Change Agent
The marketing research magazine that chronicles change in global business.
You can't avoid change so you might as well learn how to embrace it.
Change Agent is a magazine for the global marketing community.
Our mission is to showcase how market research is driving change in enterprise, the marketplace and society.
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Change Agent Summer 2008 issue:
This issue of Change Agent focuses on customers and what they have come to expect. In companies' efforts to build customer loyalty, they have gone from meeting customers' expectations to exceeding them, to delighting them. But what comes next?
Total customer experience. It is no longer enough to just give customers a flawless product with outstanding services in a friendly atmosphere. Companies are now focusing on the complete experience, the sum of all the individual parts, in order to build a customer base that is not only loyal, but who will act as advocates for the company.
How can companies find and retain such consumers? Which companies have set the standard for total customer experience? The next issue of Change Agent has the answers.
And be sure to check out how credit card companies are getting in on the action by offering personalised cards to cater to every type of consumer from eco-warriors to gun-toting lobbyists.
In this issue:
- 'One night stand' marketing – Might we make more money by marketing appropriately to both those who are more loyal and to those who flirt with other products and brands?
- Customisation – the tools of free trade – Choice is a long-touted privilege of the free market but new perspectives have extended it so that customers create their own product.
- David vs 2 Goliaths – Nintendo makes an unexpected comeback with its smart Wii platform, stealing the gaming industry limelight from Sony and Microsoft.
- That's entertainment! – In the name of creating that prized customer experience, brands are increasingly getting into the business of entertainment.
- The hits and misses of the customer experience in the air – As airlines come and go and myriad features are offered to passengers, the customer experience still varies widely.
- Burton snowboards – With an obsessive attention to customers' needs and the ultimate rider experience, Burton dominates its market with customers who are loyal devotees.
- Lego - from building blocks to consumer generated innovation – Not long ago Lego had lost its way, but a concerted effort to reconnect with customers has rejuvenated its business.
- Tryvertising – A shop that gives everything away for free. Sounds ludicrous, but Sample Lab in Tokyo is using this model to generate valuable marketing information.
- Powering up loyalty – A fresh perspective on customer loyalty in markets where the customer doesn't have a choice of providers – as is the case in the US utility market.
- Bespoke health – Skyrocketing insurance costs in the developed world and cheap air travel are benefiting the "medical concierge" business.