TORONTO, ON; CHICAGO, IL: The challenges facing marketers these days are two fold. First, they must keep up with the latest trends & technologies while determining what approach is best suited to reach new and existing consumers. Second, due to economic pressures they are pressed to be accountable and to deliver measurable results. Today’s marketing problems will be solved by people with diverse skill sets. Accelteon Partners Inc. of Toronto, Ontario teamed up with Torque Ltd. of Chicago, Illinois to work on a collaborative project to demonstrate a way for marketers to break this impasse – Tribal Marketing
A big part of marketing today is striking the right balance between customizing the message and maintaining a respectable ROI. On one end of the curve are large demographic segments and on the other end is the notion of 1-to-1 marketing. While purely demographic approaches are losing effectiveness, exclusively pursuing profitable 1-to-1 may not build enough sales volume.
“Viewing consumers as tribes strikes the right balance while positioning brands as a means of supporting these tribal connections. It forms the basis for talking with your consumers rather than shouting at them.”, said Malcolm Jussawalla, Partner at Accelteon Partners Inc. “In this e-book, we not only present a new way of marketing, but a new way of thinking about the brand, the consumers and how the two interrelate.”
The project was to develop a comprehensive e-book that outlines the market transformation of a bottled water company, from a me-too player to a tribally focused brand. The e-book draws upon Accelteon’s expertise in strategy & analytics and Torque’s expertise in market execution.
“By putting the tribe at the center of consideration, a brand can expand relationships with loyal consumers and also develop insights into fostering relationships with new consumers.” said Kevin Masi, President & Co-Founder of Torque Ltd. “For example, many people are concerned about the environmental impact of bottle water. We wanted to make sure that we pro-actively addressed this in our recommendations.”
2. Table of Contents
2
1. Preface p3
2. Eastern Water Company (EWC): In a Tight Squeeze p4
3. Client Engagement Process p6
a. Audit p7
i Understanding EWC p8
ii. Bottled Water Industry Snapshot p10
iii. Understanding EWC’s Consumers p13
1. Who are EWC’s Consumers? p14
2. Why Bottled Water? p15
3. On What Occasions Was Wellspring Consumed? p16
4. How Can Wellspring Be Improved? p17
b. Tribe Exploration p18
i. Recap of the Tribe Approach p19
ii. EWC’s Potential Tribes p22
iii. Fast Start Moms Tribe p24
c. Tribal Strategy & Planning and Execution p28
i. Developing a Tribal Strategy p29
ii. Brand Name Repositioning p30
iii. Product Packaging and Bottle Design p31
iv. Distribution p33
v. Marketing Communications p34
vi. Tribal Strategy, Goals & Metrics p40
vii. Rollout Plan p45
3. Preface
3
In our previous white paper entitled “Tribal Marketing”,
we discussed the concept of consumer tribes and tribal Torque Ltd.,
is a brand marketing agency,
marketing, answering:
providing mid market businesses
with brand strategies and full
• What is tribal marketing? service marketing programs.
• Why should I care? and Accelteon’s
mission is to enable your
• Is it right for me? organization to strategically
unleash the potential of
In this eBook, we have teamed up with Torque – a Chicago consumer tribes.
based brand marketing agency, to present a case looking at a
Vermont-based bottled water company desiring to strengthen
their relationship with their consumers, and ultimately,
increase their annual sales. This case study will show you
how applying a Tribal Strategy can achieve a company’s
business goals. Our work has been inspired in part by
Consumer Tribes, by Bernard Cova, Robert Kozinets and Avi
Shankar. With Seth Godin's publication of Tribes, we feel we
are entering an exciting period of growing acceptance of
tribal marketing concepts.
4. EWC: In a Tight Squeeze
4
Accelteon was approached by Eastern Water Company
(EWC) to help increase sales of their bottled water
brand, Wellspring. While meeting with Maria
Whitaker, the CEO, we began to understand why they
were struggling to get shelf space in many convenience
and grocery stores.
“Our product, Wellspring, is being squeezed from both
ends of the market;” she said, “the multi-nationals can
buy significant media spots and buy their way onto
premium shelf spaces such as end caps. At the other
end, the store and discount brands often use their cost
advantage to maintain lower prices than ours.”
5. EWC: In a Tight Squeeze
5
Maria who visited our website and blog thought that the
answer to gaining share and increasing sales volume Wellspring faces strong
might come from a better connection to their consumer competition from both
base, and that the Tribal Approach may work well with ends of the market:
the Wellspring brand. large multinationals and
discount brands. EWC
She went on to say, “In the past we have tried to get on wants to increase market
store shelves through slotting fees, but without much share and sales of their
lasting success.” Wellspring brand.
We showed Maria our overall engagement process that
would enable EWC to understand the company’s high
value consumers more fully, generate appropriate
strategies to achieve the company’s goals, and to put the
strategy into action (Figure 1, page 6 ). As a first step,
we suggested that we conduct an audit to understand
the company, brand, industry and EWC’s existing
consumer base.
6. Figure 1:
Client Engagement Process 6
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
• Understanding EWC:
• In depth primary and
• Develop internal
• Execute marketing programs
‣ problem/
opportunity
secondary research
provides the basis
(company-facing) strategies
and external (consumer-
and internal alignment
strategies
‣ Goals &
objectives
for defining
and understanding
facing) strategies to
successfully build positive • Measurement
reporting & analysis to
• Understanding EWC’s potential consumer relationships monitor success and make
EWC’s context: consumer tribes
• Develop measures for strategic revisions
industry, competitors, • Further research
is conducted to
success, tied to overall
business goals
•
consumers understand tribal and
consumption behavior Develop monitoring plan
7. Audit
COMPANY • INDUSTRY • CONSUMERS
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING 7
8. Understanding EWC
8
EWC was established in 1995 by the Richards
family who owned an 80-acre farm near Rutland,
Vermont. The land was originally settled in the
1890s by Sam Richards and was family run for
generations. The success of the farm in part was
due to a natural spring that could provide irrigation
for the crops during dry seasons.
In 1993, Jacob Richards noticed the emergence of
the bottled spring water market in the US. Two
years later he set up a small bottling facility on the
property, marking the founding of EWC. The
company began selling 500ml individual containers
and 12 and 24 packs to local convenience and
grocery stores under the brand Wellspring, the
name of which was meant to convey that the source
of water was from a natural spring.
COMPANY • INDUSTRY • CONSUMERS
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
9. Understanding EWC, cont.
9
As the company grew between 1997 and 2001, the
complexity of the business was too much for the Richards Revenue grew from $7.5
family to handle, and they decided to hire a professional million to $23.0 million from
2002 - 2006. Revenues were
management team. After a lengthy search they hired Maria practically steady in 2008.
Whitaker as the CEO. Maria built her career in the
beverages industry; starting as an analyst for Coca-Cola, she
eventually became a VP of Sales and Marketing for a major
bottle water company.
Maria successfully grew the company’s revenue from $7.5
million in 2002 to $23.0 million in 2006, primarily focusing
distribution and sales in the Northeast U.S. In 2007,
however, revenues increased to only $24.5 million and in
2008 revenues were practically steady at $25.1 million.
EWC spent about $1.7 million in marketing in 2008. About
$700 thousand went into trade marketing including slotting
fees, in store promotions and discounts. Only about $1.0
million was spent on consumer marketing, mainly focused
on radio and print in large urban markets such as New
York, Boston and Philadelphia.
COMPANY • INDUSTRY • CONSUMERS
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
10. Bottled Water Industry Snapshot
10
The $17 billion U.S. bottled water industry has been
a booming industry in recent years, growing at a U.S. bottled water industry...
$17 billion...growing at
compound annual growth rate of 8.5% over the past 8.5% CAGR
five years. The very strong health and wellness trend
along with strong marketing and branding from large
multinational corporations have contributed to the
industry’s rise.
COMPANY • INDUSTRY • CONSUMERS
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
11. Bottled Water Industry Snapshot
11
The industry has faced and continues to face
significant challenges, however. Controversies
with respect to the quality and price of bottled
water versus tap water, as well as an increasingly Bottled water Market Share
environmentally-conscious society are among the
most significant challenges. These factors might
PepsiCo, Inc.
explain why the industry, though growing year to 14%
year, has experienced a declining growth rate Nestle S.A.
since 2006. 30%
From a competitive standpoint, several categories The Coca-Cola Company
12%
of bottled water companies exist, including large
multinationals, regional brands, and small niche
private label companies. Multinational Other
33% Suntory Limited
corporations are the prominent players, with 10%
Nestle, PepsiCo., and Coca-Cola dominating
57.4% of market share. The remainder of the
market is fragmented, with several hundred small
and mid-sized operators.
COMPANY • INDUSTRY • CONSUMERS
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
12. Bottled Water Industry Snapshot
12
With retailers such as convenience and grocery stores
being the primary buyers who ultimately distribute “Branding has become
the most significant
product to end consumers, bottled water companies differentiator”
must compete for shelf space. Traditionally, bottled
water has been differentiated by its composition (e.g.
presence of particular trace minerals) and provenance
(derivation from a particular source). However, since
the large multinational players entered into the market
in the mid 1990’s, branding has become the most
significant differentiator.
COMPANY • INDUSTRY • CONSUMERS
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
13. Understanding EWC’s Consumers
13
While secondary research provided us with a broad
consumer profile of bottled water drinkers in the U.S., we
wanted to dig deeper to ensure our consumer research
would provide insights most relevant to EWC. Therefore,
over a period of a few weeks we set out to conduct surveys
and focus groups with EWC’s existing consumer base.
The purpose of the research was to understand existing
consumers in greater depth.
• Who were they?
• What motivated them to purchase Wellspring?
• In what instances and occasions did they
purchase Wellspring?
• How could the product be improved?
Ultimately, the research would reveal insights on potential
consumer tribes to target, and by what means.
COMPANY • INDUSTRY • CONSUMERS
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
14. Who are EWC’s Consumers?
14
• Skew to Women (63%)
• Skew to Non-Whites (56%)
• Tend to be adults who are on the young side (18-44 yrs) (67%)
• 52% of their consumers had kids between 8-18, of which
45% have their kids enrolled in sports or other activities
63 67
56
Non-Whites
Women
Young Adult
COMPANY • INDUSTRY • CONSUMERS
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
15. Why Bottled Water?
15
Why bottled water?
38 year old male consumer
“I trust that it is better for
you than some of the other
brands. After all, it is a
45 family business and not
35 some big company.”
24
6
Tap isn’t as Healthy Tastes Better than tap Healthier Alternative Mobile & Convenient
Why Wellspring? 35 year old mother
“I refuse to give my kids pop
or juices with sugar. Bottled
water is a better choice.”
She further explained “I was
upset to learn that many of
51 57 68 the big companies simply
purify municipal water. I like
Wellspring because I know it
Source (spring water) comes from a local spring.”
Availability
Trust Brand
COMPANY • INDUSTRY • CONSUMERS
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
16. On What Occasions
Was Wellspring Consumed?
16
• 8%: Work
40 year old mother
“I coach soccer in the
• 9%: At home summer. I buy cases of
Wellspring for my team
from the supermarket
• 20%: Fitness and Exercise before the game.”
37 year old mother
• 22%: Family/Community Outings
“I like to get together with
• 24%: Children’s Sporting Events
other families in my kids’
school and extracurricular
communities. We bring
Wellspring to community
events for a healthier
beverage option.”
20
8 22
9 24
Work
At home
Fitness and Exercise
Family/Community Outings
Children’s Sporting Events
COMPANY • INDUSTRY • CONSUMERS
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
17. How Can Wellspring be Improved?
17
• 35% believed that the environment was a key concern
for them in their decision not to purchase the product.
• 79% of people believed that the bottle water industry
in general was either very or somewhat negatively
impacting the environment.
• Wellspring consumers would prefer more convenient
locations to purchase the product, other than
convenience and grocery stores.
• Convenience in packaging for easy transport of the
product would help, specifically for carrying 12
and 24 multipacks.
COMPANY • INDUSTRY • CONSUMERS
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
19. Recap of the Tribal Approach 19
EWC traditionally segmented their consumers through
geographic and demographic segmentation. The tribal
approach provides a very different perspective of EWC’s
consumer base, focusing primarily on a common passion
that bonds a consumer group – a tribe.
Segment Tribe
Female Male Caring parents of
18 - 49 18 - 49 Children & young teens
Environmentally mindful and
active community members
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
20. Recap of the Tribal Approach
The Tribal Relationship Traditional
Marketing
• Consumers are viewed as independent decision makers
• Marketing focuses on company/consumer communications
• Marketers focus on developing company/consumer
relationships: loyalty marketing, 1-to-1 marketing Relationship /
• Companies focus on leveraging consumer/consumer
relationships: Word of mouth (WOM) marketing, social/
WOM Marketing
viral marketing
• The tribal approach views the role of the company as
supporting the activities, passions and interaction between
Tribal
Marketing
consumers
• Consumer tribes value goods and services for their ability to
connect them to others
• Marketing communications focuses on joining conversations
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
21. Recap of the Tribal Approach
21
Why Consumer tribes? Business drivers Indirect benefits Direct benefits
In return, the organization gains the opportunity to receive several benefits from the consumer tribe.
Word of
mouth by Develop
tribe members
intimate
relationships
Free WOM with consumers
by passionate
consumers who Brand Solicit
love to spread consumer
Advocacy feedback
the word
Gain
Consumer Valuable
Loyalty insight
ROI
Product
Reduced improvements
marketing & innovation
spend
Increased
revenues
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
22. EWC’s Potential Tribes 22
Using the consumer research we gathered as the
crux of our analytical and creative thinking, we
were able to identify two potential tribes for EWC.
Potential Tribes
CONSUMER ANALYSIS &
RESEARCH CREATIVE THINKING
Potential Tribe Common passion
Caring Parents Healthy lifestyle for their
family and children
Enthusiastic Environmentalists
Feeling of responsibility for the
environmental impact of
bottled water consumption
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
23. EWC’s Potential Tribes
23
These tribes were not necessarily mutually
exclusive. Nonetheless, their common passions
could potentially be leveraged and we wanted to
know more. Could EWC support these consumer
tribes to achieve profitable growth? And through
what means could EWC be able to do so?
CARING ENTHUSIASTIC
PARENTS ENVIRONMENTALISTS
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
24. Fast Start Moms
24
Through more in-depth primary research with
potential tribe “members” (as identified during initial
The strength of marketing to
surveys and focus groups), we were able to further
a tribal consumer comes
identify and define a central tribe on which to focus: from the discipline of being
Fast Start Moms. highly focused and selective,
rather than being many
things to many people.
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
25. Getting to Know the Fast Start Moms Tribe
25
A Brief Profile of FSMs
• Mother or primary parenting figure and manager
of household.
• Hyper-involved parent, rooted in their belief that
their children should have all of the advantages
available to successfully launch them into their
adult lives.
• Go on to become “Helicopter Parents” as their
children emerge into young adulthood, hovering
over their children and micromanaging every
aspect of their lives.
‣ Tend to be 2nd or 3rd generation Caucasian,
or Hispanic.
‣ Tend to have 2+ children.
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
26. Getting to Know the Fast Start Moms Tribe
26
Tribal behavior Consumption behavior
• FSMs take full advantage of school, church,
community and sports teams offered in the • Do most if not all the shopping for their
household.
community (e.g. get involved as assistant coaches
in their child’s sporting activities, is on PTA, on • Detailed and conscientious about their
the board of the homeowners’ association). product selections, determined to pick the
best (although not necessarily at any cost—
• They are both fully involved in supporting the
couponing and discount intelligence is often
organizations as well as demanding a lot from
a tribal topic).
townships and districts behind them.
• Prefer shopping locations where they can
• Highly communicative tribe, staying in contact
purchase items for multiple needs (e.g. club
in person or virtually.
stores, power centres).
• Technology enabled:
• Some, but not all FSMs are very
‣ Cell phones, e-mail, instant messaging, environmentally conscious decision makers.
Facebook accounts, Google and other
tools are daily necessities. • Need to believe the makers of a product
have their interests in mind.
‣ Shoot digital photos and miniDV movies
of events and gatherings, and post them to • FSMs can become strong promoters —or
the Internet for a variety of different detractors— of products for which they’ve
sharing and collaboration purposes. had notable experiences using.
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
27. Tribal Behavior
27
Fast Start Moms Tribal Map:
Virtual and real spaces where the FSM tribe meets and interacts
Real Space Church
events
School
Community Events Sporting
events activities
Asynchronous Synchronous
Facebook
Sharing of
messaging digital photos Cell Instant
messaging
Twitter Phone
Virtual Space
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY EXECUTION
EXPLORATION & PLANNING
28. Tribal Strateg y,
Planning and Execution
Brand Promise • Brand Name • Packaging & Design • Distribution • Communication
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY
EXPLORTATION & PLANNING EXECUTION
29. Brand Name Reposistioning
29
We recommended EWC to slightly modify the product
name from Wellspring to WellSpring.
The modification signifies EWC’s renewed consumer
focus on the FSM tribe, where the name emphasizes
not only the product’s derivation from a natural spring
water source, but also the themes of wellness (“Well”)
and performance (“Spring”)
Before After
Wellspring
PREMIUM DRINKING WATER
Brand Promise • Brand Name • Packaging & Design
Distribution • Communication
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY
EXPLORTATION & PLANNING EXECUTION
30. Developing a 30
Tribal Strategy for EWC
As a small niche brand, we understood that it was not realistic for EWC to
compete with large multinationals on a large national scale; rather, our focus
was to grow EWC’s market share and sales in the category and geographic
areas in which it competes.
Based on the analytics we conducted on the research gathered on the FSM
consumer tribe, we developed a 3-part brand promise that would appeal to
the tribe:
• Trust: FSMs can be extremely loyal to a brand they know
and trust. The brand must continue to uphold its reputation.
• Convenience: FSMs have limited time to spend shopping
and they constantly look for ways to simplify their lives.
Thus, Wellspring must find innovative and feasible ways to
make their products more accessible and user friendly.
• Health & fitness: Children’s health, fitness, and general
well-being was a primary concern for FSMs. Thus,
Wellspring should stay true to its natural source and stay
away from additives.
TRIBE STRATEGY
AUDIT
EXPLORTATION & PLANNING EXECUTION
30
31. Product Packaging and Bottle Design
31
To address the brand promise of
convenience, we recommended to
supplement the 12 and 24 pack with
handles at both ends for easy transport.
Additionally, we suggested a redesign of the
bottle mold to include a bump texture to make
it easy for small hands to grip. This would
require a new die, but cost per bottle is low
given the long production runs, over time.
Brand Promise • Brand Name • Packaging & Design
Distribution • Communication
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY
EXPLORTATION & PLANNING EXECUTION
32. Packaging Design
32
With passionate environmentalists comprising a sizable share of
the FSM tribe, we recommended changing the packaging, from
plastic wrap to cardstock. This also gave the packages a
premium appearance comparable to upscale water brands, as
well as better merchandising opportunity.
Develop branded Develop 48 oz. coolers for Introduce “WellSpring Friends Create a reusable no slip sleeve
refillable containers athletic field-size refills of the Environment” package to that can slide onto bottles. This
select 24 packs (includes would be packaged with 24
seeds, natural fertilizer, and a multipacks as a promotion
‘plant a tree’ packet guide’)
Brand Promise • Brand Name • Packaging & Design
Distribution • Communication
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY
EXPLORTATION & PLANNING EXECUTION
33. Distribution
33
EWC was limiting distribution of the product to grocery
and convenience store distribution. To address the
consumption behavior of FSM’s we recommended
distribution of product in locations where FSM’s
normally shop to raise the probability of increased sales.
Before After
• Club stores
• Power centers
• Grocery stores • Community
events
• Convenience stores • Grocery stores
• Convenience
stores
Brand Promise • Brand Name • Packaging & Design
Distribution • Communication
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY
EXPLORTATION & PLANNING EXECUTION
34. Marketing Communications
34
EWC focused their marketing budget primarily on
trade marketing and little on consumer marketing. Before
Trade Marketing:
We recommended EWC to shift spend on supporting • Slotting Fees
the tribe & facilitating communication amongst • In store promotions
and discounts
tribe members.
Consumer Marketing:
The shift in focus provides several advantages: • Radio
• Print
• Concentrates resources on a passionate and engaged group of
consumers –a tribe –who willingly propagate the brand
message, leading to more efficient marketing spend. After
• Consumers associate mass media marketing with large
corporate brand marketing. The move towards targeted
• Focus on supporting the
tribe & facilitating
communication amongst
community-driven media creates a close-knit feel and fosters tribe members
trust in the brand.
• More focused and intimate communication with consumers
generates opportunities to gather consumer insights
• Use targeted media that
leverages the tribe’s
current modes of
• Supporting the tribe and relevant causes fosters trust and
reinforces EWCs brands in areas and occasions that matter
communication
most to the tribe.
Brand Promise • Brand Name • Packaging & Design
Distribution • Communication
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY
EXPLORTATION & PLANNING EXECUTION
35. Leveraging Web 2.0 tools:
A Strategic Approach
35
We do not believe in the ‘build it and they will come’
theory. Rather, Web 2.0 tools and social media enable
companies to facilitate tribal interaction, and we
develop this process strategically.
The idea is to introduce the brand to the tribe and tribe
members to each other step by step, starting by
leveraging current modes of communication.
Progress checks are built into the process to ensure the
strategy is working, and to improve where it is not.
Brand Promise • Brand Name • Packaging & Design
Distribution • Communication
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY
EXPLORTATION & PLANNING EXECUTION
36. Leveraging the Tribe’s
36
Current Modes of Communication
Fast Start Moms Tribal Map:
Virtual and real spaces where the FSM tribe meets and interacts
Strategy:
Real Space Church Be active
in supporting
events
events relevant
School to FSMʼs
Community Events Sporting
events activities
Asynchronous Synchronous
Facebook
Sharing of
messaging digital photos Cell Instant
messaging
Twitter Phone
Stratagy: Virtual Space
Leverageing Web
2.0 tools
Brand Promise • Brand Name • Packaging & Design
Distribution • Communication
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY
EXPLORTATION & PLANNING EXECUTION
37. Communications Strategy
37
• Leverage social media sites: • Progress check to • Build further dialogue
• Utilize consumer
become active in posting comments determine if online by building a forum for insights to generate
and beginning dialogue with existing community traffic & members to discuss ideas for product
Facebook, Twitter and other online responsiveness is topics of interest to improvements, product
communities. sufficient to proceed with them on the WellSpring innovations, and
• Redesign WellSpring website and subsequent phases. website. campaigns that
begin to post information that • Develop mechanism for support the tribe.
supports the tribe as determined collecting & analyzing
through initial consumer research consumer insights.
(e.g. providing tips on how to get
children hydrated for better sports
performance)..
• Bring awareness to online initiatives:
‣ Search engine maximization
‣ Promote website on product labels
‣ Promote at community events
Brand Promise • Brand Name • Packaging & Design
Distribution • Communication
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY
EXPLORTATION & PLANNING EXECUTION
38. Communications Strategy
38
Leveraging social media sites where the FSM tribe interacts: Building a forum for tribal interaction:
WellSpring on Facebook the WellSpring website
Brand Promise • Brand Name • Packaging & Design
Distribution • Communication
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY
EXPLORTATION & PLANNING EXECUTION
39. Real Space Communications Strategy
39
Utilize consumer insights Leverage success of campaigns Obtain further feedback to
Attend and
retrieved online to in real space to propagate discover and develop
participate in relevant
discover and develop positive word of mouth online more ways to support the
community events
more ways to support (share success of community tribe in real space
the tribe in real space events to online community, etc)
Similar to the Web 2.0 strategy, the idea of a real space communications
strategy is to introduce the brand to the tribe and tribe members to Charity:water
each other step by step. A first step would be to get to know the tribe
by participating in relevant community events, providing a face for www.charitywater.org
the brand. • Non-profit organization
The real space communications strategy integrates closely with the Web bringing clean and safe
drinking water to people in
2.0 strategy, where consumer insights are utilized to discover and
developing nations
develop more ways to support the tribe in real space. For instance,
consumer insights might reveal that it would be important to: • Gives 100% of donated
money directly to project
• Sponsor local sports leagues and community events costs, providing financial
• Sponsor world children relief charities aligned with the company’s support to develop
product, such as charity:water sustainable clean water
solutions
In turn, the success of campaigns in real space can be
leveraged to propagate positive word of mouth online.
• Projects involve drilling wells
to provide people with water
in areas of greatest need
Brand Promise • Brand Name • Packaging & Design
Distribution • Communication
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY
EXPLORTATION & PLANNING EXECUTION
40. Monitoring Progress and Measuring Success
40
Our approach to measurement
The tribal strategy is always supported by a business case that indicates
precisely how the tribal strategy contributes to the organization’s overall
business goals. The organization’s business goals - in EWC’s case, “to
increase sales” and “increase market share”– are translated into specific,
quantifiable goals. Subsequently, a monitoring plan is created and a
monitoring dashboard is built to enable progress monitoring.
Develop business case: Create monitoring Use dashboard
Understand
build quantifiable goals plan & build to monitor &
business goals
& metrics monitoring dashboard re-calibrate strategy
Traditional financial measures, such as sales and ROI figures, are
important but alone can be misleading. Instead, we rely on multiple sets
of measures – stemming from various perspectives – to provide an
integrative picture of the firm’s performance as it relates to achieving
their overall business goals. A Tribal Strategy Metrics Summary is used
to measure overall success and pinpoint potential problem areas
(Figure 2, page 41 ).
Brand Promise • Brand Name • Packaging & Design
Distribution • Communication
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY
EXPLORTATION & PLANNING EXECUTION
41. Figure 2:
Measurement Perspectives and 41
the Tribal Strategy Metrics Summary
Measurement Perspective What is measured Example of goals and metrics
Financial Perspective Measures financial results of actions taken in Goal: Increase sales by 8% this year
the past
Metric: Actual Sales at beginning of year verses end of year
Measurement tool: Compare sales figure as per company Financial
statements
Consumer Perspective Measures the ability to meet, sustain and Goal: Increase brand awareness amongst FSMs by 20% this year
predict consumer requirements
Metric: Actual brand awareness
Measurement tool: brand awareness survey
Internal Perspective Measures the ability to meet strategic Goal: Create new marketing campaign monitoring process by August 31st
requirements efficiently through the right choice
Metric: Actual completion date
of business processes
Measurement tool: n/a
Other measurement perspectives are incorporated, based on the client’s business objectives
Perspective Weighted Target weighted Difference:
Weighting score score score Target vs. Actual
Financial Perspective 30% 83% 24.9% 24.0% +0.9%
Consumer Perspective 40% 74% 29.6% 32.0% -2.4%
Internal Perspective 30% 81% 24.3% 24.0% +0.3%
Total 78.8% 80.0%
*Metrics are sample numbers
Potential problem areas can be
Overall progress is measured identified, and investigated in
further detail
42. Example: Consumer Measures
42
Consumers proceed through several
stages in their interaction with a brand:
Brand awareness Consideration & Purchase Loyalty
brand preference
The intent of consumer measures is to monitor
progress throughout these stages. The underlying
premise behind this model is that the tribal
strategy supports consumer tribes, ultimately
translating to the overall business objectives of
‘increased market share’ and ‘increased sales.’
Metrics are carefully crafted to be able to monitor
progress at each stage. Thus, areas of strength
and weakness can be determined throughout the
monitoring process (Figure 3, page 43).
AUDIT TRIBE STRATEGY
EXPLORTATION & PLANNING EXECUTION
43. Figure 3:
Sample Metrics-Consumer Perspective 43
STAGE Example consumer Weights Measures Measurement Tool Target Actual Differential weighted
(/100%) (Target Score
Perspective Goals vs. actual)
Awareness Increase brand awareness Actual brand awareness at Measure brand awareness prior to
amongst FSM’s by 20% this beginning versus end of year strategy execution using surveys
10% x% x% x% x%
year and periodically thereafter
Preference Be the number one choice WellSpring rating versus competitor Utilize surveys to rate brand
preference by FSM’S 25% brands preference x% x% x% x%
Loyalty Maximizing consumer Actual consumer satisfaction in Utilize surveys to quantify consumer
satisfaction in terms of the terms of the company’s product satisfaction
20% x% x% x% x%
company’s product quality quality
Maximizing consumer Actual consumer satisfaction in Utilize surveys to quantify consumer
satisfaction in terms of the terms of the company’s tribe satisfaction
20% x% x% x% x%
company’s tribe support support efforts
efforts
Increase positive word of Combination of word of mouth Track the number of “positive
mouth regarding the measures (positive keywords, keywords” indicting positive states of
25% x% x% x% x%
company and its products customers surveys, social media mind in posts and comments
activity
Consumer perspective score x% x% x% x%
Specific metrics can be monitored for potential
Tribal Strategy Metrics Summary areas of improvement
Perspective Weighted Target weighted Difference:
Weighting
score score score Target vs. Actual Consumer Perspective Score is rolled up into the
Financial 30% 83% 24.9% 24.0% +0.9% high level Tribal Strategy Metrics Summary
Consumer 40% 74% 29.6% 32.0% -2.4%
Internal 30% 81% 24.3% 24.0% +0.3%
Total 78.8% 80.0%
44. Tribal Strategy Metrics Summary
44
Metrics are rolled up into a Dashboard for review of progress and analytics.
Tribal Strategy Metrics Summary
Possible Score Target Score Actual Score Difference: Target vs. Actual
Financial Perspective 30% 24.00% 24.90% 0.90%
Consumer Perspective 40% 32.00% 29.60% -2.40%
Internal Perspective 30% 24.00% 24.30% 0.30%
Total 100% 80.00% 78.80% -1.20%
Project at a Glance Internal Metrics Possible Score
Target Score
Metrics Summary Analytics
Actual Score Summary of performance
Financial Metrics Reporting
100%
Consumer Metrics
83%
Differential: Target versus Actual Performance
67%
1.50%
50%
0.75%
0%
33%
-0.75%
-1.50% 17%
-2.25%
-3.00%
Financial Perspective Consumer Perspective Internal Perspective Total Financial Perspective Consumer Perspective Internal Perspective Total
45. Rollout Plan 45
M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M7 M8 M9 M10 M11 M12
Packaging & Bottle Design
Bottle Design
12 & 24 pack handles
“WellSpring Friends of the Environment” package
Reusable no slip sleeve
Branded refillable containers
48 oz. coolers
Distribution
Distribution negotiations with club stores and power centers
Point of sale development
Communication
Web 2.0 Communication strategy
Initiate content and outreach on social media sites
Website redesign
Search engine optimization strategy
Develop platform for discussion and interaction on WellSpring Website
Develop consumer insight collection mechanism
Real space communication strategy
Commence participation in relevant community events
Sponsorship program
46. Please contact us for more on Tribal Marketing, or to discuss your Tribe Strategy.
46
Accelteon Partners Inc.
info@accelteon.com
T 647 727 4070
www.accelteon.com
www.accelteon.com/blog
Toronto, ON
Torque Ltd.
kmasi@torquelaunch.com
T 312 421 7858
www.torquelaunch.com
www.torquetribemarketing.com
Chicago, IL
Tribal Waters eBook is a fictitious case study,
intended to model tribe marketing methodologies.
No names, products, companies or individuals are
meant to represent any real-world counterparts.
46