Martech360 Interview With Hugh Fletcher, Global Marketing Director and Thought Leadership Lead, Wunderman Thompson Commerce

By Suchita Dey Last updated Dec 28, 2022

Business people should be less focused on choosing technology, and more focused on identifying the friction, or the opportunity, and then finding the right technology to support the aims.

The world around has changed, and it continues to evolve, can you walk us through your digital journey from your early days?

In the first week, of my first ever job, tragically, two planes flew into the World Trade Centre towers in New York. As the news began to filter through, everyone went online to find out what had happened, but with such a huge surge of traffic, most sites stopped working. Instead, everyone huddled around TVs.
Fast forward 21 years and digital is central to our lives and to business, almost everyone is online almost all the time.

Over that period, I’ve worked Client-side and agency-side; starting with looking after a website, to the mobile revolution, to the rise of social and now the adoption of e-Commerce.

We’re now at a time when online purchasing is about to outstrip physical shopping, something that was unimaginable to a kid in the nineties who had to wait for Reebok Pumps to be stocked in a local store, in the right size, to ever get hold of them.

I remember when I was younger, thinking about major technological advantages – like the car or the TV, and thinking it would have been amazing to know what life had been like before their introduction. But I was there before and after the internet revolution, and it’s amazing now to think that my childhood was internet free!

What challenges did the Covid-19 pandemic pose for you and your team?

We pride ourselves on being at the cutting edge of the retail industry. But none of us could have predicted the COVID-19 pandemic and just how wide its impact would be. Our Clients and the industry were looking to us to answer some key questions for them… so we had to scramble to get up to speed. But we did.

For our team and our ways of working, it didn’t actually change that much. Other than that we were all so committed and we worked extra hard. We were used to working remotely and were very rarely at the same place at the same time, so transitioning to working at home was pretty seamless.

I always wanted a team that knew what good looked like, took pride in its output, and that managed its own time effectively. That type of trusting management bore fruit when we were in different locations, as opposed to a culture more steeped in micro-management.

What sets Wunderman Thompson Commerce apart from competition?

It’s simple – we actually know what we’re doing.

Many businesses have jumped on the eCommerce bandwagon, especially in the last two years. But we’ve been doing it for over 2 decades.

Need to know what consumers want online? We’ve got data to support that. Want to know what CX actually drives conversion? We’ve done it hundreds of times and have the results to show. Need your technology to be effectively implemented and run? We’ve set up the back end eComm systems for some of the world’s most famous retailers and brands.

Our strong foundation in technology means that we can build a brand and an offering with a strong and stable base.

As a digital marketer, how do you anticipate technological changes that will impact the future of a business and as a leader how do you prepare yourself and clients for this change?

It’s very rare that technological or behavioural changes come out of the blue. It only feels like that to business people who haven’t been watching the trends, not listening to those in the know, or worse – still not listening to their customers. In general, technological change is more about evolution rather than revolution. And that evolution can be predicted relatively far in advance.

The challenge is to get businesses to act on the information that they are provided with in a timely manner, and let them see how the marketplaces consolidated their strength with fantastic service through lockdowns. Sure, you couldn’t have predicted the pandemic, but you could have predicted that consumers were ordering more online, wanting faster delivery, better range, easier ways to compare products and pricing, and easier returns. We’d been talking to many business about becoming service-led well before the pandemic. But it took a global crisis for many of them to act and by then a lot of ground had been lost.

So how do we predict these changes? Firstly, by listening to consumers and customers within the digital space. Secondly, by extrapolating their requirements and trying to identify how these will change in the future, and how their demands will be met and exceeded. Our track record of predicting the future of digital commerce has been surprisingly good!

I’m still amazed that lots of strategic decisions are conducted in a vacuum of data and insights.

What are your thoughts on the growing innovation in marketing technology, as the rapid adoption across sectors becomes evident?

I guess the way I look at technology is as a means to an end. And that end might be producing better content, it might be selling more products, it might be a more interesting experience.

But to understand what technology is right for your business in your sector, it’s vital to understand what consumers want, and then work backwards.

Take our recent acquisition of Satalia for instance. They are using AI to work with retailers to optimise delivery routes. Should we care that they are using AI? No. But we should care that there are now more delivery slots, that delivery times can be more accurate, and that (in theory) money can be saved and passed onto consumers in savings? Yes.

Business people should be less focused on choosing technology, and more focused on identifying the friction, or the opportunity, and then finding the right technology to support the aims.

Experience changes perceptions and in the high-speed world, social media is breaking perceptions – what advice do you have for digital marketers on how to build a brand in this environment?

My biggest advice is to stop building a brand in social, and start building a business. Social media platforms are still struggling to sell to the captive audience that they have on platform. But once this is cracked, social commerce will explode.

We always talk about “compressed commerce”, the desire to get from inspiration to purchase as quickly as possible, something that 80% of global consumers say they want. With this in mind, social platforms that deliver to consumers the ability to buy on platform, will be able to move themselves away from just a source of inspiration, to a place to purchase very quickly.

This could radically change the retail and brand environment. Social platforms will become retailers, and influencers will become selling brands. Existing brands and retailers must work out how to sell one step removed.

As a business leader, what metrics do you use to define success?

Revenue growth and margin optimization coupled with customer satisfaction.

Top 5 apps that you use for business?

I don’t use apps for business – other than every once in a while going on LinkedIn to be nosey about how everyone’s careers are going.

I like to stay super-focused on what I’m doing, and the modern world makes focus really hard. In addition, I have the amazing Naji El-Arifi in my team, who keeps me up to date with everything I need to know from a technology perspective. Having a Naji El-Arifi in your team is worth a thousand business apps.

Your top pick for a book on leadership that everyone should read?

I was never a huge fan of Sir Alex Ferguson, but his book “Leading” was a really interesting read.

Could you name one person that you would like to see featured here?

Carl Uminski – CEO Somo Global

Thanks Hugh!