By Adrian Hosford
By 1988, I had led BT’s post privatisation marketing communication for four years and was satisfied that the short-term communication was pretty effective. However, I was convinced that long-term effectiveness could only be maximised if it were based on a more scientific and systematic understanding of customer needs, technology possibilities, competitive environment and BT’s organisation development. Hence we embarked on an ambitious and rigorous process to define the optimum market position for long-term growth and competitiveness.
First Steps - A straightforward process but expect resistance
Understanding customer needs - A complete review of existing research revealed a number of gaps in vital information that needed filling. Existing research on customer needs was very product focussed and patchy. We needed to understand what were the dominant customer needs of communication. And which needs where driving the market. Special research was commissioned. We discovered that the overarching need driving communication was affiliation - forming a meaningful connection or relationship.
Understanding Technology possibilities - Although a myriad of research papers on technology and R&D existed, the challenge was to pull it together and make sense of it as a whole. Also we had to understand the likely timescales for impact.
Understanding the competitive environment - Again there was much research but it was narrowly focussed on telecoms. We had to make informed assessments of the impact of mobile, computer based networks and possible disruption from other markets. Additional assessments were needed on convergence & cannibalisation between different communication types such as voice and data.
Understanding BT’s Organisation and how it needed to develop - perhaps this was the most difficult task. We conducted a range of interviews and focus groups together with a quantitative staff attitude study. We got independent assessments of strengths and weaknesses. Also we reviewed organisation development plans across the group.
The Creative Audit Session
Collecting accurate information is hard but using it effectively is harder. You need wide-scale involvement and ownership right across the organisation. You also need shared agreement on the meaning in all the relevant dimensions describing the existing and future state of the company and the market.
To get to this and to discover the real ‘ethos’ of BT a special 2 day creative audit was needed involving a properly constructed cross-section of key people from each part of the organisation. With hard fought consensus we agreed a description of each of the 54 dimensions describing the current state of the company and its market.
The difficult bit - organising the information and mapping it together coherently
This is where Norman Strauss’s capabilities and tools come into their own. He led us through a corporate brand bridging process where the relevant and motivating linkages between the Brand’s function and the user’s psychology were identified. All secure brand leaders have a core concept which embraces both function and psychology. We found our bridged need and the ‘essence’ of our new brand which boiled down to ‘Reciprocated Confidences’. The role of BT is to act as integrators facilitating valued 2 way communications for our customers. We had a detailed completed bridge matrix with a complete summary of how customers would perceive BT as a brand on all dimensions. The summary - reciprocated confidences would act as a north star guiding all requirements of our communication and our service.
Putting it into practice
The way was clear now to turn this into action. We had to develop different executions which brought the brand to life for staff and customers.
We started with our own team and ran a series of workshops to really understand what living the brand means both rationally and emotionally. Unlocking how it feels to ‘reciprocate confidences’ in reality was a revelation especially to our planners and media types. It provided a new level of teamwork and a common sense of purpose.
Next we had to enrol the whole company as much as possible. We commissioned the first ever ‘Hawking film’ and arranged an extensive cascade of briefings and presentations.
We rolled this out on TV for our staff and customers. We set about building the brand values into our staff training and customer service linked to internal transformational change programmes.
The big marketing challenge was market growth and here we positioned the brand in action through a massive campaign called ‘It’s Good To Talk’;
Getting the brand into the lifeblood of BT and into everything it does clearly was going to be an incredibly difficult long-term challenge but it ran deep with success in many areas as this Corporate Communication internal video shows.
In summary - 'Reciprocated Confidences' would act as a north star, guiding all requirements of our communication and our service for many years.
By 1988, I had led BT’s post privatisation marketing communication for four years and was satisfied that the short-term communication was pretty effective. However, I was convinced that long-term effectiveness could only be maximised if it were based on a more scientific and systematic understanding of customer needs, technology possibilities, competitive environment and BT’s organisation development. Hence we embarked on an ambitious and rigorous process to define the optimum market position for long-term growth and competitiveness.
First Steps - A straightforward process but expect resistance
Understanding customer needs - A complete review of existing research revealed a number of gaps in vital information that needed filling. Existing research on customer needs was very product focussed and patchy. We needed to understand what were the dominant customer needs of communication. And which needs where driving the market. Special research was commissioned. We discovered that the overarching need driving communication was affiliation - forming a meaningful connection or relationship.
Understanding Technology possibilities - Although a myriad of research papers on technology and R&D existed, the challenge was to pull it together and make sense of it as a whole. Also we had to understand the likely timescales for impact.
Understanding the competitive environment - Again there was much research but it was narrowly focussed on telecoms. We had to make informed assessments of the impact of mobile, computer based networks and possible disruption from other markets. Additional assessments were needed on convergence & cannibalisation between different communication types such as voice and data.
Understanding BT’s Organisation and how it needed to develop - perhaps this was the most difficult task. We conducted a range of interviews and focus groups together with a quantitative staff attitude study. We got independent assessments of strengths and weaknesses. Also we reviewed organisation development plans across the group.
The Creative Audit Session
Collecting accurate information is hard but using it effectively is harder. You need wide-scale involvement and ownership right across the organisation. You also need shared agreement on the meaning in all the relevant dimensions describing the existing and future state of the company and the market.
To get to this and to discover the real ‘ethos’ of BT a special 2 day creative audit was needed involving a properly constructed cross-section of key people from each part of the organisation. With hard fought consensus we agreed a description of each of the 54 dimensions describing the current state of the company and its market.
The difficult bit - organising the information and mapping it together coherently
This is where Norman Strauss’s capabilities and tools come into their own. He led us through a corporate brand bridging process where the relevant and motivating linkages between the Brand’s function and the user’s psychology were identified. All secure brand leaders have a core concept which embraces both function and psychology. We found our bridged need and the ‘essence’ of our new brand which boiled down to ‘Reciprocated Confidences’. The role of BT is to act as integrators facilitating valued 2 way communications for our customers. We had a detailed completed bridge matrix with a complete summary of how customers would perceive BT as a brand on all dimensions. The summary - reciprocated confidences would act as a north star guiding all requirements of our communication and our service.
Putting it into practice
The way was clear now to turn this into action. We had to develop different executions which brought the brand to life for staff and customers.
We started with our own team and ran a series of workshops to really understand what living the brand means both rationally and emotionally. Unlocking how it feels to ‘reciprocate confidences’ in reality was a revelation especially to our planners and media types. It provided a new level of teamwork and a common sense of purpose.
Next we had to enrol the whole company as much as possible. We commissioned the first ever ‘Hawking film’ and arranged an extensive cascade of briefings and presentations.
We rolled this out on TV for our staff and customers. We set about building the brand values into our staff training and customer service linked to internal transformational change programmes.
The big marketing challenge was market growth and here we positioned the brand in action through a massive campaign called ‘It’s Good To Talk’;
Getting the brand into the lifeblood of BT and into everything it does clearly was going to be an incredibly difficult long-term challenge but it ran deep with success in many areas as this Corporate Communication internal video shows.
In summary - 'Reciprocated Confidences' would act as a north star, guiding all requirements of our communication and our service for many years.
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