NDC Dairy: Food for Life Conference - Clarion Hotel, Dublin - 23 June 2009
The Questions You Need to Ask About Your Brand Today
Professor Damian McLoughlin, UCD Smurfit Graduate Business School
Professor McLoughlin asked a number of core questions to delegates.
* Is your customer still your customer ?
He quoted examples of a retailers selling value rather than brands, which can create a disconnect between brands and the end customer. A second example was traditional doorstep delivery of milk to people’s homes, which meant that people developed a relationship with their milkman. The focus was on the relationship with the milkman more so than price.
* Does your segment still exist ?
Professor McLoughlin discussed the example of health drinks which are often purchased because people like the idea of them or believe they would be good for them, without always consuming them. However in times of recession products which are not always used are likely to be cut from the shopping list.
* Do your customers still value what you offer ?
Professor McLoughlin suggested looking at the areas of a business which are profitable and looking at those which are not, to establish where the business is really making money. There is a case for offloading those parts of the business which are not profitable.
* Have you built a customer persona ?
This comes back to understanding your customer. What is he or she worrying about at night ? What makes your customer tick ?
* Have you cut costs, or have you cut corners ?
Professor McLoughlin considered contrasting examples. On the one hand an overseas company which became disciplined about costs and made major cuts to entertainment expenditure, which created a fund significant enough to fund the expansion of the business. On the other hand, looking at other times of recession or economic downturn, there is evidence to say that cutting advertising spend during tough times you may improve short term profitability, but damage long term growth.
What investment are you putting in to your sales force ?
If you are having problems, for instance, with retail customers, it is possible that the retail buyers you are dealing with are better professionals than your sales team ?
Professor McLoughlin concluded that consumers buy brands first on emotion, second on function. Building great brands takes a long time and patience. Companies need to be able to identify the skills in their firm and need to be able to identify the opportunities that may arise.
Given the speed of change, a scenario approach to planning should be considered.