It really gives integrity to that affiliation with the ampersand. And it’s such a positive symbol that we started using it in a much bolder way: We have two significant NFL sponsorships, and we have these 10-foot-tall ampersands that we put outside stadiums and people will come and take pictures with them. We use it much more boldly because people love the meaning of the symbol.”

Lagutaine, M&T Bank

“I want marketing to become a significant contributor to the success of the organization. And that means that it’s not about what marketing does in marketing, but it’s how what we do in marketing influences the organization’s direction or business success. And so, we didn’t create the brand—the brand has been created through 164 years of behavior of the organization. We’re just distilling and amplifying the stories of who we are when we’re at our best.”

Lori Gustafson, Chief Brand and Digital Officer, Marriott Vacations Worldwide

“We absolutely use consumer insights, behavioral insights, social insights, and web insights—really an omnichannel perspective—to inform what we do next. Then I think having your analytics and creative teams working together while living and breathing the brand experience will continue to be a trend that’s going to drive better outcomes, better storytelling, and I’d say more meaningful content creation. It’s absolutely a priority for us to have those teams sitting side by side within our organization.”

Uriel Frank, Head of Marketing, Doetsch Grether

“If you start strongly involved in social media, it’s always good to work with influencers. They do not have to be so well known, they just have to be credible and relevant. It’s just how well can an influencer help us to create the story about our brand.”