[Self-introduction and light-hearted/topical/whatever opening comments. MD to supply himself – unless he'd like me to come up with some ideas.]

…anyway, I'm here to answer a question for you: is technology being imposed on marketing imperatives – or vice versa?

[pause]
I don't know about you, but that reminds me of the benevolent, welfare-minded king who – as the costs of running his kingdom rose – began to ask himself whether the people were imposing themselves too much on his taxes.

And his tax-paying subjects? Well, you can guess whom they thought was being imposed upon…

[slowly for effect]
Imposition clearly depends on your point of view.

However, there are some things that don't depend on your point of view: the marketing imperatives. For me, the imperatives are the three basic rules of the marketing game:

• know the business you are in
• know the customer you want
• target effectively

Let's step back a year or two – OK, a decade or two – to the time when I began my career. In those days, a marketer's life was easy. My youthful colleagues and I understood the socio-demographics of our customers. We knew – roughly – which TV soaps they watched, and where they went for their holidays. We had a broad picture of who they were, and what they wanted out of life.

[next eleven minutes cut]

For instance, Jupiter MMXI, gatherers of internet market intelligence, reported this month that digital TV is set to achieve a much higher market penetration in Europe than most pundits previously believed. Jupiter predicts that, by 2007, almost 100 million European households will be watching digital TV – more than will be using the internet. That's one big opportunity for interactive marketing…

[pause]
Who knows…? Technology predictions tend to be way off the mark. If I was to deliver this talk in, say, five years time, my arguments would be much the same – as would the jokes! – whereas the technologies I'd be describing would be radically different. The world is moving on, and we have to adapt – without losing sight of those marketing imperatives.

If I could leave you with a final image, it would be this: financial services providers as surfers, riding the waves of technology. We're bronzed and agile – well, some of us are – yet, as soon as we think we've mastered our wave, it breaks and fizzles out. And farther out to sea, there's a new wave building.