Marketers, How Technology Enhances Creativity?

Marketers, in a world of Big Data and AI, you will have to rely less on intuition and judgement.

in a virtual world of infinite abundance, only creativity could ever be in short supply

“Technology does not quell creativity, in fact, there’s a great deal of evidence that suggests that technology enhances creativity.  Certainly, we are expected to be more creative in our working lives than a generation ago.  The truth is that by expanding possibilities and automating part of the creative process, we can all be more creative and productive.”

— https://www.forbes.com/sites/gregsatell/2014/01/27/how-technology-enhances-creativity/#762d46393f50

5 actions should be taken:

1. Defining The Creative Process
2. Technology Eradicates Barriers To Creative Excellence
3. Mixing And Remixing
4. Simulating Failure
5. The Rise of the Creative Class

More on Forbes: How Technology Enhances Creativity

Comment l'Intelligence Artificielle investit-elle les Magasins? (E-MARKETING)

Source: E-MARKETING 

Are you ready with AI in your stores?

L'intelligence artificielle (IA) fait les gros titres, et pour cause : 2 017 devrait être l'année de l'adoption "massive" de cette discipline par les entreprises. Pour ne pas rater le virage de cette transformation numérique, les marques devraient pouvoir compter sur Microsoft, positionné "dans une démarche de démocratisation de l'intelligence artificielle et d'intégration dans les processus métiers", affirme Laurence Lafont, directrice de la division Marketing & Operations de Microsoft France, lors d'une conférence de presse organisée par l'entreprise informatique, le 10 janvier.

Dernier exemple en date, annoncé lors de l'édition 2 017 du CES de Las Vegas : l'intégration de Cortana (IA de Microsoft) au sein des voitures Nissan - ainsi, cette IA agit comme un copilote attentionné, capable de proposer un itinéraire bis ou de penser à l'entretien du véhicule, par exemple. Mais, à quelques jours de l'ouverture de la NRF Retail's BIG Show 2017, le 15 janvier, ce sont les bénéfices sur le secteur du retail et de l'expérience client que Microsoft a souhaité démontrer.

Tendance 1 : la reconnaissance faciale

"L'intelligence artificielle offre une expérience multicanal plus personnalisée et personnelle entre la marque et ses clients, explique Laurence Lafont. L'une des illustrations en est la reconnaissance faciale, qui permet, par exemple, de reconnaître un client déjà venu en magasin." La technologie "Realtime Crowd Insights" développée par Microsoft, offre ainsi aux retailers l'opportunité d'effectuer une analyse statistique de la fréquentation de leurs magasins, en temps réel, et sans stocker d'informations, et d'identifier le sexe, la tranche d'âge ou les émotions du client - 7 émotions sont repérables. L'avantage : "Il s'agit d'orienter le bon vendeur vers le client, ainsi que d'adapter son comportement du vendeur à l'état d'esprit du consommateur", fait part Christophe Rit, consultant en transformation et conseiller des directions d'entreprises de Microsoft France.

Microsoft va plus loin et propose avec "Mall kiosk" la recommandation de produits sur la base de la reconnaissance faciale ou vocale des individus et de leurs réactions.

Tendance 2 : les bots

L'intelligence artificielle se branche également sur les messageries instantanées. Microsoft recommande ainsi aux marques "d'utiliser ces agents conversationnelspour faire venir les utilisateurs en magasin". Pour être performant, "il est important que le bot conserve l'historique de la conversation", conseille Christophe Rit, qui rappelle qu'en 2020, "selon le cabinet de conseil en stratégie Frost & Sullivan, l'expérience client sera jugée plus importante que le prix du produit ou le produit en lui-même". Et l'intelligence artificielle est déjà une réalité : aux États-Unis, les commandes prises au drive de McDonald, ne le sont plus par un vendeur... mais, par un robot.

Tendance 3 : les offres en temps réel

Pour proposer une expérience personnalisée, les retailers doivent également s'appuyer sur la data : celle issue des cartes de fidélité (âge, sexe, identité), mais, également, de la catégorie d'achat la plus fréquente, de géolocalisation indoor et outdoor, de transactions, de comportement de l'acheteur... sans oublier les données exogènes, à l'instar de la météo. À partir de celles-ci, les marques ont les moyens de proposer des réductions, comme des coupons numériques. À l'instar du dispositif de vitrine interactive mise en oeuvre par les marques du groupe Beaumanoir, Cache Cache et Bonobo. L'idée : les passants interagissent avec l'écran situé dans la vitrine, à distance de celui-ci, et "habillent" virtuellement par le geste le mannequin de son choix. À la clé, les marques offrent des coupons de réduction à utiliser en boutique.

Tendance 4 : l'empowerment des vendeurs

Grâce à leurs terminaux mobiles, les vendeurs peuvent avoir, en temps réel, des informations sur leurs clients, leurs produits, leurs stocks... ou leurs équipes. Aux États-Unis, la Maison du Chocolat a ainsi transformé la documentation en sa possession (présentation, catalogue de produits...) en une application disponible sur quelques bornes de son magasin new-yorkais. Objectif : initier l'acte de vente avec l'acheteur.

Quatrième révolution industrielle : comment s’imposer ?

Changement de croissance, évolution des attentes, multiplication de la concurrence… Nous sommes au cœur d’une quatrième révolution industrielle qui oblige l’entrepreneur à revoir en profondeur sa copie. Laurent Bouty décrypte pour nous cette nouvelle révolution et les stratégies à adopter pour s’y imposer.

La croissance digitale s’est imposée… Avec elle, de nouvelles équations ont vu le jour. Les résoudre n’est pas tâche facile et c’est aujourd’hui le véritable défi des entreprises.

Après s’être chargé du marketing de grandes entreprises, Laurent Bouty porte plusieurs casquettes. Il est Directeur académique à la Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management où il dirige un Advanced Master in Creativity & Marketing, il est également partenaire chez Futurelab (cabinet en conseils qui aide les marques à être plus proches de leurs clients), et il est responsable d’une nouvelle agence qui accompagne les entreprises à penser leur futur… Il est donc, vous l’avez compris, particulièrement bien informé sur les nouvelles règles qui régissent notre économie et les méthodes incontournables pour les apprivoiser.

Nouveaux clients et dématérialisation

"La croissance, une fois qu’on y a goûté, on ne peut plus s’en passer ! Au cœur de notre monde capitaliste, on a pris l’habitude que, l’année suivante, on fera toujours mieux que l’année précédente. C’était une quête envisageable lorsque la population augmentait et que l’accessibilité aux produits n’était pas généralisée… Mais aujourd’hui, tous les produits sont accessibles à tout le monde et la population croît moins vite."

Ils veulent l’abondance, mais plus de gaspillage. Ils veulent la vérité, on ne peut plus leur mentir. Ils recherchent la proximité avec le producteur…

À ce constat dressé par Laurent Bouty s’ajoute le fait que les clients ne sont plus les mêmes : "aspirationnels, ils mélangent matérialisme à des aspirations sociales et environnementales… Ils veulent l’abondance, mais plus de gaspillage. Ils veulent la vérité, on ne peut plus leur mentir. Ils recherchent la proximité avec le producteur, l’accès à tout. Et ils veulent que les marques leur fassent du bien, qu’elles limitent leur impact sur l’environnement par exemple." Si elles ne se conforment pas à ces exigences, les entreprises perdent des clients.

"Partout et à tout moment, des grandes marques annoncent leur disparition ou une baisse d’effectifs. Il faut se réinventer…"

Vient s’y greffer une quatrième révolution industrielle : si la transformation de la matière première était le moteur de la croissance du 20e siècle, elle fait place aujourd’hui à la dématérialisation. Cette capacité à passer du physique au non physique révolutionne, entre autres, l’énergie, les transports et les communications. Elle perturbe toute l’activité économique et place sur un piédestal les acteurs proposant un impact neutre sur la planète. "Ainsi, le succès du passé n’est plus une garantie du futur. Partout et à tout moment, des grandes marques annoncent leur disparition ou une baisse d’effectifs. Il faut se réinventer… Nous y sommes forcés !"

Les cinq conseils pour sortir du lot

"Il faut être clair, choisir précisément son modèle et son idéologie, se concentrer sur qui l’on est vraiment."

Un nouveau modèle économique s’impose, les entrepreneurs doivent le comprendre et s’adapter. D’autant qu’il a entraîné, dans pratiquement tous les domaines, une concurrence accrue issue des quatre coins de la planète, ainsi qu’une quasi-disparition de la pénurie. Si les entreprises disposent toujours des mêmes leviers pour interpeller et marquer les esprits (à savoir le prix, l’émotion et la nouveauté), elles sont aussi contraintes à se battre autrement.

Laurent Bouty conseille alors cinq armes qu’il est nécessaire de maîtriser pour sortir du lot :

1. "Être sérieux face à ces changements, ne pas les prendre à la légère, et donc mettre les moyens humains et financiers pour les appréhender.

2. Être clair, choisir précisément son modèle et son idéologie, se concentrer sur qui l’on est vraiment.

3. La générosité paye ! Ce qui ne signifie pas forcément qu’il faut faire des cadeaux matériels aux clients… Leur permettre de gagner du temps et de se sentir utiles sont, par exemple, des présents très appréciés.

4. Prendre en compte l’impact de son activité sur l’environnement au sens large… D’autant plus qu’aujourd’hui, tout se sait.

5. Demain appartient à ceux qui le préparent aujourd’hui !"

Marketing Strategy in Context

If you want to design the marketing strategy for your business, you should first start to analyse where you will play. What does it mean? It means that your product/service will be associated by consumers/buyers with other alternatives they have on the market (maybe no alternative exists which means that you creating a new category also referred as a blue ocean).

The Context of your Marketing strategy is the first element you analysed with the Marketing Canvas Method. It is composed by 3 distinctive elements: Category, Competitors and Trends (questions 1 & 3).

Marketing Canvas Method in 10 questions

The key questions you should ask yourself before you investigate what might be your scenarios for your strategy.

1. Identify the strategy where you would like to play. TESLA could have chosen the category where most of the electrical car offers where made. TESLA decided to enter the Segment F (Luxury saloon / full-size luxury sedan).

2. Key needs. What are the identified needs that customers/buyers are addressing when buying products/services in this category (pains/gains/functional needs).

3. Competitors. If not you, you else? It could be a competitor or a substitute. In the segment F, key competitors of TESLA are: BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, Lexus, Audi, Porsche….

4. Rules of the category like average price, core features and add-ons, payment scheme/subscription model, buyer power. Price of a Porsche is around 100k€ which is the starting price point where TESLA positioned itself.

5. Category dynamic. What is the state of the category (few buyers/consumers or the market is saturated).

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Marketing Strategy in Context

Examples:

• Tesla has decided to enter the luxury segment where no real electrical car offer did exist (key needs were speed, design, social recognition).

• Dove entered the cosmetic category where many alternatives existed

• Apple entered the portable music device (with iPod) where the current offers where based on features and technologies but latent motives existed (social recognition, design and simplicity).

So before you investigate which options you should follow, you need first to answer these questions because it will set the scene. Then you can start investigating your scenarios using the Marketing Canvas Method.

How to get real insights for your Marketing Strategy?

Richard Thorogood of Colgage-Palmolive describes how new technology is transforming market research, and how firms will need to adapt.

What has been the strategy for Airbnb to understand its customers and adapt to their needs? Chip Conley, Head of Hospitality at Airbnb, explains the process to achieve this

Using a real-world case study featuring one of the most iconic brands in clothing (Timberland), TEC Executive-in-Residence Kurian Tharakan shows how this clothing giant leveraged the motives, needs, wants and desires of their core customer.

Malcolm Gladwell gets inside the food industry's pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce -- and makes a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness.

Insights in the Marketing Canvas

What is Revenues in the Marketing Canvas?

When you start working on your Marketing Strategy, I recommend that you first discuss the REVENUES. Why? At the end of your exercise, your actions and recommendations aim to support and justify your budget. In simple word, the business world cares about the numbers and the role of the strategy is to give enough confidence that the organisation will deliver it. Thus let's start this exercise from the REVENUES.

Short Term Revenues in Marketing Canvas

When you build a strategy, it would be a big mistake to work only for tomorrow. You have to prepare your futur. Think ahead. Long term like 10 years and ask yourself what your business could look like. Start from there and identify also the revenues risk (e.g. robots will replace functional workers and we have a business of job placement, what does it mean?).

Long Term Revenues in Marketing Canvas

Your revenues are also influenced by the Total Experience you give to your customers/clients. By Total Experience, I mean Customer Interactions, Conversations you have with them, the Purpose of your Brand. The more your Total Experience is strong, the most revenues you can generate (if you monetise it properly)

In the MARKETING CANVAS (if you don't know the Marketing Canvas, just click here), we have 4 main elements driving REVENUES:

1. USERS: How much people/person are effectively paying for your products and services? you might have 1,000 persons or 100,000. It is quite different. Not all companies are capable to answer this question!!  Example: some brands in the retail have no clue who purchase their products because they have no relationship with them.
2. ARPU: ARPU means Average Revenue Per User. The idea behind this acronym is to identify how on average your paid users/customers are spending with you (on a monthly or yearly basis). Example: they all pay a subscription to the gym (20€ per month) and they all drink on average 5 energetic drinks a month @ 1€), so the ARPU is 20€+10€=30€. If only 50% of the paid users are drinking 5 energetic drinks and the other 50% are not, then the ARPU is 50% of 20€ + 50% of 30€= 25€ (getting more complex, hope you are following ;-)
3. LIFETIME: Imagine you lose all your paid users after 1 year (they don't buy anymore), then their lifetime is 1 year. If you lose 50% of your customers each year, their lifetime is 2 years. The lifetime is critical because it defines your recurrent revenues (sometimes called cash cow or matelas business). Not all customers are equal). If you lose high value customers (big spenders) faster then low value, you lose more money.
4. GROWTH: It gives you an idea about how the Market is growing. It is the external factor. It is easier to work in  growing category than in a declining. Therefore you should deeply understand where you play and prepare yourself to enter new growing categories when you feel that the ones where you are currently playing are declining soon.

When you review these elements, the question you should have is:

---

List of questions for assessing your revenues situation using the Customer Lifetime Value

4 questions for your REVENUES in Marketing Canvas

MARKET

1. Do you know if you are in a growing category?
2. Do you know how to increase your market share in your category?
3. Do you know what are your top 3 revenue drivers tomorrow?
4. Do you know what are your top 3 promising revenue drivers in the next 10 years?
5. Do you know how to prepare new revenue drivers for your category?
6. Do you know if you should find a new category for the future?

USERS

1. Are you capable to calculate your revenues per customers/users instead of products ? How much users/customers do you have ? 
2. Do you know how to convert visitors into free users?
3. Do you know how to convert more free users to paid users?
4. Do you know how to accelerate your customer acquisition (traction, velocity) ?
5. Do you know these numbers by customer based percentile ?

ARPU (Average Revenue Per User)

1. Do you know the ARPU of your business activity?
2. Do you know the contribution of each value proposition in this ARPU?
3. Do you know how to increase the number of paid transactions made by your users on a yearly and monthly basis? More cross-sell? More up-sell?
4. Do you know how to protect/increase the average paid price for each transaction ? more premium products? less promotions/discounts ?

LIFETIME

1. Do you know what is the average lifetime of your users? per percentile?
2. Do you know how you can secure & extend the lifetime of your TOP 1% users ?
3. Do you know the churn level of your users? per percentile ? 
4. Do you know what are the drivers of the churn? are you capable to act on them for reducing your churn?

Discover the new version of the Marketing Canvas

I have the pleasure to present you the new version of the Marketing Canvas: MARKETING CANVAS

This content has been updated with the latest version. You can discover all the details on the Marketing Canvas here

The structure and key concepts are still the same but based on the discussions I had during seminars and courses, I have detailed more each dimension in order to make this tool more actionable. Now, each main dimensions of the canvas (like BRAND) is composed of 4 sub-dimensions that will help you when you discussed and analysed this topic. I have also listed key questions you should ask yourself for each sub-dimensions.

The main idea remains the same: Helping you when you build collectively the Marketing Strategy of your business. It works for entrepreneurs but also for corporate. It is strongly inspired and aligned with Business Model Canvas, Value Proposition Canvas from @AlexOsterwalder, Lean Startup from @ericries ‏ and Design Thinking from @ideo ‏.

DETAILED MARKETING CANVAS

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Marketing Canvas 4.0

The Marketing Canvas is composed of 6 main dimensions:

1. 1. Customers: This meta-dimension signals a shift from traditional product-centric marketing (part of the 4P model) to a more human, or customer-centric approach. It aligns with the principles of user-centered design propagated by Alan Cooper. It includes:

   • Job to be Done: Reflecting the principles of Clayton M. Christensen's Jobs to Be Done theory, this assesses the problem your product or service solves for the customer.

   • Aspirations: This measures the alignment of your product or service with the customer's personal goals and dreams.

   • Pains/Gains: This echoes Alexander Osterwalder's Value Proposition Canvas, focusing on the customer's struggles and how your product alleviates them, or the benefits they gain from using your product.

   • Engagement: This measures the level of interaction between your brand and its audience, highlighting the importance of creating strong customer relationships.

   2. Brand: This meta-dimension underscores the importance of brand in marketing, a concept not explicitly covered by the 4P model. It includes:

   • Purpose: This reflects Simon Sinek's "Start With Why" theory, focusing on your brand's mission or reason for being.

   • Positioning: This relates to how your brand differentiates itself from competitors, an idea expanded on by thought leaders like Jack Trout and Al Ries.

   • Values: These are the principles that guide your brand's actions, forming part of your brand's unique personality.

   • Identity: This encompasses the visual and verbal elements that represent your brand, a concept emphasized by marketing guru David Aaker.

   3. Value Proposition: Borrowed from Alexander Osterwalder's Business Model Canvas, this meta-dimension defines why customers should choose your product over others. It includes:

   • Features: These are the functional aspects of your product that address the job to be done.

   • Emotions: This recognizes that emotion is a significant driver of purchasing decisions, a concept championed by scholars like Gerald Zaltman.

   • Prices: This aligns with the 'Price' in the traditional 4P model, but considers pricing relative to value offered and competition.

   • Proofs: These are validations of your value proposition, like testimonials, case studies, or ratings and reviews.

   4. Journey: This meta-dimension replaces the traditional 'Place' concept from the 4Ps and embraces the entirety of the customer's interaction with your brand. It echoes the concept of 'Customer Journey Maps' prevalent in UX design. It includes:

   • Moments: These are the significant touchpoints a customer has with your brand.

   • Experience: This reflects the overall impression that customers get from interacting with your brand, a key concept in the field of Customer Experience (CX) management.

   • Channels: This expands the 'Place' concept of the 4Ps, considering all mediums of customer engagement.

   • Magic: These are the memorable, delightful moments that surprise and exceed customer expectations, often referred to as 'delight factors' in experiential marketing.

   5. Conversation: This meta-dimension replaces traditional 'Promotion' strategies with a focus on meaningful dialogues with customers, aligning with the paradigm shift towards 'Conversational Marketing'. It includes:

   • Listening: This echoes the importance of customer feedback, an idea advocated by thought leaders like Jay Baer. It's about understanding and responding to customer needs and concerns.

   • Content & Stories: This underscores the shift from traditional advertising to storytelling, an idea championed by Seth Godin and other marketing leaders. It's about the narratives your brand shares to engage and resonate with your audience.

   • Media: This expands upon 'Promotion' in the 4P model, considering all platforms or channels used to deliver your content and engage with your audience.

   • Influencers: This reflects the recent rise of influencer marketing as a key promotional strategy, recognizing people who can promote your brand to their audience.

As identified by Rust & al: “once companies make the shift from marketing products to cultivating customers, they will need new metrics to gauge the strategy’s effectiveness”

6. Metrics: This meta-dimension connects your marketing strategy with your performance indicators. It's about monitoring the success of your marketing activities and ensuring alignment with business objectives. It includes:

• User: This metric, often emphasized in digital marketing and growth hacking strategies, refers to the number of people actively using your product or service.

• ARPU (Average Revenue Per User): This metric, common in subscription-based businesses, represents the average revenue generated per user during a specific period.

• Lifetime: Also known as "Customer Lifetime Value" (CLV), this metric is advocated by marketing scholars like Philip Kotler. It estimates the total revenue you can expect from a customer during their entire relationship with your business.

• Budget: This connects with the financial aspect of marketing strategies, focusing on the total money allocated for marketing activities. It's about financial efficiency, monitoring the return on investment (ROI) of your marketing efforts.

MARKETING CANVAS WITH ASSESSMENT

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What is Positioning in Marketing Strategy?

What's the big idea of POSITIONING?

Be clear where you play and how you play! A positioning statement is NOT a brand tagline or a Mantra!

Where do you play?

Where you Play means the category where your products and services will be sold. While the category is something originally designed for managing the relationship between retailer and supplier, the main idea is that you should define the environment where your products/services will be sold (discrete groups of similar products and services).

How do you play?

Positioning could be to make the brand virtually synonymous with the product category so that it is the brand that comes to mind when consumers think of the product. Examples include Xerox, Kleenex, and Scotch tape. Often the brand that stands for the category is the sales and profit leader in that category. In many cases, such a position is gained by being the first brand to aggressively advertise and promote within the product category.

The category is also referred to as frame of reference in the HBR article[4]. 

Brand positioning starts with establishing a frame of reference, which signals to consumers the goal they can expect to achieve by using a brand. In some cases, the frame of reference is other brands in the same category.

A good positioning statement makes it clear who the customer is and what business problem they need to solve. If you do a good job of defining the customer problem, you don’t need to describe your product. The customer will want to learn more in the next conversation. Harvard

Effective positioning should be simple, meaningful, and unique. Simple concepts such as "thickest ketchup" (Heinz), "easy to use" (Macintosh computers), and "tough off-road" (Jeep) are easier than more complex formulations for consumers to process and associate with the brand name.

Positioning must also be meaningful to the target audience. Positioning such as "comfortable jeans for women" (Lee jeans) and "inexpensive air travel" (Southwest Airlines) work well to the extent that these concepts strike a responsive chord with target customers.

A good positioning statement makes it clear who the customer is and what business problem they need to solve (HBR[3]). If you do a good job of defining the customer problem, you don’t need to describe your product. The customer will want to learn more in the next conversation

Finally, effective positioning should be unique within the product category. The positioning "reliable," for example, can be used in a number of product categories such as watches (Timex), appliances (Maytag), and automobiles (Honda). But within any single category, it is difficult for two brands to own the same concept in consumers' minds.

Rules of the Game

1. It is simple, memorable, and tailored to the target market.

2. It starts with the customer problem and not from the product.

3. It has a clear frame of reference.

4. It has clear points of parity with other brands from the same frame of reference.

5. It provides an unmistakable and easily understood picture of your brand that differentiates it from your competitors (points of difference).

6. It is credible, and your brand can deliver on its promise.

7. Your brand can be the sole occupier of this particular position in the market. You can “own” it.

8. It helps you evaluate whether or not marketing decisions are consistent with and supportive of your brand.

9. It leaves room for growth.

Template

For [insert Target Market], the [insert Brand] is the [insert Point of Differentiation] among all [insert Frame of Reference] because [insert Reason to Believe].

For [your target] who wants / needs [reason to buy your product/service], the [your product or service] is a [category] that provides [your key benefit]. Unlike [your main competitor], the [your product/service] [your key differentiator]

Questions you could ask

source: Market Positioning Strategy Guide

Examples

ZipCar: To urban-dwelling, educated techno-savvy consumers [target], when you use Zipcar car-sharing service instead of owning a car [competitive frame], you save money while reducing your carbon footprint [points of difference].

Gazelle: At Gazelle, we pay you for the cell phones, iPads, Macs,and other Apple devices you no longer need—helping you upgrade faster or just putting a little extra cash in your pocket.

Amazon (2001): For World Wide Web users who enjoy books, Amazon.com is a retail bookseller that provides instant access to over 1.1 million books. Unlike traditional book retailers, Amazon.com provides a combination of extraordinary convenience, low prices, and comprehensive selection.

Pitfalls as described in HBR[4]

1. Companies sometimes try to build brand awareness before establishing a clear brand position. You have to know who you are before you can convince anyone of it. Many dot-coms know this pitfall well. A number of them spent heavily on expensive television advertising without first being clear about what they were selling.

2. Companies often promote attributes that consumers don’t care about. The classic example: For years, companies that sold analgesics claimed their brands were longer lasting than others. Eventually, they noticed that consumers wanted faster relief more than sustained relief.

3. Companies sometimes invest too heavily in points of difference that can easily be copied. Positioning needs to keep competitors out, not draw them in. A brand that claims to be the cheapest or the hippest is likely to be leapfrogged.

4. Certain companies become so intent on responding to competition that they walk away from their established positions. General Mills used the insight that consumers viewed honey as more nutritious than sugar to successfully introduce the Honey Nut Cheerios product-line extension. A key competitor, Post, decided to respond by repositioning its Sugar Crisp brand, changing the name to Golden Crisp and dropping the Sugar Bear character as spokesman. But the repositioned brand didn’t attract enough new customers, and its market share was severely diminished.

5. Companies may think they can reposition a brand, but this is nearly always difficult and sometimes impossible. Although Pepsi-Cola’s fresh, youthful appeal has been a key branding difference in its battle against Coca-Cola, the brand has strayed from this focus several times in the past two decades, perhaps contributing to some of its market share woes. Every attempt to reposition the brand has been followed by a retreat to the former successful positioning. Brand positioning is a tough task. Once you’ve found one that works, you may need to find a modern way to convey the position, but think hard before you alter it.

In the Marketing Canvas

In the Marketing Canvas Process (more information here), you have to clarify your hypothesis for achieving your revenue goals.

You have 3 potential scenarios, non-exclusive for achieving this: GET, KEEP, and/or MORE (read our article on scenarios).

You should also define the underlying hypotheses of these scenarios: Your positioning as a player (leader, challenger, or game-changer), reasons to believe (brand, differentiation in VP), and your pricing position (cheaper, market price, premium).

More on this...

1. http://blog.ecornell.com/how-to-write-market-positioning-statements/

2. https://blog.udemy.com/positioning-statement-example/

3. https://www.extension.harvard.edu/professional-development/blog/creating-positioning-statement-position-problem-not-product

4. https://hbr.org/2002/09/three-questions-you-need-to-ask-about-your-brand

A New Whole Brain Customer Experience

Reposted from https://www.spencerstuart.com/research-and-insight/whole-brain-marketing

Sid McGrath, Chief Strategy Officer, Karmarama

A consequence experience

The customer experience for brands is driven by consequence: when customers have a good experience they continue to engage with the brand; if the experience is bad they disengage, often telling others about their disappointment and spreading a message of general discontent.

This makes for some pretty precarious brand relationships. However, the issue that so far no-one seems to be addressing is that the very notion of the customer experience is fundamentally flawed.

A disconnected, transactional experience

Marketing leaders see customer experience as their number one priority, but they are rarely in control of all of it, or even enough of it to make a difference. Recent focus on using digital technology to influence customer purchasing decisions is causing some companies to concentrate too narrowly on the customer’s interaction with a brand at the moment of sale. These ‘experiences’ can be relentlessly sales-focused and annoyingly interruptive. Organisations calling themselves customer experience experts encourage companies to increase the number of transactional messages, but is this really leading to better, worthwhile and relevant experiences for the customer? The fact is that global use of adblockers is rising while trust in brands is rapidly declining.

Reducing a person’s relationship to a brand solely to that of a ‘customer’ demonstrates a lack of understanding about the role that brands actually play in our lives. A transactional focus also shows a brand’s hand: their audience is perceived as a wallet ready to be picked or a purse ready to be opened, rather than a person to be understood, respected and served.

A human experience

What then is the answer? To start with, people must be respected as human beings with fairly low thresholds for unwanted buying messaging. This doesn’t mean no messaging; it means messaging that is empathetic to the individual and to the context. With this in mind the customer experience can then be reimagined as the human experience, from CX to HX, where a brand’s pathway into people’s lives is fully understood and delivered with relevance rather than persistence.

The transactional experience previously locked into consumption and category gives way to one that connects with culture and allows for meaningful, useful and relevant communication, with the selling left to the right place and the right time.

A fully-connected experience

If the human experience is the answer, how do we get there? Again, it’s about understanding how humans, and more specifically, how our brains, work.

The brain is an astonishingly connected piece of hardware. As much as we may try and separate it into left and right hemisphere, or occipital and frontal lobes, or neocortex and limbic system, every part of the human brain is connected to another part to improve its understanding and response towards any situation. This connection ensures an integrated response, a mix of logical and emotional consideration, instinct and intelligence.

The interconnectedness of the brain serves as a model for understanding how to create better, balanced and truly human experiences for brands. Approaching any experience with a whole-brain mentality means finding a way to connect everything with everything, from consumption to category to culture. This is how humans see their world — fully connected — so it stands to reason that it’s also how they should engage with their brands and how brands should engage with them.

Now consider once again the classic customer experience — an experience that ushers customers through the consumption and category phases of their relationship with a brand, but stops short of connecting to the culture of the wider life they lead.

Without the insight and intelligence required to understand the implications — the consequences — of the brand experience, the experience itself breaks or, worse, is biased towards buying rather than being. This is the fundamental reason why customer experiences are disconnected.

A meaningful experience

Once a brand is able to connect to a person’s wider life, understand and respect them as a human rather than a data point or part of an algorithm, and can connect that back to the category and consumption phase of the relationship, there emerges a new type of powerful, meaningful, connected human experience — one that people will actually want rather than one that will frustrate them.

So, paradoxically, we don’t live in the age of the customer; they are not “king”, “queen” or “the answer”. We need to move to the age of human, to human-centricity where what the human wants and needs can be fully, relevantly connected to the relationship that brands want to have.

What are the Benefits of Simplicity in Marketing?

Following Leonardo Da Vinci, Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. It is not a given, it doesn't come like that, unfortunately. Some says that it is one of the most complicated skills.

Do you think Simplicity is important for your Marketing? Is it a compulsory process for being successful with your Marketing? Why some Brands are capable to be extremely simple while others are complex, sometimes leading to confusion or frustration? Let's investigate.

What do we mean by being Simple or Simplicity?

Before finding out if Simplicity is important, let's have a common understanding of what Simplicity is! Some external definitions could help us.

Quality or condition of being easy to understand or do (1)

Simplicity lies at the intersection of remarkably clear and unexpectedly fresh. Brands that deliver clear, human and useful experiences—win (2) 

The question is then the following: Do we believe that being remarkably clear and easy to understand is impacting positively the efficiency and effectiveness of our Marketing actions? Differently said, if we are complex and unclear, do we have a worst ROI?

Some facts...

61% - The percentage of consumers who are more likely to recommend a brand because it provides simpler experiences and communications (2)

64% -The percentage of consumers willing to pay more for simpler experiences (2)

62% -Employees who can be considered Brand Champions in companies perceived to be simple (2)

© Crazyegg.com - Why is Apple’s Marketing Just So Darn Good?

The single biggest driver of stickiness, by far, was “decision simplicity”—the ease with which consumers can gather trustworthy  information about a product and confidently and efficiently weigh their purchase options. What consumers want from marketers is, simply, simplicity. (3)

A recent A.T. Kearney analysis estimates that, on average, systematic complexity management can lead to an upturn in EBIT of 3 to 5 percentage points. A.T. Kearney estimates the additional EBIT potential for DAX companies alone to be worth more than €30 billion overall.

We can say that there is a consensus about the impact of simplicity on company performance (commercially and financially).

Now that we have validated the fact that Simplicity delivers Value, the question is what should I do for making it happen (just do it might not work without some help)? 

Some tips that might help you...

Simplicity doesn’t mean being boring. It is just being clear and consistent. I have noticed that marketers like to start new things but are easily bored when they have to manage existing business. This propensity to launch continuously new concepts might be a root cause for creating complexity and confusion. Let’s think about VW Golf. It is still the same concept but continuously improved. It gives a lot of confidence to customers and clients. It is clear and remarkably fresh because the concept is revisited at each new release. Ensure that you have enough people in your team working on making the existing great, delivering fantastic basics!

Management could be an issue as well. Team members want to demonstrate their creativity and leadership which push them to promote new things. It is good as long as we keep the consistency of the portfolio. Ensure that you give enough recognition to people that deliver easy and useful experiences to your customers more than permanently releasing new concepts on the market.

Be customer centric. We see it more and more hopefully but when you start from product features most of the times you are talking product and not consumer language. It is a real barrier to simplicity. Ensure you always start from consumer needs and talk their language when you build something.

Technology astuteness. Big issue is when Marketers have no clue how the concept will be built! This major gap between idea and technological feasibility leads to endless discussion between production and marketing teams. We see at the end of these discussions the creation of a Frankenstein, a monster product, something you would never do normally. Ensure you have marketers that understand how products are built and use lean/agile methodologies for building new concepts.

Ensure to revisit permanently your portfolio and ask yourself the following questions: how to make it effortless, more simple to understand, more easy to use, more easy to buy, what can we remove, what can we stop doing, …

Consider working in releases. What does it mean? You define 3 months release where you list a number of changes you would like to do on your product for improving it. It can be small changes or global revisit. This will help you structurally to manage the evolution of your product portfolio. Ensure to work in release mode as it will help you balancing improvements and innovation in a consistent way.

Finally, ensure that YOU ARE SIMPLE in the way you work, communicate, manage. Don’t forget LESS IS MORE.

Sources

1. Cambridge dictionary
2. Siegel+Gate (2017) - Global Brands Simplicity Index - http://simplicityindex.com/
3. Harvard Business Review - Patrick Spenner, Karen Freeman - To keep your customers, keep it simple - 
4. ATKearney (2007) - How Much Does Complexity Really Cost?

Credit

photo from amazing unsplash.com, igor ovsyannykov

Comment créer de la croissance dans la troisième révolution industrielle?

"La croissance digitale s’est imposée… Avec elle, de nouvelles équations ont vu le jour. Les résoudre n’est pas tâche facile et c’est aujourd’hui le véritable défi des entreprises."

Après s’être chargé du marketing de grandes entreprises, Laurent Bouty porte plusieurs casquettes. Il est Directeur académique à la Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management où il dirige un Advanced Master in Creativity & Marketing, il est également partenaire d’une nouvelle agence qui accompagne les entreprises à penser leur futur (The Beyonders)… Il est donc, vous l’avez compris, particulièrement bien informé sur les nouvelles règles qui régissent notre économie et les méthodes incontournables pour les apprivoiser.

Nouveaux clients et dématérialisation

"La croissance, une fois qu’on y a goûté, on ne peut plus s’en passer ! Au cœur de notre monde capitaliste, on a pris l’habitude que, l’année suivante, on fera toujours mieux que l’année précédente. C’était une quête envisageable lorsque la population augmentait et que l’accessibilité aux produits n’était pas généralisée… Mais aujourd’hui, tous les produits sont accessibles à tout le monde et la population croît moins vite.".

À ce constat dressé par Laurent Bouty s’ajoute le fait que les clients ne sont plus les mêmes : "aspirationnels, ils mélangent matérialisme à des aspirations sociales et environnementales… Ils veulent l’abondance, mais plus de gaspillage. Ils veulent la vérité, on ne peut plus leur mentir. Ils recherchent la proximité avec le producteur, l’accès à tout. Et ils veulent que les marques leur fassent du bien, qu’elles limitent leur impact sur l’environnement par exemple." Si elles ne se conforment pas à ces exigences, les entreprises perdent des clients.

Ils veulent l’abondance, mais plus de gaspillage. Ils veulent la vérité, on ne peut plus leur mentir. Ils recherchent la proximité avec le producteur…

Vient s’y greffer une troisième révolution industrielle : si la transformation de la matière première était le moteur de la croissance du 20e siècle, elle fait place aujourd’hui à la dématérialisation. Cette capacité à passer du physique au non physique révolutionne, entre autres, l’énergie, les transports et les communications. Elle perturbe toute l’activité économique et place sur un piédestal les acteurs proposant un impact neutre sur la planète. "Ainsi, le succès du passé n’est plus une garantie du futur. Partout et à tout moment, des grandes marques annoncent leur disparition ou une baisse d’effectifs. Il faut se réinventer… Nous y sommes forcés !"

Partout et à tout moment, des grandes marques annoncent leur disparition ou une baisse d’effectifs. Il faut se réinventer…

Les cinq conseils pour sortir du lot

Un nouveau modèle économique s’impose, les entrepreneurs doivent le comprendre et s’adapter. D’autant qu’il a entraîné, dans pratiquement tous les domaines, une concurrence accrue issue des quatre coins de la planète, ainsi qu’une quasi-disparition de la pénurie. Si les entreprises disposent toujours des mêmes leviers pour interpeller et marquer les esprits (à savoir le prix, l’émotion et la nouveauté), elles sont aussi contraintes à se battre autrement.

Laurent Bouty conseille alors cinq armes qu’il est nécessaire de maîtriser pour sortir du lot :

1. "Être sérieux face à ces changements, ne pas les prendre à la légère, et donc mettre les moyens humains et financiers pour les appréhender.
2. Être clair, choisir précisément son modèle et son idéologie, se concentrer sur qui l’on est vraiment.
3. La générosité paye ! Ce qui ne signifie pas forcément qu’il faut faire des cadeaux matériels aux clients… Leur permettre de gagner du temps et de se sentir utiles sont, par exemple, des présents très appréciés.
4. Prendre en compte l’impact de son activité sur l’environnement au sens large… D’autant plus qu’aujourd’hui, tout se sait.
5. Demain appartient à ceux qui le préparent aujourd’hui !"

Growth in a Digital World

“By 2020 every business will become a digital predator or digital prey — which will your company evolve into?”

— Forrester

If you are reading this article, you might probably be interested in growing your business. While the question is easy to ask (I remember financial controllers asking me to find extra 3% revenue growth while my corporate building had been attacked by 2000 people and we suffered 50M$ damage), the answer is certainly not so obvious these days!

What growth means?

Before defining the solution, we need to understand the problem. If you want more revenue, you need to play with the following parameters of your revenue equation:

• More paid users than today with same number of transactions: you should have more clients on a yearly basis buying your product and services than last year. It can come from the market (population is growing, available market is important) and/or from your commercial actions (acquisition and retention).
• More transactions than today with same number of users: these clients should spend more on average for each commercial transactions they do with you. This can come from either (1) more products purchased during the transaction (e.g. menu versus separated items) and/or (2) an higher price paid for these products (discounted brand versus premium brand). Usually it comes from your commercial activity (stimulation).
• A positive mix of users and/or transactions: Usually the reality sits in a positive mix between users and transactions (we called it elasticity).

At the end, the combination between users and transactions should generate an higher revenue. This is the only way for generating growth. The last 20 years, we were palying with these combination by IMPROVING our commercial processes (doing better) or EXTENDING it (doing more). It did work primarily because population was growing, people economic power was growing and products were not fully available everywhere. Those days are unfortunately gone.

The thesis I am submitting to you is that for the next decade, it is not sufficient and we can only survive as a company if we CHANGE our commercial processes (new business model). Let's find out if my thesis is right.

Insight 1 - Consumers are Changing

People are changing and I am quite optimistic wth this trend. We can see this as a DES-INDUSTRIALISATION of their consumption habits.

They want abundance but they care about waste. They want you to be genuinely true. They want you to be closer. They want all options. And finally, they want you to positvely contribute to their life and world.

Insight 2 - Your World is Changing

In these days, the old habit of looking at what happened last year and extrapolating commercial figures from these data might not work because we are living in a turbulent period. If you are still doubting that we are living in a turbulent period, I really invite you to read Jeremy Rifkin on the Third Industrial Revolution.

The last century, 12,5% of economical growth can only explained by labour performance and machine capital. The rest (87.5%) was a mystery and commonly referred as "the mesure of our ignorance". After 25 years of investigations, a number of analysts concluded that economic growth could be explained by 3 factors: labour performance, machine capital and energy use. During the last 100 years, we have created economic growth thanks to the combination of electricity grid, telecommunications network, road system and fossil fuel energies. Maybe a little bit simplistic, but I would say: WE CREATED GROWTH BY BURNING THE PLANET.

The fantastic news is that we are entering in a third industrial revolution. This revolution is driven by free energy, automated transportation, internet and dematerialisation.

Insight 3 - You have new competitors

Insight 4 - How will you play the game?

5 Attitudes for creating Growth in a Digital World

View fullsize

If you are not taking this digital revolution seriously (dematerialisation, collaboration, distributed capitalism), you will be most probably a digital prey in the coming years.

As the attention of people is shrinking (we are in an Attention Economy), it is fundamental that you are clear about why people would buy and stay with you (What is your purpose? What job to be done are you in? How do you monetise your activities?).

People and companies are expecting you to be generous because we are in the OUTCOME ECONOMY era where you should help people save time and effort in their daily lives.

Peter Drucker rightly said: "Culture eats strategy at breakfast". It means that even if you have the smartest strategy, you will only be successful if you have the right people and culture for delivering it.

Remember the S-Curve! What you do today, will only generate real results in 2 to 3 years. Start early when you still have time to do it because it is much more difficult when you are running out of cash or profit. 

Ne vendez pas un produit aux clients mais une expérience

Article paru suite à ma conférence chez ING - La semaine de l'entrepreneur en Avril 2016.

Vous êtes-vous déjà demandé pourquoi tel ou tel client ne revenait jamais, bien qu’il ait semblé plutôt satisfait ? Ou peut- être avez-vous déjà vous-même quitté un magasin alors que vous aviez la ferme intention d’y acheter quelque chose ?

« Il y a de fortes chances que l’expérience client n’était pas satisfaisante », explique Laurent Bouty, Academic Director de la Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management (SBS-EM-ULB). La différence entre vos produits et ceux de vos concurrents réside sans doute dans la manière dont votre marque est ressentie. Les expériences vécues par le client sont primordiales, mais le problème est que cette expérience est différente pour chacun. Pensez, par exemple, à la question du prix. Être plus cher que la concurrence n’est pas un problème en soi, à la condition que l’on puisse offrir au client une expérience agréable ou stimulante. Pourquoi certaines marques sont-elles devenues incontournables ? Parce qu’elles vendent en premier lieu des émotions. Et ces émotions deviennent la marque. Dans le cas de Harley Davidson, les gens n’achètent pas un moyen de transport, mais un ticket d’accès à un groupe qui aime l’aventure. Et pour appartenir encore davantage au groupe, il faut acheter en plus de la moto, les vêtements et les accessoires adéquats. Nike ne vend pas des chaussures de course, mais une expérience complète de running. Évidemment, il faut donner au consommateur ce qu’on prétend lui donner. Le produit doit être bon, il n’y a rien de pire qu’un bon marketing pour un mauvais produit. C’est la garantie de ne jamais revoir le client.

Quatre moments de vérité

La bonne nouvelle est qu’en tant que marque, vous avez le contrôle sur ce processus, en jouant sur quatre moments clés : en premier lieu, le consommateur doit avoir conscience que la marque existe (Awareness). Les clients font leurs recherches, en surfant sur l’Internet, en posant des questions à leurs amis. Le mode de recherche varie de produit à produit, de marque à marque. Pour un voyage, les gens s’informent différemment que pour de l’électronique, les marques doivent y réfléchir. Ensuite arrive le moment où le consommateur envisage d’acheter chez vous (Consideration) et puis vient l’acte d’achat en tant que tel (Purchasing). Votre client téléphone et tombe sur une téléphoniste mal lunée ? Ou il entre dans le magasin et a le sentiment que personne ne lui prête attention ?

Ce sont deux occasions manquées ! Enfin, il y a l’expérience du consommateur avec votre produit (Experiences). Si cette expérience est positive, il aura tendance à vouloir la partager sur Facebook. Ou réaliser une petite vidéo explicative. Ou mieux encore, envisager d’acheter des accessoires. Il est donc très important de bien aborder ces quatre moments et de proposer du « contenu » pour ces moments. Du contenu qui correspond à ce que représente la marque et en reflète les valeurs. Pourtant, ce qu’exprime la marque elle-même n’est pas le plus important. Ce qui compte, c’est ce que le client en dit. N’hésitez donc pas à demander au client ce qu’il a pensé d’un produit ou service. Il n’est pas nécessaire de faire de longues enquêtes, une ou deux questions su sent. Ou demandez seulement d’attribuer un score et de l’expliquer en quelques mots.

Être plus cher que la concurrence n’est pas un problème en soi, à la condition que l’on puisse offrir au client une expérience agréable ou stimulante.  Professeur Laurent Bouty - ULB

Une offre réduite mais plus claire

Les clients, qu’ils soient des particuliers ou des entreprises, sont assommés d’informations. Il y a 20 milliards de sites web dans le monde, soit trois fois plus que d’humains sur terre. Et plus chacun hurle pour di user son information gratuitement, plus chacun ferme ses oreilles pour surtout ne rien entendre. Sauf si cela les intéresse très fort bien sûr. Nous avons par conséquent évolué vers une économie où l’attention est devenue une den- rée rare. Et que constatons-nous ? L’attention se dirige vers les entreprises et les marques qui parviennent à garder les choses simples et cohérentes. Ce n’est pas Carrefour qui s’en sort le mieux, mais Colruyt. Chez Colruyt, les choses sont simples. Dès qu’il entre dans le magasin, le client comprend qu’il ne paie pas pour l’esthétique du bâtiment, car l’entreprise a investi son argent ailleurs. Mais le meilleur exemple reste toutefois Apple : leur gamme est réduite et, dès lors, facile à comprendre. VOO également veut apporter de la simplicité à ses clients et a décidé de réduire son offre. Alexandra Guillot (@aguillot), Manager Brand & Sponsoring : « Nous nous distinguons de la concurrence avec une offre limitée à trois formules. En outre, nous nous adressons clairement à la famille d’aujourd’hui. La famille moderne est flexible et évolue en permanence, nous et nos formules aussi. Nous prêtons, par ailleurs, beaucoup d’attention à notre engagement en faveur d’un service après-vente de qualité. Le client sait que nous sommes là pour lui. Une fois que le contrat est signé, le client n’est pas abandonné à son sort. »

Connaissez votre client

Bien connaître le client est effectivement le principe de base de toute marque. C’est la seule façon d’anticiper les attentes du client. Il est donc vital qu’une entreprise se pose les bonnes questions : qui sont mes clients ? Quel est mon terrain d’action ? Qui sont mes concurrents ? Comment vais-je faire la différence ? Et de la réponse à ces questions découle tout le reste. Le fait que ce ne soit pas toujours si simple ressort du témoignage d’Alexandre Helson, Business Developer de la Maison Dandoy, à Bruxelles : « Notre public s’étend des écoliers, qui viennent acheter quelques biscuits, aux grands-mères qui n’achètent qu’un grand spéculoos pour la Saint-Nicolas.

Le dénominateur commun, c’est qu’ils aiment tous les biscuits. Grâce à notre campagne de rebranding, nous avons toutefois réussi à rajeunir notre image, même s’il y a encore du pain sur la planche pour accroître notre notoriété. Actuellement, nous sommes quasiment plus connus à Paris qu’en Flandre ou en Wallonie. À proprement parler, nous sommes les spécialistes des biscuits. Pour notre rebranding, nous avons fait appel à des professionnels externes. Nous avons dû nous habituer à leurs idées, mais quelques années plus tard, nous sommes fiers de ce travail en commun. »

Soyez inventif

Aujourd’hui, peu d’entrepreneurs ont un budget suffisant que pour faire impression avec de grandes campagnes publicitaires. Les entreprises doivent donc être créatives et mettre en œuvre des moyens digitaux pour attirer l’attention de leur public. Elles font ainsi en sorte que leurs clients fassent eux-mêmes la promotion de la marque. Pensez, par exemple, à Facebook, Instagram, les blogs, les lettres d’information, les concours et un service après-vente rapide et efficace. Alexandre Helson : « Nous disposons à peine d’un budget marketing. En tant que « créateur d’émotions », nous misons sur l’humour, par exemple sur notre page Facebook. Et parfois, on attire l’attention de façon involontaire, comme lors de notre dernière campagne pour la Saint-Valentin. Ce furent pour Dandoy et moi-même des semaines très intenses, mais nous osons espérer que notre notoriété en a bénéficié.