The Martha and Spencer Love School of Business welcomed Jim Brown, who worked as head of preferred segment marketing at Bank of America, to share with students the role of digital transformation in the financial services industry.
An industry expert who spent over a dozen years helping to steer digital marketing efforts for one of the nation’s largest banks offered insights and advice for Elon University students in a recent campus talk hosted by the Department of Marketing.
Jim Brown, a former head of preferred segment marketing and head of digital marketing at Bank of America, delved into the nuances of adapting business strategies in an increasingly digital world as part of his “Switching Gears” talk on March 20, 2024, in Sankey Hall.
During Brown’s tenure at Bank of America, he grew steadily into leadership positions and led many teams through acquisitions and restructurings. Brown currently is a consultant and a guest lecturer at the Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University in New York City.
Brown started the conversation with his experiences from the 2008 acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America and the growing need for corporations to accelerate the growth of their digital capabilities. He gave the example of Bank of America having a vision to compete with Rocket Mortgage for digital mortgages and discovered that the Bank of America product had to take a slightly different approach to be successful.
“Instead of ditching the product, we took something that didn’t meet expectations and made it work,” Brown said. “We put ourselves in the mind of the customer and discovered that they wanted to speak with an expert at certain points of the mortgage application process, so we built that into the overall experience.”
Brown explained marketing strategies, highlighting the shift from static to fluid segmentation. He stressed the importance of understanding the customer. “By following the customer journeys versus only such elements as demographics and product ownership, tech-savvy companies are able to get their visitor’s attention by delivering relevant information the moment they need it,” he said.
Brown offered both praise and caution on the topic of artificial intelligence.
“AI significantly accelerates our ability to process information and develop strategies,” he said. “Without AI, we would not be able to write code fast enough. However, it’s crucial to remember that AI is a tool, and a tool is not a substitute for your brain. You cannot manufacture a point of view.”
