Accenture launches Experience Activation Network to power growth

Accenture has opened a center in Mumbai that serves as the centerpiece of its new “experience activation network,” a collection of state-of-the-art sites worldwide that are dedicated to powering brand experiences that deliver marketing-led growth.

The experience activation network is part of Accenture Interactive Operations — the marketing managed services arm of Accenture Interactive— which harnesses talent, technology, and process innovation through SynOps for Marketing, to deliver dynamic brand experiences across all consumer touchpoints and channels.

Occupying two floors of its Intelligent Operations Center in Mumbai, Accenture’s new experience activation center includes dedicated design thinking spaces, immersive demonstration zones and interactive digital surfaces, as well as open collaboration zones for clients to co-create alongside industry-specialized teams.

Among those at the center’s opening today were executives from a number of marketing pioneers — including GlaxoSmithKline, Radisson Hotel Group, Shell and others — that have embarked on bold marketing transformations with Accenture, using emerging technology, a global shared services model and process innovation to drive experiential-led growth.

“With the customer experience increasingly a driver of competitive advantage and sustained growth, the marketing function is emerging as a new organizational superpower,” said Debbie Polishook, group chief executive of Accenture Operations. “Our experience activation network is helping clients stay one step ahead of the convergence of the front and back office by enabling CMOs to transform their operating models and capitalize on the growth opportunity ahead of them.”

Key targets for the new center include chief marketing officers and other marketing executives, many of whom are struggling to meet the rapidly evolving needs of consumers. In fact, recent research from Accenture found while only one-sixth (17%) of nearly 1,000 CMOs surveyed know how to transform their operating models to deliver hyper-relevant customer experiences at a global scale, organizations that do deliver such experiences generate shareholder returns 11% higher than those of their industry peers.

Beyond the Mumbai location, the global experience activation network includes similar centers in Turin, Italy; Malaga, Spain; Warsaw, Poland; Dalian, China; and Costa Rica. These centers are connected to more than 100 Accenture locations worldwide to seamlessly bring the best of the company’s investments in innovation to clients anywhere in the world.

In addition, the experience activation network is among the world’s largest concentration of marketing activation experts, bringing together tens of thousands of professionals worldwide that include data scientists, graphic designers, platform practitioners, content production specialists, programmatic experts and ecommerce experts.

“We have built a model for a new generation of marketers who must deliver a meaningful and connected customer experience across all touchpoints and channels,” said Nikki Mendonça, president of Accenture Interactive Operations. “Our experience activation network powers a marketing-led growth agenda by harnessing all the skills, assets and capabilities our clients need to activate, operate and scale customer experiences with greater speed, scale and agility.”

The experience activation network will take full advantage of the latest managed services from Accenture Interactive Operations, which include:

• Next-generation content services to amplify content at scale and drive dynamic personalized experiences using the latest techniques and technologies.
• Digital marketing services to activate digital channels dynamically to grow marketing-led revenue, using proprietary algorithms and machine-learning intelligence, and deliver personalized, seamless brand experiences.
• Programmatic media services to drive growth by executing multi-platform paid media activity programmatically and with full transparency to improve top and bottom-line results.
• eCommerce services to boost digital sales by enabling customers to discover what they want, find what they are searching for, and buy what they want the way they want it.