The blog

Research from Richard N. Foster has shown that the average lifespan of companies listed on the S&Ps 500 – the 500 most valuable companies traded on the U.S. stock market – was 61 years back in 1958. Today, the average lies more around 18 years. At this pace, 75% of the companies quoted today on the S&P 500 are set to disappear by 2027. Too big to fail? For FMCG companies, growth is no longer a given. Quick wins have become rarer, markets are becoming saturated, and the world has changed and evolved rapidly thanks to technology. A lot of smaller players have spotted opportunities and started grabbing market share from the big corporations. This triggers the question: How is it possible that small companies, with a fraction of the marketing budget of big FMCG companies, are winning more and more market share and hurting the big guys?

Nowadays you can no longer go around growth hacking (or marketing, but we'll get to that later) – just ask Google. The internet is full of growth hacking articles, tools and tactics. If we take a quick look at the search volume on growth hacking, we see that it’s been getting an increasing amount of attention worldwide since 2012. Worldwide Google trends of the search term 'growth hacking'. The term growth hacking was first introduced by Sean Ellis in 2010. In truth, the practice has been around much longer. It helped companies like DropBox, Uber and AirBnB transition from budding startups to multi-million dollar enterprises in just a few years’ time. Much of it comes down to the use of resource-light and cost-effective tactics and processes of continual ideation, prioritization, testing and analysis – with a continuous focus on the one metric that matters most: growth. The term was first used in the start-up scene, where resources are scarce and where growth is the only way to survive. There’s a misconception, however, that growth hacking is only useful for startups. In fact, every company can benefit from it, although a minimum requirement is your product market fit. Growth hacking requires that you have a product that’s not just good, but that also matches the needs of who you’re selling it to. Once that’s in place, you’re good to go. How to get started with growth hacking? For more practical insights, we sat together with Nicholas D'hondt, growth expert at our new spin-off Upthrust, which answers the need for operational digital marketing talents.

17 februari 2022 – Customer Collective versterkt zijn expertise in branding & performance door Grava, een van de oorspronkelijke drijvende krachten achter de groep, om te dopen tot Fightclub. Zo bundelt het Mechelse digital performance agency zijn krachten met het gelijknamige Nederlandse full-service bureau. De teller komt daarmee op 100 branding & performance experten in België en Nederland.

Diegem, le 22 juin 2021 – Customer Collective, le nouveau groupe qui mise sur le « customer ownership » (trad. la maîtrise du client) et associe étroitement The House of Marketing, Upthrust, Grava et Dignify, annonce sa première grande acquisition internationale. Le groupe acquiert Fightclub, une des plus grandes agences full service indépendantes des Pays-Bas. Avec l’arrivée de ce nouveau partenaire, Customer Collective renforce son éventail de services avec l’arrivée en renfort de compétences telles que la création, le design mais aussi des outils de mesure de la performance.

When a company starts, their focus generally lies on attracting new customers. Their marketing efforts are therefore almost 100% focused on customer acquistion. It is at this moment that the value of a real marketing generalist shines through, and they get praised (yes, you should praise your marketing team from time to time, we like that) for being able to create an overall story and strategy which makes sense and brings in new business. However, where this approach makes complete sense in the beginning, chances are that once your company has reached a certain level of maturity, there is less and less value to be won with new customers. Instead, more efforts need to shift towards the existing customer base, and so should your marketing team's competencies.

Taking up the challenges Gantrex is active world-wide in rail fixing products & solutions, especially for cranes in harbours, but also for e.g. warehouses. Gantrex has been growing in a very decentral way. Seen the fact that local managers had a lot of decision freedom, there is not real company-wide image and marketing material. On the other hand, as harbours are important customers and they have gone through a recent centralization trend, more consistency & focus is needed for Gantrex. We accepted the challenge to rationalize and optimize their marketing materials assuring a better worldwide brand image.

Episode 09 — THOMcast In our first episode of this podcast, Lies Taerwe, Managing Director at The House of Marketing, joined us to explain how ID Marketing can revolutionize today and tomorrow's way of doing marketing. Today, we would like to continue on this ID Marketing journey to help understand better how ID Marketing has a very concrete impact on marketing. To do this, we will dive into a case at Luminus, all about the launch of a new offer.

Let’s start with the story of the plastic bag. Go back 10 years to the days when it was normal to use a new plastic bag every time you went to get groceries. Your behavior has probably changed by now. And although this change in behavior can be put down to a number of drivers, your retailer is certainly an important one. By charging a small fee for plastic bags and making sure reusable ones were easily accessible at the check-out, retailers helped change their consumers’ behavior.

Episode 10 — THOMcast In the first episode of this podcast, Lies Taerwe, Managing Director at The House of Marketing, joined us to explain how Integrated Data (ID) Marketing can revolutionize today and tomorrow's way of doing marketing.

Episode 08 — THOMcast Veepee, which acquired Vente-Exclusive.com in the Benelux in 2016, is the European leader in online flash sales. Veepee’s strategy has always been to be extremely transparent about deliveries and returns, and in particular about their costs: there is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone has to pay for it: either the company through lower margins or, most of the time, the consumer.