A proven track record of exceeding expectations.
Whether working inside a business as a director, or externally as a consultant, we have all previously worked on projects that relate to every area of expertise provided by Dean & Donaldson.
Below you will find a selection of case studies that illustrate how we have helped companies create a shared vision of the future; identify and embed their brand values; develop and articulate their customer proposition; use market research to inform and evaluate marketing activity; create a comprehensive marketing and communications strategy; and identify and recruit the right resource to execute their marketing strategy.
‘Thank you for an absolutely fantastic job. My first proposition task and you made me look amazing. Your de-brief was thorough, considered and detailed. Your delivery was flawless and I hope you picked up on how well it was received, THANK YOU’
Client Testimonial
Vision
The CEO of a fast growing business wanted to articulate a long term vision that would motivate and unite the rapidly increasing number of people working for the organisation.
Context
The original vision statement no longer described the company’s long term goals or galvanised the workforce effectively.
Objective
The CEO wanted to articulate a vision that would reflect their ambitions, and at the same time inspire and unite the rapidly increasing number of people working for the organisation.
Approach
We ensured buy in across the organisation by inviting input from a wide range of people:
- all members of the board and senior management
- a selection of employees ensuring a range of seniority, roles, gender and length of time at the company.
Using a methodology which frees people up to think creatively and paint a detailed picture of the future as they would like to see it, we could then compress all the thinking into a concise statement that genuinely reflected everyone’s ambitions for the business.
Outcome
The resulting statement captured the essence of the company’s philosophy in a way that made it simple for people to apply the long term ambition to their day to day roles.
Brand Values
Our client wanted to ensure that their excellent and distinctive reputation would continue to secure the loyalty of existing clients as well as helping them win new clients and attract new talent.
Context
The company had struggled to capture the core characteristics that described how their business was different from competitors.
Objective
They wanted to revisit their ten original values and refine these down to a much smaller, more memorable number that captured the most important and unique aspects of the company.
Approach
After consulting widely within the organisation, with customers and potential customers and analysing competitors, we were able to identify five brand values that everyone agreed captured what was different about the company.
We then ensured that these values were properly embedded by:
- adjusting the HR strategy so that employees were inducted and assessed against the values.
- highlighting operational areas of the business that needed adjusting to ensure a consistent on brand customer experience.
- creating a network of brand ambassadors and an internal communications plan to keep the brand front of mind.
- devising an annual awards ceremony to publicly acknowledge employees who went above and beyond to deliver on the values.
Outcome
A set of truly unique, authentic and embedded values that will continue to build brand preference amongst customers and employees.
Brand Positioning
In a highly competitive marketplace, the business needed to identify and then communicate what was genuinely distinctive, relevant and appealing about the way they delivered their services.
Context
Having focused for many years on a niche segment of the marketplace, the business wanted to offer their services to a much wider audience.
Objective
They needed to change perceptions of the business and broaden its appeal by finding a core idea that would make them significantly more attractive to this wider audience.
Approach
Working closely with the CEO and a trusted design agency, we developed three potential brand positioning ideas.
These ideas were rigorously tested out amongst clients, potential clients, key intermediaries and internal stakeholders.
The feedback was used to produce further iterations until we found the core idea, expressed visually and verbally, that everyone from the Board down agreed was perfect for the company
Outcome
That core idea is still the one that’s expressed on the home page of the company’s website today.
Customer Proposition
The head of a company division wanted to accelerate growth by updating and extending their product range to cater more effectively for existing clients and attract new clients.
Context
The division had become much less profitable due to increasing costs, products that were not priced to reflect these costs and a product range that was not tailored effectively to the needs of different customers within their target audience.
Objective
The division head wanted to develop a coherent, effectively priced product range that would allow them to retain existing profitable clients, win back clients lost to competitors and attract new clients.
Approach
Our first step was to form a working group made up of members from across the whole organisation to ensure that we made best use of all available expertise and ensure buy in to the project.
Working closely with the division head and working group members, we came up with a provisional range of three new products.
The new product range and pricing was then rigorously tested out amongst existing clients, previous clients and potential clients.
The division head then used the findings to present his case to the Board for creating the new product range.
Outcome
The three new products were launched a year later and according to the division head, they have “been a great success”.
Marketing Strategy
The CEO had recognised that to take his business to the next level he needed a marketing strategy that would change perceptions, and create much greater awareness of the brand.
Context
If potential customers haven’t heard of your brand, or have perceptions that you don’t offer a service that’s relevant to them personally, then they are much less likely to consider buying from you.
Objective
The CEO wanted every potential customer to be aware of the company and all the services they provided so that they would be considered as a potential provider.
Approach
In parallel with developing the organisation’s brand values, brand positioning and key messages, we assessed all existing marketing activity and which combination of existing and new channels would be the most effective ways to reach the potential customers.
This was all incorporated into a comprehensive document providing a 5 year strategy and implementation plan for the business with specific targets set against each strand of activity.
Outcome
A marketing plan that was assessed by an independent specialist consultancy as being “far in advance of any of the work we see from our other clients across the sector.”
Market Research
Our client wanted to become the ‘go-to’ fund manager for real estate investment. Find out how the market understanding we provided was used to re-position them successfully.
Context
A well known global investment company was aware that they were losing market share to competitors.
Objective
The company needed to understand current perceptions of their brand in relation to other investment companies so they they could re-position themselves to gain competitive advantage.
Approach
A series of in-depth interviews across European markets with institutional investors to explore:
- general perceptions of the global property marketplace in each territory
- the key factors influencing choice or recommendation of fund managers for property investments
- awareness and perception of fund managers for property investments operating in each territory
- perceptions of the key players in terms of reputation, product offering, investment performance, financial strength, quality of funds, fund managers, position in the market, outlook and service.
Outcome
Based on a detailed understanding of how they compared with competitors, the client was able to develop a positioning that helped them close the gap between them and their competitors.
Evaluation
The client wanted to know for certain what percentage of the target market was aware of the company’s brand and how that compared to competitors in order to understand the scale of the task and set a target for the future.
Context
Anecdotal evidence suggested that there were misconceptions about the service offered by the company and a generally low awareness of the brand amongst the wider target audience.
Objective
The client wanted statistically robust data to confirm how the company was perceived, awareness and consideration levels amongst the target audience and how that compared with competitors.
A second important objective was to use this data to set a future target so that the management team could assess their return on investment in marketing and communications.
Approach
After putting out a brief to a number of potential providers, a bespoke survey was conducted by the selected supplier amongst a sufficiently large number of the client’s target audience to provide robust data.
Outcome
The client knew exactly what percentage of their target market were aware of the brand, how their brand and competitor brands were perceived, which factors influence the target audience’s decision to consider a brand and which marketing and media channels were most likely to be effective.
Resource
Having developed the client's marketing strategy and recruited a small in-house team supported by rigorously selected agencies, it was time to recruit a permanent head of marketing.
Context
After sourcing specialist experience and expertise to transform the marketing capability of the organisation, the client was in a position to employ someone at the right level of seniority to head up the marketing department.
Objective
To employ someone who would build on all the work done so far and help maintain the company’s pace of growth, at a salary level commensurate with the skills required.
Approach
Working with the management team, COO and HR department, we agreed the recruitment criteria for a permanent head of marketing.
We then created a shortlist of three candidates to be interviewed by the CEO and Managing Director.
Outcome
The selected candidate took on the role and continues to evolve the company’s marketing and communication activity to support its growth ambitions.