As the Group Data Product Manager | Marketing and Consumer Data at Nestlé Brazil, Natália sat down with us at CDP World 2024, powered by Treasure Data, to discuss how companies can break down silos and leverage CDPs and consumer data as a company-wide asset. Here's what she had to say:
Q: What's the one thing you'd advise leaders to include in next year's IT budget?
Natália Spada Ribeiro: I would allocate budget to bring more areas of the company into the consumer data and CDP environment. This shouldn't be a discussion limited to marketers; it should be about how the whole company drives the business.
We can use consumer data to drive demand planning, inventory management, and price management. Finance and supply chain teams should be joining us in this discussion. That would be my pitch for the budget – to have these teams trained and involved as well.
Q: How do you approach change management when implementing a CDP, considering it's not just about technology but also process changes?
NSR: The implementation of CDPs brings a multidisciplinary approach to the forefront. It's not a theme led only by the data team but involves marketing, IT, and compliance teams as well. This fosters collaboration within the company, which is really good.
However, it also raises questions about CDP ownership within the company. Since multiple teams benefit from having this platform, we need to establish clear processes and roles. It's crucial to define the contribution from each team, make their responsibilities clear, and ensure accountability for their activities. This clarity is really important to us.
Q: How has implementing a CDP changed your approach to data management and customer engagement?
NSR: Implementing a CDP has been transformative for us. It's allowed us to have a more holistic view of our consumers, which in turn has enabled us to create more personalized and effective marketing strategies. We're now able to segment our audience more accurately and deliver more relevant content and offers.
Moreover, it's improved our data governance and compliance processes. With all our consumer data centralized in one platform, it's easier to ensure we're adhering to data privacy regulations and maintaining data quality across all our systems.
Q: How are you leveraging AI in your consumer data strategy?
NSR: AI is really powerful for leveraging the consumer data we have. We're collecting data on how consumers interact with D2C channels, promotions, and campaign landing pages. Having a unified consumer view from all these perspectives can be overwhelming, so we use AI to manage this more efficiently.
We've been building models with consumer data to automate the clusterization of consumers based on their interactions and the recency of those interactions. This helps teams across the company move beyond rule-based activation and incorporate artificial intelligence to make their efforts more effective.
In e-commerce, for example, AI can be particularly helpful in identifying consumers who are already prone to purchase. This allows us to avoid sending coupons to these consumers, potentially cutting into our margins. It's a great way to improve our results across different departments.
Q: What advice would you give to companies just starting their CDP journey?
NSR: My main advice would be to approach CDP implementation as a company-wide initiative, not just a marketing or IT project. Involve stakeholders from different departments early in the process. This not only ensures buy-in across the organization but also helps identify diverse use cases that can maximize the value of your CDP investment.
Also, don't underestimate the importance of data quality. A CDP is only as good as the data it contains, so invest time in cleaning and organizing your data before migration.
Lastly, view your CDP implementation as an ongoing process. Technology and consumer behavior are constantly evolving, so your CDP strategy should be flexible and adaptable to change.
Sweet strategies for CDP success
Natália's insights underscore the importance of viewing CDPs and consumer data as company-wide assets that can drive overall business strategy. As we look to the future, it's clear that companies that can effectively leverage their consumer data across all business functions will gain a significant competitive advantage. The key lies in breaking down silos, fostering collaboration, and continuously exploring new ways to derive value from consumer data.
CDP World 2024 was filled with valuable knowledge from global brand executives and industry leaders like Natália, sharing their strategies for CDP success and next-gen marketing. To dive deeper into these topics and hear from experts, binge-watch the featured sessions on our YouTube playlist.
And while you’re at it, save the data for Agentic World 2026, hosted by Treasure Data this coming October.
