CDO Forum: 2016 Year in Review

Brands have been increasingly courting ‘start-ups’ for their technology, their spirit of agility and innovation. WFA research focused on the effectiveness of these relationships. There are inherent difficulties with getting ‘a speedboat and an ocean liner to co-exist’, and 88% of clients agree that brands often aren’t sure what their start-up arrangement will actually look like. But our sessions have dug deeper and found that brands with clear objectives and goals have made a success of these relationships.

Data and technology are also core to this group, but harnessing data and drawing meaningful insights from it remains a challenge. Data Management Platforms may provide part of the solution but the complexity of implementing these shouldn’t be underestimated. A data strategy is a start-point, with details on how this will be used and whether those use cases are within legal compliance.

Trust and privacy have become crucial for those in the CDOFORUM, described as “the future of brands” in a recent meeting. With the democratisation of information, competitive advantage can be obtained by those who are customer obsessed.

In 2016 and into 2017 the focus moves from ‘digital transformation’ to ‘digital maturity’. Hopefully WFA’s new digital maturity diagnostic tool can help brands to benchmark their progress on this journey.

DIGITALFORUM 2016 in numbers:

• 1 new chair: Antonia McCahon, Global Digital Acceleration Director at Pernod Ricard


• 5 meetings in 5 countries


• 1 new market: Hong Kong


• 100 participants


• >540 contacts globally (+28% year-on-year)


• 20 users of SONAR, the WFA digital maturity diagnostic

CDOFORUM 2016 attendees:

1. Carlos A Hernandez, Abbot


2. Kris Ekman, adidas


3. Spencer Lee, AirAsia


4. Yin LiYen, AirAsia


5. Thomas Heilskov, Arla Foods


6. Nik Ong, Aviva Digital Garage


7. Anke Hille, Beiersdorf


8. Yvonne Liu, Boehringer Ingelheim


9. Oh Lee  Peng, BP


10. Jonny Freeman, BP


11. Grace Cheung, Cathay Pacific


12. Priscilla Chok, Cathay Pacific


13. Ashley Ho, Cathay Pacific


14. Jimmy Lee, Cathay Pacific


15. Marco Van Naarden, Cathay Pacific


16. Ivan Jennings, Colgate-Palmolive


17. Jules Song, Daniel Swarovski Corp.


18. Jennifer Turner, Daniel Swarovski Corp.


19. Fina Wong, Daniel Swarovski Corp.


20. Thomas Holzapfel, Deutsche Telekom


21. Cristian Citu, DHL


22. MayLing Chan, Digi


23. Ian Kennedy, Emirates Group


24. Jaap Nellen, Ferrero


25. Gary Zhao, Ferrero


26. Gaël Demenet, Groupe Bel


27. Ricardo Perez, Grupo Bimbo


28. Sara Norberg, Heineken


29. Alberto Tucci, Heineken


30. Thomas Geister, Henkel


31. Sabine Zantis, Henkel


32. Suresh Balaji, HSBC


33. Eugene  Kwek, HSBC


34. Nick Graham, Huawei


35. Sophie Khang, Intel


36. Claudine Pache, Intel


37. Jamshed Wadia, Intel


38. Ignacio Guijarro Torres, Johnson & Johnson


39. Caroline Stephens, Johnson & Johnson


40. Lianne Mui, Kimberly-Clark


41. Keith Wang, Kimberly-Clark


42. Juliana Chu, Kimberly-Clark


43. Bernd Larsen Linde, LEGO Group


44. Tony Chow, Marriott


45. Shivani Goswami, Mastercard


46. Dominic Koh, Mastercard


47. Richard Willis, Mattel


48. Christian Ohm, Mazda Motor Corporation


49. Clement Brossard, McDonald’s


50. Adelene Chan, McDonald’s


51. Yue TuckWai, McDonald’s


52. Jason Fung, Mundipharma


53. Aurelie Batmalle, Nespresso


54. James Hansford, Nespresso


55. Mattias Yeo, Nespresso


56. Philippe Armand, Nestlé


57. Sophie Dufouleur, Nestlé


58. Blandine Ruf, Nestlé


59. Carrie Shum, Nestlé


60. Harald Behnke, Oracle


61. Julien Coponat, Orange


62. Xavier Beysecker, Pernod Ricard


63. Antonia McCahon, Pernod Ricard


64. Maybelline Tan, Pernod Ricard


65. Caroline Tran, Pernod Ricard


66. Blake Cahill, Philips General Purchasing


67. Amy Lee, Red Bull


68. Ben Johnson, SAP


69. Travis Teo, SAP


70. Dominic Chambers, TATA Group


71. Smita Gupta, TATA Group


72. Garley Man, The Estée Lauder Companies


73. Luuk De Jager, TomTom International


74. Nicola Fagiolo, TomTom International


75. Diogo Miranda, TomTom International


76. Marion Thouvignon, TomTom International


77. Jacob van Duijn, TomTom International


78. Andrew Coulter, Unilever


79. Sarah Mansfield, Unilever


80. Yvonne Lai, Visa


81. Nicki Kenyon, Visa


82. Charles Frump, Volvo Cars

For more information, visit the WFA website or contact Matt.