Outside The Tech Bubble

Name: Linda Skelcy
Title: VP-National Marketing
Brand: Chase

Age: 49
Lives in: Cranford, NJ
Office based in: Iselin, NJ
Years at company: six
Size of marketing team: 17

How is the role of the marketer changing?
The marketing role has shifted over the years. Instead of focusing strictly on being a creative “idea person,” marketers now have to have as much of an analytical brain as they do a creative brain. You constantly have to assess if you’re spending in the right places and spending too much for the return on investment you’re achieving. There has always been marketing research, but that was primarily about identifying what people like. Now we delve into the financials a lot more.

Pop quiz: Experiential marketing is...
Giving your customer the opportunity to engage and interact with your brand in a sensory way that speaks to the customer experience. If you do it well, it’s the difference between telling versus letting your customer experience the brand for him or herself. It’s a powerful tool for winning mind space, but there is some risk because the experience you create can be either negative or positive. But when it’s done correctly, it’s one of the most powerful tools out there. You can see it happening on the trade show floor. Companies using sound, taste, texture, smell and touch to get their customers involved in the brand experience.

The event and trade show sliver of your mix is changing how?
We’re being asked to justify our spend—both on the reach and on the before and the after. It’s becoming increasingly important that we have, use and do the best. To make sure we’re getting the most for our spend, we are using outside vendors to help with outreach, follow-up and the analytics. For our various events, we are asking, “Should we be here?” “Should we be doing this the way we’re doing it?” and “What’s our message?” We are looking a lot more closely at where we go, that our message is powerful and that our spend is justified. We’ve dropped shows from our national calendar -- and instead approached them as regional shows -- because of a variety of reasons. We continue to support the National Association of Home Builders even in a tough market. We want people to understand that we are here to stay and continue to have assets to loan dollars.

How is the marketing portfolio evolving?
If you’re a smart marketer, it’s always evolving. If marketing is to be a successful portion of your mix, it’s going to change based on trends, customer preference and other market factors. You constantly have to look at the mix and restructure. For instance, our approach in New Orleans shifted after Hurricane Katrina. As a major lender, we assessed the situation, then created products and modified our marketing program for that area. We invested the marketing dollars where we needed them most based on the best ways to reach people at the time. Many people in New Orleans didn’t have radios during that period, so even though we often use that media outlet, in this instance, we used other media.

How does Chase’s approach to trade shows differ from that of your competitors?
We used to have more of a carnival atmosphere in our booth —but we were taking really smart and valuable people to man the carnival floor. They were swiping badges rather than taking information and engaging in meaningful business conversations. Since we’ve changed our approach to focus on the brand and our products and value proposition, we’ve had slightly less total traffic, but have produced more qualified leads.

Being a global brand has its benefits. But what are the challenges of managing a global brand?
The biggest challenge is staying true to the brand while staying fresh and innovative. Chase has the strength and integrity of a 200-year-old Wall Street brand, but we also have the energy and imagination of a brand that's relevant today.

How do you help ensure your marketing is integrated?
Integration can be a challenge in a firm as big and diverse as JPMorgan Chase. We have global brand guidelines that take care of the basics—logo treatment, colors—we even have our own proprietary font. But then there’s a level where the piece has to be evaluated on message and overall impression—if you cover up the logo can you still tell it's Chase? Our division develops different types of media and we evaluate every piece. Does it fit into the big picture? What’s the story we’re trying to tell? Does the piece build on it? Also, we roll out a new campaign each February for the International Builders Show. We might tweak it based on changes in the market, but we keep that campaign for the entire year.

What do you do in your free time? What are your hobbies?
I have a big family—four children—so family time is always a priority. My husband and I try to turn everything we do into family time—something we can do together—whether it’s exercising, gardening, cooking or relaxing. Our biggest thing is travel. My husband is a geologist, so we try to incorporate geologic adventure into our travel. We went to Iceland this summer. But we don’t tell the kids that the trips are partly educational.