War Stories: Alton Towers Resort Vision without action is hallucination. Blackpool Getting a new super casino license was to act as a catalyst for regeneration in Blackpool. Brookson Aligning to not just help build the brand, but as it came to pass, to help totally re-engineer the business after fundamental unseen change. The Epsom Derby Deep insight really can make a business different. Gala Coral It is hard to choose one war story about Gala Bingo. Greggs Greggs are one of the high streets most successful brands. Hertz Sometimes all the Alignment components pitch up at the same time, often when there is something new to launch. Jockey Club RaceCourses Alignment is good for repeat business and not bad for your word of mouth either. Lancashire Potential short breakers do not know where Lancashire is, what it stands for or why they should visit. Liverpool Vision Alignment can have many starting points. The London Eye The UK's number 1 paid for visitor attraction, one of the most successful ever visitor attractions in the UK and a global icon, all in a very short space of time. Madame Tussauds Cultural alignment can be a maker or a breaker for a business. Merlin Aligned companies are more profitable. Puzzler Media Vision fuelled by insight can reach the parts other brands don't even touch. RHS Aligned businesses are more profitable and sometimes a simple re-alignment can lead to a massive increase in revenue. ZSL You have probably never heard of ZSL but the lessons learned in this war story are often talked about because our work there led to increased brand efficiency, reduced waste and success measured in many ways.

Many companies spend ages coming up with a multi dimensional, multi layered, multi useless brand definition written on 200 pages and stamped on a mouse mat. They herald the new direction from on high and then think they have finished.
 
They have hardly started.
 
Alton Towers Resort Brand Vision was the start of an incredible turnaround in visitor numbers. We did the exploring, helped create the vision and make sure that it was embedded both in their processes and their people. The welcome was re-engineered by the people who did the welcoming, the product changed and the brand was re-ignited throughout.
 
It’s amazing what a few words can do.
 
When applied. 

Back to top

Blackpool
Getting a new super casino license was to act as a catalyst for regeneration in Blackpool. 

Famously, it didn’t get the license.
 
But Blackpool didn’t stop and Alignment was chosen as the way forward.
 
And it is working brilliantly.
 
Firstly we explored Blackpool’s current standing. That was the easy bit.
 
Then we went on a massive engagement exercise involving over 50 private and public stakeholders ranging from The Pleasure Beach to B&B owners. We developed a new brand vision, gained buy-in across all the stakeholders and then set about delivering the vision.
 
We have identified 9 critical factors including The Built Environment, Communications and the Local Population. Each critical factor has a delivery.

Back to top

Brookson
Aligning to not just help build the brand, but as it came to pass, to help totally re-engineer the business after fundamental unseen change.

It all started with some Exploring to understand how the customer experience was affecting customer churn. Unsurprisingly it was. So, fuelled by our deeper understanding of our customer needs, the team developed a clear, well articulated and inspiring vision behind which to align the teams.

The results were very positive and everything in Brooksonland looked very happy.

But the Chancellor had other ideas and the concept of helping freelance workers manage their tax affairs efficiently was more than he could bear, so the revenue moved to pass legislation to fundamentally change how freelancers could work.

Overnight (well over a few months) Brookson brand needed to respond to these challenges.

The Brookson brand was still strong and had a very positive relationship with its customers, helping them work in the most tax efficient way available to them, but needed to support them through a different service model.

Within 12 months Brookson had totally re-engineered itself to a new vision for the brand and aligned its people and processes behind that vision.

We are very proud to think that we have been a part of this remarkable change and made a small contribution to this extraordinary achievement.

An amazing recovery from an amazing bunch of people and it only goes to show that no matter what is thrown at them, aligned brands stand a much better chance against weathering storms, wherever they are generated.

Back to top

The Epsom Derby
Deep insight really can make a business different.

In bygone days it used to stop the Nation, and Parliament would stop sitting to go and watch it.

By the end of the 1990's The Derby was a shadow of its former glory

We went exploring to get under the skin of why this was, and what was the key to revive this great brand.

In our Jungle work we identified the 18 key people who would help us bring The Derby back to its rightful place as one of the country's great sporting occasions.

A simple and yet totally inspiring vision galvanized the team at Epsom and helped them to focus on putting the event back on the map and in 2001 the attendance grew from 75,000 to over 120,000 and has stayed at this level ever since. The grandstand had not sold out for years prior to 2000 and now you have to book very early to avoid disappointment.

In fact 2009 sees the opening of a totally new grandstand specifically designed around the vision for The Derby. Now that's what we call alignment.

Back to top

Gala Coral
It is hard to choose one war story about Gala Bingo.

We could write a book.
 
Gala being one of the major commercial success stories of the last ten years tells it's own story, but an essential part of the script was Alignment and the role played by research.
 
Gala didn't just do research and report it back in very nice PowerPoint presentations. They wired the findings into their everyday operation and really made their customers their heart and soul. We spend ages in bingo clubs around the country, from Croxteth to Crawley and from Falkirk to Feltham. We uncover the rational and emotional reasons why people do and don’t play and establish the emergent trends so Gala can act and keep its brand ahead of the game.

Back to top

Greggs
Greggs are one of the high streets most successful brands.

It is a brand that has been built in a way that all great brands are built: from the inside out.

They have built a compelling brand position that matches freshly baked products in a modern 'take away' environment. Value and choice underpin its unique attraction.

But success isn't just built on their impressive high street presence. Behind the scenes, we helped Greggs to identify their brand critical processes and align their product development process so that it was as fresh, uncomplicated and effective as their lovely oval bites and steak bakes!

Back to top

Hertz
Sometimes all the Alignment components pitch up at the same time, often when there is something new to launch.

We were asked to help set up a new brand through which Hertz would attack the new global car share market.  We conducted research across Europe, worked out the brand architecture, developed a simple brand vision and guided the alignment of the brand through the naming to its launch in London during December 2008. It will now be rolled out across the world so we are excitedly watching Alignment go global!

Back to top

Jockey Club RaceCourses
Alignment is good for repeat business and not bad for your word of mouth either

Haydock Park is a dual code racecourse; running both flat and jump races, based in the North West of England and is subjected to not only the pressures the rest of racing faces but it competes for visitors in one of the most competitive sporting areas in the country.

But it performs better than any other course of comparable size in the country. What might be behind this performance?

Way back in 2002 we ran an Exploring project that helped the Haydock Park team really get under the skin of its potential customers; what they wanted, what would bring them and what triggers they needed to visit.

That done, we used this insight to create a clear Vision for the brand that has served Haydock Park well in stimulating new customers, defining the experience they expect, aligning the experience providers behind the vision and ultimately creating the kind of positive word of mouth that drives more people to come racing and socialising at Haydock Park. They have attracted many new visitors looking for a great social day out and who are really included in the exciting spectacle that is horse racing.

The benefits have also spun off into their conferencing, hospitality and exhibition business which helps keep the balance sheet ticking over when they are not racing.

Back to top

Lancashire
Potential short breakers do not know where Lancashire is, what it stands for or why they should visit.

So we went exploring.

We plotted the customer journey and identified the motivators and drivers, the essential hygiene factors and the occasions that lead people to take a short break.

Working with Stakeholders from the private and public sector and using a whole batch of research methods and competitive assessment techniques, we hunted down a space in the market that could lead to a differentiating position for the county.

And we found it.

It was staring us in the face.

We also developed the ideal brand architecture that links the county efficiently and effectively with its other brands and builds on its major assets and hidden gems.

Once the full alignment plan kicks in Lancashire should be one of the most clearly differentiated counties in the country and, once again, it was alignment that made the difference.

Back to top

Liverpool Vision
Alignment can have many starting points.

In Liverpool it started at the end.

After years of problems, The Capital of Culture, huge urban re-generation, an improving workforce and pioneering universities have had a massively positive effect on the brand of Liverpool. Our research across Britain proves this and has illustrated that Liverpool is at a cross roads in its history; it either capitalizes on its resurgence or lets the moment slip.
 
There is only one answer of course.
 
The first manifestation of its newfound direction is to produce a new logo for the whole of the city. Whilst logo production is normally an ‘output’ later on in the Alignment process we have used it to begin what will be a very involved but critical process of drawing all the various public and private sector organisations to one vision, one alignment plan and a bright and successful future.
 
This just goes to prove that Alignment does not always start at the beginning.

Back to top

The London Eye
The UK's number 1 paid for visitor attraction, one of the most successful ever visitor attractions in the UK and a global icon, all in a very short space of time. 

The secret of its success can be summed up in one word: vision.

Many companies, organisations and individuals had the vision to build it and support it in the first place, visitors’ vision of London from The Eye is breathtaking and the brand vision has guided its development from the moment the architects first put pen to paper.

We helped create the original brand vision and, as it looks to plan the next phase of its development, we have just helped develop a new brand vision which will provide the platform for alignment in the next ten years.

As we said, vision is key.

Back to top

Madame Tussauds
Cultural alignment can be a maker or a breaker for a business.

We went to the Jungle for Madame Tussauds and explored its brand standing with taxi drivers, bus drivers, concierges, visitors and rejecters. We helped define a whole new brand vision and then we put together an alignment plan that covered communications and product development.
 
But culture was the maker and breaker.
 
Doors had to be literally torn down, red ropes had to be thrown away and the new values had to be driven into everything the brand did.
 
So the culture changed at break neck speed, revenue doubled and despite a brand full of stars, 'Alignment' was the hero.

Back to top

Merlin
Aligned companies are more profitable.

We have the evidence to prove it and a number of our clients are VC owned and have to continuously deliver ever-improving results at ever accelerating speeds.
 
Merlin group is the second biggest leisure group in the world and is closing in on Disney fast. They own some fantastic brands such as Alton Towers Resort, Madame Tussauds, Legoland and Sea-Life and they operate across the world.  We have helped all their brands develop differentiating brand visions based on robust and slightly unconventional exploring programs and then helped them align through their businesses. We are humbled (but naturally very pleased) when they say that Alignment has been key to their huge commercial success.

Back to top

Puzzler Media
Vision fuelled by insight can reach the parts other brands don't even touch.

When you are the most profitable company in your sector with massive brand share it must be tempting to feel that you understand your customers really well and are giving them what they want.

Not the team at Puzzler Media.

they knew that times were a changing with new media and channels to market, and even changes in consumer behaviour, so it was off Exploring and visiting the Jungle to get some insight to help fuel their future vision for the Puzzler brand.

Not only did we come back with great insight into the customers' future views and needs, but also we were able to create really effective customer typology sets and usage occasions that have helped Puzzler drive into new profitable markets and channels.

The vision we helped them build demanded subtle but effective changes to the way they worked and delivered Puzzler to their customers, so alignment really helped them do this effectively and quickly, without too much fuss.

Identifying the "brain fitness" consumer occasion way back in 2004 helped them get a head start on many of the new entries to this particular sector too!

Back to top

RHS
Aligned businesses are more profitable and sometimes a simple re-alignment can lead to a massive increase in revenue.

We don’t know our tulips from our daffodils but following some fairly small scale but incisive research for the RHS which looked at the brand standing of the world’s greatest flower show – Chelsea, we suggested one simple trade off to the management team that would keep the brand aligned and boost revenue by about 30%.
 
It worked a treat, and although we still don’t know our dahlias from our daffs we are still helping the RHS with their other shows at Hampton and Tatton.

Back to top

ZSL
You have probably never heard of ZSL but the lessons learned in this war story are often talked about because our work there led to increased brand efficiency, reduced waste and success measured in many ways.

The Zoological Society of London runs environmental and conservation programs and is responsible for saving and protecting species all around the world.  
 
They also run London and Whipsnade Zoos.
 
After extensively exploring the relationships between the brands we re focused the brand visions, re set the architecture and introduced new, simple monitoring systems. The results were renewed focus, less waste and a major turnaround in visitor numbers and revenue.

Back to top