NEW DELHI: There is an urgent need for the approach of media and marketing to evolve, according to a senior executive at Reckitt Benckiser, the UK consumer goods giant.

Andrea Bernhardt, Global Media Director for the company, emphasised that it's imperative to have a connection and a conversation with consumers, particularly as the digital landscape becomes more cluttered.

"We used to have GRPs in the past… that was easy to understand, that was a simple way of planning media. In today's world, you have multiple touch points, multiple placements, with multiple types of technologies," she said at a recent ad:tech New Delhi event.

"So the starting point becomes the hardest thing. For example, consider mobile versus desktop: how much penetration do I need in each?" she asked. (For more on Reckitt Benckiser's digital strategy, including its approach in India, read Warc's exclusive report: Reckitt Benckiser takes on digital transformation in media strategy.)

Creating the right content, according to Bernhardt, is the toughest part of all because it's something that is so personal to the customer.

"If a customer is looking for something specific, we need to be ready to provide them the right content for it. You have to design content not just for different media but also different platforms," she explained.

Bernhardt believes that data is the key to the new-age marketer's success. Marketers also should be ready to partner with second and third-party companies, and work collaboratively. "You have to own your seamless data and be able to have full access to it" she said.

"Competitive advantage comes from merging first-party data (CRM, digital analytics, sales information), second-party data (business partnerships that allow data access, for example, [to] vendors) and third-party data (competitive data), and how you model all these together," said Bernhardt.

"As a brand, data ownership is your most valuable asset. It drives insights, it drives sales, and helps to know your consumer."

Data sourced from WARC