The Time is Now for Brands to Place Omnichannel at the Heart of Their Strategy: Q&A with Kristie Naha-Biswas, Head of Strategy & Planning, Europe

Assembly’s mission is to find the change that fuels growth, leveraging data from campaigns, macro data, and audience data to fuel the future opportunities that lie ahead. We sat down with our new Head of Strategy for Europe, Kristie Naha-Biswas, who spoke to us about all things Omnichannel.??

Kristie has recently joined Assembly as Head of Strategy & Planning for Europe after 15+ years of industry experience across Publicis Media and Omnicom Media Group. She’s putting Omnichannel at the front of global brands’ strategy and has a ton of insights to share on the subject. So, we sat down with Kristie in our London HQ to hear all about why Omnichannel is so important to brands today.??

Q: What does the future hold for Omnichannel??

Kristie: Omnichannel – another marketing buzzword you’ve definitely heard! And, of course, it’s not a new one either. But today, things are changing quicker than ever, and this pace is also reflected in the way that modern consumers connect and interact with brands. So, omnichannel means something different today.??

Once upon a time…the funnel was the way to go when planning campaigns, but in the modern marketing ecosystem, it’s not a relevant way to plan anymore. There’s no longer one fixed path to purchase. It’s emotionally charged, and often impulsive – yes, 40-80% of all purchases are impulse buys, so brands must now approach this journey with these realities in mind.??

Q: What should brands consider when omnichannel planning??

K: The most important thing to think about? The audience sits at the heart of an effective omnichannel plan. And part of understanding the modern consumer journey means finding the connections and moments that reach and influence audiences.?

This is taking shape in many ways. Especially as we find ourselves coming out of the pandemic, consumers are looking for different experiences. In fact,? 53% of consumers look at a product in-store and purchase online and 54% look at products online and purchase in-store. That’s a clearer indicator than ever that omnichannel shopping is here to stay. And when it’s not a dance between online and offline store experiences, consumers are also using other channels to inform their purchasing decisions. One channel that’s become notably influential as of late is TikTok - 49% of TikTok users have purchased an item after seeing it advertised, promoted or reviewed on the app.??

These omnichannel journeys are informing much of the ways consumers are purchasing and the time is now for brands to place omnichannel at the forefront of their strategy.??

Q: How can brands better connect the journey??

K: To best explain this, let’s consider this example…. Brand and Search – two marketing levers that are so intrinsically linked. We know that Brand media generates demand and Search captures and converts. From one recent Assembly client campaign, we saw a +250% increase in search volume as a result of an in-market brand campaign.?

What does that tell us? When we support a campaign or a product early in the consumer journey with a broad audience to generate brand salience or awareness, we are likely to see a direct impact in search. That’s why it’s important to consider both channels, so that when planning a brand campaign, we adjust and plan a search campaign accordingly.??

The connection between these two levers goes even further when we look to measure and analyze the performance of the brand. This is because we can use search as a key indicator for brand health and to assess whether our campaign in broad media has been able to make an impact. Investment and keyword strategy for these two core components will ensure an overall maximization of ROI and growth.??

This is just one of many examples of true cross-channel strategy that connects and realizes impact across the journey.??

Q: What are some of the most important principles brands can implement to Omnichannel planning???

K: When it comes to modern Omnichannel planning, here are 6 key principles to consider.?

1. Build a real audience journey, not a funnel – understand how an audience enters the market, what the time frame is, and what communications can influence at each stage of the journey.?
2. Align with triggers that bring people in market – whether it is an emotional-led want and needs, macro triggers like seasonality, or even needs-based triggers that bring consumers into the market, find how your brand can be as close and relevant to that trigger.?
3. Don’t talk about offline and online in media consumption or in shopping – consumers don’t think calculatedly about going offline to browse and then back online to purchase, they just navigate and use their access to a brand or product to help make that decision. We need to connect the journey for them as much as possible and use technology enables us to do this.?
4. Creative and messaging is king – yes, that’s right, content is still king. Technology enables us to deliver the most relevant creative for the audience, mindset, and moment they are in... use it.?
5. Measure, measure, measure – whether it is a brand or a prospecting campaign, having the right indicators for the success of media and the right tech and data to be able to effectively measure outcomes is critical.?
6. Be dynamic – monitor, define, adapt, and repeat. There is no one fixed answer or approach. Consumers are human, complex, and irrational, and we need to continuously monitor our rich data sources to find new insight and opportunity to find change for growth.?

For brands with complex global campaign activity, these are of course the very top guidelines. We work with each client to articulate an approach that carefully considers the precise nuances within their markets.? These strategies are intrinsically fluid and the key to a successful client-partner relationship is using our data, tech, and human insights to make meaningful and impactful decisions every step of the way.??