Prophet

CASE STUDY

CVS Kidney Care

Helping CVS Kidney Care transform to disrupt the renal care industry

Challenge

Nine out of 10 adults in America with chronic kidney disease don’t even know they have it. And for the half a million U.S. patients on dialysis, the vast majority receive treatment in clinics. That means three times a week, four hours a day, away from home. Treatment is physically and emotionally taxing for patients and staying employed is challenging, if not impossible.

CVS Kidney Care knew there was a better way. The business saw an opportunity to transform kidney care in America, delivering a better experience for patients and their caregivers, better clinical outcomes, and an improved cost of care. But to truly disrupt this well-established industry, CVS Kidney Care needed differentiated strategies and high-performing teams that could keep pace with true make-market innovation.

Solutions

Prophet partnered with CVS Kidney Care using the firm’s Human-Centered Transformation Model™, to develop the broad range of capabilities required to be a real disruptive business. The transformation work included customer-centric product management and a creative commercialization capability that could rapidly build and iterate a compelling ecosystem of partnerships, combined with an agile operations organization. All this was also supported by a passionate, make-market culture. Fully integrated Prophet and CVS Kidney Care teams (or “Pods”) worked together, running in two-week agile sprints to break down silos, focus on the patient, caregiver and provider priorities, and dramatically accelerate progress towards seizing CVS Kidney Care’s key opportunities. Together, we collaborated on:

DNA

BODY

MIND

  • Identifying the talent, skills and experience required to scale the business
  • Transferring core skills in creative problem solving, innovation and product development

SOUL

  • Defining a “Culture of Courage” and mobilizing the organization to live the behaviors of a bold market-making CVS Kidney Care team

Results

Within the first year of its transformation, CVS Kidney Care has made clear progress on business outcomes and created a more engaged and productive team. The organization has improved business performance and has a clear growth trajectory. Cultural change is finding traction, and engagement scores within the CVS Kidney Care team have improved significantly. Most importantly, the entire organization is more committed than ever to transforming kidney care for patients and their caregivers.

Additionally, our work received recognition in the 2022 North America Transform Awards, earning Gold for the Best Development of a New Brand Within an Existing Brand Portfolio category.

“As a loyal Prophet customer, I highly recommend that everyone consider using their Human-Centered Transformation Model when seeking to accelerate organizational transformation and drive uncommon growth. There’s honestly no way we could have moved at this pace and achieved these results without a partner as deeply dedicated to truly building our own organizational capabilities. Trust me when I say, it works! – Lisa Rometty, President CVS Kidney Care

“There’s honestly no way we could have moved at this pace and achieved these results without a partner as deeply dedicated to truly building our own organizational capabilities. Trust me when I say, it works!”

Lisa Rometty
President

CASE STUDY

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano

Enhancing Digital Communications in the Fight To End Hunger

Challenge

Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano’s mission is “Leading the fight to end hunger, in partnership with our community and in service of our neighbors in need.”  To do so, they distribute food directly to low-income people at community sites and make food available for other nonprofit organizations serving the ill, needy and infants. This team distributed 40 million pounds of food between March 2020 and February 2021.

Food Bank asked us to help with its newsletter communication. The original printed newsletter was titled “Bread Connection” and dated back to the early 90s. Though minor layout changes were made through the years, the digital newsletter had an outdated layout with too much text and no audience focus. Additionally, articles were comprised of a too wide range of content including event updates, program statistics and stories about the brand’s service.

Solutions

Prophet helped Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano define a targeted messaging approach, a topic framework and target audience for the print newsletter. After desk research and gathering employee feedback, the new title “At the Table” was selected. It reflects the coming together of families to share stories and inviting the donor to have “a place at the table” while staying connected to what’s happening.

The design of the printed newsletter was modernized to resemble a magazine’s balance between photos and white space. The digital newsletter audience was defined with help of a persona– Amy, a mom who wanted a hopeful, actionable, engaging email that could be applied to her life hassle-free. The digital issue was rebranded as “Refresh” and was given a design rework and new functionality (mobile responsiveness).

Results

Today, Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano sends its newsletters to donors who have given any gift within last three years as well as volunteers who have served hours within last two years. With a clearer focus, the Food Bank team found it easier to create purposeful, written content an impactful newsletter when developing each newsletter.

It saw an increase of about $3,000 in donations directly related to the printed newsletter in the first year, trackable from paper remit envelopes in each edition.

Its digital newsletter saw 82% of their active list, which currently has 22,395 subscribers, open at least one newsletter in the past year.

“Prophet’s rework of our newsletters was a gamechanger in our offline and online communication with donors and volunteers.”

Rachel Braver
Community Marketing Manager

Impact

3k

uplift in dollars donated via print newsletter

82%

open rate for email newsletter in past year

CASE STUDY

Marriott International

Expanding Marriott Bonvoy® to drive engagement with families

Challenge

Marriott International, already a leading brand for business travel, is dedicated to improving its reputation as a family-friendly destination in APAC. It’s expanding its Marriott Bonvoy® offers to include explorations and experiences that kids dream about.

And while reaching parents is important, driving engagement with kids is essential. Prophet had previously worked with Marriott to create its successful M Passport program, which lets kids collect stamps and stickers at resorts and urban properties and then trade them for perks like ice cream and local souvenirs. Marriott wanted to find additional ways to connect with its youngest guests, creating brand-led experiences that would work across the entire portfolio. Besides building on family-friendly amenities, such as guaranteed adjoining rooms and early check-ins, it wanted to make kids jump for joy.

Solutions

Nothing is as welcoming as a familiar face. So Prophet teamed up with the beloved children’s book series, Mr. MenTM & Little MissTM (MMLM), to further Marriott’s mission of raising adventurous world travelers. While the series includes more than 90 characters, we focused on finding the 10 that best align with Marriott’s values, including Mr. Brave and Little Miss Curious.

Prophet created a story behind each of the ten characters, introducing them to children even before arriving at the hotel. To bring the joys of travel to life with age-appropriate messages, we used plenty of digital activations meant to delight. Kids could add MMLM stickers to their WhatsApp messages, for example. And once they arrived on the property, they could create personalized e-post cards from the MMLM characters and find ideas for future family vacations. Besides offering fun and engagement for kids, the activation also created a cohesive visual system aimed at parents, helping them see Marriott as a welcoming place for family-friendly adventures.

Toys are an essential part of the experience, too. Families could collect the 10 customized MMLM plush dolls. And in some locations, Marriott offered families an exclusive thrill, meeting MMLM Author and Illustrator Adam Hargreaves.

Results

The Marriott Bonvoy® and Mr. MenTM & Little MissTM collaboration launched in the summer of 2019, encompassing more than 450 hotels and resorts throughout the region. And it offered a consistent experience for kids across all 13 Marriott brands.

Beyond driving engagement with families, the initiative provided opportunities for participating hotels and resorts to give families a warmer welcome as it expands into this important market. Besides raising incremental revenue, it also builds loyalty across the portfolio and supports key destinations, even as it helps parents raise the next generation of brave, curious and adventurous travelers.

CASE STUDY

PartsSource

Developing a new-age marketing strategy for a digital product launch

Challenge

PartsSource is the world’s largest provider of medical replacement products. To complement its growing medical parts business, PartsSource sought to create a first-in-kind digital service offering designed to help customers source a variety of service personnel in their areas. The team needed help launching the service on its online platform, which is used by over 3,000 hospitals and more than 15,000 clinical sites. As an additional challenge, PartsSource wasn’t able to present the new product at an in-person conference due to COVID-19. So, the team needed to plan an engaging, virtual launch event as a part of the go-to-market strategy.

Solutions

PartsSource turned to Prophet and Springbox, a Prophet Company, to support its first, digital-only product launch. Together, Prophet and PartsSource set out to strategically introduce the new service offering to clarify the value proposition, expand brand perceptions of PartsSource and most importantly, drive inbound leads for the business.

Prophet and Springbox developed a launch campaign strategy that successfully marketed the digital launch event, and also encapsulated the value PartsSource delivers as an end-to-end procurement channel partnership. Prophet and Springbox then brought the campaign to life by developing a series of campaign concepts (including art direction, image selection and copywriting). The campaign concepts were developed as a series of ads that were pushed into the market.

Results

The campaign strategy evolved PartsSource’s position in the marketplace and cascaded down into other value propositions. The key and supporting messages resonated with each of the unique customer audience segments, highlighting the brand’s ability to connect with customers.

In 2021, Bain Capital Private Equity purchased the PartsSource from Great Hill Partners in a deal that values the company at about $1.25 billion.

CASE STUDY

Global Investment Advisory Firm

Developing a revamped direct marketing strategy to drive sales and ROI

Challenge

The client, a major investment advisory firm, had a history of successfully executing aggressive direct marketing tactics. In fact, nearly all of its customers were acquired through direct advertising.

While the company was experiencing steady growth, it had an ambitious goal of doubling its assets under management within just a few years. To achieve this, the organization needed help attracting new client profiles and successfully moving prospects through the marketing funnel.

Solutions

Through qualitative and quantitative consumer research of prospects in four countries, our team of financial services experts partnered with the investment advisory company to gain a deep understanding of the existing prospect journey and identify the conversion gaps on the way to becoming a paying customer.

By taking a digital approach, we uncovered that our client could:

  • Better reach prospects with varying degrees of familiarity with the company
  • Add interventions at key decision points of hiring a financial advisor
  • Develop engaging direct marketing content

To bring the strategy to life, Prophet helped the client create an activation roadmap to illustrate how to convert prospects by focusing on both short-term ‘Quick Wins’ and longer-term initiatives. The roadmap is supported by a ‘test and learn’ pilot plan outlining specific processes, KPIs and resources needed to measure impact.

Results

Our project had a few key impacts on our client’s business. First, we transformed their view of the prospect journey. We helped the team of leaders see that the route from prospect to the client is dynamic, but it can be directed at key inflection points. Second, we demonstrated that a broader range of prospects could be converted into clients through our new view of the prospect journey and our market research analysis. As a result, our client changed their view of who qualifies as a ‘qualified prospect.’ Finally, our actionable activation roadmap accelerated the client’s direct marketing efforts and propelled it toward achieving its ambitious growth goal.

As a result of our project, our client observed a direct lift in sales and better ROI on direct marketing spending.

CASE STUDY

Teladoc Health

Leading a multinational healthcare company to break away from the telemedicine pack

Challenge

Teladoc Health, a multinational telemedicine and virtual care healthcare company, sought to transform the healthcare system by creating a new category of whole-person virtual care, connecting individuals to their healthcare with a strategy far more comprehensive than the approach of their traditional competitors.

Teladoc Health expanded its capabilities and geographic reach through organic growth and a series of acquisitions. As a result of this growth, it was necessary to elevate the brand to build cohesion across the business and to communicate its value as an integrated system.

Teladoc Health partnered with Prophet to realize and activate its brand potential as an integrated company serving clients and consumers around the world.

Solutions

Prophet helped Teladoc Health evolve its brand narrative through both corporate and consumer-facing growth moves. We worked with the Teladoc Health team to develop a revised corporate brand and portfolio architecture, complete with an action plan to engage employees around the new approach to the corporate, commercial and product brands.

Results

Teladoc Health launched its new corporate brand and has continued to experience exponential growth. With Prophet’s help, the organization has a brand that aligns with a rapidly growing and highly acquisitive business. Grounded by an effective brand portfolio strategy – that both resonates with employees and attracts new customers – Teladoc Health continues to redefine and lead the telehealth industry as a comprehensive, integrated virtual care organization.

CASE STUDY

Sodexo Healthcare France

Prescribing a new value proposition amidst a global pandemic

Challenge

Healthcare is fundamentally changing around the world. Sodexo, an international leader that provides services that improve quality of life for patients, visitors and healthcare professionals, recognized that it needed to make some changes to better compete in the market and to be relevant to its customers’ evolving needs. Sodexo needed to clearly articulate its value proposition for the future, building on what the business could deliver today.

After creating a new value proposition in the U.S., Prophet partnered with Sodexo’s healthcare business in France to create a locally relevant proposition, one that elevates its healthcare credentials and translates it in a customer-centric way – allowing the organization to better connect on an emotional and functional level with clients in the region.

Solutions

Recognizing the differences that exist between countries, cultures and their public and private healthcare systems, the Prophet team started by immersing themselves in the context of the French market. The team interpreted customer insights and conducted a series of interviews with members of Sodexo’s leadership and sales teams to understand the needs and objectives of the firm locally. Prophet also did research into Sodexo’s brand perception outside of the healthcare sector in order to provide objective recommendations.

The first phase of the project was to define the pillars that truly stand at the core of Sodexo Healthcare’s value proposition in France – to which strategy and communications would be anchored. As the project was completed against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, this was developed through collaborative working sessions, all conducted virtually by the Prophet team who leveraged digital platforms to create a truly engaging experience. This included one session with the full Executive Committee where the team assessed different options and aligned on the way forward – reflecting the centrality of the value proposition for all functions in the Healthcare organization.

With the strategic foundation in place, an associated slogan and messaging platform were also developed so the Sodexo team could speak with one united and consistent voice internally and to their customers externally around the slogan: ‘Vers l’avenir du soin’/’Towards the Future of Care’. Ambitious and forward-looking, the slogan reflects the aspiration of Sodexo to continuously improve the healthcare conditions in France through a human-centric focus on care, doubling down on their leadership position in the industry and the strength of their expertise.

Results

Delivered within a compressed timeframe, Sodexo began rolling out the new value proposition in France in a matter of weeks. With the pandemic still surging, it was a unique opportunity for Sodexo to show its commitment to its new value proposition. The associated messages that were pushed via key communications channels, including social media, addressed the current environment, delivering compassion and connecting on an emotional level with audiences. Armed with this new value proposition, Sodexo is prepared to thrive in the changing healthcare environment.

“The Prophet team convinced us with their vision and did not fail to keep their promise during our work together. The final result is very satisfactory.”

Nataliane Thoulon
Director of Strategy, Sodexo Healthcare France

CASE STUDY

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts

Creating a customer experience that brings families together

Challenge

To win over leisure travelers in Asia, Sheraton wanted to offer an enriched experience specifically built for families. To do so, they developed Side by Side, a uniquely branded program, with dedicated activities & experiences that celebrate the gathering of families.

Solutions

The Prophet team supported Sheraton with the development of the Side by Side proposition and brand, including the development of the activity programming, a Chinese name for the program and visual assets – all of which assembled into a proof of concept (POC) toolkit to bring the program to life.

We conducted a co-creation workshop with Hotel GMs to develop a set of signature activities that multi-generational families could enjoy together. We then developed a distinct visual system, in keeping with the Sheraton brand, along with a detailed activity calendar and activation assets to guide the program piloting in four initial resorts.

Staying true to Sheraton’s positioning “The World’s Gathering Place,” we designed a visual identity system for the Side by Side program to convey the message of “togetherness” in a warm, fun, and modern way. The wordmark is paired with the symbol of holding hands, illustrating a universal gesture of gathering in an abstract form. While staying consistent with Sheraton’s master brand look and feel, Prophet’s creative team infused playful and fun elements into the Side by Side family program through a collection of simple line icons and graphic elements.

Results

The Side by Side program will be rolling out to all Sheraton properties Asia-wide after a successful proof-of-concept launch in 2020.

CASE STUDY

Gravity

From hotel to Millennial experience hub

Challenge

As part of their hotel growth plans, Josun Hotels and Resorts wanted to create a hotel that appealed to the Millennial generation whose needs and expectations for a hotel were shifting to meet their evolving lifestyles in Korea.

Solutions

Prophet worked closely with Josun to first define their target audience—who they were and what their wants and needs are in a hotel experience. We uncovered fresh insights about this target, who we called ”The Experience Maximizers.” They cross the three spheres of work, life and play seamlessly. They are highly tech-savvy, social seekers, community nomads who crave new and exciting experiences. Understanding this, we set out to create a hospitality destination that harnessed the growing desire to foster creative, collaborative and inspiring communities that blend work and play together.

The concept was to become a thriving social hub—a center of gravity in the community that provides open and flexible space for socializing, working, eating and shopping. The hotel would deliver this through flexible, multi-purpose spaces that evolve throughout the day, with curated programming that draws people in from the local community. The space would truly energize the community—whether it’s showcasing the works of local artists, holding a regular farmer’s market on the rooftop or hosting performances from favorite local bands.

Both the name “Gravity” and the logo we created with the directional “V” symbolize the concept of a modern hub and acts as a center for attraction and interest. The floating concept seen in the “V” is also brought through the black and white conceptual imagery of things that are floating in midair defying gravity. We brought the modern hub concept through thinking about their space, F&B, service, local content, curated programming of activities and unique partnerships.

Results

SJosun has recently opened the first Gravity hotel in Seoul, Dec 2020, and started to roll out some signature experiences including Gravity Time which features unique activities and premium dining as well as Gravity Tribe, that brings cultural and wellness programs, as well as opportunities for exchange among community members. The hotel is part of the Autograph Collection by Marriott.

CASE STUDY

Multinational Manufacturer

Modernizing customer engagement through digital selling

Challenge

Our client, a large global manufacturer, sells a wide range of materials used in consumer products, medical devices and more. As a top-200 private U.S. business, this company had achieved a great deal of success by driving product innovation founded on scientific excellence.

Although the company’s seasoned team of field sales representatives had historically driven solid performance results, the global health crisis (COVID-19) severely impacted its access to key buyers.

The business was in urgent need of a new approach to selling and hired Prophet to modernize its digital experience and the engagement capabilities of its salesforce.

Solution

As Prophet’s team of Marketing & Sales consultants dug into the issues facing this organization, they uncovered that by taking a digital-minded approach, our client could:

  • Better reach its core target audiences
  • Develop content that was more engaging to its customers
  • Leverage engagement data to inform offline sales interactions
  • More efficiently orchestrate the sales process

To get started, our team focused on how sales and marketing could partner to improve its digital selling capability through digitally-powered content, stronger messaging effectiveness and the use of data and platforms to improve the sales experience.

Prophet delivered a compelling business case for change and proved the value of evolving its digital selling capacity against a defined set of use cases with pre-post-defined outcomes. The business case was supported by a new operating model which detailed the requirements for developing, maintaining and optimizing the proposed new digital selling capabilities. Our consultants partnered with the client’s marketing, sales and customer experience teams to roll out the new digital selling capability, including new digital tools for frontline sales teams.

Results

Our work for this client extended beyond strategy to provide a detailed, sustainable operating model to deploy and sustain its digital selling transformation. We helped to accelerate this client’s vision, maximize its investment and ease the implementation of its new digital selling capabilities.

Following this project, this manufacturer observed a direct lift in sales, improved customer satisfaction and increased sales associate productivity.

CASE STUDY

BASF Coatings

Developing a Customer-Centric Value Proposition To Drive Growth and Loyalty

Challenge

As one of the world’s leading surface solutions manufacturers, BASF Coatings has always maintained a strong capacity to innovate. But like the process of innovation itself BASF needed to evolve to stay competitive.

As the business looked to expand its product portfolio with a new line, Prophet was engaged to support BASF in defining a customer-centric value proposition to drive growth and loyalty amongst its B2B customers.

Solutions

BASF needed to better understand its customers and determine the right target audience for its new product launch. Prophet started by identifying the needs, priorities and motivations of BASF’s most important stakeholders to develop a range of buyer personas. The persona development phase was informed by field visits, interviews and extensive industry research.

Next, the team worked to define the ideal customer journey, covering the entire funnel from awareness to loyalty, including key touchpoints and a status quo assessment. We identified opportunities to optimize touchpoints and developed service concepts and signature solutions to help BASF further differentiate itself from competitors.

Aligned with – and answering – the needs of the prioritized target buyer personas, we developed a customer-centric value proposition.

Results

Prophet’s efforts helped BASF Coatings to develop a clear and succinct value proposition oriented at the real needs of its customers. The Glasurit 100 line was launched with a clear, focused and consistent approach and has been a game-changer for its customers, bringing an extremely tailored and unique positioning to the market.

“We were very happy to partner with Prophet at the critical stages of the project to define a core value proposition that helped guide our Glasurit 100 Line to triumph”, says Fabien Boschetti, Director, Global Marketing, BASF Automotive Refinish Coatings Solutions. “We thank Prophet for all their contributions and support in helping to make 100 Line a big success globally!”

“Glasurit 100 line is a game-changer for our customers and we were very happy to partner with Prophet at the early critical stages of the project to define a core value proposition that helped make the product line a big success globally!”

Fabien Boschetti
Director, Global Marketing, BASF Automotive Refinish Coatings Solutions

CASE STUDY

Nam Nghi

Defining the brand story and experience for a Vietnamese luxury resort

Challenge

Nam Nghi, a boutique resort on the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc, is a beautifully designed hotel that is built on a secluded peninsula and with a private island. Despite its unique geographic assets, the property had difficulties standing out in the increasingly competitive hotel market on Phu Quoc island due to its inconsistent customer experience across touchpoints.

Nam Nghi engaged Prophet to closely examine its brand portfolio, develop a refreshed brand positioning and narrative, and ultimately completely redesign its identity system to fit the reimagined approach for the brand.

Solutions

Prophet’s experience in developing luxury hotel brands in Asia and around the globe has led to an understanding of key experience trends that are shaping the travel and hospitality category: hyper-local, eco-consciousness and bespoke experiences.

Prophet identified Nam Nghi’s unique geographic placement as the resort’s clear advantage in the market. The unspoiled Phu Quoc island is a hidden paradise; it boasts of colorful coral reefs, lush jungles, turquoise waters, white beaches and true Vietnamese hospitality.

As a result, we defined a unique and strong brand story for Nam Nghi – “Nurtured by Nature.” We positioned the property as a destination for eco-luxury travelers who crave world-class quality hospitality and authentic, one-of-a-kind experiences with minimal environmental impact.

Centered around the positioning, we further explored how we could bring the story to life across existing touchpoints, including gastronomy experience, hospitality services, range of activities and its signature private island. Moreover, we helped the client to create signature moments that enhance the brand positioning. For example, using reusable bottles filled with filtered water and electric cars for pick-up.

We then designed an identity that conveys the idea of “immersion in nature” using patterns and hand-drawn illustrations. The lush foliage and vibrant corals that surround Nam Nghi served as inspiration for a rhythmic pattern design that is artistic and hand made. Using icons that represent the local flora and corals, we designed bespoke illustrations that are used in the framing device design, pattern design and on-site offerings. Aside from comprehensive guidelines, we delivered designs and ideas for touchpoints ranging from in-room amenities to wellness outlets, as well as digital apps.

Results

Phu Quoc Island has become one of Asia’s most talked-about destinations and an international hub for luxury and eco-friendly tourism. We brought Nam Nghi to life through an immersive visual identity that conveys premium options, while telling a story about local culture and its commitment to nature. The brand rejuvenation appeals to the young affluent customers – fashionable, luxurious and eco-conscious, through a distinctive brand positioning and visual identity that is true to the hotel’s strengths.

Our work with Nam Nghi was awarded Silver for best visual identity at Transform Awards Asia-Pacific 2019.

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