chapter 5

chapter 5 · a concept of the future 141this way, the company expects to out-perform the competition. The problemis that other companies in the same industry have chosen the same recipe.Again, everybody battles with the same weapons. Real crm means that thecompany changes perspective and focuses on the customer portfolio ratherthan on the product portfolio. Your staff is passionate about fulfilling thecustomer’s expectations and, where possible, exceeding them. The emphasisis not so much on functions as on solutions. Successful crm requires atotal approach in which the software and the resulting database form but oneimportant part. 58A Company Cannot Not PositionA brand cannot become a strong brand without trust. The brand name Aldistands for ‘cheap’ – and Aldi elaborates on this theme consistently. Accordingto an AC Nielsen study, this German discounter is the best-known trademarkin European distribution. And their customers are proud of their supplier andwhat they do. Some Belgian members of the Aldi customer community evenstarted their own website, independent of Aldi, in 2002. The website appears tobe so successful that an international expansion seems only logical. 59 The loyalcustomers have become true brand ambassadors.3m is well known for its innovation. This company, selling with pride morethan 50,000 different products – amongst which are the famous brands ofPost-It and Scotch tape – did not start out so successfully. After its foundation in1902, the five founders quickly discovered that the land which they had boughtdid not contain the natural abrasive they were looking for, namely the mineralcorundum. As a consequence, they changed from supplying to the abrasivesindustry to supplying abrasives – in the first instance, sandpaper. 60 The rest, asthe expression has it, is history. In the course of time, 3m has built an impressivelist of innovations. Strictly speaking, the advertisements in which 3mproudly boasts its innovative performance are highly credible. For the insider,however, they contain obsolete information. However, the truth is that 3m hasbeen putting its money where its mouth is for over a hundred years. That is whymost people have come to know 3m as an innovative organisation.A company never competes on the basis of its current activities alone. Acompany or an organisation such as unesco, establishes a certain position inthe consciousness of the society in which it is operating through the activities,products, services and brands it produces. An image reflects this cumulativepresence and its associated communication in the market. 61 Advertising gurusput too much emphasis on commercial advertising and ignore the history of anorganisation in the development of its reputation.© rudy moenaert, henry robben, peter gouw, lannoocampus • marketing strategy & organization