Mediaboss Marketing

Blake Cahill, head of digital and social marketing at Philips, is a speaker at the Changing Media Summit 2015. Photograph: Philips

Blake Cahill is the global head of digital and social marketing at Philips. He has more than 20 years experience in marketing, digital and business development, having worked for global organisations as well as smaller agencies and startups. He joined Philips in 2012.

In advance of his appearance at Changing Media Summit 2015, for which hell take part in a panel debate on the collision between digital media, privacy and consumer trust, we caught up with Blake to discuss the role of digital in marketing, over-reliance on data, and Philips international rebrand.

I worked in a variety of businesses, software companies, and ran a digital agency. I was a start-up guy for a while. I think its unusual in this space to find someone with the experience of agency life. At this level its not about understanding how Twitter works. Its getting a huge organisation to understand the value of Twitter.

I think thats actually an advantage. You have to constantly be resourceful and to drive an agile culture in a typically non-agile larger corporation. A start-up background helps, but so does the ability to know how to navigate a global organisation.

In terms of the attraction of a new role, Philips is a global brand. Its the 42nd most important brand in the Interbrand listings, and it ranks up there with Google and Apple. Its a really powerful brand. Were trying to drive a transformation, and I couldnt resist the opportunity to move to Amsterdam and help to lead the digital side of the transformation here.

There were many, many digital strategies.They just didnt connect into one unified plan, with all our groups and markets involved. The biggest thing thats been accomplished since I arrived is that the plan, the programme and the different teams have all been brought into a one team, one plan, one digital transformation outlook. The biggest change is going from a scattered strategy to a more ambitious, focused approach.

Digital means a lot of things to a lot of people. We look at it in three buckets: product, service and innovation; marketing and customer experience; and supply chain. Im concerned with the middle pillar. Digital is very horizontal, and my colleagues and I work right next to each other in utilising digital across the company.

For 123 years, Philips has been known for making things. As the world increasingly connects and digitises, were focusing more on local innovation. We bring a lot of digital innovation through marketing, combining brand stories and personal stories. The rebrand has been to assert that the brand is relevant locally. Digital is a huge role in helping the campaign come to life and reinforcing the brand and personal stories.

Its a global brand with a global tagline Innovation and you, but the content that brings that campaign to life in any area is highly localised, depending on the products, services and solutions for that market. We have a global theme for delivering a product, but the way a campaign is brought to life will be different in India compared to Africa. Each brings the tagline to life for its own market.

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Blake Cahill: The marketer needs to be digital. Its part of the DNA