Davis & Associates - Strategic marketing

Online Newsletter MAY / JUNE 2003	edition17
From Davis & Associates (Strategic Marketing) www.davismarketing.com.au
Welcome to our newsletter for May-June 2003. This issue looks at a new offering to help not-for-profits engage with business and the community, and our choice of the top professional services brands in Australia Please forward this newsletter on to colleagues and friends who may also find it of interest. As always, we want to ensure your continued interest in receiving our newsletter so if you wish to unsubscribe, please email us at: info@davismarketing.com.au Best Regards Dianne Davis Principal and Managing Director	In this edition: Item 1: Engage nfp – Helping Not-For-Profits engage with corporates and the general community Item 2: Our Top Four Professional Services Brands Item 3: Customer Focus and ROI Item 4: New Business Item 5: In the News

Item 1: Engage nfp – Helping Not-For-Profits engage with corporates and the general community

For the first time in the Australian market, NFPs are offered Engage nfp - a comprehensive product set and approach, encompassing:

•	Business community partnerships
•	Marketing efficiency (including a comprehensive audit of marketing activities & operations)
•	Fundraising effectiveness
•	Brand positioning (incorporating a strategic brand process, culminating in a sustainable, differentiated positioning).

Engage nfp will effectively enable NFPs to be “fit” to engage with the corporate sector, the community, volunteers, partners and suppliers.

In terms of corporates, NFPs need to be able to take full advantage of the new paradigm of business community partnerships by:

•	Understanding the drivers behind this new model
•	Recognising what they bring to a partnership
•	Gaining support for corporate engagement at all levels within their organisation
•	Understanding that such partnerships are not about fundraising – but are much broader,embracing brand, reputation, marketing, human resources, technology, systems and volunteers
•	Ensuring an agile culture that can mesh comfortably with the corporate partner’s own organisational culture
•	Preparing to invest in building organisational capacity around such partnerships.

Equally important are NFP’s ability to harness and retain a broad support base (i.e. donors, funders, sponsors, partners, volunteers and suppliers), which requires:

•	A strong, differentiated brand
•	A strategic, efficient and accountable approach to marketing.

Engage nfp has been developed as a fully integrated offering, as well as a modular offering. That is, depending on an organisation’s specific needs, circumstances and budget, they can elect to choose all, or particular aspects of, the approach (as summarised in the diagram below):

Marketing Efficiency		Brand Awareness & Positioning
	NFP organisation
Business Community Partnerships		Fundraising Effectiveness

Engage nfp is a joint venture between Positive Outcomes (Australia’s leading corporate social responsibility consultancy) and Davis and Associates Strategic Marketing.

Positive Outcomes is responsible for advising on business community partnerships, Davis and Associates on marketing and branding (and On Site Associates on fundraising).

The consultancies have already worked together in advising Multiple Sclerosis Australia, and are currently in discussion with a major NFP in the disability area.

Item 2: Our Top Four Professional Services Brands

We have selected four professional services brands we believe deserve recognition for the following reasons:

1. Accenture – the Mould Breaker

Preparedness to establish and sustain the brand with significant ongoing investment and resources (unique in professional services).
As a corollary to the above, good market awareness and penetration in a sector where most of the other major brands have been long-established, with literally decades to build equity.
The name broke the mould; rather than continue with the practice of naming firms after founding /senior partners,
a fresh approach was sought (which has since been emulated by others in the management consulting space).
Accenture is simply a clever name; it operates on a number of levels and works well both in writing and orally.
The brand has worked hard to own some key attributes – among them, innovation and implementer of ideas.

2. Deloittes – the Refreshed Brand

A brand that was languishing in the Australian market in the late 80s / early 90s was successfully revitalised and repositioned from the mid-90s onwards to become a serious and creative market participant.
The commitment within the firm to align the internal culture with the external brand deserves acknowledgment; Deloittes has earned a reputation as the “people firm”.
A willingness to project and distinguish the brand via strong print and airport advertising – media largely eschewed by professional services firms on such a consistent basis.

3. Gilbert & Tobin – Niche Brand as Major Player

A brand that fights above its weight, and has crafted a market perception (rightly or wrongly)of being more of an “innovator” than many of its competitors.
Through a variety of product offerings, strategic alliances and sponsorships, the firm has forged a brand positioning around “entrepreneurialism”.

4. Minter Ellison – Brand Evolution

A brand that has evolved significantly over the past five-ten years to earn its place amongst Australia’s premier law firm brands
In terms of brand attributes, Minters cam rightfully claim “quality” and “growth”.
The firm has refreshed its brand at key stages to retain a contemporary look and feel - when many competitors have failed to do so, or failed to do so diligently.

Item 3 : Customer Focus and ROI

A recent PriceWaterhouseCoopers survey has shown that over 80% of the fastest growing companies in the U.S. have initiated programs focused on either customer expansion, retention and /or profitability in the last three years.

The key driver behind this trend is ROI.

Senior management at these companies have recognised that customer retention brings with it revenue growth. More importantly, there is also a growing understanding that non-financial measures such as customer satisfaction and product- service quality play a key role in determining how the market values and perceives a company.

The PWC survey interviewed the CEOs of over 400 product and service companies identified by the media as the “fastest growing” U.S. businesses since 1998.

Item 4: New Business

During April, Davis and Associates was appointed to undertake projects (in the brand strategy and business development areas) for the following organisations:

• Sparke Helmore

• Australian Graduate School of Management

Item 5: In the News

Dianne Davis was quoted in the Marketing section in The Australian Financial Review (28 April, 2003), on marketing and the not-for-profit sector.

Next Issue: OUR GOLDEN RULES OF MARKETING CONSULTING

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