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The Business Leader’s
Uncommon Growth Playbook

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The Business Leader’s
Uncommon Growth Playbook

Contact Us

How to grow in an ever-changing world? The Uncommon Growth Playbook for a New Era

There’s never been more risk to, or opportunity for growth than there is today. Today’s business leaders face a profound intersection of disruptive cultural, technological, political, and economic forces that can upend longstanding business models overnight. The traditional approach to growth and innovation that worked over the past 20 years has been upended as disruption is not just coming from new products, but new business models and cultural movements traveling at warp speed, entirely changing the rules of the game.

Our research confirms that this is not only possible amid this disruption but is already being proven. In our “Uncommon Growth in Uncommon Times” study, Prophet identified 179 S&P 500 companies that have delivered what we call Uncommon Growth. We characterize this as exceptional growth (averaging 2x their industry peers) that is sustainable (maintained over five or more years), and durable (persisting through disruption). These companies span industries, sizes, and stages. They aren’t outliers by luck. They’ve made deliberate choices that set them apart and build their growth strategy on a compelling story of value.

Through work with organizations around the world, we’ve defined five plays that enable leaders to attain Uncommon Growth. These five plays represent critical shifts in how leaders gather intelligence, frame their market, design their businesses, target customers, and build internal momentum. Together, they distinguish today’s uncommon growth leaders:

01

Always-On Human Insights

Shifting from discrete, periodic research, to always-on, agentic intelligence that informs faster, sharper decisions on an ongoing basis

02

Future Back Innovation

Shifting from in-category focus to evaluating the frame of reference and identifying markets that don’t yet exist

03

New Business Models

Shifting from a product and service only focus to orchestrated platforms and AI native offerings that create and capture value across every point of engagement

04

Customer Ecosystem Management

Shifting from singular customers to understanding ecosystems and the customer coalitions that multiply value for everyone involved

05

Culture as Catalyst

Shifting from stated values on paper to a purpose-built culture that drives collective action and accelerates growth

06

The Bottom Line

This is not a linear formula. It’s a new and essential toolkit that leaders can tailor to their business model, organizational maturity, and industry, and each is designed to drive speed to understanding and impact, using both analysis and embedded AI.

Throughout this playbook, you’ll find examples, measurable impact and actions to move from ambition to outcome. Uncommon growth is not a theory. It’s the disciplined execution of the right moves, at the right moment, for your unique organization.

PLAY 01

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Always-On Human Insights
From Discrete Research to Agentic Intelligence

Today’s customers aren’t just changing faster—they’re living through a world that changes around them every day. New technologies, shifting expectations, cultural moments, and economic pressures continually reshape how people think, choose, and buy. For growth leaders, the challenge isn’t a lack of data. It’s developing a deep enough understanding of people to keep pace.

The opportunity for growth leaders is unprecedented—but realizing it requires rethinking how organizations build empathy with customers and translate that understanding into action.

The companies that win won’t simply collect more data. They’ll have greater organizational empathy—the ability for every product manager, marketer, strategist, and executive to more deeply understand the people they serve and create experiences that feel genuinely relevant.

To drive uncommon growth, leaders must build empathy with their customers and treat customer intelligence as a live utility — not a periodic input. This requires a fundamental shift from discrete research to market sensing and customer intelligence, executed through three core actions:

Go deeper to understand people more

1. Go deeper to understand people more completely.

Organizations have access to richer sources of customer understanding than ever before—from first-party data to qualitative research and the broader economic, cultural, and social forces shaping people’s decisions. AI makes it possible to connect these signals into a more complete picture of customers, helping businesses move beyond knowing what people do to better understand why they do it—and anticipate what they may do next.

2. Expand insights across more people.

AI can extend trusted research methods across vastly larger populations and datasets, allowing organizations to validate ideas, uncover emerging trends, and identify opportunities with greater speed and confidence—without sacrificing rigor.

Expand insights across more people.
Put customer understanding into everyday decisions.

3. Put customer understanding into everyday decisions.

Insights create value only when they’re used. Instead of sitting in reports or dashboards, customer intelligence should be continuously available to the people making strategic, product, marketing, and commercial decisions. AI-powered insight agents can deliver relevant customer context at the moment decisions are made, enabling teams to act faster, with greater confidence and a stronger connection to customer needs.

Always-On Customer Insights in Action: Uber

Related Prophet Solution:

AI-Augmented Customer Insights

Uber’s AI platform has 5K models in production, serving 10 million real-time predictions per second at peak. Uber leverages “always-on” insights and AI agents to optimize customer experience and service. The company’s first quarter of 2026 saw revenue grow by 14% to $13.2 billion with trips growing 20% year-over-year, suggesting that when insights are always-on and embedded in the product, the distance between a customer need and a business response drops to near zero.

The organizations that close the gap between insights collection and access—evolving their organizations to deploy AI as a powerful enabler of human insights —will be the ones that define the next era of consumer intelligence. Move beyond just asking what your consumers need — and start asking why they did it, what they might do next, and what you should do about it right now.

Back to all plays

PLAY 02

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Future-Back Innovation Strategy
From Category Growth to Future Markets

The biggest future growth opportunities are unlikely to sit squarely within your current category; they’re forming at the edges of it, shaped by forces most companies haven’t yet acted on. Taking share from competitors, extending product lines, entering adjacent geographies: these moves still matter. But they are increasingly insufficient to deliver uncommon growth.

The reason is structural.

CEOs spend approximately 36% of their time in reactive “firefighting” mode while devoting only 10% to 15% to long-term planning. This misalignment is exacerbated by market pressures, as 78% of financial executives admit they would reduce discretionary spending on R&D or maintenance to meet quarterly earnings targets, even if they knew it would destroy long-term value.

Consequently, the window for organizational survival is shrinking; the average lifespan of a company on the S&P 500 has dropped from 33 years in the 1960s to just 15 years today. The gap between short-term execution and long-term positioning is widening — and the companies pulling ahead are closing it deliberately.

The shift is from today’s category growth to future markets and entirely new frames of reference for the category you operate in: The imperative for future-forward growth leaders is to identify where disruption and emerging customer needs are opening entirely new markets and opportunities, and to capitalize on them with conviction. There are three critical components to understanding future markets and frames of reference that can also become an ongoing discipline within the organization:

5 drivers of change to identify future areas of demand: Social; Technology; Economic; Environmental; Political

1. Understand the drivers of change to identify future areas of demand.

Mapping the social, technological, economic, environmental, regulatory, and political forces reshaping your industry is critical, both to build an understanding of how it affects your category today and to explore emerging categories. Working deeply with subject matter experts enables growth leaders to understand the trends that define where demand is heading, not just where it sits today.

2. Define future markets and identify challenges.

An initial analysis into forces at play and demand opportunities enables growth leaders to frame future markets to dive into, mapping the competitive dynamics and customer needs.

3. Define your target destination.

Framing attractive potential markets for growth based on your business realities enables leaders to align on a target destination for sustainable business growth. With a clear picture of the business you need to become, organizations can then work backward — progressing potential business growth models through stage gates of desirability, viability, and feasibility.

Future-back innovation strategies and thinking create real friction with boards and teams focused on near-term results. But the value isn’t in the scenarios themselves — it’s in the concrete strategic bets they open to chart a sustainable and robust path to growth.

Future-Back Innovation Strategy in Action: NVIDIA

Related Prophet Solution:

Go-to-Market
Innovation

In fiscal 2018, gaming represented roughly 57% of NVIDIA’s revenue, with data centers accounting for under 20%.i NVIDIA bet early that its GPU architecture would power large-scale AI training — and committed to that destination years before the market reached critical mass. By fiscal 2026, data center revenue hit $193.7 billion — 90% of total revenue — and full-year revenue reached $215.9 billion. That transformation was the result of reading the forces of change early and building toward a future most competitors hadn’t yet recognized.

The question is not whether your category will be disrupted. It’s whether you’ll define what comes next — or arrive late to a future someone else built.

i https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165410105000571

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PLAY 03

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New Business Model Innovation
From Products and Services to Platforms

Here’s a question most growth strategies don’t ask: what happens after the sale? For the majority of businesses, the answer is surprisingly little. The product ships, the service is delivered, and the customer relationship goes quiet until the next transaction. That silence is one of the largest untapped growth assets in business today — and the companies compounding value fastest have figured out how to fill it.

The pattern is consistent across industries: the highest-value businesses aren’t winning primarily on what they sell.

They’re winning on the depth of the relationship they maintain while customers are actively using what they’ve bought. That relationship generates proprietary data, deepens customer engagement, and creates switching costs that a lower-priced competitor simply can’t replicate. The shift is from products and services to platforms — business models that let you observe, interact with, and add value for customers during the time between one purchase and the next.

You don’t need to be a technology company. You need to create the conditions under which your business stays connected to customers during what we call the User Journey. Execution follows a four-stage progression:

You need to create the conditions under which your business stays connected to customers during what we call the Use Journey. Execution follows a four-stage progression: Start with in-use visibility. Build the ability to see what customers are actually doing with your product after the sale, which is the foundational data layer most traditional models completely lack. Create interactive value. Develop touchpoints, tools, or services that add real value during active use, deepening the relationship and generating behavioral signals you can learn from. Personalize and grow. Use what the platform learns to tailor and expand the value delivered to each customer over time, which will drive increasing satisfaction and share of wallet. Attract through proof. Let the richness of the platform experience and data-validated results become your most powerful acquisition tool to draw new customers through demonstrated value, not just marketing.

1. Start with in-use visibility.

Build the ability to see what customers are actually doing with your product after the sale, which is the foundational data layer most traditional models completely lack.

2. Create interactive value.

Develop touchpoints, tools, or services that add real value during active use, deepening the customer relationship and generating behavioral signals you can learn from.

3. Personalize and grow.

Use what the platform reveals to tailor and expand the value delivered to each customer over time, which will drive increasing satisfaction and share of wallet.

4. Attract through proof.

Let the richness of the platform experience and data-validated results become a powerful acquisition tool to draw new customers through demonstrated value, not just marketing.

The biggest friction will be organizational: most businesses are structured around product sales cycles, not ongoing engagement. A platform model requires investment in data infrastructure and continuous value delivery before the financial return is fully visible.

Platform Business Model in Action: The New York Times

Related Prophet Solution:

New Business Building

The New York Times evolved from a print newspaper into NYT, a multi-product digital platform — bundling news, cooking, games, audio, and sports into a single subscription. Digital-only subscription revenues grew by approximately 14% to $1.43 billion, with bundle and multi-product subscribers now representing approximately 51% of the digital base. The company didn’t grow by writing more articles — it grew by redesigning its relationship with readers across more of their daily lives.

The critical question isn’t “What new product can we launch?” It’s “How do we stay valuable to the customers we already have — and make that value visible to everyone we haven’t yet reached?”

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PLAY 04

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Customer Ecosystem Management
From Individual Customers to Coalitions

Most growth strategies focus on two things: acquiring more customers and keeping the ones you have. Both matter enormously. But they share a blind spot that limits how much value your business can create and capture.

The blind spot: your customers don’t exist in isolation.

Every customer is surrounded by an ecosystem of influencers, from providers to creators, advisors, and communities, who shape their decisions before, during, and after the purchase. The companies building the strongest competitive positions today aren’t just serving customers. They’re connecting the parties around them into coalitions where everyone exchanges value, and where the business sits at the center.

This is the shift from customers to customer coalitions: moving beyond a one-way value exchange between company and buyer and instead facilitating a “better together” network where participants make each other more valuable. The result: lower acquisition costs, higher lifetime value, and stickiness that a marginally better product from a competitor can’t easily break.

Executing this shift requires focusing on three areas: 

1. Precision archetype scaling.

Growth in a coalition isn’t about scale for scale’s sake — it’s about the right mix of participant types: users, providers, creators, sponsors, and influencers. Identify which personas fill gaps in the ecosystem and create a self-sustaining growth loop. Are the right providers balanced to customer demand in a given market?

2. Multi-dimensional value exchange.

Look beyond the direct value your company delivers and design for the lateral value members provide to one another. When you engage the same person in multiple ways — a user who also reviews, recommends, and advocates — you drive significantly higher spend and create differentiation competitors can’t replicate.

3. Tiered ecosystem loyalty.

Move from transactional discounts to recognition systems that reward specific behaviors — quality, consistency, responsiveness — rather than just volume. This lets you capture premium needs at higher margins while remaining accessible at the entry level.

The friction here is real. Investing in peripheral ecosystem participants can feel indirect when teams are measured on near-term revenue. But the payoff is a self-reinforcing system that compounds over time.

Customer Ecosystem Management in Action: Airbnb

Related Prophet Solution:

Campaigns & Experiences

Airbnb’s competitive advantage isn’t inventory — it’s the coalition. Guests rely on reviews, host interactions, and experience recommendations when deciding where to stay. Approximately 41% of U.S. hosts qualify as Superhosts, earning at least 29% more than standard hosts — a tiered recognition system that incentivizes quality, raises satisfaction, and drives the reviews that attract more guests. Beyond hosts, Airbnb builds a customer coalition by engaging creators and local communities to share authentic experiences, creating a network of advocates who drive trust and influence through their own voices and networks. That self-reinforcing loop helped Airbnb reach $12.2 billion in FY2025 revenue with 533 million nights and experiences booked — built not on a better product alone, but on a coalition that compounds value for every participant.

The question isn’t just “How do we serve our customers better?” It’s “Who are the parties around our customers that make the experience better — and how do we bring them together?”

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PLAY 05

Organizational Culture as Catalyst
From Stated Values to Purpose-Built Culture

Every organization has written its values on a slide or poster. Very few have a culture that accelerates growth. The gap between what a company says it believes and how people inside it behave is where most growth strategies quietly die.

The evidence is consistent: research shows that approximately 70% of digital transformations fall short of their objectives.

The failure is rarely due to a flawed strategy or insufficient funding. Instead, it is most often rooted in organizational and cultural resistance — the antibodies within an organization that reject the very changes leaders are trying to implement. You can invest in the sharpest strategy and the most advanced tools, but if the culture isn’t built to absorb and act on them, the organization will default to what it already knows.

The shift is from stated values to purpose-built culture: a culture deliberately designed to champion bold bets, move with speed, and sustain momentum long after the initial energy of a new initiative fades. This isn’t about writing better values statements. It’s about rewiring how the organization operates.

Organizational Ambition

Defining a compelling ambition for the organization aligning purpose, strategy and culture — enabled by the right behaviors

Leadership Enablement

Clarifying what is expected of leaders, providing them with the skills and tools to demonstrate change and build trust with their teams

Employee Ignition

Sparking employee interest, passion, and accountability by showing them what great looks like

Executional Excellence

Unlocking people and work through systemic change in service of delivery against strategic objectives

Three moves make this real:

1. Decentralize growth ownership.

Uncommon growth cannot be a top-down mandate. Empower people at every level to identify and act on opportunities — and to challenge legacy processes that slow the organization down. When growth ownership is distributed, the company becomes a network of sensors rather than a hierarchy waiting for direction.

2. Operationalize experimentation.

Move beyond “permission to fail” toward active incentives to experiment. Reward the process of discovery, not just the outcome. If your performance reviews only recognize hitting quarterly targets on legacy products, the culture will never champion the new — no matter what the values slide says.

3. Build momentum loops.

Shift from annual planning to rolling cycles that redirect resources toward what’s working in real time. Leaders must move from managing performance to evangelizing the behaviors that produced it.

The tension is real: protecting the core business while funding the future creates friction. Culture must provide the permission to reconsider your own business when the evidence points forward — and the resilience to sustain speed without burning people out.

Organizational Culture as Competitive Advantage in Action: e.l.f. Beauty

Related Prophet Solution:

Culture as Catalyst

e.l.f. marked its 29th consecutive quarter of net sales growth and market share gains, with net sales of $1.63 billion for fiscal year 2026, an increase of 25%. The company’s willingness to experiment with emerging platforms — it was one of the first beauty brands on TikTok and has since expanded to Roblox and Twitch — reflects a cultural DNA that rewards speed and experimentation over perfection. That consistency isn’t a single product hit — it’s a culture that moves at what e.l.f. calls “e.l.f. speed,” where purpose and performance reinforce each other daily.

You cannot program growth into a spreadsheet. You need a human-centered transformation model and a culture supportive of change, which can only come about through nurturing people — and cultivating the systems, skills, incentives, and norms that shape how they show up every day.

Back to all plays

06 THE BOTTOM LINE

Building a Sustainable Business Growth Strategy

The journey to creating Uncommon Growth starts today.

Every growth move describes a shift that successful Uncommon Growth companies have already made — and that their competitors, in most cases, have not. The distance between those two groups is widening. Not because companies lack talent or capital, but because they’re still running plays designed for a world that no longer exists. None of these plays require you to rebuild your company from scratch, but each one requires you to challenge an assumption your organization has been operating on for years. The companies achieving uncommon growth aren’t waiting for perfect conditions. They’re building the capability to grow without them.

The playbook is here. The question is what you do next.

Prophet’s Uncommon Growth Playbook and practice areas are led by a multidisciplinary team of experienced growth leaders across strategy, insights, innovation, experience, and AI solutions—all with an eye on speed to impact.

Contact us to learn more.
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Authors

Mike Leiser
Chief Transformation Officer, Senior Partner

Jay Milliken
Global Lead of Growth Strategy, Senior Partner

Jackie Wilhelm
Associate Partner

Erin Weissert
Partner, Insights & Analytics

Jo Roberts
Associate Partner, Business Design

Alan Casey
Senior Partner

Ted Moser
Senior Partner

Daniel Jarosch
Senior Partner

Jan Döring
Partner

Paul Teuton
Partner

Tony Fross
Partner

Alice Guizol
Associate Partner

Gordon Smith
Senior Partner

Shane Kosch
Associate Partner

BLOG

The Retail Store as a Platform: Designing for Commerce, Curation, Connection, and Culture

The most forward-thinking retailers are engineering immersive, multi-faceted platforms that curate commerce, foster human connection, and cultivate culture.

For decades, the narrative surrounding physical retail has been one of disruption and decline, a story pitting brick-and-mortar against the digital juggernaut of e-commerce. But this binary view is obsolete.

The future of retail isn’t about the store versus the website; it’s about the store acting like a website—or more precisely, like a platform.

The most forward-thinking retailers are no longer just designing places to transact; they are engineering immersive, multi-faceted platforms that curate commerce, foster human connection, and cultivate culture.

Why a Platform?

To understand this shift, we must first dissect what a platform business truly is. Unlike traditional linear businesses that create value in a straight line (make a product, sell it to a customer), platform businesses create value by facilitating interactions and transactions between distinct, interdependent groups. Think of Uber (connecting drivers and riders), Airbnb (connecting hosts and guests), or the Apple App Store (connecting developers and users).

Their core asset is not inventory, but the ecosystem and the data that flows through it.

They thrive on network effects: the more participants on one side, the more valuable the platform becomes to the other.

So, how does a physical retail store transform into this kind of dynamic platform?

It ceases to be a mere point-of-sale and becomes a curated, multi-faceted ecosystem where the retailer acts as the orchestrator, not just the owner.

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Currently, only a handful of retailers operate stores with this mindset; some fashion brand houses and others like South Korea’s Gentle Monster, Nike’s House of Innovation, and Starbucks Reserve Roastery locations come close. So, how can other retailers turn physical stores into dynamic platforms?

Gentle Monster, Shanghai flagship
Gentle Monster, Shanghai flagship; art and technology meet fashion and beauty (Source: Gentle Monster) 
Gentle Monster, Shanghai flagship; art and technology meet fashion and beauty (Source: Gentle Monster) 
A full customization wing lives in The Arena, delivering on Nike’s pioneering DIY spirit. (Source: Nike)
The latest selection is continually rotated throughout the store. (Source: Nike)
With Shop The Look, customers can scan the code at the foot
of a mannequin and shop the entire outfit, which can then
be purchased immediately through Instant Checkout. (Source: Nike)
The Nike Speed Shop uses local data to stock its shelves, and re-stock them
based on what the community wants. (Source: Nike)
Starbucks Reserve, Tokyo Roastery (Source: Starbucks) 

The Store as a Platform for Curated Commerce

In a traditional model, commerce is straightforward: the retailer stocks what it predicts will sell. The platform store, however, reimagines the floor as a dynamic marketplace.

This means inviting third-party brands, both digital natives and local artisans, to “plug in” to the physical space. These brands become the “producers” on the platform.

For example, a Target or a Nordstrom isn’t just selling its own inventory; it’s hosting a rotating cast of pop-ups and exclusive collaborations. The physical store can become a living, breathing showroom for DTC (Direct-to-Consumer) or new-to-market brands seeking tangible customer touchpoints, and for established brands to test new concepts, as well as the in-store media promoting store-brands and those of the partners or suppliers.  

Target partnered with Museum of Ice Cream to launch
a pop-up shop in NYC (Source: Yuliya Kim for Adweek)

Over the years, Target has launched dozens of shop-in-shop partnerships with brands and designers to expand its relevance, driving traffic and revenue in important categories.

The retailer’s role shifts from dictator of assortment to curator of experience. They provide the stage—the prime real estate, the logistics, the foot traffic—and take a fee or revenue share from sales.

  • This model can de-risk inventory, ensure a constantly refreshed and novel assortment, and turn the store into a destination for discovery, not just routine replenishment.
  • The commerce becomes a value-added service within a larger experience.
  • And this new curated commerce is supported by both digital tools allowing more seamless online-offline integration.

Collaborations Context:

The store becomes a vessel of collaboration with other culturally relevant brands or personalities, but in the context of the store’s brand experience. The immersive aspect blurs the line between the partner’s equities and the store’s brand, creating an exciting “equity flow” between the parties that can be felt by the customer, shaping brand memories that drive future visits.

Seasonal Sensations:

Shifts in visual merchandising are not just about decorating for the season but being relevant to the consumer mindset regarding everything else going on in their lives. The “platform” shifts its language, its visual effects, and particularly its in-store media content, messaging, creative, and promotions to align with consumer attention.

The Store as a Platform for Human Connection

This is where the physical platform truly outshines its digital counterparts. E-commerce can be transactional and solitary.

  • The store-as-platform is designed for social and educational interaction, creating a powerful network effect between customers, staff, and brands.
  • The “users” on this side of the platform are the customers seeking connection and knowledge.
  • The “providers” are the store’s staff, brand ambassadors, and even fellow shoppers.

Staff as APIs:

In a platform store, associates are not just cashiers or stockers; they are “Application Programming Interfaces” (APIs)—human endpoints of data and expertise. Armed with AI-enabled tablets that access real-time inventory, customer purchase history, and product information, they can offer hyper-personalized service. They are stylists, tech gurus, and guides who facilitate a deeper relationship between the customer and the brand ecosystem.

The “platform” also leverages digital tools to supplement the store staff, such as “endless aisles” providing vastly expanded assortments with minimal inventory carry, and visualization tools (magic mirrors and mobile-enabled AR applications) to streamline trial supported by the personal guidance of staff.  

Nordstrom store associate with tablet (Source: Nordstrom)

The next generation of “clienteling” will be AI-enabled.

Community as Content:

The store itself becomes a venue for events—workshops, maker classes, fitness sessions, or panels. A REI store hosting outdoor survival classes or an Apple store holding Today at Apple creative sessions aren’t just selling products; they are selling proficiency, passion, and community.

These events create recurring reasons to visit, transforming the store from a shop into a clubhouse. The connections formed here—between customer and expert, and between customer and customer—create immense loyalty and a defensible moat that Amazon cannot easily replicate.

REI indoor photo of class or activity (Source: REI)

Building community programming around shared interest drives trips and loyalty.

The Store is the Clubhouse:

As loyalty programs evolve to be more about access to experiences and not just collecting points, the store environment can play a key role in evoking a sense of belonging.

Location-based programming as described above is only the start, as technology unlocks better forms of recognition (opt-in facial recognition and geo-location using signals from mobile devices–or even using simple card swipes or RFID readers), more personalized attention can be brought to loyalty program participants, rewarding frequent visits with in-the-moment promotions, access to preferred store hours, and even the provision of food and beverage amenities…

Not by Bread Alone:

As noted above, in creating a platform orientation to the store, the execution should at a minimum deliver a “more reasons to go and more things to do when you are there” experience. Food and beverage offerings provide that always-appreciated and often-desired complement to a shopping trip.

Aligning the offer and assortment with the brand’s personality (think Ralph’s, the Ralph Lauren café attached to many of its stores globally), and should be tuned to be feasibly operated.

Ralph’s Coffee café at Shaw Centre, Singapore; Ralph Lauren setting up coffee shops adjacent to its stores. (Source: Grazia)

The Store as a Platform for Cultural Cultivation

The highest function of the retail platform is to move beyond utility and into identity. It becomes a stage for cultivating and broadcasting a specific culture. Platforms like Instagram or TikTok don’t just host content; they shape trends, language, and aesthetics.

Similarly, a retail store can act as a cultural touchpoint. It’s a three-dimensional manifestation of a brand’s worldview.

A Glossier store isn’t just a place to buy makeup; it’s an Instagram-ready shrine to millennial-pink aesthetics and community-driven beauty. A Patagonia store isn’t just for outdoor gear; it’s a hub for environmental activism, complete with repair workshops and advocacy materials.

  • In this model, the transaction is almost a byproduct of cultural participation.
  • Consumers, especially younger generations, don’t just buy products; they buy into beliefs. The retail platform allows them to physically immerse themselves in those beliefs.
  • The store curates not just products, but a vibe, a value system, and a tribe. This cultural capital is the most powerful form of branding, creating evangelists who wear their purchases as badges of affiliation.  
Glossier Philadelphia (Source: Glossier) 
Glossier District of Columbia (Source: Glossier) 
Glossier store with customers taking Instagram photos (Source: BoF) 

Being in the cultural conversation drives targeted relevance. 

The Store as a Media Platform

In today’s retail environment, the store itself is being reimagined as a dynamic media channel, where digital screens transform passive aisles into immersive content experiences. Gone are the days of simple promotional loops; these networks now deliver curated, high-quality content ranging from brand storytelling and recipe tutorials to lifestyle documentaries and live social media feeds.

This content serves a dual purpose: it captivates customers, increasing dwell time and enhancing brand perception, while simultaneously functioning as a highly targeted, daypart-driven advertising platform.

Brands can purchase screen time much like a digital out-of-home network, delivering contextually relevant messages at the precise moment of purchase consideration, effectively turning the physical store into a broadcast studio for targeted, shopper-centric media.

This evolution into a media platform allows retailers to monetize their physical footprint and customer attention in new ways, generating high-margin revenue streams beyond product sales.

  • The data captured—such as dwell times, engagement metrics, and correlation with sales data—creates a powerful feedback loop, enabling both retailers and brands to refine messaging in real-time for maximum impact.
  • Ultimately, the store-as-media-platform model elevates the shopping journey from a mere transaction to an engaging, informative, and entertaining experience.
  • It represents a profound convergence of physical and digital worlds, where the environment not only sells products but also tells stories, builds community, and operates as a sophisticated, measurable media entity in its own right.
Store endcaps fitted with screens (Source: AdAge) 

POS media can drive disproportionate selection opportunities for brands and a meaningful revenue stream for the retailer.

Designing the Platform: Data as the Foundation

Underpinning all four of these dimensions—Commerce, Curation, Connection, and Culture—is data. A platform is useless without a feedback loop. In-store sensors, Wi-Fi analytics, mobile app interactions, and transaction data provide a rich, nuanced understanding of how people move, dwell, and interact within the physical space.

This data informs everything: which pop-up brands drive the most footfall, which workshops lead to the highest basket size, which product placements create the most social media buzz, and even how loyalty can be manifested in the store.

  • This allows retailers to iterate and optimize the “user experience” of their physical platform with the same agility (but perhaps not the same speed) as a digital product team.
  • This closed-loop system ensures the store remains relevant, responsive, resilient…and productive.
Hema Market uses data to track freshness and food safety information, ensure in-stocks on popular items and manage 30-minute delivery windows for in-store purchases. (Source: Freshippo)

Hema Market leverages its fully integrated online-to-offline data ecosystem to deliver a seamless, hyper-personalized customer experience. It unifies digital and physical shopping, enabling real-time analysis of individual preferences, purchase history, and even dwell time.

This data powers dynamic in-store digital signage and an AI-driven replenishment system, ensuring popular SKUs are never out of stock. The result is a frictionless journey where customers receive relevant offers, enjoy accurate 30-minute delivery windows predicted from historical traffic and order data, and find stores curated to their neighborhood’s tastes—transforming raw data into intuitive, time-saving convenience.

The Transaction as an Outcome, Not the Goal

The store of the future is not a warehouse. It is a networked platform. Its success is measured not just in sales per square foot, but in engagement per visit, the strength of its partner ecosystem, and its cultural resonance.

By designing for commerce as a curated service, for connection as a core utility, and for culture as a key differentiator, retailers can build physical spaces that are not just surviving the digital age but thriving within it. The transaction is no longer the singular goal of the store visit; it is the natural outcome of a valuable and valued platform experience.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Retail’s next chapter will be written by stores that function as platforms — shaping commerce, curation, connection, and culture, with the transaction as the outcome rather than the aim.

Prophet helps retailers design these experiences to deepen relevance, loyalty, and drive uncommon growth.

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Experience Intelligence Redefined: Simulation for Faster, Richer CX Insights

Using predictive intelligence to bridge the gap between strategy and frontline reality to drive uncommon growth.

This article was co-authored by Cameron Fink, Co-Founder and CEO of Aaru, as part of a strategic partnership with Prophet to redefine experience intelligence through AI simulation. Read more about Aaru and their story in their recent Wall Street Journal profile.

What if you could understand your customer’s experience across a journey that spans thousands of touchpoints in just 48 hours?

That’s no longer a hypothetical. With AI simulation, Prophet and Aaru are helping brands model and action on customer journeys, particularly among hard to reach audiences.

This isn’t “synthetic research.” It’s a new form of predictive intelligence: Aaru’s simulations are built on proprietary behavioral and outcomes-based data that mirrors real-world patterns with remarkable accuracy. The result? A clearer, faster, and more granular path to understanding what customers experience, feel, and do —and how to act on it to drive loyalty and growth.

Success Story: From Impossible to Possible

Prophet and Aaru partnered with a leading healthcare company specializing in emergency care to tackle the daunting challenge of understanding the patient experience during unplanned care events. The team simulated 12,500 survey respondents, “agents,” across patients, providers, caregivers, and health system leaders — giving us a comprehensive, 360-degree view of what truly happens in these critical moments.

A simulated patient described their journey this way:

“Treatment was the strongest part of my emergency department visit. The care team was attentive even under pressure, and I felt genuinely listened to. In contrast, discharge was confusing; I left with a sense that key details were missing, which made managing at home more stressful. The journey back to routine life was neither easy nor especially difficult, but I wish the transition out of the hospital matched the quality of care I received inside.”

This engagement surfaced breakthrough insights that would have been nearly impossible to capture using traditional research methods, especially in a comparable window of time and with the same depth and granularity of insights.

Most notably, it exposed a significant disconnect within the organization: While 78% of C-suite leaders believed they had a formal patient experience strategy in place, only 19% of frontline doctors and nurses were even aware such a strategy existed. Additionally, priorities for improving the patient experience varied widely across these groups, showing a lack of consensus and alignment.

The AI-driven simulation revealed four core pillars essential to delivering an outstanding patient experience, each accompanied by actionable tactics to enhance the patient experience.

This research closed long-standing knowledge gaps and equipped the organization with tangible, cross-functional focus areas to drive patient-centered transformation at scale.

Three Game-Changing Benefits: Why AI Simulation Leads to Uncommon Growth

1. Acceleration Without Sacrifice

In a world where customer expectations and market conditions evolve at lightning speed, waiting weeks for static insights is no longer good enough. Simulation can help collapse months of work into 24-48 hours. These accelerated insights empower companies to respond to market signals, emerging risks, or new opportunities in near real-time, fueling not just quick wins but sustainable growth.

2. Access to Insights you Couldn’t get Before

The old approach relied on your ability to recruit a qualified research panel or persuade someone to take a survey. With simulation, you break free of those limits. You can now reach and analyze audiences that were once inaccessible. Whether they are emergency care patients, users of third-party risk management software, or clinical engineers, to name a few examples of engagements Aaru and Prophet have collaborated on. More importantly, audience simulation and predictive modeling unlock a new layer: understanding not just what your customers say, but modeling what they actually do across an expanding set of complex, real-world touchpoints.

3. Anticipation That Drives Action

Simulations don’t just report on the past; they illuminate the path forward. Through advanced modeling, you gain predictive insight into customer behavior — forecasting outcomes, quantifying risk, and testing “what if” scenarios before making big bets. This elevates decision-making from reflective to proactive, enabling organizations to enhance customer journeys, mitigate churn, or unlock new innovation ideas in a way traditional analytics simply cannot match.

You can now answer questions such as:

  • How will customers’ experience expectations evolve in 3 years?
  • How will changes in pricing or a new feature rollout impact different high-value customer segments?
  • Where are the breakpoints in a cross-channel journey that drive churn?

The Future: Growth Through Unlocked Intelligence

AI simulations are not merely efficiency tools. They are growth engines — providing leaders with accelerated insights, predictive models, and access to customer truths that were once off-limits. Through the Prophet / Aaru partnership, the horizon for customer experience has expanded: growth is no longer gated by the limitations of legacy research.

Business Strategy

FINAL THOUGHTS

As these technologies evolve, the best organizations won’t just move faster — they’ll see further, know their customers more deeply, and act with precision on opportunities hidden from their competitors. Don’t settle for yesterday’s answers. The future of growth starts with intelligence that was previously out of reach. Contact us for a Rapid CX Assessment using AI Simulation.

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Designing Experiences for the Next Frontier in Commercial Banking 

Why traditional models are breaking—and how banks can thrive in a world of platforms, data and perpetual change.

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This is part 2 in a 3-part series on driving relevance and growth in commercial banking. 

For more on the challenges facing commercial banks, read Part 1: Bridging Brand and Demand: How to Unlock Competitive Advantage in Commercial Banking. 

Commercial Banking is at a Tipping Point 

Client expectations are rising faster than most banks can keep up. In a world of shrinking margins and nonstop disruption, fast transactions and solid service aren’t enough. 

Today’s commercial clients want real-time visibility, personalized digital experiences, and strategic partnership—and they’re measuring you against top B2C experiences. 

It’s no longer about incremental improvements. The banks that thrive will be those that reimagine how they deliver value at every touchpoint. 

Five New Realities Reshaping the Commercial Banking Experience 

  1. Boundaryless Banking – Platforms, ecosystems and partnerships are rewriting the rules of engagement. 
  2. AI is the New Infrastructure – Intelligent systems are now core to personalized service, risk analysis and growth. 
  3. The End of Back-Office Onboarding – Client onboarding must be seamless, digital and immediate. 
  4. Research Is a Blind Spot – Commercial insights must go beyond surface-level segmentation. 
  5. Exponential Risk – New threats demand faster, more transparent responses—and stronger client trust.

Read this report to learn what leading commercial banks are doing differently and the three key principles they are adopting to stay relevant. If your bank is serious about relevance, growth and differentiation in a platform-driven world, this report is your roadmap. 

Download the full report to explore the five new realities and how to lead with experience. 

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The Future of Hospitality: 4 Key Insights for Asia’s Travel Boom

Hotel brands are embracing personalization, technology and sustainability as Asia’s travel industry reinvents itself post-pandemic. 

Tourism in Asia is going through an identity crisis. By the numbers, it all looks good, with experts predicting a complete recovery, surpassing the pre-pandemic highs. However, the typical 2025 traveler bears little resemblance to those in 2019.  

Travelers in Asia now have different expectations. They have new ideas about how to enjoy life, find entertainment and spend money. They want to protect the planet. They combine work and leisure travel in new ways and crave authentic experiences over standardized hotel chains. Those changes have pushed the hospitality sector to a pivotal moment of reinvention and adaptation.  

As tourism numbers rise, the opportunities are expanding fast. Tourism brands must shift their strategy to succeed, addressing four powerful trends. They’ll need to redefine all formats for richer personalization. Thinking beyond the hotel’s physical location, brands must offer diversified experiences from retail, cultural activities to entertainment which stand true to the hotel’s brand purpose. They’ll have to find new ways to use tech, becoming more human. And they’ll need to address eco-wary travelers’ rapidly evolving sustainability expectations. 

A Look into Asia’s Travel Boom 

Asia’s impressive tourism recovery is, in large part, driven by the reopening of China post-COVID. While domestic travel expenditure has slowed since the May holiday surge (28% growth over 2019), international travel was rebounding in full force during the golden week holiday. According to Alipay, the number of transactions made by its users in overseas markets during the first four days of the holiday (October 1-4) increased by over 60% compared to the same period in 2023. Malaysia, Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong SAR and Singapore emerged as the fastest-growing destinations for Chinese tourists. 

Major hotel chains saw positive financial results globally, but a decrease in their China revenue. In part, that’s due to the oversaturation of the market, with chains focusing on price, and the softening of business travel. However, it’s also due to Chinese travelers’ evolving preferences that make the hostel and B&B sector more appealing. 

India is also driving the rebound, with travel industry sources reporting that outbound travelers from India spent a record $17 billion in overseas travel, a 25% jump from the prior year. In Southeast Asia, Laos and Malaysia are up 20 percent and 17 percent, respectively, in year-over-year international travel spending.  

As outbound excursions increase, countries are sharpening their offers. Japan, where visits are already well over 2019 levels, is gearing up to attract affluent tourists to lesser-known destinations, offering opportunities for an authentic experience of culture, craftsmanship and nature as a record number of foreign travelers come to the country. 

Are you Ready for the Traveler of 2025? 

Modern guests increasingly seek more purposeful, authentic and personalized experiences, prioritizing four key areas. They want: 

Diverse and Richer Formats With Personalized Experiences  

Experiential travel and cultural immersion have eclipsed the trend of checking off destinations in record time. Asian travelers are now taking their time, seeking wellness, spas, yoga activities and retreats, valuing health and relaxation in their travel experiences.  

That has also given rise to a keen interest in hyper-localized boutiques or specialized resorts, whether focused on families, skiing, or spiritual offers.  

Songtsam has tapped into this trend, with premium hotels designed to offer culturally immersive tours along the Yunnan-Tibet route. The Chinese hotel group brings together nature, outdoor adventure, meditation, village life and local countryside customs to form two “circuits” — geographically connected groups of properties that create a foundation for a multi-location trip. Over 90% of Songtsam’s employees are from local villages, guaranteeing a customer experience that reflects the area’s unique personality. 

The growing trend of traveling for concerts and festivals fits neatly into this category. Analysts estimate Taylor Swift’s recent concerts in Singapore – six shows and the only appearances in Southeast Asia – likely brought in $370 million in tourism receipts in one week. 

Cruising is also growing fast, allowing tourists to take their time and savor different regions. By 2025, cruise revenue in Asia is expected to reach $3.77 billion and grow at an annual rate of 6.17% through 2029. 

Differentiated Hotel Experiences That Connect to Retail and Entertainment Platforms 

Modern travelers don’t just come to stay – they want to do. And increasingly, retail and entertainment are part of that experience. While some inherent challenges exist for hoteliers working in mixed-use properties, when done well, guest-centric experiences create a value exchange that provides meaningful differentiation. 

Aranya Resorts has become a trendy destination for aspiring young travelers precisely because it knows how to combine commerce, culture, wellness and food with hotels and residential. It offers Instagrammable views, a concert hall, a library, diverse restaurants, luxury hotels, and retail stores that sell hip lifestyle brands. 

Even without developing properties explicitly for these connections, hotel brands can create their recipe for differentiation by partnering and collaborating across the tourism ecosystem. That may include working with transportation, credit cards, retail and experience providers. Marina Bay Sands, a luxury resort in Singapore, for example, has tie-ins with MasterCard, Singapore Airlines and the Singapore Tourism Board. These connections allow the brand to offer collaborations like fly-and-stay deals, built around culinary festivals and a Lunar New Year dragon drone show. 

Such partnerships make it easy for even mainstream properties to develop distinctive packages with less common destinations.  

Human Experiences, with Seamlessly Integrated Technology  

Travelers demand digital excellence when traveling. It’s how they prefer to book and pay for their trips.  

Forward-thinking hotels are responding by accelerating their adoption of new technologies to tailor experiences and differentiate themselves. Ji Hotel, a mid-range hotel brand by H World International, incorporates customizable lighting, sound, temperature and IoT solutions, as well as room service and delivery robots. Digital control panels are voice-enabled and connect everything to the group’s H Rewards loyalty program app. 

Since travelers are increasingly open to using GenAI to plan their travel, hoteliers such as Marriott and IHG are beginning to incorporate GenAI technology in membership programs to suggest travel itineraries, dining options and shopping spots.  

However, many IoT and AI capabilities can come off as impersonable, especially to the more socially conscious Gen Z. 

They want digital conveniences but are also in search of human connection. The trick is using advanced tech to make customer experiences feel more human. 

Regenerative Travel That Prioritizes People, Planet, and Progress

Travelers, especially younger and more affluent, are increasingly aware of tourism’s heavy impact on the local community, culture and environment. They want to travel more sustainably and are willing to pay extra for sustainable options. They want to stay in properties committed to reducing waste, shifting away from single-use plastics, preserving cultures, and giving back to communities. 

Built on a secluded peninsula on a private island, Nam Nghi is a boutique hotel catering to diverse audiences, with pristine beaches surrounded by lush jungles. Prophet designed a new positioning for the Vietnamese destination, helping it appeal to affluent nature-conscious guests. Their guests want authentic experiences that have minimal environmental impact. Centered around the positioning “Nurtured by Nature,” we delivered designs and ideas for touchpoints ranging from in-room amenities, food and beverage, and wellness options to digital apps to link them all. 

CX Management is the Top Agenda for Hospitality C-Levels

The theme in all four of these trends, of course, is the importance of customer experience. From the smallest boutique to the largest hotel chains, it’s important to obsessively measure how well changing audiences are reacting. That requires making CX a key function, not just a supporting role, and establishing a clear guiding principle – an experience North Star – to ensure consistent, relevant and unique customer experiences. The goal is no longer customer satisfaction but customer delight. 

  • CX management is not to be treated as a supporting function, but as a core function anchored in the business and brand strategy. 
  • It needs a positioning and value framework that can and must be derived from the brand.  
  • When strongly intertwined with the R&D of travel & hospitality, CX management is decisive for identifying and driving innovations.  
  • The measurement of CX urgently needs a strong development push beyond the classic satisfaction and recommendation KPIs. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

The travel and hospitality industry in Asia is experiencing a renaissance, driven by emerging trends in personalization, sustainability and tech innovations. As consumer expectations evolve, hotels must pivot and reinvent themselves to offer unique, immersive experiences that go beyond traditional services. By focusing on these key trends, hospitality brands can not only meet but exceed the needs of the modern traveler, creating lasting customer loyalty.  

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Unlocking the Potential: How Placemaking Shapes Experiences That Define Communities

Whether for greenfield projects or urban revival, the master plan is just the beginning. Bringing spaces to life calls for brand storytelling that engages every stakeholder.

As people continue their rapid shift to cities, some experts argue we’ve been living in the Golden Age of urban planning. Despite many challenges, new endeavors are breathtakingly bold. Ambitious projects like Saudi Arabia’s Neom, Vienna’s Seestadt Aspern and Dubai’s promise to become a “20-minute city” go beyond conceptualization, aiming to set global precedents for bringing places from inception to reality. 

With revivals and reinventions, where the legacy of a place demands deeper consideration, exemplified by Sydney’s Barangaroo and London’s King’s Cross, the transition requires developers and planners to co-create with the communities who inhabit and frequent these already established locales, shaping spaces that align with their evolving needs and desires.   

The master developers and planners meticulously craft construction blueprints that account for both short-term and long-term evolutions, incorporating considerations for population growth and the well-being of early inhabitants who may prefer not to reside near noisy, dusty construction sites. Although the investments in the rapidly evolving future wonders are well-defined, addressing the unforeseen consequences and sustainable management of how to best protect the planet necessitates a commitment to closing the loop and taking responsibility to reuse, reduce, and recycle across every experience, in every location and for every purpose. 

And while the design and architecture will always grab headlines, the next step is just as important: telling the brand story of these ambitious new places to the many people who’ll live in them. As the project unfolds, it’s essential to define the cognitive relationship that will exist between these spaces and the individuals who use them. These projects aren’t just about refurbishing a train station or building the transit system of the future. They are about transforming everyday experiences into journeys of discovery.  

If the governments and development companies behind the building are to succeed, people must understand that the places they are creating will be sustainable and enjoyable, fusing physical space with meaningful experiences. Developers must be convincing that the project drives positive outcomes: Genuine placemaking creates well-being, placing both people and the planet at its core. 

The Human Side of Placemaking 

When designing the experience strategies that will bring these ambitious projects to life, it’s important to remember that standing out from the crowd is getting more complicated. Urbanization continues to increase. Today, about 56% of the world’s population, roughly 4.4 billion people, live in cities. By 2050, the urban population will double, and almost seven out of 10 people will live in cities.   

That’s because increasingly, cities are places of optimism, hope and reinvention. They are “not just mere containers for innovative activities,” writes Richard Florida, the urban theorist, “but are actively involved in the generation of new ideas, new organizational forms and new enterprise.”  

Building these new relationships requires blueprints as detailed as the project’s physical architecture. While there are many steps to take along the way, Prophet starts by reimagining the project not just as a place but as a human being. Like real people, it is defined by DNA. This is the intent of the place, its vision – and it should shine through every expression. The project also has a mind, which – with the right skills and capabilities – will enable it to effectively engage people and investors. It has a body, too, allowing it to direct its efforts, helping the destination deliver value to people. And finally, the new place has a soul. It motivates and inspires everyone who encounters it.  

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How Do We Deploy This Philosophy Into Placemaking Projects?  

Start With a Strategy and Positioning That Tells the Story 

Seeing every place in this holistic way makes it clear the project is much more than a physical location. It’s a story waiting to unfold, connecting the space to the people who use it. This relationship is a cognitive bond animated by the project’s DNA. 

To carry this DNA through to stories that are relevant, authentic and engaging, brand strategists need to look at many elements. And they need to focus on the desired result, which is the well-being of the people living and working in the developing location.  

Show how the project’s purpose will be manifested through active living. And share the complexity of the environmental impact and sustainability goals, too. People everywhere are deeply concerned about the planet. They want to know you are thinking about every detail, from energy use to recycling to wildlife. In projects destined to last for generations, they need to believe you have the world’s best interest at heart. 

Create an Experience Master Plan to Engage the Community 

Placemaking requires an experience master plan, anticipating the many ways people will encounter the place, both physically and digitally. Each engagement and experience deepens the relationship between place and people, illuminating different aspects of the project.  

Often, projects are bridging structures from the past – perhaps even centuries old – with those of the future. Which experiences help most to connect people with the spirit of the place? How can they tap into the cultural currents of their environment? How can these new experiences help shape the story? Think about their mobility and interaction with the place’s entire ecosystem. 

These experiences aren’t a one-way street. It’s critical to get residents involved as problem solvers and co-creators. For example, Munich is a pilot city, along with eleven others in Europe, designing, implementing and scaling up circular systematic solutions for a more robust circular economy. The key to this transformation process lies in the collective collaborative power of all city stakeholders and having the tools to empower its citizens to cast a vote in favor of circularity. To that end, the Future Map was designed to provide the accessibility and convenience needed for the adoption of circular products and services by offering residents and tourists the opportunity to discover a more circular Munich on foot.

By staying close and engaging often, citizens are more likely to develop a sense of forgiveness during transition or construction delays and hiccups. We can take lessons from the most loved cities and brands that have endured through times of upward and downward trajectories, all while maintaining authentic relationships. Even if things don’t work, and that happens in our reality, the equity built in these relationships provides a balance of goodwill.  

Using Technology and Innovation, Integrate Smart City Tech and Sustainability Goals to Promote the Brand and Attract Investment

To survive decades, generations and shifting human behaviors, places need vibrancy. Technological capabilities, powered by AI, predictability and simulation, are instruments that build that vibrancy. They allow for co-creating ideas and experiences with citizens and stakeholders, continually enhancing these destinations. 

Vibrancy matters. Attraction to cities comes in waves. On upward trajectories, yesterday’s problematic and rough neighborhoods have historically revealed patterns evolving into cultural hotspots, rising as magnetic attractions to entrepreneurial talent, commerce and family centers.  

In downward spirals, people leave, changing the needs and purposes of real estate. These downtimes demand strategies to remain desirable, establish a competitive advantage and adapt to unique factors that speak directly to social, multicultural and unexpected human needs.  

Sustainability helps places maintain vibrancy. Today’s master planners’ deep commitment to sustainability and the environment is often hard for outsiders to fathom, computing climate factors decades in the distance. Every decision balances questions about energy, water and waste. Walkability, mass transit, green spaces and solar panels are as essential as shops and schools.  

But it’s vital to translate this complexity to benefit every citizen. In our technological age, connectivity is considered as essential as water and electricity for people of all ages, abilities and incomes.  

Technology should help deliver on the promise of every place initiative: Driving positive outcomes by placing people and the planet at its core.  

FINAL THOUGHTS

With an integrated approach to placemaking, the intersection of brand and experience can bring the project’s DNA to life, making sure these new places make life better for people and the planet. 

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3 Ways to Transform Customer Engagement for the Future of Medtech  

Customer engagement models are essential to maintain a thriving business, learn how Medtech firms can get theirs fit for purpose.

For a long time, the customer relationship between MedTech companies and healthcare professionals (HCPs), as well as healthcare providers (HPs), has been changing. The Medtech industry, like many others in the past couple of years, has been faced with an acceleration of nascent changes such as digital transformation and an increase in customer expectations – causing trends to solidify and become the new normal. Now, with basic assumptions around interactions and relationship building fundamentally altered, traditional customer engagement models can no longer deliver against their ambition for the future. We have witnessed different approaches by Medtech companies, some learning from inside and others from outside the healthcare space, to rethink their approach to customer engagement and how to make it more future fit.  

Based on our experience, we have identified three crucial ways to transform customer engagement strategies so businesses can succeed in this new world of Medtech. 

Hybrid Engagement with a Purpose 

COVID-19 has permanently changed how the healthcare system works, forcing Medtech to quickly shift to remote engagements and digitize offline processes. Now, that the pandemic is more under control, it is apparent that there is no way back. Today’s customer engagement preferences have changed.  

So, what does this mean for Medtech moving forward?  

Medtech needs to engage with customers in a blended way – balancing the online and offline worlds – making permanent use of remote channels while at the same time recognizing the points at which a more human interaction makes a difference. In-person interactions remain a valid and irreplaceable tool at various points in the customer journey, but Medtech companies need to be targeted and purposeful in which types of interactions they favor for this and leveraging virtual interactions and multi-channel where relevant and feasible. 

How to achieve a more hybrid engagement model? 

  • Shift your mindset from sales to customer: One crucial element in our work in this space is about the organizational mindset shift – from a sales funnel mindset that focuses on closing the “deal”, to more of a customer journey mindset, where building longer-term relationships is of higher priority. The closing of a sale no longer marks the end of the journey, it is only one additional step in the MedTech-HCP/HP relationship.
  • Adapt engagement approach to customer type and journey stage: Different customer groups have different needs and preferences at different stages of the customer journey – understanding the journey both from a funnel perspective (awareness to conversion to loyalty/recommendation), but also from a touch point perspective (I.e. which touchpoints does a customer use across their journey). For instance, a hospital’s procurement lead will have different engagement needs than a physician who owns a single practice. Vivantes, the biggest hospital system in Germany, has different needs than a rural doctor. Understanding these needs and preferences is key to identifying which type of interaction adds the most value at each point along the customer journey.  
  • Capture individual customer preferences: Medtech should focus on customer preferences and align with them where possible. Accurate tagging in CRM systems helps paint a stronger picture of customer understanding and personalization. It is important that this knowledge is shared within the Medtech organization so that all stakeholders act upon it accordingly (sales reps from different divisions, marketing, etc). 
  • Ensure engagement and experiences align seamlessly: Individual high-quality interactions are relevant but diminished if a customer feels that follow-on connections are disjointed. A set of well-orchestrated interactions across the journey can improve the overall customer experience. MedTech organizations should work towards ensuring sales and marketing have a holistic view of the customer and follow through on the captured learnings. 

Optimized Interactions in the Virtual Space 

The pandemic has forced many to embrace tools they weren’t previously comfortable with, and these changes are permanent. The use of online tools has grown – and HCPs are using online information sources more than ever. The key benefits of more digital interactions are around convenience – research shows aspects such as flexibility of timing, less travel, less impact on workload and a more extensive selection of webinars instead of conferences. But purely digital interactions also have their shortcomings: loss of personal relationships with the sales reps, inability to network and overall, less engagement between reps and their customers. The focus should be on optimizing virtual interactions and reducing these drawbacks.  

With so many competing demands on attention, nurturing and managing leads with targeted engagement is even more relevant in categories where the typical product lifespan is longer, given fewer windows of opportunity to sell the product. And digital channels allow for much more customized and recurrent interactions that permit Medtech to stay within the relevant consideration set. 

Excellence in virtual events is driven by recognizing where efforts should be refocused when designing the experience. The key is to ensure virtual interactions are optimized to take advantage of the technologies used to engage customers, rather than be seen as a lesser alternative to in-person interaction. How can that be done? 

  • Update and optimize content online: While online sessions are usually seen as more convenient, it is also harder to keep the participants engaged and focused. Digitizing content used in offline interactions was the first step many Medtechs took – and quickly found that this was not sufficient. The content needs to be fully adapted to fit different channels and delivery mechanisms, in terms of level of detail, structure etc. 
  • Use data and insights to underpin decisions: One benefit of digital is its measurability. Data and insights need to be used to ‘test and learn’ when selecting and enhancing channels, content and delivery methods. Establishing the right KPIs and monitoring them is key. Virtual interactions provide an excellent opportunity to collect further customer insights, which can help inform both future remote and in-person interactions.
  • Reimagine interactions to facilitate discussion: Oftentimes, virtual interactions don’t provide the same opportunities for participants to connect with peers and share experiences. Duplicating offline approaches into an online channel does not work, and MedTechs need to refocus their activities accordingly. Optimized virtual events prioritize connection and community elements while reducing the relevance of purely communicational elements.  

Content is King (even more than before) 

Customers are looking for convenient ways to educate themselves on specific topics. An individual Medtech’s authority in specific fields can make them a trusted source to provide education or even build connections in a non-commercial way. But they are not alone in this endeavor, and companies are feeling the pressure to deliver high-quality, relevant digital content like never before. While not all companies can keep up with the accelerated pace of content creation, Prophet’s Altimeter colleagues found that those that are successful in meeting this demand have implemented an “Agile Content System.” For many Medtechs in particular, and healthcare companies in general, internal compliance processes  are a key obstacle to timely content creation, but there are simple ways to improve this:  

  • Ensure technology and workflows are working to streamline approval processes: Approval and compliance processes need to be structured in a way that allows for speedy, efficient publishing. In healthcare specifically, reviews by multiple stakeholder groups such as the ethics boards, legal teams and subject matter experts can slow down the approval process significantly. A modular content creation approach can help, as well as clearer content ownership and roles. 
  • Restructure content teams for greater agility: A centralized content team does not necessarily work for all Medtech firms. Depending on the key objective and business need (i.e. brand awareness building vs demand/revenue generation), the ideal structure should be set up but it’s essential they work together on a shared agenda. Our research shows that the most effective organizations balance both brand and demand.
  • Set bolder, clearer goals that go beyond brand: Oftentimes, Medtech organizations are focused on content to drive brand awareness. With the changing preferences of their customers, there is a need to revise this approach. This shift in thought leadership (i.e. Siemens Healthineers Insights series or their Healthcare Challenges podcast), also requires a review of the KPIs to ensure the correct content metrics are being tracked and reported on. 

FINAL THOUGHTS

Customer engagement is a critical aspect of any business, and this is no exception in the Medtech industry. The complex ecosystem and the diversity of customers do not make this an easy task for Medtech organizations, but there are strategies that can help to transform and succeed in this new world of customer engagement, enabling Medtechs to become the customer’s first choice of engagement. 

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The Keys to Improving Patient Engagement in Pharma  

The notion of patient engagement has been taking shape for over 30 years. Here are 10 tips to accelerate and embed patient engagement systematically in your organization.

The notion of patient engagement has been taking shape for over 30 years. Going beyond patient advocacy, patient engagement is the active involvement of patients in processes and decision-making in their care experience, across the entirety of the development lifecycle and beyond.

Patient engagement works to address health disparities and inequity more systematically by including and elevating diverse patient voices across the key touchpoints of drug development, ultimately raising the standard of care all patients receive and the outcomes they experience. It’s about going beyond clinical outcomes and driving a more holistic understanding of patients and the treatment effect across their preferences, social phenotypes and circumstances – socioeconomic or otherwise. Ultimately, the goal is to create medicines, treatments and experiences with (not for) patients. 

And we’ve seen the business and clinical results at key points across the development cycle.  

So Why Haven’t Pharmaceutical Companies Cracked It? 

Pharma is the only industry that has not fully embraced the end user in its product development. The practice of understanding patients and applying that understanding systematically to treatment development is complex and difficult.  

There are several barriers to successfully engaging patients in pharma:

  • Historic Disregard of the Patient – The industry has historically been wired to disregard the perspectives and needs of patients outside of the clinical outcomes related to therapies of interest. Practitioners can often be resistant to centering on patients, with a typically paternalistic relationship with patients, coupled with a lack of time and capacity to actively involve patients in their care.
  • Regulations and Resources – The regulatory requirements, time and investment required to engage with patients mean it often doesn’t happen. Or at best, it happens sporadically.
  • Corporate Culture – Fragmented and siloed corporate structures and cultures result in ad hoc and unsustainable attempts at patient engagement. Not to mention, they are often not built into the drug development lifecycle.
  • Limited Pharma-Patient Interactions – Patients have limited capacity and agency to engage with pharma, leading to difficulties in diverse and representative patient groups.
  • Lack of Faith as a Strategic Priority – Due to the delayed ROI associated with patient engagement, pharma struggles with prioritizing patient engagement as a sustained and systematic business imperative.

The only way to initiate and scale patient engagement sustainably is to take a systematic approach across the entire organization and at key moments throughout the drug development lifecycle.   

External Pressures for Patient Engagement are Mounting 

All of that said, the lack of impetus is changing. Patient engagement is no longer a nice to have, with a range of forces driving an increased focus on patient engagement. Industry leader, Roche, is in the process of training 10,000+ employees in patient engagement. The most important medicines regulators in the world, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and EMA (European Medicines Agency) are strongly invested in expanding Patient-Focussed Drug Development (PFDD). In 2016, the FDA codified patient engagement as a key pillar of its mission, formally requiring records of Patient Perspectives in drug review under PDUFA VI. It will become increasingly difficult and slow to get new indications approved and paid for without showing patient engagement throughout the development process and treatment regime design. The global COVID-19 pandemic has also seen familiarity, scrutiny and pressure on pharma corporate brands as their reputations increased hugely, presenting a timely and important opportunity to build trust and understanding between pharma and patients.  

The Solution? Systematically Embed Patient Engagement into Your Culture and Operating Model 

Through the learnings shared by different businesses and patient engagement leaders, it has become evident that no existing business function can fully own patient engagement. An overarching function, or center of excellence, must focus on shifting mindsets of each therapeutic area and motivating change while permeating tools, training, new ways of working, processes and systems through all cross-functional aspects of the organization to deliver impact for patients and ensure patient engagement practices are adopted cohesively.  

Leaders must be bought into the need for patient engagement and must be willing to drive home the message within their teams and prioritize it as a focus across the organization. For a patient engagement function to be able to identify and navigate the appropriate channels within the organization, the correct process, governance and stakeholders must be in place. This requires organizational, operating model and cultural adaptations to bring an enterprise-wide and systematic approach to patient engagement. Getting it right brings not only better results but renewed purpose and inspiration to teams across the business. 

10 Tips to Embed Patient Engagement (PE) Systematically in Your Organization  

From our experience globally we have distilled the key areas of focus that will help you build and embed a systematic approach to Patient Engagement across your organization 

Set Up Strategically 

  1. Embed patient engagement holistically, X-FN and enterprise-wide approach
  2. Clearly articulate the value of patient engagement – and link it to the corporate and therapeutic strategies 
  3. Ensure the patient engagement function sits strategically in the organization and is clearly distinguishable from other patient-facing functions, acting as a key enabler for other functions 

Initiate Meaningful Work 

  1. Create a comprehensive patient experience blueprint that drives equitable access to care and an improved experience
  2. Start by piloting patient engagement initiatives and tactics in the “moments that matter” across the lifecycle 
  3. Develop a patient insights function to understand patient experiences and improve outcomes  

Disseminate and Scale Rapidly 

  1. Build patient engagement infrastructure quickly by codifying best practices into repeatable processes
  2. Fill gaps in understanding with bespoke learning and development programs 
  3. Maintain momentum by creating visible platforms to articulate the importance of patient engagement 
  4. Focus on the value of patient engagement to society – the “S” in ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance)   

Making Patient Engagement Happen

To become systematic in your organization, patient engagement needs to be driven by enterprise-wide momentum while being bolstered simultaneously with enterprise-wide infrastructure. Why? Proving the ROI of patient engagement is still challenging for most organizations. As a result, the patient engagement function needs to develop a strong and robust proof of concept across drug development and commercial processes. This means partnering and collaborating across the business to make sure everyone is clear on what ‘including the patient’ looks like in their role. This will reconnect employees with the organizational purpose, which in turn attracts top talent, galvanizing them to build enterprise momentum around the value of patient engagement.  

At the same time, for this to be sustainable, we need to ensure a systematic approach so pharma can realize the full ROI of patient engagement – building the right infrastructure to make this happen. You need momentum to be able to build the infrastructure. These two things can’t be done sequentially, they need to be done in tandem.  

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The good news is that it’s easy to get started. Patient engagement is inherently motivating to your people and every pharma organization has teams with an immediate need for support.   

To figure out how to accelerate the momentum of your patient engagement strategy and embed it across your organization, Prophet conducts a 2-hour workshop that helps clients define and articulate their challenges and where they need to focus efforts based on our top 10 insights outlined above. Get in touch with our Organization & Culture experts at Prophet to learn more.  

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Winning Web 3.0: Creating Immersive Metaverse Experiences

Understanding the web 3.0 metaverse and its key characteristics is essential to creating immersive and engaging metaverse experiences for your customers.

Rewind 10 years: Smartphones have already hit the market, but their potential is just beginning to be recognized. Now, whenever we need to purchase something on the go, run an errand at the bank, or share an update with our friends and family, we intuitively pick up our phone and complete the task in a matter of minutes or even seconds.  

In the same vein, we will see the Metaverse gradually blend into our lives, providing added convenience, multi-layered connectivity and unprecedented experiences in ways we have yet to discover. Brands need to pave the way for this future. In Web 2.0, brands serve as identities, externalizing purpose, values and personality, while engaging with customers and consumers. In Web 3.0, brands have evolved into entities. The Metaverse enables brands to come alive and interact with consumers in novel, innovative ways.  

To prepare for this uniquely immersive future, brands must start thinking of how to create unique experiences in the infancy of the Metaverse. What test and learn experiments can be launched in the near-term future? First, we must understand what differentiates the Web 3.0 Metaverse from the Web 2.0 we know. 

5 Characteristics of the Web 3.0-Enabled Metaverse

1. User-Owned  

Enabled by blockchain technology, the true Metaverse will be a decentralized platform, where users are given ownership over their data, assets and experiences. Unlike in Web 2.0, where consumer information is constantly being tracked, stored and sold, users will be able to decide how they want to collect and even monetize their own data in the Metaverse.  

In the Sandbox’s Metaverse, for example, players who hold SAND tokens make up the platform’s governance through a DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) where decisions are made by voting. 

2. Anonymous 

 The Metaverse allows users to have the freedom to shape their identities without being limited by their age, race, gender, appearance, citizenship and more – constraints that are unavoidable in the physical world. Instead, users rely on avatars – and can shape them to be any persona they want, choosing physical traits and a pseudonym they desire.  

3. Infinite 

 In the Metaverse, there can be an unlimited number of users as well as interoperable virtual worlds. And these users can move freely, unrestricted by constraints of the physical world such as distance, time and borders.  

For instance, rapper Travis Scott performed a larger-than-life concert in the video game Fortnite. The surreal spectacle was watched by over 12 million players, earning the artist $20 million according to reports. 

4. Boundlessly Immersive 

 With the continued advancement of 3D, VR and AR technologies, the Metaverse will continue to offer more interactivity and a more immersive digital presence for users. It will increasingly become a parallel reality of people’s everyday lives, with virtual and physical experiences reinforcing one another.  

Farzi Café, in India, has partnered with OneRare, a Metaverse built for the food and beverage industry. Users can play games at the Metaverse version of Farzi Café, minting tokens that can be exchanged for actual food items at the restaurant’s physical location. 

5. Persistent 

 The Metaverse is a permanent virtual space (which can be continuously built upon and is constantly evolving) that is independent of whether an individual user is online or offline. The persistence of the Metaverse allows users to share experiences synchronously or asynchronously. 

How Brands Are Building Metaverse Experiences Today and Tomorrow 

When foraying into the Metaverse, brands must take into account these characteristics that are unique to Web 3.0 and build accordingly. Brands that are pushing into the Metaverse understand that reimagining their brand experience and their business model will be key to finding early success. 

(Image source) 

The 2020 pandemic posed a major challenge for countries that rely heavily on tourism revenue. To create a virtual alternative, Singapore’s Sentosa Island partnered with Nintendo Switch’s popular game, Animal Crossing, to offer a unique experience – to explore the island of Sentosa in the Metaverse. Visitors from all parts of the world were also able to purchase unique merchandise and take part in social events and experiences, creating a new revenue source for the island in the absence of traditional tourism spend.  

(Image source) 

Fashion house Ralph Lauren announced that its Q3 2022 revenue increased by 27% to $1.8 billion as it tapped into an all-new market in the Metaverse and a new Gen Z customer base. The brand partnered with gaming platform Roblox to launch the Ralph Lauren Winter Escape experience, which includes winter-themed activities, a Ralph’s Coffee Truck and exclusive digital apparel. On South –Korea-based Zepeto, Ralph Lauren similarly offers clothing to users to dress their avatars, selling more than one hundred thousand units in the first few weeks post-launch. It’s become clear to Ralph Lauren that virtual product sales will grow to become a significant revenue stream for the brand. 

3 Considerations for Business Innovation in the Metaverse 

However, creating one-off brand campaigns on the Metaverse is not enough. Brands must think deeply about their customer journeys of the future. In our conversations with tech leaders and brand owners alike, this recognition is shared by many: “Consumer behavior and the battlefield of brand marketing have changed. Digital natives are the early adopters in the Metaverse. Brands must build their brand, create new experiences and reimagine their products in the virtual world,” said Grace Huang, head of B2B marketing at Yahoo Taiwan. 

In the Metaverse, users can explore virtual worlds that exist in parallel with their lives in the physical world. As technology advances, the lines between these worlds will become increasingly blurred and the transition between them nearly seamless. Brands must consider how the above characteristics will shape the future of brand experiences. We anticipate three major shifts: 

1. Persona 

 The current standards by which our social value system is defined may change. “Metazens” may have professions that don’t yet exist today, possess far more virtual assets than physical ones and restructure the entire social hierarchy. As a start, brands can rethink how they design their products. For instance, apparel in the Metaverse can span a much broader range of sizes, shapes, colors and designs than in the physical world, but items that can be recreated offline as well might have additional appeal.  

2: Behavior 

 A significant amount of time will be spent online, from work to hobbies and from shopping to personal banking. Most activities can and will be completed in the Metaverse in the not-so-faraway future. Brands can consider which interactions with their consumers can be replicated in the Metaverse. Which will disappear entirely? What will emerge that does not yet exist in the physical world? 

3. Business 

 Gaming and entertainment are the initial sectors to have entered the Metaverse, but eventually, every industry will be reimagined and reinvented. Similar to e-commerce’s evolution over the past few decades, the Metaverse has the potential to become a major contributor to the world’s economy. What are near-in and far-out revenue streams that brands may be able to create? 

With this future full of untapped opportunities, what can brands get started on today? 

  • Start to get immersed in the Metaverse, as a brand builder but also as a user. Designate Metaverse experts within your team and organization. 
  • Ideate on how your industry and intersecting industries will be reshaped by the Metaverse. Look to both in and out of category examples to find opportunities for innovation. 
  • Choose one or two ideas to build out, implement and test, leveraging an agile approach to gather immediate feedback from partners and customers. 

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Designing Metaverse experiences is the next frontier of creating relevant and engaging brand experiences for your customers. Companies across industries are testing out bold ways to launch into the Metaverse, through partnerships, business model innovation and test and learn approaches. 

Prophet has both the digital expertise and the experience innovation to be your partner in the Metaverse. Connect with us today to discuss a Metaverse experience strategy for your brand. 

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From URL to IRL: Four Pillars of Experiential Design for the Future of Offline Retail 

As consumers begin returning to in-person shopping, it’s time for retailers to revisit the role of physical retail stores.  

The last few years saw a boom in e-commerce, with innovations such as shoppable live streams, virtual try-ons and AI-powered recommendations enhancing the online retail experience. Today, as consumers re-enter physical stores, retailers can seize the opportunity to reimagine what in-person shopping looks like in the future of retail.  

Consumers’ shopping behaviors have changed. Physical stores are no longer simply places of transaction. Instead, they can serve as storytelling centers that bring brands to life. Offline retail can help customers learn about products, provide an experience value and create stronger relationships. Customers like to view stores as places to experience something unique, memorable and human. 

Also, brands must be clear on their story and audience when designing spaces and their content to create an in-store experience. Once the retail strategy is clear, it’s all about execution. To create a distinct offline experience, brands must think critically about what experiences are only possible in person and how technology can be leveraged to deliver them.  

Below are four areas for brands to consider when developing an experiential design for the future of offline retail: 

1. Beyond POS: Cultivating Community at the Storefront 

It’s time to think beyond transactions. Having a physical footprint in today’s world can be so much more for a brand than simply a point-of-sale. Stores can become multi-purpose spaces dedicated to activities and brand activations that create a sense of community. Customers can come to a store to discover and learn about a brand and touch and feel its products.  

(Image source) 

IKEA has long been known for its one-of-a-kind in-store experience, with its winding paths, tiny model homes and world-famous meatballs. Its new store in Vienna takes it one step further. Rather than the giant blue warehouse that customers are used to, this 7-story structure of stacked glass pods and covered in greenery was designed to resemble the brand’s minimalist shelving units. Inside, the building offers a public rooftop terrace in addition to a hostel and café. Shoppers can shop, scan and pay directly from the IKEA mobile app and have larger items delivered to their homes via emission-free electric vehicles. IKEA plans for this new store to be more than a shopping center; instead, it’s meant to serve as an urban hub for people to gather in the heart of the city center.  

2. In-Store Analytics: Connecting the Data Dots 

Retail stores are also untapped data mines for brands. By leveraging technology that can track customer behavior in stores, brands can improve the offline journey for their consumers and even create personalized shopping experiences. This behind-the-scenes investment can give brands valuable data about how their customers shop as well as help better predict future trends. 

(Image source) 

Emart, Korea’s largest retailer, partnered with Seoul Robotics to install patented sensor technology in one of its busiest hypermarkets in the country. In doing so, Emart is able to capture data on customers’ shopping behaviors, such as their typical path around the store and where they spend the most time. Seoul Robotics’ technology also addresses concerns around consumer privacy. By using sensor technology that anonymizes customers rather than cameras that collect their images, no biometric data or personally identifiable information is recorded. This anonymized data is still hugely useful to Emart, though. Through a comprehensive customer data strategy, the information can be used to better manage inventory and product assortment as well as offer customers a highly personalized shopping experience, such as specific coupons based on aisles browsed.   

3. Omnichannel 2.0: Bringing Seamlessness Offline 

The ubiquity of e-commerce has elevated customers’ all-around expectations of a brand. Consumers have the same demands for ease and convenience when shopping in-store as they do online. Brands should view brick-and-mortar stores as opportunities to weave in technology, create more seamless touchpoints between them and their consumers and offer a true omnichannel experience. 

(Image source) 

Amazon recently opened its first Amazon Style store, expanding on its offline retail presence portfolio. Amazon Style is the company’s latest foray into fashion and seeks to make in-store shopping as easy and seamless as the online experience. Customers can use the Amazon Shopping app to scan an item’s QR code in-store, which will show them product sizing, colors, ratings and deals. They can then choose to send the item to a fitting room and use touchscreens to request different sizes or colors while also browsing AI-powered recommendations for similar items. Checkout is also a breeze via Amazon One palm scanners: with a wave of the hand, shoppers can purchase their items and be on their way.  

But technology alone won’t be enough. Earlier this year, Amazon closed all its Amazon Books and Amazon 4-star retail locations. To fully convince shoppers, Amazon must find a way to create customer-centric experiences that combine the convenience and accessibility of online shopping with the in-store magic that only an IRL experience can deliver.  

4. Retail’s Ultimate Edge: Engaging All the Senses 

Ultimately, offline retail can win by creating experiences that are simply irreplicable online. Embracing stores as multi-sensorial touchpoints can allow brands to create innovative, memorable and highly engaging customer experiences. Brands that can do this successfully will have no trouble compelling shoppers to move off-screen and in-store. 

Scent, one of our strongest senses, has a direct linkage to the part of the brain that controls emotions and memories. When used strategically, scent technology can create a memorable and vivid in-store experience and create desired shopping behaviors. Bloomingdale’s, for example, uses different scents for different sections throughout the store, such as coconut in swimwear and baby powder in infant clothing. Kyobo Book Centre, Korea’s largest bookstore chain, uses a signature scent inspired by trees and wind, meant to relax customers while creating a unified experience across its stores. 

(Image source) 

Sound plays to another one of our senses and can have a surprising impact on customer behavior, such as increasing brand recall and dwell time by creating a purposeful auditory experience. Genesis, Hyundai’s luxury sub-brand, uses a unique audio identity throughout its entire brand experience, from inside its vehicles to within its showrooms. This auditory expression of its motto, “Quietly Iconic,” is gentle yet distinct, a reflection of the brand’s positioning of modern luxury. 

(Image source) 

Hyundai recently opened Genesis House in New York, which serves as a brand experience center rather than a traditional showroom, incorporating this meticulously designed sound experience throughout its restaurant, library and event spaces. 

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While the pandemic posed its fair share of challenges to retailers everywhere, those that have powered through have the opportunity to rethink and redefine their retail experience strategy. Customers are hungry for in-person interactions, and memorable, seamless, multi-sensorial experiences that connect them to the brand – and each other.  

Connect with Prophet today to see how we can help reimagine the future of retail for your brand. 

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Transform Your Financial Services Retail Experiences with These 9 Levers

9 key levers across 3 development stages, each enabling financial institutions to transform their retail experience towards the future.

In many Asian markets, financial services companies used to grow alongside the macro economy and compete heavily on products. But things are changing. Product innovation within established incumbents is becoming more difficult under a slowing economy and tighter regulations. Fintech companies are disrupting legacy brands – with offers across saving, credit, insurance and more. The new generation of consumers is increasingly looking for more than short-term returns. These macro shifts indicate that in the future of financial services, reimagining the customer experience and offering benefits beyond transactions will be critical in driving sustainable, ownable growth.  

Study1 shows that nearly 70% of Asian financial services companies understand the importance of “customer-centricity,” and are investing heavily to improve digitally enabled customer experiences (CX). Yet surprisingly, only 20% of customers consider FS companies providers of truly “customer-centric” experiences2. This gap is not a favorable truth but indicates a great opportunity for a company to take action and lead the future. We have identified nine key levers across three development stages that will enable financial institutions to transform their retail experiences for the future.

Fix the Basics: Become a Financial Services Company that Meets Customer Needs 

1. From “Experience” to “Branded Experience” 

Speed and convenience have become critical for customers in the modern digital world. But focusing efforts solely on “ease” also tends to create very similar sets of experiences and/or functions. So how can a company cut through the clutter?   

The answer is simple: brand. A solid brand strategy clearly defines what promise a company makes to its customers and how it uniquely delivers on the promise. Next, this will be translated into a brand identity system that closely aligns with the strategy and guides the development of truly ownable experiences.  

For many financial services companies, brand has not been considered and managed as a strategic asset. Therefore, before aspiring to create any signature experiences, companies need to build a solid foundation first by carefully looking into their brand strategy and identity to define their own experience principles. 

2. From “Product Distribution” to “Omni-Channel Experience” 

Internet companies and FinTech pioneers have disrupted and transformed the retail side of financial services (e.g. Ant Finance and Ascend Money). Many companies now rely heavily on these platforms to broaden their reach to retail customers. But platforms can be restricting, and the company could face constraints in building distinct experiences and owning customer relationships.  

As a solution, some leading companies have started to invest in their own digital ecosystem. For example, Fidelity created SmartRetire, a one-stop retirement solution platform. By building their own digital experience, companies can not only design and own the customer experience, but also collect data to enable targeted, more relevant engagements, that in turn can improve the customer journey in the long term.   

If creating owned ecosystem is not feasible in the short term, companies should at least build a holistic plan across touchpoints and identify opportunities to maximize owned experience and relationships. 

3. From “Experience as External Resources” to ‘Experience as Internal Center of Excellence” 

Many financial service providers leverage third-party vendors to deliver service and experience at lower costs. However, service quality could be at risk under this outsourcing model and differentiation could be harder to sustain if the vendor relationship is not exclusive.  

Companies should prioritize experiences that are most desirable to customers, viable to businesses and feasible to execute, building an internal “center” that breaks the silos, connect the dots and assures quality. A strong center of excellence enables great experience from within, bringing higher efficiency and sustainable competitive advantage in the long term.  

Excite with Experiences: Become a Financial Services Company that is Loved by Customers 

4. From ”Fill the Pits” to ”Elevate the Peaks” 

There could be a huge perception gap on “excellent customer experience.” Research3 shows that 80% of financial services companies believe they deliver excellent customer experiences, while only 8% of customers agree. One of the reasons behind this is that most companies focus only on fixing the pits upon functional pain points, but not on creating any peaks that delight and excite customers in memorable moments. 

Customer lifetime could be quite long in financial services. To become a company that customers choose, trust and love, companies must build a holistic view of the customer lifetime journey, by identifying and prioritizing moments that matter and creating signature experiences that customers truly desire.  

5. From ”Transactional Moment” to “Real Life Relationship”  

Many financial services companies are facing infrequent interactions and transactional relationships with customers. Research4 shows that 60% of Asian customers have had zero engagement with their financial service provider in the past 18 months.  

To go beyond the transactional moments, companies should look to expand their role and presence in other areas of customers’ everyday lives through partnerships and co-branded experiences. For example, Neo Bank MOX in Hong Kong partners with merchants favored by its customers and provides exclusive cash back. Another example is insurance company Beam, which partnered with a smart toothbrush brand and launched an oral health solution, offering premium incentives based on customers’ usage and behavioral data. 

Companies should take a broader view of the customer journey, identify opportunities to meet people where they are in life and enable their lifestyle beyond financial needs. With expanded partnership and engagement, companies could also build an enriched understanding of customers on top of transactional data and enable future products and service innovations. 

6. From “Data Enabled Personalization” to “Human Enabled Personalization” 

Research5 shows that 80% of financial service customers desire more personalized experiences. In Asia, customers are 1.5 times more willing than customers in Europe to share personal data in exchange for personalized experiences. Yet it takes time to build data and analytics capabilities that enable meaningful personalization at digital touchpoints. Customers in Asia also still desire a certain level of in-person engagement – even in younger customers, research6 shows more than half believe financial services are not human enough.  

So, while building data capabilities, companies should invest in empowering their front employees (e.g. RMs, agents) to deliver better, more relevant experiences with smarter tools and insights (e.g., need analysis, claim tracking). These tools should be designed not only to enable higher quality engagement but also to capture customer insights/data into the centralized database – to maintain customer understanding and relationships at risk of potential people turnover.  

Lead the Future: Go Beyond the Frame of Reference as a Traditional Player 

7. From “Proactiveness” to “Intelligence”  

Customers are increasingly sophisticated and their expectations will rapidly evolve. Being “proactive” will become a table-stake part of the experience and companies could aim to lead by creating “intelligent” experiences that are three steps ahead with AI technology. In 2021, HSBC HK saw 10 times higher engagement between relationship managers and customers when it leveraged AI to offer 22 thousand different sets of wealth management solution advice to individual retail customers7. 

Deep learning and hyper-personalization are among the top strategic priorities for CX leaders in 20228. Leading financial service companies should not only identify close-in use cases, such as product innovations or credit risk assessment but also stretch-out use cases that help the company go further into customers’ lives. 

8. From ”Valued Customers” to “Empowered Customers” 

Being “customer-centric” has been the center of gravity when creating experiences, but it still treats customers as “buyers,” in the position of receiving. As we move into the future, this relationship will be disrupted, and we will see customers as active stakeholders in deciding what type of experiences are created for them.  

Creating better experiences requires data, but customers are increasingly conscious of their privacy and the power of data ownership. Research9 shows that although Asian customers are more willing to share data in exchange for better service, 90% of them are concerned about data privacy and 84% of them desire more control over how their information is used.  

Leading companies should see this more as an opportunity than a challenge. Financial service brands should look at customers as empowered individuals, transform data collection into a “value exchange”, enhance data transparency with a sense of “co-ownership” and develop solutions and experiences through customer “co-creation.” 

9. From ”Boundaries” to ”Boundless” 

In the future world of Web 3.0, traditional boundaries will be blurred – online versus offline, virtual versus physical, consumers versus owners, etc. This boundless space will change how financial service companies organize and deliver value to customers throughout the lifecycle.  

The entire model of “financial services” might change in the context of this – the role of a company could transform from a “service provider” or a “transaction middleman”, to an ecosystem or a community that enables peer-to-peer connections and better decisions among employees, partners, and customers.   

The fast disruptions of fintech will never stop. Financial service companies should be open and embrace the changes to experiment with new ways of delivering value in the future, starting from small use cases.  

Data source:  

  1. Harvard business review, Taking the Financial Services Customer Experience to the Next Level
  2. Salesforce, Trends in the financial service industry
  3. Bain, How to achieve true customer-led growth and close the delivery gap
  4. Genesys, The era of 4.0 experience in Asia financial service industry
  5. Mckinsey, Future of Asia financial services
  6. Capgemini, The customer engagement imperative for financial services
  7. South China news portal, HSBC leverages smart analytics to develop new tools that enhance the personalized customer experience
  8. Genesys, the state of customer experience in financial services
  9. Warc, APAC consumers increasingly concerned about data privacy

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With advancement in customers, technology and society, experience will become a critical driver of sustainable and transformational growth in the future. Financial services companies should take actions early and carefully assess which stage they are currently at, what levers they could invest in building towards the next stage and start with smaller test and learn today to lead the future.  

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Teladoc Health: Building Purpose-Led Consumer and Employee Experiences

Every year, Prophet surveys thousands of consumers and asks, “Which brands play an important role in your life at why?” And every year we crunch the numbers, synthesize their feedback and produce a ranking and insight-rich report for business leaders to leverage as they transform and grow their businesses through innovative customer and employee experiences.

This year’s survey focused on questions about the “head” and “heart” of consumers. While companies that won over the “heads” of consumers brought pragmatism and convenience, “heart” winners found ways to connect with them on an emotional level. The top brands – aka relentlessly relevant all-stars – did both.

In the 2022 Prophet Brand Relevance Index® (BRI) leading healthcare entities—pharma, providers, suppliers—gained traction and awareness for bringing innovative solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pharma giants like Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson grew in name recognition and brand value as they stepped up to the world stage with life-saving vaccines. Non-traditional care platforms also gained traction as consumers opted for telemedicine experiences.

But which healthcare organization was the most relevant to the lives of 13,500 U.S. consumers? Teladoc Health, the multinational telemedicine and virtual care healthcare company, ranked as the #1 healthcare organization and #21 overall.

The pandemic forced the adoption of virtual care and Teladoc Health’s newly transformed experience was there to meet the moment – providing whole-person digital-first solutions to patients. And with gaining momentum, more and more consumers have begun to embrace digital native health platforms. These platforms are rapidly scaling to become not only the digital care continuum for patients but the care continuum. Traditional sectors of healthcare are drawing inspiration from modern digital healthcare players like Teladoc Health who are taking center stage (and top spots in rankings).

Stephany Verstraete, chief marketing and engagement officer at Teladoc Health, joined Prophet’s brand leadership team in the Prophet BRI webinar to share her take on the organization’s rise in consumer relevancy.

What was the focus of Teladoc Health’s brand in 2021 and is that changing as we step further into 2022?

The pandemic created this unique moment where Teladoc became relentlessly relevant – hitting both on the needs of the ‘head’ and the ‘heart.’

We’ve reached an inflection in the adoption curve of virtual care. Which is something that is pretty rare in the world of healthcare. And I think that really stemmed from being there in the moment of people’s needs. In 2020, suddenly something they had taken for granted – access to a doctor – was compromised. And fundamentally, it transformed the relationship they had with our brand, from being largely “head” dominated, focused on convenience and value, to increasingly meeting those needs of the “heart” side as we became a place that they could safely turn to, speak to, without leaving their home.

How do you ensure brand relevance is at the core of building the brand and customer experiences?

We have been digesting our recognition on the list for the first time and are using the brand relevance construct to put a framework around what we are focused on this year.

People naturally gravitate to Teladoc for the “head” needs – like simplification and transparency – and how it can provide individuals in system-centric environments with experiences that are more “person-centric.” As we think about moving forward, we want to focus on how to make those deeper focuses on the “heart” as we deliver innovative experiences. We want to change the way people think about the Teladoc Health experience – from just sick care to healthcare. This brand thinking is transformative for how we go to market, from a marketing perspective, all the way through how we infuse it in our experiences.

Outside of marketing, what do you do to drive relevance in other aspects of the business? How do you inspire the rest of your organization around a brand?

Getting your employees to be power users makes them your greatest brand evangelists. They are the first line of feedback that we incorporate into our experience.

Fundamentally, the Teladoc Health team is inspired by our mission of enabling all people everywhere to live their healthiest lives. Our 5,000 global employees are really the power users of our services. And I would tell you, as a marketer, who has not spent a career in healthcare, this is unique.

We are very intentional about keeping consumers front and center in all of our strategic conversations. For a lot of our DTC marketers, this would seem like an obvious statement but as you get into a healthcare context, it’s really important. For example, we start every strategic meeting with a story from one of our members. It really has a powerful impact on how to keep us grounded in our company’s true north. That is the experience we are delivering and the people we are helping. We are defining a category and something for consumers that is new. When I talk about the brand, it is critical because our brand relevance is still being formed for a lot of consumers.

It is rare to see a study of this kind that can parse out innovative and traditional brands in a way that is relevant and meaningful for all of them. That’s something that we’ve really appreciated.

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The Prophet BRI serves as a roadmap for building relevance with consumers, the type of relevance that leads to business growth. Contact our team to learn how to apply the insights from the 2022 Index to your organization.

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Brand Equity – Brand Value_1_A

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