Concentric Success Stories October 2016

Concentric, Inc. | Cambridge, MA | www.concentricmarket.com

Prepaid Wireless Service

The Problem. A prepaid wireless service needed a creative message that would help them stand out in a market that was heavily saturated with advertising. The service provider had a limited budget, so they also needed advice on the level of investment required for a targeted message that would impact high value consumer segments.

The Approach. They prepared a market simulation of the wireless market that included competitive share and marketing information. Their team included information on customer perceptions from a custom survey as well. The simulation provided a view into what service attributes (i.e., pricing, device selection, network coverage, etc.) to emphasize per different types of consumers. The company was able to run a number of scenarios to test different creative messages at different levels of media weight in the market to see what would create the most profitable program for customer acquisition.

The Result. Concentric Markettm

identified the creative messaging that had the greatest likelihood to break through the noise to increase subscribers and improve customer perceptions. The prepaid wireless service adjusted their marketing plan to grow subscribers 2.2% over the historical trend for 8 consecutive quarters, which substantially increased their return on investment. The program was extend to 67 markets before the brand was acquired.

Agency advising on rollout of prepaid wireless service

Success StoryBT1

Concentric Market™ identifies the impact of different creative messages on consumer perceptions

Forecasted sales by positioning messaging

http://www.concentric.com/


Automotive Product Development

The Problem. An automotive manufacturer faced increasing regulatory demands. The company needed to increase fleet fuel economy to meet fuel economy goals. In addition, the automotive manufacturer wanted to increase demand for its vehicle lineup, become more profitable, and improve the efficiency of related product development processes.The Approach. The automotive manufacturer used Concentric Markettm to build market simulations for various vehicle segments. These simulations integrated a wide array of data and insights to construct a comprehensive view of the market. The manufacturer was able to use Concentric Markettm to calibrate the simulation by linking shifts in economic environments to changes in consumer preferences. This provided unique insights into marketing, product, and pricing strategies under a number of different economic and competitive circumstances.

The Result. The automotive manufacturer simulated its sales and fleet fuel economy for a decade with 98% accuracy. Concentric Markettm revealed strategies that would be effective in growing share. For some vehicles increasing the marketing budget was the best strategy, for others, reducing the price or improving the vehicle’s performance was the key to growing share.

Forecasting trends to meet regulatory standards

Success StoryAI1

Concentric Market™ identifies how consumers’ preferences shift over time in response to macro environmentchanges

Concentric Market™ identifies the most successful marketing strategies given changing macro- economic and competitive circumstances.

Increase Marketing Reduce Price Improve Product

Projected Relative Share Increase

Low Gas Price Scenario High Gas Price Scenario



Technology Company

The Problem. A technology company wanted to gain market share in a highly competitive device category. Its research team was tasked with identifying the impact of marketing campaigns historically, which included a range of marketing touchpoints and campaign messages. They also desired to understand what magnitude of marketing spend would be necessary to increase their device’s market share along with a portfolio of related products.The Approach. The team used Concentric Markettm to build a simulation that included a range of its products as well as its main competitors’ devices by integrating weekly sales and pricing data with detailed marketing information. Through the simulation calibration process, the team quantified the impact of the various marketing channels that were used to advertise their products and competitors’ products. They also identified seasonal variations in consumer behavior that drove weekly sales patterns.

The Result. The company identified the relative impact of marketing touchpoints, including advertising, pricing and promotional changes on sales for the various products in their portfolio. With one simulation, the technology company was able to cut nearly 30% of its budget from paid media and reallocate a small portion of it to social influencer strategies and improve share by nearly 3 percent.

Growing share in a competitive category

Success StoryBT2

Concentric Market™ attribution analysis evaluates the impact of marketing on different segments

Concentric Market™ provides attribution for brand metrics so users can assess marketing in terms of short-term sales and long-term branding

Segment A Segment B Segment C

Paid Marketing Consideration Attribution

PromotionsTVDigitalPrint



Advertiser and Content Owner

The Problem. In the light of digital and mobile advertising spending growth, a major network was under pressure to prove the ROI of television spending to its advertisers. To demonstrate the efficacy of television, they had to find a tool that would account for all touchpoints simultaneously and provide the best solutions to their advertisers.The Approach. After selecting Concentric Markettm to model the problem, a major network partnered with its key advertisers to analyze brand marketing spending in particular categories. The network wanted to use the simulation to recreate the sales for the brands to convince the advertiser that the system worked. The simulation was tailored to match a household panel of results. Lastly, the calibrated results were used to test a broad range of media options and forecast sales.

The Result. Using Concentric Markettm , the major network was able recreate and forecast how media would impact sales. The simulation showed, and in-market results proved, that shifting dollars toward TV would improve sales and profits for a portfolio of brands. The system helped the ad sales teams win back nearly 15% of the spend they had lost to Digital.

TV network demonstrates the efficacy of its media assets

Success StoryMO1

Concentric Market™ evaluates all brand touch points at once to consider how all media works together

Sales increases are shown to prospective advertisers and proven with in-market results



Private Label vs. National Brand

The Problem. A leading retailer was looking for a way to improve its private label cereal sales along side two leading national brands. Neither brand could forecast what would happen to the retailer’s private label for the marketing plans that the national brands were recommending.The Approach. The retailer had used Concentric Markettm to analyze shopper-marketing programs and determine which program would be the best one for its private label products. Data from the two leading brands was included in the modeling exercise.Concentric Markettm created the historical results for all the leading brands in the category to establish the rules and dynamics of the market. Then the retailer tested each plan under consideration and compared it to the historical baseline. Two key initiatives were identified to promote the private label brand:

1. Change the concentration of the national brand campaigns to be closer to the back-to-school period and not balanced year-round.

2. Increase advertising via direct mail for the private label brand.

The Result. Scenario 2 optimized the retailer profit opportunity best.

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A retailer seeks to gain more market share in cereal

Success StoryCG1

Concentric Market™ models all competitors enabling exploration of a broader set of strategies

Concentric Market™ shows the impact the competing national brand shopper program would have on each brands’ sales in 100,00 units

Baseline Scenario 1 Scenario 20

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Private Label National Brands



New Venture Start-up

The Problem. A start-up business was looking for additional funding after receiving its seed round money. They were targeting an alternative to real estate sales that leveraged a new technology platform to provide better and customized recommendations for buyers. Although they had built the technology engine into a working application, they still had not identified the business model that would produce the fastest growth for the company.The Approach. Using Concentric Markettm they determined which business model had the highest likelihood of success. The start-up company recreated the U.S. real estate market sales for leading brands in the industry using data available through secondary research. Three launch scenarios for growth were identified:1. Sell nationally with independent

brokers in each city.

2. Start regionally with company-owned brokerage.

3. License the technology to existing independent brokerages.

The Result. Not only did the start-up business learn that a regional start was most likely to succeed, it discovered how is marketing investment contributed to the desired results.

Identifying the most successful business model

Success StoryVC1

The plan raise awareness and consideration but does not change perceptions

Concentric Market™ connects marketing strategy to business outcomes that help the C-suite manage



Online Video Streaming

The Problem. After years of subscribership growth, an online video retailer needed to find new ways to increase subscriptions in the U.S. market. Specifically, the brand wanted to know if it should continue to invest in television advertising or move the majority of its marketing dollars to digital channels.The Approach. With Concentric Market™ they conducted a multi-year attribution model to determine how each marketing touchpoint performed in terms of ROI. Using internal research and industry data available through secondary research, the company identified the most successful portions of its marketing program.They were able to match their media plans with the product development programs to find synergies that leveraged the development of their own content and the equity of their brand.

The Result. The online video retailer discovered that not only was television advertising a sound investment, but that increasing television advertising would blend with the digital channels to maximize subscriber retention.

Identifying the best outlet to increase subscriptions

Success StoryMO2

Concentric Market™ finds synergies between paid, owned, and earned media so product development plans work better

Understanding which touchpoints work best and identifying optimal spending levels kept subscriber growth high while new content was released. The result was a quintupling of the brand’s share price.



Appliance Maker

The Problem. A manufacturer of coffee makers was experiencing steady sales of machines but slowing demand for coffee was hurting profits. In the face of competitive pressures in price, popularity, and filtered coffee, the manufacturer needed to understand how to increase profits by raising coffee consumption.

The Approach. Concentric Markettm revealed why customer losses were so high. Unlike previous research and modeling techniques, Concentric Market™ identified why current product performance was lagging by including new data tied to product performance and influencers. The coffee maker company discovered that the actual usage of the product slowed because coffee taste declined over time.

The Result. This usage problem led the company to determine that customers were not cleaning the machine properly. With that insight, a set of what-if scenarios revealed that enhancing the product to include notifications when the machine needed cleaning was the best solution to increase profits.

Increasing sales by improving product features

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Concentric Market™ identifies the key parts of the customer journey that lead to loyalty

The product improvements restored the consumption of coffee and sales trajectories improved. The company was subsequently acquired for a 35% premium over its share price



National Magazine

The Problem. A widely distributed US magazine faced a critical business decision: should it grow readership through online/mobile publishing or invest in marketing for its core publication?

The Approach. Understanding that the average American spends 4+ hours a day consuming information and entertainment, the magazine wanted to grow its share of people’s attention. The publisher used Concentric Market™ to test whether online and mobile investments were more effective than traditional subscriptions.

The system enabled the team to test a variety of media solutions, but each of them failed to meet the CFO objectives. The team looked to other solutions and found opportunities to regain audience by changing the direction and style of its content.

The Result. The results suggested a two-phase approach to subscriber retention. First, the editorial approach needed to change and become more focused on people with a stronger human interest POV. Concurrently, new modes of access, both digitally and through unique regional experiences, were likely to improve results.

Simulating online vs. traditional marketing

Success StoryMO3

Concentric Market™ shows how to make a media property relevant even in the face of a shifting media landscape

The content improvements improved readership and made the website the most visited site in the U.S. for its category, leading to an acquisition



Launch of OTC medicine

The Problem. A company was planning to launch an OTC version of an existing prescription drug. The goal was to hit a “minimum” sales target in the face of heavy competition within the category from prescription drugs, existing OTC brands, and private label options.

The Approach. Concentric Market™ was used to simulate the dynamics of the product launch, including the impact of competitor trade promotions and recommendations from pharmacists and physicians. This recreation of the entire market provided the client with useful insights when planning the OTC launch.

Data was collected on similar launches taking into consideration the products’ brand equity. Numerous strategies were considered and the company, which had historically relied on influencer strategies, chose more typical CPG approaches.

The Result. Moving away from traditional Pharma marketing put pressure on the company to focus on new skills related to activation to ensure a successful launch. The ability to evaluate new CPG-like tactics led to a new marketing mix, many the company had never used before. Sales minimums were exceeded and the program became the highest grossing prescription to OTC transition in history.

Simulating online vs. traditional marketing

Success StoryPI1

Concentric Market™ looks beyond traditional paid media solutions by including below the line marketing tactics A variety of marketing strategies,

ranging from activating pharmacists/physicians to trade support were tested to identify the best launch strategy.


Documents

Concentric Success Stories October 2016