We cannot claim to be customer-centric unless we are data-centric. Lego - which is my 3.5-year-old son, Lucien's favourite client brand of ours - followed the data in a counter-intuitive way. Many of us would associate Lego with child's play, and as a company producing kids' toys. Yes, of course they do that to Lucien and other kids' great delight. But, Lego doesn't constrain its thinking based on this potential limitation to their market place. In the ethos of 'you can only claim to be customer-centric if you are data-centric' they also realised that many adults (like myself) are part of the 'kidult'-segment of consumers, a market that is growing 3 times the rate of the kids' market.
Thinking of our brand based on old or limited notions of who we are - or were - primarily servicing, can stifle innovation. In this pandemic - the largest and fastest human behavioural change project ever unleashed - innovation and re-imagination is critical to being able to accelerate out of the curve and drive sustainable profitability in the recovery and (soon to be) expansionary phase of the Transformation Economy.
The research also shows that companies that innovate during the slowdown outperform their peers by 10% during the slowdown, and by 30% during the recovery phase. If you have not been innovating so far during the pandemic, you must start today. Holler out if you want to find out how...