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A number of decades ago, Electrolux began a journey to be a. Its leadership thought in electronic environmentand therebyleveraginganothercompetitive benefit in a still relatively product and technology driven industry and a brand new marketplace in brandedconsumer experiences.
The globalvision was put; today the challenge was: how to make certain consumer centricity contributes to do it ina business environmentacross categories in Europe?
The challenge for EMEA Promoting
His challenge was to implement this vision in EMEAwith all itscomplexity niches operating with product and brand portfolios channel structuresetc when LarsHygrelltook the position as head of brand and marketing EMEAin January 2012.
From the context of powerful competitive supplies (Whirlpool, BSH, Samsung), powerful retail partners and increased stress on price and margin,it was not the time for tactical transformation unless it providedshort term attention and results.
Additionally, with over 90 percent of all consumersusing stations to informand buy decisions for kitchen and laundry appliances it was clear opportunity was forMarketingtobecome quickly.
So in this fairly tough business environmenthischallenge was supposed to deliver on avision he thought in, i.e. impactful marketing with the customer at the core of all activities and strong brands.
To do this thestrategy had triggered in afocusedand way that is efficient and to be made tangible.
Brand and marketing consultancy Prophet and the EMEA Electrolux team collaborated to execute the customer experience strategy as well as focusing sales and marketing efforts.
Whilst, on the one hand, experience concepts such as ‘needs matching’ were designed and rolled out, on the other hand Prophet assisted to identify challenges in the go-to marketplace approachand workedto raise the impact of marketing activities by focusing on the right channels, brands, products and actions.
The strategy
The plan was supposed to become while at the same time producing better product attention and stronger brands. Taking marketing to another level was intended to occur in three large waves:
- Firstly,knowing, introducingand coaching the consumer journeyinsightswas crucial — everybody needed to start thinking from a consumer standpoint. How do consumers utilize them, which offline and digital interactions are critical to their decision making and gratification and shop for appliances?
- Focusmarketing onkeystrategicbrands and products: Electrolux Europehasa large portfolio of brands – that brands should marketing invest in tomake them powerful and adored byconsumers in any given marketplace? Equally which goods should beprioritisedand supported bymarketinginvestmentbecause they are competitive and provide results that are much better to thecompany and the customer?
- Finally, and once focuswason the right manufacturers,productsand the consumer journey,the plan was to direct advertising activities accordingly and close to the loop to continuously improve advertising effectiveness.Thenthe plan wasto drive advertising activities in crucial phases of the journey, offline and digital touchpoints and monitor investments in the Ideal brand and goods
The way we did it
In 2012, the globalElectroluxstrategy wasdevelopedbeyondnow and advertising needed the insights and tools to understandhow consumers store and reside with house appliances: How they get informed, the way they behave in different measures of the customer travel and the way they make decisions.
The attention was on shoppingbehaviour,secondlyon the ownership/usage. In sharing sessions and training with different audiences all marketingleadersworked together andbuilt on how totransform marketing: customer travel at thecentre digitally savvy a plantogether.
Equipped with this knowledge the EMEAorganisationtook a parallel path of definingonlyonefocusbrand for each European marketplace, e.g. AEG in the United Kingdom and Germany, Electrolux in France and Italy.
Marketing investments were to befocusedon these brands. In a very analytical, fact based and inclusiveprogramme, the fundamental group together with the markets,identified themost significant categories andproducts in every single marketplace and class (e.g.steam-ovens inGermany).
Marketingacross EMEAhas reached a completely new level of elegance and transparency — internal talks are inspirational and fact based
This investigation led to a lot of consensus and clarity regarding focus areas along the size of product, supply, price and manufacturer offer, describing the entire consumer value equation.
Marketing and product lines were aligned on where more work was needed and which offers to push. Theorganisationimplemented monitoring and kepton top of that products toprioritise.
At this point the customer journey wasfullyestablishedacross EMEA, focus manufacturer(AEG & Electrolux)andstarproducts were described. So EMEA Marketing was prepared to take the next step.
Channelsandmost crucialparts of the consumer travel substantially increases advertising effectiveness byfocusingall activities in key markets about products, the brands and the right consumer touchpoints,.
Again central advertising and the market teams determined where the improvement areas are everywhere where in the customer travel advertising and marketing investments arefocusedand.
This led in clear recommendations about the best way best to focus marketing throughout the consumer travel and which in doing this actions / touchpoints to trigger.
It was possible to maneuver marketing to mirror needs — such as bydrivingmore focus on digital touchpointsvs traditional mediaand the ideal content to drive consumer preference. Yetat the same when it comes to choice and purchase of a product and physical or digital POS timekeeping a strong presence.
The results
Marketingacross EMEAhas attained a level of elegance and transparency talks are reality based and inspirational. There is more powerful brand health for some of the key brand metrics across journey and the buy funnel and the brand has clarity on the approach to perform marketing and where to concentrate driving impact and better ROMI.
There happen to be commercialsuccess in EMEA over the past twoyears and the newest will keep progressing analysingand training, with continuous observation.
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