Sitting down is not so easy, Jet-set Mike Robinson shares complexities with Royal Holloway MBAs

Never thought too hard about sitting down before ? Royal Holloway MBA students were taken to another level recently by aviation industry consultant Mike Robinson, who jetted in from Geneva to give a master class on how consumers cope with complexity and particularly choice.  

Royal Holloway MBAs pondering customer behaviour complexity in seat selection

First up really was; Where to sit ?  The traditional rows of desks and chairs were replaced by an aircraft simulating 3x3 seating plan, with a single, central aisle.  MBA Director, Justin O'Brien, predicted correctly that the front row would be the least popular area and the cool crowd would fill up the back row.  Unlike a plane, where seats 1A and 1H are much sought after and there is a general preference for the front rows over those down the back.  

Ever wondered why you end up driving around an empty car park, not quite able to decide which space to take.  Which is really the perfect one ?     My wife certainly finds this behaviour very difficult to comprehend.  But multi-storey car parking has become a bit of a taboo subject in our house, so best to leave this one alone.  Mike suggests it is a function of too much choice and cites a variety of examples that indicates that giving too many options can enhance customer choice satisfaction, but decrease actual purchasing behaviour.  Great data, wrong question, just like new Coke - one to chew over with colleague Sameer next week ! To example this assertion Mike highlighted the huge product range offered by leading supermarkets, but the much narrower, one choice per category offered by discounters like Aldi and Lidl.  

15E the least chosen seat ?

Sharing key insights from his time heading up the commercial arm of the management consultancy practice at IATA (the de facto global airline membership body) in Switzerland and drawing on a wide experience on projects undertaken around the globe, Mike encouraged the Royal Holloway MBA group to attach great importance to customer insight and devoting material time and resources to ensure that real behaviours of real customers is integral to all commercial decision making.

Mike highlighted, by way of case study example, the entrepreneurial 50+ strong retail chain that sells healthy soup targeting the needs of one particular group of Japanese customers, women who like nutritious soups and want to feel safe eating alone in a smoke free environment.  

Mike Robinson at Royal Holloway

Research for a leading European point-to-point airline identified the importance of toilets in the decision making of female and older customers, young people it seems have strong bladders.  Proximity to or access to facilities being a key seat choice factor, and its importance growing with increasing flight duration.

Travellers were also prepared to pay a significant premium for pre-allocated seating in the front of the aircraft and most were happy to pay a notional figure to allow choice at the point of booking and avoid the rugby scrum melee that can occur during a free boarding process.  Crucially the charging framework under investigation failed to optimise the full value of additional fees travellers would have been prepared to pay, underscoring Mike's key tenet that more focus on customer insight is often needed and it can drive the bottom line. 

During the Q&A Mike Robinson explained to the engaged and curious Royal Holloway MBA group that the front of an aircraft was a more popular choice for a variety of reasons including; speed of entry/exit access, lower engine noise and a smoother ride.  

And the answer to life, universe and everything is 15E, the seat most likely to be vacant on a typical short haul aircraft, so choose D or F in that row to optimise your own elbow room.  

My First Christmas in UK: Srinath B R Royal Holloway MBA candidate

"I was totally overwhelmed with the MBA alumni Christmas lunch, check out our photos all over Facebook.... It was my first traditional Christmas lunch in UK. It was such a memorable end of term celebration. The Christmas carols we sang together reminded me of my school days back in India, when I used to sing "Jingle bells" and  "Happy New Year" celebrating Christmas." 

Srinath B R First UK Christmas brought back fond memories from school in India

It was definitely our huge pleasure to meet with members of the School of Management team, various alumni and the MSc Entrepreneurship student cohort with our vibrant MBA group.  It was invaluable to be able to chat informally over lunch with the Head of the Management School, Professor Jeffrey Unerman, and learn about his extensive industry work experience and to discuss his exciting future plans. 

Jeffrey was keen to learn more about why I chose Royal Holloway to study for the MBA. I am a mechanical engineer by profession, having five years work experience in R&D, product design engineering and leading the business development team. This taste of leadership gave me the inspiration to want to develop a broader understanding of business and  management.   I am really keen to gain some international management experience and hope to use my MBA in future challenging Marketing, Branding and Business development roles. 

This was my first British Christmas and although the dinner was not a formal part of my MBA, it is definitely a brilliant memory I will take back home with me and cherish forever.  This experience was so much more than I was expecting.  Cheers for that. 


Srinath B R sparkles by the Xmas tree

What's in a name ?

What's in a name ?

As a life long student of marketing, I am always looking out for creative examples to capture and be used to engage a future group of like minded students.  My wife despairs of me at times, because out of nowhere, she will have lost me as I have stopped dead and quickly look to whip out my camera and capture the memory of an inspiring vignette for a yet to be determined class.  (It has got better - I used to teach lots of aviation related topics, including a module on airport terminal design, and this meant arriving an hour early at each airport, not to avoid traffic delays and the stress of rushing to the airport, but so that I could explore the entire airport more completely and pick up as many brochures and leaflets as I could find.)

Recently I have captured a number of images of products or companies that I feel are particularly clever names.  This idea of "Doing exactly what it says on the tin" is one what has been rather relentlessly used by a certain varnish/coatings brand (Ronseal), to an extent that this phraseology has entered the common UK vernacular.   Rather annoyingly for Ronseal, their brand name is often the omitted element.  Take a look at an example (above) of their straight forward approach to advertising, one of many advertising executions that have a certain appeal.  Lasting too, just like it says on the tin ! 

We moved house recently and rather reluctantly I agreed to the buying of a new mattress for our bed.  I was particularly grumpy about the whole exercise until after we had secured the (rather heavy) item on its iron frame.  My face lit up the moment I spotted the manufacturers label.  Instantly, it evoked a powerful, highly memorable, fairy tale of old. But, at the same time, in line with effective advertising approaches, a single minded proposition that suggested that the huge expense was going to be worthwhile, years of comfortable sleeping lay ahead. 

And sure enough, the mattress is very comfortable.  Unfortunately for me, it is so firm and straight,    -all-the-way-to-the-edges-, that my duvet keeps dropping off the bed in the middle of the night.  Sublimely comfortable, but cold.



PDFprint@btclick.com strikingly obvious service offer !

On my way back from a days meetings in Bloomsbury, where the University of London offices are, my eye was attracted to a bold, large and particularly prominent sign. 

PDFprint@btclick.com is the only visible sign in this central London print shop, drawing more attention to the sign using clean white font on bright red background. Perhaps the outlet was limited by planning regulations from putting this sign on the outside or windows.  Apologies for the poor photo (I was on the run, with only my camera phone to hand).  I particularly liked this banner, as it clearly explains what you have to do within the confines of an email address.  You need to send PDF (not word or any other text file format, to this email address and this print shop will have it done for you...)  Why pdf ? I guess to ensure that the spacing and pagination is not altered in any way.  It is a shame that the strategic branding team at valiant UK champion of airline deregulation British Midland, in its final years re-branded as bmi (all lower case), did not think about their naming conventions more carefully.  When they wanted to give birth to a baby (a popular strategic notion in the 1990's and noughties) and repackage their predominantly price sensitive, leisure oriented UK regional flying they called it bmibaby.com.  Warning: the Google search for be-my-baby is remarkably similar, and not to be undertaken using a company owned computer. 

"Can I have a pint of T.E.A please ?"

I recently attended a stag (noram: bachelor) party that saw an illustrious gang of fine, middle aged men take a slow walk around a local Surrey brewery, whilst sporting Hawai'ian T-shirts and traditional lei garlands.  T.E.A (Traditional English Ale) from Hogs Back Brewery is a very clever name, a gag that sees public house patrons order "a pint of tea, please", a talking point that will no doubt make the brand more memorable. The clever visualisation of the brewery on the ridge of a male pig another pun.  More anon on this particular pet project I promise. 

I try always to bring in a sense of my work place into these blog postings.  My own Alma Mater, Warwick University, benefits from a bit of creative naming.  With part of the campus in Coventry (the closest city) and part in Warwickshire, the foresighted decision makers went with Warwick University (pronounced Warrick, not War-wick).  With a pounding from German bombers in WWII and an economy reliant on manufacturing, Coventry did not have a great reputation in the twentieth Century.  I imagine still today, as my undergraduate days, each September new students pitch up to Warwick train station and find themselves some 10 miles from the prestigious university's campus. 

Royal Holloway, University of London

Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) is the trading name of a much longer legal entity (so long I don't dare try to write it out fully, lest I get it wrong) that evolved after the merger of UK's first and second higher education institutions that were open to women.  Most of the central London property that came with Bedford College was sold and the funds used to build luxurious student halls of residence that boast bright airy communal kitchen spaces and individual rooms with their own toilets.  The remaining central London footprint enables meaningful use of the umbrella 'University of London' (as most students study at the Egham campus, set in the leafy, Surrey suburbs a short train journey from central London) which has a strong brand resonance globally.  The 'Royal' title comes from the association with Queen Victoria, who opened the College and is recognised with a large, white marble statue in the northern quad of the signature Founders building.  'Holloway' is the last name of Thomas and Jane, the childless benefactors on whose fortune the College is founded.  I like to think of 'RHUL' as being multi-faceted, that helps establish a strong, vibrant brand for our College community. 

The age of Digital CRM has arrived !!

The Age of Digital CRM has (finally, eventually) arrived !!

"How odd !" I thought this morning when I logged onto my PC.  The day was not going well.  I had to clear my busy diary and work from home, nursing #1 son, whose sore throat and general illness prevented him from going to school today.  An experienced parent, I have learnt when one of my boys is really, genuinely sick.

I am also reminded by my ever-so successful and terribly busy fellow working but active parent chum H (vs. rarely seen upgrade v2.1) not to over share personal details on social media.  LoL (it doen't mean 'lots of love' any more...)

This week I commented on a (good) draft of a literature review on mCRM, having recently given the "over promise, under delivers" CRM lecture for second year Management undergrads.  With a culture of 'always on' mobile devices supporting push email, huge data processing warehouses and web 2.0, all the esential ingredients would appear to be in place for some genuinely individualised, appropriate and effective 121 marketing to be coming our way (or Customer Relationshp Management if you will.) 

For several years I have been using this YouTube clip from the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report (Cruise plays a pre-crime policeman, whose role is to intercept criminals just before they commit the deed) to bring alive the idea of the ultimate personalised, automated shopping experience.  Whilst retina scanning remains the preserve of passport authorities and airports (it is slower to catch on than most envisioned based on the technology deployment at Heathrow airport) the mobile device, technology convergence and wifi/bluetooth provide tech savvy entities with the opportunity to lead the implementation of contextually relevant mobile advertising.  Think of the 'Around Me' ap.  Never thought this would be useful, how wrong can you be ?  Spy on your family members location using the mobile fone tracker, lovin' it, to appropriate a McDonald's tag line.

I've had three inappropriate direct mail executions arrive at home (H advises not to be too detailed here) in the last week. 

(1) Someone claimed to have serviced our boiler before we moved in.."Dear Homeowner"..not going to use them, British Gas gave me a list as long as my forearm of issues around the rather cowboyesque instalation that will see me digging a drainage trench and filling it with little limestone chippings when the weather lets off.  I've already lagged an outside pipe, tried to fill a void that sucks all the heat out the house and spent £5 on a little, bendy, plastic, valve thing that will squirt over-flowing boiling water on your feet rather than spray you in the face.

(2) VW thanked me for my recent inquiry.  You know I love my Beetle.  How did they know I'd been looking at a Volvo V40 Cross Country ?  I certainly won't be buying a VW next unless they start manufacturing a 21st Century camper van, with a flat front and circular lights.  I hadn't actually made an inquiry with them.  My boys and their chums need more leg room than the Beetle can provide, however macho the new Beetle mark III is. 

(3) Johnnie Boden (once a close personal friend, whose annoying behaviour is nearly seeing him put on my barred friend list).  I need say no more.  Every week he offers me 20% or 25% or free something.  Or season sale.  Or pre-season special sale.  I am a free clothes peg for his XXL flowery shirts.  He can't bring them out quick enough.  I like them so much I even pay full price some times.  I wear them at campus on show pony days to illustrate my non-conformist yet conformist credentials. 
                         Collar, but not corporate. 

Unfortunately the offers are coming so thick and fast I don't believe them any more.  The designs I like are rarely featured in the sales in my size.  Come on little people - S and XS - help Johnnie out and buy your share of his ranges so I don't keep getting bombarded with enticingly empty offers.

This kind of slack marketing gives the profession (errm) a bad name like PPI mis-selling cold callers.

Anyway, back to Google.  I don't recall telling them when my birthday is, but so many logins require this data as part of your sign up (great for marketers to analyse the socio-demographic of their audience) I guess they know.  I never asked them to send me a birthday message, in fact, I don't think I would welcome such an intrusion.  Hence, my wry smile at seeing the Google cake logo on my search engine page.  This rather perfectly hit that balance of plesant surprise, but not uncomfortable leaning over your shoulder and gauping. 

I had to go back and check (lest it be some momentus world leaders birthday too), my hovering mouse had a subtle yet perfect text within it "Happy Birthday Justin !". 

They had even spelt my name right !   mCRM - bring it on....

The Royal Holloway 2012 Cohort - Who we are ?

Royal Holloway Founders building seen through Windsor windows

Once again our MBA course has been highly attractive to students from all over the world. The 2012/13 cohort of 35 (pictured above) has grown 20% on the previous year, in spite of a 30% reduction in applications. Changes to the post study work visa arrangements have seen applications drop off significantly from India, a historically strong market. Early anecdotal evidence shows that Royal Holloway MBA has been successful at attracting more, high caliber students whilst many institutions have seen their programme enrolments reduce.  

The gender balance is fairly even with 54% women and 46% men, wholly appropriate for a College that is proud of its historical origins as a Victorian ladies college. This is an important and unusual feature of the Royal Holloway MBA programme. At other leading UK MBA programmes and as seen with AMBA accredited Universities data the MBA gender breakdown usually sees around a 70% male and 30% female blend, indicating that the MBA is often a more masculine dominated course. AACSB, another global programme accreditation body, shows parity across the sexes when looking at all masters degrees.

Our students' varied business backgrounds

An essential entry requirement is extensive work experience, again the sheer variety evidenced in the MBA work profiles is very impressive. It includes; digital marketing, project management, IT, banking, insurance, finance, accounting, aviation, NGO (United Nations) administrative, entrepreneurial, charities, beverages brand manager and Disneyland.

Royal Holloway is proud of its AMBA accreditation which requires MBA students to have at least three years postgraduate work experience. This experience will come to bear towards the end of their year-long programme when they are required to work in groups as management consultants and recommend a viable solution to a real business problem set by one of our industry partners.

Where do our students come from?

The 35 students hail from 21 different countries; USA, UK, Bermuda, India, Russia, Senegal, South Korea, South Africa, China, Japan, Colombia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, Turkey, Latvia, Israel, Canada, and Mexico providing a truly international learning experience. It is believed that this is the first time all of the populated continents of the world have been represented on the full time Royal Holloway MBA.

The Royal Holloway MBA 2012/13 Cohort - Where do they come from ?

 

 

"Don't post a silly picture of me on Linked-In, I'll never get a job !"

MBA 2011/12 Graduation

 

I must say I was slighty sceptical about the re-introduction of winter graduations for post graduate students.  The thought of driving rain and freezing temperatures and not putting the extravagant Picture Gallery and Chapel centre stage as the location made me have some serious reservations.

 

Gone.  Totally dispelled.  And as our head of school is often keen on impressing, "evidence based decision making is key ! ".  Resulting on the relatively short gap since Royal Holloway MBA students have submitted their dissertations (end of August) there was an impressive 60% attendance at the ceremony today.  With a surprising number flying in especially for graduation, this made for a fantastic group who seemed to have a really fun time together.



Royal Holloway 2011/12 MBA cohort.  Picture: Sigrun M Wagner

The ceremony was described as appropriately formal and smoothly run.  No scrimping on style for the big celebration of successful learning journeys completed.  Trumpetted by bearskin soldiers in their immaculate uniforms the College Principal reinforced the quality of their masters degree, reminding us that Royal Holloway placed 119th out of 6,000 in a recent evaluation of the worlds best universities.  The graduation ceremonies at Royal Holloway (I've done several now as you might imagine) deliver all the right ingredients in just the right measures, pomp, purpose, and lots of preened photo opportunities, using the stunning Founders building as a back drop. 

 

This years MBA cohort achieved particularly strong results with 3 distinctions (70%+) and 10 merits (60%+) and were the first ever group to have undertaken a week long international study visit (in conjunction with our partner business school institution at Stockholm University).  They were also recognised for the ground breaking off campus business consultancy engagement that was undertaken with senior management from Thorpe Park, one of the 93 business units that comprises the Merlin Group, second only to Disney in the amusements sector.

 

After all the formality in the Monkeys Forehead (a favourite with students each and every year) the MBA group, packed full of happy, smiling faces, were celebrating their achievements, with a chance to let their hair down a bit and to plan their next reunion !

 

In the pub, Amir's plea to those taking photos "Please don't post a silly picture of me on Linked-In, I'll never get a job if you do !"  personally, I think it's ok to celebrate the achievement of an MBA....

 

The last John Lewis Christmas ad of its kind ?

Gone are the days of 30 million of us sitting down after the queens speech at Christmas to watch a jolly good show together with great auntie Edna snoring on the sofa, our choice restricted to just four or five terrestrial button options.  Sky multi-room, time shift TV hard drives "never miss a minute" and computer based catch up services have put paid to this.  Gone also, I imagine, the power companies headache of predicting the simultaneous kettle spikes of surging electricity demand during the first Bond movie commercial break on Boxing day, premiering to the massess a full five years after its cinematic debut.  Reassuringly though, Coca Cola will still be there with another reinvention of jingle bells, bright red Coke and that Christmas feeling, seeking to carve out its ownership of  this community celebration space that seems to be a core brand value.  But have we seen the last ever John Lewis masterclass in effective emotional branding with this years Christ-tingle making story of the lonely snow man ?

At 90 seconds in length it is certainly making a statement, although of course with the declining trend for embedded simultaneous television audiences, the cost may not be quite as high as we imagine.  In line with contemporary brand building approaches, the John Lewis brand, shop space, and friendly staff are entirely absent from screen and you only get to know it is indeed a JL classic in the closing credits.  Story told, emotional connection firmly made, just a pair of gloves, scarf and hat to show for it !  Entirely the opposite approach is taken by Marks and Spencer's who appear to want to reverse a declining sales trend by using fast changing, high energy dancers, vignettes flicking through their target segments, to show case as much of the new range as possible.  To my mind they are using a genre that is so strongly associated with GAP that it might as well be a GAP ad.  Snatching at too much, too quick, unlikely to be memorable is my firm belief.  Juxtapose the soft, intricate and deliberately slow story telling preferred by Craig Inglis, Marketing Director for the partnership business.


Enter stage right, Gabrielle Aplin, the young twenty something picked out of obsurity to cover a melancolic eighties version of 'The Power of Love' by sometimes contraversial Liverpudlian band Frankie Goes To Hollywood.  (Which of course these days would be referred to as FGTH, naturally.)  Like a well oiled machine, the meticulously executed 21st Century communications package is designed to deliver a mighty emotional punch.  The cheaply exploitable, emerging artist (often the opposite sex to the original artist for an added twist), keen on the exposure and hopeful that the successful middle market department store advertising spend will help break them into the big time, provides a convenient platform of safety in a classic hit, but hope in establishing youthful credentials with the new artists edgy cover.  Nostalgic eighties music for the higher spending 30's and 40's age group deliberately chosen by stealth.  Of course, from a marketing planners perspective using your brand to launch a top ten hit hopefully pays dividends as the carry over of the song can help remind and reinforce the campaign without further payment, perhaps even on channels that do not accept advertising.  (BBC making the news, not just reporting it !)  Just look at what happened in 2010 for Ellie Goulding and her cover of an Elton John classic, based on this it is not unreasonable for Gabrielle to hope for a BRIT award, a chart topper and to break into the USofA in 2014.  Go, Gaby, Go !

Back to the ad: A series of clips show the sad and lonley snowman's journey across stunning landscapes (The Mail suggests this is a Lord of the Rings Froddo like quest, since the stunning scenery and ample snow of New Zealands south island are used as the set) to eventually achieve his quest, reunited with Mrs Snowman at home, perfect gift bestowed and happiness ensues.

Cynically, I am not quite sure what message the audience should take away from this ?  Getting to and from a John Lewis, particularly the car park in Southampton, is an epic journey that will see your devotion fully tested ?  Buy your loved ones warm clothes for outdoors, because the economy is so bad you will welcome the warmth ?  Here I have to fess up to being a big softy on John Lewis, having purchased a 2011 CD of the cover songs used for their advertising campaigns. I even use John Lewis as a cracking case study when I teach marketing on The Royal Holloway MBA.   I guess we know the message is something around 'if you struggle to find the right gift for someone you really care about, go to John Lewis and you will not be disappointed'.  Touchingly sentimental, and where I should probably finish this post. 


However, aside from GAP like M&S, other players like Debenhams have emulated the magic formula used now for several seasons and what in the past saw John Lewis as distinctive and quite different may get lost and the inhibited memorability may see this genre of ads be replaced by a 'different kind of different' that drives a stronger return on investment for the advertising spend.  For the JL creatives, it will surely be a tough call to opt for a different formulation, particularly when the December retail spend plays such a vital role in the years sales performance.