Competitive Intelligence
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Webinar for the Research Innovation Commercialization (RIC) Centre (Brampton ON) GRAY HAMMOND is a marketing consultant with decades of experience in advertising and research. Some of his assignments have been purely Competitive Intelligence, and CI has been an integral part of more than 60 projects, in a wide range of industries, including: manufacturing, retail, technology, banking and insurance. He has done B2B and B2C projects for Visa, Rogers, Kimberly Clark, Dare, Apotex, adidas, and many others.
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Competitive Intelligence
- 2. Importance of CI Polled a few CVCA members • How important is it to include Competitive Intelligence in a pitch? • Of the pitches that you receive, what proportion include an adequate Competitive Intelligence section? Summary of responses • Very • Few – 15% to 25%
- 3. How important is CI in a pitch? “Very important because it shows whether a company truly understands their industry and the product they are selling” “Very important to include competitive landscape and how the company/product compares in the existing space. Even for a new innovative product it’s good to show why the existing solutions are inadequate etc.” “Some level of info is critical. A ‘pitcher’ must demonstrate clear knowledge of the landscape they intend participate in. Absence of such information, and a credible story around proposed differentiators, is a show-stopper for us.”
- 4. What proportion of pitches include CI? “Unfortunately it is not uncommon for presenters to come up either shy or naïve in this regard. Volume of info here is not as important as realistic interpretation of the fight ahead …” “And very few do it well...there is often a slide about competition but very cursory...” “25% - Caveat here is that for very crowded industries it is hard to keep track of all competitors”
- 5. What’s the point of CI? Learn a lot about your industry, customers and changes in the market by regularly reviewing & monitoring your competition Competitors prove there’s a market for your product Measure your traction & trajectory vs. competitors Which marketing tactics are more/less effective
- 6. Who’s your “Competitor”? Who is end user? What are they doing/using now? Who provides that? How well? What’s missing? How do YOU differentiate? Not just Companies, but Products Swim school: other local swim schools Other kid’s programs offer activities that parents may choose instead Direct, Indirect
- 8. What’s your plan? Are you building a business to last long- term? Is your product a component that an existing player could sell for you, licence, joint venture? “Competitors” are potential Customers or Partners/Affiliates Exit strategy? “Competitors” are potential M&A Purchasers
- 11. Info Sources • Governments • Directories • Industry Associations, trade publications • Scott’s – online via Brampton Public Library • Patents – USA, Canada, Europe • Google “long tail” • LinkedIn: Industry, Company, People • Crowdfunding sites • E-commerce sites, Product review/comparison sites • Employment sites – Roles being hired? • Sales force – eyes & ears, talking to Customers
- 12. Google Google Alerts for ongoing monitoring of competitors All have Competitors (Direct or Indirect) Several of these established 3+ years One I know from connections/experience Randomly entered 10 RICC participants’ Summaries
- 13. Analysis • First think Broad, then think Narrow • Who are CLOSEST Direct – product match, target market, availability • Don’t chase Phantoms • SWOT • Strengths & Weaknesses are Internal – You vs. Competitors? • Opportunities & Threats are External, often unseen • Shares • SKU, Sales, Wallet, Shelf
- 14. Role-playing • Think of your product/company from several POV’s • Dragon’s Den • Dragon? Contestant? • Customer • Job to be done, Problem solved, Pain? • Segments, Personas • Replace – totally or partially? Sticky vs. Switch? Complements? • Ad agency – Unique Selling Proposition • Think of your key competitors from same POV’s • War games
- 15. Summary • Everybody has competition • Competitors give valuable signals • See what works • Don’t reinvent the wheel OR repeat mistakes • You need to prove your homework • You need to differentiate • First go broad (Direct & Indirect), then narrow (3 Direct competitors) • Creative role playing • Monitor periodically
- 16. Q & A
- 17. Links • Governments • Canadian Industry Statistics https://www.ic.gc.ca/app/scr/app/cis/search-recherche?lang=eng • Financial Performance Data https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/pp-pp.nsf/eng/home • Industry Associations & Publications • Associations Canada https://greyhouse.com/Associations-Canada • Canadian Advertising Rates & Data https://www.cardonline.ca/ • Finding Companies • Scott’s Directories https://www.scottsdirectories.com/online-directory/ • InfoCanada https://leads-app.infousa.com/CanadianBusiness/Selections • Canada’s Business Registries https://beta.canadasbusinessregistries.ca/search • Patents • Canadian Intellectual Property Office http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/home • Crowdfunding • National Crowdfunding & Fintech Association https://ncfacanada.org/2019-canadian-fintech-funding-directory/ • Employment https://core-exec.com/canadas-10-best-job-search-websites-2020/
Editor's Notes
- Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association Wanted to know IMPORTANCE and PREVALENCE of CI in pitches A few who mentioned #’s gave figures as low as 15%
- WON’T read this to you … you all know how to read! Here are some of the verbatim answers to the 1st question Key points when pitching VC: 1st comment: Do your homework, know what you’re talking about 2nd comment re innovative product (RICC’s space) 2nd & 3rd comments addresses Differentiation – what’s missing, what you add
- Here are some of the verbatim answers to the 2nd question These 3 comments say: Show enough information, but not too much (A VC pitch is time-sensitive)
- Beyond pitching VC’s there are many reasons to know & track your competitors How big is the market? What alternatives do customers have? How are we doing? How should we market ourselves? I remember hearing that Toyota had 365 people in Tokyo working in their CI dept.
- A lot of CI looks at companies, but niche players in particular have to look at specific products too. Your whole business could compete with one product from a large company. When I say “products” I refer to both physical goods and intangible services. “What it is you’re selling.” Direct vs. Indirect competitors: I worked on a team that was assessing the potential Canadian market for a UK firm that franchises swimming lessons for infants; I’ll refer to this case a couple of times today.
- Here’s a quick example: Do you see these as competitors? Direct, Indirect, or not at all? I worked at the ad agency handling Uncle Ben’s. We noticed the new Lipton product. (Lipton was known for soups until then.) We did an analysis and presented it to Uncle Ben’s. At first they thought Lipton was a distraction, but after a few months they asked us to do an analysis. (Funny story, will tell if there’s time …)
- As start-ups, your end game is a factor in how you view “competition”. Built to last and built to flip have different views of who a “competitor” is.
- “Co-opetition” is a phrase coined by Edward de Bono, who developed the concept of “lateral thinking”. When Blockbuster was a $9 billion company, Netflix offered to sell for $50 million. Blockbuster was bricks & mortar giant, Netflix used direct mail & vending machines. The Internet evolved … Now Blockbuster has 1 store in Oregon, Netflix is worth nearly $200 billion.
- These are the key aspects for any Customer-centric brand, product or company. Customers are influenced by all of these, so you need to understand how you and your competitors are doing. Marketing communications (yours & competitors) New products (yours & competitors) Distribution channels (yours & competitors)
- A lot of info sources are generic, addressing broadly defined industries or missing small companies or newer players. But once you start digging, you can find some surprisingly targeted sources. For the swimming school, one of my colleagues found a database of public, private clubs’ & hotel pools in Canada, including location mapping Greyhouse, publisher of Associations Canada [Caitlin sent you that link] also has a Cannabis industry directory Trade publications often profile companies and new products, and sometimes annual industry statistics. Many of these are published by industry associations. Patents: A colleague has a new HVAC product idea; I just advised him to check patents registered by HVAC manufacturers before heading down any dead ends. A start-up was considering a modular design for women’s purses; I found a Spanish company already doing this via a Crowdfunding site. Knowing the jobs your competitors are looking to fill tells you a lot about their development, plans, etc. Too many companies ignore their Sales people, who are often the first to know of new competitive products and sales & marketing tactics.
- I wish I had $5 for every executive who’s told me, “We don’t have any competitors”! Caitlin provided a list of your descriptions. I picked 10 at random and found Direct and/or Indirect competitors for all of these, just using Google. (One I didn’t need to Google because I know the founder of a company in Oakville doing exactly the same thing. She just landed a round of funding.)
- “Phantom” is a product/company that’s SO Indirect that you’d waste your time analyzing or monitoring them. CASE Mars Bars vs. McDonald’s teens There are many analysis approaches; SWOT is the most common. Market share isn’t easy for small players to measure, but an approximate sense is OK. If you’re selling a physical good, Units is a relevant metric (how many bottles) For any product, Revenue share is important. Industry $ aren’t hard to find or calculate. Share of Wallet means, How much of a typical customer’s budget are you getting? Applies to both B2B budgets and B2C household spending Can “reverse engineer” this to get industry revenue share Share of Shelf In crowded B2C category, small # is good – e.g., 7% of RTE cereals
- After info collection and analysis, get creative, play some games. Cast yourself in different roles, THEN cast you key Competitors in those roles.
- If you think you have no competition, you owe me $5. Understand what works & does not work. Even if you’re not pitching a VC, you need to know what you’re up against and prove your product’s value to customers.