Unilever's marketing skills

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS DICTIONARY MARKETING APPENDIX (2 nd version) Issued: November 2000 Introduction This Appendix replaces the original Professional Skills Dictionary - Marketing Appendix issued by Unilever in 1996. A summary of the new Marketing Professional Skill Areas is provided on the following page, complete with definitions and a list of Skill Sub Areas. Subsequent pages of the Appendix provide more detail on each Skill Area. Each page is headed with the Skill Area and its definition. The Skill Sub Areas are then listed along with a more detailed breakdown of the activities involved in each case. Skill profiles for key marketing roles and a resources guide to help in skill development are also available in separate documents. For those heavily involved in consumer understanding/market research, there are further skill descriptions available in a separate Market Research Professional Skills Addendum. Marketing Professional Skills Areas Consumer Insight Using and interpreting consumer research to anticipate and define the motivating factors driving consumers’ brand choice and usage behaviour. Generating and applying consumer insight to drive competitive advantage and business growth. a) Building holistic understanding of consumers b) Planning market research c) Interpreting market research d) Synthesising and sharing consumer learning e) Generating inspiring consumer insights f) Anticipating current and future consumer opportunities Marketing Strategy Development Using consumer insight and competitor analysis to anticipate market growth opportunities and to determine the markets, channels and segments to operate in. Challenging the status quo with brand strategies that beat competitors and deliver outstanding levels of profitable growth. a) Analysing market trends and growth drivers b) Creating a vision of market and channel potential c) Anticipating competitor actions d) Constructing brand portfolio strategies e) Building required marketing capabilities f) Providing input into the business planning process Brand Equity Management Building a brand so it becomes and remains the preferred choice of consumers. Using the BrandKey to map current and future positioning objectives in a way that guides the brand’s mix development, increasing its consumer appeal, competitive distinctiveness and growth potential. Demonstrating passion for and commitment to the brand, both inside and outside the company. a) Defining the Key Positioning b) Developing the Key Vision c) Formulating Key Extensions d) Aligning brand business plans with the BrandKey e) Strengthening the brand mix f) Assessing brand health Communication Channel Management Planning and implementing an integrated programme of brand communication, which uses all available channels to communicate the brand’s messages to targeted consumers in the most cost effective way. a) Investigating communication channel opportunities b) Defining communication tasks, targets and budgets c) Developing creative Communication Plans d) Implementing integrated communication campaigns e) Evaluating campaign cost efficiency and effectiveness Brand Communication Developing creative brand communication campaigns that achieve outstanding levels of effectiveness, applying the principles and processes of ‘Advanced Brand Communication’. a) Developing inspiring briefs b) Building successful agency team relationships c) Judging creative proposals d) Developing outstanding communication campaigns e) Guiding outstanding brand packaging design f) Evaluating communication effectiveness Brand Innovation With consumer insight as the inspiration, working with other professional specialists to create or adopt consumer-relevant innovations that are rolled out fast, using the principles and practices of IPM. a) Creating a spirit of innovation b) Exploring consumer and technological opportunities c) Generating creative innovation ideas d) Designing winning innovation concepts e) Managing the innovation project portfolio f) Driving innovation projects through the funnel g) Launch planning, implementation and evaluation Brand Activation Bringing a brand to life in the local marketplace via creative implementation of its core mix. Delivering brand growth by using all channel opportunities to connect with consumers and deepen their experiences and relationships with the brand. a) Converting brand strategies into innovative activity plans b) Developing close marketplace connections with consumers c) Implementing consumer activation programmes d) Driving brand visibility and channel presence e) Managing prices, profit margins and budgets f) Monitoring market developments and brand performance Channel and Customer Marketing Development Collaborating with Customer Management to develop channel and customer specific marketing plans and activities. Ensuring that brand sales are maximised by addressing the current marketing needs and future opportunities of all trade business partners. a) Assessing channel and customer developments and opportunities b) Interpreting trade partner marketing needs c) Contributing to Category Management d) Developing channel and customer-specific marketing plans Active Marketing Learning Building marketing knowledge and best practice through external scanning, active experimentation and ongoing operational activities. Translating and applying this knowledge and best practice to drive brand development and growth. a) Seeking and applying marketing best practice b) Analysing and capturing learning c) Promoting and communicating learning d) Experimenting to create new knowledge Marketing Professional Skills Consumer Insight Using and interpreting consumer research to anticipate and define the motivating factors driving consumers’ brand choice and usage behaviour. Generating and applying consumer insight to drive competitive advantage and business growth. a) Building holistic understanding of consumers reviewing and absorbing existing consumer information; meeting and interacting with consumers face to face; entering the consumer’s world to appreciate their living conditions; understanding important social and cultural consumer drivers; seeing how the brand and product category fit consumers’ needs, experiences and expectations; observing and experiencing consumer product usage behaviour; appreciating the different need states of consumers across different locations, time and situations; understanding the consumer as a shopper; building relationships with consumers as individuals. b) Planning market research identifying knowledge gaps that can be addressed by market research; planning a portfolio of strategic and tactical market research projects; defining marketing problems and action standards as a basis for specific project briefing; writing market research briefs in partnership with other project team members; seeking innovative market research methodologies and analytical techniques; contributing towards design of market research studies ( e.g. methodology, sample); developing stimulus materials for market research activities; assessing agency market research proposals. c) Interpreting market research knowing how to get the most out of attending market research fieldwork; listening for unexpected findings in research debriefs; distilling market research findings into key learning points and actions; mining quantitative market research data for new insights; interpreting consumer mapping and segmentation studies; understanding the statistical significance of quantitative research results and how to get the most from the data; appreciating the role and limitations of market research techniques; using research findings to challenge management judgement. d) Synthesising and sharing consumer learning recording and cataloguing market research findings and insights; integrating findings from different studies to build a comprehensive overall picture; making consumer learning readily accessible; spreading and championing consumer learning throughout the business; arranging debrief sessions to capture insights following direct contact with consumers; applying lessons from past studies; ensuring brand activities remain true to their original consumer vision or rationale. e) Generating inspiring consumer insights understanding the meaning of consumer insight and how it links with other marketing and development processes; using ‘foresight’ to obtain future-relevant consumer insights; seeking unconventional perspectives on the consumer, the brand and the product category; opening many different windows to the world of the consumer; working with “out of the box” research techniques to challenge conventional wisdom; sharing stories and anecdotes with other team members about interesting ideas and experiences ; expressing consumer insights in exciting ways. f) Anticipating current and future consumer opportunities building a sense of emerging social and economic trends (i.e. ‘foresight’); identifying discontinuities that will affect consumer behaviour; working with expert and leading edge consumers to predict future mainstream needs; appreciating the implications of the internet revolution; comparing and combining consumer insights to find relevant common themes; identifying and anticipating consumer need gaps; defining opportunity areas to act as springboards for brand-building ideas. Marketing Professional Skills Marketing Strategy Development Using consumer insight and competitor analysis to anticipate market growth opportunities and to determine the markets, channels and segments to operate in. Challenging the status quo with brand strategies that beat competitors and deliver outstanding levels of profitable growth. a) Analysing market trends and growth drivers conducting environmental scans based on ‘foresight’; defining the market from the consumer’s perspective; analysing market segmentation; identifying market and industry dynamics and trends; addressing issues of sustainability and environmental concerns and pressures; modelling responses in consumer demand to price, advertising, promotion etc.; identifying opportunities for profitable growth and market entry. b) Creating a vision of market and channel potential imagining how markets could look in the future; reshaping market understanding with mould breaking thinking; identifying key growth opportunities and competitor threats; defining the future market and its parameters; assessing potential to create new markets through alliances, partnerships and new channels; deriving an inspiring business mission and strategic thrusts; defining the Research agenda; creating stretch (“big hairy audacious goals”). c) Anticipating competitor actions identifying both current and potential competitors ( e.g. e-commerce, private label); assessing relative strength of business against key competitors across value chain; determining competitor market strategies and capabilities; modelling demand and competitor responses to changes in price, advertising, promotion etc.; assessing implications of potential competitor reactions; developing marketing strategies and tactics to forestall competitor actions. d) Constructing brand portfolio strategies taking risks with new ideas; assessing potential brand roles in context of market segmentation and dynamics; reviewing implications of each brand’s existing BrandKey; judging cross-category potential of brands; generating alternative portfolio scenarios to anticipate potential market developments; evaluating strategic hypotheses and options; determining the portfolio of brands for each market; establishing pricing and value points within the portfolio; determining relative investment levels for each brand. e) Building required marketing capabilities. conducting internal scrutiny; leading change and challenging the status quo; defining key capabilities needed to implement market/ portfolio strategy; assessing required capabilities against existing capabilities; examining ways to leverage existing capabilities; identifying means of developing new capabilities. f) Providing input into the business planning process contributing towards formal business planning exercises (e.g. Annual Contract, Category Strategies); ensuring marketing plans are consistent with company and category strategies; agreeing business targets and milestones; communicating strategy and explaining implications; building appropriate contingencies and responses; allocating company resources to enable strategy implementation; championing marketing opportunities with high business potential. Marketing Professional Skills Brand Equity Management Building a brand so it becomes and remains the preferred choice of consumers. Using the BrandKey to map current and future positioning objectives in a way that guides the brand’s mix development, increasing its consumer appeal, competitive distinctiveness and growth potential. Demonstrating passion for and commitment to the brand, both inside and outside the company. a) Defining the Key Positioning appreciating the role of brand positioning as the key to growth; understanding the brand’s historical development; capturing the reality of the brand - where it is today in the hearts and minds of its consumers; expressing the brand’s positioning in an accurate and inspiring way (e.g. words, visual imagery); constructing BrandKeys for competitor brands; using market research to build the Key Positioning; determining a powerful, competitive, consumer involving Discriminator; communicating the brand’s positioning across the company; managing the brand’s essence over time. b) Developing the Key Vision building a deep sense of the brand’s true meaning; defining brand equity drivers; anticipating the direction of competitive brand development; deciding which elements of today’s Key Positioning should change in the future; defining the vision with other professions and countries; tuning the vision to future market trends and strategies; constructing imaginative development plans to achieve the vision; ensuring individual brand development plans are consistent with portfolio strategies. c) Formulating Key Extensions appreciating potential line extension possibilities within the brand portfolio; recognising negative consequences of uncontrolled extensions; assessing the extent a line extension builds or borrows from the brand’s equity; evaluating the risks of cannibalisation; creating Key Extensions for each major extension; defining a clear structure for a brand’s product portfolio; clarifying the role of the master brand and its extensions in the overall category portfolio. d) Aligning brand business plans with the BrandKey establishing financial and marketing objectives for the brand; obtaining adequate resources to translate the brand strategy into action; developing integrated mix development plans; assessing how planned activities will contribute to the brand’s Key Vision; translating brand equity development plans in to viable financial targets and business plans. e) Strengthening the brand mix ensuring all brand activities build rather than dilute its equity; using consumer input to guide brand mix development; aligning brand mix with stage of market development; exploiting new communication technologies to build stronger consumer relationships and brand loyalty; protecting intellectual properties of the brand (e.g. trade marks); championing the brand within the company; constructing guidelines and toolkits to support brand activation. f) Assessing brand health recognising the drivers and indicators of brand health; defining benchmarks for brand performance and consumer perceptions; monitoring all aspects of brand and competitor brand performance; identifying the brand’s strengths and weaknesses; determining the key issues the brand must address; ensuring consumer brand perceptions are developing in line with the Key Vision; taking action to respond to emerging brand health issues. Marketing Professional Skills Communication Channel Management Planning and implementing an integrated programme of brand communication, which uses all available channels to communicate the brand’s messages to targeted consumers in the most cost effective way. a) Investigating communication channel opportunities understanding how and when consumers use media and receive communication messages; assessing qualitatively and quantitatively the role of all potential channels in delivering communication objectives (e.g. sponsorship, PR); recognising changes in the communication environment; exploring the possibilities created by new communication channels (e.g. interactive); evaluating channel performance (e.g. cost, reach, effect, qualitative fit, depth etc.); examining channels’ delivery of audiences in terms of lifestyle, attitudes and socio- demographics. b) Defining communication tasks, targets and budgets working with brand and channel planning agency teams; agreeing the brand’s business priorities, marketing activities and tasks; defining target audiences in terms of volumetrics, attitudes and socio-demographics; defining specific marketing and communication objectives; deciding budget parameters using AIM methodology and Minimum Effective Weights; evaluating alternative communication channels for each task. c) Developing creative Communication Plans compiling draft plans which pull together all brand communication tasks; co-ordinating plans with those of other brands in the category; exploring all potential ‘meeting points’ between the brand and the consumer; using BrandKey to stimulate ideas on use of communication channels; building in experiments with new communication channels (e.g. internet); responding to channel opportunities inspired by creative campaign ideas; optimising timing and integration of communication activities; searching for opportunities to achieve ‘breakthrough’ in media cost effectiveness; formulating the brand’s mandatory annual Communications Plan; developing a vision of longer term communication activities. d) Implementing integrated communication campaigns developing implementation briefs for each specific channel; selecting and managing the team of agencies and the specialists involved; integrating the efforts of different agencies; evaluating plans prior to implementation; responding to new ideas as they emerge during the implementation process; participating in agency negotiations and understanding the implications; exploiting opportunities for local media deals. e) Evaluating campaign cost efficiency and effectiveness identifying relevant measures of campaign efficiency and effectiveness; reviewing the role of current research techniques in measuring effectiveness; developing measurement tools for campaigns that use emerging and alternative media; ensuring monitoring systems are in place to measure media delivery; building models of campaign effectiveness; distinguishing cost effectiveness and efficiency by channel and creative treatment; benchmarking spend levels and cost effectiveness; assessing return on investment; feeding back campaign results to agency team. Marketing Professional Skills Brand Communication Developing creative brand communication campaigns that achieve outstanding levels of effectiveness, applying the principles and processes of ‘Advanced Brand Communication’. a) Developing inspiring briefs using the Brand Key and Communication Plan as the starting point; focusing the brief on the Discriminator; setting objectives in terms of consumer behaviour; debating and sharpening the brief with the agency team; generating stimulating, insightful, confident written briefs; clarifying the need for a new campaign or executional idea; selling the brief to the agency in a lively face to face presentation. b) Building successful agency team relationships building strong company/ agency teams; knowing how agencies are organised, how they work, how they make money; developing shared professional values and objectives; motivating agencies to take risks and innovate; developing integrated creative campaigns with multi-agency teams; maintaining the excitement and ‘spark’ when working with agencies; managing agency meetings; providing agencies with clear and realistic time plans. c) Judging creative proposals organising the agency creative presentation; understanding the core idea; judging whether the idea will affect consumer behaviour; applying the ABC principles (Attention, Branding, Communication); judging the campaignability of the idea; discussing and responding to agency proposals constructively; taking risks and being open to surprises; writing clear actionable responses to proposals. d) Developing outstanding communication campaigns ensuring ownership of the creative proposals across the team; using qualitative research to explore and build ideas with consumers; developing suitable research stimulus material; keeping the focus on developing strong simple ideas; assessing the strength of final creative proposals using quantitative research; providing clear guidance during the pre and post production process; analysing production quotes to optimise cost/quality trade-offs. e) Guiding outstanding brand packaging design defining the role of packaging design in the Key Vision and Communication Plan; reviewing the main elements of the brand’s visual identity; selecting design houses against project requirements; working in teams with other professions, design houses and packaging suppliers; generating and communicating inspiring design briefs; judging design proposals against ABC criteria; exploiting the communication potential of both graphic and structural design. f) Evaluating communication effectiveness assessing campaign performance against marketing and communication objectives; planning and interpreting market research to evaluate the impact of brand communication on consumer behaviour; modelling sales levels in response to advertising expenditure; monitoring developments in brand awareness and image ratings over time; evaluating the effectiveness of each element of the campaign; comparing communication effectiveness versus competitor campaigns. Marketing Professional Skills Brand Innovation With consumer insight as the inspiration, working with other professional specialists to create or adopt consumer-relevant innovations that are rolled out fast, using the principles and practices of IPM. a) Creating a spirit of innovation creating a climate where creativity is valued; encouraging risk-taking and entrepreneurial flair; rewarding people for taking and using other people’s ideas; experimenting to find new and better ways of doing things; celebrating success, learning from failure; collaborating with managers from other countries and professions; creating a stimulating physical environment; building a sense of innovation opportunity; being decisive and action-orientated as well as creative and exploratory. b) Exploring consumer and technological opportunities focusing on what might be, not on what was ; probing to discover latent consumer needs; seeking information and experiences to stimulate insights; knowing the technical foundations of a category and specific products; collaborating with Research to explore technological possibilities and limitations; investigating developments in packaging design and technology; ensuring consumer needs and benefits are the drivers for evaluating technology opportunities. c) Generating creative innovation ideas using consumer insights and opportunities as springboards to new ideas; directing efforts in line with business strategy and the BrandKey Vision; adopting successful ideas from others (companies, countries, categories); applying creative thinking techniques; seeking unconventional perspectives (e.g. naïve experts, extreme consumers); listening to and building on the ideas of others; seeking opportunities for business and specification simplification; capturing and sharing ideas (e.g. inopad). d) Designing winning innovation concepts building ideas into distinctive consumer relevant concepts; using concepts to develop and test hypotheses with consumers; developing prototypes for quick consumer response; recycling and building on promising ideas and concepts in consumer research; exploiting the potential of packaging in delivering form, function and communication; identifying relevant technical attributes, benefits and cues; ensuring the concept remains true to consumer needs; writing motivating Charter Gate documents. e) Managing the innovation project portfolio applying the IPM portfolio management tools to link innovation to the business strategy; validating the risk profile of the portfolio; ensuring that the portfolio contains both adopted and new ideas; setting and applying portfolio and project metrics; tracking project growth potential against business growth objectives; focusing innovation efforts in priority areas – “less is more”; allocating resources across innovation projects; continuously performing appraisals of projects (e.g. when to stop a project); addressing both short and long term horizon needs; making investments using IPM Gate procedures. f) Driving innovation projects through the funnel using project planning tools and techniques (e.g. Gantt, PERT); building top management/stakeholder commitment; crafting the development of new marketing mixes; co-ordinating the inputs and activities across processes (e.g. manufacturing, packaging); managing international IC and local company relationships; managing trade-offs between speed/cost/quality; monitoring and controlling project budgets; performing project risk assessment; using market research to check and challenge project market potential; preparing Gate documents at each funnel stage. g) Launch planning, implementation and evaluation assessing and ensuring the practicality of project implementation; communicating launch plans to all internal parties; working with the constraints and opportunities of the supply chain and distribution channels; adjusting to reflect regional/local variations and issues (e.g. legal, cultural); jointly managing the roll-out of IC-developed innovations; developing imaginative launch support programmes; communicating qualitative and quantitative learning (process, consumer, mix, success and failures) using IPM and category knowledge management tools. Marketing Professional Skills Brand Activation Bringing a brand to life in the local marketplace via creative implementation of its core mix. Delivering brand growth by using all channel opportunities to connect with consumers and deepen their experiences and relationships with the brand. a) Converting brand strategies into innovative activity plans defining local marketing objectives by brand and channel; generating creative ideas to stimulate consumer interest and sales growth; recognising potential opportunities for the brand in existing and emerging channels; tuning international brand mixes for brilliant local implementation; integrating activity proposals into coherent brand and category plans; developing local Communications Plans; aligning tactical activities with the brand’s Key Positioning. b) Developing close marketplace connections with consumers “hunting” for meeting points between the brand and the consumer; connecting with consumers in their homes, local stores, street markets, etc.; discovering the drivers of consumer shopping behaviour; exploiting databases to enable one-to-one relationship management; managing and supporting consumer advice and support services; resolving consumer complaints to the satisfaction of the consumer; capturing and responding to consumer feedback. c) Implementing consumer activation programmes specifying the role and objectives of Consumer Activation Marketing (CAM) within the overall brand/category activity plan; executing effective launch activities for new products; ensuring promotional activities support the Key Vision; developing platforms for integrated promotional, sponsorship, advertising and PR campaigns; creating a brand ‘experience’ for consumers; working with agencies to develop effective techniques and executions; planning and managing promotion implementation; involving other departments and external partners to enable operational implementation; exploiting databases to target promotional offers; assessing promotional effectiveness against brand and category plans. d) Driving brand visibility and channel presence bringing the brand to life at consumer destinations; identifying unconventional brand communication opportunities; exploiting brand icons and properties as communication vehicles; contributing towards the development of impactful point-of-sale materials; ensuring the brand is well merchandised, accessible and visible in all priority channels; using new product launches to advance brand visibility and channel presence. e) Managing prices, profit margins and budgets assessing the impact of pricing on purchase decisions and sales volume; determining price levels and promotion policy; monitoring and protecting brand profit margins; defining brand support priorities and budget allocations; controlling brand expenditure versus budget; delivering against annual profit targets. f) Monitoring market developments and brand performance checking brand in-market performance (e.g. sales, shares, distribution etc.); assessing developments in market size and structure; searching locally and internationally for intelligence about competitor activity and performance; responding to sales short falls or competitive challenges; monitoring developments in the political, legal and economic areas; defining marketing information requirements and systems; evaluating effectiveness of market support activities. [...]... brand objectives and strategy Marketing Professional Skills Active Marketing Learning Building marketing knowledge and best practice through external scanning, active experimentation and ongoing operational activities Translating and applying this knowledge and best practice to drive brand development and growth a) Seeking and applying marketing best practice identifying marketing and business driven.. .Marketing Professional Skills Channel and Customer Marketing Development Collaborating with Customer Management to develop channel and customer specific marketing plans and activities Ensuring that brand sales are maximised by addressing the current marketing needs and future opportunities of all trade business partners a) Assessing... strategy into relevant trade communication d) Developing channel and customer-specific marketing plans planning marketing activities to grow brand equity and sales; determining an appropriate brand portfolio in each channel; aligning brand plans to consumer and channel specific needs and opportunities; agreeing brand marketing objectives and support budgets for trade activities; participating in the design... searching for and scanning sources of new marketing practices; seeking opportunities to meet and learn from consumers, customers and competitors; using knowledge management tools (e.g IPM toolbox) to enhance decision making and action; applying marketing best practice both as an individual and as a team leader; establishing communities of practice for key marketing activities b) Analysing and capturing... contributing to and accessing category knowledge work (e.g IPM and category databases); organising and running workshops to disseminate learning; teaching on Marketing Academy events and programmes; coaching, leading and promoting marketing learning; contributing to Marketing Academy catalogue of case studies and good practice; regularly communicating key lessons and insights to marketers and other professionals... developments and opportunities analysing brand and customer shopper profiles; identifying brand opportunities based on shopper insights; assessing impact of trade and customer developments on consumer marketing; experimenting with exciting and emerging ‘routes to market’; developing new and alternative channels; assessing where value is created and diminished within a channel; building knowledge of... both as an individual and as a team leader; establishing communities of practice for key marketing activities b) Analysing and capturing learning anticipating the potential learning to be gained from marketing projects and planned activities; setting specific learning goals for post launch reviews, campaign assessments, promotion evaluation, etc.; distilling the lessons from market research findings;... translate experience into learning (e.g story telling, case studies, visualisation); incorporating learning into own PDP; capturing learning with knowledge management tools to (e.g IPM learning, IPM toolbox, marketing databases); being creative to capture qualitative, less tangible learning (e.g video of presentations, meetings, electronic suggestion boards) c) Promoting and communicating learning participating... company literature and historic behaviour; analysing sales data to identify drivers of brand growth; rapidly communicating consumer insights to members of Customer Management b) Interpreting trade partner marketing needs investigating channel, partner and customer needs and opportunities; appreciating trade margin structures and objectives in each channel; recognising the implications of customers’ decision... (within company and across businesses and categories) d) Experimenting to create new knowledge encouraging calculated risk taking and learning from mistakes; investigating, piloting and implementing new marketing tools and techniques; selecting areas for ‘disciplined’ experimentation; generating the hypotheses to be tested; setting up small-scale experiments to try out new ideas; communicating the results . PROFESSIONAL SKILLS DICTIONARY MARKETING APPENDIX (2 nd version) Issued: November 2000 Introduction This Appendix replaces the original Professional Skills Dictionary - Marketing Appendix. economic areas; defining marketing information requirements and systems; evaluating effectiveness of market support activities. Marketing Professional Skills Channel and Customer Marketing Development Collaborating. trade activities are in line with brand objectives and strategy. Marketing Professional Skills Active Marketing Learning Building marketing knowledge and best practice through external scanning,