Case study- Grey Worldwide Strategic Repositioning Through CRM

1. Case study -
Grey Worldwide
Strategic Repositioning
Through CRM

2. • Established in 1978
• Part of Grey Global network
• Grey Global Group is a full communication
enterprise with 16 global partner
companies.
• Focus on “communications” as core
business
• Its Asia strategy is focused on building
partnerships.
• Core strategy: delivering IMC
• Approach: To deliver the most cost
effective client service approach which is
integrated marketing.
General Overview of the
company
Viveca Chan,
CEO of Grey Worldwide
HK/China

3. Chaotic media and communications market
conditions and downward industry pressure on
commission margins FORCED Grey Worldwide
Hong Kong and China (Grey WW-HK/China) to
conceive a CRM philosophy called Grey Relationship
Management (GRM) in 2001, to REPOSITION
itself through defined e-marketing and CRM
strategies for the Asian market.

4. Asian market are more complex than
markets in US
Agencies in Asia are expected to do Everything
Customer interaction, advertising, design and even
public relations
This led to the concept of Integrated Marketing
Communication. Grey WW-HK/China followed IMC
concept in 1980s when they begin their operations in Asia.

5. But Media Industry
Changed rapidly from 1980
to 2001 causing evolution
of the marketing
philosophy

6. Major changes include:
Fierce Competition
New technology leads to new effectively competing
business Models
Rising customer expectations
Increasing cost of acquiring new customers
Changing in the communications industry from
generalization to specialization
Pure online companies are able to produce
competitive high quality products at lower prices
Strong price pressure

7. CRM Industry in Asia
• The Asian CRM market was relatively
smaller, but high growth rates were
expected than in North America.
• Asian markets began to understand the
importance of CRM as it costs the
industry five times as much to acquire a
new customer than to retain an existing
one.
• Industry specific and fragmented market
for CRM needs
• Building long-term and sustainable
customer relationships was a good
strategy.

8. • Strategy, execution and knowledge
mix differed from that of Europe
and America
• Asian consumers lacked education
in e-business and enabling
technologies.
• A very less portion of IT investment
was channeled to supporting
technologies and enabling functions
(CRM).
206
351
501
716
APAC CRM Market
Growth(in $Mn.)
2000
2001
2002
2003
CRM Industry in Asia

9. Objectives of Grey WW-HK/China
An initiative to give the agency a more holistic approach to advertising.
Leverage all touch points to build both brand equity and customer equity.
Creation of a single customer database or knowledge base from existing
customer data and customer knowledge residing in Grey’s specialized
companies.
The main goal was an integrated approach to create , identify , evaluate , capture ,
enhance, share and apply Grey’s intellectual capital.

10. Traditional business
assets Grey WW-
HK/Chinas can relay on

11. “Grey” is a known
name which they can
use in building
relationship and trust
Can use brand name
to build relationship
with major service
providers in Asia-
Region
Can attract talented
human capital to run
the operations &
strategy
Brand Equity
Grey can use its huge
customer database by
integrating it to create
a single customer
profile
Knowledge
integration of
business customer by
proper segmentation
Customer
database Grey is having
technology teeth
which they can use to
integrate the customer
information from
multiple touch point
to a single profile to
provide holistic view
about business and
customers
Technology can be
used to create a cost
effective marketing
campaign
Technology
3 forms of assets

12. In the 80s, concentrated on brand-building and
management
But by 2001 the focus was not simply brand
management, but now involved customer management
as well
For that it had to build a customer knowledge base to
enable customer relationship management.
Grey WW-HK/Chinas Strategy
changes according to market

13. This change led to the creation of a CRM
philosophy called Grey Relationship
Management (GRM)
GRM was an initiative designed to give the agency a more
holistic approach to advertising in the new world order. It was
a move considered ahead of the expected convergence of new
and traditional media.

14. Strategy of Grey WW-HK/China
Do not compete on cost with competition
Build a better, efficient and cost effective
CRM strategy
Reposition with defined e-marketing
Data mining and customer profiling as
key focus area
To Differentiate from competitors
through CRM preposition

15. CRM in Grey’s Context
• An initiative designed to give a holistic approach in customer
management
• ‘Integrated marketing’ approach:
• From ‘Generalization’ to ‘Specialization’
• To create, identify, evaluate, capture, enhance, share and
apply Grey’s intellectual capital
• A broad concept involving both hardware and software
• 4 point philosophy for customer management focus
• Build brands
• Develop and manage customers
• Create positive brand experience for customers
• Build bran through knowledge about the customer
through constant dialogue

16. Development
• Data mining and customer
profiling are key areas in Grey’s
CRM strategy
• CRM implementation tools:
‘Brand Futures+’ and ‘CRM
Charter’
• Integrated Marketing
Approach with Technology as
enabler to support the
functional groups
Operational Actions
• Use of Existing database:
customer segmentation, market
needs analysis
• Movement of senior executives
to parent company
• New structure used by CRM
charter to serve targeted clients
• Grey’s companies benefitted
from their wisdom and
experience

17. Knowledge
Strategy
Execution
Traditional
Consulting
Firms
Local
Firms
Multi
Nationals
Ideal
Positioning
Grey
Worldwide
Grey WW HK/China’s CRM
Implementation

18. GRM Philosophy
Integrated approach to create,
identify, evaluate, capture,
enhance Grey IP
Institutionalize key processes
and strategies that are
developed through customer
interaction
Change management through
making people part of building
team for GRM philosophy
rather than adapting to it
Cross functional skill
development for team

19. Grey Relationship
Management
Build brands
Develop and
manage
customers
Create a
positive brand
experience for
clients
Build brand
through
knowledge
about the
customer
through
constant
dialogue

20. GRM Framework

21. GRM
Charter:
Targets
companies
that has
strong
marketing
and brand
but want to
develop the
CRM vision
and Plan
Brand
Futures+:
Target
companies
that had
traditional
marketing
needs
Result
• Strong brand
• Continuous brand
building
knowledge about
costumer
Result
• Satisfied customers
• Continuous brand
building knowledge
about costumer
through constant
dialogue

22. How Should Grey Position itself
in the Market
Long-term and Sustainable partner
Integrated communication company
Comprehensive business solutions company
Efficient and effective and differentiated

23. Criteria to measure CRM
performance
Brand equity
• Added value the brand brings to the company
• Financial value of the brand
• Market share
• Brand extension
Customer loyalty
• Repurchase rate and repurchase value by customer
• Lifetime customer value
Customer retention
• Retention rate
• Return on customer retention investment

24. Disclaimer
Created by Kartik Singla, Thapar University,
during an internship by Prof. Sameer Mathur,
IIM Lucknow.
www.IIMInternship.com