Morgan Chemij, Sr. Director: Global Marketplace Strategy & Media Execution, HP shares his take on the performance vs brand debate, retaining loyal customers, and
training AI.
Do you prefer brand awareness or performance? What is your preferred marketing channel? In this series, we get to know past Insider Summit attendees and ask
about their preferences.
Morgan Chemij, Sr. Director: Global Marketplace Strategy & Media Execution, HP:
Performance Media or Brand Building: Absolutely! Kidding aside, it's incredibly challenging to have one without the other these days. A
hybrid approach that invests adequately in awareness, influence, and preference while also spending sufficiently on performance media to capture traffic is the key to success.
AI Integration or Human Touch: The lines here are increasingly blurred. AI is only as good or
smart as what we teach it. To that end, ensuring we do a good job training our AI models and giving them the freedom to be a bit ad-lib in chat or on the phone is critical to engagement.
Retention or Acquisition: It's cheaper to retain than to acquire! If we look at the
most successful brands in the world, like Patagonia, Costco, and Amazon, they excel by reducing friction and delivering best-in-class products and customer service. Costco makes returns easy,
Patagonia truly backs their products for life, and Amazon gets you what you need in days or sometimes hours – how can you not be loyal?
Amazon or Direct-to-Consumer: I have some bias here… Amazon is the king of conversion and convenience.
Direct-to-consumer might convert a bit lower, but you own the customer relationship and reap the CRM benefits. If you're selling a single item or subscription product, Amazon might be a better fit. If
you're trying to sell an ecosystem of products, direct might be better.
Localized Strategy or Global
Consistency: I think you can have both. Globalized campaigns with a localized element are becoming the norm. Large brands need to have a global approach for scale,
consistency, and measurement, but adding localized elements is viable and enables engagement while still delivering brand alignment and broad goals.
Conversion Rate or Customer Lifetime Value: Where do you want to be in 5 years? We think long-term about our customers and
our brand the same way people do about their lives. In the end, LTV as your north star delivers on both customer expectations and long-term financial goals. Is there any other way?
Retail Media or Social Commerce: Both are increasingly critical pathways to conversion and
are at different levels of maturation globally (e.g., Asia is HUGE in Social Commerce, less so on RMN). Domestically, social commerce is incredibly powerful for low-consideration items (accessories,
cosmetics, toys, etc.) and an incredible way to get your brand out there. For higher-consideration items like consumer electronics, retail media and the ability to engage with customers deep in the
purchase journey is critical. Retail Media takes the win for me at HP.
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