Charting new territories in marketing metrics
The Norwegian company Becour was founded by Hans Petter Kildal, known to his friends and business associates as “HP”. Becour is the culmination of Hans Petter’s two decades work in the European market for Guarantees of Origin. He has also participated in the “Energy Trading & Environment 2020” research project and served as an advisor to the United Nation’s initiative “The Responsible Ecosystems Sourcing Platform”.
Becour’s core business is to help companies source renewable energy, and shift away from using fossil fuels. As the company’s web-site states, “By making it more transparent to source renewable electricity, we help speed up this transition.” The company has an “open book-policy and a business model that guarantees that at least 80% of the revenue generated from renewable energy sales goes directly to the producers.”
Talking about his marketing team HP describes a “split solution”. “We have a small internal team producing most of the content, and in addition we have external support”. Asked about his reasons for purchasing brandr Index HP explains that he was intrigued by Fridrik Larsen’s approach to branding metrics.
“As soon I saw brandr Index for the first time I could see how it was different from other surveys. It went beyond glossy pages and fantastic words, and straight to the numbers behind your brand”
Numbers speak louder than words
“I know Fridrik, the inventor of brandr Index, from way back. I had travelled to Iceland and attended his CHARGE conference. That is where I got my first glimpse of brandr Index. Fridrik then presented it to me personally, following up the presentation with a business pitch. As soon I saw brandr Index for the first time I could see how it was different from other surveys. It went beyond glossy pages and fantastic words, and straight to the numbers behind your brand.”
“I’m interested in Fridrik’s work because it gives branding metrics an empirical footing. Other approaches I have seen are more about opinions. That is why I wanted to use brandr Index on a yearly basis for Becour—to have what I would call ‘empirical creativity’ integrated in our marketing efforts.”
HP explains that “empirical creativity” is a concept he had come across in the book “Great by Choice”, by business thinkers Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen. “It means that rather than just coming up with ideas you have to find a means of testing them. You have to create some statistics before you start adding too much gunpowder to your efforts.”
From first impressions to firm integrations
As an economist by education HP, emphasises that he is not a “marketing or creative guy”. “To understand whether something works or not, I first need to check with others. And, of course, numbers are a universal language. This also means that by testing things linked to our brand, I have the confidence to make the right decision.”
Such decisions, made on the strength of brandr Index, are linked to yearly business planning and strategy cycles. “Survey information feeds into my dialogue with Becour’s board. It can be used as a benchmark, to compare what we decided to focus on, against what has happened. And although there aren’t many companies from our sector in the brandr Index’ database, we can see how we are positioned compared to relatable companies.”
“The brandr Index survey became more valuable after we had run it for the second time. We got better at understanding how to get our audience to respond, so we got a better sample. And we learned how to use the results, because we went through the process twice as a team. The survey has now become part of our yearly business cycle, and something we are expected to deliver.
When asked how likely would he be to recommend brandr Index, HP says that he normally never gives a product or service a 10 out of 10. “With this in mind, I would give brandr Index at least a nine out of 10. I will continue to recommend it. It gives non-marketing people factual evidence.”
“brandr Index has much more potential than already shown. But, of course, it takes time to build it into the market. More companies can get value out of using brandr Index. To Becour it will become progressively more valuable over time—as we get more history to build on. The history is even more important than comparing with peers. We will be able to see our development and also trends in the different iterations of the survey.”
“The brandr Index survey became more valuable after we had run it for the second time. We got better at understanding how to get our audience to respond, so we got a better sample. And we learned how to use the results, because we went through the process twice as a team. The survey has now become part of our yearly business cycle, and something we are expected to deliver”
