Case Studies

BrightHouse has worked for more than fifteen-years with some of the leading global brands in improving public life, making a positive social impact while also connecting consumers to brands and increasing profits.

Financial Services Company

Situation: 2000

A top financial services company was about to transition into a public company and wanted to position itself firmly at the top of the financial services pyramid in the mind of consumers. The company engaged BrightHouse to uncover its purpose and articulate a Master Idea™ to create a stronger bond between the brand and its customers.

Challenge

The challenge for the organization was to address changes in the financial industry that occurred in the late 1990's with a specific focus on deregulation, technology, and customer expectations. Premium was placed on quality advice to customers, integration of offerings, and customer service due to the increasing commoditization of products.

Results

The creation of the Master Idea™, "Financial Independence Leads to a Life of Significance," enabled the company to meet the needs of their consumers in a unique and meaningful way. The Master Idea™ led directly to the company's successful purpose driven marketing campaign. The company continues to build on the Master Idea™ even today through communications, print and media. Within a year of going public in 2000, the company outperformed the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 73%. The company's ROE soared from 7% to 12.7% in four years. The company earned $2.76 billion in 2004, an increase of 24%, with three consecutive years of record net income and operating earnings.

The Snack Food Company

Situation: 2005

BrightHouse had articulated the Master Idea™ for a snack food company that consisted of multiple brands. Seeing the positive impact of the overall Master Idea™, one of the brands within the conglomerate tasked BrightHouse to help discover their unique purpose and identity within the larger company.

Even though the brand had long been a go-to product for mothers, consistent with the company ethos, it needed a deeper exploration of its purpose as a brand – why it existed and its role in the world.

Challenge

To explore the Food Company's role in instilling a sense of optimism in children. Multiple luminary workshops using leading experts in psychology, business ethics, sociology and anthropology were conducted around optimism and hope, and a benchmark study was conducted to examine best practices in corporate social responsibility to build a case for purpose-driven business.

Results

BrightHouse's articulation of the company's Master Idea™, "When Kids Grow We Grow," allowed the organization to frame its purpose and vision. It helped to internalize the purpose of helping kids. A manifesto was created to outline the operating principles for the brand and for actions around the purpose of improving all aspects of a child's life. Opportunities were identified and prioritized across several platforms for purpose driven growth and social impact. 2007 saw a campaign on optimism aimed at parents and children, a new school curriculum on optimism and positive thinking to fight childhood depression, as well as a continued investment in City Year to help teachers and at risk children. The financial results were impressive too; a year after the work, purchase frequency increased 22% and sales growth was five times the category average.

The Baby and Parenting Essentials Company

Situation: 2006

In 2006, a well-known baby essentials company came to BrightHouse with the goal of unifying the culture and aligning key brand activities to realize the organization's full potential for growth. Executives recognized the need for a shared understanding of who the organization was and what it stood for. The business was stable and the products were respected in the market, but a fragmented culture and inconsistent brand voice limited future opportunities.

Challenge

The company had experienced a series of extreme changes in ownership and leadership in recent years. BrightHouse was charged with uncovering the ethos and shared convictions that distinguished the organization, as well as with translating these convictions into a consistent brand voice which would lead to unified strategy and communications.

Results

The organization's ethos, uncovered by BrightHouse, reflected a long history of focus on the family. The company understood this, however its most important role - caring for caregivers - which originated from its ethos, remained buried. BrightHouse articulated the single, meaningful purpose – Cradle Those Who Cradle Them – and the supporting guiding principles. This enabled the organization to speak with one passionate, distinct voice. It also broadened the sphere of future possibilities and guided new product and service development. BrightHouse created an overall brand design with high-level brand guardrails to steer consistent implementation. BrightHouse worked with the organization to implement near term (0-12 mos), mid-term (12-36 mos), and long-term (36+ mos) initiatives to align the company and the brand around its purpose and the Master Idea™.

Based on the work done by BrightHouse, the leadership expanded the company from being only a baby essentials company to a parenting and baby essentials company. The business grew from $450 million to $1.3 billion in just a year after the BrightHouse work was completed.