Martech Interview with Jed Mole, Chief Marketing Officer at Acxiom

Could you share some insights into your professional background and journey that led you to the role of Chief Marketing Officer at Acxiom, as well as your experiences and expertise in the field of customer intelligence?
I joined Acxiom, now part of IPG, as a marketer 26 years ago. Before that, I started my career as a Royal Navy officer, before my eyesight failed to meet requirements. So, I changed to business, working for Ernst & Young, followed by Mercury Communications, a major telecom, before moving to Acxiom.

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How would you define “customer intelligence” and its significance in today’s rapidly evolving marketing landscape?
At the highest level, we believe customer intelligence is using marketing technology and data to genuinely understand people, creating better customer experiences. The brands that grow the most are almost always the ones that understand their customers the best

In a holistic media strategy, how does customer intelligence play a pivotal role in shaping creative agency efforts? What are some examples of how it transforms the creative process?
Customer intelligence should deepen, enhance, and accelerate great creative. This is part of mindset, we should not be thinking creative inspiration vs customer intelligence, rather it should be inspired creativity based on a genuine understanding of the customer.

Audience selection is crucial for targeted marketing. Could you elaborate on how customer intelligence enhances the precision and effectiveness of audience selection for various campaigns?
At Acxiom, we think of the term “targeting” as part of an older school of thinking. Rather, we believe we’re moving to a world where people expect marketing that’s on their terms – marketing that is with and for them, not at and to them. We recognize there are times when we need to work at the audience level vs. the individual level, and it’s about using data and technology to understand the customer well enough so you know the difference. For example, a brand selling gum is likely to have less customer intelligence about their audience than a banking brand. But our goal is to get to the right level of data-informed customer intelligence for the person and for the brand, the right level for advertising gum versus the right level required for a long-standing relationship with a bank.
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