Warc Best Practice

Summary
This paper argues that most business-to-business companies need to master the basics of customer experience (CX) management. As a result of interviews with executives at 28 companies, three key best practices in customer experience are described. The paper argues that in order to build stronger ties with clients, B2B firms must develop a client-centric model of account management (examples of this new approach are described). Investment in customer experience is key to building more loyal and long-lasting business relationships.

Summary
This Warc Best Practice paper discusses how agencies can encourage clients to take ownership and engage in the creative process earlier through effective "tissue" meetings. Tissue meetings are sessions where a variety of different creative routes are presented to the client as ideas in progress. The term Creative Work Sessions (CWS) was later coined by Jay Chiat, the US advertising legend. The paper goes on to describe how an ideal CWS would work, and where the CWS can go wrong - whether by a failure of the client to suspend judgment over the work until the ideas are all presented, or by the agency not taking it sufficiently seriously.

Summary
This article puts forward three essential principles that need to be considered when practising community marketing. Research has shown that community-oriented marketing can be a powerful tool for branding relevant products and building relationships with community members. Using the action sports communities of inline skating, BMX and snowboarding as examples, the piece explains how some brands, such as Salomon and Monster and Red Bull energy drinks, have built highly successful community links where others have failed using a traditional marketing approach.

Summary
Many organisations fail to realise that the complexities of sales performance measures go beyond the gathering and reporting of data and a number of factors can make it problematic. The measures should not focus solely on financial indicators, yet stakeholder demands can often lead to organisations implementing a number of measures without recognising the limitations they might have. Using evidence-based principles, this article offers some key guidelines for implementing sales performance measurement systems to help ensure that the measures ultimately result in improved performance.

Summary
Companies that were once product-driven are finding themselves offering solutions or services to customers. The increasing cost and difficulty of obtaining new customers and retaining them has led to greater investment in building long-term relationships. This article looks at some examples of companies, such as Apple with its Genius Bar or Ikea, with its flatpack furniture assembly service, who are developing interesting solutions or added-value service offerings to build customer loyalty. It also examines how marketers can develop and promote their own solutions based on a better understanding of their customers' decision-making processes.

Summary
The number of customers who are prepared to complain is rising. Effective complaint handling can drive business improvement, improve internal communications and increase operational efficiency. And handling complaints well is one way of ensuring customer loyalty. However, only around 50% of complainants report a satisfactory resolution to their problem. This article looks at why complaints might be badly handled by an organisation and proposes ways to improve customer relations. Dell and Ryanair are among the brands identified as providing poor customer service while American Express and Cathay Pacific are some of the brands identified as getting it right.

Summary
A green brand strives to have the following attributes: ecological, equitable and economic. Research conducted by Cranfield School of Management and elsewhere indicates that successful marketing of a green brand involves three steps: gathering insight into consumer practices; developing sustainable brand propositions; and delivering and communicating green values. This article explains the best practice to follow to achieve these three steps.

Summary
Integrated marketing communications has changed dramatically with the growth of the internet, from outbound 'push-only' communications to a combination with inbound 'pull'. The growth of accessible consumer information through schemes such as loyalty programmes and cookies on websites enabled marketers to have a new view of the consumer. As data analytics and cloud computing become even more critical elements of IMC, this article analyses how to maximise its potential.

Summary
Some brands, such as Apple and L'Oreal, have very successful brand portfolios, while others get it wrong with a brand architecture that is a confusing mess of sub-brands. This article advises how to make brand portfolios interesting, while still being able to speak to the target consumer audience. Suggested strategy includes to build from the commercial priorities of the business, demonstrate a unique point of view, assign clear roles for growth, establish a simple hierarchy, employ imaginative visual and verbal signposts and encourage play and creativity.

Summary
Whatever you call it, there is no standard definition of brand positioning, or the process of setting out what a brand promises to stand for in the eyes of its target consumer. Brand positioning is often made up of component parts which include: brand proposition, character, essence, values and benefits. This article offers guidance on understanding the process and puts forward a framework from which to write a decent brand positioning statement.