|
Archive for the ‘Corporate Positioning’ Category« Previous EntriesThe Real PictureThursday, May 13th, 2010  By giving us an insight into the creative and sometimes surreal world of advertising, Simi Dhawan rightly reminds us that it’s better to risk knowing about a failed plan than to risk implementing a plan which will fail… As is routine within our so-called “modern world”, no week would follow the norm if a plurality of “forwarded emails” did not make their merry way into my personal inbox. Whilst I can appreciate the heartfelt sentiments that might go into a friendship chain mail, I’ve seldom the patience to pass these on and, frankly, I find them more than mildly irritating. (Having to manually delete each one wastes at least a few seconds of my life – possibly several hours spread over a lifetime!) However, one which didn’t follow this same ill-fate by instantly grabbing my attention included the artwork of a Mr. Julian Beever – a British artist now famous for his ability to create 3-D illusions using just chalk (and an eye for detail) on pavements all over the globe. By some, he has been bestowed the respectable title “Pavement Picasso”. I include one such example of his ingenious work below:    An array of marketing mediums ensure that we meet the goals we set ourselves in getting our message across and reaching our target audience – ranging from branded products, literature and POS materials, through to posters, banners, newspapers, trade magazines, television adverts and internet websites (to further examine some creative design ideas, you can view images of multitudinous campaigns at www.toxel.com). This week alone has seen my involvement in several projects centred on this ever-present theme of advertising and, whilst I’d like to conclude that research outcomes have offered me a foolproof insight into surefire campaign approaches, I’m afraid I can’t quite claim that to be the case. In practice, every company needs to assess their (often inter-related) unique target markets and end-goals thoroughly, to create a powerful and effective bespoke solution to the continual challenge of raising both brand awareness and perception. Unfortunately, ad-hoc choices based around a “gut feeling” of what might work, in short, might work – and that’s the point. It’s a time-consuming and expensive process to invest in any such campaign and, to avoid unnecessary risk-taking, we shouldn’t launch into these blindly – careful planning is imperative. Led from research experiences thus far, as a starting point, my advice is to seek thorough answers to the following 3 questions (although possibly not at the same time):
Most interestingly, it is the first question which is most understated in practice and actually, it is the pre-cursor to the others. Only too often, we see that it is sometimes a pre-agreed business plan or budget allocation which sets our creative minds spinning – and very like the 3-D drawings we saw earlier, our own preconceptions offer a sometimes misleading perspective. As a result, possibly in our understandable eagerness to reach our customers, our focus naturally tends to shift to the latter two questions which effectively cover off questions we want to know to set the ball in motion. Questions such as “What do they want?” “Which are their preferred advertising mediums?” “How can we improve these or better our competition?” Whilst these are crucial questions, a fundamental backdrop to bettering our understanding is “Who is our audience?” “Do their needs differ based on different parts of this market or are they similar?” “Do we need to consider multiple avenues of communication to suitably engage with different parts of our market?”…and so forth. Collectively, all questions we ask should strike the correct balance between what we would like to ask in relation to our preconceptions and what we need to know to make suitably informed decisions – even if the outcome directs us to completely review our current strategies and plans (better to risk knowing about a failed plan than to risk implementing a plan which will fail!). In short, as our “Pavement Picasso” might commend – our chalk is any problem drawn-out or created by a business; the pavement is our canvas or research design to lay out the problem; the passers-by are our audience feeding us their thoughts and opinions……whilst we, the researchers, seek to ensure that our perspectives are not skewed by any illusions…so that we can help reveal the real picture. Business SuperbrandsMonday, March 1st, 2010 
The survey, compiled by The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA), takes an initial list of 1,200 brands, of which 500 are shortlisted by a panel of 25 branding and marketing experts. More than 1,700 business professionals then rate each of the 500 shortlisted brands before results are combined and a final ranking is assigned. Rolls-Royce maintained its second place ranking, and Blackberry (42nd place in 2009) and Virgin Atlantic were strong climbers to complete the top 5 Superbrands this year. Hotel chain Premier Inn was the biggest grower overall, moving up from number 437 to 240. Insurance company Aviva also rose impressively, from 315 to 144. The full Top Ten is shown below:
What’s In A (Changed) Name?Monday, June 1st, 2009
There are many reasons why a company may wish to rebrand. The corporate history books are, however, littered with examples of large-scale renaming gone wrong. At B2B International, we are strong advocates for testing perceptions to re-branding exercises with all key stakeholders within an organisation – Be they customers, shareholders, staff or any other party. Very often, the most effective means for this is through a thorough appraisal of one’s corporate positioning within the market. The following article from last week’s Financial Times, highlights some of the success stories and failures in the world of branding and should make for interesting reading for anyone involved in the subject.
Top Canadian BrandsWednesday, May 20th, 2009
It would be an understatement to say that the financial services sector globally has had a shaky year. Yet, interestingly, Canadian financial services brands, while not completely immune to the sector’s difficulties, have generally been performing strongly. Brand Finance Canada has published a report on Canada’s Most Valuable Brands 2009, which is dominated by financial services companies. Five of the top ten spots are taken by banks, with Royal Bank of Canada earning top honors with an estimated brand value of CAD$5.4 billion. BlackBerry, building on its startling success of recent years, takes second place with its value rated at CAN$4.6 billion. The full top ten of most valuable brands is as follows:
The report goes on to reiterate the importance of a strong brand, explaining that brands tends to create value by shifting both the demand and supply curves. On the demand side, they influence buyer behaviour by instigating greater trial, improved frequency of use, increased loyalty, and often a willingness to pay a price premium, among other things. From a supply point of view, strong brands can attract better employees, influence terms of trade, and may even reduce the cost of capital. So, while some organizations may overlook or neglect their brand at times such as these, when the economy is uncertain and other things may seem to be a greater priority, it is vitally important to understand the importance of your brand.
Beyond BeliefFriday, April 17th, 2009
In today’s Thursday Night Insight, Emma Flood considers the importance of understanding our customers and markets today. I read with interest a story this Easter weekend on the BBC news website regarding British people’s belief in Heaven and life after death. The study, conducted by Theos, the Theology thinktank, included the views of 2,060 respondents based in the UK, and revealed some enlightening insight. The study found that 55% of adults in the UK believe in Heaven, while 53% believe in life after death. Furthermore, 39% said they believed in ghosts. These are interesting findings alone, although when they are examined within a timeframe, the findings are more striking. In 1998 MORI carried out a poll which revealed a similar result, with 40% agreeing they believed in ghosts. But compare this to fifty years prior, and the results are starkly different. In a 1951 poll by Gallup, only 10% of the population claimed to believe in ghosts. So the author of the article concludes that over the course of sixty years, the belief amongst the UK population in ghosts has risen markedly from 10% in 1951 to 39% today. There are two ways we could look at this – either in accordance with the view from Theos Director Paul Woolley, that "The enlightenment optimism in the ability of science and reason to explain everything ended decades ago” – that the British public has opened their mind to considering what was previously thought unbelievable by the majority, and that society’s perception of the supernatural has dramatically changed over time. Or we could look at these results with scepticism and argue that the panel of respondents would likely be remarkably different in 1951 compared to the likely demographics of that panel today. One could argue that the composition of the panel in 1951 might well have been made up more so of the white middle aged and middle classes, whilst today’s sample is likely to be representative of today’s UK population, which would factor in the demographic shifts in ethnicity and could perhaps including a broader age range of respondents. Could these demographic shifts be the reason for the marked increase in belief? Whichever way we choose to look at the results, whether we feel there is a sample inconsistency between the panels of respondents, or if we choose to believe the results at face value, which indicate a dramatic shift in perceptions, it brings forward two valid points. The first point is recognising the importance of the sampling method for any piece of research, and how if you might repeat the research in the future, you may choose to keep this consistent over time, to compare results directly. The second point is that along with demographics of a population, opinions, needs and behaviour will change over time, illustrating the importance of revisiting your panel for an up-to-date set of data. In considering these points, it is worth looking intrinsically at our own organisations, perhaps asking the questions: How well do I know my customers today? Who are my customers today, and am I meeting their needs? Who are my competitors today, and what advantage do they have? What is my position in the market today, and how can I capitalise on that, or re-position in a more profitable segment of the market? It is also worth considering here the importance of understanding our customers, and striving in an increasingly competitive marketplace to meet their needs and retain their business. It is much easier (and more cost effective) to retain existing customers than it is to attract new customers, which illustrates the importance of understanding their needs and ensuring your offering is more attractive than your competitors. To read more about B2B International’s experience in the areas of customer satisfaction, positioning and segmentation, and how we could help your organisation today, follow the links below: « Previous Entries |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
