ResearchTalk » Branding

How Retailers are Surviving the Downturn

ResearchTalk — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:56:42 +0000

Our article in the Feb ‘09 edition of ESOMAR’s Research World. Grab your copy here.

How a passionate focus on value along with other basic approaches are helping retailers to survive and thrive during the downturn.

My, oh my, how things have unravelled.

Back in September, Research World looked at the impact of the downturn and the focus was on the collapse of financial organisations.

But now the focus has shifted to collapsing retailers, among them household names such as Circuit City in the US and Woolworths in the UK, one of the world’s oldest retailers.

What’s more, “Ten chains ‘face closure’ in 2009” declares a headline from a UK consultancy as a dismal prelude of the carnage to come.

In this Darwinian environment, retailers need to adapt or face the real prospect of death.

Global
It’s no surprise that the downturn has spread and is even hitting the high growth BRIC economies.

But, says Christopher Ruane, head of ?What If!’s retail innovation practice in China says that “The fundamentals in China are nowhere near as bad [as the West].” He says that Mercedes has enjoyed a good year, that Disney has successfully launched a premium-priced language learning centre, and that designer brand Marc Jacobs is opening a new branch “within 3 blocks of another Marc Jacobs store.”

Javier Medrano, VP marketing for Grupo Bimbo, one of the world’s largest bakery firms, concurs for Mexico and Latin America: “For the last two years the [Mexican] government has been campaigning against childhood obesity so a lot of companies are launching new products and lines…[thereby helping to stimulate the economy],” says Medrano.

Masstige
India, though, may be a BRIC exception. While still expected to achieve high single-digit growth, Piyul Mukherjee, director of Proact Research and Consultancy says that the number of stores in malls has mushroomed over the past five years, and that most “…are going to find it tough.”

That, says Mukherjee, is because the middle class have failed to embrace these new stores, many of which feature high-end brands such as Rolex and ‘Mango’. The result? They could well prove to be as much a victim of flawed business models as of the downturn.

Value, value, value
Perhaps predictably, consumers focus on value during harsh times. But what does that mean in practice?

In the West’s most mature economies, the focus seems to be on trading down, often to store or lower-priced brands. Gill Aitchison, president of global shopper & retail research at Ipsos, says that an Ipsos MORI study in late 2008 found that 61% of UK shoppers had started to buy more own label/store brands, while 26% had widened their repertoire of supermarkets to get better value.

Aitchison does, however, warn retailers to maintain their core offerings: “While shoppers are watching their spending, they still expect choice and variety. Therefore, full-service retailers who are limiting their stock and delisting products will see a decrease in shopper satisfaction. Discounters [e.g. Aldi, Lidl], on the other hand, who already have created expectations of reduced SKU options, will not suffer this.” In short, retailers that cater to both price and value seekers are expected to do particularly well in the current climate.

In fast-growing markets such as China, India and Mexico, where the growing middle class has developed an appetite for quality and variety, and where the effects of the downturn are far less severe, value is about more than simply price.

In China for example, foreign retailers Carrefour and Tesco do particularly well: “It’s partly about refinement, partly about quality, and significantly about safety – I can’t over emphasise how important product safety is in China, people are aware that food especially is often not safe here (eg. melamine milk scandal),” says Ruane.

And in Mexico, the search for value has led to a resurgence of local mom and pop stores: “A couple of years ago we really saw a slight decline in new traditional local stores opening. The supermarkets were offering really good value…but recently that’s been changing again because now people are now more conscious of prices, they don’t have enough money to spend for a week’s worth of products, they are buying two or three times a week in smaller quantities in smaller stores,” says Medrano.

Middle-squeezing
Vivek Sharma, group director, marketing strategy & insights at The Coca-Cola Company contends that during a downturn “it’s the middle men that get squeezed.” By which he means that retailers need to occupy a position of good value (e.g. Wal-Mart) or a distinctive niche (e.g. Whole Foods).

It’s the reason, he says, that Nielsen data shows that Wal-Mart and dollar stores are outperforming the likes of mid-market Target.

It’s also why the UK’s Woolworths is closing: “Woolworths sold a wide range of merchandise but never achieved a positioning of being the best at any one thing,” says Aitchison.

Foreign invasion
Western retailers have been making inroads into other countries for a while. And when they do, they need to be careful on the level of local adaptation.

Minimal adaptation can sometimes work. Ruane says that their influx in China has forced domestic retailers to “significantly raise their game, while other domestic retailers have gone to the wall. Price promotions and clean stores are much more common because of the impact of Tesco and Carrefour.” But, he says, Tesco and Carrefour have also adapted by installing wet markets (for selling fish etc.) to accommodate local preferences.

But foreign approaches don’t always work, however logical they may seem.

For example, Indian supermarket chain Big Bazaar has steadfastly eschewed the ‘clean and tidy’ look of Western supermarkets: “Big Bazaar knows that people like a mess inside, they don’t want clear, clinical aisles like in the West,” says Mukherjee. Big Bazaar also refers to the ‘bum-brush factor’ – they say that the moment bums fail to brush each other, sales go down!

GoMe, China’s leading electronics retailer, faced a similar dilemma a couple of years ago when US competitor Best Buy arrived. Best Buy decided to operate traditionally organised stores with clear information displays, in stark contrast to GoMe’s market-style setting devoid of information. GoMe was right, explains Ruane, because: “Shoppers tell us time and again that they don’t believe anything they read or hear in store. If they want an opinion they’ll use the internet and go onto a bulletin board or else seek a personal recommendation, even for a brand they trust.”

Medrano says that foreign retailers have had a mixed experience in Mexico. Wal-Mart successfully operates under four franchises: Walmart (hypermarkets), Bodega Aurrera (high discount), Superama (supermarket with a focus on higher quality and prices), and the members-only Sams´s Club. In contrast, rival Carrefour has exited the market.

And in the UK, German discounters Aldi and Lidl have made significant inroads, so much so that market leader Tesco has ‘copied’ their discount line as a defensive measure.

A successful retailer: Future Group
Mukherjee regards India’s top retailer, Future Group, as a significant success story, one that she expects to continue during the downturn: “…they have a whole bunch of [different] outlets…there’s a whole bunch of consumers out there who will always, whatever you may do, not really want to walk into a large supermarket because they say that’s not my scene.”

Future, she says, have seen off competitors by building a strong national presence under an assortment of value brands. Crucially, while competing brands focused on the middle class, Future targeted the lower middle class through its KB outlets, something malls initially resisted because they didn’t “want that kind of a crowd in the mall.” Malls soon relented once they realised Future’s power to drive footfall.

For now at least, the credit crunch has stymied the ambitions of competing players, both foreign retailers and domestic conglomerates such as Metro, Tata and Birla. The latter, says Mukherjee, “missed the bus on retail at a national rather than a local level,” by starting too late.

Future is now busy building its own portfolio of value brands across all the categories they sell, something they anticipate being very profitable.

A successful brand: Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola has been one of the more successful brands during the downturn. “We once again demonstrated our ability to perform consistently, delivering our eighth consecutive quarter of double-digit comparable earnings growth,” said CEO Muhtar Kent in last October’s trading update.

At the sharp end is Coke’s Sharma. He says that US consumers did not reduce overall grocery spending at first, instead choosing to reduce the number of supermarket trips to counter the sharp rise in fuel prices.

But now that the recession is starting to bite, consumers are trading down to cheaper brands and even eliminating certain categories altogether.

So how does Coca-Cola defend itself against price shopping? Sharma says by focusing on value: “People are starting to look more at value propositions…we look to provide the right price-pack offer and to reinforce our intrinsics.”

Two of those ‘intrinsics’, says Sharma, are the colour red and the distinctive contour-shaped bottles. The latter is now making a comeback in the US because “Whenever you come across Coke, we need to evoke those strong memories people have.”

If you read last month’s piece on ‘Buyology’, you will have seen the success Coke achieved from its sponsorship of TV’s American Idol. Coke’s seamless integration of red and the contour shape into the show was textbook marketing that resulted in very high brand awareness. Sharma modestly proclaims that Coca-Cola is “very happy with the program.”

Online
Despite the growth of online, retailing is largely still an offline story in many categories. In some categories such as financial products and services, electronics, books and digital products, online is significant. Beyond this, the Internet plays an important role in facilitating price comparison for value seekers.

An area of interesting development is China. It now has the world’s largest online population and “Chinese ecommerce has more or less doubled over the past year, albeit from a low base,” says Ruane.

Auctions are particularly popular. TaoBao, China’s answer to eBay, is driven by person-to-person sales of low ticket items. Delivery is extremely low cost due to the low cost of labour and the creative use of city subway systems.

Key barriers to growth include the limited availability of online payment systems, plus “Chinese consumers are much more visual and tactile than western consumers…and there’s a big concern about fake goods, particularly fake consumer goods,” says Ruane.

No Shit, Sherlock!
Shopper research, as distinct from consumer research, is a hot and fast-growing area, according to Ipsos’s Aitchison. This, she says, is because “…it helps retailers to pinpoint actions in store to recognise and counter the economic concerns that shoppers are feeling. And the beauty is, they are generally relatively low cost to implement, compared to advertising or deep price cuts.”

Sharma is testament to its importance within Coca-Cola: “I’ve been doing shopper insights for some years, but it is only relatively recently that we decided to [restructure teams]…my team is… focusing only on what we call commercial and franchise insights, which is all about trying to understand a lot more about the shopper as opposed to the consumer. And I have my colleague who is focusing a lot more on consumer insights. The key is ‘renewed focus’ on the shopper.”

Sharma concludes: “Some of these findings, it looks like these are obvious truths…one of my good colleagues likes to refer to them as NSS – No Shit, Sherlock!” But, he says, you didn’t know it was NSS until you saw it!

Just How Healthy is Brand Health Measurement?

ResearchTalk — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:45:26 +0000

Our article in the Dec ‘08 edition of ESOMAR’s Research World. Grab your copy here.

Brand health monitoring is an important tool, particularly during tough economic times when managing RoI becomes critical for CMOs. But what are some of the tools, and are they fit for purpose?

The Millward Brown Approach
Don’t say we didn’t try.

In the ceaseless search for simplicity, we ask Eileen Campbell, CEO of Millward Brown for a single measure to encapsulate brand health: “We aren’t really advocates of single number measures – the same way you wouldn’t monitor your personal health with a single number.” Sounds reasonable.

Instead, the philosophy behind BrandZ, their brand health tool/framework, is to measure the strength of the consumer bond, says global brand director Peter Walshe: “Consumers have relationships with brands, and the intent is to strengthen those relationships.”

Strength is derived from a couple of (exotic-sounding) metrics: ‘bonding’ and ‘voltage’.

Bonding refers to one of five levels that indicate the strength of the consumer bond. It is based on factors such as: spontaneous awareness, knowledge, relevance, performance, and perceived competitive advantage. For example, the lowest level (weakest bond) typifies a consumer who is simply familiar with a brand and nothing else. The highest level (strongest bond) reflects a consumer who regards the brand as relevant to them and way ahead of the competition.

And voltage? That, says Walshe, reflects how effectively consumers move up the bonding levels. Strong brands tend to have high conversation ratios between the levels.

Interbrand and Landor
Global brand consultancies Interbrand and Landor also run brand health monitors. But they do so for brand valuation purposes as well as for brand/RoI optimisation.

Interbrand launched the first ever brand valuation tool in the 1980s as a way for companies to recognise the intangible value of their brands as tangible assets on balance sheets (a controversial practice at the time but now an accepted financial practice). Our focus here is on the brand strength bits of the valuation tool.

Interbrand’s Rishi Dhir, senior consultant within the brand valuation team, says that seven factors contribute to their strength score. Only three of these are consumer-driven (the rest are judged by Interbrand folks and cover areas such as IP/protection, diversification, etc.). The consumer metrics include: leadership (based on awareness, familiarity and whether the brand ‘acts as a leader’); relevance (how the brand is performing vs. marketplace trends, and the distinctiveness and differentiation vs. the competition); and, stability (loyalty, repeat purchase, level of satisfaction, recommendation, etc.).

“It’s not a particular number that counts, it’s what lies behind that number,” emphasises Interbrand’s UK CEO Rune Gustafson, “It helps clients prioritise touch points and investments.”

WPP’s Landor uses sister company Y&R’s long-standing Brand Asset Valuator (BAV) tool. Landor’s president of Asia-Pacific, Michael Ip, says it uses two ‘pillars’ for strength (differentiation & relevance), and two pillars for stature (esteem & knowledge/understanding).

Efficacy
There are a couple of primary uses for brand health tools, notably identifying a brand’s impact on future sales (i.e. prediction) and measuring/improving RoI (i.e. diagnostics).

Millward Brown’s Campbell says the BrandZ model is “pretty predictable.” Walshe adds that over countless studies, the correlation between the strength ‘score’ and measured sales is at least 65% (r-squared = .65+). In other words, strong brands correlate with significantly higher levels of purchase.

And in terms of diagnostics, Interbrand’s Gustafson says that a study for hotel chain Intercontinental uncovered an unmet need that the chain could potentially ‘own’. They discovered that knowledge was a key loyalty driver: “The [guest’s] disappointment was that they weren’t learning more about the places they were visiting because they were darting between meetings.” This insight led to concierges being brought forward in the decision-making process, and rooms were equipped with ‘5 things you can do’ lists. “Staying relevant and coherent to customers is one of the mainstays of a brand,” says Gustafson.

Issues
All very well, then.

Well, not so quick, says Ian Gee, regional brand planning director, Asia Pacific, at global media agency Initiative. For one thing, he believes that the link between what people say and what they do is ‘vulnerable’, particularly nowadays: “Research is very bad at predicting the future, particularly during an uncertain [economic] period.”

While this is not a direct retort to Millward Brown’s correlation between brand strength and sales (because those sales are not self reported by consumers but based on actual data), it does raise the issue of a lag between attitudes/perceptions and behaviour.

A lag that concerns Gee: “People store attitudes that they may sometime want to use to inform brand/product choice. But when confronted with making a choice, suddenly external circumstances have changed so much that the actual decision they make, there’s no relation to the attitudes they may have stored up until yesterday.”

Another issue is differentiation. John Gerzema. chief insights officer, Young and Rubicam, and author of new book The Brand Bubble, reckons that plain vanilla differentiation has had its day: “Consumers don’t just want a brand to be different; it has to keep being different. We call this energized differentiation, the consumer perception of meaning, motion and direction.“ He sees brands as a direction rather than destination, where velocity rather than distance is the key strength metric.

However radical that sounds, Campbell has similar thoughts: “An important measure is a sense of momentum…if the public has a sense that your brand has a positive trajectory, that’s quite a good indication of share growth.”

Emotions
Robert Passikoff, founder & President of Brand Keys, believes that brand health monitors fail by focusing on the rational: “The decision process in brand adoption, engagement and loyalty is primarily emotional (70%).”

This is made worse by his belief that “the rational bits [of brands] are generally undifferentiated, the emotional bits provide the differentiation.”
And using image attribute statements does not help, he says, because the statements do not represent “the emotional elements that resonate within brands…plus, emotions are difficult to articulate with traditional image statements.”

His solution, developed over the past 24 years, involves the use of psychological questions/scales that measure what people believe. The result is a map of engagement (any marketing or communications activity that results in an increase in brand ‘equity’) vs. attitudinal loyalty.
Passikoff claims that “because it is psychologically-based, we are able to see changes to the configuration of categories…and of levels of expectation, usually 12-18 months ahead of traditional research techniques.”

Growth of online
Gee points to the growth in word-of-mouth/online buzz as a development that brand health monitors need to incorporate: “I can see these growing in the future as more of our lives get committed online…that will become probably a stronger measure of overall brand health than the more formalized questionnaire-based tracking.”

Campbell says they are starting to include this activity: “The other thing we are starting to measure are what conversations they are having about brands…are they talking to other people about brands…how much consumer propagation is happening.”

Music, no doubt, to the ears of Mark Earls, author of Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature, and winner of best paper at ESOMAR’s 2007 Congress. He contends that we tend to copy others rather than make truly individual choices, and so when faced with reporting why we make certain decisions/our attitudes, we tend to post-rationalise. For him, understanding how we interact is key.

In general though, Earls is not a particular fan of brand trackers: “Monitoring brand health is a distraction. The real game is not with the brand but with people and their interactions – this is what shapes consumer behaviour, not brand perceptions or relationships.”

Winners and losers
Having opined about the tool itself, a few emergent themes then.

Given the economic climate and pressures, Campbell is starting to scrutinise attributes such as ‘brand willing to pay more for’ and ‘brand that is good value for the price’ on some of her clients’ trackers because “Marketers need to protect the sense that they are providing something special.
“We think it’s particularly important for marketers to try and prevent consumers from switching to lower priced or store brands…we found that the perceived gap in quality between a major brand and store brand is greater than the actual gap…then you’ve set an extraordinarily high hurdle for the brand marketer to get over once the recession is over to get them back.”

In other words, price promotions could be a false economy and ultimately damaging.

“These are great times,” says Gee, “for challenger brands when old loyalties come into serious question. Like Lexus in the 1980s, an S-class car for an E-class price.”

Interbrand’s Gustafson talks of the chaos in the financial sector, particularly in the US and UK. Here, trust in financial brands has been damaged with the resultant loss of significant brand value among financial services brands, some (Merrill Lynch) more than others (HSBC) (as of June ’08).
Landor’s Ip, based in China, believes that despite the reduction in domestic growth rates, there is still an opportunity for Chinese and Indian companies to build share globally. And while Chinese companies currently lack a depth in global management, he believes that companies such as Lenovo are learning fast: “…they were very clever in appointing a CEO from outside the company, and in moving their chairman to New York.”

Future
Reflecting on the future, Campbell suggests that the research industry may well be on the cusp of a new challenge: “I think we went from ten years ago being very good at explaining why something happened…today we’re pretty good at predicting what will happen…what I think clients are increasingly looking for is to imagine a future and tell them how to get there…beyond a single brand and towards portfolio management.”

Gustafson adds that Interbrand’s corporate belief that brands have the power to change the world means that brand management, which normally sits within a marketing function, should evolve to “the central organising function of the business.”

Innocent’s Colourful Annual Report

ResearchTalk — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:07:47 +0000

Building on their open and friendly approach, smoothie brand Innocent has just published its first annual report. It’s not a legal or regulatory requirement, it’s done purely to engage more with its passionate users and other interested folks.

It’s a fun and informative read. Plus it balances a discussion of their successes in 2007 by giving equal prominence to, well, ‘things they learned from’ (including being called out by BBC’s Watchdog for their exploding packaging, and that polarising deal with McDonald’s).

It’s embedded below but if you want to read it and don’t have bionic eyes then you can download your very own copy here.

Coinciding with its publication, Innocent also ran the first AGM…

‘…a day when we open the doors of Fruit Towers, ask our drinkers to come and hear what weâ€™ve been up to and let them tell us face to face what we could be doing better.”

Here’s one of the videos from the event – we can’t imagine too many AGMs being this much fun

Series:AdTalk
Series:MarketingTalk

Unleashed on Marketing: Creating Brand Meaning

ResearchTalk — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 06:43:29 +0000

Part of our occasional Best of the Podosphere (BoP) series

Gary Bembridge is VP of global strategy & marketing at Johnson & Johnson and produces this promising Unleashed on Marketing podcast series in his spare time based on over 25 years in the marketing game.

We rarely listen to podcasts that just involve one person but there’s something about the South African accent (that’s how it sounds to us!) that draws you in (sic Joe Jaffe’s Across the Sound). And in this episode, ostensibly called “What makes you different?”, Gary brings together much of the latest thinking and discussion around creating brand meaning, doing good, having big ideas etc.

Quite long at c. 40mins but it is, IMHO, worth persevering.

STARRING

Gary Bembridge, Unleashed on Marketing

Series:AdTalkTalk Series:MarketingTalk

Good and Bad Big Brand Innovation

ResearchTalk — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:04:35 +0000

42mins | More JuiceCasts here and here

This is a video featuring the edited highlights from a roundtable discussion on how well and badly big brands innovate. Convened by BrainJuicer, it features the collective wisdom of both clients and staff. The conversation lasted almost two hours but we were commissioned to record the session and edit it down. Now, much as we tried, we couldn’t get it below c.40mins because of the amount of goodness there.

But the length gave us and Chief Juicer John Kearon pause for thought. How could we make it as accessible and watchable as possible? Well, here are a few tiny innovations that were inspired by that quandary

John invited illustrator Bob Wagner along to capture seminal moments as cartoons. Not only are these embedded in the video, John’s also created a useful eBook teaser complete with enlightening quotes
As usual you can find a list of the talking areas here, enabling you to quickly get to the parts that interest you most. This is one of the reasons we use Google video for streaming, because they allow you to go to any part of the video directly without wasteful buffering time
For those who prefer something slicker, try the chapterised version of the video

STARRING

Alexandra Wren, Global Consumer & Mkt Insights Mgr, Dove Haircare
Dr. Alex Gordon, Founder, Sign Salad
Ed Harrison, Senior Consultant, BrainJuicer
Gaye Myatt, Founder, Fresh Insights
Iain Carruthers, Author and Founder, Encounter Business
Jaroslav Cir, Consumer Market Insights director, Rexona
Jim Rimmer, MD, BrainJuicer UK
John Kearon, Chief Juicer, BrainJuicer (Host)
Linda Neville, Strategic Planner, Coca Cola
Olaf Willoughby, Founder, The Willoughby Partnership
Orlando Wood, Client Director, BrainJuicer
Bob Wagner, Illustrator/Designer, Wagner Design (Illustrator)

This is a commissioned podcast which is published according to our yumminess policy

Timeline [42m49s]
00m00s Intro.
00m19s Good vs. great advertising.
02m12s Conditions for powerful innovation.
03m06s Being unreasonable in large companies.
03m46s The tension between research and innovation.
04m15s Flaws in the stage-gate system.
05m23s Source of creative ideas.
06m11s Easier to innovate in smaller companies.
06m41s A fireman’s hose of information overload.
08m17s Paradox at the heart of innovation.
08m56s Best ideas in Unilever have come from far flung countries, not the centre.
10m59s Lack of incentive to innovate beyond cash cows.
11m20s Evangelising the brand.
14m34s Recruiting in the brand’s image.
15m10s Do challenger brands drive innovation?
16m31s Increasing pressure for faster payback from innovation.
17m52s Avoiding the marshmallow hot water bottle.
19m14s Challenger brands also challenge conventions internally.
20m01s The Dyson Airblade – another success?
22m58s The case for a series of small, incremental innovations.
25m33s Innovating the Google way.
27m10s Research agencies complicit in large company lack of innovation.
29m32s Research’s conservatism stymies innovation.
32m05s The role of politics in large company innovation.
33m32s “Concepts” versus prototyping.
35m45s Learning to love failure.
36m32s Research as an insurance policy.
36m58s Research agencies: “it’s easier to just take the money”.
39m19s Creativity loves genuine criticism.
40m31s Good internal operators know which battles to fight.

Notable Mentions
Added Value.
Apple.
Axe.
Baileys Irish cream.
Brand Genetics.
Bulmers.
Celebrations.
Coca Cola (Coke).
Comfort conditioner.
Dove.
Dyson.
Ethnography.
Fosters.
Google.
GSK.
Guy Kawasaki.
Impulse.
Innovation.
Kronenberg.
Lynx.
Magners.
Mckinsey.
Michael Holgate.
Millward Brown.
Nike.
Quality Street.
Richard Seymour.
Sahar Hashemi.
Semiotics.
Sir James Dyson.
Unilever.
What If?

Music Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk
Series:Commissioned Series:JuiceCasts

BrandCast: Ethical Branding

ResearchTalk — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 18:34:01 +0000

BRAND CAST There’s sooooooo much talk and excitement over ethical brands and branding these days. In fact, fewer and fewer conversations seem to be able to avoid the issue

And as Dave Cobban mentioned in an earlier podcast, the FTSE 4 Good Index seems to be outpacing its mainstream counterpart, suggesting that ethically-driven brands and enterprises are actually very good business

In this, the first of a series of BrandCasts produced for GfK NOP, Chris Davis hosts an engaging discussion on the issues involved in creating and sustaining ethical brands. He’s joined by sustainability consultant and best-selling author Julia Hailes MBE, and Zoe Morgan from the Co-op, 2007 winner of the most ethical UK brand gong

This podcast was commissioned and content driven by GfK NOP. We have featured it because of its value and the fact that ResearchTalk had editorial control over the editing

Listen to other podcasts featuring Julia Hailes

STARRING

Chris Davis, MD Brand Strategy, GfK NOP
Julia Hailes MBE, Sustainability consultant and author, The New Green Consumer Guide
Zoe Morgan, Director of Marketing, Co-Op Group

This is a commissioned podcast which is published according to our yumminess policy

Timeline [21m05s]
00m00s Intro.
00m58s 2006 – the year the world woke up to climate change.
01m20s What is ethical branding?
02m35s Growing consumer scepticism.
03m21s The shift towards transparency and traceability.
04m17s Managing complexity and conflict in ethical brand decisions.
05m56s Additional benefits of trusted brands.
06m23s Co-op’s approach to communicating their ethical decisions.
07m44s Choice editing – deciding not to sell certain products.
08m57s Empowering consumers with information on the impact of their choices.
09m49s What brand owners should do.
11m24s Is a new business model emerging?
12m31s What Toyota learned after the initial failure of the Prius.
13m14s Merits of a targeted rather shotgun approach.
14m27s Ethical branding challenges the Milton Friedman view of good business practice.
15m33s Regulation vs. market forces.
17m13s Identifying authentic brands.
17m34s The role of the internet.
18m54s The effectiveness of labelling schemes.

Notable Mentions
Authenticity.
BP.
Choice editing.
Climate change.
Co Op.
Embedded carbon.
Exxon Valdez.
Fairtrade.
Green issues.
Greenpeace.
LinPak.
Local sourcing.
Marks & Spencer.
McDonald’s.
Milton Friedman.
Naomi Klein.
New Zealand lamb.
Organic.
Prius.
Tesco.
Toyota.
Transparency.
Wal Mart.

“New Green Consumer Guide” (Julia Hailes).
“The Corporation”.

Quotes
The ethical drive: “Ethical brands are growing at twice the rate of their non-ethical counterparts.” (Chris Davis).

The ethical drive: “We think there’s a couple million people in the UK…who make purchase decisions based around ethics…what’s changed is we’ve now around 13 million adults who say that they will make ethical choices if it was easy…and I think it’s that great big bulge of the middle consumer engaging with this agenda that’s causing all of the interest.” (Zoe Morgan).

Consumer scepticism: “You might think that with the growth of ethical brands that people would say things are getting better, but we are finding increasing scepticism…I think it’s heightened consumers awareness and sensitivity to how companies are behaving generally.” (Chris Davis).

Transparency: “One of the things that the focus on the green issue does is it really forces that transparency and traceability.” (Julia Hailes).

Ethical conflicts: “That’s one of the advantages of having the trust from the consumer…consumers will accept that we will have thought about the basket of issues (e.g. local sourcing) and have tried to make the best choice for that product.” (Zoe Morgan).

The ethical brand dilemma: “Even in environmental terms [product decisions] are complicated. If you’re adding ethical and social issues in as well you’ve really got a mix that is not obvious to consumers what the best choice is. And therefore it does require the retailer to assess those impacts and also very good at communicating them.” (Julia Hailes).

Choice editing: “We have to do it at the pace and in the way that the consumer will come with us. And if they take their whole shopping basket elsewhere…because they can’t get what they want to eat, we’re not doing the world or ourselves any favours.” (Zoe Morgan).

Proportionate impact: “3% to 4% of fruit and vegetables are imported by air, but they account for over a third of the transport-related [environmental] impact.” (Julia Hailes).

On the initial failure of the Prius: “…people have a conscience but what they really want to do is convey their values to other people…Toyota needed to make the branding much more prominent…which they did…it then really took off.” (Chris Davis).

Targeting: “…you don’t have to try and appeal to all consumers.” (Julia Hailes).

Regulation vs. market forces: “I think that market forces are more powerful [in bringing about change]. With government they are prepared to listen to excuses…” (Julia Hailes).

Role of government: “Government do have a responsibility to help make sure the full cost is in the product.” (Zoe Morgan).

Trust: “For businesses, the brand is so valuable and the trust element is so valuable that I don’t think that businesses can take the risk any more of being found out as fraudulent on that.” (Zoe Morgan).

Music Steffen Coonan from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk
Series:Commissioned

Patrick Barwise – Building the ‘Simply Better’ Biz

ResearchTalk — Wed, 02 May 2007 09:44:37 +0000

The fact that companies like Toyota and Tesco and Proctor & Gamble in many of its categories have shown that you can in fact keep improving delivery on the basics, shows that it’s not just a commodity…
(Patrick Barwise)

The renowned marketing Professor Patrick Barwise is a relatively rare animal, an academic with commercial instinct and pragmatism. Here he talks to Michael Warren about the ramifications of his two most recent books, ‘Simply Better’ (which won the American Marketing Association’s 2005 prize for the best recent book in marketing), and one that he is currently writing with the working title: ‘Customer Insights – Beyond Market Research’. His ability to cut through marketing myths, hype and meaningless jargon using solid reasoning reinforces his position as one of the industry’s most valued thought-leaders

Listen to other podcasts featuring Patrick

STARRING

Prof. Patrick Barwise, LBS, and co-author, Simply Better
Michael Warren, research consultant

Timeline [16m21s]
00m00s Intro.
01m18s Why the basis for ‘Simply Better’ is controversial.
02m35s Differentiation that matters.
03m53s Is ‘Simply Better’ now the received wisdom?
04m44s The objectors – Rees and Trout.
06m24s Customers rarely bother to compare all the competing brands, or use all the information available (the lack of economic rationality).
08m32s Beyond ‘thinking outside the box’.
10m33s Paddy’s new book: ‘Customer Insights – Beyond Market Research’.
13m42s Does the new approach mean greater cost?
14m23s Is ‘Insight’ puffery or something that has substance?

Notable Mentions
American Marketing Association.
Behavioural economics.
Harvard Business School Press.
Harvard Business School.
Insight.
Marks and Spencer.
Peter Drucker.
Proctor & Gamble.
Rational economics.
Research Now.
Sean Meehan.
Tesco.
Toyota.
USP.

“Differentiate or Die”, by Jack Trout and Richard Rees.

Quotes
“…the basics are what really matter to customers…and in most markets you can differentiate on the basics…” (Barwise).

“One reason the book has done well is by the time the dust has settled, people realise it’s in fact an optimistic book, a very positive book.” (Barwise).

“The rational economic model is a deliberately over simplified model. I think the trouble is that some economists don’t realise how grotesque and over simplified it is.” (Barwise).

“Very little which is sensible is completely new.” (Barwise).

“Customer complaints, everyone knows, should be a source of insight and improvement but most companies are not sufficiently exploiting that.” (Barwise).

“There’s huge importance in talking to customers directly, having senior managers spending time with customers.” (Barwise).

“…a customer insight in itself achieves nothing unless it is acted on by the people with the power to act, so that it leads to an improved product or service or whatever.” (Barwise).

“Most market researchers know the saying that managers often use research as a drunk uses a lamp post, for support not illumination!” (Barwise).

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Thanks to Jo Bowman, freelance media and marketing journalist, for her dulcet tones in the intro and outro.

Series:MarketingTalk

Mark Earls: The ‘We’ is Mightier than the ‘I’

ResearchTalk — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 11:06:39 +0000

The assumption is that by-and-large, individuals make decisions on their own. My Herd point-of-view is that people influence each other, often without realising it

Mark Earls’ latest contribution to life, the universe and everything is gaining traction. His new book rethinks how people make decisions and discovers as a result that much of current research practice is fundamentally flawed in its assumptions and interpretation of consumer behaviour. Quite fitting for this self-styled ‘Contrarian’. The book provides psychology underpinning for many recent phenomena such as social networking, engagement, conversations, ethnography, blogging and predictive markets by showing how we act as groups and not individually. Part of our monthly column for ESOMAR’s Research World magazine

STARRING

Mark Earls, author, Herd: How to Change Mass Behaviour by Harnessing Our True Nature, Head Honcho, Herd Consulting

TIMELINE [17m19s]
00m00s Intro.
00m42s Why current research practices are wrong.
02m09s The industry is improving, but not enough.
03m21s The value of ethnography and predictive markets techniques.
03m57s ‘Herd’ questions the assumptions made in traditional research.
04m31s Improving opinion polling predictability.
05m10s Does ‘Herd’ have implications for all types of research?
05m29s Do social networking tools play a role in ‘Herd’?
06m48s The benefits of meme trackers.
07m10s Would ‘Herd’ have predicted the eventual success of SMS?
08m09s P&G Tremor panels.
08m58s Persuading others to adopt ‘Herd’ thinking.
09m35s Is Tesco a ‘Herd’ brand?
10m28s Co-creation, software beta testing and the open source movement.
11m34s Consumers co-creating ads.
12m10s Other brands that follow the ‘Herd’ philosophy.
13m03s Progressive research agencies.
14m17s Summarising the ‘model’.
15m25s Inspiration for writing the book.

Notable Mentions
Acacia Avenue.
American positivism.
Andrew Ehrenberg (Prof).
Blogs.
Bob Worcester (Sir).
BrainJuicer.
Co-creation.
David Goetz.
Digg.com.
Dodge.
Dove.
dunnhumby.
Ethnography.
Fiona Blades.
Gerald (Jerry) Zaltman: “How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market”.
Hall and Partners.
Harvard Business School.
Influence maps.
James Surowiecki.
Jeff Goldblum.
John Kearon.
MESH Planning.
Mike Hall.
MRS.
MySpace.
NHS.
Ogilvy & Mather (O&M).
OLR (Opinion Leader Research).
Open source.
P&G Tremor panels.
Predictive markets.
Social networking.
Spring Research.
Stephen Phillips.
TechMeme.com.
Tesco.
The Big Chill.
Tom Daly.
Unilever.
Wardle Mclean.
Wendy Gordon.
Wikis.
YouTube.

Quotes
“Post rationalisation is more important than sex.” (Jeff Goldblum).

“Individuals are really poor witnesses to the richness of their own lives.”

“We (MR practitioners) are still very bad at predicting.”

“I know that when an idea is interesting it creates energy … whereas most of our methodologies don’t look at that as an indicator.”

“The future may be much more two-way.” (in reference to P&G Tremor panels).

“This is perhaps one of the hardest things for business and market research to understand, consumers frankly tolerate us.”

“It’s never been harder to do marketing … we are at an inflexion point.”

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk

What’s Hot in Branding

ResearchTalk — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 12:59:21 +0000

Sponsored by
Our team of brand specialists tell us what’s hot in branding, why they love the iPod brand, and why staff need to live the brand and product experience to maximise brand effectiveness. Markets mentioned: drinks, electronics, financial, Internet, retail, social media, telecoms

STARRING

Bob Morrison, Elephants Can’t Jump
Peter Walshe, Global Brand Director, Millward Brown
Rob Holdaway, Clear Ideas

This JuiceCast has been produced by ResearchTalk for BrainJuicer. BrainJuicer’s Chief Juicer, John Kearon, has kindly allowed us to host the podcast as a service to the community, to stimulate debate and innovation

Timeline [15m36s]
00m00s Introduction.
00m46s What’s hot in branding.
01m31s Great brands come when employees and customers agree on perceptions.
01m52s The brand and product experience, sensory marketing.
02m27s ntl: overclaiming, under delivering.
04m45s The Internet and raised expectations.
05m24s Personal recommendation out-influences the Internet.
06m41s Segmentation and targeting in an era of media fragmentation.
07m50s Marks and Spencer: product versus brand versus buzz.
10m07s Making the brand come to life.
10m57s Building a brand through word-of-mouth.
12m21s Differentiation versus being simply better.
13m22s Maintaining a strong brand and Tesco.

Notable Mentions
Abbey.
Apple.
Bebo.
Coca Cola.
Google.
Habbo.
Innocent Smoothies.
iPod.
Marks and Spencer.
Morrisons.
MySpace.
Net Promoters.
ntl.
P J Smoothies.
Red Bull.
Safeway.
Sainsbury’s.
Santander.
Second Life.
Tesco.
The Old Grey Whistle Test.

Thanks to RP Cushing Recruitment for furnishing a location for this conversation

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk
Series:Commissioned Series:JuiceCasts

Engaging Employees with The Engaging Brand

ResearchTalk — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 15:32:04 +0000

“Nothing matters unless people are walking the talk”

Sponsored by
Aimed at managers and HR folks, Anna Farmery and Daniel Wain take us through some practical ways in which to help employees better engage with their employer brand and hence realise their full passion and potential. As a former HR director and someone who is passionate about this issue, as evidenced by her excellent blog and podcasts, there’s no better source than Anna for this valuable advice. And in his inimitable style, Daniel shares his views, tips and initiatives from RI

STARRING

Anna Farmery, The Engaging Brand
Daniel Wain, Director of Learning and Development, Research International

PODCAST
Please let us know what you think of this podcast.

Timeline [32m07s]
00m00s Introduction.
01m31s Rationale for The Engaging Brand.
02m10s Training 2.0.
03m00s The role of HR, managers and employees.
03m32s How to engage employees.
07m32s Recruiting the right leaders and managers.
09m28s Is the MR industry sufficiently attractive to new recruits?
13m12s The three rules to getting the best out of people.
15m50s Delivering on internal brand promises.
17m48s Roles and responsibilities.
18m59s RI’s approach to training and development.
22m42s Effective training on a tight budget.
26m08s Using modern tools to connect with employees (blogs, podcasts, wikis).
29m28s Anna’s hoped-for legacy.

NOTABLE MENTIONS
Hallmark.
Harvard Business Review.
Royal Mail.
Sir Richard Branson.
Southwest Airlines.
Virgin.

QUOTES
On the rationale for the blog and podcast: “It’s all about getting that fun and experience into the workspace.” (Anna).

On how the research industry sees training: “I feel very strongly that we think about learning in a very narrow definition of training …and it being something that is done to you.” (Danny).

On being resourceful with the training budget: “There is a huge amount of resource on the Internet that is absolutely free.” (Anna).

On the crucial reason for engaging employees: “…if people are engaged they deliver higher performance … I don’t care what it is, whether you are making a product or a service, it’s people that deliver the experience to the customer … the first port of call is give the person in the company the experience themselves.” (Anna).

On the need to engage all employees: “The salary maybe reflects the experience or the technical level of the job, but that does not mean that the person is not valuable to creating the company vision. Where companies really succeed…is that seeing every part of your company as an extension of your customer or corporate brand.” (Anna).

On being authentic: “If what you’re trying to do is portray to the outside world an innovative, creative solution, then you need to create that culture within … if it’s one where no individual can ever make a decision without going to the CEO, then that’s not necessarily innovative, creative to that individual.” (Anna).

On attracting talent: “I don’t think that within the industry we have enough role models and also I don’t think we think about developing people as ambassadors for the whole industry.” (Danny).

On what makes a good manager: “The further up you go [in an organisation], the more the emotional intelligence actually comes into it and the more it is about getting the best out of people, and that isn’t the best market researcher.” (Anna).

On nurturing: “In order for people to be ambassadors they’ve got to actually feel it.” (Anna).

“You join a manager, you leave a manager.” (Anna).

On effective recruitment: “Word of mouth marketing happens with employees as well … people start to join companies that people are talking about as a great place to work.” (Anna).

On not being so defensive about MR: “If you just keep flagellating yourself in public [that MR doesn't seem to attract people] then you shouldn’t be surprised if the only people you attract are masochists. Why would anyone want to join an industry that is constantly beating itself up?” (Danny).

On poor marketing: “I made a joke at conference this year … we might as well put an ad. in the paper saying telepaths wanted, you know where to apply. We should be, of all people, the very best at identifying our core market … and then getting them in.” (Danny).

On engaging people: “Do some research on what they want from an employer … that needs to be a dialogue … get down to the individual level.” (Anna).

On being authentic: “Nothing matters unless people are walking the talk.” (Anna).

On delivering on the internal brand promise: “There is nothing wrong in being a dictatorial, lacking creativity, being a completely inflexible organisation!” (Anna).

On managing engagement: “HR are partly to blame, because HR actually quite like controlling the management of people … but at the end of the day, the management and the motivation and the inspiration of people is purely and utterly down to the leaders and managers.” (Anna).

On RI’s coaching programme: “Once upon a time we were known as the university of market research … and so [we now] offer training in client relationship management, business development, negotiating, people management, IT skills, e-learning, mentoring, coaching…” (Danny).

On RI’s coaching programme: “What I would like to do … is that we actually get to the level where we have a number of what I would call milestone development programs in place, which before e.g. someone becomes a line manager, they have to have gone on our people management essentials programme.” (Danny).

On training on a tight budget: “Most of management is on the job … if you have good managers and you have good leaders, they will be able to develop people to be a manager without necessarily going on a training course.” (Anna).

On training on a tight budget: “I used to look after 3,500 people and at one point we had a [training] budget of Â£20,000 … if you’re crafty you can do it.” (Anna).

On employee blogging: “Some people use blogging as a way of improving communications that are bad within an organisation – No! You’ve got to start with communication skills at the top of the organisation.” (Anna).

On employee blogging: “[employees ask] how do I get my ideas back up the organisation? And blogging can be a tool that can be used to help that dialogue.” (Anna).

“For all the technology in the world, I still come to human-to-human contact.” (Anna).

Music courtesy of: 2006 Pl@stic Soul and The Blue Mile from the PMN

Thanks to K D Consulting for sponsoring this podcast.

(tags: market research marketing)

Series:MarketingTalk
Series:Skills
Series:Sponsored

Weekly Show 12: The Future of Branding

ResearchTalk — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 16:10:49 +0000

GUEST Kirsty Fuller, co-Founder and Chairman of the world’s largest qualitative consultancy, Flamingo International

TOPICS The new paradigm in branding (Jay-Z and Budweiser, co-creation, authenticity); The benefits of using intuition in research vs. being strictly evidence-based; EXCLUSIVE: Japan office coming soon

NOTABLE MENTIONS Andy Dexter, Apple, Budweiser, Chris Arning, Def Jam, Digg, Edny Tappy, Fiona Blades, Illuminas, Innocent, iPod, James Parsons, Jay-Z, Kate Moss, Levi, Maggie Collier, MySpace, Nike, Reebok, Simon Lidington, Top Shop, Truth Consulting, Walkman, YouTube

Music Brother Love and Martha Redbone from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk
Series:Weekly

ESOMAR: Mortimer, Poynter, Cornish

ResearchTalk — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 11:46:15 +0000

“We’ve had two years of change [in MR], my guess is we’ve got another 25 to come…” (Ray Poynter)

EXCLUSIVE Brand Strategy magazine’s Ruth Mortimer talks about some hot issues in branding such as co-creation and branded content. Ray Poynter talks tech trends. And FDS’s new co-owner and MD, Charlotte Cornish, on the extraordinary story behind her acquisition of FDS

STARRING

Ruth Mortimer, Editor, Brand Strategy Magazine
Ray Poynter, Director, Virtual Surveys, and Head, The Future Place
Charlotte Cornish, MD, FDS and Director, Munro Global

Recorded live at ESOMAR CONGRESS 2006

Timeline [25m19s]
00m00s Intro.

1.Ruth Mortimer.
00m54s The rise of co-creation.
02m39s Are brands embracing the new web?
03m37s Editorial mix, city brands.
05m13s Sustainability and corporate social responsibility.
06m01s Fads vs. trends: branded content.
07m49s The value of research.
08m37s Inspirational research: word of mouth (Net Promoter Score).

Notable Mentions
Audi.
Branded content.
Charles Leadbeater.
City brands (e.g. Dubai, Shanghai, London).
Coca Cola.
Disney.
eBay.
Fred Reichheld (Net Promoter Score).
Google.
Harvard Business School.
MGM.
Old El Paso.
P&G.
Second Life.
Tremor Panels.
Triumph motorcycles.
Viral marketing.

2.Ray Poynter.
09m25s Intro.
10m22s Trends in online research.
10m57s The case for ’slow research’ and its applications.
12m49s The challenges using research to make reliable forecasts.
15m02s Research is fun!

Notable Mentions
Apple.
Blogging.
Burger King.
iPod.
McDonalds.
Multimedia messaging (MMS).
Pete Comley.
Quentin Ashby.
Text messaging (SMS).
Web 2.0.

3.Charlotte Cornish.
15m50s How Charlotte came to acquire FDS.
21m14s The positive state of FDS, recent wins.
22m33s Arrival of a new management style.
23m25s The switch from value-added outfit to mainstream research company.

Notable Mentions
Ace Fieldwork.
BT.
Electra Kingsway.
Experian.
The Future Foundation.
Henley Centre.
Janet Weitz.
John Samuels.
Michael Warren.
Munro Global.
Pim Cornish.
Richard Hepburn.
Venture Capital (VC).

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:Events Series:ESOMAR Series:Congress06

ESOMAR: Sustainability and Branding

ResearchTalk — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 12:41:04 +0000

“A minority of British FTSE Boards have marketing representatives … a recent US study shows that public companies led by a marketer produce 7% more profit…” (Rita Clifton, John Kearon)

EXCLUSIVE ESOMAR Congress 2006 keynoters Julia Hailes MBE talks about the environment and sustainability, and Interbrand’s Rita Clifton talks about branding and engagement

STARRING

Julia Hailes MBE, prolific environmental author, and Sustainability Consultant
Rita Clifton, Chairman, Interbrand
John Kearon, BrainJuicer (Host)

Recorded live at ESOMAR CONGRESS ‘06

TIMELINE [21m30s]
00m00s Intro.

Julia Hailes.
00m33s Intro.
01m14s The new Green Consumer Guide.
01m32s Reducing carrier bag wastage.
03m30s The environmental tipping point.
04m46s Driving change: the role of consumers.
05m33s Driving change: being a consultant.
06m49s The next milestone.
07m48s Advising national and local government.
08m20s Using celebrity endorsement.

Rita Clifton.
08m45s Intro.
10m03s Advising FTSE boards.
11m33s Memes and viral branding.
12m42s The work of researchers Populus.
13m08s The state of the research industry.
14m57s The role of research in predicting future trends.
15m37s Tremor panels.
17m11s The best research: topping & tailing.
18m57s Better presentations.

Notable Mentions
Asda.
BA.
Charles Leadbeater.
Co-creation.
DSG Intl (formerly Dixons Stores Group).
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
eBay.
Emap.
(The) Green Consumer Guide.
iPod.
John Elkington.
M&S (Marks & Spencer).
P&G.
Populus.
Sainsbury.
Sony Walkman.
Tesco.
The Times
Tremor panels.
Unilever.
YouTube.

Quotes
“Money is a great motivator…if you can get it so that market forces are pushing in the direction you want then I think that’s all to the good.” (Julia Hailes)

“This isn’t a golden age in my view for market research…I don’t think I would talk about it being in decline…” (Rita Clifton)

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk Series:AdTalk
Series:Events Series:ESOMAR Series:Congress06

Weekly Show 9: Semiotics Live

ResearchTalk — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 13:29:48 +0000

GUEST Semiotician Dr. Rachel Lawes, founder of Lawes Consulting

TOPICS Launch of branded communities within MySpace; Researching social communities; Internet key to promoting movies; Advertising blending into content; Semiotics explained; Lawes Consulting breaking into new sectors

NOTABLE MENTIONS Halifax Bank, HBOS, Lynx, MTV, MySpace, Snakes on a Plane, Spring Research, Stephen Phillips

Music Brother Love and Slackstring from the PMN

Series:Weekly

ESOMAR 2: Forecasting & Trends

ResearchTalk — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 09:30:04 +0000

EXCLUSIVE As official podcaster to the upcoming ESOMAR conference, we’ve secured some exclusive and meaty previews. In this, the second of four preview podcasts, we focus on trends and improving foresight accuracy

STARRING

Stephen Phillips, Spring Research
The ‘Snakes and Ladders’ Approach to Brand Choice
Roger Smith, Gfk NOP
Trends: Food, Diets and Wellbeing
Mark Whiting, MoÃ«t Hennessy (Host)

Learn more about ESOMAR CONGRESS ‘06

THANKS
A huge thanks to Mark Whiting, his guests, and to VÃ©ronique Jeannin, director general of ESOMAR, and her team for their help in producing these podcasts.

The ‘Snakes and Ladders’ Approach to Understanding Brand Choice (Stephen Phillips).
01m56s Introduction.
03m27s The use of ‘verbal ethnography’.
04m06s Validation.
04m39s Commercial applications.
06m16s New principles to define purchase process.
07m19s Mapping social influences and networks.
08m46s Counter-intuitive interviewing techniques.
10m07s Case study.
11m19s Is it a proprietary approach?

Trends: Food, Diets and Wellbeing (Roger Smith. Client: Kraft).
12m05s Genesis of study.
13m05s Scope.
13m53s Key trends identified including the health paradox.
14m40s Benefits for Kraft.
15m52s Segmentation.
16m52s Trends vs. trendy.
17m48s Influentials vs. early adopters.

Trends: Using Global Consumer Trends to Boost Business (Nadine Critchley).
19m18s Introduction.
20m08s Issues with previous trends information.
20m42s Key trends identified and their validation.
21m29s Multimedia output.
22m07s The challenges of working with multiple agencies.
22m29s Key success factors and the launch of MÃ¶venpick Ice Cream Naturals.
24m11s Applying trends information.
25m08s Keeping trends alive within NestlÃ©.
26m05s The creative use of budgets.
26m45s Benefits of new trends information.
27m31s Other aspects being covered at Congress.

Music Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:Events Series:ESOMAR Series:Congress06

First Direct and Customer Service

ResearchTalk — Tue, 09 May 2006 07:05:49 +0000

How does First Direct manage to consistently excel on customer service? Does it offer different levels of service depending on customer value? Does it hold aspirations to extend it’s brand beyond finance? What prospects lie ahead?

STARRING

Matthew Higgins, Head of Brand Communications, First Direct
Andrew Smith, founder, Andrew Smith Research and ICG member (Host)

PODCAST
Service companies are there to provide a service. But do they generally provide good service? Not according to a report from Andrew Smith Research and ResearchNow which shows just how poorly some sectors are treating their customers.

So what does it take to deliver really good service? We speak to Matthew Higgins, the Head of Brand Communications for bank First Direct, and Andrew Smith, co-author of the report.

Matthew talks about the lengths to which First Direct goes to provide the level of customer service it has become renowned for. But is the increase in internet banking diluting the impact of its customer service? Should all customers, irrespective of the value they generate, receive the same level of customer service? And given its brand strength, does First Direct have any aspirations in the area of brand stretching? These are some of the areas covered in this interesting exploration of a truly customer-centric organisation.

Please let us know what you think of this podcast.

TIMELINE [25m47s]
00m00s Introduction to Matthew Higgins.
01m23s How First Direct manages to excel on customer service.
03m34s The cost of providing good service.
04m36s Itâ€™s more than just people.
06m58s Maintaining differentiation.
08m54s Proposition.
13m29s Key performance measures.
15m07s Segmentation.
19m40s Relationship with HSBC.
22m00s Prospects for brand stretching.
24m26s Thoughts on research.

QUOTES
On staff: â€œâ€¦our people talk to customers as equals on an adult-to-adult basisâ€¦its isnâ€™t one of those things where you feel like you are talking to a bankâ€¦â€

On the cost of providing good customer service: â€œâ€¦this thing about service and profitability, itâ€™s not mutually exclusive.â€

On recommendation: â€œâ€¦people like to recommend things that they really trustâ€¦and recommendation is extremely important to usâ€¦a third of our customers have joined us through recommendation.â€

On positioning: â€œWe are first and foremost a service-based organisation, we are not a channel-based organisation.â€

On new media: â€œOn the web, through chat rooms, blogging etc.â€¦there is a still a tone of voice, a style of the brand to maintainâ€¦â€

On the proposition: â€œOur customers are well aware that we are not number one for priceâ€¦they are prepared to make a trade-off [between price and customer service].â€

On RoI: â€œFirst Direct took five years to break into profitâ€¦now we are making significant profits.â€

On segmentation: â€œâ€¦you have to be very careful in terms of the way you may treat different segments of customers based on the relationship you have built upâ€¦â€

On segmentation: â€œIt may be that you are very open with your customers and you actually talk to them about the value that they give to you, which would be a very un-bank thing to doâ€¦â€

On parent HSBC: â€œâ€¦the relation between us is very goodâ€¦First Direct is seen as the testbed.â€

Music Brother Love from the PMN

Series:MarketingTalk