Data And Creative ‘A Two-Way Channel,’ Says NAB’s Analytics Leader

Data-driven marketing and personalised customer experience sit at the core of National Australia Bank’s (NAB) new $1.5 billion “digital-first” strategy, where Patrick McQuaid, general manager of customer data and analytics, plays a pivotal role in the organisation’s ongoing digital transformation.

Data-driven marketing and personalised customer experience sit at the core of National Australia Bank’s (NAB) new $1.5 billion “digital-first” strategy, where Patrick McQuaid, general manager of customer data and analytics, plays a pivotal role in the organisation’s ongoing digital transformation.

“Analytics is the only way to deliver great customer experiences because it’s the only way we know our customers,” said McQuaid, who oversees massive quantities of customer data. “I want to use our data, our knowledge, and our smarts to improve how we talk and how we provide experience to customers. I reckon that means they’ll stay with us, they’ll deepen relationships with us, and they’ll be happier.”

That’s a tall order considering NAB has more than 12.7 million customers—one that takes plenty of creativity if the 161-year-old company is going to succeed. Both are indispensable aspects of marketing today, McQuaid said.

“Sometimes the creative comes first, and sometimes the analytics comes first,” he said. “I think it’s a two-way channel.”

Among McQuaid’s challenges, he said, is data fragmentation and ensuring that relevant data makes it through to his team.

“What we found is when the smaller marketing teams were scattered everywhere, we had a real problem with creating enough noise to get the investment or enough oomph behind them to drive those projects,” he said. “I’m pretty proud to say we’ve made some real strides.”

In this episode of The CMO Show, McQuaid discusses with hosts Mark Jones and Nicole Manktelow his journey from data to marketing, its interplay with creativity, and the nuances of enterprise marketing.