Ahead of the Mobile Marketing Brand Summit, taking place in Dubai on 3 November, we spoke to Akshay Manikantan, head of marketing & CX at Landmark Group Loyalty, who will be presenting at the event.

Can you give us an idea what youll be sharing with us at the Mobile Marketing Brand Summit ?
Shukran, the Landmark Groups loyalty programme, is the largest in the region and has always been strong in bricks and mortar retail. We recently developed and launched our mobile app across both Android and iOS.

The core of my presentation will revolve around how we plan to migrate our marketing and customer strategies from the offline to online and mobile model over time. This will involve a huge paradigm shift in marketing, customer service, operations and end-to-end management of the programme.

When did Shukran really start getting serious about mobile, and was the introduction of a mobile mobile-first approach an easy transition, or were there some key issues that took some time to overcome?
Landmark Groups loyalty programmes are spread across eight countries, with 1,500 stores and over 50 brands, but our operations were mainly offline and at the store level. It was an immense task involving cross-functional teams to integrate the CRM database into the app, and still provide a clean and simple UI for our members.

For you personally, what have been the biggest challenges and successes whilst working on the optimisation of Shukrans mobile offering?
There were the usual challenges that brands face when they decide to take their strategy into the mobile space. As a large organisation with millions of loyalty club members, we needed to consider the development of a robust app that kept in mind multiple integration points including data security.

We had to create a UI which would appeal to our diverse set of members, taking into account different behaviour and trends. We also needed to decide between going to market quickly and early with a minimum viable feature set, or taking the time to integrate the best suited features as per industry trends before going live.

What do you think the future of mobile holds for the UAE, and will it become a global leader when it comes to mobile technology?
We keep sharing examples of what companies in the European, American and South East Asian markets have done with the latest mobile technologies – how they have simplified the customers experience with the brand and eventually driven profits for themselves.

What we need to put out there foremost is that our market DNA is completely different from what most people think. Yes, we are in the region with the largest penetration of smart phones, but we need to make sure that CMOs and CIOs are delivering solutions via mobile which are conducive to the region.

Our future goals need to include making sure we are generating exceptional value for consumers when we use the latest trends in the mobile space, and creating a one-to-one relationship with consumers by providing exception service using mobile technology. We also need to cross that threshold where the regular consumer experience turns to something delightful, and use analytics and data in a strong, serious way to make sure we deliver that delight.

If we do focus on those four points, our consumers will in return generate growth and value for our businesses.

For more information, or to apply to attend the Mobile Marketing Brand Summit in Dubai on 3 November, click here.