Case Study of Accenture from a book by Kotler

1. High performance . Delivered.

2. High performance . Delivered.
• Began in 1942 as Administrative Accounting Group, the
consulting arm of accounting firm Arthur Andersen.
• In 1989,Arthur Anderson and Anderson consulting became
Separate units.

3. High performance . Delivered.
Do you know what its original name?

4. High performance . Delivered.
Accenture symbolize

5. High performance . Delivered.
Accent of Future

6. High performance . Delivered.
Market Strategy
• New brand and New positioning conveyed to employees : 178 offices, 47 countries, 70.000 employees, 7 million
business card.
• Television spots , New Year’s Eve celebration, Accenture branded airship, sponsorships of other major global sporting
events.
• High profile advertising program, launch mailing which included creative packaging to announce the new name and
positioning.
• Advertisements were innovative and striking .Super Bowl Ad

7. High performance . Delivered.
Results
• Brand equity increased 11 percent.
• The number of firms inquiring about its services increased 350 percent.
• These results enabled Accenture to successfully complete a $1.7 billion IPO in July 2001.
• Ad campaign Bringing “Innovation Delivered” to Life -> I am your Idea
• Growing market $160 billion in 2008.
• Ad campaign changes again to – “High Performance. Delivered”

8. High performance . Delivered.
Major Competitors

9. High performance . Delivered.
Competing with IBM
• Accenture is ahead of IBM in strategic management consulting but it
lacks the technical expertise of IBM.
• Accenture should look to improve its technical expertise

10. High performance . Delivered.
Competing with McKinsey
• McKinsey was highly specialized at developing strategy.
• Accenture wanted to be seen as excelling at both in technological
implementation and as well in developing strategy.

11. High performance . Delivered.
Accenture announced New tagline,
“High Performance. Delivered,”

12. High performance . Delivered.
Tiger Woods and Accenture
1. Hired Tiger as a spokesperson is to humanly represent their High
Performance Business Strategy sector’s strengths with a person with those
same strengths
2. Advertisements showed Tiger in an intense competitive situation and
winning due to his high performance and aptitude which then explained how
Accenture too delivers high performance even in the most competitive
situations.

13. High performance . Delivered.
• For 6 years Accenture spent nearly $300 million in ads
that mostly featured Tiger Woods , alongside slogans
such as “We know what it takes to be a Tiger” and “Go
on. Be a Tiger.”
• Accenture-sponsored events such as the World Golf
Championships and the Chicago Marathon.

14. High performance . Delivered.

15. High performance . Delivered.
Tiger Woods controversy
• Due to :
• His extramarital affairs.
• His indefinite absence from golf.
• Accenture dropped Woods as a
spokesperson, saying no longer fit for
brand.

16. High performance . Delivered.
Accenture launched a $50 million new campaign featuring animals and the same
slogan, “High Performance . Delivered”.
1..

17. High performance . Delivered.
3.2..

18. High performance . Delivered.
Q-What has Accenture done well to target its B-to-B audience?
Ans.-
1. Name changed from Anderson Consulting to Accenture, able to achieve
awareness among the public.
2. Introduced a tagline “Innovation Delivered”
3. Created incentives for their clients, so that they can target its B-to-B
audience during the bad economy.
4. Focused in bring their A-game, by including Tiger Wood as their
spokesperson.
5. Used creative ads and used animals to promote ideal performance for
their business clients.

19. High performance . Delivered.
Q-Has Accenture done the right thing by dropping Tiger Woods as
its spokesperson? Discuss the pros and cons of its decision.
Ans- Accenture has done right thing in dropping Tiger Woods as its spokesperson. When Tiger Woods was
chosen as spokesperson, he was at top of the game--the world’s best golfer with perfect image, hence was
good symbol for high performance, new tagline “High Performance Delivered”. Post the scandal, per
Accenture, Tiger Woods was not got fit for brand and focus groups showed that consumers were too
distracted by scandals to focus on Accenture’s strategic message.
Pros- Wood was no longer having a image of strength and high performance. So company can save its image
from tarnishing.
Cons- People might think that Accenture is not loyal to their clients because they drop Wood for his
imperfection and it would be cost consuming and challenging to find replacement for Tiger.

20. High performance . Delivered.
Summary
• Accenture separated from Andersen in January 2001.
• Adopted new market campaign to create its brand awareness.
• Its major competitors are IBM and McKinsey.
• Adopts innovative and creative idea in business.
• It focusses on “high-performing business leadership”.
• Focuses on its brand value replaces Tiger Wood to save its brand image.

21. Disclaimer
Prof. Sameer Mathur
Indian Institute of Management , Lucknow
Marketing Professor: August 2013 – Present
McGill University
Marketing Professor: July 2009 – July 2013
Carnegie Mellon University
Ph.D. in Marketing : August 2003 – June 2009
These slides are created by Ankit Sharma,NIT Surat, as part of a Marketing
Internship under Prof. Sameer Mathur.