Diving into data: Belkin's CMO Kieran Hannon talks WeMo & internet of things
The internet of things and the user data it will deliver was one of the hot talking points at this year's SXSW. The Drum's editor, Stephen Lepitak, caught up with Belkin chief marketing officer, Kieran Hannon to discuss his company's own contribution to the connected household movement as well as the resulting insight they will feed the company on its customers.
The annual SXSW festival has yet to begin when The Drum meets with Belkin’s chief marketing officer, Kieran Hannon at the Four Seasons on a warm March morning. He is immediately cracking jokes and is very comfortable in the surroundings of the busy bar which is serving morning customers.
Following some discussion around the Scottish roots of this reporter and Hannon’s history of moving from his Irish homeland to the US several years ago, we get to the reason for meeting – to talk about his firm’s WeMo smart appliance product series and his views on the internet of things (IoT).
According to Hannon, the development of WeMo has been 30 years in the making as the company developed its regular electronic products.
“Our philosophy as a company is 'through complexity comes simplicity'. We went through all the complex things to bring you this very approachable experience for the user," he says.
The first product the company brought to market was the WeMo Switch, a smart plug. "You plug it into the wall, you can plug anything into it and control it with the app on your smartphone,” explains Hannon.
WeMo now offers a number of different in-the-home smart products such as a motion sensor, a netcam and a light switch, all of which can be operated through the smartphone app. Hannon is clearly proud of his company’s innovation, which is among the charge towards the creation of the next generation of intelligent homes, filled with smart appliances that can suit their owner’s lifestyles.
The suite of products was demonstrated in January at CES in Las Vegas, where the company developed a show home to allow delegates the opportunity to see and test them in action.
The growth of the internet of things, Hannon claims, will produce an “over-abundance” of data that is going to create problems for marketers.
“Data for the sake of data doesn't work. It's the knowledge of insights from that data that is really important. What we are doing is understanding the behaviours and then presenting that to them within the environment of the app."
He discusses how Belkin is using the data it receives through its connected products, saying the company needs to "sift through" the abundance of data to create insights from it.
"In most cases there are seven or eight key data points that really help you to understand behaviour and so what will those key insights be? For a lot of packaged goods companies, this is a phenomenal way to understand how people interact with their products. They don't have a real-time mechanism for understanding that. You think of fast food or brands that have home appliances that are passive that pushes stuff out based on their user treatment. Now they have got to be able to talk to each other in a way that makes it all meaningful."
His advice for marketers using connected products is to glean as much information as they can about how their products can enrich people's lives.
“For marketers, if they don't understand how the world interacts with their products in the context of everything else, they will lose. And so I would say to marketers, get out of your category.
"It's not about the category you're in, or the adjacent categories, it is about how your users – your customers – are living their lives and how your products can enrich their lives collectively. If you can understand that, you are on a much faster trajectory to deriving a superior brand promise to your users.”
Hannon highlights his company’s belief in the important of privacy when asked about the paranoia and reticence that some have when it comes to being monitored by electrical equipment within their own homes.
“Privacy is hugely important to us and it should be to any brand. We are completely PI compliant – we never know who you are unless you want to share that."
Hannon is also firmly of the belief that brands need to simplify their storytelling, despite the amount of insight and data they may have – it’s best to make the message as easy to digest as possible.
“Our objective is to deliver compelling rich personal user experiences, so that's all we drive towards through devices and brand partners to offer the best they can in the marketplace.”
The IoT is still in its infancy, however Belkin has begun to makes strides in understanding the sector and the impact that smart devices can have on everyday lives. It’s doubtless that this is an area of growth the company will continue to invest in, and that will generate all the more data and insight for Hannon and his peers to delve through to drive future brand engagement possibilities.