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connections across the addressable platforms has enabled us to foster relationships that span the customer life cycle and thus optimize the value of customers and segments.

      To develop such relevant engagements with consumers through these platforms, brands are beginning to realize that they will have to cultivate an elevated set of capabilities, tools, metrics, and processes, along with a new set of skills to utilize them. This new breed of marketer – the Platform Marketer – has a deep understanding of traditional marketing and CRM principals, yet possesses the knowledge and innovative forethought to thrive in the ever-expanding digital audience platform environment. Due to the increased complexity involved in leveraging data, technology, and analytics in the digital era, platform marketing is not for the faint of heart or the complacent. Successful Platform Marketers will be steadfast innovators, dedicated to navigating undiscovered territory, wrought with twists, turns, and heavy lifting. But for those who can capitalize on addressability at scale, the spoils will include more profitable customer relationships and sustained competitive advantage.

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      Even before David Williams's book, Connected CRM, hit the virtual display shelves of Amazon, we already had our sights set on a follow-up book. We knew that marketers would require a whole new set of competencies in order to execute on a Connected CRM (cCRM) strategy and take advantage of the opportunity of addressability at scale that is made possible by the digital audience platforms. So we rounded up our colleagues who are widely recognized as leading experts in the capricious fields of data, analytics, technology, and organizational consulting. In the ensuing months, we worked together to construct what we believe will be the preeminent guide for marketers who are ready to achieve customer centricity in the age of digital.

      There is one reason we felt the sense of freedom, the confidence, and the latitude to follow through with our vision for this book: the leadership of David Williams. He has shaped Merkle into a platform upon which his team can learn, grow, err, and succeed through experiences that help not only our clients to flourish, but also our company and our own careers. He has nurtured a culture that breeds innovation, bringing together some of the smartest minds in the marketing world to tackle the tough challenges of a constantly shifting marketing landscape.

      We owe a very special thanks to all of the subject matter experts and their teams who contributed to the chapters: Patrick Collins, Peter Kemp, Matthew Mobley, Matthew Naeger, Megan Pagliuca, Bennie Smith, Leah van Zelm, Peter Vandre, Anudit Vikram, Kevin Walsh, and Zimm Zimmermann. Without their expertise in the critical building blocks of the Platform Marketer competencies, we couldn't have written this book at the level of detail required to materially impact the reader ready to hone these skills.

      We would also like to acknowledge the vital role played by Sherri Aycoth, who is the heart and soul of our communications, with her unique aptitude for capturing our team's ideas and vision and bringing them to life in words. Over the years, she has shown undying commitment, playing a key writing role in both Connected CRM and The Rise of the Platform Marketer, in addition to her lead marketing communications role for Merkle. We could not have completed this book without her steadfast dedication to company, team, and mission.

      And for her fearless leadership of Merkle's marketing organization, we thank Jeaneen Andrews-Feldman, SVP and chief orchestrator of the many levers it took to keep this project on path. Her invaluable relationships with the executive committee, the content team, the marketing and PR teams, the publisher, the media, and our clients have made months of effort move smoothly forward to fruition.

      Finally, our most important recognition goes out to our families for their ongoing support, not just during the writing of this book, but throughout our careers. There is no way we could succeed in this business without spending time outside our day jobs, partnering together and reflecting on the future of marketing. The time we spend on the road is time not spent with family, and we owe them a debt of gratitude for their patience and encouragement – and for always being there to back us up on the home front. It's only through that support that we feel free to pursue new ideas and innovations that elevate the potential for marketing success.

– Craig & John

      CHAPTER 1

      THE AGE OF THE CUSTOMER

      Customer relationship marketing (CRM) isn't merely about the implementation of a tactical marketing plan. A true customer-centric business strategy requires a fundamental shift in the organization's framework – its leadership, its priorities, its processes, even its culture. These changes result in a new paradigm for the company's goals, its customers' expectations, and its trajectory for the future. The force behind this shift is the state of today's consumer marketplace, which can be characterized as the age of the customer.

      Think back to the brand revolution of the 1950s, when the advent of national television broadcasting created coast-to-coast demand and brand recognition. The companies that had the vision and resources to seize the opportunity and take their brands nationwide were the clear winners. Brands like Tide and Chevrolet became household names across the country, triumphing over smaller companies that faded away in their wake during the age of the brand.

      The channel revolution was symbolic of the 1990s and early 2000s. It exploded when online marketers like Amazon and eBay changed the meaning of “going shopping” by making Internet purchasing commonplace. And GEICO, a proven insurance industry innovator, managed to shift the buying norm by introducing consumers to a whole new way to shop for insurance. Today, 13.1 percent of Americans are considered digital natives,2 having never known a time when the world was not at their fingertips. The result of this way of life is an unfathomable amount of data that can either overwhelm marketers or help them increase their customer knowledge and drive strong relationships.

      During the age of the channel, marketers like Capital One and GEICO pioneered the use of individual-level data and analytics to target and personalize direct marketing efforts that drove new customer acquisition and strengthened customer relationships. The innovative application of analytics on valuable first-party data (owned customer information) and third-party data (acquired from data providers) within direct mail and telemarketing (the addressable media of the day) resulted in massive scale and efficiencies. These one-to-one trailblazers recognized the market opportunity of the moment, and like Tide and Chevrolet before them, they capitalized on it. They used a strategy of addressability at scale to gain enormous market share in highly competitive markets.

      Today, we're facing another moment-in-time opportunity to harness the power of addressability at scale. Simply defined, this refers to the application of data and analytics to drive highly efficient, individual-level targeting and personalized experiences to consumers – and doing it at massive scale. It is now the age of the customer, where consumers are empowered with the tools to make their own purchase decisions – and they know how to use them. The gateway to competitive dominance lies in the addressable audience platforms that are being created for the “always-on consumer,” who engages with brands through digital media and channels, across multiple screens and platforms, 24/7. Leading third-party providers are scaling their platforms to deliver the experiences consumers seek, while creating an addressable marketing stage for advertisers. Some of these are household names, such as AOL, Facebook, and Twitter, providing tools for advertisers to reach their logged-in users. Others, like Rubicon Project and AppNexus, are little known technology players that are leveraging their place in the ad delivery ecosystem to create addressable experiences across an open web of thousands of publishers. The competition for advertising dollars among the major platform players is driving increased targeting, tracking, and content capabilities that continually enhance the opportunity for the marketer to implement addressable consumer experiences.

      The opportunity for efficiency and scale within the addressable audience platforms dwarfs that of the aforementioned offline direct marketing opportunity of the channel age. In our opinion, it is poised to generate many times the value for those companies willing to take first-mover advantage. Further, due to the increased complexity of leveraging data and analytics in today's digital world, addressability at scale will create more enduring competitive power for those leaders.

Creating Competitive Advantage Through the Digital Audience Platforms

      The

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