Top 10 Must Reads: Propelling Brands Forward During Unprecedented Times by Level5 Strategy

Top 10 Must Reads Propelling Brands Forward During Unprecedented Times

About Level5™ Strategy

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Level5 Strategy is a leading strategy and transformation consulting firm that helps our clients achieve profitable growth and a superior ROI by leveraging the power of their brand. We focus on four distinct yet interconnected core services: Insights, Strategy, Transformation and Customer Experience. Since our inception in 2002, Level5 Strategy has partnered with over 300 clients across B2B, B2C, government and not-for-profit sectors in Canada, the U.S. and other parts of the globe to navigate their most critical challenges and opportunities and to build and execute practical strategies that convert decisions into actions.

Since 2002, Level5 Strategy has advised over 300 Canadian and global clients across a wide range of industries. Beverage

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President’s Message To say that 2020 was a game changer would be an understatement. For many brands, last year upended the rules of the game while for others it accelerated the pace of change that was already under way. This is why we aimed to make our compilation of the Top 10 Must Reads especially relevant for our readers interested in propelling their brand forward during these unprecedented times. It’s been a challenging year, but that doesn’t mean success isn’t possible. On the contrary, today’s business conditions offer a number of opportunities for companies willing to transform and deliver the promises they gave to their customers. We hope that these 10 articles will help you get a head start on developing strategies that lead to transformative change in your organization. Happy reading!

Ian Madell

Managing Partner, President

Transformation & Customer Experience

Efram Lebovits, Jordan Shapiro

Claude Ricks, Efram Lebovits, Jordan Shapiro, Rob Gizzie

Promises Made, Promises Kept: How To Develop Your Customer Centricity in 2021 Insights

Customer Centricity: Operationalizing a Customer-Centric Organization

Matt Kelly, Efram Lebovits, Russell Reeves

Matt Kelly, Russell Reeves

Will Your Brand Survive the Pandemic? Is Your Strategy Still Relevant? How COVID-19 Has Changed Customers’ The Rising Importance of Meaningful Drivers of Choice and Impactful Customer Interactions

Strategy

10 Reasons Why Your Strategic Plan Was Built to Fail Claude Ricks, Efram Lebovits, James Hunter

Creating a Strong Business and Building a Better World During Times of Crisis Lauren Singer, Lily Hou

Interviews

Don’t Just Survive, Thrive! A 7-Step Approach to Unlocking Growth During the Pandemic Jordan Shapiro

“Building an Effective and Authentic Newcomer Strategy”, Q&A with Hua Yu, Level5 Managing Partner Hua Yu

David Kincaid

Hua Yu

David Kincaid’s New Book Shows CEOs How to Harness the Power of Brand

Doing Business Like a Woman – The Triumphs, the Challenges and the Rewards

Transformation & Customer Experience

Top 10 Must Reads

1 Promises Made, Promises Kept: How To Develop Your Customer Centricity in 2021 Efram Lebovits, Jordan Shapiro

Over the last few months of 2020, we sought input from a diverse group of leaders across several sectors, roles, and geographies to identify and share their insights on their organization’s customer-centric maturity.

he growing need for well-considered and purposefully built customer experiences seems obvious, especially as customer expectations and behaviours continue to evolve and markets appear poised to remain in flux for some time. Fundamentally, strong customer experiences are critical to a company’s sustainable growth.

However, designing experiences that deliver on customers’ critical wants and needs at key moments is not easy. It requires commitment from the entire organization. In our three-part series on Customer Centricity, Level5 Strategy defined seven core dimensions embodied by customer-centric organizations. The first two items outlined in Figure 1 relate to how

mature organizations establish clearly articulated, data-informed promises to their customers. The other five describe how effective organizations set up their business systems to consistently keep these promises. Over the last few months of 2020, we sought input from a diverse group of leaders across several sectors, roles, and geographies to identify and share their insights on their organization’s customer-centric maturity. We asked them to assess their organization’s practices within each of the seven dimensions along a spectrum of five maturity levels: Nascent, Emerging, Developing, Maturing and Best-In-Class. (An example, providing more detail on these levels, is provided at the end of this report)

Figure 1: Seven Dimensions of Customer-Centric Organizations

Promise, Consistently Kept Understanding of Key Customer Segments’ Rational and Emotional Drivers of Choice

01 Clearly Articulated and Aligned Brand Promise

Streamlined Accountability with Cross-Functional Execution for Processes Enabling “Moments of Truth”

03 Knowledge of Where These Drivers Manifest Along the Journey as “Moments of Truth” & What Moments are Considered “Pain Points”

Outcome-Focused Measurement and Proactive Performance Management

05 Customer-Centric Lens for Decision Making and Prioritizing Investments

07 Leadership Resolve and a Longer-Term View of Benefits

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Transformation & Customer Experience

Making Promises and Consistently Keeping Them: Those Who Do Both, Do Better Figure 2: Correlation of Maturity in Promise and Maturity in Consistently Kept CX Performance Overperforms

Consistently Kept Maturity

Underprtforms or Meets Expectations

Maturity Levels Best-In-Class Maturing Developing Emerging Nascent

Promise Maturity

Companies that are more mature in establishing a customer-centric brand promise are also more sophisticated in setting their operating model up to deliver that promise. In our research, 62% of companies that indicated they are Maturing on establishing the Promise side of the equation, are at least equally mature at ensuring they’re set up to ensure that promise is Consistently Kept. Conversely, not a single organization that was at the Developing maturity level (or below) in terms of Promise exhibited a high degree of maturity in delivering a customer-centric operating model. This connection also suggests an influence on the overall customer performance. We observed that 74% of organizations that are maturing (or higher) on both the Promise and Consistently Kept dimensions outperformed or significantly outperformed their overall customer

experience performance expectations. Only 24% of companies that were less mature on these dimensions exceeded their performance expectations. Despite a clear connection between Promise and Consistently Kept, knowing where and how to connect the two is difficult. Understanding Rational and Emotional Drivers, and applying them to key Moments of Truth and the underlying processes that deliver them, is the least mature dimension across the entire research dataset. This pivot point from informing the Promise to designing Consistently Kept is a common struggle for many companies; we see this same profile in all our data, and in organizations that perceive themselves as both underperforming and overperforming relative to their customer performance expectations.

Figure 3: Maturity Profile by Dimension of Customer Centricity

Rational and Emotional Drivers of Choice

Articulated and Aligned Brand Promise

Promise

Consistently Kept

Lowest Maturity

Highest Maturity Moments of Truth & Pain Points

Longer-Term View of Benefits

Streamlined Accountability, Cross-Functional Execution

Customer-Centric Lens for Decision Making

Outcome-Focused Measurement and Proactive Performance Management

Transformation & Customer Experience

Top 10 Must Reads

Stepping Back on Customer-Centricity as Growth Leaps Ahead Our research also suggests that small and large organizations have a higher degree of customercentric maturity than mid-scale organizations. It may seem counter-intuitive that there would be a regression in maturity as organizations scale, but the research, and our client experience, support this insight. Small, entrepreneurial organizations need to be singularly focused on their customers – they must be “all hands-on deck” with shared ownership of customer success. The customer is, and must be, at the centre of everything. Larger scale businesses, conversely, have the operational capacity and financial scale to resource

entire functions to focus on the customer while their core business performance is generally steadier. Mid-scale organizations, on the other hand, run into the issue of limited resources and competing priorities. They do not perform as well against their customer experience performance expectations as their smaller or larger peers tend to do. This may be the result of deprioritizing the customer and blurring accountabilities while building scalable operational systems and concentrating on growth. Until enough scale is established to resource against the customer experience, the focus on customers may play second fiddle to topline drivers.

Figure 4: Promises, Consistently Kept Maturity by Company Scale

Company Scale Small (0-99 Employees)

Degree of Maturity

Mid Sized (100-999 Employees) Large (1000+ Employees)

Maturity Levels Maturing Developing Emerging

Promise

Consistently Kept

Figure 5: Proportion of Companies That Overperform Their Expectations on Customer Experience

33%

24%

57%

Small-Scale Companies

Medium-Scale Companies

Large-Scale Companies

(0-99 Employees)

(100-999 Employees)

(1000+ Employees)

Level5™ Strategy

Transformation & Customer Experience

What Gets Measured Gets Done Organizations with higher maturity in defining customer-focused KPIs, evaluating performance against them and transparently sharing results (internally and externally) tend to outperform their expectations for customer-centric performance over time. When customer centric performance is made public and considered important to overall business performance, more attention is given to driving customer-centric performance. In our experience helping clients define and implement effective customer metrics and measurement practices, we’ve seen first-hand how strategically aligned measurements can focus an organization’s efforts on the right activities and initiatives for success. Our data suggests that organizations that formally measure and report against customer experience at the highest levels (e.g., using Net Promoter Score, Likelihood to Recommend or other benchmark metrics) are 2.5 times as likely to overperform or significantly overperform against their expectations.

Taking a deeper look at these organizations through the lens of customer performance measurement maturity reinforces this insight (maturity here isn’t about whether these companies do or don’t measure customer experience; it relates to the degree with which have they built the sophistication and culture to do so across all aspects of their operating model). Roughly 60% of respondents that self-reported as Developing or below in their implementation of customer-focused KPIs performed below their expectations for customer performance. In essence, a failure to robustly measure and monitor customer success often leads to unmet goals. Conversely, 50% of organizations that robustly and comprehensively defined customer-focused metrics and build a culture of customer-centric performance through regular, transparent reporting and discussion exceeded their expectations.

“Organizations that formally measure and report against customer experience at the highest levels are 2.5 times as likely to overperform or significantly overperform against their expectations.” Figure 6: Customer Experience KPI/Performance Measurement Maturity and Outcomes

CX Performance

20% 20%

42%

Overperforms

50%

Meets Expectations Underperform

25% 60% 33%

Maturity Levels

22%

Best-In-Class Maturing Developing

28%

Emerging Nascent

Transformation & Customer Experience

Top 10 Must Reads

Key Takeaways

Building a customer-centric organization is crucial for sustainable growth in a time of shifting consumer expectations and demands.

Organizations that are mature in establishing a clear customer promise and setting up their business systems to consistently keep it will be more effective at meeting or exceeding customer expectations.

Maintaining rigorous focus on customer experience as an organization scales is important for leaders of growing firms to keep in mind.

The importance of a fully integrated approach to setting strategy, enabling operations and implementing the right management practices to ensure a complete and accurate picture of customer-centric performance cannot be overstated.

How Customer Centric Is Your Organization?

Our study remains open and will continue to welcome inputs on an ongoing basis. If you would like to better understand your organization’s customer-centric maturity, please click here to take the 10-minute assessment. After completion, Level5 Strategy will share your confidential dashboard with you, along with comparisons of your results alongside those of other cross-sector leaders.

Appendix: Five Levels of Customer-Centric Maturity Each of the seven dimensions of customer-centricity comprises a set of competencies that can be assessed along the maturity spectrum. One example, relating to an organization’s maturity in embracing a customer-centric strategic purpose, vision and mission is illustrated below:

Brand Promise (Dimension 1) Strategic Purpose/Vision/Mission

Nascent

Emerging

• core strategic statements (Purpose/Vision/Mission), if they exist, do not connect to any overarching market promise

• core strategic statements (PVM) are known at the Executive levels, but unknown to other employees

• employees are unaware of any Purpose/Vision/Mission (PVM) statements • no organizational adoption of PVM as a decision making tool

Developing • PVM is understood among Executives but there is inconsistent awareness amongst other employees

• majority of employees are • key functions required for a unclear how the PVM cohesive customer should impact what they are experience do not fully meant to do understand or adopt the PVM in their decision • PVM does not act as a making meaningful guide to decision making (i.e., "poster on the wall")

• no customer insight integrated into PVM

Maturing • PVM is clearly defined, easily understood and frames the organization's aspiration and market promise

• PVM has broad awareness throughout the organization, but inconsistent understanding and adoption in day-to-day operations and decision making • PVM created with extensive customer insight in mind

Best-In-Class • PVM embodies the essence of the brand promise and the organization's core strategy • everyone understands how the PVM influences day-to-day work and customer impact • PVM play a key role in decision making processes

• PVM informed by extensive customer insight and is continually re-evaluated for relevance

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Transformation & Customer Experience

Customer Centricity: Operationalizing a Customer-Centric Organization Claude Ricks, Jordan Shapiro, Efram Lebovits, Rob Gizzie

You have started listening more deeply to your customers and recognize that their feedback is a gift. But are you taking full advantage of this gift? Or, have you simply put it up on the shelf, left it to gather dust, and gone about your day-to-day operations as you always have done?

f you are reading this, then we assume you have already taken, or are planning to take, several important steps along the customer-centricity journey. Whether the result of managing through a crisis or simply because of a courageous shift in strategy or leadership perspective, your organization has started to better understand how your customers’ expectations connect to your brand and has expressed a desire to make them a key stakeholder group to invest in. This is great progress, but there is a big gap between wanting to be a customer-centric organization and actually being one. In our first and second papers in this three-part Customer Centricity series, we introduced our perspective and guiding principles around customer journeys. We outlined the critical importance of the rational and emotional drivers of customer choice and loyalty and depicted how these drivers could be mapped along the end-to-end customer journey to identify the critical “Moments of Truth” and “Pain Points”: moments where delivering these

needs matter most. Organizations that do this are better equipped to link customer expectations to their current capabilities, accountabilities, and internal processes, and focus on delivering against these expectations at the most important times, thereby creating stickiness and enduring loyalty. In this concluding paper, we will bring these earlier ideas together and share our perspectives on how to operationalize a customer-centric organization to ensure that key customer expectations are prioritized and met (or exceeded) in a manner that is consistent with a brand’s underlying promise to the market. We will explore how to decide on actionable priorities to building future state customer journeys, and how to measure and manage an organization’s progress along this transformation. Finally, we will share a synthesized view of the critical best practices that we believe underpin a truly customer-centric organization.

Transformation & Customer Experience

Top 10 Must Reads

1. A Closer Look: Identifying Gaps and Prioritizing Journey Improvements You’ll recall from the first two papers how our concept of “squares and circles” helps organizations map out the end-to-end customer journey, both from the customer’s perspective (“circles”) and from the vantage point of the internal processes and capabilities that enable those experiences (“squares”). While building this map is a key requirement to generate a clear picture of both the current and desired state, determining how to get to the desired state requires that we dig a little deeper into how those internal processes are set up to function. We have found that organizations often have overlapping/ disconnected processes and multiple teams/owners (or worse, none at all!) in the squares associated with each circle. Given this, it is no wonder why one often hears negative customer feedback relating to important experiences. They spend hours being bounced around Figure 1: Ownership of Squares and Circles

Distribute email offer

Review spend data and generate relevant offers for the customer

Review responses and close the loop with the customer on negative scores

CIRCLES

I receive an email offer based on my spend

I review offers and realize that none of them are relevant to me

I respond to a feedback form linked to the bottom of the email without hearing back

Patricia

Mohammad, Sammy, Patricia

None

SQUARES

OWNER

EMAIL OFFER EXPERIENCE

PAIN POINT Having multiple owners result in competing priorities which creates inaction and/or confusion internally

Source: Level5 Strategy

PAIN POINT No ownership results in things falling through the cracks, which creates confusion for the customer.

customer service queues; they are promised something in one channel, only to find that in another this promise cannot be honoured; they cannot intuitively figure out how to do something that ought to be straightforward. The key to resolving these issues is ensuring that there is clear and singular ownership of each square relating to an associated circle – this is especially important for squares that relate to “Moments of Truth”. This ownership must also include the appropriate decision rights to effect change along that part of the customer journey. For example, consider Figure 1, which illustrates how unclear ownership – either having multiple owners or no owner at all – leads to the creation of Pain Points through customer confusion. Understanding the current and desired state of key customer experiences (circles), enabling processes (squares), and the stakeholders involved throughout allows organizations to identify not only gaps in ownership but also gaps between how they currently bring the experience to life and how they should ideally be doing so. Building this map allows an organization to clearly identify where gaps exist and frame the required key actions that are required to improve the customer’s experience. Identifying ownership gaps as well as critical Moments of Truth or Pain Points helps organizations develop a fulsome list of go-forward improvement activities to consider. The question then becomes who needs to action these initiatives and in what sequence. It would be naive to assume that all activities on this list can and will get done – resources are always constrained, other priorities fight for people’s time, and the financial realities of the day (e.g., quarterly performance) dilutes attention to customer-focused decision making. There are many methodologies companies use to help prioritize; we have found that it is most helpful to arbitrate decisions by performing a rapid assessment of each potential action against both an internal and external lens. The internal lens typically considers the ease (or, alternately, the complexity) with which the specific idea can be implemented. This can be as simple as a single variable such as the scale of investment required, or time to complete – or, it could be a synthesis of several criteria such as these and others (e.g., the breadth of systems/ processes to be changed, the scale of dependencies, the degree of internal stakeholder alignment needed to move forward, etc.).

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Transformation & Customer Experience

By contrast, the external lens focuses squarely on impact, and, more specifically, the impact on the customer’s experience. We often observe organizations looking solely at the financial or operational benefits of a potential project; that is revenue growth, cost/time reduction, etc. However, in customer-centric prioritization, these are second-order benefits. Improvements to the end customer’s experience should be the driving variable. Over time, experience improvements will lead to these higher-level business outcomes. As you can see in the illustrative Figure 2 below, using an internal and external lens for assessing customer

experience improvements creates a segmented picture of the full portfolio of actions. Activities that are in the top right quadrant have a high impact on the end-customer and are relatively easier to deliver than other activities – these should be the first focus to drive noticeable impact quickly and generate both internal and external momentum. Conversely, activities in the bottom left should not be considered further, their return on effort is not justified. While the remaining activities are impactful, they are more complex changes that will require broader organizational focus, cross-functional support, greater investment, and coordinated execution. Gain momentum before tackling these more complex cross-functional activities.

“Identifying ownership gaps as well as critical Moments of Truth or Pain Points helps organizations develop a fulsome list of go-forward improvement activities to consider.” Figure 2: Customer-Centric Lens for Decision Making and Investment Prioritization

EXTERNAL

Impact to Customer’s Experience

significant impact

limited impact relatively difficult

Do Not Action

INTERNAL

Ease of Execution Deliver Cross-Functionally

relatively easy

Action Quickly

Transformation & Customer Experience

Top 10 Must Reads

2. A Closer Look: Operationalizing the Customer-Centric Organization If you’ve gotten to this stage, then you now have the insights, the priorities, and the mandate to focus not just on delivering improvements to the key customer experiences, but to do so in a sustainable, enduring manner that permeates the entire organization’s culture. Still, this is no easy exercise – it requires commitment across the company, resolve to stick with it over a lengthy time horizon, and a common language with a consistent drumbeat to ensure that everyone involved has the same understanding of where you’re headed.

Two key ingredients need to be put in place to help increase the likelihood of long-term success:

“Streamlined ownership does not eliminate the need for crossfunctional engagement. In our experience, several mechanisms should be put in place to ensure an effective, smoothly running delivery engine.”

While the previous section emphasized the need for singular ownership and accountability of each circle and supporting square(s), in any complex organization this still requires several stakeholders to come together to deliver aspects of the experience. Streamlined ownership does not eliminate the need for cross-functional engagement. In our experience, several mechanisms should be put in place to ensure an effective, smoothly running delivery engine, as illustrated in Figure 3.

1. An agile, cross-functional delivery team supported by a simple set of governance mechanisms 2. A concise set of clear and regularly tracked performance indicators to empower the team to make the right decisions, know how they’re doing, and quickly course correct when required.

Figure 3: Establishing Cross-Functional Teams Identify Key Shareholders Functions

Establish Single Owner and Cross-Functional Team

Meet Regularly as a Group

Focus on Performance, Actions and Eliminate Roadblocks

Celebrate Success, Push Boundaries and Drive Change

Functions Functions

Composition

Cadence

• One team for each major stage of the customer journey (e.g., awareness, conversion, etc.) with a single executive-level owner with the mandate to drive consensus and make decisions; other team members are the owners of touchpoints (the squares) within that journey stage

• Cross-functional teams come together regularly (i.e., bi-weekly) to review customer journey performance, assess and eliminate roadblocks, prioritize actions and investments, and assign responsibilities for the next cycle

• Not intended to be a large group – typically 4-8 people to maximize effectiveness – that enforces direct involvement from those with ownership of the outcomes

• Meetings are short and efficient (akin to agile ‘stand-ups’) – they are not comprehensive status updates; they are succinctly focused on tracking performance, understanding issues, and assigning corrective actions

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Transformation & Customer Experience

There are several benefits to establishing these mechanisms: they eliminate siloes and an ingrained perspective that “I own the customer”; they embed a more collaborative, iterative and incremental approach to driving improvements (“step change” is hard); and, they establish connections across the relevant functions and processes without resorting to more disruptive organizational changes that shock the system and are almost never the core of the solution. New ways of working, cross-functional collaboration, and data-driven dialogue and decision-making help drive a customer-centric organization and culture, not the other way around. In addition, these cross-functional teams also need to be empowered with a dashboard that provides concise,

Leading and Lagging Journey KPIs

Leading metrics are focused on internal processes and operational performance. Leading metrics are measures the organization is probably very familiar with such as call volumes, services levels and wait times, or digital transaction abandonment.

intuitive data to inform any decisions that need to be taken. Performance metrics need to allow for assessment and tracking at three levels – the overall stage of the journey, specific Moments of Truth within the journey that need to be delivered in an exemplary way, and unique Pain Points that are being eliminated. Moments of Truth and Pain Points are particularly important to measure and track given their direct connection to overall customer loyalty and the brand promise. It is also important to focus on a limited set of 3-5 KPIs per journey stage (to focus on what really matters) and build a balanced view of both ‘leading’ and ‘lagging’ measures (see Leading and Lagging Journey KPIs and Figure 4).

Lagging metrics are customer feedback measures that require the organization to collect real-time feedback throughout the customer journey. Ideally, they are connected to the core aspects of the brand promise. For example, if a brand is about being simple and knowledgeable, it should be asking customers about the simplicity of its touchpoints or the clarity of information provided in interactions.

Designing effective leading metrics can often provide an organization with a ‘canary in the coal mine’ relative to customer perceptions of the brand – lagging metrics, by definition, can only provide instructive feedback after issues have already come to pass. Figure 4: Tracking Customer Journey Improvements

Indexed Performance by KPI

Above Target

Below Target

Source: Level5 Strategy

Customer Journey Performance Summary

1.4

This Month

1.3

KPI

1.2

MOTs

1.1

Pain Points

Last Month KPI

0.9

Benchmark

0.8 0.7 0.6

Touchpoint 1

Touchpoint 2

Touchpoint 3

Touchpoint 4

Touchpoint 5

Customer Touchpoint

While KPIs will be measured in absolute terms, we recommend consolidating views of them in an indexed fashion as well (i.e., normalized to ‘1’ or ‘100’). By indexing to a baseline or benchmark, one can more easily track relative changes against that benchmark, look at a variety of metrics that are defined in different ways, units or even directions (i.e., whether ‘up’ or ‘down’ trajectory is ‘better’), and adjust the targets more easily over time as performance improves.

Transformation & Customer Experience

Top 10 Must Reads

Bringing It All Together: The Characteristics of a Customer-Centric Organization Over the years, we have observed many organizations who have successfully moved along the path towards being a highly effective customer-centric operation. And though every business’ journey is different, many of the lessons they have learned along the way are similar and grounded in the practices described throughout this series of perspectives. These lessons are synthesized in Figure 5 below and provide a high-level framework for assessing the maturity of an organization’s customer-centric practices and behaviours, and the readiness of the leadership and team culture to take the necessary and meaningfully big steps towards that future.

A classic example of a company widely regarded for delivering a world-class customer experience, in large part based on how ingrained customer drivers are in the internal operations, is the Four Seasons. At the Four Seasons, the customer experience is the product and the brand’s promise. New ideas are raised, developed, and delivered by every employee across the organization, at every level, with a deep foundation of data available to any who asks. Decisions are prioritized through a customer lens (even expensive ones), and their continuous growth is testament to their ability to maintain a clear focus on consistently keeping their brand promise over the long term.

“New ideas are raised, developed, and delivered by every employee across the organization, at every level, with a deep foundation of data available to any who asks.” Figure 5: Characteristics of a Customer-Centric Organization

Knowledge of Where These Drivers Manifest Along the Journey as “Moments of Truth” & What Moments are Considered “Pain Points”

Understanding of Key Customer Segments’ Rational and Emotional Drivers of Choice

Source: Level5 Strategy

Customer-Centric Lens for Decision Making and Prioritizing Investments

Clearly Articulated and Aligned Brand Promise

Leadership Resolve and a Longer-Term View of Benefits

Streamlined Accountability with Cross-Functional Execution for Processes Enabling “Moments of Truth”

Outcome-Focused Measurement and Proactive Performance Management

Level5™ Strategy

Transformation & Customer Experience

Conclusion “Designing a unique customer experience that delivers on customers’ critical wants and needs at key “Moments of Truth” is one of the best ways for an organization to increase customer ‘stickiness’ and drive growth – but it is not easy.” Throughout this series, we framed the importance of determining your customers’ rational and emotional expectations, and, more importantly, where along their journey these expectations matter most. These insights help to ensure that your organization is effectively and consistently delivering on your brand promise. We also shared how to leverage these insights to make more informed decisions about where along the customer journey to build, enhance, or repair processes; understand the impact and resourcing needed to do so; and, gain the capabilities to measure and manage internal efforts and external outcomes along the way. Designing a unique customer experience that delivers on customers’ critical wants and needs at key “Moments of Truth” is one of the best ways for an organization to

increase customer ‘stickiness’ and drive growth – but it is not easy. It can take many years to get right and requires long-term investment, leadership commitment, and a pervasive customer-first culture. Hard benefits may be difficult to quantify in the short term, but the impacts of more clearly linking the customer experience to the brand’s underlying promise will become more clearly visible as customer satisfaction, loyalty, and endorsement build over time. True customer-centricity is a destination worth pursuing. While it takes time and commitment, organizations who have successfully achieved this can attest that the prize of enduring customer loyalty and sustainable business growth is undeniably worth it.

Insights

Top 10 Must Reads

3 Will Your Brand Survive the Pandemic? The Rising Importance of Meaningful and Impactful Customer Interactions Matt Kelly, Russell Reeves

t Level5 Strategy, we believe that the most need to stay very close to consumers and their habits, successful branded businesses understand the needs and desires, more now than ever”. No category, Value of a Promise Consistently Kept™. Truly great sector, or brand will escape the imperative of change. brands gain a firm understanding of their marketplace’s drivers, make a compelling promise to their customers, It would be an understatement to say consumers have and rally their organization to consistently deliver upon gone through a rollercoaster of emotions these past this promise through operating standards and rigorous few weeks. A recent sentiment tracker, published by our measurement processes. This strategy starts with an research partner Hotspex, confirms the hypothesis that understanding of the most powerful emotional and Canadians’ emotions are supercharged – and mostly rational value drivers, both positive and negative, that negative – as a result of the pandemic and the social your customers associate with your product or service. In and economic chaos this crisis has generated. The this time of rapid and profound change, it’s increasingly most salient emotions that Canadians are experiencing difficult to keep up with your customers’ needs and deliver are ones that we can likely all relate to; Canadians are with consistency. Business leaders must make it a priority “disappointed”, “dissatisfied”, “uncomfortable”, to stay close to their customers and understand how the “frustrated”, and have “mixed feelings”, among other pandemic and ensuing economic recession will change emotions. Many of these emotions are to be expected how their customers view ‘value’ during this new normal. and are something that we’ve all experienced. Canadians Jon Moeller, CFO at P&G, recently highlighted the need are also seeking out the positive emotions of “trust”, “a to keep up to date with changing consumer preferences sense of connection”, and “feeling informed”. during this pandemic on a recent P&G earnings call: “we

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Insights

Exhibit 1: Canada: Emotions as a result of COVID-19 | May 4th—10th

Reading the Map: A desirable outcome should show all “heat” within the map collected around the centre. These areas of “heat” can range from blue/ green (low intensity) to yellow (medium intensity) to orange/red (high intensity), depending on the intensity of the feeling. Within this map, we see scattered points of heat around the outer circle of the map, indicating generally negative emotions related to the current situation. Methodology: Continuous daily sampling conducted every week across n=100. Sample is representative of Canadian provincial population and age distribution and maintains a 50/50 split between male and female respondents.

The question is, what does this mean for organizations? How will brands need to change the way they communicate, engage their employees, and bring their brand experiences to life? In turbulent times, consumers have always flocked to the brands they “trust”, those that are “relevant” to their needs, and those that they “connect with” emotionally. The brand heatmap above indicates that consumers are seeking brand connections that generate feelings of “a connection”, “trust”, “satisfaction”, “liking”, “interest”, “optimism”, and “being informed”. In particular, the emotions of “trust”, “relevance”, and “a connection” have never been more important for brands

and brand driven organizations – most likely as a comforting foil to the negative feelings customers are experiencing. Perceptions and wants are one thing – but how does this translate to what drives action toward your brand? As the drivers of value evolve, what are the implications for your brand positioning, your promise to customers, and your ability to consistently keep that promise, all in the face of profound, ‘once in a lifetime’ change?

“Business leaders must make it a priority to stay close to their customers and understand how the pandemic and ensuing economic recession will change how their customers view ‘value’ during this new normal.”

Insights

Exhibit 2 April 6th – April 12th

Top 10 Must Reads

April 20th – April 26th

May 4th – May 10th

Reading the Maps: Looking at the trend from week of April 6th to week of April 20th, Through to the week of May 4th, we can see the dramatic intensification of core attributes, primarily related to the Friendly, Nurturing and Familiar zones. Methodology: Continuous daily sampling conducted every week across n=100. Sample is representative of Canadian provincial population and age distribution and maintains a 50/50 split between male and female respondents.

The research from the Hotspex sentiment tracker uncovered that in this time of uncertainty, there has also been a rebalancing of attributes from the Interesting and Inspiring zones (left side of the map in Exhibit #2) to what we would consider the “comforting” zones – Knowledgeable, Trustworthy, Nurturing, and Familiar. This has tremendous implications for brand leaders. Across the many categories we have measured and built strategies and customer experiences for, we rarely see drivers of behaviour have an importance rating this high. For context, witness the profound change in the retail grocery experience. Pre-COVID, grocery

shopping occurred almost exclusively in-store, providing an inspiring, multi-sensory experience in celebration of food and food preparation. Now, if shoppers even go to the store, they are confronted by an extremely stressful, safety-driven experience, requiring them to dawn masks, follow stringent shopping orders, and get in and out as quickly as possible. Given a choice, many consumers would rather shop online and have their groceries delivered. Operating standards have been upended, business models transformed, and new capabilities built on the fly.

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Is your brand and your business prepared to effectively respond to this once in a lifetime event? Further Hotspex data is also showing that 70% of Canadians are being slightly/much more cautious with how they spend their money. In fact, 39% of Canadians are trying to save as much money as they can, with many focusing on just the essentials. This is indicative of the profound COVID created economic recession that we are embarking on. Going forward, there will be major implications for brands as a result of changing consumer loyalty and preferences. For instance, the North American beer market has experienced measurable volume shifts from craft to mainstream beer products in just a few weeks – driven by the premium price point of craft beer as well as lower levels of accessibility (due to stay-at-home orders). While many breweries have made efforts to pivot to the areas of “comfort” and “safety” through curbside pickup, home delivery, shifts in packaging, and production of items like hand sanitizer, the impacts are felt nonetheless. Organizations such as these must determine how they can provide good “value for money” during this recessionary period along with the emotional attributes of trust, reliability and relevance. As these sorts of seismic shifts persist across industries, it’s critical that brand leaders immediately step back and reassess their value propositions and customer experiences. By doing this, brands and businesses will be able to more effectively weather the storm and emerge from the other side with higher levels of consumer loyalty.

In summary, we encourage organizations to immediately consider the following questions: • How has your category’s drivers of behaviour shifted with the pandemic and impending recession? • Is your organization’s pre-COVID brand positioning, value proposition, and brand promise still relevant? Has COVID presented an opportunity to take market share from others? • How might you need to rebalance your value proposition to account for new consumer demands such as trust, safety and, connection? • What are the implications for your brand’s customer experience, marketing, and perhaps even your organizations business model? • Do your employees and key decision makers know what is important to your customers and do they have the core capabilities and training to deliver upon a new customer experience? In partnership with Hotspex and leveraging their ongoing sentiment tracker, we will continue to distribute updates and implications that may be important to your business. 1

Forbes Article

Boston Magazine Article

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4 Is Your Strategy Still Relevant? How COVID-19 Has Changed Customers’ Drivers of Choice Matt Kelly, Russell Reeves

OVID has impacted our economies, ways of life, and day-to-day emotions. As a business leader, do you really know what drives value for your customers – those most powerfully felt drivers of brand choice? Given customers’ ever-evolving drivers, how will your business adapt its operations, customer experience, and marketing? Before you invest in your business during these times, make sure you understand what is truly driving your customers’ purchase and loyalty decisions. Generally speaking, consumers’ COVID-related emotions have continued to be overwhelmingly negative. In our first update at the beginning of May, we summarized the results of a consumer sentiment tracker published by one of our research partners, Hotspex. Our May publication emphasized the importance of understanding

your customers’ most powerful emotional and rational drivers of choice during this time of rapid and profound change. After tracking consumers’ sentiments over the past few months, we’ve come to an interesting conclusion: consumers’ emotions aren’t changing as rapidly as many predicted. In fact, it seems that consumers’ emotions are relatively fixed (for the next year or until vaccination). Rather than preparing for constant consumer change, brands need to develop a firm understanding of the lasting impact that this pandemic has had on their customers. Week over week, since the beginning of April, the top 14 (and 22 of the top 27) emotions related to COVID have been negative, including (in order): Disappointed, Uncomfortable, Irritated, Disliking, Dissatisfied, Frustrated, Bored, Disbelief, Mixed feelings, Confused, Unhappy, Worried, and Unsure. While these emotions may have marginally decreased in intensity throughout June and July, they largely tell

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the same story. Consumers are focusing on negative emotions; they need the support of brands to bring elements of positivity into their lives. After comparing the most recent results from our North American sentiment tracker, we discovered that while Canada Canadians and Americans share similarly negative emotions towards COVID, Canadians have higher levels of intensity surrounding select positive attributes and lower levels of intensity surrounding select negative attributes. Observing the most notable attribute gaps below, you USA can see that Canadians feel more Interested, Connected, Alert, Compassionate and Fine, while also feeling proportionately fewer negative emotions across attributes such as Unhappy and Disgusted. Though the differences between American and Canadian COVID related emotions may seem subtle, there are Canada important implications to the ways that brands should manage their experiences, operations, and communications. Canadians seem to have a far greater interest in brands portraying positive emotions associated with COVID – those that Inform, Reassure, and Inspire. Americans, on the other hand, seem more contentUSA with negative emotions and desire fewer positive emotions associated with COVID messaging. What does this mean for brands? While these national differences may seem minor, they are incredibly meaningful in the eyes of the consumer. For brands that typically transfer strategies throughout Canada North America, it may be necessary to decouple Canada and the US in order to be more relevant during the crisis. Countries and organizations are making big pushes to support national and local businesses – the backbone of local economies. There is no better time for organizations USA to elevate their national affiliations or make a strong push to support small businesses in their major areas of operation as part of a strategic initiative. The Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), among many other partners, has recently partnered with the Canadian Chamber of commerce to form the “Canada United” movement – a program aimed at encouraging Canadians to “buy Canadian andCanada spread the word”. This movement provides meaningful support to small businesses through promotional content and monetary donations for social media activity. National pride and unity are critical as we focus on economic recovery; brands should recognize this while planning USA their immediate brand strategies.

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Top Gaps in Emotions as a result of COVID-19, Canada vs. America, June 15th—18th Positive Attributes Interested

A Connection

32%

20%

Alert

Compassion

15%

12%

Δ +13%

Δ +12%

Δ +6%

19%

20%

14%

32%

Fine

Negative Attributes Disgusted

Unhappy

Can’t Relate

Disliking

Δ -14%

Δ -11%

Δ -10%

Δ -7%

25%

38%

40%

50%

11%

27%

30%

43%

Top gaps in emotions desired from a brand, Canada vs. America, June 15th–28th Positive Attributes Informed

54%

45%

Safe

Optimistic

Trust

Δ +19%

Δ +16%

Δ +13%

35%

26%

34%

48%

50%

61%

Negative Attributes Unhappy

Pessimistic

Irritated

Dissatisfied

Δ -12%

Δ -9%

Δ -7%

Δ -6%

17%

12%

17%

19%

10%

13%

Canada

USA

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After understanding the differences between the US and Canada, we were also interested in seeing if there were measurable differences across sectors. After analyzing four sectors, we found that consumers have very different needs depending on the product type/use, involved costs, and distribution channel.

Automobile -25%

Spending Level 20-30% of customers indicate that they will postpone their purchases to next year or indefinitely, ~5% indicate that they will purchase but spend less.

Those that are still interested in buying want a brand that makes them feel inspired and motivated. They are looking for a safe escape. Canadians that expect to purchase a car have fewer negative emotions related to COVID than those who plan to postpone their purchase. What does this mean for brands? Brands that traditionally rely on the qualities of safety and trust should dial them up even more; those that do not should find a way to emphasize these attributes throughout their customer journeys and marketing materials. If brands can deliver upon this promise consistently, they’ll be in a better position to win. This is likely true across all consumer-facing industries, ranging from airlines to hotels to movie theatres.

is relevant to the times. By pairing an aspirational video of local adventure with a powerful call to action: “Has summer ever been so important? Let’s keep it safe”, Volvo acknowledges the difficult time that we’re in while offering a desirable vision of a safe escape enabled by their brand. Volvo captures the emotions desired by prospective buyers, while also encapsulating the core drivers of their brand value.

Volvo, a brand that traditionally relies upon safety and trust, has decided to lean into this promise in a way that

YouTube/Volvo: The summer we all need - Let’s keep it safe.

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Retail – Apparel -22%

Spending Level Decreased substantially by ~30%-50% but has increased.

Less than 1 in 10 customers are looking forward to in-store shopping. Similar to in-theatre movie experiences, people don’t feel safe and have adopted online and at-home alternatives. People simply don’t feel safe going to indoor physical spaces. Those looking to spend more on apparel are looking for brands to make them feel motivated, accepted, and relaxed to overcome their safety concerns. What does this mean for brands? With such low intent to shop at retail, operators will have to bend over backward to engineer and communicate a safe shopping experience that consumers can trust. As a result of these changing consumer behaviours and difficult conditions – what many are referring to as the “retail apocalypse” – many brands have been forced to file for bankruptcy, including Papyrus, J. Crew, Aldo, Lord + Taylor, Pier 1 Imports, JC Penny, and Brooks Brothers. Retail has been disrupted. Brands that can create an integrated strategy for a safe return will be best positioned

Health & Beauty -8%

Spending Level Decreased substantially initially (-17% to -21%) but is recovering slowly.

Canadians who are spending more on health & beauty feel far more negativity as a result of COVID than those who are spending less and are turning to these products for a positive escape. Those spending on health and beauty are looking for brands to provide a sense of calm stability and show support for their customers through social programs/ charitable activities.

to conquer this volatile timeframe. For example, stock selection and supply levels will be a major consideration as retailers think about styles that consumers need. With work from home continuing to be in effect, consumers’ preferences remain shifted towards casual comfort rather than formal attire that would traditionally be in demand year-round. Other considerations related to the in-store experience such as shelf spacing and shopper flow will be paramount. Brands that can appeal to the needs of consumers both emotionally and operationally will be the ones to find success during this time.

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What does this mean for brands? Previously, 85% of purchases within this category were made in-store, primarily driven by demonstrations and product comparison. Health and Beauty brands will need to find innovative and effective ways to bring these experiences to life in a digital or socially distant environment. Some brands, including MAC and L’Oreal Paris, are offering automated “try on” tools to allow consumers to test numerous shades of hair and make-up products simply via their smartphone. In addition, brands such as Kiehl’s and Deciem are launching even more personalized virtual Kiehl’s Virtual Consultations

consultation experiences. This feature will allow retail employees to digitally connect with consumers looking for guidance in their shopping experience. This category can be a rich source of self-indulgence and pampering for consumers looking for small emotional escapes or moments of comfort. While demand may suffer as the majority of the world’s population stays at home and out of the public eye, it’s important that brands bring their unique experience to life for those that are still looking to shop. L’Oreal Paris Try On Features

Food/Grocery +9%

Spending Level Increased to +23% but steadily decreasing as patterns level out.

Canadians who are spending more on food feel more self-confident but have higher levels of discomfort than those who are shopping less, and therefore require safety to overcome these feelings. Customers are looking for familiar grocery brands they can trust and that offer a safe and dependable shopping experience. What does this mean for brands? Consumer packaged goods brands that deliver trust and familiarity may be winners in the short term. Consumers may be more interested in availability, volume buying, and getting in-and-out of the store quickly versus comparison shopping: looking around for the deepest discounts. Brands must understand how to deliver upon both the emotional requirements as well as enable these stable shopping experiences through consistent operational implementation. What has become clear through our continued consumer sentiment tracking is that the impacts of COVID are McKinsey Article

eConsultancy Article

CNBC Article

here to stay. The brands that put resources towards understanding the implications that this time has on their countries of operation, sector, and consumers will be the ones who will be able to continue delivering relevant promises and experiences. At Level5 Strategy, we believe that great brands understand the Value of a Promise Consistently Kept™. As a business leader, do you understand how the most important drivers of value have changed as a result of COVID? How does your business need to adapt in order to deliver upon these drivers of value and consistently keep your promise?

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10 Reasons Why Your Strategic Plan Was Built to Fail Claude Ricks, Efram Lebovits, James Hunter

ffective strategic planning helps companies establish organizational alignment and realize sustainable long-term growth. And yet, many planning processes feel mechanical and only engage select senior leaders. As a result, many organizations struggle to define ambitious growth goals or gain the alignment required to successfully action their plan. We’ve seen several challenges arise when an organization adopts a “status quo” strategic planning process that does not align with its context and realities. Standard approaches often do not meaningfully account for the organization’s size and breadth of stakeholders, historical ability to execute at speed, and risk appetite. Nor do many standard approaches properly consider how market dynamics could change during the planning horizon. This leads to stagnant, poorly bought-into plans that are not

adaptive to change or disruption (constants in today’s business world). A status quo strategic planning approach is especially troublesome for complex multi-stakeholder organizations. Organizations that have historically moved at a slower pace require an approach that considers and embraces their unique needs. Failure to adapt a strategic planning approach and initiatives to an organization’s context results in limited growth, unmet targets, and misaligned expectations. After talking to clients and critically analyzing standard strategic planning approaches, we identified ten core challenges that many organizations (especially large multi-stakeholder ones) may have with today’s more typical approaches.

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Challenges That Standard Strategic Planning Processes Create

Underleveraged Leaders

Missed Opportunities

Leaders aren’t purposefully engaged and roles to contribute aren’t clearly defined

Strategy discussions center around incremental moves; the environment and processes required to engage and push perceived boundaries are not present

Collaboration between the Board, Executives, and Senior and Middle Management is limited or, in some situations, non-existent

Day 1 of implementation should be day 1 of implementation, not day 1 of socialization

Middle Management aren’t engaged when establishing the plan’s executional elements

Misalignment around the organization’s real challenges and what ‘end-game’ success is

Leaders don’t have appropriate soak time, decreasing alignment and buy-in

The right KPIs and accountabilities for outcomes are not accurately defined

Strategy is based on a few leaders’ subjective (and sometimes disparate) opinions rather than an aligned-to fact base

4 years is too long of a horizon; more frequent pulse checks on strategy are required to enable the correct strategic pivots

Many of these above stated issues stem from rigid processes that fail to build the organizational alignment that’s required for successful planning and execution. In our work, we have found that a change management orientation to strategic planning enables ‘break out’ strategies by increasing: organizational alignment, broad

stakeholder engagement, and the degree of transparency and candor required to identify both high impact opportunities and the ‘sacred cows’ that are impeding growth. This approach prioritizes long-term effectiveness and execution over the speed to getting through the writing process.

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Don’t Just Survive, Thrive! 6 A 7-Step Approach to Unlocking Growth During the Pandemic Jordan Shapiro

ver the past eight months, businesses and individuals across all industries have been navigating through the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we now enter the second wave (or perhaps an extended plateau phase), maintaining focus on the immediate and short-term needs of your business, customers and employees remains paramount. At the same time, it’s important that companies start paying more attention to the medium and long-term horizons, even though they can’t clearly see what the future will look like. Organizations that re-balance their strategic decisions and operational execution with both shorter- and longer-term horizons in mind will be better equipped to consistently keep their promises to shareholders, customers, and employees. Although striking this balance will be different than before the pandemic, getting it right will ensure companies don’t simply survive – they’ll thrive over the longer term.

For many companies, this pandemic has been a change catalyst At Level5 Strategy we’ve helped several clients rapidly rebalance their perspectives and priorities in the short term while maintaining focus on the longer term. Many have said that the pandemic is compelling them to “live the future they’ve been talking about for years”. Some have rapidly deployed new digital capabilities while others have introduced new customer experiences. A growing number of companies are also repositioning their value propositions in the marketplace to be more attuned to their customers’ new wants and needs. There’s no magical recipe to maintaining a balance on short-term opportunities and long-term planning. In fact, the main ingredients are the same as before the pandemic. In our view, the recipe includes seven key steps.

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If actioned successfully, these steps will help companies thrive, even amid the pandemic slowdown: 1. Reaffirm your customer promise. Expectations are changing rapidly and consumers are adjusting how they interact with their preferred brands. Trust, safety, empathy, and convenience have become significantly more important since the pandemic started. It’s now more critical than ever that companies leverage data & analytical insights to gain a deep understanding of their customers’ changing wants and needs. A quantitative customer understanding will help companies identify major customer trends and adjust their promises to best align with key audiences’ drivers.

2. Craft a clear and concise strategic narrative. It’s important to be clear on what matters in delivering against a customer promise (and what doesn’t) and what successfully doing so looks like. While this is always true, it’s especially critical during periods of great disruption or change. A clearly defined end-state (grounded in customer insights) will help guide customer-centric decisions and ensure consistent, on-brand execution.

3. Pivot your business model where needed. Changing customer needs or a rapidly evolving competitive environment often calls for quick adjustments in a company’s go-to-market strategy and how they sell to, service, and support their customers. Business model adjustments can also positively impact how employees work and enable internal teams to make and rapidly execute new decisions.

4. Bring everyone along, transparently and empathetically. It’s not just the executive team that needs to be cooking from the same recipe book – everyone must be looped in to where their company is heading and how they’re planning to get there. Unless everyone is onboard, organizations are unlikely to be successful in forging a new path. Change is hard to absorb and it makes people anxious. Leaders should create opportunities to connect and empathize with their team. It will help them unlock employee performance and potential, while accepting change in these challenging times.

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5. Be agile; rapidly test, learn and scale. When moving quickly and juggling priorities in a volatile environment, it’s easy to drop the ball (or a few of them). Consider deploying focused teams or “pods” of people who embrace agile approaches to completing their work. You’ll drive incremental improvements by testing, failing – yes, failing – and learning rapidly. Over a short period of time (shorter than you think), you’ll boost the velocity of change that you bring to market.

6. Measure what matters. Metrics reveal what’s getting done and what isn’t. Active tracking enables you to see that your outcomes matter and impact is growing. Where possible, leverage technology to orchestrate a more efficient delivery of your strategy. Boost transparency and drive performance tracking of your plan in real time. There are a number of cost-effective digital solutions in the market to explore and adopt.

7. Don’t lose sight of the future. Major changes in direction will take longer to payoff, but the rewards are almost always worth it. It can be tempting to react (and keep reacting) to the market dynamic and shift investments for short-term gains. Without doubt, adopting a short-term focus was critical in the rapid transition to remote work. But be wary of staying in that mindset for too long; stop and think before you pause or cancel longer term strategic plans. Not only will it affect your clients and other stakeholders – it will be harder to restart and catch up later.

Sustainable growth is hard in these extraordinary times – but it is possible With the right recipe, the right leadership mindset, and the right balance of strategy and execution, organizations can continue to grow value for customers and ensure that their promises are consistently kept. That way, they won’t be just riding through the turbulence – they’ll harness it for even greater lift and more sustainable growth.

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7 Creating a Strong Business and Building a Better World During Times of Crisis Lauren Singer, Lily Hou

s COVID-19 continues to sweep across the world, corporations are presented with a unique and unprecedented challenge. Our communities, political leaders, and financial institutions are being severely tested, and it’s clear that we need the private sector to join the front lines in the fight against this pandemic. In these uncertain times, many executives and decision-makers are confronted with the tension to take a

strategic plan that was built for a bull market and reapply it to a crisis scenario. Corporations must respond quickly by adapting and innovating to meet the changing needs of consumers but do so in a way that supports their brand promise and purpose. Additionally, the opportunity to do good for society in this time of great need should not be overlooked.

“Companies that can pivot in the short-term by reallocating talent and assets to support those that have been most impacted by this pandemic, while staying true to their brand promise and values, will not only help society during this time of great need but will also win in the eyes of their stakeholders and employees in the long-term.”

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10,000 units

5,000 units

1: Dyson Dyson, a brand focused on innovation, designed and built a new type of ventilator in 10 days that targets the specific needs of COVID-19 patients. The company has plans to manufacture 10,000 of these for the UK government and donate 5,000 more. 2: Bauer Canadian hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer is putting its traditional business on ice. Rather than manufacturing visors to protect hockey players, Bauer is making face shields to protect healthcare workers who are battling on the front lines of this crisis. 3: HomePro Pest Control A local example is that of HomePro Pest Control, an Ontario based pest control service that is now offering hospital-grade disinfecting services to protect clients from the spread of the virus in their homes and businesses. Big or small, each of these companies are shining examples of how companies can leverage their unique set of assets and core competencies and reapply them in a way that is both beneficial to society and consistent with their brand’s purpose and promise. Companies that are successful in pivoting like the examples above will generate enormous goodwill that will provide a valuable advantage once this pandemic passes.

A company’s strategy should be consistent with their overall brand promise and values. Some considerations while developing one’s strategy when pivoting during a crisis include: • Identify your company’s strengths and keep them at the forefront • Know your customer’s/client’s values and ensure your actions have positive impact on them • Engage all stakeholders – customers, employees, board members, etc. to create a sense of community and care • Create metrics for measuring success so you can adapt and have greater impact • Remember to keep your company values and goals in line throughout the strategy Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford Motor Company, said that, “Creating a strong business and building a better world are not conflicting goals – they are both essential ingredients for long-term success.” The critical time for C-suites everywhere to pivot in order strengthen their brand and help society is now.

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8 “Building an Effective and Authentic Newcomer Strategy”, Q&A with Hua Yu, Managing Partner of Level5 Strategy Hua Yu

Roughly 300,000 immigrants come to Canada each year, with that number expected to rise to 350,000 by 2021. By 2036, over 1 in 3 Canadians will belong to a visible minority group. Is your company prepared to reach out to this growing segment? Level5 Strategy has worked with some iconic Canadian brands to help them adjust their strategy to better attract new Canadians. In this post, Hua Yu, Managing Partner of Level5 Strategy, discusses how the strategy geared to new immigrants differs from other strategies and why The Value of a Promise Consistently Kept™ still resonates.

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What are the first steps organisations need to take if they want to attract new Canadians? The very first step is uncovering behavioural patterns within the community they’re targeting. New immigrants don’t know a lot of people, which makes them susceptible to being tricked by companies. Newcomers are aware of their vulnerable position. To protect themselves, they usually lean towards trusted resources within their community, such as real estate and life insurance brokers, close friends, family members, community leaders, etc. Companies must understand this social behaviour before they can use it to their advantage. The second step is to develop authentic connections with the community’s pillars. Organizations can achieve this by positioning themselves as value-added friends of the neighbourhood that are there to help. Companies shouldn’t be afraid to immerse themselves in the community and build the emotional connections with these newcomers. “Serve before ask”, this applies to any organizations including banking, non-for-profit, retail, telecommunications, etc. In what ways should the newcomer journey be related to the company’s strategy? When Level5 Strategy was working with one of the Schedule 1 banks, my team spent a lot of time studying the settlement journey of newcomers with a specific emphasis on their home countries. Banks are usually

“Taking into account that India and China represent the biggest immigration cohorts, companies can’t afford to ignore these educational aspirations. Attracting new Canadians isn’t just about the product/service that you sell, it’s about helping them honour things they consider sacred.”

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very good at getting people into their doors, but with newcomers, they need to roll out the welcome mat before they arrive, that is while they’re still in their home country. For example, a few banks invite people to open a checking or a savings account 75 days before they get on an airplane. This offer can really open up the newcomer’s journey, create a sense of positive urgency, and make people feel more supported. In some countries, banks don’t differentiate between a checking and a savings account; early offers are great opportunities to start an informed dialogue and build a relationship. One bank offers newcomers a safety deposit box because, what’s at the top of their mind? Their family’s wellbeing. They need to protect their valuables while leveraging their experience to find a job and build a home. What is important to newcomers and how can companies harness that importance? Companies should understand that newcomers are proud of their cultural identity. This understanding should resonate at every touchpoint because newcomers are seeking companies that mirror their values and culture. An interesting factor here is that newcomers also want to be part of the western culture, so it’s important to appreciate these sensitivities. I emphasize this because it’s often hard for companies to recognize these nuances. Many professionals, even on my own team, are secondgeneration Canadians and it can be difficult for them to grasp what their parents or grandparents experienced when they were settling here.

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Another thing companies should be mindful of when communicating with new immigrants is how much they care about their children’s education. The Immigration Department report obtained by the Toronto Star has shown that 36% of the children of immigrants aged 25 to 35 held university degrees, compared to 24% of their peers with Canadian-born parents. For Chinese and Indian parents, education is a revered investment: more than 50% of the children born to Chinese and Indian immigrants in Canada graduated from university. Taking into account that India and China represent the biggest immigration cohorts, companies can’t afford to ignore these educational aspirations. Attracting new Canadians isn’t just about the product/service that you sell, it’s about helping them honour things they consider sacred. It is also crucial that all of a company’s applications, documents and marketing materials are written in the newcomers’ native language (not direct translation). Language fosters a climate of comfort, inclusion and trust. When companies are able to achieve these things, they will win newcomers’ business as well. Not all immigrant stories are the same. How can companies avoid a cookie-cutter approach? There are a lot of subcategories. One large group of newcomers that brands need to think of as potential customers are those who come to Canada for education. According to the Ministry of Immigration, Refugees and

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Citizenship, nearly 54,000 of the ~721,000 international students who studied in Canada became permanent residents in 2018. Many of these students feel isolated because their families are in their home country. These are very young people who are still finding their path in life. Mental health is a big talking point for this group because they need assistance navigating solitude and alienation, but they often can’t express themselves properly in English. Being authentic, empathetic, and understanding of what new Canadians experience as young people in a new environment is critical for organizations who are serious about reaching this growing segment. If companies pay attention to how they can help new Canadians, they will win their trust and build great brand reputation among this group. Where do companies fail when trying to build their base of newcomers? Companies tend to fail if they refuse to accept that this is a long-term investment. There’s no quick ROI. Attracting newcomers will be achieved through an authentic experience that says, “We get it.” Not just on their first day of settlement, or the second, but over the course of the entire newcomer journey. The brands that understand the value of a promise and consistently keep it will succeed, those that don’t will lose. Winning newcomers over isn’t going to be accomplished in a flash.

“Attracting newcomers will be achieved through an authentic experience that says, “We get it.” Not just on their first day of settlement, or the second, but over the course of the entire newcomer journey. The brands that understand the value of a promise and consistently keep it will succeed, those that don’t will lose.”

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“It’s not just about finding a distribution channel for the brand’s marketing communications. It’s about making a genuine effort in all the key places to show that they care.”

We can expect that between 25%-28% of Canada’s population will be made up of foreign-born individuals by 2031, according to demographic projections made by Statistics Canada. Almost 60% of those individuals will come from China and India. If companies want to remain relevant, they need to face these facts, adapt to these changes, and make long-term commitments to this segment. What’s the most important thing that companies need to do in order to win newcomers? The most important thing comes down to 1) understanding newcomers’ unique behaviors, needs and wants, and 2) making an investment in the community. Let me focus on making an investment. It’s not just about finding a distribution channel for the brand’s marketing communications. It’s about making a genuine effort in all the key places to show that they care. It’s about having a conversation from the branding perspective all the way

down to the sales channel, community partnerships, customized products, etc. Winning the market isn’t an isolated event – it’s a chain reaction that requires dedication at all levels. As consultants, we talk a lot about strategy and the importance of leadership at the top. Strategy may be executed at the top, but sales campaigns are won at the local level. Leadership teams needs to learn from the ground up because that’s where relationships are formed and change is activated. These could be simple things. Leaders can start by rethinking their existing action plan so that it engages people who don’t look like their existing clients and staff members. They should ask themselves “What is it like to get off an airplane and not be able to speak English?” Companies tend to ignore these problems because the government has many hotlines for newcomers, and also because they lack the experience of reframing these problems as opportunities. In the end, establishing presence in a way that’s meaningful for the community should take precedence before anything else.

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9 New Book Shows CEOs How to Harness the Power of Brand David Kincaid

In our age of disruption, customers are increasingly turning to trusted brands for comfort. With COVID-19 fast-forwarding this trend, it’s becoming essential for senior leaders to harness the power of their brand if they want to seize market share and boost their bottom line. So why aren’t more companies leveraging their brands to capture customer loyalty? David Kincaid’s latest book, The Brand-Driven CEO: Embedding Brand into Business Strategy, reveals why most business leaders misunderstand, overlook and under-utilize the value of their brands. Find out what prompted David to write the book and how today’s leaders can benefit from an earlier era that treated brand as an asset worth investing in instead of a marketing cost to be cut.

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You spent 25 years in high profile, corporate brand management positions working with some of the largest brands in North America. What key insights have you gleaned that made you write this book? I had the chance to watch great brand leaders of some of these companies view their brand as the central organizing principle around which their entire business was coordinated. American Express was clear that its brand stood for a level of customer service and capability that people couldn’t receive with other financial payment cards. This is why it was known for its higher level of service and membership privileges. The company went so far as to acknowledge its card holders as members, so even the language the company used set American Express apart as a customer-experience driven brand. It had no spending limits and had a range of unique benefits that members valued whereas Visa and MasterCard were full of rules and constraints. This is typical of other successful companies – they see their brand as something to be experienced rather than just a product to buy. They understand that product features are proof points to a bigger brand proposition, which is why brands that focus on customer experience outperform pure product-driven brands.

“In a nutshell, because corporate values shifted over time and companies became overly focused on short-term gains instead of sustainable profitable growth.” Labatt is another example. The brewery managed a large portfolio of brands as customer experience vehicles, not just liquids in a bottle. Labatt understood the beer market and what motivated consumers, and because of that it was able to create a portfolio of different beers for a variety of beer lovers. This consumer understanding is what enabled Labatt to become the No.1 brewer in Canada. Working with Labatt, American Express and others opened my eyes to the importance of the brand as a guiding principle in a company. We’re seeing now with the COVID-19 pandemic that the companies that have sustained themselves are those that continued to

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reach out to consumers through innovative methods and engage them in ways that are meaningful for them – with a real sense of purpose. They continue to be consumer-driven, not product driven. These organizations didn’t set out to create mere purchasing decisions – they were determined to capture loyalty. This book is anchored around your observations that brands are often among the most underleveraged assets in a company. Why aren’t today’s leaders doing more to harness the power of their brand? In a nutshell, because corporate values shifted over time and companies became overly focused on short-term gains instead of sustainable profitable growth. Many organizational leaders I worked with came of age in the consumer-packaged goods (CPG) era between the 1950s and 1970s when companies such as Colgate and Proctor & Gamble ruled supreme. These managers had it drilled into them that a brand was an asset that needed investment, knowledge and commitment before it brought value to the company. For the most part, companies continued to implement this principle well into the 1990s and early 2000s. But the financial crisis of 2008 caused market leadership to change overnight. Suddenly, a group of leaders were put in charge with largely financial backgrounds because they were hired to return companies to profit. So, instead of brand-driven leaders who harnessed value propositions and the consumer experience, we now had leaders who were focused on squeezing an extra half point out of a profit margin. Said another way, cost cutting. This new breed of leadership viewed brand management and its components – marketing, sales, market research, product development etc. – as costs rather than assets that need time and investment to generate ROI. Because, what happens when investment in those areas goes down? Companies’ ability to connect with the market goes down as well. All they end up doing is selling the product at the lowest price and it’s hard to compete on price point alone. As soon as bean counters are running the place, they tend to cut whatever is considered “cost” on the income statement. This has had a negative effect on many sectors. Supermarkets compete purely on price now, regardless of what they’re promoting – fruits, meats, soft drinks etc. Their advertising is focused on lowest everyday pricing rather than quality. Airlines are another industry example that competes primarily on

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price. Air carriers used to have a wider range of travel class that came with different food, beverage and service menus, so if you chose to pay more, you also got more. Mercedes recently launched a C class which, when you think about it, is off brand. This illustrates to what degree even higher end products have become price driven. When products are less consumer focused there’s a lot less differentiation. Once products become very comparable, it causes all competitors to bring their price down which drains the margin out of sectors that used to be very profitable. I wrote the book because I saw this trend of purely profit-driven leadership being questioned. Consumers, especially Millennials, are seeking more purpose. They’re looking for socially responsible brands that can engage them in a range of ways – not just sell them something off the shelf or online. As I say to my MBA students, you can’t cut the costs in areas that are your bread and butter. So, while Millennials look for quality merchandise, many of them don’t want it at the expense of the environment or gender equality. They’re seeking a higher order purpose and they want to feel good about their decision to buy a certain brand. If they know that a certain brand is using child labour to produce products en masse at low price points, many are likely to boycott it and talk about it on social media. The market has changed since the golden age of CPG, with Millennials dictating market rules today. They hold a large portion of spending power, yet organizations struggle to come up with a strategy that wins their hearts and minds. How can today’s companies leverage the power of their brand to capture Millennial loyalty? First off, I’d like to burst the bubble of anyone who thinks Millennials can’t be loyal – they’re as loyal as Baby Boomers and Gen Xers. But their loyalty is expressed differently. If they can’t be loyal why are so many of them prepared to stand in front of Apple stores at 4 a.m., in the pouring rain, waiting to buy the latest iPhone? From a purely functional perspective, all they’re buying is a phone with a better camera. This speaks to the strong connection between Apple and its consumers. The Apple brand has seeped its way into Millennials’ hearts, minds and wallets because it delivers on a bigger value proposition than its functionalities. Apple speaks to Millennials on an emotional level. The company understood that people are looking for easy-to-use products that work well but also look cool. Moreover, it

Top 10 Must Reads

has been consistent on delivering that promise and it has evolved in parallel with the users’ expectations. The reason Apple’s competitors and many other companies fail to leverage that loyalty is because they stopped conducting research and development. As a result, they don’t understand what’s driving Millennial purchase decisions. When you don’t understand what makes your consumers tick and what’s important to them, then you’ll tend to continue selling your product at the lowest price. The offer becomes completely functional and it comes down to download speeds, data capacity and so on. Many phone brands market themselves this way – all they communicate to shoppers is “Here’s your phone, here’s what you do with it and this is what you pay for it.” And that’s what many Millennials have come to expect. There’s so much comparable variety that they make their purchase decision based purely on the lowest price rather than their love of a particular brand.

“Consumers, especially Millennials, are seeking more purpose. They’re looking for socially responsible brands that can engage them in a range of ways – not just sell them something off the shelf or online. As I say to my MBA students, you can’t cut the costs in areas that are your bread and butter.” Your book goes into detail about what makes companies successful. What are successful companies doing differently in order to reach the hearts and minds of their consumers? They’re leveraging their consumers’ emotional expectations and framing their connection around it. Victoria Secret took a category with zero brand appeal and turned it into a lifestyle brand. When you think about it, all Victoria Secret is selling is women’s underwear. But over time, shopping at Victoria Secret became a lifestyle statement. It revealed something to the consumer about themselves: it was a treat. The company leaders took

Level5™ Strategy

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In this game-changing book, David Kincaid shows how senior leadership can turn their brand into a long-term strategic generator of future revenues and profits.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Unlocking a Different Kind of Value

The New 4Ps and Six CEO Success Factors in Action

The Brand-Driven CEO Assessment and New 4Ps Playbook

A branded business system™ creates a cohesive approach to maximizing brand value and delivering that value to the customer. As a business system, the brand and all the activities surrounding its value drivers become fully integrated into an organization’s operations and management values.

Either intuitively or strategically, branddriven CEOs regard the New 4Ps not only as strategic contributors to the brand but also as sources of substantial untapped value.

Are you, your senior leadership team, and your organization ready to begin your brand journey?

the time and investment to educate themselves about how their consumers were segmented and they learned that emotions were driving the brand forward. As a result, they were able to create an experience that was highly customized and personalized. It was unlike the general experience in retail where shoppers browse the shelfs until they see something they like. The reason Victoria Secret is in the red now is because the company didn’t evolve its brand. The leaders had it

trapped in a traditional “bricks and mortar” retail business model which is expensive to maintain and innovate with. They never gave the digital arena the level of priority it deserved. Going digital sooner and bigger would have enabled Victoria Secret to connect with their shoppers on an even more intimate level. The deeper connection would have resulted in an even more customized experience which is what drives loyalty for a highly personalized category. Victoria Secret stopped thinking of itself as a personal brand experience and started to

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think of itself in terms of retail sales per square foot. The retailer became managed by a financial mindset instead of a branding mindset. What do you consider the biggest takeaway from this book? The biggest takeaway would be the importance of thinking about your brand as a business system™. I wrote this book for the same reason I founded Level5™ – I wanted to help business leaders reestablish their perspective of brands as assets. Many leaders lost their trust in the brand as a concept and I want to help them rebuild that trust. In the early days of Level5 I used to phone leaders of various companies and offered to talk to them about their brand. Usually I’d get the meeting because I was known in the industry and had an established reputation. But then they’d say something to the tune of, “Well, we’re not sure we need to do much because we just relaunched our website” or “We just changed our logo so we’re good for now.” Inside I was shaking my head because companies were mistaking brand management for marketing. While you have to market a brand, marketing and branding concepts are different. A lot of leaders are still confused about the difference and I hope that my book will make things clearer. What tangible learnings have you shared in this book that your readers can apply in their companies? They can start to inform themselves and their leadership teams to adopt a brand perspective across their organization. Although brand management is a soft skill to some degree, it can and should be very tangible and

About The Brand-Driven CEO Drawing upon forty plus years of combined experience as an executive with General Foods, American Express, Labatt Breweries, and Corus Entertainment, and the nearly two decades he’s spent building Level5 Strategy into one of Canada’s top growth strategy consultancies, Kincaid delivers practical assessments and game plans for leaders across functional areas, clarifying the confusion between brand and marketing management. Such hard-earned, actionable insights can help you turn your brand into a long-term strategic generator of future revenues and profits.

Top 10 Must Reads

measurable. Brand management isn’t marketing – it’s not something you should assign to your marketing department. It has to be owned at the CEO level to be successful. Adopting the brand as a business strategy is a conscious decision made by senior management. Once executives of a company reestablish their brand as an asset, the way they structure their organization starts to change. They start to think differently about the kind of competencies and skills they need to bring in. They look at priorities differently, including planning stages and their supply chain. All these components undergo a transformation. The book took me four years to write and I engaged four MBA students to help me with the research. Unlike my previous books, The Brand-Driven CEO: Embedding Brand into Business Strategy, is much more fact-based. It draws on world class examples that guide my findings. The book provides CEOs a self-guided assessment and game plan so they can assess their organization and move it along their brand-driven journey. Finally, the book introduces a new management construct based on the new 4Ps of brand management for CEOs who are prepared to embrace their brand as an asset and orient their companies around it. Level5 has survived for 20 years because so many business leaders are in need of a fresh approach to running their business. That’s what we bring to our partners, and I wrote this book as an extension of the Level5 philosophy that views brands as an asset; a business system that structures and determines enterprises’ operating models and drives their business strategy for sustainable, profitable growth.

Level5™ Strategy

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Doing Business Like a Woman – The Triumphs, the Challenges and the Rewards Hua Yu

Level5 Strategy Managing Partner Hua Yu interviewed Julia Bao, founder of skincare brand BAO Laboratory, and Elle AyoubZadeh, founder of luxury footwear company Zvelle. Both women are challenging consumers and the market by raising expectations and encouraging women to pursue their dreams.

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Top 10 Must Reads

An Interview with

Julia Bao & Elle AyoubZadeh by Hua Yu

Julia Bao, founder of skincare brand BAO Laboratory, and Elle AyoubZadeh, founder of luxury footwear company Zvelle, are challenging consumers and the market by raising expectations and encouraging women to pursue their dreams. Level5 Managing Partner Hua Yu caught up with them recently to find out what drives them, how they’re beating the odds and the joys of female entrepreneurship.

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It goes without saying that entrepreneurs are the bloodline of every healthy economy. They promote growth through job creation, innovation and productivity and they open up new market opportunities that have ripple effects across industries. It also goes without saying that female entrepreneurs still lag behind their male counterparts when it comes to starting and running their own business. Canadian women who start their own business make 58% less than their male counterparts, according to a Women’s Entrepreneurship Study by PayPal Canada and Barraza & Associates. Women are also majority owners of about 15.6% of small and medium-sized enterprises with one or more employees in Canada, according to Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub (WEKH). But statistics aside, female entrepreneurs represent a huge untapped opportunity for the Canadian economy and the numbers back it up: Bridging the gap in earnings of women and men entrepreneurs could unlock an additional $88.2 billion in contribution to the Canadian economy, according to the PayPal study. Enter Julia Bao and Elle AyoubZadeh. Julia, who founded BAO Laboratory, and Elle AyoubZadeh, who runs luxury footwear company Zvelle, are harnessing this opportunity and embracing the challenges. Just as importantly, they’re upending the rules of the game and enjoying the ride.

Hua: Julia and Elle, tell us a little about your companies in your own words. How did you come up with the idea and what motivated you to start your own business? Julia: The idea for the company started by talking to my friends and family members. We talk a lot about skincare in general and this made me realize just how many skincare products contained ingredients that aren’t good for the skin. Sometimes as much as 90% of ingredients are non-essential fillers which can be quite damaging. Since I did my PhD training in small molecule research,

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this got me thinking “How can I do better?” I’m driven to challenge the current market trends and the shoppers to be more informed about what they apply on their skin. This is why BAO Laboratory is focused on using natural ingredients and combining them with a scientific approach to make innovative types of skincare products. Our serums, oils and elixirs contain no harmful ingredients or additives, while helping women attain healthier, more beautiful skin. We have also developed an intuitive oil-delivery system that enables women to customize their routine to their own particular skincare needs. BAO products are as real and unique as the women who use them. Lastly, as an entrepreneur, I also want to inspire more women from the STEM fields to start their own busines. Elle: At Zvelle, we consider ourselves a challenger fashion brand because our mission is to revolutionize and modernize the way women are portrayed through fashion. We want fashion to reflect a more accurate picture of women in our society that includes older women, women with disability and women of all sizes and ethnicities. That’s why our shoes are often named after incredible women such as Amelia Earhart – we want to empower all women to reach for their dreams. I’m passionate about adding something positive to the world and leaving it better than I found it. Although my background is in finance, I learned over the years that the best way for me to achieve my goal is by going into business myself. It’s the best platform by far where I can make a difference. And I’d like to create comfortable, stunning shoes for a change. They help make the world a better place too.

“I’m passionate about adding something positive to the world and leaving it better than I found it.”

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“I always remind myself that I’m an entrepreneur who happens to be a woman. I’m a person first, and that comes before my gender identity.”

Hua: What are the challenges that female entrepreneurs face in business today?

woman. My parents were immigrants so if I wanted to buy something for myself, I had to get a job.

Julia: The main challenge is that the world doesn’t expect a lot from females. Our society sets a different expectation standard for women than it does for men, which translates into establishing a lower bar of achievement for women in business. People expect women to focus on raising a family but not to act on their own personal values. Because of this culture, many women end up suppressing their desire to achieve more. They pigeonhole themselves instead of pursuing more complex goals. I always remind myself that I’m an entrepreneur who happens to be a woman. I’m a person first, and that comes before my gender identity.

The biggest challenge women entrepreneurs face is also their biggest advantage, which is that they’re underestimated. People often think that I’m soft and that I’ll concede quickly during negotiations. But I’m decisive and it shocks people when they see that I’m willing to walk away.

Elle: I’ve witnessed the pressures on women to conform to stereotypes which hold them back. But my story is a bit different because I’m the eldest of five children raised by a single mother. I always say that if you want to achieve anything, just give it to the single mother and she’ll succeed beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. I never had the luxury to think of myself as a man or a

BAO Laboratory is doing really well in China where many North American companies want to expand. Julia has a Chinese background, which is an advantage, but she sells her products in China under the banner of a Canadian brand. Can you share with us how you managed to enter the Chinese market? Julia: The Chinese market is very attractive to sellers because the population is enormous, and the buying power is high. For a small startup like BAO Laboratory, the best move was to take advantage of the social media. It’s one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to

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“We’ve invited women of all ages to share stories about what “Walk how you want” means to them. When we post their stories, we share the photos of these women without any filters because we want the storytelling to be authentic.”

start. We’ve harnessed a number of popular Chinese platforms that are well developed and organized, but we also leveraged Canada’s Chinese community. My Chinese background was definitely an advantage because whoever wants to do business in China must understand the culture. Chinese sales partners have a different way of doing business than in North America. Knowing the rules and nuances of operating there is instrumental because sales partners can help you enter the market faster. At first, we identified key influencers as part of or marketing strategy. We defined specific selection criteria that helped us find people who understood our brand and helped us reach our target audience. BAO Laboratory had a limited marketing budget, but we were able to achieve big results. Once we got the ball rolling, we invested in solidifying our band in China to grow it long term. Our market success in China gave us the financial support to develop BAO’s brand strategy with the Level5 team. This enabled us to achieve results that were even more sustainable and longstanding.

Hua: Female entrepreneurs tend to do things more personally and are able to reach their consumers from an emotional angle. Elle has been able to leverage her own personal brand to grow her business. Tell us what you do to accomplish this. Elle: I’d like to give a lot of credit to Level5’s David Kincaid who said that one of the most important things for entrepreneurs is to tell their own story. They have to define who they are and where they’re going. Without this awareness, it’s tempting to jump all over the place and emulate other brands or hire celebrities as brand ambassadors. At Zvelle, believe in inspiring women to walk how they want. This is a vertical that our creative storytelling is framed around. We’ve invited women of all ages to share stories about what “Walk how you want” means to them. When we post their stories, we share the photos of these women without any filters because we want the storytelling to be authentic. Our mission is to be accessible to all women, which is why we produce designer shoes with price points that are affordable to many, not few.

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“Zvelle is all about being accepting of all cultures, body sizes and gender identities. When I see so many different women share their unique stories and live fulfilling lives, it makes me feel that I’m accomplishing my purpose.”

“I receive a lot of mail from loyal customers and that always puts a smile on my face, even on difficult days. Many customers send us before and after photos of their face to show us how our products have improved their skin.”

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We have also given out 400 pairs of shoes to healthcare workers in the U.S. and Canada because we wanted our brand to recognize real heroes. It feeds into our value of authenticity. Zvelle comprises only five people, but during the lockdown we got many people to nominate healthcare workers during these hard times. It’s another way for us to reach women in a real way and help people get recognized for the work they’re doing in their community.

Elle: Our plan is to expand Zvelle’s product categories and focus on casual options that are a better fit for the socially distanced, casual lifestyle we’re experiencing now. We’ll continue to promote our V loafer, which is our first shoe to be named after a man – Victor Frankl, Austrian Holocaust survivor. Frankl was the founder of logotherapy, a branch of psychotherapy that focuses on healing through meaning. It ties into our brand value and my own personal quest for purpose and meaning.

The brand is a personal extension of myself because I’m able to connect with people from different walks of life. I have this ability in part because of my cultural upbringing. I’m also married to a Chinese man; I have a brother who’s gay and lives in France. I also have a brother who lives with a disability and I lived on several continents. My life experiences have helped me become a better, fuller person. I don’t think I’d be able to reach out to people and have the drive to build a fashion brand without these experiences.

Hua: We talked a lot about the constraints of female entrepreneurship. But what about the joys of being a woman entrepreneur? This is something we need to celebrate yet it’s a topic that doesn’t get much airtime.

Hua: What’s next in store for BAO Laboratory and Zvelle? Julia: We plan to invest more in research and development because innovation represents the basis for our business – we always need to have new products and innovative solutions in the pipeline. Our other plan is to eliminate poor-performing products and build a loyalty program for our customers. Over the next several years, we want to expand across North America and explore entry markets in Taiwan and Vietnam where economy is growing, as well as Australia and India.

Julia: I receive a lot of mail from loyal customers and that always puts a smile on my face, even on difficult days. Many customers send us before and after photos of their face to show us how our products have improved their skin. That’s the most encouraging thing that keeps me going – the recognition from customers and the realization that my work has helped them feel better about themselves. Elle: The biggest joy I get is the knowledge that I’m fulfilling my purpose in life. I’m building my business because, to echo what Julia said, I want to make women feel like they don’t have to suppress their desires. Zvelle is all about being accepting of all cultures, body sizes and gender identities. When I see so many different women share their unique stories and live fulfilling lives, it makes me feel that I’m accomplishing my purpose.

About Hua Yu Hua Yu is a Managing Partner at Level5 Strategy. Hua has over 25 years of work experience in business and general management roles in Canada, the US, and China. Hua possesses deep experience in multicultural growth strategy and people/ organization strategy. Hua is the founder of #WeWorkingWomen, North America’s most influential Chinese Women Leadership platform. Hua received her BA in International Business from Shanghai University and her MA in Communication Arts from the New York Institute of Technology.

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Top 10 Must Reads

Authors For more about each of the authors, click on their respective LinkedIn link below their name.

David Kincaid

Ian Madell

Michael Carter

Matt Kelly

Hua Yu

Claude Ricks

Efram Lebovits

Jordan Shapiro

Rob Gizzie

Russell Reeves

James Hunter

Lauren Singer

Founder & Chair

Managing Partner, President

Managing Partner

Principal

Director

Senior Consultant

Lily Hou Consultant

Consultant

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