DEBBIE WEINSTEIN: Thank you.
Great to be here.
And I'm really pleased to introduce our next guest, who's
going to come on stage and do a bit of an interview with me.
He is a marketing legend.
He is currently the chief marketing officer
of Samsung Electronics America.
I actually originally knew him from my days
at Unilever, where he was a mentor of mine.
But a few facts about Marc, before he joins us,
and we'll roll some video of some recent work he's done.
Marc has been ranked the sixth-most-influential CMO
by "Forbes" in 2017.
He has an illustrious history, currently working
at Samsung, previously at Unilever and at Coca-Cola.
He is known for developing talent,
for driving digital innovation, and for humanizing
large global brands.
He is famous for his Open Happiness work, as well as
his The Coke Side of Life campaign.
But at YouTube, we're particularly
thrilled with the work he's recently done,
the Do What You Can't campaign.
And before Marc comes to the stage,
I'd love us to roll the video so we could take a look at some
of his recent work.
MARC MATHIEU: Hi, Debbie.
DEBBIE WEINSTEIN: Hello, Marc.
Good to see you.
All right.
So, that is an amazing campaign.
Can you tell us a little bit about where
that idea came from?
MARC MATHIEU: Yeah, I mean, one of the things-- and I'm lucky,
because in a certain way, working and having worked
in Coca-Cola, Unilever, coming into Samsung, as a company,
the reality--
and this is where technology can really change and enhance
human experience.
It says in this video, all you need
is a phone, a connection signal, and a good idea.
And this insight that comes from the video
as well is that one out of three people, teenagers--
it's a UK statistic-- aspire to be a YouTuber,
or an Instagrammer, whatever, to be a creator, maker,
to impact the world.
DEBBIE WEINSTEIN: YouTuber, specifically.
MARC MATHIEU: Absolutely.
So the reality is, out of this insights--
and I always say, marketing used to be about creating a myth
and telling it, and now it's finding a truth and sharing it.
And the truth is that this is what
this generation is using to make their mark on the world.
And because of technology, they can actually create,
they can share, they can experience
content that actually enable them to be their brand.
And so this is really how we say,
as we wanted to launch this campaign,
Do What You Can't, we said, well, at the end of the day,
we make the products that couldn't be done yesterday.
And that's one of our internal motto,
we make the products that can't be made,
so that people, you, can do the things that can't be done,
so the things you couldn't do yesterday.
And today, again, with a phone, a connection signal,
and a good idea, you can change the world.
And you can have an audience.
And so that's where the whole idea came on.
We partnered with Casey Neistat very early
on for the initial work that we did on the Creators program.
But it's much more than just Casey.
We love Casey because when it comes to Do What You Can't, I
mean, he kind of embodies the brand.
But it's more for his creative genius, and his attitude
to life, and the mark he makes, himself, on the world.
And so we partnered, afterwards, with several other creators.
And our ambition is, indeed, to inspire as many people,
and empower as many people, to actually use
technology, our technology, to make their mark.
DEBBIE WEINSTEIN: Yeah.
And is that what Humanizing Technology,
is that what that campaign is--
MARC MATHIEU: Well, it is really,
of talking about just the products and the features
of the devices, it is about talking about--
and I always prefer to do that.
The people use those products and those features.
And I've always-- going back to my Coke days, at Unilever,
always been about putting the people at the center.
I actually rarely say "consumers" without adding,
"who are people too."
But the reality, this idea of putting people
at the center of even our marketing, and marketing,
the people that uses our technology,
and the impact they create on the world.
So this year, when we did a new episode of this campaign,
after the Casey launch that we had
about two years ago at the Oscars,
this year we embraced multiple directors, creators,
and makers, and even directors, Issa Rae was one of them.
And what we did, we asked each of them to create--
in addition to the overall piece of content,
to create their own piece of content,
not talking about our device but talking about their projects,
what they were passionate about.
DEBBIE WEINSTEIN: Yeah, interesting.
Amazing.
So obviously this piece of work comes
as part of a long series of marketing
experiences that you've had.
I wanted to pan the camera back a little bit
and talk about some of the changes
that you've seen as a CMO and in marketing,
the advent of digital and the rise of data.
And what are some of the changes that you've
seen in the way marketing is done over the years you've
been working?
MARC MATHIEU: Yeah, I think what we see--
and there is a reason why a lot of the top brands
today are tech brands, is because we
see a very different way of brands
being built in people's mind.
Before, you kind of like advertised
the brand, made the product available,
and that was your job.
Today, if you think about it, people build brands.
Therefore, we need to build brands too.
And engaging them almost on micro-engagement, multiple
times a day, but on their terms.
So this is why Google--
sorry to pick a brand, but it's such an amazing brand,
because if you think about Gmail, Search, Maps, I mean,
it's very difficult to go through a day
without using one of the Google sub-brands.
And so at the end of the day, that's how we build the brand.
But the beauty is, Google is not saying buy me.
Or, use me.
Google is just saying, I'm here.
Use me when you need me.
And so it's all about building utility,
serving people, as opposed to just selling people.
And I really think that this idea of selling by serving,
as opposed to just marketing and selling,
is absolutely a critical evolution, as well
as using technology to engage multiple times with people,
so those micro-interaction, but on people's term.
And that's the important part.
It needs to make sure that it puts people at the center,
it serves people's interests, and that's essential.
DEBBIE WEINSTEIN: Yeah.
What are some examples of it's on a consumer's terms,
or people's terms?
What does that look like?
Is that, like, skippable ads, or--
MARC MATHIEU: To me, I mean, one of the things that I'm
a huge believer, coming about that,
and I started to hear in the industry--
I go to a TED conference every year.
And I've seen, over the last decade, the evolution
of the trends, what's trending.
Two years ago, there was at least half a dozen TED Talks,
in TED in Vancouver, which were talking
about the relationship we have with our technology,
and starting to say maybe too much is too much.
And that led us to actually say, how do we
think about the well-being, the digital well-being,
of people powered by technology?
And this is really where it's a combination of--
because of how the internet was constructed--
it's really a combination of the hardware,
the platforms, and the marketers, the ads, that
are in the whole ecosystem.
When the internet was created, it
was just supposed to serve us.
But none of the products, none of the platforms, none
of the marketing tools that are available to us were available.
So that led us to say, how do we do something?
We partnered with Arianna Huffington,
who had created her new company called Thrive.
And I told Arianna, there's got to be a digital,
a technology part to that.
And so we worked with her to create the Thrive app, which
was, I think, the first digital well-being solution
to be embedded into a device.
So with this Thrive app, you can you put your phone
on Thrive mode, and not to be disturbed or tempted for as
long as you have chosen to--
20 minutes, an hour, and so on.
You can take micro-steps to actually learn
to use your devices better.
But it also gives you feedback on how you use all your apps.
And actually, whether you do want, after 75 minutes
on a specific--
even if it's emails, which then it tells you,
do you really want to do more emails today?
Or do you want to put a stop?
And so Google announced at the I/O conference
a whole digital--
I think you call it digital wellness solution.
I had a panel yesterday, actually,
on the Innovation stage, together with Susan Wojcicki,
and we talked about digital well-being, digital wellness,
together.
And that was fascinating.
And then Apple launched, about two or three weeks ago--
at least announced-- that they're
going to come up with what I think they call Screen Time,
and some app management systems.
And so I'm thrilled, because believe me,
at the very beginning, when I started
to talk at least internally about doing something
to tell people when they shouldn't be using
their devices, I was wondering how popular I was going to be.
DEBBIE WEINSTEIN: Yeah.
Yeah.
So let's talk a little bit about that, doing brave
work, work that's maybe counter-intuitive
to some people.
Do you have any advice for the audience, based
on your experiences of, how have you
convinced others to do things that seem a little crazy?
MARC MATHIEU: Well, I do think that I've been lucky,
because before Samsung, being at Unilever,
Unilever has embraced, as you know, sustainability
as really a platform to really intersect with business.
And that's brave, because it's not easy.
I mean, people say that they want more sustainable products.
But when you ask them to vote with their wallet,
they actually don't behave the way they talk.
So that's brave work.
But in general, I do think that it's always
essential to have some convictions.
I think especially, the more you go
in a position in an organization,
the more it's not just about the skills you have,
but also the choices you make, in a certain way.
And I certainly personally chose to drive that conversation
about digital well-being, and to drive the collaboration
between, again, the hardware manufacturer, the platforms,
and the marketers and advertisers.
And I've had several conversations
here with lots of people in the industry,
to actually drive that forward and turn it
into kind of like a different way of thinking
about our industry, and some kind
of a ethical responsibility through the lens
of our industry.
And the last thing I'd say, which is a filter I've--
I wouldn't say I've had it throughout my career,
but I've had it at least since the Coca-Cola day, which maybe
sounds like a catchphrase, but personally, one of the things
I would encourage everybody to think
about, if you want to do brave work, is to think,
I'd rather be fired for what I did than for what I didn't do.
And I think it's a mindset of saying
there are certain things you need to not necessarily
always ask for permission.
Or if you do, you need to have very strong conviction
to make sure that you don't give up.
DEBBIE WEINSTEIN: Yeah.
Wow, that's great.
Well, I think that's a great note to close this out on that.
Let's all hope we get fired for the work that we did do,
as opposed to the work we didn't do.
Thanks, Marc.
MARC MATHIEU: Thank you.
Thank you, Debbie.
[APPLAUSE]