Insights on Customer Experience:

Give the CMO More Authority [PDF]
By Roland Bernhard

In this interview published in M&K, the leading Swiss marketing communications journal, Roland Bernhard addresses some of the most challenging topics marketers face today. Roland talks about customer experience, innovation and marketing accountability and explains how commanding these topics help marketers gain a competitive advantage, even in difficult times. (Marketing & Kommunikation, October 2009)

Shifting Retailers Respond to “Season of Discontent” [PDF]
By Peter Dixon and Scott Davis

Retailers have always been driven by the seasons. The holidays, of course, and particularly Christmas. Fall and back to school. The ushering-in of spring and summer, with promotions around fun and leisurely pursuits. Since the recession officially reared its head in January of 2008, retailing has added a new season to its lineup: The “season of discontent.”

The Prophet Customer Experience Report: Supermarkets [PDF]
By Prophet

Our second report in the series examines the customer experience in the UK’s supermarkets. The phenomenal change in the food retailing landscape over the last ten years clearly shows that consumers are more than happy to change brands. That change is not just based on price, but price combined with customer experience. (June 2009)

The Prophet Customer Experience Report: Retail Banks [PDF]
By Prophet

Our first report in an upcoming series examines the customer experience in the UK’s retail banking sector. Under the microscope for months, and the subject of intense criticism over its role in the current economic crisis, the banking sector perhaps has most to fear in terms of customer backlash. (April 2009)

NHL: Brand Resurrected
By Andrew Pierce and John Conti

The National Hockey League is a remarkable turnaround story serving as a lesson for brand reinvention. (Marketing Daily, February 16, 2009)

Lux Brands Face Tough Balancing Act [PDF]
By Kevin O'Donnell

Luxury brands face no small dilemma these days as they try to deliver growth without compromising cachet—all against the backdrop of a severe global recession that’s sure to challenge their fabled resistance to downturns. (Marketing News, February 2009)

Correcting the Brand Backlash [PDF]
By Kevin O'Donnell

The anti-brand backlash can be contained, Kevin argues, by teaching those who think a brand is just a name slapped on a package that the true concept of Brand is the 360-degree experience a consumer has with it. (Marketing News, November 2008)

How to Cope With Aging Brands [PDF]
By Joseph Gelman

Individual brands, or even whole categories, that were once important for a particular consumer segment, become irrelevant as society evolves and tastes change.  Should you completely lose your current brand equity association so you can become relevant to new consumers? (World Advertising Research Center, October 2008)

The Marketing Mix [PDF]
By Joseph Gelman

Joseph Gelman argues that the concept of bank branches is still alive, despite claims to the contrary. Banks should therefore take advantage of this situation to transmit the essence of their brand to clients at all points of interaction, particularly in light of the current cash crisis. (Strategic Marketing, July/August 2008)

“Customer Experience” – Managing an integrated brand [PDF]
By Andrea Hilber and Roland Bernhard

CMOs can no longer invest in traditional marketing channels.  They must focus their marketing dollars on customer touchpoints that create the greatest opportunity to generate sustainable brand value.  *Please note, this article is in German. (Marketing & Kommunikation, July/August 2008)

How to Invest in Branding: The Harrah's Story [Webcast]
By Kevin O'Donnell

In this 90-minute web seminar, Kevin O'Donnell from Prophet and Lisa Marchese from Harrah's will discuss how the largest casino operator in the world uses brand to compete and win in a fiercely competitive and ever-changing market. (MarketingProfs, February, 2008)

Build a Brand Consumers Will Actually Want to Control [PDF]
By Scott Davis

In this article, Scott Davis answers questions about customer control: Does the customer really want to be your co-pilot? Does the customer want to do the marketer’s work in building the brand? Make your ads? Design your products? Distribute your message? Maybe not, he argues. (AdAge, 11/27/2007)

Marketing-Touchpoints - The UBS story  [PDF]
By Prophet

This article was co-authored with our client, UBS, and has been translated into English from the original German text. It illustrates how active touchpoint management can help in converting prospects to clients, extending relationships to existing clients and therefore driving business results. (Marketing Journal, November 2007)

Learn to Use Communication's Negative Space [PDF]
By Kevin O'Donnell

In the environment where you can reach your customers 24/7, success at building a brand—at solidifying and growing your relationship with customers—is really all about being selective. You need to pick the right time and place or, better yet, let the customer pick for you. (Marketing News, November 1, 2007)

Turning Green Into Gold [PDF]
By Andrew Pierce

In this article, Andrew argues that the question for most companies is not if they will take action to make their brands environmentally friendly, but when and the extent to which they will do so. He then discusses what it takes to successfully make green work as a business and brand builder. (Marketing News, October 1, 2007)

Think Big [PDF]
By David Aaker

In this article that appeared originally in the Wall Street Journal, Dave Aaker argues that to win market share, don’t try to influence what brand of product people buy. Change how they use the product in the first place. (MIT Sloan Management Review, September 14, 2007)

The CMO Challenge: Exiting the Comfort Zone [PDF]
By Michael Dunn

In this article, Michael Dunn argues that in order to be effective, marketers need to up their game, take on the new media, and be prepared to be adventurous, extending their influence over many of the critical business growth drivers. (Argent, September 2007)

Don't Be Afraid to Plunge Into Emerging Media [PDF]
By Scott Davis

Color today’s marketers dazed and confused. It’s an understandable reaction to an environment that has become almost impossibly complex, making it difficult for them to figure out where to start (or much less how to go about) meeting management’s escalating demands for demonstrable returns. (AdAge, July 23, 2007)

Only The Strongest CMOs Will Survive [PDF]
By Scott Davis

In this article, Scott discusses the challenges being faced by Senior Marketers and four key mandates they should address on the path toward becoming empowered CMOs. (Advertising Age, January 2007)

Power Switch [PDF]
By Michael Dunn

In many of today's leading organizations, marketing is front and center in driving solid business performance - based on a heightened understanding of and responsiveness to the customer.  Leading the charge are empowered chief marketing officers, who have developed a more expansive influence, range of responsibilities, and view of marketing's capabilities in the broader business scheme. (Marketing Management, September/October 2006)

New Challenges to Marketing's Mandates [PDF]
By Scott Davis

In this article, Scott discusses the need for marketers to take a broader view of their role if they are to contribute successfully to business growth.  This includes thoughts around owning the customer experience, successfully using new technologies, and blending business, brand, and marketing strategies. (Admap, June 2006)

The Role of Marketing and Brand in Driving Growth [PDF]
By Scott Davis

Citing results from our State of Marketing survey, this webcast given by Scott Davis looks at the definition of growth within organizations and highlights inconsistencies in the way it is defined by chief executive officers, chief marketing officers, and other executives. Learn techniques you can use to identify opportunities for brand-driven and marketing-driven growth, and find out how to align your organization by creating synergies between business, brand, and marketing strategies. Finally, we provide a summary of findings and best practices that can help your organization close the growth gap. (Microsoft Executive Circle, April 2006)

Interesting Bedfellows - Why a Teaming of HR and Marketing Makes Sense
By Jeff Smith

Companies are increasingly realizing that for brand and business strategies to be aligned, the brand can no longer be driven solely by the activities of the marketing department. Delivering against the promises of a brand strategy requires every level of the organization to live the brand. (AMAnet.org, April 2006)

You are Only as Strong as your Weakest Touchpoint
By Scott Davis

After years of paying lip service to the importance of marketing while engineering and design ruled the roost, technology companies are learning that maybe they need to be more like other businesses after all. (Marketing Profs, April 2006)

Cut Ties with Tradition and Expand Your Influence [PDF]
By Scott Davis

When it comes to assessing marketing's effectiveness in creating the type of customer relationships that fuel business growth, consider this: Maybe marketers should stop thinking so much like traditional marketers. (Point, February 2006)

Time to Re-Embrace the The "Next Best Customer" Truism [PDF]
By Scott Davis

If it's so axiomatic that "your next best customer is the one you already have," why do marketers expend so much energy — and hard-fought resources — chasing after new ones? (Point, November 2005)

Prophet's State of Marketing Survey [PDF]
By Prophet

Marketing's role in driving growth is threatened by the chasm between its need to influence the customer experience and its ability to do so. Leveraging the internal relationships necessary to impact the customer experience that drives business growth is a huge obstacle, with many marketers claiming no role whatsoever in shaping key customer touchpoints. This gap is one of the highlights of the new 2005 State of Marketing Survey sponsored by Prophet and conducted by IDG Research. (Summer 2005)

Implications of Customer Service on Brand
By Prophet

A critique of Britain's customer service within the context of how it may impact brands on a global scale.* (Financial Times, December 2004)

Banking on Delivery [PDF]
By Jeff Smith

Banks are generally held to have entrenched attitudes about customers and marketing. But, in conversation with chief marketing officers of several leading banks in Europe, Prophet found evidence of a willingness to embrace the new customer realities. (Argent, Fall 2004)

Laying the Blame [PDF]
By Prophet

A commentary on the challenges of branding in the financial services sector. Advertising may increase awareness, however, it is the delivery of excellent customer experience that truly makes a positive impact on a company's brand. (Financial Marketing, January 2004)

Understanding Your Brand - Aligning Brand Equity to Drive Business Value [PDF]
By Prophet

A perspective on the importance of knowing what your brand means to target stakeholders, and which elements of it drive value so that brand building investments can be prioritized. (National Hotel Executive, November 2003)

Achieving Consistency - Delivering on Your Brand Promise Across All Customer Touchpoints [PDF]
By Prophet

A framework by which a company can identify, analyze and correct inconsistencies across its customer touchpoints. (National Hotel Executive, March 2003)

Harmonizing Your Touchpoints [PDF]
By Scott Davis and Tina Longoria

A perspective on the importance of aligning your brand's touchpoints across all interactions with your customers. The article also provides some consumer products related examples. (Brand Packaging, January 2003)

Brand Asset Management
By Scott Davis

In this book, learn how to turn your brand from the logo on your letterhead into the driving force behind your company's growth, operational success, and long-term profitability.

Building the Brand-Driven Business
By Michael Dunn and Scott Davis

In this book, learn how to map out a strategy that can help an entire organization manage and live (not just think about) its brand.

Great Brand Building is Just a Touch Away [PDF]
By Scott Davis

This article outlines how to manage your brand touchpoints to build strong customer relationships. (Brandweek, June 2002)

Extending Your Brand Into New Markets [Podcast]
By Michael Dunn

In this Sky Radio interview, Michael Dunn discusses Prophet's work with potterybarn.com, and how companies can manage the customer experience across a variety of online and offline channels. (Sky Radio, January 2002)

Brand-Customer Relationship: The Face of Your Business Strategy [PDF]
By Prophet

The days of brand building defined simply by awareness and driven by marketing alone are over. Prophet believes that brand is the essential underpinning to a holistic business strategy, requiring that the brand be managed at the highest levels within the organization. (January 2001)

Brand-Customer Relationship: The Face of Your Business Strategy [PDF]
By Prophet

The days of brand building defined simply by awareness and driven by marketing alone are over. Prophet believes that brand is the essential underpinning to a holistic business strategy, requiring that the brand be managed at the highest levels within the organization. (January 2001)