The Co-operative Brand
Kristian Mills
Head of Brand Governance & Standards
The Co-operative Group
National Retail Conference
23rd February 2013
The Co-operative Group
We have over 5,000 outlets across the UK
and 120,000 employees and have been
serving Britain for over 168 years
2011 Performance
Group sales of £13.3bn,
Group operating profit of £526m
Profits shared with members £142m
Community investments £13.6m
Numerous logos
The cloverleaf has only been around in use for
around 40 years but we didn’t always use it
The High Street - Pre rebranding project
The Co-operative family of businesses
The Co-operative Group estate
Bank inc Britannia
343
Travel (TCCT JV)
324
Funeralcare inc private name
850
Pharmacy
773
Food
2,850
Through co-operation, regional societies have also rolled the brand
out…..
Society
Rebranded outlets
Anglia
39
Chelmsford Star
39
East of England
10
Heart of England
39
Midcounties
406
Midlands
260
Radstock
13
Southern
194
Tamworth
16
societies total
1,016
As at January 2013
and the brand has been developed further…….
Customer Strategy
With a consistent identity for our
family of businesses we needed a
consistent customer strategy but
firstly we needed to understand
who our customers are………
We explored our customer base to put the customer at the
heart of everything we do….
In the context of serious ambitions for commercial growth, we
commissioned research to do three things:
• Explain what drives and differentiates
consumer behaviour, in order to create and
optimise opportunities for the brand
• Identify key focus areas in which to focus our
strategies and plans
• Demonstrate how to leverage our unique
assets (e.g. Co-operative values, Membership)
to help deliver commercial performance
improvements
The logic underpinning our work
If we understand
what matters to
consumers
Then we can use
what we know to
attract more of
them
And create more
commercial
success and value
Which we can
invest in fulfilling
our purpose as a
co-operative
A few facts…
Over 15,000 voices from the marketplace
Nationally representative
– including customers, members and non-customers
The Big Insight Project
Segmentation (BIP)
Face-to-face interviews in home
• 45 minute survey
• 4,000 consumers
• 1,000 members *
• 467 sample points
• 200 interviewers
Project Button (Customer Drivers) • 25 minute survey
• 7,000 consumers
Online interviews
• 11 product areas
Membership
Online interviews
* 1000 additional surveys completed for additional analysis
• 25 minute survey
• 2,142 consumers
13
Our competition is strongly aligned to core drivers. We do ‘own’ Co-operative
values – but they are not key for customers
The numbered dots relate to the drivers of purchase, which are
listed in order of importance. The most important drivers are
shown in purple. The map shows which drivers different brands
are most closely associated with – the nearer a brand is to a
number, the more they ‘own’ it. Hence, we are best known for
being British (20) and Ethical (15), and least well known for
being Cheapest (6).
Food: Top-up shop
18
15
9
20
13
11
12
2
8
23
5
14
16
4
7
19 10
6
24
21
17
The mainstream market for
top-up shop
22
1
3
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Value for money
Quality fresh produce
Deals
Range
Location
Cheapest
Stock levels
Quality own brand
Supports British suppliers
Speedy service
Trust
Pleasant experience
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
The Co-operative core territory
Helpful
Friendly
Ethical
Consistent service
Rewards loyalty
Supports local community
Easy shopping
British
Leading brand
Online
Recommended
Non-grocery products/ services
Most important drivers
14
The15Main shop food market brand territory is very crowded
Food: Main
shop
14
5
1
19
21
10
9
17 7
16
3
12
6
2
2315
13
8
1.
Value for money
2.
Good special offers
3.
Excellent quality fresh produce
4.
Wide range of products
5.
Lowest prices
6.
Excellent quality own brand
products
7.
Convenient locations
8.
Good stock levels
9.
Supports British farmers and
suppliers
10. I can trust them
11. Rewards loyalty
24
18
22
4
12. Pleasant shopping experience
11
13. Checkout is speedy
14. Ethical
15. Consistent stock levels
16. Helpful staff
17. Friendly staff
The mainstream market
for main shop
18. Makes the shopping easier
19. Supports the local community
20. Strong online presence
21. British
20
22. Leading brand
Most important drivers
23. Recommended
The Co-operative core territory
24. Offers non-grocery products/
services
Competitors’ core territory
15
The good news is that there is more opportunity to win in banking. Only First
Direct16 and Nationwide are uniquely associated with core drivers – and no-one can
lay claim to the most important driver: Trust
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Banking: Current Account
The mainstream market
for Current Account
13
27
26
8.
9.
6
9
2
3
11
12
15
1
4
22
8 10
23 7
19
17
16
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
5
18
20 24
21
14 25
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
The Co-operative potential
territory
25.
Most important drivers
26.
27.
Trust
Value for money
User-friendly online advice
Makes my life easier
Excellent quality
Rewards loyalty
Customer service is joined
up
Helpful staff
Best deals for existing
customers
Keeps in touch
Telephone advice
Simple choice of accounts
Lowest rates
Ethical
Flexible approach to
charges
Convenient locations
Leading brand
Only tries to sell things that
are good for me
Industry expert
Provides a relationship
manager
British
Recommended
Fee paying packages
Pleasant branch
environment
Supports the local
community
Does things differently
16
Offers non-financial
All this insight, enabled us to develop a customer strategy…
Earning Trust is the key objective of this customer strategy
“ The only reliable route to sustainable business growth and
profit is to build Trust in your company”
Justin Basini, “Why Should Anyone Buy From You? Earn Customer Trust To Drive Business Success.” (August 2011)
• It is a vital component of any future-facing brand in a world where
consumers are both increasingly sceptical and powerfully connected
• But for The Co-operative, Trust is imperative because we deliver such wideranging products and services
• It sets expectations as to why customers should do business with us,
providing reassurance and nurturing advocacy while protecting against
dissatisfaction and criticism from potential detractors
• Critically, our customers told us it was a key factor in their choice of brands
they want to deal with
And we know that Trust is a key driver in many of our markets
Rational Trust is earned by delivering on key drivers
The combination of rational and emotional Trust will deliver
long term changes in behaviour
Rational
Emotional
+
Deep Trust
=
• Does what I want
• On my side
• Delivers what matters to me
• Delivers through brand
values
Competitors lead
The Co-operative in process
of developing
Competitors struggle to
convince
Co-operative heritage
and DNA convinces
Builds sustainable
relationships
We are advantaged
as it is harder for
competitors to get
emotional Trust
Our Trust strategy has three key objectives….
1
Remove barriers to show “it works really well”
• Focus on getting the basics right so consumers have
more rational and
functional
capabilities
the confidence in us to consistently deliver
2 Drive relevance by being “right” for consumers
• Better understand their needs, make their lives easier,
and flex our most trusted assets
3
relevance breeds
likeability;
spans rational and
emotional
Earn emotional engagement via mutual benefit
• Express our unique difference in ways which are
relevant, human, contemporary and motivating
more emotional
reasons-to-consider
We need to focus on the
things that matter to our
customers and we have
engaged Leo Burnett Group
to deliver a new brand
creative………
The Leo Burnett creative will help too…….
• Drive relevance with customers
• Perform a wide range of marketing tasks across business units
• Drive brand affinity
• Deliver a new younger, family heartland
• Appeal to a range of different audiences
• Give The Co-operative a role throughout life
Looking back five years from now……
• Diverse range of businesses
connected by one trusted brand
• Customers walking past
competitors to visit The Cooperative
• Significant numbers of multiple
business users
• A growing and engaged
membership
• Greater efficiency of marketing
spend
Key challenges
• Food dominates, and connections
between the businesses are not strong in
people’s minds
• The Co-operative performs on ‘emotional’
trust but not on ‘rational’ trust
We need a new brand idea
The new brand idea has a
lot of things to do
28
2. The idea must focus on things that matter to customers
3. The idea must be able to serve a broad range of
marketing objectives
4. The idea must help deliver a new younger,
family heartland
Today’s heartland
Tomorrow’s heartland
5. The idea must appeal to a range of different
audiences
6. The idea must give The Co-operative a role
throughout life
The idea has a lot to do
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
34
Build on what’s gone before
Focus on what matters to customers
Serve a range of marketing objectives
Deliver a younger, family heartland
Appeal to a range of audiences
Give The Co-operative a role throughout
life
Customer research helped identify the building blocks of
the new idea
You can trust that The Co-operative will be
close by whenever you need us.
You can trust that we’ll do the right thing for
you, your family and society.
You can trust us to deliver. And that the
products and services we offer will be right
for you.
That whoever you are, wherever you are, and
whatever you need in life, we’ll be here for
you.
37
39
Five core principles of the Brand creative
The Square - size, positioning and opacity
HFYFL logotype – size and position
Font and alignment – Helvetica neue
The Tone of voice - inc ‘Life insight’
Photography – true, honest, real, not contrived
These principles should always be consistently
delivered as they are the DNA of the Brand creative