from co-creation to structural collaboration

conversationmanagement.biz I @steven_insites I @tomderuyck

@steven_insites @tomderuyck

http://www.twitter.com/



What to expect from this paper?

• An inspirational view on structural collaboration between your company

and the market, based on 15 interviews with senior executives of (global)

brands from different industries.

• Main reasons why your company should be serious about structural

collaboration with your customers.

• A clear overview of what will be key, in order to succeed with structural

collaboration.

• An overview of some organizational measures your company will need to

take when moving from one-off co-creation to structural collaboration.

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Definition: what do we mean

with structural collaboration?

This paper describes the success factors for ‘structural collaboration’.

When we talk about structural collaboration we mean the integration of

the voice of the customer in all decision making flows of your company.

In most companies, customers are only allowed to give feedback at the

very end of a decision making flow through traditional market research.

This paper gives insights on how to involve the customer in every single

phase of the decision making flow on an ongoing basis. We

acknowledge that collaboration can also be done with employees, but

the focus of this paper is on collaboration with the market.

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1 Part


The facts about crowdsourcing,

co-creation and collaboration.

Co-creation is hot. In recent years, the world has been witness to a whole host of successful co-creation cases.

Doritos allowed its fans to develop an advert to be shown during the Superbowl. Lays Crisps asked their

customers to help choose a new flavour and snack manufacturer Mora produced a new croquette in collaboration

with its consumers. Co-creation and crowd-sourcing are high on the agenda of the majority of today’s marketers.

It is seen as a quick way to experiment with this new way of working. There is nothing wrong with this, but in

most cases it doesn’t go any further than being just a trendy marketing campaign. The other problem with all of

the examples above: they were all ‘one-offs’. There is no long term vision, nor intention to collaborate with the

customer in a more structural way.

Currently, only 3% of all companies have experience with developing new products and services with their

consumers. In most cases1, this collaboration starts with a pilot project. If the test is successful, the

collaboration can gradually be built up in a more structural manner. Less than one out of ten companies who co-

create with their customers also use this collaboration for the launching of new products. We may say that the

focus of co-creation is mainly focused on the initiation of new ideas2. But even if consumers are more or less

continually involved in the process of dreaming up new ideas, this is still not enough to be able to speak of

‘structural collaboration’. Structural collaboration means that the customer is involved in all aspects of your

company’s life.

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Part

12011, InSites Consulting, Social media integration survey.

22011, Frost & Sullivan, R&D/innovation and product development priorities survey results.

1


1. Getting new insights: exploration of the target

group. Listen directly on how they perceive the

product and service quality to optimize the

commercial portfolio. This also implies discovering

new market trends and unmet needs from your

most relevant customers.

2. The development of new ideas and fine-tuning

of existing ideas. Create new commercial value

together with the customer. By involving them in

the product, campaign or brand development flow,

you create a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. The

most relevant customers decide almost upfront

what they will buy.

3. Key role during implementation. Include

customers during the implementation phase to

make sure that your interpretation of their ideas is

done in a correct way.

4. Continuous evaluation and optimization. Use

the voice of the customer as a continuous flow of

information to improve loads of smaller, tactical

issues and to re-shape the future of your company

with your customer as your primary consultant.

1 Insighting

2 Developing

4 Optimizing

3 Implementing

Business

Objectives


And it pays off: a recent article in the ‘Harvard Business Review’ claimed that companies are better able to

solve all their main business problems if they collaborate closely with their consumers. 3The good news

is that consumers are also willing to help companies out with this: more than half of them4 want to

collaborate with one of their favourite brands around one or more of these issues.

Moreover, recent research carried out at the University of Wageningen5 has demonstrated that products whose

packaging is labelled ‘co-created with consumers’ will sell significantly better than equivalent products that are

not labelled in this way. In other words, consumers have more confidence in each other’s judgement than in

the judgement of professional experts within a company. And they are probably right. In a recent study, we

found that new product ideas that were co-developed with consumers score especially higher on ‘being relevant’

and ‘fulfilling ones needs’6.

The goal of this paper is to look into the necessary ingredients for a company to structurally get the consumer

on board: every single day and for almost all decisions that need to be taken. As a consequence of this

intense collaboration between your company and the market, decisions will no longer be imposed from above.

And when the majority of your decisions are taken in this manner, following consultation with the market, you

may really speak of ‘structural collaboration’. The consumer is truly represented in the boardroom. His voice

can be heard in every part of your company, a voice that is every bit as loud as the voice of management and

staff. You may even want to consider actually appointing a consumer as an honorary member of your

board.

32008, Harvard Business Review, The contribution economy, Scott Cook. 42011, InSites Consulting, Social Media around the world study. 52011, MSc thesis: Van Dijk, J. (30 August 2011). ‘The effects of co-creation on brand and product perceptions’.

Faculty of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, more info: Joycediscovers.wordpress.com 62011, InSites Consulting with Heinz, R&D study.


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2 Part



The objectives of

structural collaboration.

Companies who are working on structural collaboration with their

customers have four clear objectives in mind with this approach:

1. Create better products, improve the customer service and communicate in a more impactful way.

This is by far the most important objective for large brands to collaborate with consumers. By succeeding in

this objective, the overall performance of the organization will increase.

2. Become more agile. By involving customers in every phase of a decision making chain, things move faster.

Companies can make better decisions faster and have a better feeling what will be needed to be as

successful in the future. A big plus in today’s fast moving world.

3. Add consumer-feeling to the gut-feeling. A lot of managers rely on their gut-feeling, which is wonderful.

Structural collaboration should add ‘consumer-feeling’ to it. By collaborating so often, managers create the

ability to put on the consumers hat during a meeting and think as the customer. Allowing them to make more

consumer relevant choices.

4. Marketing & PR. Companies who are listening and involve consumers in decision making are popular

nowadays. Tell all your customers that you take decisions based on consulting other customers, and they will

like you more. Leveraging the internal collaboration platforms towards the external communication, has an

impact on the overall perception. This is not the main goal, but a very welcomed indirect effect.

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2 Part


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3 Part


An evolution,

not a revolution.

It’s clear that structural collaboration with consumers is not about having the right

technology to make it happen. It is about a mentality shift for most organizations.

A shift from a ‘we know best’-attitude towards an open mentality. The most

beautiful results of collaborating companies is the creation of what we just called

the ‘consumer feeling’. Adding the consumer feeling to the gut feeling of

companies is the biggest change one can achieve through structural

collaboration.

To reach this situation, there are a number of steps to be taken. Based on our

research, we learned that all companies started small and evolved towards

bigger and bigger collaboration projects. In the end, collaboration was really

embedded in their organization. It was a process of change, not a revolution.

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3 Part


1. Collaboration always starts with a first time try out. Companies organize a co-creation project in which

they allow the customer to participate in one specific project. Most occurring examples are co-creation

of a new product, a new package or new marketing communication.

2. If this try out is experienced as a success, the second step is to apply collaboration on

a project based level in the organization. In this stage, companies have the habit to involve customers

in every important new project they work on.

3. After a while, it becomes hard for them to take decisions without the voice of the customer during the

process and they decide to structurally collaborate.

1-time

try out

1. …………………

Project based

collaboration

2. …………………

Structural

collaboration

3. …………………


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4 Part


Five pillars

for Collaboration

Based our interviews,

we concluded that

there are 5 crucial

pillars if you want to

be successful in the

evolution towards

structural collaboration.

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4 Part

Fit with the

company

culture

Select the right

participants

C-level

involvement,

support is

not enough

Internal

= External

Measure

impact

1

2

3

4

5


Fit with the company culture ………………………………………………………………………

1

During our interviews, everyone

mentioned company culture as a very

important pillar to evolve from co-creation

to structural collaboration. It is easier to

collaborate with employees and

customers if your organization is

characterized by an open and positive

culture

However, this does not imply that

collaboration is only possible in certain

companies. Collaboration is possible in

every company, but the current culture

determines where you can start. To be

successful with collaboration it is

important to select an approach that fits

the current culture. Don’t try to change

the culture through your first collaboration

projects. For example, if you have culture

where low cost is key, make sure the

objective of the collaboration is to reduce

costs of other expenses (e.g. doing less

ad hoc market research). If you are a

company that has connection with its

target group high on the agenda, add

consumer connectivity as an objective.

In other words: let the collaboration

objectives and way of working (duration,

intensity and level of involvement of

different departments) fit with the existing

culture. This approach will allow you to

start. After a while, the company culture

will change automatically, project by

project. Employees will be more

connected to consumers. This will result

in direct feedback which will allow better

and faster decisions. In the end, this

brings in more money.

As a consequence, the opinion of the

customer will increase in value and your

company will evolve towards an open,

collaborative environment.

Collaboration

Culture


Select the right participants ………………………………………………………………………

2

There are two types of customer collaboration possible: an open online platform where everyone can participate

and a closed online community where you select the people to join in.

In the large open communities you have little direct control over who joins in and who doesn’t. The members come

together in a very spontaneous way to discuss particular subjects that are of their interest. Your role with regards to

these people is simply to listen. This will allow you to discover a series of unfulfilled market needs, which may

eventually lead to new products and services. Of course, you are also free to ask them questions, but you must

always remember that these are open communities – anyone else might be listening to their answers!

Companies that want to involve the customer in more strategic decisions and who have a need for in-depth

feedback, tend to work with a closed online community with a limited number of relevant customers. If you want to

solve a specific management problem, it is better to discuss possible solutions with a smaller, closed group of

between 50 and 150 of people with a keen interest into your category. It could also be a group of your most ardent

fans, fans who you have carefully vetted and selected yourself. The major advantage of this approach is that you

have everything in your own hands – and this is advisable when you don’t want the whole world to know what

decisions are being taken.


It is important to acknowledge that not every customer will be able – or is suitable – to

help you solve management problems. To give your company access to the right

advice on a daily basis, you need to listen to the right (and relevant) people. For your

communities seek to attract people who can offer an added value. The minimum

condition is that they must have a clear commitment to the company and what it stands

for. They might be an expert in the sector, a knowledgeable and enthusiastic amateur in

the sector or just a big fan of your brand. Research has shown that without this kind of

emotional commitment people seldom have enough interest to contribute effectively to

an online community7. In other words, you need to talk to people who are interesting

and interested. If they don’t have an opinion or the natural motivation to take part is

missing, your community will not achieve what you want it to achieve. But it natural

engagement not enough, in order to make your community a real success you need to

manage it well. A number of things are important: be open and transparent about the

goals of each project, listen in an active way (allow participants to put their issues on

your agenda too), make it a fun experience (after all people are doing this in their spare

time) and give enough feedback on what you did with their answers.

72010, Ludwig, De Ruyck, Schillewaert, InSites Consulting and the University of Maastricht.


If you really want to progress to co-creation of new products or services with your community, you need to add the

following two dimensions to your selection criteria, resulting in two complementary groups of co-creators8

• People with innovative vision and social independence: These people formulate their vision about

innovation in an independent manner. They base this vision exclusively on their own experience and opinions,

without taking account of what might be ‘popular’. This results in very pure ideas. They like trying out new things

and generally have more extreme views than the ‘average’ customer. As a result, they can sometimes come up

with revolutionary ideas.

• Social influencers: This group discusses innovations whilst taking account of what their social environment

thinks. Influencers are regarded by this environment as creative specialists, who are quick to see the

advantages of new innovations. Consequently, their opinions about such innovations are frequently asked – and

followed. They like to be occupied creatively with new products and think that it is important that others also

approve of the products they like to use. They converse with others proactively on these matters. It is therefore

clear that this is a very relevant group for collaborative purposes. It is also a group with significant conversation

potential. This means that they not only help with the initiation and development of new ideas, but that they also

start conversations during the implementation of these ideas. They have a sixth sense for the innovations that

will catch on and those that will not. In this respect, they filter the ideas of the first group.

82010, Schillewaert, De Ruyck, InSites Consulting


C-level involvement, support is not enough …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

One of the critical success factors

is the involvement of your top

executives. To implement

collaboration in a credible way to

the market, there is need for

tangible proof of the results of the

collaboration. Consumers want to

see a new product, change in

service or communication. If they

feel there is no impact of their

efforts, they will drop out.

Consumers participate in this type

of projects to get recognized by a

company, not to get rich.

3

In order to make sure the

feedback of consumers is used

during implementation, the

involvement of your C-level is

necessary. Top management

support is actually not enough.

Based on our interviews, we

conclude that the most successful

cases of collaboration are all

stories where the CEO has an

active role: both internally and

externally. Internally, he or she

leads by example: consumer

feedback is used to make

important decisions. To the

external world, they are the face

of the company who reports back

on decisions that have been

made.

CEO’s who invest in collaboration

want to add consumer-feeling to

the gut-feeling of the organization.

Many organizations don’t have a

clue about what the consumers

thinks. As a consequence market

research is needed for every

small step. The moment your

organization gets a consumer-

feeling, managers can look at the

world through the eyes of the

consumer, which increases speed

and decreases costs of ad hoc

research.


Internal communication is not

enough. Internal = External ………………………………………………………………………….

4

Managers show more interest in a project or

approach that gets external credits than in a

project with a sole internal focus. In other words:

make sure your structural collaboration is not

completely taking place behind the scenes of

your organization.

Sharing your collaboration work with the whole

organization and the rest of the world has a

number of advantages. Next to an increase in

motivation of your management, it will also

increase the motivation of the participants of

your communities. Further, research has shown

that consumers have a higher trust level towards

and a better perception of brands that co-create.

So, there is also a commercial benefit to

leveraging your efforts externally.

Board

Brand/Product

Management, R&D, …

All departments

Consumers

Brand fans

Adversaries

Who How

Wit

hin

th

e

co

mp

an

y Movies &

infographics

Workshops & reports

Consumer stories:

posters, intranet, …

General & trade/niche

press

New & traditional media

Crisis management Ou

tsid

e t

he

co

mp

an

y


There are a few communication tactics you can apply to increase

the internal and external impact of your collaboration process:

• Meet-up with participants: Collaboration occurs on a digital platform but it is an interaction between people. To increase

the interaction and the emotional bondage, make sure your employees meet-up with these people in the real world as

well. Show them around in your company, tell them your challenges and treat them like part-time employees.

• Go for tangible results: If you work together with your consumers on a structural level, make sure you have concrete

deliverables. These results (e.g. new products, insights, advertising, packaging…) should be shared with the world to

make the collaboration aspirational for the market and for the involved manager.

• Bite size & creative reporting: share the results of your collaboration in a short, compelling and creative way with your

employees. Make sure it is easy to digest and to share.

• Apply content marketing techniques9: don’t communicate 1 or 2 times about your collaboration, but talk about it on a

more frequent basis. Use three levels of content: big content campaigns (e.g. when you have BIG news: launch of an

initiative or showing the end result), content projects (e.g. a theme that you talk about for a few days/weeks) and content

updates (small, daily updates with relevant information).

92012, InSites Consulting, A six step content marketing model (http://www.slideshare.net/stevenvanbelleghem/)

http://www.slideshare.net/stevenvanbelleghem/





Measure impact ……………………………………….

5

To keep the collaboration flow going,

there is need for evidence that the

approach works. Therefore we advise to

use a number of clear success indicators

that you can measure during the

implementation of structural collaboration

in your organization. There is no standard

list of KPIs to use; they differ from

company to company, as they are closely

linked to the company culture and the

company’s (long term) objectives. There

are a few KPIs that apply to all

companies to follow up on the impact of

structural collaboration:

• Success of innovation, impact of communication and improvement

of customer service: by involving customers early in the process, your

company will take better decisions. Product launches, new advertising

campaigns and so on, should have a higher success rate than before the

collaboration was implemented.

• Cost reduction: by integrating the voice of the customer in the entire

decision making flow, the cost of ad hoc market research could be

reduced. Next to that, by creating better products and service based on

the input of the market, the impact of word-of-mouth will increase, which

may lead to lower media budgets.

• Consumer feeling of the organization: you can measure to what

extent your management has a better feeling of the attitude and behavior

of your target market. The goal is that managers can think as consumers

and improve their performance through this new required skill.

• Brand perception: listening actively will humanize your brand and make

it more popular.

Define your KPIs, measure them and celebrate success!


Conclusion: change of internal

implementation processes needed

Collaboration should lead to decisions that are taken through a cooperation of the market and your

company. The proof of structural collaboration is in the implementation of the ideas. In order to succeed in

this crucial step, there is a need to change the internal decision streams. The challenge is to integrate

consumer feedback and input into every phase of the decision cycle.

Remember that structural collaboration does not come overnight. It starts with a try-out that fits within the

existing culture. Make sure that as from the start you know what your next step will be. In other words: it is

important to start with a try-out, but it is as important to start with a long term view. Make sure you know

where you're going. After the try-out, it is a matter of including collaboration into projects where the fit feels

right. People (internal and external) get bored fast. Make sure you have a flow ready in your collaboration

process to keep the conversations going. Plan with room for flexibility. Once you completed a number of

successful collaboration projects, the possibility to move forward to structural collaboration arrives.

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Make sure that along the way, you take into account these last tactical tips to make collaboration work:

• Have clear objectives in each collaboration project. Make sure that you don’t collaborate just for the sake

of it. To get the feedback of consumers in the decision flow, it has to be very clear what the objectives are.

Objectives that are in line with the business goals.

• Involve all stakeholders early in the process. The more departments are involved during the beginning of

the process the better. In order to integrate the collaboration flow in the decision flow, it is crucial to have a

buy-in from the relevant teams.

• Manage expectations. Collaboration won’t bring in the next big idea for your company. Customers are great

sparring partners, but don’t set the expectations too high. Make sure that during the integration of their

feedback in the decision flows, everybody is aware of what to expect from the collaboration.

• Have a community manager. Make sure you have somebody assigned to manage the community. This

person is responsible to manage the conversation with participants of the collaboration process and to share

the insights internally. He or she brings the consumer’s voice to life within the company.

• Create internal and external credibility. By delivering results and integrating the voice of the customer in

your decision flows, you will gain credibility among the participants of the collaboration platform. Credibility

among employees will also grow as they will see that collaboration adds value. Marketing your collaboration

efforts is not a bad thing, but it should not be the only thing.


Caroline Van Hoff, Concept Development Manager, Heineken International

Charles Hageman, Research Manager, KLM

Erkinheimo Pia, Global Collaboration Manager, Nokia

Graham Kahr Social Commerce Product Manager, Zappos

Hans Similon, Evangelist, Mobile Vikings

Joella Marsman, Marketing Researcher, HJ Heinz

Marc Fouconnier, CEO, Famous

Marjan Rintel, VP Marketing & Brand, KLM

Martijn Van Kesteren, Yunomi Leader Benelux, Unilever

Pascale Mignolet, International Market Research Director Coffee & Tea, Sara Lee

Philip Rogge, CEO, Microsoft BE

Piet Decuypere, CEO, Danone

Pol Van Biervliet, CEO, Cisco BE

Stan Knoops, Head of Consumer Insights Europe, Unilever R&D

Tormod Askildsen, Senior Director Community Engagement & Events, Lego

………………………………………………………………………………………… List of interviewees:


Thank you

& open for

all feedback. ………………………………

Steven & Tom.

……………………………… [email protected]

@steven_insites

[email protected]

@tomderuyck

Steven Van Belleghem

Managing Partner, InSites Consulting

Author of The Conversation Company & The Conversation Manager

Tom De Ruyck

Head of Research Communities, InSites Consulting

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from co-creation to structural collaboration

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