The Market Metrics: Making the changing future of business our business

Marketing Futures is an initiative of Ideamax Creatives limited. It is a platform which is all about shaping marketing success for Bangladesh businesses by bringing the global best practice to the market through workshops and seminars that provide real experiences, real exercises, real advice from globally experienced practitioners.

Not just speeches … real interaction, real participation, real learning!

Marketing Futures is an initiative to shape marketers for tomorrow to face the challenges that we cannot comprehend today. This will be done by bringing in international expertise, experience, and examples of today and tomorrows marketing communications to smart marketers in Bangladesh. Focused on marketing communication and it’s adoption of technologies, digital tools, integrated planning, and storytelling, Marketing Futures is the platform providing leading-edge training programs, workshops, seminars, brand consultancy and social learning. Recently, it organized Research Futures, a workshop event for marketers. ICE Business Times was a partner. 

THE ALLEGORY OF MAKING COMMERCE MAGIC

Could you detail the emergence of storytelling and the connections it makes?
Well, storytelling is nothing new of course. It is literally as old as recorded history and way beyond that. Storytelling in business has been used in all civilizations. Of course, as with most modern marketing techniques, the versions of storytelling we use in marketing really took off in the European Renaissance. That is when we saw the massive use of the times best storytellers commercially hired to tell stories on behalf of businessmen and political leaders. Most of the great artists of the time were hired to create stories that influenced audiences about the power, influence, strength of those sponsors.

By the time of the arrival of the modern age of advertising and marketing in the 19th century, the power of storytelling was well recognized. Think about the founders of say Coca-Cola, Dove, Ford. They all used storytelling to create their new products and brand as it developed.

The secret being the use of stories to find an easy way through the overwhelming amount of information we all face each day to tap emotions. Because emotion drives interest, sympathy, and action. Give people a list of facts and they will try and pretend they can analyze them and make a “rational” decision. But really successful brands are not about facts. BMW is not a list of superior engineering specifics which 99% of people have no hope of understanding, it is a story that taps a narrative about a popular belief of German superior workmanship and the desire for some people to have a superior driving experience. MasterCard does not focus on the intricacies of justifying it’s interest rate strategies, or even it’s distribution. Instead, it focuses on a story that appeals to near everyone, that in a world so fixated on price, cost, investment return that what really matters are those things “that are worth more emotionally than what you pay for them”.

How will AI and technology advance content marketing and what can developing nations do to keep up?
Of course, maybe the best case in the last few decades continues to be APPLE. Are its products better, superior technology? Or have they tapped a story built around a simple insight that some, many people like to think they are different? A hint of superiority, with the right tools you can reach your real potential, that only those of real capability will recognize that their products are superior. Great storytelling.

At Marketing Futures we are sharing workshops, seminars and advise all based on the need for marketers to understand the elements of storytelling to be successful. From good market research to uncover the right narrative and storytelling elements that will matter to how to develop the brand tools to bring your story alive.

The single biggest challenge with content and it’s used as a marketing tactic has not changed since we saw the rise of mass media like newspapers and magazines in the 19th century…. How to get enough content on a constant basis that is interesting enough to get people to return and at the same time will connect the reader, watcher, listener, player to connect with any respective sponsor. Think about “soap operas” in the early decades of radio and then television. They were literally content produced by soap companies such as perhaps most famously P&G brands in the USA. Not just paying for content but integrating the content of interest to the potential brand use, in this case, housewives, with messaging making sure the audience connected the content theme with the brands.

In recent years the misnamed idea of “content marketing” or rather the use of using content as a marketing tactic has attracted a lot more interest as a means to gain credibility, or interest or stickiness for brands by using all sorts of mediums on and offline. But the problem remains threefold :
– Getting enough content of real relevance to the strategy
– Ensuring that the content is being delivered in the right mediums at the right times
– Ensuring that research is done to not only track who and when content is used but what messages the desired audience is understanding from it.

All of which is now increasingly being done automatically. The increasing use of programmatic systems for media selection and automatic buying is becoming increasingly normal in developed countries and costs are coming down fast and that means more access in countries like Bangladesh. Technologies to track what content is being watched listened to, and read are common for both digital and offline media. Most of it only provides basic, and usually meaningless numbers as to how many likes, views etc. Nevertheless, there are also new technologies that are increasingly using automated systems to understand how messages will be interpreted.

Marketing Futures is now partnering with another company I am involved with called Significance Systems that is an artificial intelligence based platform that analyses all the content on the internet to understand what content most effectively frames and drives the narratives around brands, categories etc. It also uses various linguistic analysis software to understand what emotions are generated by content. So we can now use these tools to understand for example that the content around a certain brand is making people happy, sad, joyful or full of expectation.

Automation is allowing us to plan where your content will appear, what emotions it is generating. That same technology is also helping provide a stream of content. For example, the Significance Systems platform can give you a daily feed of the most powerful content appearing across the internet around the narrative you have chosen for your brand that you can select from, comment on and deliver to your own social and media outlets.

These are not tools limited to “the West”. We are seeing the application in markets such as Thailand, India, and Indonesia right now that are faster, and more accurate at constantly gathering information and analysis. Sure we still need human oversight, the experience of the marketer to integrate these systems with their other research practices and learning. However, there is no reason why smart Bangladeshi marketers should not be using them now.

In the age of information, why is data and market research integral to a company’s growth?
We live in a world of too much information and too much misinformation. It is often that companies are swayed by misleading “trendy” and maybe easy to understand information such as :
– the numbers of Facebook followers or likes which on their own only measure a brand’s popularity among FB fans willing to or accidentally to hit a keypad. They don’t really tell us much about why people like a brand, the intention of the population as a whole
– poor quality, informal research like asking your friends, family (my column in this publication a few months ago as to why you, as a marketer, business person, a reader of this magazine are not a “normal person”, your judgement and that of your colleagues is biased and too close to the brand to really understand what matters to the people you want to buy your brand)
– looking only at what happens and not what are the reasons behind actions or non-actions
So this is a great question. We recently held a three day Market Research Futures workshop in Dhaka just to answer this need to make sure companies are getting better at making decisions based on better use of research. We talked about the proven fact that good market research achieves a higher ROI for a brand than any other action. And that is because good research lets you find out what really matters to the people you are wanting to buy your brand, product, service.
There is so much data today available to any business. Usually too much. And yet too many business people struggle to answer the key question of what really matters to their audience and why. Answer that and you will be better marketers. Good market research is just as much about having a disciplined process of continuous learning not just one-off pieces of research when a crisis hits. That discipline is what makes a difference in term of longer success. Growth comes from adjusting to changing circumstances, understanding how shifts in broader culture affect your targeted potential consumer, analyzing what are the direct and indirect alternatives to your offering, and most importantly understanding what matters to those people not just about your brand but their media choices, daily life, hopes, fears, and desires.
A continuous plan of doing good research needs to include building better company memory (remembering what your company has learnt in the past .. so hire and use a librarian), analyzing good case studies from your own category and similar categories in Bangladesh and from other markets, continuous learning programs (qualitative and quantitative in tandem) and processes of assessment.

You emphasize the aging population as Asia’s biggest growth area, how do companies implement strategies to win with that target market?
The world is indeed getting old. The fact that regions like Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan have some of the world’s oldest populations with up to 40% of their people over 60 years of age. But in fact, all Asian countries are aging. Take India for instance, the overall population is young but like most nations, the fastest growing demographic is those over 60 years of age; that is already 9% of the population or over 100 million people.

The current matter in dealing with this change to what can be termed as mass aging and we must consider that especially in developing countries those over 60 invariably come from the wealthier end of society. Quite simply because in most cases mass aging only comes when populations have access to better food and health services, medicine etc. As any country sees a growth in the over 60s so it seems that population control a disproportionate amount of the wealth. And in study after study, we note that anything approaching luxury items is disproportionately purchased by the older population such as cars, cosmetics, whiskey, and vacation. These New Life Builders buy more than other generations.

Why do I say New Life Builders? Because having studied the aging populations across Asia and their lifestyles for near three decades, I have reached a conclusion with great consistency is that reaching your fifties or sixties is no longer the beginning of the end, but rather the beginning of a new, active life stage for many. Reach 55 and depending on the country you have between twenty and forty years to live, with many years of activity and either trying new things like hobbies. And while money is always a concern we also see studies show people do not stop buying as is often thought, they just change priorities.

Your children are grown up, you have more time, you are wondering what to do with the next 20 to 30 years of your life. Of course, you might have to be careful financially. But we constantly witness across many countries that the new generations of older people will spend on categories like those that provide entertainment, expanding education, and retrying life.

We find categories like travel growing, to visit family, to go to that “one place I always wanted to visit”, to experience something different, to have “ that one more trip”. We also observe education growing as older people try new hobbies, having the time to learn something new, investing in books, courses, spending time at lectures, schools to both fill in time and also the desire to prove they can stay active. And despite myths, to the contrary people in their 50s and 60s are adept to technology. They take up the use of phones, computers, screens of all kinds to “stay in touch”. Facebook tells us their fastest growing participants everywhere are people in their 50, the 60s wanting to stay in touch with family and reconnecting with friends.

Rather than thinking of older people as a problem or not a viable target market research and experience in all kinds of Asian countries from Japan to the Philippines to India it is clear they do spend money, they are looking forward, they are more likely to want premium, better quality experiences. Of course in Bangladesh, they are a niche market, but one we will continue to investigate and help marketers understand as an aging population is literally the future.

What are the considerations a brand should take when choosing the narrative that best fits their marketing?
First understand that marketing is all about having, knowing and fitting your products into a narrative. You get to a narrative by looking at what really matters to the people you want to consume your offering and understanding why that matters. Your narrative will be framed by that knowledge. Part of the reason we founded Marketing Futures has been to help educate marketers as to how to understand what matters (our Market Research Futures seminars etc) and how to apply the learning to the different brand elements to bring your narrative alive.

What matters about a narrative? Ongoing relevance, engagement, and information. Can you continually build the narrative by adding new angles, and illustrations to it through the provision of engagement, relevant information that suits the narrative? Tonality will be essential as is always the case in storytelling. An important part of that tonality is imagery. Of course, your designs, packaging, the look of your advertising but also your selection of personalities, influencers, partners, retailers and all the other elements you are using to follow and build your narrative must also be considered.

The key though goes back to that key question that all marketing is based around – “what matters to the people we want to consume our brand”. What matters in their lives, what matters in broader and popular culture, what matters about your category, what matters in their decision process?

A successful narrative is one that takes those questions on board and helps answer them via the brands offering. The rise of UBER and other share riding brands is a narrative that understands people just don’t want to have to bother with traffic and crowded cities – “don’t worry anymore about your car, timing, parking … you don’t need it anymore … and you can feel good about how you are helping crowd the city at the same time”. The narrative around Close-Up toothpaste understands that oral hygiene only pays off for some when it means the promise of social acceptance and in particular getting closer to someone special.

It is not the use of a particular celebrity or influencer that makes a brand successful (they just play the role of getting attention) but how that person brings alive the narrative. It is not about using Facebook that matters but how a brand uses that medium in conjunction with its other media tools to tell stories that bring it’s narrative alive.
Again the important thing is making sure all your marketing activity is about delivering the narrative that answers what matters to your target with relevance and engagement.

THE BENGAL PERSPECTIVE, FROM BAY TO BEYOND

Could you share your thoughts on Six Sigma ways and why this tool is needed for sustaining business opportunities?
Today we are not that interested to know “How to succeed in business?” rather “How do we sustain and stay successful in the competitive world of business?” The business entrepreneurs are desperately keen to know about it from the market researchers and business leaders. Considering the global socio-economic scenario, perhaps all the business houses, including the big names in global businesses, are struggling to reach their revenue and operating income targets by implementing an improved strategy. The companies and organizations are continuously focusing on improving business processes and thereby looking for appropriate business process improvement by using tools like Six Sigma.

Sigma is a statistical and systematic philosophy of continuous improvement with a goal of near perfection, i.e. no defects and minimal variation. The concept represents the amount of variation present in a process relative to customer requirements or specifications i.e. reflect how well the processes meet customer requirements. The higher the sigma level (maximum 6), the better the process is performing relative to customer requirements. If we want to decrease the amount of variation from the target and reducing defects, we will have to increase sigma level. A higher sigma level reflects greater predictability in the process, reduces variation and defects, less waste and rework (which reduces the cost), results in better performance of products and services and ultimately ensures satisfied customers. When a process operates at a six-sigma level, the variation is so small that the resulting products and services are 99.9997% defect free i.e. no more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO).

In broad, the types of business success may be achieved by implementing Six Sigma include cost reduction, productivity improvement, market share-growth, customer retention, cycle-time reduction, defect reduction, culture change and development of products and services.

T herefore, it can be said, business process improvements through the power of Six Sigma methodology can transform any company into one of the most successful companies. The Six Sigma initiative can save billions of dollars due to rework and misuse of energies, ensure a dramatic increase in speed and quality and ultimately enhance strong customer relationships, and build strong brand image! Most importantly, it creates a happy and delighted customer, both internally and externally!

How do you believe that the diaspora route will support relations between Canada and Bangladesh?
Millions of Bangladeshis are now in different countries; known as NRBs (non-resident Bangladeshis), diasporas, immigrants or citizens. By now, there are 2nd or 3rd generations of diasporas living in different host countries including Canada. It is understood from different research and documents, Bangladeshis started to migrate to Canada from early 1960s. They came here to study in universities, mostly the teachers and students. They came to pursue higher studies – MS, Ph.D. and professional training. Later they decided to stay and settle in the country. However, the flow of migration started to grow during and immediately after the war of liberation in 1971. The migration increased over the later decades and reached its peak in the late 80s and mid-90s. Currently, around 150,000 Bangladeshi-origin people are living in Canada.

Diasporas’ Contribution in Canada: Certainly, Bangladesh-born Canadians (or first/second generation Canadians) can play a significant role in creating economic and business links between these two remarkable countries. In Canada, they are in business, education, skill development, real estate, health and community and many more. They are contributing by paying taxes. Moreover, these millions of Bangladeshis pumped in billions of dollars during and after immigration to Canada legally. The process is still going on and definitely helped Canada grow despite the global economic recession. On the other hand, they have the willingness to collaborate with their home country too. They have the emotional connections.
The diasporas in Canada are contributing to Canada’s economy as
– Investors – entrepreneurs, real estate, IT, grocers, service etc.
– Customers – consuming goods and services
– Suppliers – labor force, goods, and services
– Philanthropists – donation, senior citizen homes, orphans, churches, mosques etc.
– Ambassadors – representing Canada globally as a peace-loving business and educated community
– Civil society leaders and politics – actively involved in national, regional and local politics.

A majority of Bangladeshi diaspora are well educated and extremely qualified and skilled. In general, they are family-oriented, hardworking and cultural minded community. According to a recent research (Hasan 2013) “Almost 100% of the principal candidates who migrated are graduates and above. There are enormous PhDs, doctors, engineers, and agriculturists. Many of them are holding very high positions. They are not only educated and skilled but also pumping in money! The second generation Bangladeshis are also showing outstanding results and performances in Canada.” They have wealth of knowledge, resources, and expertise, which they are contributing toward shaping a stronger Canada than before. Bangladeshis, like other diaspora groups, are working together to brand Canada as a democratic, secular and multicultural country – a unique model globally.

The trade relation between Bangladesh and Canada is for more than four decades and it is growing manifolds in the recent decades. It is estimated that currently the two countries trade goods and services worth more than $2 billion and it is expected to reach by around $5 billion in next five years. Both the countries will be benefitted if proper strategic initiatives are undertaken and implemented.

According to Asia Perspectives (AP 2015), “Trade between Canada and Bangladesh has seen substantial growth in the last decade, with Bangladesh having a major trade surplus. Its exports to Canada, according to Statistics Canada, have grown by 37% in the last five years. In contrast, Canada’s export growth has remained somewhat flat during the same period. In recent years, the major items Bangladesh exports to Canada are ready-made garments and household linens (close to 90% of the export value). These exports are very much dependent upon a few Canadian retailers. According to Statistics Canada, the merchandise trade between Bangladesh and Canada in 2014 was $1.75 billion, with Bangladesh having a trade surplus of $468 million and exports to Canada of $1.1 billion. Bilateral trade has increased by 37% since 2010. In addition, Bangladesh is Canada’s second-largest trading partner in South Asia. Interestingly, while Canada’s trade relationship with the SAARC countries, on the whole, is dismal, its exports to Bangladesh have remained consistent and second only to India.”

Currently, the main Canadian imports from Bangladesh, according to Statistics Canada, include the following:
o Readymade garments
o Bed and kitchen linens
o Shrimps and frozen fish
o Footwear and headgear
o Umbrellas and other accessories
o Tableware and Kitchenware

And the Canadian exports to Bangladesh include:
o Wheat products
o Lentils and peas (or dal)
o Canola seeds
o Metal and alloy products
o Engineering products
o Aircrafts
o Lumber and wood pulp
o Automatic regulating or controlling instruments and apparatus

Potential sectors for Canadian investors from Bangladesh: The potential sectors for Canadian investors are readymade garment, software and IT, pharmaceuticals, plastic products, footwear/leather goods, ceramics, bicycles, and power, and infrastructure projects. Canada can also explore outsourcing cheap labor force or set call centers. Moreover, the Canadian investors can set up factories for cutting and polishing of diamond and gold in Bangladesh (since labor cost is reasonably cheap compared to any South Asian countries). Currently, Canada has to explore this service from India at a higher cost.

Potential sectors for Bangladeshi investors from Canada: Alberta has huge expertise in energy, oil and gas exploration. Since Bangladesh has a deficit in this sector, Canadian expertise and products and services can help improve our energy and power sector. Canada is rich in agricultural products (cereal, pulses, wheat, fruits, nuts etc.) which can be exported to Bangladesh. It can be mentioned here that currently, Bangladesh is the largest Canadian agri-commodity buyer in South Asia.

Diasporas’ Contributions for Bangladesh
This group can propel Canada’s financial prospect by:
– Remittances – diasporas and NRBs are one of the major sources of generating foreign currencies through sending remittances; they are contributing to alleviating poverty from Bangladesh.
– Intellectual resources – there are thousands of highly qualified resources with international standard academic qualifications, professional certifications, and skills. The diasporas in Canada are working in academic institutions, research agencies and different public and private organizations, such as Universities (Toronto, Guelph, McGill, McMaster, Alberta. etc.) colleges (Sheridan, Centennial, Seneca, Everest etc.) other business houses like Rogers, TD Bank, RBC, and government offices (Stat Canada, ministry of agriculture, health, hospitals/clinics, IT etc.). We can easily “retrieve” their knowledge and skills almost “free of cost”. They are willing to serve their motherland. Countries like India, China, the Philippines, Mexico, Sri Lanka etc. utilize their support in building nations.
– Business and entrepreneurs – these segments of resources are successfully competing and surviving in Canada and in other developed countries. They are using high-tech skills which can easily be shared and transferred to a developing country like Bangladesh and act like Business Consultants. Their business knowledge and skills can be transferred and help developing factories and industries and thereby generate revenue and create employment opportunities. Recently, for example, Alpha Solar Energy – one of the leading Canadian companies created by a Bangladeshi diaspora has taken initiative to set up a first green factory in Bangladesh, funded by Bangladesh Government. Similar entrepreneurs may come forward in building country’s economy.
– Human capital – undoubtedly, there are enormous talents among the diaspora community, not only the recent immigrants those received higher and advanced education from different universities but also acquired on-the-job training from their workplaces. There are also 1st and 2nd generation Bangladeshi-origin Canadians who are extremely talented and they are considered as world-class vibrant human capital. Initiatives should be taken to attract these human capitals from the diaspora community.

Your company’s philosophy entails “The Thought, The Goal, and The Reality”. As one of the aggressive research agencies, what is the mantra behind it?

ResInt in one word stands for “Discovering Reality”.

How can ResInt Canada contribute to research industry in Bangladesh?
Research is not just collecting data but the philosophy of understanding its importance. Presently in Bangladesh, the large-scale data collection and analysis are still using the traditional approaches. As we know, these processes through automation can get the unstructured data in a much more structured manner to get the right insights. Canada has already emerged as one of the leaders in Artificial Intelligence – a new invention which is now being applied in the field of research by different universities and research organizations in Canada. ResInt Canada is one of those emerging agencies committed to using technology based advance analysis. ResInt is determined and committed to transform the advance methodology along with technology in Bangladesh for the benefit of research industry and society.

INTUITION TO IS THE INSTRUMENT OF SUCCESS

Why are insights so important today?
Traditionally companies were successful by having either an excellent manufacturing capability or a superior distribution capability. However, today all manufacturers have these basic capabilities. The new source of competitive advantage will be consumer centricity. Consumer centricity is the ability for marketers to get closers to the consumer; generate insights and translate these insights into products and services that can drive revenue

What are the three most important insights learning’s of your career?
Technology is evolving, but fundamental consumer behavior has remained the same. Today, there are many more media vehicles available to the consumer (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, print, etc.) – but the underlying reason to use new media remains the same. Twenty years ago, we used word of mouth to share our successes, today we use Facebook. The underlying human behavior is the same – we all have the need to communicate our success to our friend and family and have evolved from word-of-mouth to new media. Therefore, as marketers, we need to understand fundamental human behavior and then use the power of media to amplify this behavior
We need to evolve our definition of brand loyalty. Traditionally, we looked as brand loyalty as a key measure of success and built all our campaigns to create loyal consumers. Today, as a community, we realize that consumer is only loyal to their needs and not to brands. Brands that deliver consumer’s needs best, will be successful. This might sound very obvious, but it has larger implications to how we measure our success
Insights can only be meaningful; if we can connect to the business. Therefore, it’s important that we generate insights that we can “bring to life” through innovative products and inspirational services that will “wow” consumers and generate revenue for the business

What advice would you give to young marketers starting out their career?
Today, marketers are busy managing the day to day business. This involves tasks such as creating reports for senior management, managing consumer promotions, leading the innovation process or working with the advertising agency to build the brand. All these tasks take up valuable time and often “distract” from anticipating the consumer’s ever-changing needs. My advice to all marketers – keep the consumer front and center to all decisions – else, you will lose sight of the consumer. I would recommend all marketers that they spend 1-2 hours a week spending with consumer and trade partners

How would you build insights capabilities in Bangladesh?
An event such as the Marketing Futures can serve as a catalyst to bring global talent to help the in-country marketers win the local fight. However, building this insights capability is not an easy task but, I am confident that with the right conditions, Bangladesh can catch up quickly with the developed markets.

Building insights capabilities is a three steps process. These are:
STEP 1: Creating the need for “insights” by linking insights to profitable growth. We need to demonstrate that insight can help companies build products and services consumers desire
STEP 2: Building “opportunities” to enable marketers to learn the art and science of insight generation. This can be done through universities and events hosted by the Marketing Futures that bring together leading
academicians and practitioners. This enables marketers to learn the theory of insights generation coupled with practical examples
STEP 3: Reinforcing insights through a “rewards program” that recognizes “winning” marketing programs built on excellent insights

*SOURCE:
01. AP 2015: Source: http://asiaperspectives.com/2015/11/05/bangladeshs-exports-to-canada/
02. Hasan 2013: Hasan, K. Qualitative research among Bangladeshi diaspora in Toronto, ResInt Canada 2013.