Partner Content: Direct from Cannes: Marketing is now a service, says Alibaba marketing head

Atifa Silk, brand director of Campaign Asia-Pacific, catches up with Chris Tung, chief marketing officer of Alibaba Group, at Cannes. Exploring the role of data-driven marketing, Tung explains how creating new experiences for the consumer should be at the center of all marketing, including rejuvenating retail real estate.

 

This is Alibaba's first time at Cannes with Tung presenting a keynote on its new product—the Alibaba Uni Marketing suite of tools that draws on Alibaba's vast ecosystem and is ability to capture and analyse live data that speak to the behavioural patterns of Chinese consumers.

 

Comprising a framework which encompasses four key elements: visibility of consumer brand relationship data and diagnosis, diagnosis and input for brand strategy, media planning and ad serving, and customer relationship management.

 

Tung is looking to create an understanding of the consumer in a "3D fashion", which draws on "multidimensional data points around their lives." He adds, "The data-driven system will know the customer better than they know themselvs. They will still be the master but they are going to enjoy being serviced in a better way."

 

On the rise of the mobile—Tung says, with almost 90 percent of Alibaba's traffic coming from mobile, Alibaba is focused on innovation around the use of data through its platforms which are used by over 500 million consumers. He also noted that the uprising of local brands and the continued healthy growth of ecommerce will continue to drive the Chinese market.