KBM Group and Danone: Enhancing Customer Communications and Driving Top-Line Results Without Increasing Costs

Marketing Services Provider Leverages Neolane’s Sophisticated Conversational

Marketing Technology to Improve the Impact and Measurabil ity of Clients’

Global, Distributed Campaigns

Partner name: KBM Group (Client: The Danone Company)

Industry: Marketing Services Provider

Business Need: Support future growth, streamline existing infrastructure, improve productivity and reduce costs.

“Neolane’s unmatched

technology for ROI-driven,

personalized cross-channel

marketing strategies, low

total cost of ownership,

and fl exible deployment

models have fueled the

next stage of growth for

KBM Group.”

Tom Young, Senior Vice President of Client Services, KBM Group

OBJECTIVES

• Replatform to consolidate campaign and database management with a single provider

• Improve marketing effectiveness across brands and geographies

• Create 360-degree marketing view of customers across channels

• Move from simple segmentation to more sophisticated personalization

RESULTS

• Replatforming decreases KBM Group’s costs by 30 percent

• Offl ine/online channel integration to achieve 360-degree marketing view

• Increased data quality

• Improved customer experience

• Measure ROI on unifi ed customer data

• Increase campaign performance based on improved personalization capabilities

KBM Group is the global leader in knowledge-based marketing solutions. Expert in both digital and traditional direct marketing, KBM Group helps companies manage, analyze and optimize marketing data to engage more effectively with their customers and prospects. KBM Group’s parent company, Wunderman, is part of Young & Rubicam Brands and a member of WPP.

KBM Group sought a technology partner to help it lay the groundwork for streamlining existing infrastructure, improving productivity and reducing costs while delivering unmatched results for its clients. One such client is Danone, a leading global provider of fresh dairy products, water, baby and medical nutrition.

The Challenge: Insuffi cient Data Silos and Multiple Vendors Were CostlyKBM Group faced many challenges including a campaign management system that was incapable of scaling, maintaining multiple, siloed databases and managing various external vendors—all of which contributed to increasing costs, frustration and deteriorating customer communication for its client, Danone.

They also sought a partner that offered fl exible deployment models, such as Software as a Service (SaaS), with experience delivering maximum uptime and fl exibility.

KBM Group’s client, Danone, aspired to achieve conversational marketing via real time customer interactions based on a

more complete picture of each customer. To accomplish these goals with limited resources in an increasingly complex marketing environment, Danone sought a completely outsourced marketing service provider.

The Solution: Consolidated Inbound/Outbound CapabilitiesKBM Group selected Neolane based on its experience supporting distributed marketing campaigns, the ability to simplify even the most complex marketing environments, and its deep expertise in creating a dynamic 360-degree marketing view of customers. Ultimately, KBM Group sought a partner that was capable of fully replatforming its existing technology infrastructure, while simplifying management and measurement of revenue-driven campaigns. Neolane’s single code-based platform, ease of use, cross-channel capabilities and inbound/outbound fusion engine all contributed to the fi nal decision that will drive a lower total cost of ownership for the marketing service provider.

Ultimately, Danone’s limited resources were leveraged into improved marketing effi ciency, increased reactivity rates, and higher value customers.

“Our relationship with Neolane allows us to address the rapid expansion of communication channels available to our clients through a single solution that automates a broad range of marketing activities,” said Tom Young, Senior Vice President of Client Services, KBM Group.

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“Our relationship with Neolane allows us to address the rapid expansion of communications channels available to our clients through a single solution that automates a broad range of marketing activities.”

“Neolane’s unmatched technology for ROI-driven, personalized cross-channel marketing strategies, low total cost of ownership, and fl exible deployment models have fueled the next stage of growth for KBM Group,” said Young.

Fresh Dairy and Water Loyalty Program Snap ShotWith the Neolane platform in place, KBM Group, in collaboration with Wunderman are helping Danone’s fresh dairy and water brands to optimize its loyalty program across e-mail, direct mail and online channels.

The fresh dairy and water brands loyalty program currently has six million customers in its database. With email newsletter and special offers campaigns, including coupons, Danone sends approximately fi ve million emails a month, with some campaigns executed on a quarterly basis.

KBM Group quickly accomplished Danone’s goal to improve customers’ overall brand experience. With the improved ability to track and manage offl ine and online campaigns, and capture actions such as coupon redemption, KBM Group can improve data quality to further enhance and personalize messaging for future campaigns.

Danone Results: Decreased Costs and Improved Campaign EffectivenessAs a client of a marketing service provider using Neolane, Danone has been able to focus on their core business while confi dently outsourcing their direct marketing campaign management. Danone realized higher value marketing campaigns through quicker results, greater customer visibility and increased cross-sell opportunities.

“Improved personalization was an important goal for Danone. In order to achieve this goal, Danone needed to switch from a siloed view of the customer with multiple data points, to a centralized, 360-degree marketing view that captured campaigns and interactions across channels. Only Neolane’s technology could suffi ciently support that effort in a single solution,” added Young.

KBM ResultsIn the short term, KBM Group gains a lower cost solution that is more comprehensive and easier to use and manage. Long term, KBM Group can extend the marketing software platform for use by additional clients thereby improving productivity and results.

KBM Group will reduce costs by 30 percent, due in part to the benefi ts of a single, consolidated platform for all its planning, execution, tracking and measurement needs along with decreased application maintenance costs through the SaaS model. The marketing services provider can also add revenue streams through new account management and consulting services made possible by the Neolane platform. Moving forward, KBM Group will rely on expanding use of the Neolane platform to create more sophisticated one-to-one personalized offers for Danone customers to improve offer optimization. Eventually, KBM Group will seek to integrate with a data analytics solution for enhanced re-marketing capabilities.