With consumers increasingly seeking products tailored to their individual needs, companies need to look to ‘mass customization’ in order to achieve their marketing goals, according to Unilever Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Keith Weed.

Speaking at a talk at the Cannes Lions Talk named ‘The Future of Marketing’, Weed looked at ways in which to develop from mass marketing to the newly penned ‘mass customization’, with a focus on “understanding individuals in each and every place around the world.”

The marketing guru stated that, “The CMO role has gone from the idea of a chief macro officer to a chief micro office.” Indeed, Unilever focuses on a clever strategy called the ‘Three I’s’ – individuals, influencers and impacts – to solidify the fact that catering to global and local can be achieved in one marketing push.

Weed drove home the fact that consumers are smarter than we think, and while years ago marketers were one step ahead of the consumer, that’s now not the case. And catching up with the consumer is the key role for marketers going forward.

Three points given by Weed include respecting the power of the individual, not looking solely to reality stars and their Instagram accounts as influencers, and making a world of difference with sustainability-focused brands.