Do you know what customers value now?Profiting from shifting consumer behaviors

Brand Stimulus Series 1

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In this series, you’ll learn how we’ve developed branding solutions that have stimulated growth for some remarkable businesses around the world.

Keep your head down. Work harder. Brace for the storm. Expect hard times. These are some of the tough messages we've become used to receiving on a daily basis. Perhaps worse, no one knows when the mood will brighten. Is it any wonder people are worn out? Still, in every stage of the economic cycle, there are opportunities for those who are alert and adaptable – poised to make changes as the competitive context shifts.

Today, consumers are considering value more thoughtfully than ever and redefining what value means to them. What does value mean in your industry? More importantly, what does it mean to each of your customers? How do you know which customer group, and which notion of value, is most important to stimulating the growth of your business? If you could understand these shifting attitudes towards value, what would you do differently? What factors would guide your decisions today?

Economic conditions have forced many companies to make tough decisions to control costs, including reductions in their workforce. While these measures may be critical for keeping the business afloat, they can be demoralizing for the team that remains. Trying to introduce changes that will inspire and engage customers when employees aren’t inspired or engaged is going to be challenging. So when it comes to stimulating your business, brand can be the critical lever you need to propel and guide innovation that is relevant to your customers.

As the current economic cycle unfolds, customers can shift allegiance quickly. Remaining inactive while waiting for a recovery or leading indicators to start pointing up just isn’t an option. Get out in the field now and become reacquainted with your customers. What you need to do to stimulate your business should be based on insights into their changing perceptions of a reasonable exchange of value between you and them.

Rather than attempting to develop strategies and tactics based on industry or macroeconomic trends, use your brand as a beacon for change – it represents who you authentically are as a business – and let it guide how you will be ready to meet the evolving needs of your customers.

A great brand stimulus is going to be different for everyone. To gain insights into what your customers value, and be able to act confidently on that information, you need to clearly understand what’s important to them. Use your brand to stimulate the kind of change that is right for you as an organization and for your customers. Spend the time and effort to deepen the relationships with your customers so that your brand will retain their trust and loyalty.

Redefining relevance and valueInterbrand had the opportunity to help a global mid-market hotel business gain a deep understanding of what value means to their guests, and make smart decisions that repositioned their brand for growth.

After its 50-year reign as a global hospitality leader, this hotel company found itself losing momentum with the lucrative business traveller. Despite good financials for more than 3,000 properties worldwide and aggressive new property rollout plans, competitors were gaining ground. But it wasn’t just competitive pressure that was motivating the company to make changes.

Does your business need a brand stimulus?

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We helped a global mid-priced hotel brand gain a deep understanding of what value means to their customers, and make smart decisions that repositioned their brand for growth.

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Tracking shifts in behaviorIn every region, hotel operators and their teams were noticing significant shifts in the behaviors and preferences of their business traveller guests. Like so many consumers today, this group was revisiting what kinds of features and benefits they wanted, what their basic assumptions of value were in the business travel experience, and what it would take for a hotel to exceed their expectations.

The company knew that it would have to become more responsive to customer needs in an ever-changing industry, but there was a lack of clarity on how to approach what needed be done. What would it take to retain their core business traveller? What was most important to this guest, and how were they missing the mark in delivering it? Could they satisfy them consistently worldwide, or should they cast their net more broadly to try to attract more market segments?

The company needed guidance on how to move forward in a way that would be true to their brand and relevant to their customers’ changing needs. It was critical to understand how to isolate the most profitable opportunities to create value for customers.

While crafting an aggressive new vision for the company, Interbrand’s team set out to discover where value really lived for hotel guests: the moments where delivery of the brand promise would have the biggest impact on the guest, and ultimately the bottom line.

We applied analytical rigor to delve deep into the competitive context and uncover what the hotel brand would have to do differently to succeed. Research was done with hotel employees in three global regions to uncover business insights (such as cultural beliefs, business needs and franchisee relationship information) essential in crafting a business case for change. In addition to the company's consumer data, Interbrand added the vital missing element: emotions. Guests’ emotional responses were drawn out with the help of environmental designers, and ethnography studies assessed guest behavior, from receptivity to hotel signage on the highway, to non-verbal cues between guests and hotel staff. Target segment customers documented their overnight stays to uncover pain points and satisfiers.

Revitalizing the brand experienceLeveraging multiple data inputs, Interbrand synthesized customer needs, emotions and desires into an actionable plan to transform the guest experience. We reviewed potential brand strategies by filtering them through current positioning, customer needs, experiential research, brand expression, and regional adaptation to deter-mine which ideas would align best with the brand and the business. A customer experience map detailed guest activities and emotions, and when matched with potential brand innovations and optimized experiences, resulted in the most fruitful ideas for quick wins and long-term, strategic decisions.

What emerged was a clear sense of the highest priority target for the brand: the “everyday hero”. This is the hard-working traveller who wants a hotel experience that’s unpretentious, trustworthy, connected, stylish, and gives them more control over their stay. By defining the “everyday hero” and his ideal experience, the hotel had the ability to make decisions based on realizing that experience. They then needed to equip and engage everyone in the organization, at every hotel, to use the brand as a guide for consistent delivery of a remarkable experience.

While the new brand positioning influenced decisions about hundreds of critical touchpoints, it was also brought to life in ways that would best fulfill the emotional needs of customers. In the hotel industry, friendly service is the expectation. Being

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Want to find out more? Please contact us.bev.tudhope@interbrand.com416 628 2060

ted.graham@interbrand.com416 628 2080

www.interbrand.com

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able to deliver a unique service that supports the “everyday hero” was necessary to make the brand experience exceptional. To dominate the mid-market space by consistently delivering the genuine service the brand aspired to own, each employee had to understand how to shift their current behaviors to ones that were more approachable and straightforward.

Today, value has to be proven to every stakeholder. The new hotel brand was brought to life for employees, customers and executives – and even shareholders. At an investors’ conference, the brand was creatively introduced in an experiential exhibit. Investors were thrilled to be able to absorb a whole new atmosphere around the revitalized brand. They were able to experience the “moments” where customer-focused innovations have the strongest emotional impact, sustain satisfaction, and drive the greatest differentiation.

As marketplace dynamics continue to impact this global hospitality business, main-taining relevance and growth will depend on the company’s ability to remain true to its brand and continue to deliver an experience that is aligned with changing customer needs.

Read the entire Brand Stimulus Series

1. Do you know what customers value now? Profiting from shifting consumer behaviors.

2. Brand portfolio management: Now is the time to prune and grow.

3. Delivering the brand experience. Is your organization aligned to meet its promises to customers?

4. Is your marketing measurement just good enough? Getting better information to optimize your marketing mix.

Sure, it’s messy out there. Many of the brands customers used to trust have caused them to question their loyalty. But they won’t feel differ-ently until they have a reason to believe things can be different – and better.

At Interbrand, we believe it’s up to brands to re-establish confidence by creating real value for customers and going beyond expectations to deliver experiences that delight and inspire. By leveraging fact-based and actionable insights to guide business decisions, you can create remarkable brand experiences that foster trust and loyalty. We can stimulate business growth in ways you might never have considered.

What kind of stimulus will help you get the most value out of your brand?

Interbrand started in 1974 when the world still thought of brands as just another word for logo.

We have changed the world’s view of branding and brand management by creating and managing brands as valuable business assets.

We now have nearly 40 offices and are the world’s largest brand consultancy.

We bring together a diverse range of insightful thinkers making our business both rigorously analytical and highly creative.

Interbrand has the broadest geographical presence – offering more people, more disciplines, and more knowledge tailored to our clients. Our work goes deeper and further.

We create and manage brand value by making the brand central to the business’s strategic aims. We’re not interested in simply being the world’s biggest brand consultancy. We want to be the most valued.

Key takeaways

• Regardless of economic conditions, there are ways to capture opportuni-ties through addressing changing customer needs.

• Understanding shifting perceptions of value will inform the changes to your brand experience that will be most relevant to your customers.

• Leveraging your brand internally and externally to stimulate both employee and customer engagement will posi-tively impact business performance.