Intuit Summit: The Future of Everything

At Marketers That Matter’s recent summit hosted by Intuit in Silicon Valley, top marketers came together to tackle tough questions about the future of everything, such as, how to market to a new generation with strict standards, and more. 

To help guide the conversation, Sara Mascall, SVP of The Wall Street Journal, moderated an incredible panel titled, “The Future of Everything.” Three top marketing leaders took the stage to share how they are staying relevant in a world that seems to shift by the minute. Kristin Patrick, EVP and CMO of Claire’s, strives to bring brands into the future and maintain their status as household names beyond the confines of brick-and-mortar storefronts. Suzanne Kounkel, CMO of Deloitte, utilizes creativity and collaboration to keep customers happy and businesses growing. Ravi Kandikonda, SVP of Marketing at Zillow Group, aims to deliver personalized, data-driven marketing solutions that help make a home a reality for more people. All three represent the future of marketing and share their framework for success in this special episode.

Every episode is recorded from MTM’s Live Visionaries Webinar hosted by Nadine Dietz, EVP of 24 Seven and GM of Marketers That Matter. "Visionaries" originally airs live from zoom every Tuesday at 9 AM PT and is brought to you in partnership with The Wall Street Journal.   

Our parent company, 24 Seven, specializes in helping you find exceptional marketing and creative talent for your teams. To learn more, click here. 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Hello, and thanks for tuning into visionaries. I'm Heidi Palermo, part of MTMs Community Team, and today's episode is a special edition and the first of many live event recaps. We plan to bring you here on visionaries. There are just too many gems and actionable tips from these conversations for us not to share with [00:01:00] you.

So on this episode, you'll hear from three visionaries who spoke at MTMs. Forum hosted at Intuit headquarters in Silicon Valley on how they're viewing consumers as creators. Reaching the next generation and how they're bridging the gap between digital and physical. The speakers were Kristen Patrick, e v P, and CMO at Claire's, Suzanne Conkle, CMO at Deloitte.

And Ravi Knda, S V P of Marketing at Zillow Group. And before we dive into the conversation, I wanted to put a quick spotlight on our parent company 24 7 for making each episode of visionaries a reality. For those of you who are not familiar with 24 7, they specialize in helping you find exceptional marketing and creative talent for your teams.

And finally, I'd like to thank our partners at the Wall Street Journal and especially our guest moderator for this particular discussion. Sarah Masco, SVP of the Wall Street Journal. Enjoy this [00:02:00] conversation and keep tuning into our regularly scheduled visionaries as well as more event recaps in the future.

Thank you all so much for joining us today, both virtually as well as in person, and it's wonderful to see you all. I am Sarah Maslow, the SVP of the Tech Media Telco sector, and we're really excited to talk to you today about the future of everything, which is actually a core platform for the Wall Street Journal.

We have a platform called The Future of everything in which we look at innovation and technology and the influence on people's personal as well as professional lives. And so this is a cross-platform experience from podcasts to editorial content to events in which we really bring this subject to life in new ways and new dynamics.

So I am very excited to be joined today by these amazing panelists to talk about the future of everything, including in 20 minutes. In 20 minutes, 20, it's gonna be a speed everything without a doubt. I wanna welcome Kristen Patrick, who's joining us [00:03:00] via Zoom, so hopefully you can all see her now. Um, E V P and c m O of Claire's.

And then we also have Suzanne Conkle, who is the C M O of um, Deloitte. And then we have Ravi Kondo. Did I do okay on that? Pretty good. It was really stretch. That was SVP of marketing at Zillow group. So, as we kick off, I wanted to have each of you introduce yourselves and provide a little bit of insight into your background and your current focus within your organization.

Suzanne, I'd love to start with you if you don't mind. Sure. Hi everyone. Glad to be here. I thought the brand conversation was very, very interesting. I am the C M O of Deloitte in the us. I have been in that role about three years. I have all of the marketing responsibilities that you would normally see, you know, brand and sponsorships, product and industry marketing, pr.

External comms and internal comms. And then I also have what we call sales excellence. So I have the CRM system sales executives, which is a particular [00:04:00] part of our go-to-market coverage model and pursuit center. So, so thrilled to be here. Wonderful. Thank you Ravi. Awesome. That was great. Hello everyone.

Excited to be here. Ravi and Una, he his, I head up marketing for all of Zillow group businesses, though not many of you probably know, but Zillow also owns Zillow. But also Trulia, StreetEasy, and hard paths, a variety of digital properties. So I lead marketing for all of those portals. A typical combination of my organization is brand, both short term and long term impact.

Performance marketing, creative agency stuff, and then performance marketing from a media standpoint, and then a lot of execution around MarTech ops and, uh, events and PR stuff that, uh, then was talking about as well, uh, being with the company a little over two years prior to that was with the media telco.

And then agency. So agency was where I actually fell in love with marketing. [00:05:00] I started off in analytics and data, and then once I was on the agency side, just couldn't resist the lure of getting into marketing. So it's been a great, great shift. Wonderful. Thank you, Kristen. I'll pass it over to you next. Hi everybody.

I'm Kristen Patrick, and I'm currently at Claire's. I've been there for about a year, but over the tenure of my career, I've worked on brands that have a strong cultural presence, and that's what I really love to do. I usually come into companies and I. Work on making them relevant. I've worked on a lot of different business categories.

Started my career at the Walt Disney Company, worked in C P G beauty, fashion, entertainment. I love to tell people that I used to be the chief marketing officer for Playboy. I've been at Claire's for about a year and was brought in to take this 50 year old brand into the future and, you know, evolve it from a retail brand into a lifestyle brand.

So a [00:06:00] lot of interesting things going on at the company, and I'm thrilled to be here with you guys today. Thank you so much. So I wanna start us off in our conversation today around customer experience. So technology has really impacted the way that customers interact with businesses and brands across the board, as well as their expectations from both a kind of humanistic standpoint as well as an interaction standpoint.

So Kristen, I'd love to start with you, especially at Claire's with such a retail presence. As you mentioned, has so many touch points with customers. If you could talk a little bit more about how you have seen those expectations shift at Claire's. They are shifting at a rate that I've never experienced before.

Can you guys all hear me? Is that good? Yep. Okay, cool. Okay. Yeah, it's, it's interesting because, um, we, we started as a retailer, right? And pandemic aside. Uh, consumers shop and engage, shop the way that they want to now, and so we have to [00:07:00] be there across every facet of their lives. And, you know, we serve Jen z Alphas, and a lot of them were born at a time when like, you know, Alexa is a, a regular part of their lives.

And so we have to move at the rate of the customer and the speed of the customer. So we are in the process of really thinking about, well, our, our brick and mortar business is incredibly healthy, just being where the consumer is and on all the platforms that they're engaging with. That's really interesting.

And I will say my daughter is a big fan of Claire's and she turns 10 tomorrow, so I, I go to your stores often. I love that. Thank you Su and I'd love to hear a little bit more from you. I know you have customer expectations that have shifted as well as a number of kind of research studies and insights into this subject as well.

Love to hear how you're seeing things at Deloitte. So one of the things I do love about the three of us and as we were sort of prepping for this, is we come from very [00:08:00] different worlds, right? So Kristen's clearly in the consumer space, you are a little bit of a mix and I'm very much in the B2B space. Um, but our.

Customer expectations I think are very similar in the sense that our customers are, first and foremost, want to make sure that they believe in the values and the trust of the organization they're doing business with. And I think that's true both of you know, the B2B world, but and also in spades with b2c.

They certainly believe that they want. To participate in a very meaningful way in what we do from an offerings perspective. And so, you know, we do believe part of our, you know, kind of brand, um, A reputation and sort of platform says that we believe that the world's problems are so complex that you don't go it alone in this world.

And so the notion of we're shaping with our customers what the solutions are that we're bringing to market is a really important part that I think that those of you in the consumer [00:09:00] space would see as well. And again, you know, the technology enablement, this whole notion of, you know, multiple worlds and multiple.

Different types of experiences that people are interested in, whether it's, you know, you think coming out of Covid, they want physical, digital, virtual, and making those choices, you know, we're gonna layer in the metaverse. And so how you manage all of those experiences across those platforms is another big area that we're seeing a lot of changes in customers expectations.

Yeah, and it's very, very similar story. I'll set a little bit of context. We, on a daily basis and on a monthly basis, we get hundreds of millions of unique customers who are on our site looking for either a property that they're dreaming about or a home that they're actually looking to either rent or buy or sell.

Being able to separate those two out so that we can give distinctive experiences to customers, depending upon whatever journey stage they're in is super important, right? If somebody is [00:10:00] not really looking to buy in the next two years, that experience should be different from somebody who's looking to buy in the next 30 days and the last 24 to 36 months.

I mean, we've all experienced that change and the shock of all changing expectations come at us where we have seen that. Peak during the pandemic where, I don't know how many of you have seen the s and l kit on Zillow, but like many of the customers were on our site as a pastime and there was nothing else going on outside, right?

So we went from there to the point where it's now a hyperinflation environment where many of the first time home buyers actually are priced out. So as a brand, Who that believes in the purpose of making home a reality for more and more people. It becomes very, very, very important for us to be relevant to their customer in making sure that we deliver on their promise.

And that means we need to educate the customers [00:11:00] wherever they are. And we are talking about. You know, whole new generation coming in and they interact with our services and products and site very differently than customers who grew up with a web 1.0 or 2.0 native. Right? So how do we change those expectations and stay relevant to that is where we are spending a lot of time.

And the reason, um, I really like the brand purpose part that was part of the previous dialogue as well as this one, is that purpose gave us clarity on what. We needed to prioritize because in an environment where you are getting all these requests from a variety of different customer segments, product groups, and partners and such, how do you differentiate which one you prioritize versus not?

And grounding yourself in. That purpose is the most important part. So that's worked for us in the past couple of months for sure. You know, just one thing to add to the changing expectations that I think lots of CMOs are struggling with, I know I am, is the [00:12:00] expectation that you're well known and your preferences and you've been listened to and all that sort of thing.

But knowing where the line is between that and getting, you know, creepy and sort of overstepping, that's a line that we're all sort of, uh, because the expectations have changed pretty dramatically, but kind of where that line exists on any given day is, is an interesting thing to navigate. So, Perfect. So touching on that life stage conversation and, and where we're going with that is really that there are few new generations that many marketers are very focused on, both Gen Z and then Generation Alpha.

And this is a group of individuals who have grown up with technology being a part of their daily lives. Their schooling, their education, and their personal experiences and communication with friends, which changes the way that they will interact with brands in the future and technologies as well. So, Suzanne, I know that Deloitte has done quite a bit of, um, kind of insights into this as your customers are also preparing for this new generation.

Do you mind providing some, some [00:13:00] insights there? No. Sure. Yeah. So I think, you know, gen Alpha, you know, to be, to be completely honest, the reason why it sort of is horrifying to me is my son is now, you know, he's not a gen alpha. So that was like a disturbing thing that I realized is that I'm not even a mother of a of a, of a gen alpha, but, But anyway, I, I think there's some notable things that are different around Gen Alpha.

One is that and would love both of yours. And Kristen, I know you've done a lot of deep thinking about it because it's a big part of your customer set. But I think first and foremost they are certainly because of the. Technology prowess and the expectations, and then that's just sort of their mental frame of mind.

It's something that we all really have to think about it, whether it's from an employee basis or a customer basis. I think the other thing that I was sort of joke about with Gen Alpha is Gen Z was like pushing us and sort of saying, you all, you know, you created these problems. You need to do something about it.

Jen Alpha's like. F you, I'm gonna do something about it. And there's a [00:14:00] really positive side to that to lean into and a really, you know, sort of cautious side to that, that you have to be careful about. I think another big part of Gen Alpha is the whole kind of creator, creative, um, they wanna influence things, they wanna make things, um, which changes what you do because.

You know, if you think about some of the older audiences, it was about sort of pushing things to where they were at and expecting that you could do that. I think with Gen Alpha, it's all about being discoverable at the time when they think they need you. And you see that a lot with kids these days with respect to where they go.

They don't care if they're, they're trained or you know, if there's a book or whatever. I mean, they're going out online and finding YouTube and and publishing their own content and all of those sorts of things. I believe that. Um, you know, certainly in the course of my career, there's always gonna be ends of the spectrum.

I think what's interesting about this point in time is that the ends of the spectrum, in my opinion, like we've never seen the ends of [00:15:00] the spectrum look so different, which just means that there's a lot of, like, for most of us in this space, there's just a lot of, you know, areas that we need to land.

Right. Which is tricky. I think that's such a key point. The idea, I think when you're dealing with Z Alphas of marketing with empathy, right, and the ability to first of all go where it is they are. But it's really about creating a brand that lives between the physical and the digital. And what does that even mean?

Right? So this idea of fidgital, one of the things that we're doing at Claire's is starting to develop an experience that does just that. It's the connection of the the digital world that they live in. And then how do you bring that to life? And I love what you just said because we are at this. You know, really interesting time where there's the TikTok Ification of the world.

There's Web three, NFTs, the Metaverse, and [00:16:00] I think a lot of companies and brands are struggling, and Claire's has to be on the bleeding edge of all of that because our consumers are in it and they're, they're sort of living it every single day. So the Fidgital connection and you know, how we're leveraging content, like we've gotta be there and be on the cutting edge because you cannot force these guys who, you know, were born with touchscreens and they can move everything, and they're creating their futures and deciding their course in, in video games.

Like you can't force them to live in a world that, you know, uh, uh, Was just about a brick and mortar experience. So it's, it is, um, now more than ever we're at such a, an interesting time, I think. Yeah. Kristen, I, I'll add to that exact point, which is, if I look just at the, the. [00:17:00] Segments. If you remember four years ago, millennials were saying, why would I ever want own a car or a home or anything, right?

I, I can just rent a home in Airbnb or wherever, and all of that changed. Immediately as the point of pandemic happened, and then their expectations for home ownership are now actually driving most of the demand that is hard to even meet in the next three to four, five years. Right? That's fundamentally how some of the behavior has changed in the last three to four years, and the way millennials and Gen Z Alpha, however you talk about it, deal or interact with brands and products and services is so fundamentally different from.

Everything else, we, Zillow used to be a a desktop heavy interface and actually still are in a lot of aspects, but now more than half of our growth is actually coming in from digital mobile app platforms. And to think that somebody would actually go virtually to [00:18:00] our home, look at all the 3D aspects of it and make a purchase decision on probably one of the largest per decisions that they'll have to ever make in their life is.

Pretty crazy, right? And it's happening and they're telling us that it's happening. So how do we adapt to that is gonna be the difference between brands that sustain and become relevant versus those that that won't. I was on my computer the other day and I was like, I wonder if I can get to of this website.

Like, I was like, you know, it was just a funny how much the paradigms changed. The inspiration comes from the consumers, and what brands do is they kind of create the stage or set the stage for them, which is very different than I think where we all were before. I like that notion a lot. Absolutely. And you mentioned a bit earlier, Kristen, about the metaverse, which I think is an interesting new area of focus.

The Wall Street Journal recently wrote an article called What Will The Metaverse mean? And ultimately they looked at a variety of [00:19:00] different companies who are estimating the investment into the metaverse, which ranges somewhere between, this is a broad range. 2.5 trillion to 16 trillion by 2030. So it's a, it's a large gap and a lot of unknowns is what I read into with that large gap.

And so what does that mean, Ravi? I know that experiences as a part of your platform. I'd love to hear a little bit more from you because in addition to Metaverse, just from an investment standpoint, brands are obviously activating in different ways and property and real estate has been a big point of those conversations of purchasing homes within the metaverse.

That people may live in, in real life. So I'd love to hear what your perspective is. Yeah, I mean, as marketers, if we are not hearing new channels are coming online, how are we gonna be relevant in this channel? Like, what are we doing? Right? Marketing is essentially mean that, and so the reason I say that is 10 years ago it was.

Social, mobile, different platforms coming through now it's metaverse, all new currencies [00:20:00] that are coming through. So how do we actually remain relevant is a question that we are spending a lot of time on. And the example that I gave you about that virtual 3D tours, one is an important one because irrespective of.

The segment or generation that you're part of. The thing that is gonna be super consistent is that you want a seamless, frictionless kind of an experience, either if you are browsing something or thinking about something which is educating yourself or engaging with a particular brand, or then getting ready to actually transact.

And if you look at those three 10 poles, platforms become part of that. So you'll have to get clear on. What is that experience that we want to go deliver to them? So in the case of the first time home buyers who probably are gonna be a lot of Gen Z, millennials and so forth, how do we actually educate them to go make that purchase?

And that is being able to do that on whatever platform they're on. TOS being obviously hot these [00:21:00] days, right? With that particular generation. Metaverse gaming will be an important one. So we are thinking of ways we can. Enable that education plus also engagement with the property or place that they wanna be part of and eventually manage that value, right?

You're you, this Zestimate is used across the board to understand the relative value of a home. Now how does the value change depending upon what, uh, improvements you put on or the home that you're buying and what are the possibilities that exist? So a lot of those things are. Are out there and we don't know what platform will essentially be the winner.

So you'll almost have to be platform agnostic and build towards that frictionless service delivery that you want to be giving. And Kristen, your point on that human and digital interface is where we are actually spending a lot of time. Because if we are. Eventually given the the dollar value associated with these kinds of transactions.

Once somebody has had the time to [00:22:00] educate themselves and engage with that, they want to actually go transact, which is where they need people to hold their hands and get them to be comfortable in making the decision. And that is a hard problem to solve. That requires quite a lot of investment and thinking so.

Perfect. Kristen, I'd love to hear your perspective on this since I know players is investing within the metaverse and has some learnings from that experience. So I'd love to turn it over to you to talk through that experience. I think it's about, like I mentioned before, the idea of merging the physical with the digital.

And it's been so interesting, I think for all of us as marketers to watch the brands pop into the metaverse and that idea of marketing with empathy, like you can't just go into these platforms because you want to, you know, you have to have a, a purpose for being there, I think. And so, listen, I don't have all the answers, but I know that.

I have 3000 stores [00:23:00] across the world. How do you leverage those doors and then connect them with what's happening in the metaverse? And I think that's the real opportunity for a brand like Claire's and going into the metaverse thoughtfully with a clear point of view that connects back to the core business.

And I think we're really looking at, again, kind of setting this. Stage for consumers to make their own, and that's really what we're moving towards. The one thing that I would add to that, Kristin, which I, I think is, is really important, is, you know, we're, we're doing a lot of things around helping our clients think through this.

We're doing a lot of work around what should Deloitte be doing internally, and then also how we're gonna use this externally. I would say that a big piece of it, first of all, is that I think B2C will lead the way, but interestingly enough, B2B needs it more because of the complexity of the product set and [00:24:00] all of the, and the variability of the experience with the product and all that sort of thing, which I think is interesting.

But the one advice that I always say, um, and you all can be really important voices in your companies around this. Is that I believe that with the metaverse, it won't reward first movers, but it will reward people that are first experimenters. And so whether you all are actively trying to do things because there still are a bunch of technical challenges or a lot of, um, you know, a lot of unknowns, but, but you won't, I think you'll, I think.

All of your brands will pay the penalty. At least that's certainly the way we're thinking about it. If you sort of wait to see what happens. 

Visionaries is brought to you in partnership with the Wall Street Journal and made possible by our parent company 24 7. To find out more about the marketers that matter, community visit marketers that matter.com. And finally, we hope you enjoyed this episode. Please leave us a rating or review and let us know what you think.[00:25:00]