Showcase #1: Picture perfect
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Five insights into the launch of Speight’s Summit Lager
Since its inception in 2000, Big Picture has set out to challenge the multinational market research companies by being, well, different. Which seems to be working just fine—the company is one of the fastest growing marketing strategy consultancies in New Zealand, working on projects that span New Zealand, Australia, the USA and beyond.
The team at Big Picture
Big Picture’s mantra cements the company’s underlying principle of being a challenger brand. “What is intrigues us. What could be inspires us,” says Richard Bourke, Big Picture partner. “The central philosophy that drives this promise is innovation. The people at Big Picture passionately believe that innovation, above all else, is the lifeblood of successful business. It is the key ingredient that creates profitable and sustainable business.
“It’s all about moving beyond traditional market research and providing clients with insights that are transformational and powerful enough to be organisationally and commercially compelling. In other words, creating ideas that create momentum by moving from the ‘that’s nice to know’ to the ‘how did I miss it’.
So, with defying the norm in mind, Big Picture embraced the challenge put forth by beer producer Lion Nathan. While sales of its Speight’s Gold Medal Ale were remaining positive, every year they were becoming harder and harder to achieve. Add to that the Speight’s drinker base was getting older, with the biggest fan base aged 50 years and older.
To achieve growth and to attract a younger drinking base, a creative and innovative approach was needed. Big Picture was able to produce more than a touch of innovative magic, helping to create the successful brand development of Speight’s Summit Lager.
Big Picture’s innovative marketing strategies and thorough understanding of the market helped Speight’s Summit Lager exceed its launch target by 133 percent
Speight’s marketing manager Sean O’Donnell describes the relationship between Lion Nathan and Big Picture as a partnership.
Big Picture was a key partner in the launch of Speight’s Summit Lager. They worked with us and our creative agency to develop the product from proposition development right through to the product launch. They helped define the key consumer barriers on our current Speight’s range and identified the opportunities.”
Using five key strategies, Big Picture helped Lion Nathan reach unprecedented success in launching Speight’s Summit Lager.
1. Consultants, not just consumers
In an increasingly shrewd market, transparency is key to unlocking rich insights and future proofing brand development. Big Picture’s philosophy is to use the people they speak with as consultants rather than consumers. When it comes to pre-empting a new wave of thinking by identifying a market insight before the competitor does, you need to speak with people who think differently to the norm.
This is where the Super Panel comes in. The Super Panel consists of a growing group of super-smart, forward-thinking consumers who have been handpicked by Big Picture’s leading consumer strategists to be ‘opinion shapers’. These superstars are given the marketing challenge just as Big Picture receives it from the client. The superstars and the Big Picture team working collaboratively in the search for a creative and innovative solution. These sessions turn into ideation forums rather than one-dimensional dialogue.
2. Category experience
It goes without saying really. You need to know the category you are working in like the back of your hand. When it came to its work with Lion Nathan, Big Picture was able to utilise over 15 years of category experience. Past successes and failures (remember Leopard Black Label anyone?) helped remove the rose-tinted glasses that often accompany new product development (NPD).
"It’s about intuition,” says Bourke. “Experience allows Big Picture not to drive into the many pot holes which are plentiful on the NPD road.”
3. Immersion
“Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I will remember. Involve me and I will understand” (Confucius).
Big Picture believes NPD is a team sport. In other words, it’s all about immersing stakeholders with the real voice and world of their customers and taking them on a journey. As Sam Walton from Walmart used to say; “When ever you get confused, talk to the customer—they have all the money.”
4. Provoke reactions
You need to engage with your consumers to get a reaction. Engage with your consumers and you’ll gain invaluable insight into the way your customers think and behave. It is from these insights that progress is made.
For Lion Nathan, these consumer insights were critical across all spectrums involved in the development of the new beer brand.
“Big Picture worked with our creative agency across packaging, brand positioning, our launch plan in terms of getting consumer engagement and feedback on parts of the launch. It meant that when we launched the product we understood the consumer issues—what was attractive about the proposition to consumers and what consumers were looking for,” says O’Donnell.
5. Small and many
Big Picture works closely and collaboratively with both clients and their creative agencies from the beginning of a project to the end. This means from a creative agency perspective, product development stimulus can be modified and evolved throughout the process. From Big Picture’s end, it means the consumer insights, which NPD is often born from, doesn’t get lost along the way.
The creation of Speight’s Summit Lager was born from a number of smaller projects, each one building on from the last. This staggered approach played a vital role in the success of the final product. It meant that after each project all parties were able to regroup and reassess the objectives and from there, tweak the concept.
The result
In its first year, Speight’s Summit Lager surpassed all its objectives. Its launch target has been exceeded by 133 percent and it has resulted in a new category in the beer market, now known as Mainstream Plus. The brand has also achieved its goal of attracting a younger generation of drinkers.
But perhaps its biggest achievement is that it has grown the overall Speight’s brand by 105.4 percent, at a time when its competitors’ growth is shrinking.
“We’re very happy with the results,” says O’Donnell. “Speight’s Summit Lager has exceeded all our launch expectations. It is probably the most successful Lion Nathan mainstream beer launch in over 30 years.”
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