Brandware

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the senior marketing manager for The Oklahoman, a premier media company in Oklahoma that provides the highest-quality journalism. Our newspaper and digital properties combined reach 85% of adults in the Oklahoma City metro area.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Brandware Research?

We have been a company for over 100 years and never marketed ourselves until recently. However, there was a shift in consumers in our market toward younger readers and transplants who hadn't heard about our product. 

We needed a third-party to come in and do several rounds of research (i.e., surveys, focus groups) so that we could find out what people in our market thought about our product. 

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to find out what our consumers and non-consumers thought about our product.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Our VP of marketing had worked with them before and spoke highly about their research capabilities.

Describe the project in detail.

For years, Brandware Research conducted brand studies to gauge how our products fared in the market. We wanted to hear from current subscribers, past subscribers, and non-subscribers. 

We also wanted an understanding of where we stood with brand measures like brand awareness, purchase intent, and brand favorability so that we could make sure our marketing campaigns were effective.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We discovered various topics and writers that our readers and non-subscribers were interested in. So, we created a brand campaign highlighting those discoveries, and it increased our brand favorability by 52%, purchase intent by 15%, and Net Promoter Score (NPS) by 25%. We were also able to increase subscriptions and Facebook likes to be competitive with similarly sized media companies.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was really easy to work with everyone at Brandware Research. They continued to do our brand studies year after year so that we could accurately track how our campaigns were working in the market.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Working with Brandware Research was great because they really helped us identify the areas that we needed to focus on, as well as the areas we thought we excelled in but our consumers didn't agree. Beyond helping create a brand campaign, it helped us shape every aspect of our business.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None that I could think of.