Stop being lazy...or your customers will punish you

Stop being lazy...
Originally uploaded by divinemisscopa.

Design Space puts the consumer at the top of the octagon for good reason... if you put them anywhere else... below the top factor you will live, if you are lucky, to regret it. Yesterday's Independent on Sunday headlines "Drinkers win the battle of Lewes".

" What began as a walkout by regular drinkers, and then turned into a campaign uniting the residents of a rural Sussex town against the might of one of Britain's biggest breweries, has finally ended.

Drinkers at the Lewes Arms were furious when the pub's owners, Greene King Brewery, decided to pull the locally brewed Harveys Best Bitter from the pumps last year in favour of its own beer.

It prompted a boycott that lasted for five months, with the 220-year-old pub's takings decimated. Drinkers formed the Friends of the Lewes Arms and took refuge in the town's Constitutional Club, which became the unofficial headquarters of the campaign. Profits plummeted with the pub left almost deserted.

In a humiliating climbdown, the brewery has now decided to reinstate the award-winning Harveys bitter - promising that it will be back on sale by the end of this week. Greene King's chief executive Rooney Anand admitted the company had underestimated the depth of feeling and said: "The decision to return Harveys to the bar is the right one."

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The ability of consumer groups to organise themselves around what they want and to say "No" to the brand owner or supplier who has better ideas undermines the brand unless they can find more new customers than the ones they loose (which ultimately costs them more than keeping the ones they have got)...in Tom Asacker writes

" A brand is an expectation of someone or something delivering a certain feeling  by way of an experience." So a strong brand must deliver that experience to a level that delights the customer. Tom Asacker continues

"What expected feeling attracts people to our brand?

Are we communicating it?

What expected feeling keeps them engaged with us?

Are we delivering it?

What expected feeling will draw them away from us

Are we monitoring it? "

The brewery failed to think through its (bottom-line driven ) actions, and paid the price

The IOS article continued

" Getting Greene King to do a U-turn has been incredible. I think a combination of the drop in profits and bad publicity has made them change their mind."

See their campaign website for the "whole story"; the customer is King even when ranged up against Greene King. It is good if we remeber that bottom line efficiency improvement can be divided into two segments... those that are customer neutral in their affect and those that do affect the customer.