Brand Learning
Opinion
12 June 2015
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In this post, for The Economist Group Lean Back blog, Rich Bryson argues that marketing departments need to organise themselves differently to deliver the customer experience. For his full perspective read our white paper .
Opinion
10 June 2015
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When a Chief Brand Officer is elected to take over the helm at the world’s biggest fast-food chain, you have to acknowledge that a leadership tipping point has been reached. A clear sign that leadership needs to be customer-centred. From March, McDonald’s new CEO & President will be ex-brand man, Steve Easterbrook. In his inaugural press release he states,
Opinion
16 February 2015
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These are challenging and interesting times to be in Marketing. The twin forces of technology and a more empowered consumer are making it increasingly necessary for Marketers to lead in a complex and dynamic environment.
Opinion
05 February 2015
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An article caught my eye recently, lamenting the high number of marketers in the APAC region who were on the move, looking for new opportunities. The reasons cited were pay, but also poor professional development and too few opportunities for marketers to become CEOs.
Opinion
23 December 2014
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Every so often a capability brief comes along with challenges so high, it sets my senses tingling. I know it’s an opportunity to do something big .
Opinion
02 December 2014
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It’s the time of year when many start considering their organisation’s 2015 capability programmes and setting budgets. As capability and learning professionals, we all counsel others on the dangers of always doing what you’ve always done, so how can we shake up our own plans for 2015? Here’s some inspiration for what will make a genuine difference to the effectiveness of your learning programmes in driving performance.
Opinion
10 November 2014
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The first step in strong sales and marketing partnerships is understanding what each other are talking about. If you don’t have the same definitions of success, then your ladder to success is going to be wonky and possibly dangerous. Here are 5 terms that sales and marketing teams define differently. What others can you think of?
Opinion
10 November 2014
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The first step in strong sales and marketing partnerships is understanding what each other are talking about. If you don’t have the same definitions of success, then your ladder to success is going to be wonky and possibly dangerous. Here are 5 terms that sales and marketing teams define differently. What others can you think of?
Opinion
28 October 2014
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When has a week gone by for you when you haven’t shopped on line for a brand? For most of us in our team at least, shopping online or using mobile during the shopping experience has become a habit.
Opinion
22 October 2014
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Unprecedented changes in the retail and customer landscapes are creating big challenges for Sales teams. Who would have thought at the turn of the century that by 2014 the world’s largest retailer would have no physical stores? Whatever industry you are in the customer landscape and expectations are changing fast.
Opinion
20 October 2014
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It’s obvious to us that the best route to sustained growth is by motivating more customers to spend more with your company. Mergers & acquisitions and improving operational efficiency can also deliver growth, but are inevitably limited over time – so sustained growth requires selling more products and services to customers: by creating superior customer value.
Opinion
16 October 2014
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Our instincts are key to survival but as we explore in this blog post, we don’t believe they are enough for us to thrive in such rapidly and dramatically changing digital times.
Opinion
13 October 2014
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We all know that the impact of digital technologies has changed businesses profoundly. It has created an exciting time for leaders who can create new operating models, strategies and approaches. It is of course, also a challenging time. Change brings uncertainty, resistance and failures as well as successes. We need to keep pace with our customers – but they are transforming their behaviours more quickly than most businesses are able to mirror. In this blog series, we will take a closer look at the implications of this both on a personal and organisational level. No organisation has ever adapted without inspiring its people to change. And no individuals have effectively transformed an organisation without looking more broadly than the behaviours of a few lone people. Bringing together the individual and organisational is something we believe in passionately, and have written about before.
Opinion
30 September 2014
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Earlier in this series we introduced our point of view on how organisations need to evolve their communications capabilities to deliver growth through a meaningful, mutually beneficial customer experience and 4 key principles for customer engagement:
Opinion
26 September 2014
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In the first of this three-part series, we introduced our point of view on how organisations need to evolve their communications and capabilities to deliver growth through a meaningful customer experience, and 4 key principles for customer engagement:
Opinion
11 August 2014
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I’m a fan of travelling in style, so the concept of ‘matching luggage’ appealed when marketers first responded to channel proliferation with a drive to integrate their communications by using the same look and feel. Of course fashions change, and as people learnt more about how digital channels worked, marketing evolved to integrating around an idea – so there was still a co-ordination of luggage, but it didn’t all have to be the same colour. Today, as more brands are recognising that a meaningful customer experience is the key to delivering growth, communications must move on again. (NB ‘customer’ is used to define the brand’s target: consumer, customer, expert etc).
Opinion
15 July 2014
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Clients often come to us saying their innovation is not having the impact they want: they need more ideas, or fewer bigger ideas, or they need to get them out in to the marketplace much more quickly. When we dig in to their Innovation Value Chain 1 we frequently diagnose that the obstacle is not where they first thought.
Opinion
12 June 2014
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I recall talking to James Elias, Google’s Marketing Director, at last year’s about the unprecedented pace of change we are seeing in the world and the implications for organisations. James’ view was that with the world moving so fast, if your internal pace of change is slower than the pace of change externally then you’re going to be in trouble, so you need to be focused and not get caught trying to do too many things. We believe it’s the customer experience that organisations need to be focused on above all else. Whatever the technological advances, it is this experience that builds meaningful relationships with the people behind the devices and will drive sustainable growth.
Opinion
12 June 2014
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With the FIFA World Cup later this year and the Rio Olympics in 2016, the eyes of the world are on Brazil.
Opinion
08 May 2014
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There's a new growth imperative shaping the future of marketing: but has anything really changed?
Opinion
07 March 2014
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In our recent blog we looked at three critical capabilities businesses need to develop successful strategies and plans in today's dynamic environment:
Opinion
10 February 2014
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In 2013 we asked if agility has killed strategy and planning, sharing our Top 10 Tips to keep Strategy & Planning approaches simple, flexible and focussed on outputs.
Opinion
31 January 2014
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"What should my brand be doing in Digital?" It's the question I can almost guarantee to be asked in any Brand Learning digital programme that is run – regardless of client, industry or even location. In many ways it's a great query to hear; it means the group are excited by the opportunity and ready to make a start, often one of the biggest hurdles. But I'm also aware that my classic answer usually disappoints. As a subscriber to the belief that it's not digital marketing but marketing in a digital age the answer typically highlights the strategic need, a target audience insight, clarity on current engagement and a keen understanding of competitor activity in the digital space. Did you feel that? It's the drop in momentum that accompanies the realisation that the answer cannot be solved in a quick, turn-key solution.
Opinion
14 January 2014
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Another year is upon us!
Opinion
06 December 2013
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There's a growing amount of attention being given to customer experience: the critical moments when your desired brand positioning is expressed in practice, across every touchpoint, every interaction and every step of the customer journey. Not only does it require a strong, joined up and insightful brand plan – it also requires stretching leadership to join up every business function in delivering a coherent, brilliantly branded, customer-centred experience.
