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Creating Brand Relevance Through a Direct-to-Consumer Approach

Other brands can learn plenty from Peloton’s commitment to content, community and commerce.

In the 2021 Prophet Brand Relevance Index® (BRI), we witnessed a major rise from a direct-to-consumer (DTC) fitness brand that has been slowly moving up the ranks over the past few years. The most relevant DTC brands in today’s market are those that have a seamless orchestration of content, community and commerce. In most cases, content is what drives community which then propels commerce. However, in the case of this brand, their nurturing of community actually generated content (both native and UGC), which drove sales. As we think about the DTC trifecta (content, community, and commerce), we cannot find a brand in this year’s BRI that has been more successful in delivering on all three components. This has led to undeniable brand relevance, along with dazzling financial performance.

Our winner began 2020 off to a rough start with an ill-executed advertisement where the intent did not match the perception of the audience. However, in the months following, the brand found its stride, reaching such a level of demand that they were forced to halt advertising until their supply chain could catch up. If you haven’t guessed it just yet, we’re talking about Peloton, which started out with the Peloton bike but has quickly expanded into other offers (e.g., at-home treadmill or online yoga classes). Even if you don’t have a bike yourself, you’re likely to know someone who likes to talk about theirs and how it has changed their life.

Let’s dig into why Peloton is this year’s BRI direct-to-consumer winner, and how it beat out other DTC brands as they adapted during the pandemic.

Building Community in a Time of Isolation

Finding ways to create community became more important than ever in 2020. While Peloton already built its model around community, it truly brought it to life by not only highlighting user stories but also in the experience they delivered. Without the ability to create community organically in a physical space, Peloton supplemented it through key features such as allowing users to send each other virtual high fives, creating and viewing user profiles, and using the video chat function to live chat with friends as they enjoy the same class in the comfort of their homes.

“Peloton continues to innovate its products and services to build a meaningful community.”

Peloton also introduced “tags”, which allow members to filter the thousands of people on the leaderboard into sub-communities of people with similar interests, such as #Vets or #Teachers. With these tags, members can then see what classes others have taken and when they are taking classes, allowing them to ride together. These sub-communities have grown beyond the Peloton platform, through Facebook Groups and other social platforms. Tags are just another example of how Peloton continues to innovate its products and services to build a meaningful community.

Delivering On-Demand, High-Quality Content

Peloton’s community is the gift that keeps on giving, including an explosion of user-generated content. With the goal of becoming the “largest connected fitness platform in the world”, Peloton has aggressively pursued customer acquisition onto the platform. For many DTC brands, the enormous costs of customer acquisition can jeopardize profitability and sustainable growth. Aside from Peloton’s massive library of on-demand, curated fitness classes, Peloton’s user-generated content creates virality and generates earned media. Instructors create themed rides with playlists that become shareable and dance moves that become iconic. Peloton is a case study in how a community of devoted fans and celebrity-like instructors can produce content that works on behalf of the brand.

Fueling a Commercial Pipeline

With a massive increase in brand awareness comes the question of whether the company can convert that interest into a purchase. With bikes starting at $1,895 and treadmills at $4,295, Peloton’s physical products are cost-prohibitive to the average customer. Peloton has navigated this cost barrier through a diversified, commercial model that makes it easy for customers to justify the purchase. Through their app, Peloton acquires customers that might not be able to afford the physical products, while building brand loyalty that helps convert customers to buy the equipment. Most importantly, Peloton has stood out as a reliable brand during the pandemic with clear communication around potential supply chain delays and how to provide installations in a COVID-safe way.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Whether your company is digitally native or B2B, there are still lessons to be gained from Peloton’s success. If you want to think more like a highly relevant, DTC brand, consider asking yourself three questions:

  1. What tactics might we use to build and nurture our community of customers that will lead them to engage with other customers and our brand in authentic ways?
  2. How can we generate content or inspire customers to create their own content that will lead to brand loyalty and earned media?
  3. How can we deliver a frictionless, high-quality experience that will make customers more likely to try our products/services and remain loyal?

At Prophet, we help companies leverage direct-to-consumer practices around content, community, and commerce to drive growth like Peloton. Please reach out if you are interested in learning more about our direct-to-consumer expertise.

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Three Ways Digital Transformation Can Close the Diversity Leadership Gap

Women of color are systematically squeezed out of advancement opportunities. We can fix that.

As a woman of color, I’m often asked how leaders and their organizations can address systemic inequities in our society. My response is to look in our own backyards, within our own organizations. You don’t have to look far to see inequities that we have chosen too long to ignore. 

Take for example the advancement of people from entry-level up through leadership into the C-suite. If our promotion criteria and processes were fair and based on a meritocracy, then you would expect that people would advance in the same proportion at which they entered the company. 

Yet that isn’t the case. The figure below shows data from the LeanIn.Org and McKinsey study “Women in the Workplace 2020”, where representation by corporate roles of four segments — white men, white women, men of color, and women of color — is indexed to the entry-level population of that group. For example, white women make up 29% of the entry level population and they make up 26% of managers which indexes at 0.90. 

At the very first level of promotion from entry-level to manager, there is a separation. The good news is that white women and men of color get promoted to manager at close to their representation. These two groups continue to maintain strong representation all the way into the C-suite — but it could be better. 

But look at the representation by women of color. At the very first level of promotion to manager, women of color drop off significantly in representation to 67% of their entry-level population compared to 126% of white men. This borders on becoming an adverse impact. 

By the time we get to the C-suite, representation by women of color is a minuscule 17% of their entry-level population. Intersectionality — which is the compounding of overlapping discrimination and disadvantage, in this case, gender and race — means that the glass ceiling is far lower for women of color than we realized. Looking at diversity through the lens of intersectionality means that we include the layering impact of multiple forms of discrimination, including age, disability, sexuality, class, and education.

Transforming Leadership in Our Organizations

Numbers matter because we manage what we can measure. We know from countless studies that diverse teams disrupt the status quo, driving exponential growth and profits over their less diverse counterparts. 

This isn’t a C-suite problem. It begins at the very beginning of the leadership journey which means that leaders at every level of the organization can be a part of the solution. When we can recognize discrimination in all of its forms, our leaders can identify and address systemic bias built into our organizations. 

I’m heartened by the increased awareness of unfairness in our organizations and society and the desire for leaders to take action. I’m also excited about the ways that digital transformation can play a role in these efforts. Here are three specific examples of how technology can make a difference in how we increase fairness in our own organizations.

  • Create digital dashboards to provide visibility and enable early intervention. In most organizations, diversity numbers remain hidden in a vault to be pulled out for reporting purposes. Put that data to good use by providing real-time data on candidate pools at all levels of the organization, from hiring to promotions to ensure a slate of diverse candidates. For extra impact, focus on promotion paths for roles that develop profit and loss management skills as these lead more directly to C-suite positions.
  • Use artificial intelligence to identify and reduce bias in promotions. We can point AI at employment and promotion data to identify adverse impact in ways that we couldn’t detect. Services like Textio can help write more inclusive job descriptions. And technology like Text IQ, which identifies patterns in natural language, can be pointed at performance reviews to identify bias.
  • Create personalized development plans and training at scale. Front-line managers rarely receive substantive leadership development and training, perpetuating systemic issues. Platforms like AceUp identify skill gaps and create personalized leadership with a technology platform. AI can development plans can prompt leaders to develop under-represented groups to increase their skills in critical areas.

“When we can recognize discrimination in all of its forms, our leaders can identify and address systemic bias built into our organizations.”

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FINAL THOUGHTS

It may feel like a long path to close the leadership gap and we won’t get there by incrementally pushing things forward. Let’s use digital technologies to disrupt and transform our organizations to make them more fair and equitable for everyone.

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Building Brands That Win in the Market

Even the smartest strategies need the right creative approach to make impact.

Prophet is a place where creative passion and commitment merge with strategic smarts and intellect. Our clients – across industries – are true partners in our joint pursuits to differentiate brands and reach and attract customers in innovative ways. Digital, strategy, design, verbal, insights, analytics all work together to develop brands that win in the market.

Learn More About the Work Featured in Prophet’s Design Reel

Poly: Creating a Marketing Campaign to Celebrate a Historic Day

Prophet created the 50th-anniversary marketing campaign to celebrate Poly and Plantronics’ role in the 1969 Moon Landing. The team ultimately won two Transform Awards for its out-of-this-world work. Read more.

L’Escape: Creating a Parisian Escape in the Heart of Seoul

Prophet reimagined Shinsegae Chosun Hotel Group’s brand strategy to successfully revamp its luxury hotel, L’Escape. Praised for its creative differentiation and sophisticated attention to detail, Prophet’s design work earned two gold Transform Awards. Later on, L’Escape was awarded an iF design award for its website design – based on Prophet’s brand concepts and designs. Read more.

Keurig Green Mountain: Energizing an Iconic Brand Portfolio

Keurig Green Mountain needed a partner to successfully merge its newly merged businesses and accelerate growth. Prophet supported its large-scale transformation – setting the strategic foundation for its marketing organization and clarifying its brand architecture. Read more.

Fora: From Co-Working to Pro-Working

Prophet helped Brockton Capital fill a unique gap in the market for a new type of co-working space – developing a unique and elevated brand experience for sophisticated professionals. FORA became the fastest-growing player in the co-working space, expanding its locations in London and beyond. Read more.

The Wharton Center at MSU: Defining Brand Purpose for a Performing Arts Center

Prophet revitalized Michigan State University’s performing arts center by developing a brand purpose that resonated with the community. The new brand expresses the boldness, courage and diversity of the 300,000 young people that use the space each year. This work received a gold award for key art and a bronze award for print collateral at the 2019 International Design Awards. Read more.

“Our clients – across industries – are true partners in our joint pursuits to differentiate brands and reach and attract customers in innovative ways.”

Nam Nghi: Defining the Brand Story & Experience for a Vietnamese Luxury Resort

Prophet developed a compelling visual identity and signature customer experience that differentiated the brand, attracted new customers and sparked interest across the luxury tourism industry. Read more.

USWNT OOSA: Creating a Brand that Pushes for Progress On and Off the Field

Prophet partnered with U.S. Women’s National Team players to create a brand and digital experience that captured the essence of the team—both as world-class athletes and as passionate activists. The pro-bono work won two Transform Awards for creative development and audio branding. Read more.

Formula-E: Reframing a Racing Championship for an Electrifying Future

Formula E was having a hard time finding its place in the racing world and beyond, so they partnered with Prophet to reframe the series, create a relevant position, and craft a visual identity. This work was recognized with two Transform Europe awards, two Transform APAC awards and was acknowledged within the Creative Review Annual as one of the best brand identities. Read more.

Colmo: Designing a Simply Extraordinary Brand of Smart Home Appliances

We developed a brand positioning, verbal identity and visual identity for a new premium home appliance brand COLMO. The big idea captured the philosophy of highly crafted products that are effortlessly simple in delivering an extraordinary user experience. Read more.

Regal: Evolving an Entertainment Icon

We revamped Regal Cinema’s brand identity and digital experience to reflect a modern, ever-evolving theater experience. Our teams also helped strategically think through how the new brand could be activated across touchpoints from the theater façade to concessions and the digital experience. Read more.

Do you need a strategy and design partner to push your brand forward into its next evolution? Reach out today.

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A ‘Human-First’ Approach Is Essential for Employee Communications and Engagement

Reimagining what it means to come to work requires an entirely new way of understanding people.

When COVID struck over a year ago, many organizations were already gearing up for a new future of work – they just thought they might get there through evolution, not necessarily by “forced” revolution. The pandemic triggered experimentation – as organizations found themselves leaning into ways to reassure, support and connect with their employees that they had not attempted before, learning “on the go” and demanding new efforts from leaders too as they played their part.

Now as we try and take the best from the COVID experience, many of those leading strategy developments for employee communications and engagement are reshaping their approaches. Yes, we are still not free from the pandemic, but there’s been a firm shift from reacting and maintaining to reimagining. In the midst of this, and as we yearn for interpersonal contact, one theme keeps bubbling to the top: that the human touch – virtually applied for many months – needs to be brought front and center as we go forward.

“Technologies will play an even more important role in personalizing communications and curating fit-for-purpose interactive experiences.”

Of course, for employee engagement exciting new technologies will play their part – they are already for many organizations. But even those declaring a “digital-first” future are realizing success remains “human-first” on that journey. In fact, technologies will play an even more important role in personalizing communications and curating fit-for-purpose interactive experiences.

Driving this are some clear employee expectations and needs around the content as well as the engagement experience. Employees expect employers to provide:

  • Increased transparency and accessibility – something that many organizations did more of in the face of COVID-19.
  • More flexibility and support – as the line between work and non-work lives continues to blur.
  • Commitment to shaping a better world – employees want to be confident that their employer is not just dealing with “the business,” but rather continuing to do what matters in the world – focusing on impact beyond outcomes.
  • Foresight around what lies ahead – employees want more insight and direction on the “future of work.” It’s not easy to look ahead but even without all the answers, employees want to understand the options which are under consideration and what they might mean for them.

How Should Employee Communication and Engagement Strategies Be Developed?

Already we have called out “humanity” – and this is at the center of Prophet’s Human-Centered Transformation Model.

Using this model, we can see some areas of focus for business leaders when it comes to employee engagement and the need to interconnect these areas to take a truly holistic approach to the organizational ecosystem.

How To Use Prophet’s Human-Centered Transformation Model To Enhance Employee Engagement

  • DNA: Take care of the ‘whole’ person. Be aware of what people are going through – at work and at home – and find ways to engage beyond work topics. Design a holistic approach that truly enables employees to bring their best selves to work.
  • SOUL: Become the heartbeat of the organization. Inspire dialogue, demonstrate empathy and provide the channels and mechanisms to create a compelling rhythm of engagement as well as constant feedback loops. Build connections and create links between individual action and collective impact.
  • MIND: Get the organization fit for ongoing change. Guide the learning agenda, setting expectations and allowing for agility and curiosity. Lay the groundwork for continuous re-skilling and up-skilling, open sharing and rapid learning.
  • BODY: Be where your people are. Keep up with the latest needs, expectations and digital tools being used. Tailor what, how and when you communicate and engage to increase relevance and make it stick.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

The future of work is here – and “human-first” leads the way. If you have not started, this is the critical time to reset your employee engagement strategy as we slowly emerge into the next phase of the pandemic. Leaders need to be aligned, capable and equipped – as they are the ones that set and deliver on the expectations for the majority – and there is no escaping this core dynamic.

If you would like to learn more about how we approach employee communication and engagement as part of a holistic cultural system get in contact today.

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How Five European Brands are Winning Over U.S. Consumers

IKEA, LEGO, Dyson, Spotify and BMW keep finding new ways to gain relevance.

The Prophet Brand Relevance Index® ranks hundreds of brands on the characteristics that U.S consumers find most meaningful. And while many of the usual suspects rise to the top, a year of pandemic and political upheaval has caused dramatic shifts. People are embracing and rejecting brands in entirely different ways.

This is the sixth iteration of our ground-breaking research, based on the same core principles of relentless relevance. We measure whether a brand is customer-obsessed, ruthlessly pragmatic, pervasively innovative and distinctively inspired.

Five European brands have risen fast in the relevance stakes, offering lessons that transcend industry and category and apply to any brand trying to compete in the U.S.

LEGO: Providing creative escapes for all generations

Danish brand LEGO has shot up 23 spots into 5th place this year. And while competitive toy brands like Mattel, Fisher-Price and American Girl also saw their relevance scores increase as parents adapted to their unexpected role as home-schoolers,  yet LEGO was the brand with the highest marks for innovation. Consumers love that it “engages with [with them] in new and creative ways” and perceive that it has better products, services and experiences than competitors.

Much of LEGO’s purpose is built around its commitment to helping children flex their inner architect. However, it also understands that adults hunger for creative play too, launching such products as LEGO Botanical Collection, which allows grown-ups to build flower bouquets and bonsai trees from its bioplastic components.

Spotify: Hitting those personal sweet spots

Pandemic living is zapping some of the music streaming category’s relevance, with fewer people commuting to work. Yet Swedish music maestro Spotify (#12) sits at the top of all media and entertainment companies, outperforming Pixar and Netflix. It wows in the attributes that drive customer obsession, ranking fourth among all brands in both “connects with me emotionally” and “makes me happy.”

One way it does that is by offering intuitive, adaptive and highly personalized products. It then communicates those advantages with dialed-up marketing. To introduce Spotify Premium Duo, adorable puppets dramatized couples’ challenges in sharing music accounts. And as people scrambled to find productive ways to fill the downtime created by stay-at-home orders, it introduced a digital campaign called “Music, Meet Podcasts.”

Spotify’s real relevance comes from understanding its users’ deeper yearnings. “Listening is Everything,” for example, is a brand platform that continuously reminds people of everything they love about music, doped with personalization and inventive social-media interactions. A sharp marketing effort that truly reaches users’ emotional sweet spots.

Dyson: Limitless capabilities for the ‘Apple of Appliances’

Very few companies can inspire the same sort of brand loyalty and consumer confidence as British brand Dyson.  Jumping up to #30 in this year’s ranking, up from #51, its commitment to continuous innovation sees it disrupting markets and outpacing the competition. The brand reimagines mundane domestic appliances – such as vacuum cleaners, air purifiers and hair dryers – to spectacularly enhance their utility. And with more people spending time at home over the past year, appliance-buying has been on the rise.

Respondents rated Dyson highly for being modern and in touch, engineering technology to actively destroy harmful gases in the air and to dry our hands in rapid time – just in time for the world’s obsession with hand hygiene.

But good products alone are not enough to win consumer favor today. Nor is it about innovation for novelty’s sake. Consumers want products and services that align with their personal values and genuinely benefit the greater good too. As a brand built on ‘lean engineering,’ Dyson is devoted to making things more efficient while using less resources – putting sustainability is at the center of its business.  Whether they are better for the planet, for people – or both – purchasing a pricey but environmentally responsible Dyson product makes consumers feel good about their buying decisions.

IKEA: Offering initiatives that support a shared sense of purpose

With hundreds of millions of people staying safer-at-home, the living room couch became the center of the universe. So did the need to quickly turn laundry rooms into office nooks, kitchen tables into classrooms and bedrooms into a place to hide from the rest of the family. This was IKEA’s moment in the sun. It sailed into the #42 spot, up from #93, easily passing such companies as the Home Depot, Lowe’s and Wayfair.

For all its practicality and commitment to affordable, functional furniture, its strong suit in the U.S is an inspiration. And it earns its highest scores for “having a set of beliefs and values that align with my own.” IKEA has baked purpose into everything it does since the furniture maker was founded in Sweden in 1943. Initiatives such as #buybackFriday, where the company bought back unwanted IKEA items for Black Friday, demonstrates how the brand’s North Star goes well beyond kitchen cabinets. IKEA extends its trademark warmth to everyone: One advertising effort, “Be someone’s home,” encourages people to accept all sexual orientations and gender identities.

BMW: Linking heritage to innovation

Fastest-rising brand in the automotive category? Look no further than Germany’s very own BMW. Accelerating 45 places to #67 in the BRI, its growing relevance in the U.S. could answer why BMW beat Lexus and Mercedes-Benz as the best-selling luxury car brand in the country in 2020.

With more time to think about cars and road trips, BMW stands out from other brands by aggressively showcasing what it has always stood for: Well-designed vehicles that push the boundaries of what’s expected.

Autophiles are already drooling over the BMW iX, the electric sport utility vehicle that will compete with Tesla, due in the U.S. next year. And it’s making waves with its Remote Software Upgrades. No wonder people give it such high marks for “always finding new ways to meet my needs.”

At the massive U.S. Consumer Electronics Show, BMW released a short film that both mocks and brags about its innovative history, including a car fight between a 20-year-old “Grampa” model with a smart-mouthed all-electric “Whippersnapper.” An artful blend of safety and familiarity in its marketing strategy that builds trust with U.S. consumers while emphasizing design and innovation signals its commitment to continually improving.

“Consumers want products and services that align with their personal values and genuinely benefit the greater good too.”

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Of course, we know that the brands that rank highest in the BRI aren’t doing one thing. Those leading relevant brands are pursuing multiple paths.

Here are four key areas on which to focus in order to connect better with customers:

Lead with purpose.

A compelling purpose is a roadmap for change and should drive everything a brand does.

Adopting a mindset of customer obsession.

Focusing on increasing customer understanding so they can invest in delivering products and services that truly meet an important need in their customers’ eyes.

Improving the customer experience.

Making bold steps to delight and drive loyalty. Driving more holistic, targeted and personalized omnichannel marketing efforts.

Innovation is critical.

Without innovation, organizations will not be able to grow and thrive. Many are moving at two speed, introducing products and services to address immediate needs, as well as driving a forward-thinking innovation strategy that paves the way for future business growth and success.

Want to learn more about the most relevant brands? Download the Prophet Brand Relevance Index® today. If you need help building and maintaining your brand relevance, then our expert team can help. Get in touch.

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Prophet’s Human-Centered Transformation Model

This short video explains how we developed our new roadmap for organizational change.

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Summary

Organizational change is a crucial component of any digital transformation effort. Prophet’s organizational transformation model is designed to help businesses undergoing digital transformation align on a customer-centric roadmap.

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Virtual Care: From Rarity to Reality

In their quick pivots to telehealth, leaders learned plenty about patient experiences and the care continuum.

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How 12 Industry Leaders Are Shaping the Virtual Care Revolution

The role virtual care plays in the healthcare ecosystem has rapidly accelerated since the onset of COVID-19. In fact, according to research by Doximity, as many as 20 percent of medical visits in 2020 occurred via telemedicine. And it’s clear the trend is only gaining momentum.

To assess how the healthcare universe is responding, Prophet spoke to 12 leaders across the ecosystem to understand how this shift is transforming the patient experience and the broader healthcare care continuum.

Read this report to gain deeper insights on:

  • Four virtual care sub-categories and the ways they continue to blur virtual wellbeing, connected health, virtual health and virtual medicine
  • The changing dimensions of audience and interactions
  • Insights from 12 industry leaders on what organizations are – and aren’t – getting right
  • Three path companies can take to connect virtual care to better serve patients and customers and to achieve exceptional growth

For full insights, download the full report below.

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Customer Relevance: 5 Ways That B2B Brands Differ From B2C Brands

B2B brands may make it easy for customers to buy, but they disappoint on consistency and emotional connection.

To be the relevant choice, the go-to brand for customers has been shown to drive profitable growth and to help insulate businesses from unexpected shocks such as COVID-19. The sixth annual Prophet Brand Relevance Index®, which studied 228 brands among 13,000 consumers, reveals how brands that rely heavily on serving B2B customers build relevance differently than brands that focus only on B2C customers.

As part of the study, we compared 57 brands with significant B2B businesses such as Amazon, General Electric, FedEx and IBM with 171 pure B2C brands such as Lego, Peloton, Netflix and Etsy. Both cohorts of brands with significant B2B business and the pure B2C brands increased relevance to their customers over the course of 2020.  The B2C group had a greater range of high and poor performers with brands such as Peloton, Kitchen Aid and Lego in the top five and Popeye’s, Burger King and Facebook in the bottom three. Technology brands were the best performing in both the B2C and B2B cohorts. Apple led the pack followed closely by Amazon ranked tenth overall.

“The sixth annual Prophet Brand Relevance Index®, which studied 228 brands among 13,000 consumers, reveals how brands that rely heavily on serving B2B customers build relevance differently.”

When we analyzed the drivers of customer centricity and pragmatism, key differences appeared.

When compared to B2C focused brands, B2B reliant brands…

1. Meet Important Needs

On average B2B reliant brands outperform B2C-focused brands on meeting their customers’ important needs by a remarkable 28 percent.  3M for example, is rated 64 percent higher than the average B2B brand on meeting important needs and being a brand the customer cannot live without. That said, it is one of the worst-performing brands in the survey on making the customer happy by connecting with emotion.

2. Make It Easy

B2B reliant brands are 25 percent more likely to make it easier for their customers than B2C-focused brands. Microsoft, for example, performs a bit above the average of B2C brands on consistent performance and being dependable, but excels at making the consumers’ lives easier.

3. Don’t Deliver Consistently

B2B reliant companies are 17 percent less likely to perform as well as B2C companies on “consistent delivery.” GE is a typical example. It ranks in the top one hundred brands with very high customer scores on most dimensions of pragmatism, such as makes it easier and is dependable but ranks only average on consistent delivery.

4.&5.  Fail to Connect Emotionally and Don’t Make the Customer Happy

This doesn’t appear to be a surprise as emotion is important for B2C brands but not to the same extent as B2B brands. What is surprising is the size of the difference; a 47 percent difference for happiness between B2B reliant and B2C focused brands. Adobe demonstrates the challenge.  It outperforms other technology-oriented B2B companies such as HP and IBM on being a brand customers can’t live without but is rated 75 percent lower on makes the customer happy and connects with emotion.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

The key takeaway for B2B reliant brands is to break out of the trap of trading off performance with emotion. Great brands, such as Apple deliver to both B2C and B2B customers, don’t make this tradeoff; so why should Adobe settle for it? The other key takeaway is to focus on technology. The most technologically advanced B2B brands we examined by industry outperformed their peers on meeting important customer needs and making it easy for the customer.

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This post provides just a snapshot of the 228 brands evaluated in the 2021 Prophet Brand Relevance Index®. For more insights on this year’s top-performing brands, visit this website.

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Three Ways to Win With The New Digital Care Continuum

The right platforms can fix breakdowns between care settings.

Ten years ago, it was all about the patient experience. More recently, it was all about healthcare consumerism and now, the focus is shifting towards enablement – the healthcare platforms. For years, healthcare companies have been talking about the full continuum of care but nobody wanted to own it. Even when you look at the so-called Integrated Delivery Networks (IDNs), they weren’t truly “integrated,” meaning their urgent care clinics, surgery centers and home care were all run as different business units by different leaders (often with different incentives).

Back in 2016, Prophet and GE Healthcare’s Patient Experience study found that because nobody owned the full care continuum, patient experiences often broke down in between care settings. At the time, we saw the opportunity for digital solutions to bridge those gaps. Now, enter the modern healthcare platforms and the digital care continuum.

“The biggest disconnect between how patients experience healthcare and how executives rate their performance was around non-clinical aspects.”

With two decades of extensive M&A activity within health systems and little improvement in the patient experiences, healthcare platforms are rapidly scaling to become not only the digital care continuum for patients but THE care continuum.  By now, we all know Teladoc Health and Livongo, as well as Carbon Health and One Medical. And let’s not forget the original healthcare platform, Kaiser Permanente. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they are approaching $100 billion in revenue. They were half of that a few years ago, and they have the leading market share in most of their markets. While not digitally native, they are more of a true platform business than virtually all of their peers of the same age.

You might be asking, what is a platform? A platform business facilitates value exchanges between two or more interdependent groups, usually consumers and suppliers. The next question becomes, how can I prepare my business for the future of healthcare platforms and digital care?

Here are a few things to consider when building your digital care continuum:

Stop Running Your Business as Self-Contained Units

Enterprises with standalone businesses and distinct P&Ls are great for managing costs, but terrible at delivering integrated care experience. This is not to say you can’t do discrete budgeting and hold people accountable for fiscal performance. But combine that with organizing and incentivizing them to create products and services that integrate into a platform that supports a patient (or any type of customer) continuum. “Warm handoffs” is a commonly used approach with today’s healthcare systems, but it’s no longer enough. It now has to be an integrated handoff. And you don’t have to be digital, Kaiser Permanente has always taken this approach.

Don’t Think About the Healthcare Experience as Care Points

Healthcare execs often say that success resides in delivering the right care, at the time, and at the right place. As patients self-navigate the U.S. healthcare system, the healthcare experience feels more like jumping from one experience to the next. As we learned in our patient experience study, the biggest disconnect between how patients experience healthcare and how executives rate their performance was around non-clinical aspects. University Health has already called out creating a seamless patient experience as a strategic priority with the digital care continuum as a critical enabler, and they intend to, offer programs and digital tools that allow patients to connect with their care team to manage episodic care or chronic diseases. Their orthopedic and pediatric cardiology specialties have utilized these tools for facilitating disease management and patient engagement. The next step for enterprises is to go beyond their specialty practices having a self-contained digital care continuum. Organizations need to view patients as people who often have multiple conditions and use health systems for a variety of care needs.

Start With the Holistic Patient Experience

It’s surprising how many large healthcare companies still don’t view patients as people. Patients with osteoporosis, heart disease and depression, are still seen as independent patients of rheumatology, cardiology, and psychiatry departments. The system is aware of the different conditions, but the experience -from treatment to bill payment to diagnostics- will differ. For pharma companies, that means three independent business units with separate brands providing drug treatments. Patients are seen as three unique conditions, not as a single, person.

Making this shift doesn’t happen overnight.  Prisma Health took its first step toward delivering a holistic patient experience by enlisting the help of PerfectService, a unified platform for clinical communication and collaboration that helps physicians, nurses and care team members improve patient care. You can’t deliver an integrated patient experience if your clinical teams can’t seamlessly collaborate on a single platform. Things like EHR systems have primarily been designed to store medical records and file claims, not optimize care coordination. Restructuring your technology footprint can go a long way to address this gap. And if you’re a digitally native healthcare provider, you’re likely already a step ahead.

Revolutionize
Experiences

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FINAL THOUGHTS

The reality is that todays’ care continuum is still largely conceptual. ACOs are designed to own the full care continuum but they are a small fraction of the U.S. healthcare spend. Look at your own company’s claims data. For commercial plans, you’ll be fortunate if 25 percent of the claims are tied to a value-based care model, and don’t be surprised if it’s under 5 percent. We’re still very much living in a fee-for-service world. And while payers have visibility across the care continuum, they don’t often have full control. Providers typically focus on just one area; primary care, specialty service lines, post-acute care, etc. which is why understanding the emerging modern healthcare platforms is so critical. Whether it is the rapid expansion of digital natives like Teladoc Health, legacy players going through a transformation like Prisma Health, or the steady growth of Kaiser Permanente, it’s coming faster you think.

For more help in getting your healthcare organization ready for the new world of healthcare platforms, and winning with the new digital care continuums, connect with our healthcare team.

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Celebrating DEI at Prophet

How community building is helping all our colleagues learn more–and enjoy the ride.

Prophet entered 2021 with a firm commitment to diversity and inclusion. This included growing our beloved employee resource groups, or Prophet “ERGs” for short. Making up the fabric of our culture, these groups are dedicated to education and community-building – ultimately fostering a workplace where colleagues across identity groups feel valued, heard, seen and supported. They also demonstrate what it’s like to “Enjoy the Ride” at Prophet, where everyone is encouraged to bring their whole selves to the table.

Over the past couple of months, thanks to our Black@Prophet and Women in Leadership ERGS, Propheteers across the globe got to participate in (virtual) programming to honor and celebrate Black History Month, International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month.

Celebrating Black History with Prophet’s New ERG – Black@Prophet

Black@Prophet was welcomed to Prophet’s ERG community in February and kicked off their activities with a variety of Black History Month content. Given the diverse backgrounds of the group, they felt it was important to shine a light on Black history and culture from a global perspective. Black Propheteers shared how Black history has shaped our world and dove deeper into topics like the creation and evolution of historically Black colleges and universities, supporting black-owned businesses and the untold history of some important Black heroes.

Prophet’s Music League also dedicated February to spotlight Black music artists. Propheteers submitted their favorite songs for categories such as “All The Singing Ladies” and “Black Voices Around the World.” Each Friday, Propheteers started their days jamming out to songs new and old – contributed by their colleagues. Since Black History Month, Black@Prophethas been planning “Listening Sessions,” which will be dedicated time for the community to knowledge share, develop programming and resources for Black employees and their allies. Also, already in the works? A celebration of Juneteenth.

All month long, Propheteers used special Zoom backgrounds highlighting important Black leaders – including Kizzmekia Corbett, Lebron James, Stacey Abrams, John Legend and Matthew Cherry.

WiL: Choosing to Challenge with Prophet’s Women in Leadership Team

In recognition of International Women’s Day, Propheteers participated in the #ChoosetoChallenge campaign and also spotlighted incredible women who are continuing to challenge the status quo across the globe. As part of the celebration, the Women in Leadership team partnered with the Black@Prophet and Pride at Prophet resource groups to write internal blog posts that highlighted the important intersectionality between these communities.

To spotlight changemakers across the globe, the Women in Leadership team collaborated with our Direct-to-Consumer vertical to highlight women-led brands that are dominating their industries while creating change along the way. The blog series also covered topics like allyship, perceptions of the glass ceiling and young female activists.

Over the coming months, Women in Leadership will continue to empower and promote women across the organization through Prophet’s internal mentorship programs, group discussions and by supporting other employee resource groups’ programming.

All month long, Propheteers enjoyed another set of specially-designed Zoom backgrounds highlighting important women leaders – including Greta Thunberg, Ozlem Tureci, Angela Merkel, Naomi Osaka, Amanda Gorman, Kamala Harris and Rachel Levine.

FINAL THOUGHTS

We look forward to welcoming more ERG’s into our community and celebrating the diverse backgrounds and experiences of our Propheteers. There will be more to come in the months ahead!

For more information on Prophet’s DEI journey, you can read our latest update here. Please reach out if you would like to get in touch to learn more. Connect.

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Webinar Replay: The 2021 Prophet Brand Relevance Index®

In our sixth iteration of relevance research, we take a closer look at the pandemic’s impact on brands

55 min

Watch the webinar recording to hear key insights about the top-ranked brands in the Prophet 2021 Brand Relevance Index®.

In this year’s Index, Prophet turned to consumers to find out which brands matter most in their lives today. We surveyed more than 13,000 U.S. consumers to determine which 228 unique brands they simply cannot live without. Visit the BRI site to learn which brands consumers considered the most relevant to their lives.

To speak to someone on our team about how to make your brand more relentlessly relevant, contact us today.

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How Prepared Are You For Digital Selling?

Our research shows companies are moving toward digital selling techniques faster than they’d planned.

Sales teams have had a tough year. The forced push into selling virtually through tools like social media and video conferencing have disrupted both sellers’ sales funnels and their customers’ journey.  We’ve developed a tool to help you quickly assess your organization’s digital selling readiness for the key capabilities used by top performing sales organizations discovered in our 2020 State of Digital Selling research report. You don’t have to be in sales to find this useful: marketers will play a key supporting role in the digital transformation of the sales organizations they support.

Sales have watched for years (largely on the sidelines) as the influence of B2C e-commerce changed the expectations of B2B buyers, who now increasingly favor seamless digital experiences that make their lives easier. Many sales teams polished their LinkedIn profiles to engage prospects in the digital landscape only to realize that without great content and integration with backend CRM and SFA systems, those profiles are hollow attempts at transformation. Post-COVID, don’t expect selling practices to go back to “normal,” because there’s no undoing the changes in buyer and seller behavior the global pandemic has caused.

“Post-COVID, don’t expect selling practices to go back to “normal,” because there’s no undoing the changes in buyer and seller behavior the global pandemic has caused.”

Our 2020 State of Digital Selling global research report found that 73% of surveyed sales organizations will transition to digital selling techniques faster than planned. And McKinsey’s research found “Looking forward, B2B companies see digital interactions as two to three times more important to their customers than traditional sales interactions.” The question our research sought to answer is which capabilities are needed (and most important) to digitally transform sales.

What is Digital Selling?

Like any technology disruption, defining it in the early phases of adoption can be tricky. It’s sure to evolve as seller and buyer behavior continues to change.  Here’s a starting point:

Digital Selling is the use of technology-focused commerce practices to meet the needs of digitally savvy buyers and by sellers to seamlessly integrate the sales funnel across marketing, sales and service.

Just as marketing has transformed into a technology and analytics-lead discipline, the digital transformation of sales is underway to position sales as an equal digital partner.

Don’t think of digital selling as entirely end-to-end virtual or digital experiences, but rather a practice that finds the right balance of the complementary offline and online forces. Our research found that top-performing sales organizations combine the human touch needed to influence and sell with digital enablement tools and analytics that give them a significant edge in key sales metrics, including win rates, quota achievement and customer satisfaction. In fact, the best sales team practices were based on the digitization of the Key Accounts sales model, in which a cross-function team of marketers, sellers and service pros focus on key account wins (see chart below).

Drive
Customer
Demand

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Which digital practices make a difference?

In our research, we chose to study the digital transformation of sales from the perspective of the capabilities a sales organization needs to succeed. 

The report breaks down each of these capabilities further into sub-capabilities that again show the gap between top performers against the industry average.

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