John Kennedy

Vice President, Corporate Marketing
IBM Corporation

 There’s no question that John Kennedy is an advocate for the role of the Chief Marketing Officer within the corporation.  As Vice President of Corporate Marketing for IBM, he also regularly discusses how Big Data is not only transforming the influence of the CMO, but how it is also affecting the future of Marketing. 

 “Data,” he says, “is an asset to the CMO in providing new capabilities, but it is also elevating the stature of marketing within the C-Suite.  Ultimately, Big Data will give marketers the ability to move from a transactional focus to a customer-centric conversation around the benefits of products and services.  And data is establishing an essential new dialogue between the CMO and the CIO.”

 According to John Kennedy, “We’re experiencing a tsunami of data.  Not only is there a tremendous amount of structured data—something that we can manage, but also volumes of unstructured data in the form of videos, tweets and vague information.  This is often the domain of marketing as we sift through this unstructured information for insights.”

 John’s diverse career with IBM has spanned 17 years, after an initial start as an Assistant Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble.  His roles have included Brand Management, Integrated Marketing Communications, Marketing & Sales, and they have spanned geographies ranging from the Americas to Asia-Pacific.  He was also based in Tokyo as Vice President of Marketing & Channels for IBM Japan.

 In fact, that experience, combined with IBM’s own C-Suite research, has resulted in John Kennedy’s regular discussions of today’s three new marketing imperatives:

1.       Understanding each customer as an individual.

2.       Creating a system of engagement that maximizes the value created at every touch point.

3.       Designing your culture and brand so they are authentically one.

 The basic truths of marketing are changing, but John Kennedy will be leading the charge to insure that the business of marketing only grows in its capabilities and significance.