The A30 Airbus represented a
colossal shift in strategy for SIA.
No commercial jet this size had ever taken
to the air before. In partnership with Transformations we ran SuperGroups in
Singapore, New York and London to explore how passengers would feel, how they
would divide up their living space on board such an aircraft, and how best to
express SIA Brand excellence in every aspect of interior design. We co-created
with their international celebrity chefs (including Gordon Ramsay!) their
pilots and air crew, ground staff and managers as well as international customers.
We used our unique imagibuilding processes, depth social psychological prospecting and
self-reflective techniques in a rich and thrilling process.
Many rich insights
surfaced which are embedded throughout the plane, nonetheless here is an example
of one theme, how it emerged and subsequently became embodied in the First Class
cabin experience on board the aircraft.
BA, BUPA and VISA SuperGroup Footage
This footage shows three
past clients working with customers facilitated by us using SuperGroup processes.
British Airways QS in partnership with Transformations
to drive insightful innovation throughout the 1990's on numerous projects.
Using our methodology BUPA changed from their strap line "You're amazing, we want to keep you that way"
- an insurance based company whose membership was stagnating because it appeared too exclusive
- to become the "Personal Health Service" across the whole organisation. Based on the insights generated
we trained their sales and service staff, helped facilitate the creation of and experience tested their new products.
Their business has thrived since.
The third client is VISA in San Francisco, and the movie footage speaks for itself.
Holiday Inns Insight Into Service
Training
Researching HI hotels using
an anthropological approach delivered very clear and deep insights.
The brand experience lay in the hands of some of the lowest paid
staff; the smallest jobs carried the biggest responsibilities, staff
needed endless empowered flexibility, and friendliness was a key
asset which required effective management.
This called for a root
and branch revision of customer service training - we co-created and
co-facilitated Welcome Home, a powerful training which was rolled
out across the whole business.
Aquafresh: from 8% to 18% market share in
the first six months!
Problem i) Failing in
the family market ii) Low scientific credentials iii)
Low loyalty iv) Disconnected brand assets.
Action Over a
year working in depth with Mums and Moms in the UK and USA,
using critical discursive psychology, psychoanalytic and
phenomenological research methods and analysis we provided
unprecedented insight into her internal and external worlds
and disocovered the magic keys which reliably win her
attention, mind and custom. This is woven into every level of
brand strategy, NPD, online presence and design. The brand is
now coherent and clear.
Result Aquafresh
moved from 8% to 18% market share in the UK in the first 6
months of launch. Internally it is hailed as ‘the UK miracle’
and continues to grow. The strategy is rolling out across the
globe delivering excellent results.
Nytol: 31%
increase in sales in the first month and sustained growth
thereafter!
Problem Despite several
attempts a well-known OTC sleeping aid had been unable to make
inroads into a potentially lucrative and as yet untapped
market – ‘Non-Treating Considerers’. The brand was in danger
of becoming stagnant and losing its market leadership. We
needed to identify the unconscious psychological factors that
drove this non-treatment and discover the optimum
communication which would allow them to overcome their deep
rooted resistance to ‘first use’.
Action A descriptive
psychosocial conflict model enabled us to identify the
Approach/Avoidance Conflicts of non-treating considerers.
Together with the data collect from the workshop we were able
to identify three distinct internal dialogues to be addressed.
We created a clear hierarchy of communication styles, specific
messages to be included and creative methods to reach and
reassure unconscious resistance.
Result Having identified
and mapped these cycles we were able to prescribe three
distinct non-verbal cues and specific messages that would
allow each group to overcome their default non-conscious fears
of first use. We recommended the use of Aardman Animation and
a specific list of creative rules to be observed, all of which
went into the creative brief. The creatives' outstanding work
delivered a new commercial responsible for a 31% increase in
sales in the first month. The brand continues to grow against
all measures.
Ribena
Problem Fourfold: i) a confused product range with one
traditional and two low-sugar offerings ii) heritage
keeping it stuck in the children’s and Mum’s market iii)
confusion about brand-centred flavour strategy iv)
old-fashioned packaging.
Action Over a two and a
half year process we used Breakthrough and Evaluative
SuperGroup methodology alongside meta-research to streamline
the range, design new bottles, graphics and proposition, pin
down the ideal brand flavour strategy, used social-cognition,
psychodynamic and psycho-social perspectives to develop depth
psychological insights into Mum’s, young kids and young
adults. Our findings touched every area of their lives and
every aspect of the Ribena Brand.
Result Success in brand
awareness, growth and useage in the target young adult market
whilst enhancing the heritage market of kids and Mums. New
advertising through M&C Saatchi with exceptional cut
through. Flavour strategy outlined and clear ground rules
established for fruit flavours that fit and those that do not.
Toothkind and Light consolidated into new, refreshed and
relevant Really-Lite format.
Social Marketing
Problem Could a
blue chip company successfully link its portfolio of brands to
social issues and benefit from a potentially highly lucrative
marketing strategy? The potential rewards were great but
so were the long term costs if the company got it wrong. The
high risk strategy was further complicated by the fact that
the company did not have Social Issues as part of its DNA and
each of the brands had their own distinct market.
Action Transactional
Analysis provided us with the key to identifying the dynamics
of exchange that takes place between customers and brands that
sport the social issues badge. Extensive cognitive research
carried out by Latane & Darley (1968) and Latane &
Rodin (1969) was used to corroborate and further define the
descriptive model.
Result Using a
well-proven TA template known as the ‘drama triangle’ we were
able to identify five rules that needed to be present to
enable customers to move from bystander to champion. Cognitive
research enabled us to identify which brands more readily lent
themselves to social issues as well as which social issues
could be successful championed.
Brand
Audit
Background A portfolio of
Nutritionals each headed up by their own independent brand
team, each with their own individual strategies, markets and
product executions.
Problem As the brands
developed there was a distinct danger that the teams would
become increasingly territorial. Result: duplication of
resources and effort. Confused brand strategy. Increased
fragmentation of the portfolio.
Challenge Find a healthy
balance between the brands individual developmental needs and
the portfolios coherent strategic growth.
Action Erik Eriksson
work on the eight stages of personal development combined with
the results from a two day workshop enabled us to map out each
of the brands developmental stages within the family. More
detailed information on each particular stage was provided by
Marcia’s work on identity status.
Result Having found a
common cultural platform/identity and each brand’s distinctive
place within that culture brand teams were better able to
relate to each others needs and share information and
resources where appropriate. The potential to develop an
overarching brand strategy within this framework provided an
effective safeguard against future fragmentation of the brand
portfolio.
