Bondy Consulting

Why spend millions buying space when online video offers higher engagement with consumers for as little as 1% of the cost, the Harvard Business Review explores in an article by Thales Teixeira of Harvard Business School.

Take DC Shoes for example, since 2009 it has created a series of videos for YouTube that feature the co-founder and a pimped race car interspersed with shots of footwear. One video became YouTube’s most shared video of 2011 and the company’s sales rose 15% in the same year. And 2010 research by Vision Critical showed that 48% of those who watch an online ad subsequently visit the brand website, 22% purchase and 11% go on to share the video.

While online video has perhaps until now only been the domain of those brands with big production budgets, Teixeira predicts that smaller companies will increasingly use this lean advertising tool. Both the content creation and distribution of the ads can be undertaken in-house or outsourced, and ads can be even more effective if consumers have a part to play in their production, with research by Michael Norton and colleagues showing that consumers are more engaged with things they have helped to create. However, Teixeira does warn that relying on YouTube alone as a means to get a message out can be a risky strategy with just 3% of YouTube films viewed more than 25,000 time – something known as ‘post it and pray’.

Even when budgets are relatively tight and distribution is mainly handled in-house, a brand may also choose to use some sort of outsourced inbound marketing provider to draw in viewers, using SEO and analytics to help understand which content offers draw in consumers. Complete outsourcing of all distribution can be handled by social media syndication firms that can manage platforms and engage with digital influencers to help spread content. 

With a renewed focus on engagement, traditional measures of cost effectiveness such as cost per impression are also becoming less relevant and will need to be replaced. Perhaps by some kind of ‘cost per engagement’ measure – tracking the amount of time a person spends viewing an online video and whether they engage by forwarding it on, visiting the brand site or adding the brand on Twitter.

Published: Bondy Consulting

Not content with just letting life take its course, the lifelogger is sure to track and plan their every move, mood and thought with technology; their life is realised through data.

As The Sunday Times writes, lifeloggers keep a 24/7 digital record of their lives – from counting calorie intake to boosting their fitness and perhaps most interestingly, tackling medical problems. One such devotee of the movement, created an app to help cure his own snoring problem – following 60 days of tracking his troubled sleep, the app recommended a nasal spray that has significantly reduced his symptoms.

Another convert, a bipolar disorder sufferer, accredits his compulsive tracking of his moods with saving him from black periods, and the pharmaceutical industry is already working on the potential for personalised medicine, tracking genetic and biometric data to do so.

While some may argue that the phenomenon is too introspective, others believe that it may actually lead to a new wave of social interaction, with social comparison sites springing up. At the moment the internet contains lots of outpourings from individuals that mean nothing to anyone else, because they do not share anything in common – they are just random. But if for example an individual knew that someone was of a similar background, even though they did did not know them personally, they might pay more heed to what they are sharing - from their restaurant reviews to health and travel suggestions.

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Some of the Bondy team went along to ‘Innovate!’ with Professor Clayton Christensen, a lecture organised by the London Business Forum. Here is a summary of the key points raised:

The main focus of the event was on the power of disruptive companies and the crucial role they play in stimulating growth and innovation. Christensen emphasised that, as a new company, in order to succeed it is essential to always come in at the bottom of the market. That way there is room to grow, gradually increasing quality and prices, whilst existing market leaders have nowhere to go. This strategy means that startups can slowly but surely encroach upon their competitors’ patch and catch them unawares.

Christensen cited Ryanair as a classic example of a budget brand which wasn’t taken seriously by the big, established companies as its sole offer was low-end (i.e.short-haul flights – something its competitors were quite happy to relinquish control of as it results in small profit margins) but has, step-by-step, crept up to a position where it now poses a serious threat to the market leaders.

If as a startup you instantly position yourself as a direct competitor to those at the top of the market, they will be sure to ‘kill you’ before you can gain any traction.

Christensen also made the assertion that when it comes to trying to understand how to get people to buy your products, it is totally fruitless to attempt to profile your target customer. Instead, it is essential to try to understand the ‘job-to-be-done’, i.e. what purpose the customer wants the product for.

Christensen cited McDonald’s as an example of this; the company spent huge amounts of money identifying the people most likely to buy their milkshakes and then running focus groups in order to get feedback on product innovations. None of it made any difference to sales whatsoever.

Christensen and his team then spent two days in a McDonald’s store taking notes on everyone who bought a milkshake and discovered that the majority of sales took place before 9am. They started quizzing the customers on the ‘job’ they had ‘hired’ the milkshakes for and discovered that almost all of them had long drives to work and wanted the milkshake for entertainment, to ‘keep them company’ and to keep them awake. Other drinks were not sufficient for this purpose because they were consumed too quickly, but the viscous quality of the milkshake meant it lasted the whole journey. As soon as this was understood the right innovations could be made to make the product perfect for the job (such as making it even more viscous to last longer and adding small bits of fruit to ‘surprise’ driver's senses and help keep them more alert) and sales soared.

What’s also important to be aware of is that your market is always much wider than you think. In McDonald’s’ case competitors aren’t just milkshakes from other fast-food suppliers, but also bananas, donuts, coffee… and anything else that people may be buying to try and do the same ‘job’.

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It appears that global brands are fast becoming aware of the power of the senses – smell, touch, sight and sound – to impact our purchasing habits.  While we are all familiar with baking bread or making a batch of biscuits to entice a potential property buyer, companies are increasingly looking at sensory techniques as part of their marketing armoury, according to a recent article in the FT.  In fact, sensory marketing has become a multi-billion pound business.

Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, has long being studying this area and working as a sensory consultant to various companies.  He cites how research by Unilever found that by adding a fragrance to clothes they were perceived as whiter even when they weren’t. 

Drinks brands, like Diageo, are not only looking at the sound of a popping cork when you open a bottle or pour its products, they are investigating numerous ways to enhance the whole drinking experience in bars and pubs to engender loyalty.  McCain’s when it launched its new microwaveable baked potato developed  advertising for bus hoardings that smelt like the real thing and car manufacturer BMW, developed a more reassuring clunk for its car doors to help indicate that its vehicles were solid and therefore safer.

However, while lots of people have got it right, others according to the article have gone overboard and had to retreat.  Food brand Frito-Lay apparently created noisier packaging for its crisps as consumers were found to respond not only to crunchier crisps but also louder packages.  Reaching reported levels higher than a food processor or lawnmower they were eventually withdrawn.

As experiential and immersive marketing abounds, it is not surprising sensory techniques are rising in favour.  Check out how your senses may have been tickled, when you are next in a shop or restaurant.

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The Marketing Society has recently released its new Manifesto for Marketing aimed to guide marketers through to the next decade.  As reported in the latest issue of Marketing magazine, it delivers a framework for marketing excellence, key ways to help organisations achieve sustainable growth and an opportunity for individual marketers to rate their own performance compared to their counterparts.

In addition, a clear new definition was articulated about the purpose of marketing – to create sustainable growth by understanding, anticipating and satisfying customer need.

The three key challenges for marketers to address:

Pursue your purpose

·   Define your organisations purpose – this should be central and the brand a means to that end for the business. It should be owned by the whole management team

·  Make sustainable growth your central aim – the marketers job is to translate societies need for sustainability into winning solutions for customers and the business

·   Leave a positive legacy – look to the future while remaining mindful of the brand’s heritage

Champion customers

·  Anticipate customer needs – remind people across the organisation that the customer is the only source of revenue

·  Shape the customer experience – a great customer experience is at the heart of successful businesses

· Find creative ways to engage – embrace new technology and the role it plays in wider communications

Mobilise your organisation

·  Collaborate with peers – take a company-wide view of priorities and decisions – avoid being marketing-centric

·   Bring the voice of the customer to the boardroom – use everyday language, describe consumers as people … be real and tangible

·  Quantify the cost and value of your work – create measures that management will understand and use in everyday discussion

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This year’s list of 100 most valuable brands in the BrandZ list hits $2.6 trillion according to the list compilers, Millward Brown Optimor, with Apple remaining in poll position at a value of $185bn.

The brand value is calculated by taking the financial value ($) created by a corporation and multiplying it by the brand contribution (%). The brand contribution is determined by the proportion of financial value that is generated by the brand’s ability to create loyalty.

Top Ten brands include:

1. Apple
2. Google
3. IBM
4. McDonald’s
5. Coca-Cola
6. AT&T
7. Microsoft
8. Marlboro
9. Visa
10. China Mobile 

While finances can go up and down, a powerful ‘brand’ is more robust and lasts a lot longer according to BrandZ – the growth rate for Apple, for example, has actually slowed by 95% but the company retains its top slot because of the power of the brand.

BrandZ suggests there is a correlation between the Top 100 most valuable brands and their stock prices, which shows that stronger brands deliver better value to shareholders. The advice – brands are worth investing in and looking after because they can offer a much better return.

Global presence has driven growth in categories including fast food and soft drinks, and while the Top 100 rankings show strong regional brands as well as global ones across numerous sectors, those that sit somewhere in between the two are weaker.

Many big companies are now also tying their corporate and brand identities together – using one to bolster the other. P&G is a prime example, using an emotional connection to link the corporate umbrella and its brands in its sponsorship of the Olympics.

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Apparently there are just three elementary rules to make a company great, according to a new book by Michael  E. Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed, discussed in a recent issue of Harvard Business Review. 

Based on a statistical study of thousands of companies which eventually identified hundreds that had done well enough for long enough to be qualified as truly exceptional, the three somewhat elementary sounding rules are:

1.     Better before cheaper – compete on differentiators other than price

2.     Revenue before cost – prioritize increasing revenue over reducing costs

3.     There are no other rules – change anything you must to follow Rules 1 and 2

It is these three guiding principles that guide them through all the best companies’ decisions, whether it is acquisitions, pricing or diversification and provide a solution to the temptation to use intuition.

The Three Rules: How Exceptional Companies Think by Michael E. Raylor and Mumtaz Ahmed will be published by Portfolio.

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Nigel Nicholson’s book, The ‘I’ of Leadership: Strategies for seeing, being and doing, which features in this month’s edition of Management Today, considers a little observed relationship – the one between human biology and leadership success. Nicholson suggests that the human default is to enjoy being led.

The ‘Leadership Formula’, as outlined by the author and referred to as the latest in Post-Darwinian thought, reveals that in order to be successful  leaders must reflect upon their changing business structures and the ever-adapting tides of society, remembering that situations in business change vastly quicker than human nature does. In essence, good leadership requires a balancing act between enforcing changes and changing to suit the surrounding environment.

Nicholson explains how more traditional styles of leadership must be malleable in order to manoeuvre and accommodate change, stating that ‘at the heart of leadership lies a dilemma or rather a balance to be struck between instinct and insight, between shaping and versatility, and been innovation and adaptability.’  Put simply, the right person, in the right place and at the right time are crucial factors in achieving consistent results.

Nicholson illustrates this much needed flexibility in action by way of the “football manager syndrome” – managers often only leave their club, or are pushed out, when bad results occur frequently. In order to maintain a successful leadership process, leaders must view themselves as part of a larger picture and step down if necessary – Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement at 71 this week after 26 years in football can be seen as an example of responsible, adaptable leadership in action.

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A new book out this week – The Athena Doctrine - How women (and the men who think like them) will rule the future – has taken the US by storm in the last month. It has shot to number 2 in the New York Times non-fiction best seller list due to its insight that men should adopt more feminine traits to succeed.

Based on research amongst 64,000 people across the world, its authors John Gerzema, a social strategist, and journalist Michael D’Antonio identified attitudes linked to success at work. Looking at 13 diverse countries in terms of culture, religion, economy and size, the cohort were split into two groups. The first group were asked to define 125 characteristics as masculine, feminine or neutral. 

When the second group were shown the same traits but without gender associations, characteristics seen as feminine i.e. popular, charming, team player and reliable were seen as those needed to do well in business today. Characteristics seen as overtly masculine, such as arrogant, ambitious, strong and dominant, were seen negatively. Interestingly, 66% of those surveyed for the book said the world would be a batter place if men thought more like women.

The book, reviewed in this week’s Sunday Times, highlights that companies created by those born between 1980 and 2000 – the Millenials – are using new styles of working combining feminine and masculine traits to produce a happier, more productive workforce.

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Writing well and understanding how to do so is an art we should all be masters of. However, many people (including those in power) are amateurs, argued Michael Skapinker in the FT this week.

Writing is changing, as are the ways we use it and the methods in which we share it, however understanding and using the English language properly and knowing how to use grammar is important.

Accoriding to Skapinker George Orwell’s essay Politics and the English language has six great rules:

1. Avoid figures of speech you are used to seeing in print
2. Use short rather than long words
3. Cut out any words you can
4. Favour the active over the passive
5. Use everyday English rather than jargon, foreign or scientific words
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous 

In addition to the classic Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss, which focuses on punctuation and apostrophes, Skapinker recommends The Penguin Writer’s Manual by Martin Manser.

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While research from Harvard Business School’s Shikhar Ghosh shows that 75% of all start-ups fail, a new methodology – the lean start-up - apparently makes the process of starting a company less risky. It favours experimentation over elaborate planning, customer feedback over intuition and iterative design over big design upfront.  Discussed in the latest issue of the Harvard Business Review by Steve Blank, associate professor at Stanford, this new route, while only just a few years old, is taking hold in the world of start-ups and now being widely taught in business schools.

At the heart of lean start-ups, is the fact that while existing companies execute a business model, start-ups look for one. The lean method has three key principles:

Firstly – rather than lots of planning, entrepreneurs accept that all they have on day one is a series of untested guesses or hypotheses. So rather than a business plan, their framework is a business model canvas, a diagram of a how a company creates value for itself and its customers.

Secondly – they use a get out of the building approach to test their hypotheses called customer development. They go out and ask potential users, purchasers and partners for feedback on all elements of the business model, including product features, pricing and distribution channels etc. The emphasis is on nimbleness and speed.

Thirdly – they practice agile development whereby developing the product iteratively and incrementally – tied closely with customer feedback.

Interestingly, where before entrepreneurs might have been quiet about their NPD, lean start-ups believe customer feedback matters more than secrecy and that constant feedback yields better results.

Author Steve Blank summarises what lean start-ups do differently.

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‘Big data’ refers to our growing ability to crunch vast collections of information, analyse it instantly, and draw sometimes profoundly surprising conclusions from it.  Every technology company with a set of engaged regular users is collecting large amounts of data or ‘big data.’

What is considered an emerging science can translate numerous combinations of things — from the price of airline tickets to the text of millions of books - into searchable form, and uses computer power to unearth extraordinary insights that we never could have seen before.

It has been referred to by some as a revolution on a par with the internet or printing press, that will change the way we think about everything from business, the economy and education to health, politics and society at large. It also raises concerns, as along with ‘big data’, comes the end of privacy as we know it. 

Everyone who uses the internet has already come face to face with big data when they type a search query into Google. The company’s algorithms, or mathematical formulas, have been refined to the point where unimaginable quantities of data records can be searched in an instant.

Such is its growing importance, that last week was Big Data Week, which brought together experts from across the world in science, technology, community development, commerce and government to discuss its impact.  

Big data can create whole new levels of business value. By integrating storage, analytics, and applications it can help drive efficiency, quality, and personalised products and services, thus producing higher levels of customer satisfaction and experience. By analysis of large data sets it can also open up opportunities never previously considered.                                    

By 2020, analysts predict that as many as 200bn objects will be connected to the internet, taking in and broadcasting data at an amazing rate. Extracting meaning from that extraordinary amount of data could lower crime, reduce road accidents, save energy and eliminate waste. However, just as the advantages are clear to see, there is huge concern over security, and that our adversaries could be using it just as powerfully in much more damaging ways.

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Forthcoming book Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help Not Hype by Jab Baer recommends that brands should employ a long-term business strategy which looks to help customers rather than just push products. The result, Baer says, is that you create strong brand loyalty and trust with consumers. “If you sell something, you make a customer today, but if you genuinely help someone, you create a customer for life,” says Baer.

Reviewed in the current issue of Marketing Week, the author admits that the model can be a leap of faith for some companies, as it may not have an immediate impact on sales. Baer said: “Making your company useful without expectation of an immediate return is in direct opposition to the longstanding principles of marketing – and that’s a good thing.”

This model of marketing has already been successfully used by a number of big brands such as Hilton and Nivea.

The Hotel Group Hilton set up a twitter account @HiltonSuggests to help visitors find recommended places to visit and eat in the cities they are staying. The staff responding to tweets were encouraged to provide honest advice and not necessarily recommend the Hilton.

Nivea Sun also took a different approach to the hard sell and last year partnered Cancer Research UK to help the public understand what precautions they should take when in the sun. Nivea said it was its most successful campaign in terms of engagement, overall branding and consumer appeal.

Neither Nivea nor the Hilton have yet seen a marked increase in sales from the campaigns, but they are still delighted as they understand that the objective was to gain brand loyalty and trust from customers in the long-term.

Baer argues that it’s not a model for impatient and traditional marketers, but that for brands that are brave, there is a lot to be gained.

Youtility: Why Smart Marketing is About Help Not Hype – we have pre-ordered our copy.

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A new book Give and Take by Adam Grant, Professor at Wharton business school, takes a fresh approach on how to get ahead, and refutes the assumption that it is the ‘takers’ – those who like to ‘get more than they give’ - always reach the top of the ladder.

Reviewed in the FT this week, the author believes that the key to successful giving is being neither completely selfish, nor entirely altruistic, but a combination of both.  He suggests that if businesses were redefined on givers terms ie as achievements that have a positive impact on others, this would change their whole approach to their hiring and reward systems. 

It is givers who build stronger networks and sell more, by asking questions of their customers as opposed to asserting the answers.  The research also shows that acts of kindness help people achieve meaning and happiness, which encourages them to work even harder.

Give and Take, A Revolutionary Approach to Success will certainly be on the Bondy reading list.

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Why is it that we get sidetracked from what we know is the right decision?  A new book by Harvard professor Franco Gino may have the answer. Discussed this week in the Sunday Times, Sidetracked: Why our decisions get derailed and how we can stick to the plan, cites three types of influences that could be the route of the problem. 

The first is referred to as ‘forces within’, to do with our own thinking or emotions.  It may include an inflated view of ourselves and what we are capable of, which will impact our choices.  Likely culprits are entrepreneurs who believe they are savvier than the competition and may be too risky, or business leaders who as a result of age and experience may be less willing to listen to others or surround themselves with people who have similar opinions.  Taking an outside in approach can help – seeking ideas from those external to the organisation for a different perspective.

‘Forces from our relationships’ are also highlighted by Gino.  Examples given are looking at others to evaluate ourselves which results in boundaries potentially being crossed when it comes to unethical behaviour if we believe our peers are doing it.

The third set of influences she describes are ‘forces from outside’ such as our environment.  Her wn research found that the darker the room, the more participants were likely to cheat.

The conclusion according to Gino is that a thorough understanding of these influences could help us comprehend people better and help nudge them into superior decision making.

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Bondy is incredibly excited to announce that it has been shortlisted for the prestigious CIPR Excellence Award 2013 for Best Corporate and Business Campaign for its work with the Freemasons.

The awards were announced today via Twitter and all categories can be found on the CIPR site: http://www.cipr.co.uk/content/events-awards/excellence-awards/shortlist

This is the second time Bondy has been shortlisted for this particular award, and the company has already been honoured twice by the CIPR, winning Outstanding Small Consultancy in 2009 and 2011, as well as being named the PRCA Small Consultancy of the Year in 2011.

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Focussed thinking is the key to helping people be more creative in organisations, according to a new book - How to help your people bring ideas to life by Thomas Wedell- Wedellsborgo and Paddy Miller – discussed in this week’s Sunday Times.

Often teams are told to “think outside the box”, without being given any guidelines.  However, in most cases, this approach hinders innovation, as workers feel overwhelmed by total freedom and do not know where to start.  The book suggests that employees should be directed in their search for new ideas and managers should give their staff targets, to enable them to come up with new solutions.

Interestingly, this theory is supported by empirical research at Capgemini, which showed that failure of companies to direct the search for new ideas, maybe the biggest barrier to innovation.

Leaders also often feel pressured to come up with ideas all by themselves, but Wedell- Wedellsborg and Paddy Miller highlight the need to involve every level of the company in creativity and the importance of creating a culture of innovation.  By building a system that encourages innovation, employers can take advantage of their workers’ collective creativity and when a leader leaves, the spirit of innovation endures.

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Quality is more important than quantity when it comes to networking, a piece by Maxine Boersma in the FT today states.

Networking’s position as an essential of business and career progression is of course never questioned, but the effectiveness with which we gather quality contacts is being redressed. Successful networkers must now have the ability to filter through random exchanges of business cards and seek out those individuals who can really help them excel in their chosen role.

The selective ‘salon’ approach, as was popular amongst the intellectuals and artists of the 18^th Century, is seeing a resurgence amongst fashion and luxury houses such as Vivienne Westwood and Dunhill, who champion an open forum for cultural conversation and debate. And businesses based solely on extolling the power of networking are now coming to the floor, acting as professional match makers and creating meaningful connections between people and ideas.

The ability to network has of course always been attractive to employers, but now “enhanced knowledge networking” is seen as an essential edge amongst the young and ambitious, especially in FTSE 250 companies.  And while this emerging generation may use social media as a backdrop to their everyday lives, when it comes to networking they are seeking out more personal interaction with senior business partners.

Curiosity may be the impetus for people to network across sectors, but it is the corresponding  ability to better understand customer segmentation that comes as a benefit of this networking, that employers are really looking for. These connections do not all need to be professional, personal  connections can be just as beneficial in helping individuals to  think beyond their own sector and develop their own opinions and areas of thought leadership.

 Young professionals are being encouraged to make full use of the existing networks created by their employers and training provisions, work on developing their storytelling skills and seek out targeted, meaningful personal connections across all sectors, as their ability to network has real market value – both for them and their employers.

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Every company should aspire to be a category creator according to a piece in the latest issue of Harvard Business Review.  Eddie Yoon and Linda Deeken discuss research among Fortune’s 100 fastest growing US companies form 2009 – 2011 which found that the 13 companies instrumental in creating their categories accounted for 53% of incremental revenue growth and 74% of incremental market capitalization growth over those three years. 

Sometimes category creation involves dreaming up a new class of products that can be sold traditionally, but more often it involves a breakthrough product and breakthrough business model. However, for large companies it is an exception, not the rule. 

Research by Nielson in its Breakthrough Innovation Report showed that just 13% of the world’s leading consumer product companies introduced breakthrough innovation from 2008 - 2010 and less than this created a breakthrough business model. When asked why their organizations don’t pursue category creation, senior executives came up with the same three answers:

1.     “Start-ups are better at creating breakthrough innovations”

Apple was more than 20 years old when it launched iTunes, which enabled it to shift from computers to consumer electronics and media.

2.     “We can’t afford to do this”

Very often, the most important work is about coming up with an insight about an unmet consumer need.  Many companies spend too much of their market research understanding the current market – Boston Consulting Group in 2009 showed that only 20% - 30% of budgets are spent on strategic, forward looking studies. Yoon and Deeken believe it should be 50%

3.     “Our market is mature; our customers don’t want new things”

Smart companies are on a constant search to come up with new ideas. Category creators don’t get hung up on who invented a concept, as long as they find a way to harness it themselves

The key to increasing the odds for a category creator according to Yoon and Deeken is to:

-       Get the right people into jobs that allow them to look beyond the markets the company currently serves

-       Undertake a market research audit to understand if there is too much spent in understanding the existing market and not enough on predicting future behaviour

-       Think creatively about resources and incentives – consider setting up a budget for category creation

-       Take a hard look at company culture – risk aversion keeps companies from creating new categories – be brave!

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In the multi-tasking, technology overloaded world of work, companies are turning to mindfulness to make staff less stressed and more productive.  With its origins in Buddhism, Mindfulness trains the brain to give total focus and attention to the moment you are currently experiencing.  Discussed in today’s FT by Rhymer Rigby, businesses have recently come to recognise its benefits with everything from better teamwork and relationships to improved creativity, lateral thinking, reduced stress and anxiety.  It is now apparently used in organisations including Google, Apple, General Mills and the London Underground – and most recently made an appearance at Davos this year.

Partner at PwC Christ Adshead believes it “makes you more effective and inspirational and improves the way you interact with clients and those you manage”. Mark Williams, professor of clinical psychology and director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre at Oxford University states that “people who are more mindful tend to recognise that they have choices about how they act. It makes you more engaged and productive and reduces stress.”

A number of companies are now training staff on mindfulness incorporating it in larger training courses as PwC does. 

Janice Marturano of the Institute for Mindful Leadership’s tips include:

·         Choose how you start your day – begin the day by noticing the sensations of breathing for a few breaths prior to getting out of bed

·         Use transitions wisely – choose some days to go to and from work without switching on the radio or phone.  When you arrive at your destination take a few moments to notice your breath

·         Think about what you eat – spend time enjoying your food, focus on tastes, smells and colours

·         Just walk between meetings – no emails or texts, looking around and greet colleagues

·         Sit at your desk while your computer is turning on - think about how your body is reacting

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New research based on TGI data analysed by Kantar Media gives an interesting insight into shoppers of today and what they are looking for, as reported in this week’s Marketing Week by Lucy Handley (21.2.13) – and it isn’t horsemeat!

The research divides supermarket shoppers into seven types:  quality crusaders, strategic savers, accustomed acquirers, convenience kings, promiscuous purchasers, ethical empathisers and conscious connoisseurs. 

The most is spent by ‘ethical empathisers’ who focus on the environment and food provenance, spending £650m a week between 3.6 million people. While as many as 4.5 million are ‘quality crusaders’ demanding healthy food and spending £83 per week – 12 per cent more than the national average spend, totalling £374m a week.

The ‘promiscuous purchasers’ who are bargain hunters and driven by value, may spend just £84.20 per week, but that is 12 per cent higher than the average. ‘Strategic savers’ who are careful about what they spend make up 5 million of the population and spend £361m a week. Those who buy products based on the lowest price make up about five million shoppers and spend a total of £360m a week.  

The largest grocery shopping segment making up 5.1 million people is the accustomed acquirers who tend to be older and spend 15 per cent lower than the average at £62.60 a week.

Anne Benoist, TGI director at Kantar Media, believes that as the economy picks up we will see a rise in quality crusaders as consumers will focus more on quality food, as well as an increase in accustomed acquirers as the population continues to age.   

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According to an article in the latest issue of the Harvard Business Review, it’s time to rethink the 4Ps of marketing for today’s B2B reality. While Product, Place, Price and Promotion may have served consumer marketers well, new research among 500 managers and customers across the globe and a variety of B2B industries, shows the 4Ps undercuts B2B marketers in a number of ways. Firstly, it leads teams to stress product technology and quality, while these are no longer differentiators but cost to entry; secondly it underemphasizes the need to build a robust case for the superior value of their solutions; thirdly it distracts from fully utilising their advantage as a trusted source of diagnostics and advice.

Authors Richard Ettenson, Eduardo Conrado and Jonathan Knowles identify that it is not that the 4Ps are irrelevant, it is that they need to be reinterpreted to serve B2B marketers better. 

Instead of Product, focus on Solution – define the offerings by the needs they meet, not by their features, functions or technological superiority

Instead of Place, focus on Access – develop an integrated cross channel presence that considers the entire purchase journey of customers instead of emphasising individual purchase locations and channels

Instead of Price, focus on Value – articulate the benefits relative to price, rather than relating how price relates to production costs, profit margins or competitor prices

Instead of Promotion, focus on Education – provide information relevant to customers specific needs at each point of the purchase cycle

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It is often one of the hardest things to say, but it is something all of us could probably say more often, particularly in business. A piece in this month’s Management Today by Mrs Moneypenny, author amongst other things of Mrs Moneypenny’s Career Advice for Ambitious Women, gives some useful tips and insights.

Vital is to be definite, ie to make sure you say no and not some other phrase.  While it can be couched in softer words, ‘no’ has to be in the sentence eg ‘I am afraid I am going to have to say no.’

Don’t leave the door in any shape open, even a chink can cause challenges.  If you say things such as ‘not this time’, it means you will be asked again.

Explain what you want when you do say no, particularly when finances are involved such as a new job offer.  This gives room for negotiation.

The good news is that according to Mrs Moneypenny,  while it may not be pleasant and probably won’t be even when you have mastered it, it doesn’t feel bad for too long and saying ‘no’ gets easier with practice.  

Published: Bondy Consulting

Published: Bondy Consulting

Published: Bondy Consulting

Published: Bondy Consulting

Published: Bondy Consulting

The number of businesses in the UK with a social media presence is three times higher than last year according to research by Investis, suggesting it is now a must have rather than an optional add-on.

The digital corporate communications specialist surveyed 250 UK companies on the London Stock Exchange and found 40% of them have corporate accounts on sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Pintrest compared to just 14% this time last year.

Marcus Fergusson who is Head of Social Media at Investis described the findings as a ‘tipping point’ for companies using social media.

He said: “We’ve seen the use of social media for corporate communications increase enormously over the past 18 months.

“We are now approaching a stage where talking about social media as an optional add-on is no longer relevant; it is rapidly becoming a day-to-day part of how communities communicate and as much a part of corporate communications as a press release or an Regulatory News Service feed.”

Investis’ survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2012 based on index constituents from the beginning of October.

Published: Bondy Consulting

Published: Bondy Consulting

The latest copy of the Harvard Business Review examines new research into how consumers use smartphones. Most significantly, it highlights that mobile doesn’t necessarily mean on the go – 68% of consumers’ smartphone use happens at home.

It goes onto clarify seven reasons why consumers use smartphones in the first place, alongside the percentage of interactions that are devoted to each:

1. Relaxation and entertainment, ‘me time’ browsing  (46%) 
2. Socialising (19%)
3. Shopping (12%)
4. Accomplishing admin such as finances, health etc. (11%)
5. Preparation for upcoming activities (7%)
6. Discovering news and information (4%)
7. Self-expression, participating in hobbies and interests (1%)

This gives us a few more things to think about...

• Apps can have more than one purpose, and can cross the boundaries into a number of different interactions as above
• Mobile ads must seriously consider which interaction they might appear during, and tailor the ad content accordingly. The article points out that currently, ads are failing to connect with consumers during ‘me time’ as the messages just aren’t relevant
• Many companies are hugely under investing in mobile advertisings, for example, ‘on AOL’s website, mobile users constitute 26% of page views but just 4% of ad revenue’

Published: Bondy Consulting