Meet Ben Meck, 2023 Experience Maker of the Year for the Americas and data hero

Data is the foundation for personalized experiences and the backbone of the experience economy — but often an unsung hero.

Not so at the annual Adobe Experience Maker Awards, where those who power digital experiences behind the scenes are celebrated for their extraordinary efforts.

Our 2023 Experience Maker of the Year winner for the Americas believes data is the hero — and he’ll sing its praises every day. He is a visionary ambassador to internal stakeholders, enabling teams to leverage data in creative ways. Described as a “change agent,” he is an advocate for privacy in the pursuit of personalized experiences.

To learn the ingredients to his success, Adobe Insider Katie Martell sat down with Ben Meck, executive director of enterprise marketing technology for CVS Health at the Adobe Executive Forum, an invitation-only event for industry leaders driving experience-led growth.

https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/3425604

Martell: Congratulations on winning the 2023 Experience Maker of the Year award! Tell me about your role at CVS Health.

Meck: My team supports CVS Health, including Aetna Insurance, our pharmacy businesses, as well as retail. Having such distinct types of consumers brings different challenges related to data.

From the beginning of our journey with Adobe, we put a strong focus on data.

I’m part of the enterprise marketing technology team empowering the marketing organization to realize value from Adobe Experience Cloud. My team includes data, analytics, and personalization as we help to see the technology to market.

It was important to us to lay a strong foundation of data, and to be able to measure and prove the value.

Martell: Data is such an important backbone of the experience economy, but it is often the unsung hero.

Meck: I will sing the praises of data any day. My passion is understanding how we can leverage data in more effective ways and unlock opportunities for other teams.

It’s key to make every experience personalized and relevant based on what the customer’s already told us. What are they interested in? What are their preferences? What have they actually signed up to learn more about?

It’s not about big campaigns that are one size fits all. It’s more about personalized recommendations so that everybody’s getting a little bit of a unique flavor. Having that data at marketers’ fingertips unlocks creative and innovative ways to get the right content in front of the right people.

Martell: Why Adobe?

Meck: For me, it’s the connected stack. I value the fact that Adobe capabilities bring a full-circle effect from the data we collect to create profiles, to the data that is used for measurement. There is efficiency in having that full stack, and it unlocks more scale for our users.

Adobe’s vision to connect data, content, and orchestration layers of the stack help me better support my business stakeholders. The work in my industry also needs to be HIPAA-compliant and Adobe’s healthcare-specific products meet that requirement.

When working with data, it is so important to keep customers’ privacy at the forefront — making sure we’re protecting their interests while enabling our teams.

Adobe excels at digital experiences, and my team ensures we can empower those experiences in a consistent way across our sites, giving our marketers access to the data they need, such as our most digitally engaged and active customers.

Martell: Why do you do what you do, and what’s most important to you in your role?

Meck: Analytics has always been a passion of mine. I couldn’t be more lucky to work at a huge company that has lots of data to work with.

I think a lot about how we could use that data in creative ways and how to structure that data so it’s accessible to more people. We’re making data democratized so that our people can make informed decisions.

Martell: What advice would you give others in your role?

Meck: We think pretty transformationally, and one of our ethos was about finding the right talent.

We created a center of excellence with deep expertise in various skillsets and tools. It was a new way of thinking and paramount to our success. We first had to convince internal stakeholders to experiment and saw positive results as we rolled it out.

After scaling and building, we now support most of our major sites, billions of page visits, and are making some meaningful changes to the overall business.

What’s key is making sure expertise is shared and leveraged across multiple teams. Developing a culture of proficiency across your engineering or analytics teams can be really valuable.

Martell: What’s not on your LinkedIn that helps you in these extraordinary efforts?

Meck: I’m a doodler! I have three kids, and I draw them pictures every day.

I have a failed career as a graphic designer, but it’s actually been a very useful tool for me in terms of how we talk about our work.

Data isn’t super exciting for everybody. As you discuss these projects internally, it can get a little dry for people. We really refined how we plan, demonstrate our roadmaps, and socialize our success, ensuring that everyone can understand their impact on the customer.

You cannot underestimate the power of a whiteboard.

Martell: You are changing the world, one whiteboard at a time. What did you doodle for your kids before this trip?

Meck: My daughter wanted a sock and a pencil. And my son wanted a monster. Yesterday I drew a koala and a giraffe on the 12th floor of the CVS Health office here in New York. If anyone sees it — that’s mine.

Katie Martell is an Adobe Insider, creator, and marketing strategist based in Boston, Massachusetts. As we navigate the digital age, she amplifies stories of transformation and trends in business, CX, and marketing. Martell has been named “one of the most interesting people in B2B marketing,” a top voice to follow on LinkedIn, and an Adweek Pride Star.