Digitization in Marketing: Not a Challenge but a New Reality | A conversation with Tom Wilson of Bayer

Tom Wilson, Head of Marketing & Commercial Excellence for Crop Science at Bayer, has always been drawn to marketing as a space for creativity and business acumen. Luckily, growing up in St. Louis, Tom was surrounded by inspiration from local retail giants like Anheuser-Busch and Nestle Purina PetCare. 

Since Wilson entered the industry, however, the landscape of marketing has shifted dramatically with the onslaught of social media. Technologies like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat did not exist a decade and a half ago, but now wield the power to position products and brands. Wilson believes companies have the opportunity to ride the wave of digitization and take advantage of these new platforms that facilitate real-time dialogue and feedback.  

One of the biggest luxuries in the early days of marketing was time. Wilson recalls that “you had time to be very intentional with your campaign” before rapid response became the norm. Indeed, marketing directors had full control of the messages being built and the collateral as well. Nowadays, there is a new dynamic where everything needs to move at a faster pace - there is no lull until the next campaign cycle. Real-time communication means companies must take advantage of opportunities as they spring up and resolve problems just as quickly as they arise. 

In addition to speed, technology has broadened outreach to diverse markets. As a result, a new host of challenges has cropped up as companies try to meet the needs of local customers and local business organizations. Wilson remarks that “in a digital world, we have to solve these things within the context of globalization.” For example, as companies build customer relationship management systems on a global platform, the system must be capable of enabling multiple go-to-market strategies. There is no one size fits all strategy, to be truly global your tools must be able to adjust and reconfigure to accommodate local nuances. 

Although the face of marketing is constantly being reshaped, the core ideas remain the same. It all boils down to solving a problem, which is the foundation of customer creation. In a digital world it is not sufficient to deliver and deploy products that are cool and interesting—products must also solve a problem. For Bayer, as a company that is driven by innovation, this is both a challenge and an opportunity. Wilson gives an example of corn rootworms from the agriculture industry. “These insects hurt the corn, but you don’t see them.” To better serve customers, Bayer must help them identify the problem and provide the reliable solution. As consumer values, particularly concerning insecticide use and environmental protection, have changed alongside globalization, Bayer has kept up by increasing transparency and measuring impact. To address the above concerns, Bayer has published a sustainability pledge, committing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions produced by key crops in major agricultural markets by 30% among other green initiatives, whilst simultaneously building scale neutral benefits.  

Given his illustrious career in marketing, Wilson rounds off our conversation with some career advice that remains as pertinent as ever: 

1. Be intentional with your career. Let employers know your goals and let it be a problem they must solve with you. 

2. Keep learning. “Don’t confuse doing the best you can with doing the best you know how.”

In relation to his second piece of advice, Wilson shares how he learned when he was in “good” environments, which included better meetings that allowed him to see how companies attacked problems. Fortunately for our readers, Wilson also graciously shared his formula for better meetings: 

1. Be humble

2. Be fast

3. Be right 

4. Be right again!  

“Don’t confuse doing the best you can with doing the best you know how.”

— Tom Wilson, Head of Marketing & Commercial Excellence for Crop Science at Bayer