CASE ANALYSISGREY WORLDWIDE: STRATEGIC REPOSITIONING THROUGH CRM

-KARTIK BHARGAVA

BACKGROUND

Grey Global Group is a full communications enterprise with 16 global partner companies

•Focuses on distinct communications disciplines

• engages in a wide range of marketing and communications activities

Grey Worldwide Hong Kong and China was established in 1978 focusing on

“communications” as its core business

Grey Worldwide’s Asia strategy focused on building partnerships with local agencies and developing local management talent to allow quick recognition of indigenous opportunities.

GREY WW-HK/CHINA’S BILLINGS GROWTH

•Viveca Chan – Grey Hong Kong and China, CEO

•Theresa Franklin – Grey Hong Kong and China, CRM Director

KEY PLAYERS

SITUATION

Grey WW-HK/China conceiving a CRM philosophy called Grey Relationship

Management (GRM) in 2001, to reposition itself through defined e-marketing and CRM strategies

for the Asian market, particularly China

FACTORSTHAT LED TO THE SITUATION

Increased competition

clear demarcations between core communications agencies, traditional consulting

firms, pure on-line media firms and on-line design outfits were becoming blurred.

pure on-line firms had a low cost base and began producing competitive high quality

products.

new technology

Internet-centric technologies that integrated with existing business infrastructures

Enhanced Internet telephony and e-marketing communications that leveraged new media technologies, including IP telephony, visual

communications, Internet kiosks, interactive responses and messaging portals

Rising Customer Expectations

previously ad hoc and fragmented techniques for dealing effectively with customers were dying out and a new methodological approach was

needed

WHAT THEY DECIDED TO DO

Grey WW-HK/China decided not to compete on cost

They decided to merge technology with traditional marketing philosophy and develop a better, efficient and cost effective Asia-specific

CRM process

Use CRM tools to reposition the Company’s brand and build customer loyalty.

Reposition them self with defined e-marketing

WHY CRM WAS NEEDED

“In an era in which the competition is one mouse click away, the need to solidify and deepen relationships with valuable customers has never been more important.”

- Mary Wardley, director of IDC’s CRM applications research

PROBLEMSWITH CRM

Difficult to determine or quantify a customer relationship management

capability’s financial impact

lack of accountability and measurement of effectiveness was difficult

PROBLEMS WITH ASIAN MARKET

Asia-Pacific’s technology adoption rate was slower

a large portion of capital investment in Asia was in information technology, but relatively little

investment was channelled to supporting technologies and enabling functions

the size of Asian markets were smaller, and CRM needs were fragmented

PROBLEMS WHILEDEVELOPING THE STRATEGY

how to tackle a dramatically changing industry cost structure where there was downward

pressure on profit margins

to understand the specific market forces that were driving media and communications

changes, and to identify how Grey WW-HK/China could manage its business model

in the light of these changes

how to attract and retain high-calibre talent, since agencies were pressured to cut costs

SOLUTION

Grey WW-HK/China would differentiate and reposition itself through a CRM proposition – the

GRM concept and to do so it must manage knowledge and execute strategy through

managing technology.

GRM (GREY RESEARCH MANAGEMENT)

Integrated approach to create, identify, evaluate, capture and enhance

EXTERNAL CHANGE

Institutionalize key processes and strategies that are developed through customer interaction

INTERNAL CHANGE

Change management through making people part of building team for GRM philosophy rather than adapting to it Cross functional skill development for team GRM

The GRM concept was a four-principle philosophy developed with a specific customer management focus:

1. build brands

2. develop and manage customers

3. create a positive brand experience for clients

4. build brand through knowledge about the customer through constant dialogue

GRM FRAMEWORK

Brand Futures+

targeted companies that had traditional marketing needs: defining and building

brands.

GRM Charter

catered to the needs of companies who had strong marketing and brand strategies in place and wanted to develop a customer relationship

vision and plan.

eight key characteristics of a successful CRM strategy that could be used to identify the critical

success factors important to GRM

1. CRM Vision Leadership, Market Position, Value Proposition 2. CRM Strategies Objectives, Segments, Effective Interaction 3. Valued-Customer

Experience Understand Requirements Act on Feedback Monitor Expectations Customer Satisfaction vs. Competition Communications

4. Organisational Collaboration

Culture and Structure Incentives/Compen- Customer Understanding sation People: Skills/Competencies Partners and Suppliers

5. CRM Processes Customer Life Cycle, Knowledge Management 6. CRM Information Data, Analysis, Market Research 7. CRM Technology Applications, IT Architecture 8. CRM Metrics Value, Retention, Satisfaction, Loyalty, Cost to Serve

CHALLENGES

Grey WW-HK/China would need to operationalize adopted CRM processes for all

employees at all levels of the organisation

management knew Grey had strong brand equity, but it needed a renewed marketing focus

to sustain competitive advantage

brand equity alone was losing its magic as a value to customers; Grey WW-HK/China needed

to reinforce customer value through GRM

Grey WW-HK/China faced price pressures and was losing high-calibre people to clients

company-wide transformations were required in order to implement the GRM philosophy and

culture and a willingness to implement CRM platforms across the organisation and develop

skills for setting realistic, measurable ROI goals.

DISCLAIMER

"These slides were created by Kartik Bhargava, as part of an internship done under the guidance

of Prof. Sameer Mathur (www.IIMInternship.com)"