CREDENTIALS ! April 2015! !
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! Soundlessly collateral and incompatible! ! World is suddener than we fancy it. ! ! World is crazier and more of it than we think. ! !
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Incorrigibly plural
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! Based on the poem ‘Snow’ by Louis MacNeice!
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What is pluralthinking for ? ! pluralthinking exists to change people’s relationship with brands for the better.! ! We inspire, illuminate and warn, ! so that ! brands can communicate, position and
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grow more effectively.! 14/04/15
We are all plural. ! ! What resonates with us, how we connect, what we belong to – all incorrigibly plural.! ! How we engage with brands depends on the cultural context.! ! That context is changing. As never before we are in a period of creative destruction, re-invention and reappraisal. ! ! “Feel the drunkenness of life being various” ! ! ! ! RTC Credentials
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A time for fresh thinking. ! ! As identity becomes ever more plural, clarity of ideas and purpose become more important.! ! Brands must refine and clarify their defining ideas and purpose in order to have a role that changes lives for the better. ! ! Brands are looking to shape change, not just respond to change. They look for agencies who can not just provide insight but provoke transformation. ! ! Only fresh thinking can do that. ! ! ! RTC Credentials
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There’s a better way. ! How traditional agencies work is just old fashioned. ! ! Fixed teams, expensive premises, homogeneity of disciplines – it’s inefficient – even suffocating. ! ! And how does all this ‘stuff’ improve the thinking? ! ! It doesn’t. ! ! Pluralthinking rejects ‘stuffocation’. ! ! ! !
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! RTC Creden)als
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pluralthinking
Why are we plural thinking? !
pluralthinking is our philosophy and our brand. !
A talented and experienced hub, supported by the pluralthinkers: Collaborating, sharing, bringing in diverse views and broad expertise. ! pluralthinkers are seasoned international brandbuilders, researchers, experts, specialists and agency partners curated for your brief.! Because we curate the right team every time, we’re more efficient, more flexible and more passionate. From creative tension comes better conversations. ! ! RTC  Creden)als Â
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What is our offer?
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consumer insight!
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brand thinking !
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cultural intelligence, !
Based in the UK, we are proud to have worked for world-class brands in over 20 countries. ! !
RTC Creden)als
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What are we good at? ! We work in ! •
Communications development & evaluation!
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Brand positioning!
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Human understanding!
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Trends and foresight. !
! International work is our bag. !
RTC Creden)als
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Approaches ! pluralthinking assignment designs are bespoke. We don’t offer research ‘products’. We often include: ! •
Focus groups & creativity sessions!
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Depth interviews!
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Ethnography & Observational!
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Safaris & cultural immersions!
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Blogs!
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In-Home trials / Consumer self-ethnography!
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Expert touchdowns / Salons!
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Semiotics!
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Behavioural Economics! 14/04/15
Current Alcohol Clients!
Brands our team know well!
Agency Experience!
accreditations and memberships! Pending!
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case studies‌!
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Target Understanding ! A premium vodka brand wanted to position, communicate and grow successfully in Russia, Poland, Mexico and the USA. They asked us to help them gain an in-depth understanding of their target audience and their relationship with the brand, a view on how the brand can best play a role in their lives, and an indepth understanding of the nuances between and across markets.! Pluralthinking tackled this with a two pronged approach: ! Firstly we gathered target insight and cultural intelligence via a combination of blogs and cultural immersion. ! This was then followed by interactive focus groups where we fully explored the brand and category position. ! ! Our outputs provided valuable strategic direction both for the local teams and also the greater global strategy.!
Brand Positioning ! ! An international drinks company was looking to enter the growing whiskey world. They had a clear hypothesis on who they were targeting, the angles they could take, and the targets they wanted to achieve. Pluralthinking was asked to evaluate the launch strategy and positioning angle and explore how they could refine and optimise the concepts. ! The approach we took consisted of focus groups and in-depth interviews. The focus groups were split between leading edge whiskey drinkers and ‘traditional’ consumers. The in-depth interviews with bartenders were important as we understood that the bartender take-up was just as critical as the consumer love for the product. ! Our outputs brought crucial insights and warning lights allowing the team to make an informed and confident decision on the approach required to move forward.!
Cultural intelligence ! A global spirits brand wished to recruit more Millennials into it’s trademark through the launch of a new product. They needed to understand if it’s launch would deepen the consumers’ affection to the brand, if they had the consumers’ permission to launch a new product, and how to best launch and communicate in the UK. ! We figured we’d get deeper insights if the product was inserted into the consumers’ lives so we did some home-trailing and also hosted some interactive house parties. These were then followed up by focus groups where we tested findings further. ! The insights gained allowed the client to position the brand effectively, remove any cultural sticking points, and write an exciting and effective launch strategy for a category-disruptive product. !
Target understanding! A relatively new product to the drinks market at 5 years old had seen sales growth slow down in the past year. Previous research had identified the occasion where the product would fit. Pluralthinking were asked to better understand how to deliver against the consumer need through the product and it’s marketing mix.! Pluralthinking approached this task with focus groups and mini-bartender groups. We spoke to a range of typologies: non-trailists, occasionals, and loyals. This allowed us to deliver a multi-dimensional view of the brand and understand the barrier that exist for different groups. ! We delivered extensive on-trade insights that painted a holistic understanding of the barriers that existed and how we felt the client could address them.!
Communications Evaluation ! ! An international brand had a new marketing mix they were about to launch in the UK. They wanted to understand the comprehension, relevance and relative importance of their key messages to Millennials to help optimise communications. ! We focused on understanding the difference between loyal, occasional and lapsed drinkers in order to identify the gap between them. We did this through a series of focus groups and blogs. The blogs went first and allowed us to generate some potential insights that we then tested in the groups. ! The client received valuable feedback on the campaign that allowed them to convince a sign off for wider changes throughout the marketing mix and effectively made it stronger and more relevant to Millennials. !
Brand Positioning! ! One of the world's top 10 alcohol brands asked us to see how fresh their positioning is for the millennial target. ! We found ourselves at pre-parties, big nights out and get-togethers in London, Manchester and Glasgow, getting to grips with how the brand lives in Millennials’ lives. ! After a combo of ethnography, focus groups and leading edge consumer workshops, we brought it to life in a documentary which informed strategy and highlighted key opportunities that
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the brand would later go on to grow into.!
regional experience!
Europe! Our team’s experience in Europe goes back some 18 years. ! ! Experience includes! - For Brewers of Europe in Denmark, Poland, Italy, Spain, UK. ! - For Heineken in NL, UK, Russia! - For Brown Forman in the UK, Poland, Russia! - For Unilever in Poland, Czech Republic, France Germany, UK, Ireland, Spain! - For Tesco own-brand, UK! - For The Macallan, UK and Spain! ! ! ! ! ! -
*Note that, of course, these were not all pluralthinking projects but for our previous agencies. !
The Americas! We moderate ourselves in North America and work extensively with partners in Central and South America! ! Experience includes! - For Brown Forman in the US and Mexico.! - For Heineken in the US.! - For Unilever in the US.! - For The Macallan in the US.!
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*Note that, of course, these were not all pluralthinking projects but for our previous agencies. !
Middle East and Africa! pluralthinking has a wide range of agency partner and researcher / moderator and recruiter contacts in the M.E.A. Region, through our team’s work* there over many years. ! ! Experience includes! - for HSBC in UAE, Saudi, Kuwait and Egypt. ! - for William Grant & Sons in South Africa! - For SAB Millar in South Africa, SSA and Israel. ! - For Heineken in Vietnam.! - For the Macallan in Taiwan.!
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*Note that, of course, these were not all pluralthinking projects but for our previous agencies. !
Asia and Australasia! We’ve worked extensively across South and East Asia ! ! Experience includes! - For Unilever in China, Thailand, India and Malaysia ! - For Heineken in Vietnam, PRC and Taiwan. ! - For Glenfiddich in Taiwan, PRC and Singapore. !
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*Note that, of course, these were not all pluralthinking projects but for our previous agencies. !
some other things we offer!
Other things we offer!
Output that truly brings it to life!
Reports for internal audiences!
pluralthinking
Compelling film output!
Inspiring download workshops!
Soho Soho venue venue for for groups groups and and workshops! workshops!
Creative Briefs and Briefing Packs! ! We’re often asked to take our deliverables beyond the debrief. ! ! This could be a creative brief for your agency, or a briefing pack for your country partners. ! ! While we’ll meet the standard onepage creative brief we also include a few pages covering the background of the critical thinking to be sure everyone gets a real sense of the underlying truths in the thinking. ! ! This can be augmented with a full Briefing Pack covering! • Consumer language ! • Watch-points and guardrails! • Strategic observations and postdebrief builds. !
Pluralthinkers!
Meet the pluralthinkers!
The Core Team !
! Brett Templeton – Managing Partner! ! Brett is founder and Managing Director of pluralthinking. ! ! Previously Managing Partner of Flamingo London, Brett specialises in brand positioning and strategic communications development. ! ! He’s conducted countless projects on consumer culture in 42 countries at the last count. !
! Garret Cummings – Director ! (Head of Ethnography) ! ! A key pluralthinker, previously an award-winning planner at Mustoe Merriman in London and later at BBDO Barcelona, Garret lived and worked in Spain for many years and is fluent in Spanish and Catalan! ! He has worked and travelled extensively in Latin America and the Middle East.!
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He previously led the extensive Urban Futures program for bbdo across Europe and Latin America and is a talented and experienced ethnographer. !
The Core Team !
! James Stevenson – Client Executive! ! With a degree in Communication, Advertising & Marketing and a Masters in Professional Practice, James worked in marketing, events management and co-ordination for a premium international jewellery brand; spanning Ireland and the UK.! ! James is deeply involved in project design and implementation. ! ! He has been involved in cultural intelligence and insight for various projects including; Woodford Reserve, Jack Daniels, Heineken and Finlandia Vodka. ! ! ! !
Cameron Stewart – Associate Director! ! Cameron Stewart is our Pluralthinking Associate Director. ! ! Previously a marketing strategy consultant with brands like Microsoft, Nualight and his own award-winning brand Ark°, Cameron has recently been working with Heineken UK, Jack Daniels, Woodford Reserve and Finlandia. ! ! A specialist in brand positioning, insight and innovation, Cameron is a talented workshop facilitator and group moderator. !
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! Martin Pasco – Associate! ! Martin is a highly experienced Senior Qualitative Research consultant, from both the client and research agency sides of the marketing world, He gained 10 years experience working as Senior Insight Manager at Unilever PLC before continuing on specialized research roles. ! ! Martin brings a unique ‘clientside’ perspective to our work. ! !
Pamela Green – Associate! ! Pamela Green of Ichor Consulting, is a pluralthinking associate. ! !
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She has been working in & around customer insight as a researcher, planner, consultant & facilitator for over 25 years working on 60+ projects across more than 30 countries in that time! !
!pluralthinkers ! !! ! ! Tiu De Haan – Cool-hunter and ! ! ! Cultural Analyst ! ! ! Tiu de Haan is a Londoner, born and bred, but with Estonian and ! Dutch blood and a curiosity that has taken her to live in places as ! diverse as Goa, San Francisco and Reykjavik.! ! ! She is a facilitator, cultural analyst, writer and an associate with ! pluralthinking, as well as the founder of a successful not-for-profit. Tiu is now brings her passion and creativity to brands who want to see things afresh!
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David Hall – Creative Director! ! With a career spanning television and film production as well as advertising, David Hall is our Head of Creative Services. ! ! David keeps an eye on our creative output – ensuring that we bring learnings to life in new ways. He (half) jokingly refers to himself as “Head of Style and General Appearance” !
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! Josephine Shaw - Associate! Josephine Shaw is a highly experienced insights strategist and qualitative researcher who has worked in a wide range of sectors through her long career. ! ! Jo is experienced in a whole range of qualitative approaches, including workshops and observational. ! ! Her background as a former Account Planner has created actionable findings and models.! ! !
! Andrew Uchenna Onyeagbako! - Associate! Andrew is an insights consultant with over a decade of experience. He lives and breathes ethnography and loves helping brands tell stories that are crafted to inspire consumer action.! !
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He has worked across a number of personal care brands both nationally and internationally, the most interesting and revelatory of recent times being a Philips project taking an exhaustive look at Japanese male personal grooming habits. !
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! Alex Gordon, Semiotician ! Alex is the founder of Sign Salad and has conducted semiotic analyses across four continents for a range of alcohol, FMCG, telecoms, luxury, technology, automotive, travel, pharmaceutical, sports, leisure, and public sector brands. He has led projects including the semiotics of ageing for Heineken and of masculinity for brands such as Dove Men+Care, Armani, Tag Heuer, and Speed Stick USA.! He was previously Head of Semiotics at Flamingo International and has a PhD in Semiotics and Identity Politics. Alex is a Fellow of NIECI (National Institute for Excellence in the Creative Industries), writes a regular column for canvas8.com, and is part of the Courvoisier Observer Future 500 Network.! !
! Gerry Farrell – Co-Creation Specialist! ! He has developed a process of ‘accelerated creativity’ over the years by working in intense, multi-stakeholder brand workshops ! with the likes of Adam Morgan of Eat Big Fish fame.! ! As creative director of the Leith Agency for 20 years, he has one of the best beer showreels in the world! ! He’s an odd kind of creative in that he gets as much pleasure standing outside an off-licence recording interviews with punters as he does working with other smart creatives to deliver brilliant comms ideas.! !
thank! you!
Get in touch! ! Created by: Brett Templeton, pluralthinking ! ! Email: Brett.Templeton@pluralthinking.com! ! Postal Address: ! ! 12 Moor Street! Soho! London! W1d 5ND! ! ! 131a High Street ! Holywood ! BT18 9LG! ! Telephone: +44 7725 716820! +44 2890 428996! +44 207 450 1652! ! Website: www.pluralthinking.com! !
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Twitter: @pluralthinking!