Jerri DeVard: Trust and Adaptability

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500
Leading Edge

The former SVP for brand management and marketing communications at Verizon Communications and former CMO at Citigroup describes how brands stretch as services expand and evolve. The basic skill set required for good marketing has not changed, she maintains, but customers (and their needs) have changed enormously— and they continue changing almost daily. In such protean industries as financial services and telecommunications, the "single company message broadcast consistently to every audience" approach will no longer suffice. Instead, DeVard argues, companies must develop deep insights about a broadening array of customer segments and learn to communicate with each customer group meaningfully — and on the group's terms.