BOTH RIGHT AND WRONG IN THE VISION OF THE FUTURE FROM 1999
Posted on December 7, 2015 by Opticom
Just before the turn of the millennium, in 1999, the consulting and research company Opticom carried out a survey of how senior representatives of what were at that time the major global pharmaceutical companies saw the future. How well does the companies’ vision coincide with the way things are now, 15 years later?
The report, Prescription for a healthy industry, also formed the basis for a series of articles in Svenska Dagbladet/Näringsliv written by Elisabeth Sandlund. The report was partly based on in-depth interviews with 34 senior executives at what were at that time the 20 largest pharmaceutical companies. Their analysis resulted in three main points:
There is still a large unsatisfied need for pharmaceuticals. There is no cure for two thirds of all illnesses. The world population is getting older. New research methods are being developed all the time and there will be substantial growth in DTC (direct-to-consumer sales).
Quick access to market is a key to success. In the face of tougher future competition, companies must launch new innovative products quickly.
Company mergers slow down companies’ development processes. The top executives questioned the benefits of mergers and wondered whether they were driven by the financial markets and by financial consultants. They were the main beneficiaries of mergers – not the patients.
The winners, predicted the author of the report, will be companies that succeed in achieving a high organic growth rate, companies that sell or outsource in areas outside their own core areas and companies that focus on a small number of therapeutic areas and companies that focus their efforts on their own stores and customers. Companies will benefit from alliances with other companies and research groups, in-licensing, greater investment in research and development and strategic use of information technology.
The losers, on the other hand, would be companies with weak research portfolios but that chose to merge – those companies lose their focus and their rhythm, and therefore their competitiveness…
Article continued in links below:
Click here to read the full article (in English) – Translated from original Swedish by Opticom.
Click here to read the full article (in Swedish).
OPTICOM LAUNCHES THE 2016’S EDITION OF THE CARTONBOARD BRAND TRACKING STUDY
Posted on November 11, 2015 by Opticom
The research consists of telephone interviews with cartonboard converters and brand owners across six end-use segments: Cosmetics, perfume & beauty care, Pharmaceuticals & healthcare, Chocolate & confectionery, Chilled & frozen food, Dry food and Wine & spirits. About 600 professionals, responsible for selecting and/or purchasing cartonboard for folding packaging, will be interviewed in seven European markets: Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Benelux, Spain, Italy and Switzerland.
The survey provides value to subscribers in a number of ways:
• Follow-up and evaluation of the success of brand strategies: Rebranding, the launch of new concepts, brand positions’ development over time can all be evaluated accurately on the basis of the survey.
• Evaluation of different brands’ value in different markets – including awareness, satisfaction and loyalty – provides a valuable input for developing a brand’s position in a brand portfolio or for developing a brand portfolio to even better fit with end-user needs.
In addition to providing you with input on how to develop your portfolio, Opticom’s independent research report also provides you with a powerful tool in channel negotiations. A good position in the overall ranking for your brands can be used for marketing and PR purposes and can contribute to building commitment internally.
The preparation of the survey will take place during November and December and the fieldwork will be conducted in Q1, 2016 so that results will be available by April/May the latest.
For more information, or ordering of the study, please contact Cécilia Vassal Nyholm at cecilia@opticom.se.
OPTICOM ANNOUNCES NEW CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE MANAGEMENT PARTNERSHIP
Posted on September 18, 2014 by Opticom
Opticom are pleased to announce our partnership with SynGro, a world leader in customer experience management technology. SynGro share our commitment to turning customer feedback into valuable insight to drive strategic action and tangible value.
Today’s business benchmark “Customer Experience”
Gartner defines customer experience management (CEM) as “the practice of designing and reacting to customer interactions to meet or exceed customer expectations and, thus, increase customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy.”
Our customer experience software gathers feedback from any source including in-person and telephone interviews, SMS/web/IVR surveys and even complaints, reviews and social media. Feedback is analysed in real time with critical trends and topics automatically distributed to the right people to take the right follow-up actions.
By integrating this real time feedback with financial, operational and geographical data unique to your company, a true single customer view emerges. The result is loyal customers who spend more and promote your brand.
Opticom and Syngro would like to invite you to learn more about today’s business benchmark ”customer experience” and how we can help you drive value from insight. To book one of our exclusive 1-to-1 customer experience discovery sessions in November, call Tejpal Chugh, Customer experience specialist on +46 708 39 90 07 or email him at tejpal [at] opticom [dot] se.
INDUSTRY STUDY SHOWS COLLABORATION IS THE KEY TO OPPORTUNIES
Posted on September 14, 2014 by Opticom
Collaboration is the key to a more holistic view and good health economics and the pharmaceutical industry should be a key player in this. At the same time, it may be high time for the pharmaceutical industry to revise not only its own strategies, but also its self image: To dare to stand for and communicate what the industry actually does and can do in the future. These are some of the results of this year’s industry study conducted by Opticom International Research in collaboration with the Pharma Industry and LIF.
Opticom International Research has since 2010 every year conducted a study in the Swedish pharmaceutical industry in collaboration with Pharma Industry, where people working in the pharmaceutical industry will offer their opinions and predictions for the industry. Since 2012, LIF (the trade association for the research-based pharmaceutical industry in Sweden) has also participated in conducting the study. The aim of the study is to identify the industry’s perception of itself and the perception of its role within the Swedish health care system in order to identify both opportunities and threats for the future.
USAGE OF CARTONBOARD NO GUARANTEE FOR CARTONBOARD BRAND AWARENESS AMONG CONSUMER GOODS BRAND OWNERS
Posted on September 5, 2014 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today announces the “Part II – Brand Owners” of the results from “The Brand Tracking Survey – Cartonboard for consumer packaging 2014” defining and ranking the most valuable virgin fibre cartonboard brands in Western Europe according to consumer goods brand owners.
The ranking of brands, the Opticom Brand Equity Index, takes into account both awareness of and satisfaction with the brand. Satisfaction encompasses quality and service associations, perceived brand performance as well as loyalty towards the cartonboard brand.
The results are based on interviews conducted in February-April 2014 with 377 brand owners located in Western Europe, representing six different end use segments: Cosmetics & beauty care, Pharmaceuticals & healthcare, Chocolate & confectionery, Frozen & chilled food, Dry food, Wines & spirits. In total 45 different brands were evaluated by the brand owners.
Most valuable brands in Western Europe – based on the Opticom Brand Equity Index
This year’s ranking presents 11 brands qualifying for the index (12 in 2012); and the 3 most valuable brands, overall, are Tambrite (from Stora Enso), Invercote and Incada (both from Iggesund). These brands were also in the top three in both 2010 and 2012 but have since then switched places.
LEADING CARTONBOARD SUPPLIERS REAFFIRMING THEIR POSITIONS AMONG CARTON CONVERTERS – RESULTS SHOW THERE IS A CLEAR CORRELATION BETWEEN SPONTANEOUS AWARENESS AND PURCHASED BRAND
Posted on September 2, 2014 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today announces the results from “The Brand Tracking Survey – Cartonboard for consumer packaging 2014” defining and ranking the most valuable cartonboard brands in Western Europe according to carton converters.
The ranking of brands, the Opticom Brand Equity Index, takes into account both awareness of and satisfaction with the brand. Satisfaction encompasses quality and service associations, perceived brand performance as well as loyalty towards the brand.
The results are based on interviews conducted in February-April 2014 with 220 carton converters from eight Western European countries: Germany, the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Switzerland (new). All the converters who participated in the survey to some extent use virgin fibre cartonboard for their cartons and produce folding cartons for at least one of the following end use segments: Cosmetics & beauty care, Pharmaceuticals & healthcare, Chocolate & confectionery, Frozen & chilled food, Dry food, Wines & spirits. In total 58 different brands were evaluated by the converters. To qualify for the ranking, a brand must be evaluated by a minimum of ten respondents. Respondents cover a range of functions although most are related to purchasing and selection of cartonboard.
The survey shows that the levels of awareness for most of the FBB brands remain on similar levels as in 2012, whereas SBB brands show a positive development. Another important finding from the survey is that the brands overall are closing the gaps between converter expectations and brand fulfilment.
OPTICOM ATTENDS LÄKEMEDELSDAGEN 2014
Posted on April 2, 2014 by Opticom
Opticom attended Läkemedelsdagen 2014 at Nalen where the road to a more equal health care for all was in focus.
Ordnat införande, horizon scanning and structured follow-up were topics that were presented and discussed. In the panel discussions where Anders Blanck, LIF, Hans Karlsson, SKL, Heidi Stensmyren, Läkarförbundet and Calle Waller, Prostatacancerförbundet participated, critiscism was expressed against the models’ focus to be more on order and structure and follow-up and very little on introduction.
There are different roads to take, either you can act in the existing systems, i.e. to do something that may not be good, but at least better than what is done today or you can do something new and make a difference. Representatives for the industry, patients and clinics consider “ordnat införande” to be a far too weak effort and point out there is a greater need for speed that cannot be accommodated in the current systems.
During the day more criticism was expressed towards the current health care system in Sweden:
“Today we have a very weak uptake of new drugs in Sweden and that is a major issue. Many believe we still have a growing budget for pharmaceuticas in Sweden, but this belief is wrong, this budget has not increased in many years.” (Robert Ström, LIF)
“There is a lot of money that is used wrongly in the health care system in Sweden. If we would use the money in the right way, we would not need any private health insurances. Just to move a recycle bin for batteries 2 meters can save hours for health care personnel and before we have looked at all these kinds of improvements, I think we should not start to discuss private health insurances.” (Barbro Westerholm (FP), member of parliament)
A TRULY MULTI-CULTURAL GLOBAL VILLAGE
Posted on March 3, 2014 by Opticom
Every year Opticom conducts over 60 000 telephone interviews with respondents all over the world. In addition to this Opticom staff travels across the world interviewing our clients’ customers, printers, converters, merchants, advertising agencies, paper mills, doctors, patients, purchasers, retailers, and end-users on behalf of our clients.
Opticom’s competitive edge lies in conducting all fieldwork with our in-house native speaking work force. In 2013 over 60 researchers with about 30 different nationalities were engaged in these projects. All researchers are recruited in Sweden and are stationed at our company headquarters in central Stockholm. As a matter of fact, with such an international workforce, operating from one location, Opticom is one of the most international companies in Sweden. Around 75% of salaries paid by Opticom are to employees who are a foreign national – a truly multi-cultural global village.
In order to facilitate such an ongoing international operation Opticom invests considerable resources into recruiting and training well-educated and professional researchers. Safeguarding quality in the interview process is for obvious reasons one of our main concerns at Opticom. The old wisdom that an analysis is never better than the information it is based on, makes recruiting talents extremely important.
Anette Eng, HR Manager and Head of Research Department, is in charge of this momentous task at Opticom. Anette Eng, born in Sweden but raised in Sweden as well as Greece has a multi-cultural heritage herself. Besides growing up in a bicultural family, she spent extensive periods abroad studying in Italy, Spain and France. Her studies in marketing, human resource management as well as languages provide her with the perfect background for managing Opticom’s international staff. In her daily work, Anette Eng makes it her business to create the perfect team of researchers for every project, regardless of project size, type, industry segment and geographical region.
Working with so many nationalities at one single location sounds very interesting but how does your staff feel about that?
It is true that it is very interesting and I feel very privileged to be able to meet with, recruit and work with such talented and well-educated people from all over the world. I think that most of those choosing to work at Opticom feel the same way and often choose to continue to work here because they enjoy being in our international environment.
How do the respondents react when someone, speaking their language perfectly, calls them from Sweden?
Respondents often compliment our interviewers on their excellent language skills. When they realise that the interviewer is actually from their own country, a conversation about this naturally evolves. This works as an ice-breaker and often forms a good starting point for the rest of the conversation.
What kind of personalities are you looking for when hiring researchers?
First and foremost it is important that they have a positive attitude and good communication skills. We are very well aware of the importance of our interviewers sounding professional, but they also need to sound glad, since a smile can even be heard over the telephone. Besides these essential skills in communication, we require our interviewers to be very efficient and accurate. Finally, experience and a background in marketing or sales or within one of our specific fields is of course a merit.
Is it not better to subcontract fieldwork to local research companies throughout the world?
In some cases this might be a good alternative, but we find that managing and conducting all parts of the research from one single location is more cost-effective and provides better quality. With one project team for all local markets, Opticom makes sure that no tasks (e.g. project management) are duplicated. This also minimises the risk of performing the tasks in different ways that would negatively affect the consistency and reliability of the study’s results.
OPTICOM LAUNCHES OPTICOM INCITE
Posted on January 24, 2014 by Opticom
In 2014, Opticom adds communication to its research and consulting offering.
At Opticom, our roots stem from research and analysis which provide our clients with true knowledge. This knowledge serves as the foundation for decisions that aim at creating value on the bottom line. Carl Michael Bergman, CEO at Opticom International Research says: “Numerous client testimonials show that research pays off”.
Over the years, we have added consulting to our offering, helping our clients to reach insights that allow even better decision making. These two disciplines have built our success, and allowed us to work with an incredible list of globally leading companies. “It is a privilege to serve all these companies on a long term basis”, concludes Mikael Selling, CEO at Opticom Consulting Group.
Still, it is our profound belief that although knowledge may explain even the most complex matters, only communication has the power to create lasting change. That is why we now add a third leg to our business, communication.
We do so by starting a new company, Opticom Incite, run by some of the most acclaimed advertising experts in the Nordics. They have a long experience from working with complex, international tasks for major, global corporations.
“It is our ambition to help Opticom clients – old and new – to improve their business using efficient creative concepts”, states Martin Kubu, CEO at Opticom Incite.
With these three functions, we can now offer a seamless process – from Analytic Research, via Strategic Advice to Creative Concepts – aiming at making a difference on the bottom line.
For more information, please contact Mikael Selling or Carl Michael Bergman at +46 8 50 3090 00 or by e-mail at mikael@opticom.se or carl.michael@opticom.se.
RESELLER BRANDS STAND STILL IN OPTICOM’S OFFICE PAPER RANKING
Posted on January 21, 2014 by Opticom
Opticom International Research now presents the results of the 11th edition of the “Brand Equity Tracking Survey – Office Paper”. This industry standard benchmark survey for office paper brands has been conducted among 2 100 professional end-users across 7 countries in Europe. The countries covered are Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Given its enormous strength when it comes to spontaneous awareness Xerox is still in the lead. Navigator reinforces its second place, whereas HP has taken over the third position from Lyreco. The brands in second and third place are close but have very different strengths; Navigator is evaluated in more countries and its strength lies in quality, while HP is still stronger on spontaneous awareness in bigger markets such as Germany and the UK.
“Besides looking at brand equity, some of our clients indicated during the start of the project that they also wanted us to look at who the main brands are bought from,” says Marijn van der Sluijs, Project Manager. “This has finally allowed us to map where the leading brands are bought and which brands the leading suppliers focus on, adding a whole new dimension to the information provided by the survey.”
PHARMA INDUSTRY PUBLISHES OPTICOM’S 2013 STUDY ON THE SWEDISH PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
Posted on September 20, 2013 by Opticom
The pharmaceutical industry is facing both external and internal challenges. The external challenges are a lot about the health care sector’s strong focus on costs and lack of resources, creating a tough market to operate on. The internal challenges are especially about the need to be better at creating a dialogue with the new stakeholders. And LIF, the trade association for the research-based pharmaceutical industry in Sweden, needs to work on strengthening the industry’s reputation. These are some of the main findings of the survey that Opticom conducts each year in collaboration with the Pharma Industry magazine and LIF.
Since 2010, Opticom conducts an annual industry survey in the Swedish pharmaceutical industry in collaboration with Pharma Industry, and since 2012 also with LIF. The study is meant to reflect major industry issues and show how attitudes change over time. The study is designed as a web survey among Pharma Industry’s readers and other relevant people in the industry. This year’s survey was conducted in the spring of 2013.
Click here to read the full article about this survey on the pharmaceutical industry (in Swedish).
REPORT SUMMARISING HEALTH CARE IN ALMEDALEN HIGHLIGHTS OPTICOM STUDY
Posted on August 30, 2013 by Opticom
The Swedish health care system is mediocre at using innovative medicines compared to other countries in Europe. This is a result that surprises Europeans – but not Swedes. This according to a new survey Opticom has carried on behalf of LIF – the research-based pharmaceutical companies.
A summary article from LIF’s seminar during Almedalen is presented in the report “Vården i Almedalen 2013”. This report is an editorial magazine where the communication agency Gullers Group make sure that what is being said in Almedalen does not just stay on the island of Gotland. Since 2010, the report summarises and analyses the most important health care issues during the week – and how health care stakeholders would like to resolve them. The report is organized according to the themes that dominated the week and shows current trends and developments in Swedish health care.
To read the article (in Swedish), click here.
For more information about the study conducted on behalf of LIF, please contact project manager Marijn van der Sluijs at +46 8 50 30 90 00 or marijn [at] opticom [dot] se.
OPTICOM PRESENTS REPORT ON DIFFERENCES IN USE OF INNOVATIVE DRUGS AT ALMEDALEN
Posted on July 5, 2013 by Opticom
During a seminar in Almedalen on the 5th of July, Opticom presented a report on why the use of innovative drugs differs between comparable countries in Europe. The report was prepared on behalf of LIF, the trade association for the research-based pharmaceutical industry in Sweden. To provide LIF with a deeper understanding of why the use of innovative drugs differs among comparable countries, Opticom conducted interviews with approximately 200 Key Opinion Leaders and representatives for government authorities and other national organisations, in four core therapeutic areas in six European countries: Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and France.
For the four selected therapeutic areas, IMS Health provided LIF and Opticom with data how innovative medicines are prescribed in the various countries, which in turn enabled a ranking of countries. These rankings then formed the basis for discussion with the respondents. For the therapeutic areas that the survey focused on – Alzheimer’s, anticoagulants, diabetes, and oncology Sweden landed in positions 10 to 17, when the use of innovative drugs compared to 27 European countries.
The fact that Sweden is relatively low in these international comparisons is something that surprises respondents outside Sweden. The image of Sweden as an innovative country with high welfare is fairly widespread in Europe leads to the expectation that Sweden would be a country that should take more of a leading position.
To access a summary of the results, please choose your language below:
English or Swedish
To access the full report (in Swedish) – click here.
For more information about this report, please contact project manager Marijn van der Sluijs at +46 8 50 30 90 00 or marijn [at] opticom [dot] se.
MARKET-ORIENTED ECONOMIC REFORMS PAY OFF
Posted on July 1, 2013 by Opticom
In the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise’s report “Marknadsinriktade reformer lönar sig” (Market-oriented economic reforms pay off), Ulf Jakobsson goes through a number of international studies that show that Sweden compared to other countries has had a more positive development of the business climate in recent decades thanks to extensive reforms. The success shows that it pays off to implement market-oriented economic reforms.
The report also includes a study of the Swedish business environment conducted by Opticom, where business leaders from internationally oriented and research-intensive companies have given their view of the business climate in Sweden.
For more information, please contact Mats Nygård at mats@opticom.se
IS SWEDEN LAGGING BEHIND IN THE USE OF MODERN PHARMACEUTICALS?
Posted on June 14, 2013 by Opticom
Is the Swedish healthcare system using innovative pharmaceuticals to a lesser extent than other, comparable countries in Europe? What can this depend on? Opticom was contracted by LIF to ask these questions directly to decision makers and Key Opinion Leaders across Europe.
As part of LIF’s seminar “Halkar Sverige efter i användning av moderna läkemedel?” during the 2013 Almedalen week, Project Manager Marijn van der Sluijs will present the main conclusions from a recent international study addressing differences in the use of innovative pharmaceuticals.
THE POWER OF KNOWLEDGE
Posted on May 9, 2013 by Opticom
Some time ago I wanted to rent a car and walked into an Avis office. On the counter there was a sign that read: “Avis needs you. You don’t need Avis”. It can hardly be expressed more simply than that, says Mikael Selling, Opticom International Research, in his column for Papernet.
We really need our customers, regardless of the products we sell or the services that we offer, but customers are mostly doing just fine without us. I find Avis to be an excellent example of a customer and market oriented company!
So what can you say about the level of market and customer orientation within the forest product industry?
I have been a consultant to the forest industry for over 20 years now and my experience is that there are great differences in how different forest companies deal with customer and market orientation.
Most companies have unfortunately not developed this way of looking at things to any greater extent, but it’s about time to rethink!
Based on the results from a survey that Opticom and Nordic Paper Journal presented on November 30, 2009 my viewpoint was confirmed by industry representatives. A majority, 61%, of respondents working within the Swedish forest industry considered “increased market and customer focus” to be the most important factor to a forest company in order to become more successful.
How can it be that so many forest products companies do not understand the values and importance of listening to the market?
Within the forest industry, we prefer to talk about production economy – tons per year and stock levels – but few people see the benefits in scanning the market for information in the way that practically every consumer goods supplier does.
In his article on Papernet, Mikael Selling illustrates why it’s decisive for the forest industry to develop its skills of listening to the market, to base the decisions on market facts and to embed the customer´s voice in the companies DNA. Read the full article here.
OFFICE PAPER MULTI-CLIENT SURVEY TO BE CONDUCTED
Posted on April 12, 2013 by Opticom
With a sufficient number of subscribers already committed to the project in the first week of April, Opticom has been able to decide that the office paper survey will take place during 2013.
The core survey consists of telephone interviews with professional office paper purchasers in Germany, the United Kingdom and France. In addition, interviews will be conducted in another four European countries: Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden with 300 interviews per country bringing the total survey coverage to 2 100 offices across Europe.
The survey provides value to subscribers in a number of ways:
Follow-up and evaluation of the success of brand strategies: Rebranding, the launch of new concepts, brand positions’ development over time can all be evaluated accurately on the basis of the survey.
Evaluation of different brands’ value in different markets – including awareness, satisfaction and loyalty – provides a valuable input for developing a brand’s position in a brand portfolio or for developing a brand portfolio to even better fit with end-user needs.
In addition to providing you with input on how to develop your portfolio, Opticom’s independent research report also provides you with a powerful tool in channel negotiations.
A good position in the overall ranking for your brands can be used for marketing and PR purposes and can contribute to building commitment internally.
The preparation of the survey will take place during May and June and fieldwork will be conducted after summer so that reports will be available by November/December the latest. For more information, or ordering of the study, please contact Marijn van der Sluijs at +46 8 50 3090 00 or Marijn [at] opticom [dot] se.
NEW PATIENT LAW IN SWEDEN LIKELY TO AFFECT ALL STAKEHOLDERS IN HEALTH CARE
Posted on February 1, 2013 by Opticom
The Swedish government decided on 24 March 2011 to call for a special investigator to submit proposals on how the patient’s position in and influence over health care can be strengthened. The study has adopted the name of Patient Power Inquiry (Patientmaktsutredningen). Yesterday, the study submitted its interim report Patient law (SOU 2013:2).
In this preliminary report a new patient law is suggested by the investigation in accordance with the government directives. The suggested new law addresses how patient choice in healthcare can be further strengthened; how the patient’s need for support, advice and information should be met in relation to the guarantee for and free choice of care; and how the authorities should work to strengthen the position of the patient.
In order to better understand the local and national initiatives that are undertaken by various stakeholders on local, regional and/or national level, Opticom has conducted a number of Stakeholder management projects focusing on the topic of patient power in specific therapeutic areas. The outcome of these projects have contributed to a better understanding of stakeholder roles and attitudes towards increased patient influence, an updated overview of initiatives and best practices as well as a strong platform for improved relations and increased cooperation with external parties. In addition, these projects have formed a solid foundation for workshops to kick-off of internal activities to work more patient-oriented.
OPTICOM LAUNCHES NEW WEB SITE
Posted on January 31, 2013 by Opticom
With the aim of improving our communication regarding the value we provide to our clients and to make the web site visit a more interesting experience, we are now launching a new web site.
With this new web site we want to put an even greater emphasis on presenting our client testimonials and to focus the information on the specific industries we operate in. What is more, we would like to create a more intuitive reading experience through this new structure. The new structure of the web site also facilitates adding new content which will make this web site more up-to-date than its predecessor.
OPTICOM CONFERENCE IN LEADING BUSINESS NEWSPAPER DAGENS INDUSTRI
Posted on November 12, 2012 by Opticom
After a number of years in which it has been difficult to gather all employees for an internal conference to discuss opportunities for improving business processes, Opticom found a solution where even the staff’s children could join their parents when they went on a conference.
“A consulting firm’s business model is based on competence. It is important that all employees do well and everyone can join in this kind of activities where we develop our company. No one should be excluded just because he or she has children,” says Carl Michael Bergman, Opticom’s CEO & partner.
Taking the children on a business conference was such an original, new concept that the leading business newspaper in the Nordic region Dagens Industri decided to discuss Opticom’s conference at Skåvsjöholm located northeast of Stockholm.
To read the full article (in Swedish) please click on the link below:
DI_Opticom_conference_Skavsjoholm
OFFICE PAPER TRACKING SURVEY MORE FOCUSED TO BETTER MEET CUSTOMER NEEDS
Posted on October 31, 2012 by Opticom
Earlier than in previous years, Opticom has now started the planning process for the next edition of the office paper tracking survey. As many of our clients have their budgeting process in the autumn, the multi-client proposal is distributed to many of our contacts already in October.
Important dates and information about the 2013 years edition are given below:
• October 2012 – proposal distributed
• March 31, 2013 – deadline for early bird offer (5% discount)
• May 6, 2013 – deadline for subscription
• June 2013 – Discussions with subscribers to finalise survey design, questionnaire and scope
• September – October 2013 – fieldwork/interviews
• October – November 2013 – statistics and reporting
• December 2013 onwards – presentations and news releases
Early bird subscribers are not only entitled to a discounted fee but also, given an opportunity to influence the final research scope and questionnaire.
NEW! In 2013 the basic survey package will focus on Germany, France and UK countries that most of our clients are interested in. All other countries are offered as optional and priced separately.
If you would like to receive the multi-client proposal or in case you have any questions regarding the next edition of the office paper tracking survey, do not hesitate to contact project manager Marijn van der Sluijs at marijn [at] opticom [dot] se or by calling +46 8 50 30 90 00.
SEVERAL NEW CARTONBOARD BRANDS IN THE TOP BUT LEADERS CLEARLY VARY ACROSS END USE SEGMENTS
Posted on September 26, 2012 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today announces the “Part II – Brand Owners” of the results from “The Brand Tracking Survey – Cartonboard for consumer packaging 2012” defining and ranking the most valuable virgin fibre cartonboard brands in Western Europe according to consumer goods brand owners.
The results are based on interviews conducted in February-March 2012 with 364 brand owners located in Western Europe, representing six different end use segments: Cosmetics & beauty care, Pharmaceuticals & healthcare, Chocolate & confectionery, Frozen & chilled food, Dry food, Wines & spirits.
Most valuable brands in Western Europe – based on the Opticom Brand Equity Index
The two strongest cartonboard producers from a branding perspective are clearly Iggesund and Stora Enso. The top three brands; Incada and Invercote from Iggesund and Tambrite from Stora Enso, are in a class of their own with regards to the Opticom Brand Equity Index; above all thanks to higher awareness than seen for other cartonboard brands. These brands were top three in 2010 although Incada and Tambrite, since then, have switched places.
Over time, there is a distinct positive trend with regards to knowledge of cartonboard brands amongst companies producing branded consumer goods to be packed in folding cartons. This is amongst other reflected by twelve cartonboard brands qualifying for the ranking in this edition vs. seven brands in 2010. However, spontaneous brand awareness among brand owners is clearly lower than among carton converters: the top three brands are mentioned spontaneously by only 8 – 10 % of the respondents, while among converters the top three brands were spontaneously mentioned by 23 – 29 % of the respondents. Furthermore, about one in five brand owner respondents are not able to name the brands currently used for their products; only the type / grade of cartonboard.
There are five brands qualifying for the total European ranking for the first time of which three from Stora Enso: Performa, CKB and Ensocoat. The other two newcomers in the ranking list are Korsnäs (being both a product and corporate brand) and the Carta Range (Elega, Solida and Integra) from Metsä Board.
Brand knowledge clearly differs across the six segments surveyed
SVENSK PAPPERSTIDNING HIGHLIGHTS THE SUCCESS OF SÖDRA PULP LABS
Posted on September 18, 2012 by Opticom
In an interview with Anna Altner, SPCI / Svensk Papperstidning describes the way Södra Cell has used Opticom’s Future Lab for putting innovation into practice.
To read the interview with Anna Altner, originally published in SPCI / Svensk Papperstidning’s September issue, “Putting innovation into practice“.
PHARMA INDUSTRY PUBLISHES OPTICOM’S 2012 SURVEY ON THE SWEDISH PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY
Posted on September 14, 2012 by Opticom
Nine out of ten Swedes think it is very important to keep research in pharmaceutical companies in Sweden. A majority of citizens is willing to pay more to get access to new and modern pharmaceuticals. At the same time, the industry thinks the biggest threat to the industry is the lack of willingness to pay for innovative pharmaceuticals. This is one of many interesting results which appear in a new survey on the pharmaceutical industry.
Pharma Industry has in cooperation with the trade association for the research-based pharmaceutical industry in Sweden LIF and Opticom International Research conducted a survey in which the pharmaceutical industry itself evaluates its conditions. A new element this year is that the survey also has studied the general public’s opinion on the pharmaceutical industry.
Click here to read the full article about this survey on the pharmaceutical industry (in Swedish).
IMPROVED BRAND AWARENESS AMONG BOARD CONVERTERS – LEADING SUPPLIERS CHALLENGED BY OTHER COMPANIES
Posted on August 31, 2012 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today announces the results from “The Brand Tracking Survey – Cartonboard for consumer packaging 2012” defining and ranking the most valuable cartonboard brands in Western Europe according to carton converters.
The ranking of brands, the Opticom Brand Equity Index, takes into account both awareness of and satisfaction with the brand. Satisfaction encompasses quality and service associations, perceived brand performance as well as loyalty towards the brand.
The results are based on interviews conducted in February-March 2012 with 206 carton converters from seven Western European countries: Germany, the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. All the converters who participated in the survey use virgin fibre cartonboard for their cartons and they produce folding cartons for at least one of the following end use segments: Cosmetics & beauty care, Pharmaceuticals & healthcare, Chocolate & confectionery, Frozen & chilled food, Dry food, Wines & spirits. Totally 58 different brands were evaluated by the converters and to qualify for the ranking, a brand must be evaluated by minimum ten respondents. Respondents cover a range of functions though most are related to purchasing and selection of cartonboard.
Main findings
The survey shows a very positive development with regards to awareness. There are improvements across most markets and brands and Jessica Tommila, Project Manager at Opticom, relates this to the intensified focus on branding of cartonboard seen in the last few years, saying: “The work put into branding by the cartonboard producers is really starting to show results. For many brands there is an impressive improvement in spontaneous awareness.”
To read the full news release, please click on the link below:
“Improved brand awareness among board converters – leading suppliers challenged by other companies”
For more information, or ordering of the study, please contact Jessica Tommila at +46 8 50 30 90 00 or jessica [at] opticom [dot] se.
WHAT WILL FUTURE CUSTOMERS WANT FROM THEIR PAPER?
Posted on August 17, 2012 by Opticom
What will future customers want in terms of paper, quality, feel and form? That is probably the industry’s million dollar question and it might be an impossible one to answer. But Holmen Paper is never afraid to tackle big, difficult or complex questions.
So how can we go about determining what future customers will want from their paper and what other useful knowledge and criteria customers have in reserve?
The Future Lab is a concept that combines market surveys and round table discussions with interested parties from various industries. A key aspect of the Future Lab is also the scope to build and expand the network of people who like paper. The requirement for being involved is therefore that participants must have a shared interest in paper and its properties and benefits.
Together, the participants discuss everything to do with paper; what good paper feels like, future needs, the position of paper, the importance of paper – basically what is expected of paper. Questions that are tackled include: How can we become a better supplier? What would customers like to see? How can we generate customer loyalty, create partnerships? Other questions for which joint answers are being sought are: How can we refine our products to meet customer needs? Can we adapt our products and create new products in line with customer wishes?
The Future Lab allows the company to see its business from a different angle and with a different focus. Since the discussions are based on the intended users, it is possible to see the needs and requirements from the perspective of those customers and users.
“The challenge for Holmen Paper going forward is to expand its knowledge of trends and find out about users’ opinions, future requirements and needs regarding paper and its development. The Future Labs are an excellent means of doing this,” says Mikael Selling of Opticom.
Opticom has almost 20 years’ experience of this type of survey. Some of the key tasks of a Future Lab are to identify what will be required and expected from the supplier, to create and build up relationships, and to test and discuss new products and services in a constructive manner.
Read the full article, originally published in Holmen Paper’s customer magazine Holmen’s Paper, here:
“What will future customers want from their paper?”
WHAT IS THE KEY SUCCESS FACTOR IN PHARMA COMMERCIALISATION TODAY?
Posted on June 18, 2012 by Opticom
A successful product introduction in the pharmaceutical industry has usually been based on market access, price and reimbursement strategies. However, during the last couple of years, large changes have occurred in the medical and healthcare systems, in patients’ expectations and involvement, as well as concerning influence and expectations from payers. The medical and healthcare industry now operates in a complex environment, where new stakeholders, on both regional and national level, are gaining more and more influence.
The influence of the individual doctor is decreasing as doctors are more steered by politicians and administrators on both regional and national level. As a consequence, Stakeholder Management has become an absolutely critical competence in order to be successful. This affects both how companies organise themselves and what competences the employees should have.
Future success will depend on an organisation’s ability to understand its dynamic environment and adapt its commercial model, plans and behaviours to capitalise on these changes.
To meet these changes, Opticom has developed the unique Opticom Stakeholder Mapping & Analysis. This Opticom product identifies key stakeholders and key decision making processes. What is more, we find out what these stakeholders think about current “hot topics” and future challenges and map who, and what, key stakeholders are influenced by, which groups or networks they belong to, and which other stakeholders they are influenced by and cooperate with.
OPTICOM PARTICIPATES IN ALMEDALEN WEEK
Posted on June 1, 2012 by Opticom
Also this year, Opticom’s Medical & Healthcare Division will participate in the Almedalen Week in Visby, Gotland, Sweden.
We would very much like to come in contact with new and old customers during these days, please get in touch with your Opticom contact person to schedule a meeting when it suits you, perhaps over a coffee, lunch, or after work drink?
OPTICOM STARTS COOPERATION WITH ACCESS HEALTH INTERNATIONAL
Posted on May 23, 2012 by Opticom
The world is facing the demographic challenge of a rapidly aging population. In Sweden, the number of people in working age (aged 20-64) per elderly (80+) has decreased from 35 in 1970 to 12 in 2010 and is forecasted to reach 7 in 2040. This dependency ratio presents a grim picture of our future capability of caring for our elderly.
Having this striking development in mind, ACCESS Health International (www.accessh.org), a not for profit organization dedicated to improving access to high quality and affordable healthcare worldwide, has created a platform for knowledge transfer between countries that are undergoing similar challenges in terms of aging. Policymakers, business leaders, entrepreneurs and the general public need a better understanding of efforts in other countries in order to prepare for the new demographic landscape in the best possible way.
ACCESS Health International’s work encompasses research, knowledge transfer and implementation support related to health finance, health service delivery and health technology. ACCESS’ partners include, among others, the World Bank, UNICEF, The Rockefeller Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, National University of Singapore, Indian School of Business, Stockholm School of Economics, as well as several private corporations. The organization’s offices are located in India, Bangladesh, US, Singapore, the Philippines, Brazil and since the beginning of the year, also in Sweden. The Swedish activities are focused on elderly and chronic care. ACCESS identifies and documents innovation worldwide and works to transfer the knowledge about good practises. The organization is now looking for partners in Sweden in need of comparative analysis between Asian countries that have come a long way in the preparations for the aging populations and Sweden.
On the collaboration with Opticom, ACCESS Country Manager Stéphanie Treschow says that having trusted partners is crucial. “Given the Opticom team’s in-depth knowledge of the Medical and Healthcare market and global mind-set, they are an invaluable source of information and an excellent sounding board for ACCESS” she states.
One of ACCESS’ most recent initiatives is the Silverevolution platform, which aims at sharing innovation for the elderly and to stimulate awareness and engagement among all generations for the Silver population. The platform is an interdisciplinary effort by a team of dedicated bloggers based in Singapore, the Philippines, Sweden, India, USA, Russia and Australia. It covers all aspects of the aging population, including new innovations in healthcare, the economic effects of aging, and the organizations that are shaping this field. ACCESS strives to grow this to the world’s leading platform for innovation for the elderly. Read more and follow the blog here.
To read more about ACCESS visit www.accessh.org or watch Country Manager Stéphanie Treschow’s talk on the challenges and opportunities for digital tools in elderly care here.
ACCESS is looking for partners that want to get involved in shaping the future of elderly and chronic care through collaboration or sponsorship with ACCESS. Please contact Country Manager Stéphanie Treschow on stephanie.treschow@accessh.org.
WHICH CARTONBOARD BRANDS TAKE THE LEAD IN THE EUROPEAN MARKET IN 2012?
Posted on April 3, 2012 by Opticom
The results from the 2012 brand tracking survey on cartonboard for consumer packaging are now available. The final reports will be available before summer and presentations can be booked from June onwards.
Since its start in 2004, Opticom’s brand equity tracking survey for virgin fibre based cartonboard has been the industry benchmark whereby cartonboard producers have been able to measure the value of their cartonboard brands in relation to competition and detect trends over time. The ranking has been based on the Opticom Brand Equity Index which is based on four key drivers of brand equity; Spontaneous Awareness, Top of Mind, Brand Performance and Brand Loyalty.
The research coverage is very extensive as totally 246 converters and 461 brand owners are interviewed across 8 European markets focusing on 6 end-use segments.
Questions primarily concern awareness, buying determinants and performance of the brands but in this year’s edition there is also a special emphasis on sustainability and environmental aspects.
Should you be interested in subscribing to the survey, please contact the Project Manager Jessica Tommila at jessica (at) opticom (dot) se or +46708399006.
EUROPE’S LEADING OFFICE PAPER BRANDS
Posted on January 27, 2012 by Opticom
Opticom International Research now presents the results of the 10th edition of the “Brand Equity Tracking Survey – Office Paper”. This industry standard benchmark survey for office paper brands has been conducted among 3 000 professional end-users across 10 countries in Europe.
The top European office paper brands according to the Opticom Brand Equity Index are:
Rank 2011 Brand (Brand owner)
1 Xerox (Xerox)
2 Navigator (grupo Portucel Soporcel)
3 Lyreco (Lyreco)
4 HP (HP)
5 Office Depot (Office Depot)
6 Viking (Office Depot/Viking Direct)
7 Plano (Papyrus)
8 Clairefontaine (Clairefontaine)
9 Staples (Staples)
10 Discovery (grupo Portucel Soporcel)
11 Data Copy (M-real)
12 Inácopia (grupo Portucel Soporcel)
13 Ricoh (Ricoh)
14 Double A (Double A)
To access the full news release click on the following link:
News Release Brand Equity Tracking Survey – Office Paper 2011
For more information, or ordering of the study, please contact Marijn van der Sluijs at +46 8 50 3090 00 or Marijn [at] opticom [dot] se.
MOST VALUABLE WOODFREE COATED SHEET BRANDS IN EUROPE
Posted on December 20, 2011 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today announces the results from “The Brand Tracking Survey for Woodfree Coated Sheets 2011” whereby the most valuable woodfree coated sheet brands in Europe are defined and ranked.
Hello from PaperlinX has again proved to be the strongest brand in Europe and with respect to awareness the brand is definitively in a league of its own. The number two and three brands in Europe are both owned by Antalis; Claro climbing into a 2nd place and Novatech being number three in Europe based on a balanced and stable brand equity for years. Claro’s strength clearly is satisfaction with the brand; ranked number one when it comes to that dimension of brand equity.
Most brands show improved Brand Equity Index scores vs. 2009 but there are two brands which stand out with a particularly strong development: Lumi by Stora Enso and MultiArt by Papyrus. For Lumi, now in 4th place, satisfaction has improved whereas awareness is the main driver behind MultiArt’s improved brand equity (5th place vs. 11th in 2009).
To see the ranking and read the full news release click here.
For more information or ordering of the reports please contact Jessica Tommila, project manager at +46 708399006
SÖDRA CELL PRESENTS FUTURE LAB INITIATIVE ON PULP LABS
Posted on October 14, 2011 by Opticom
By means of an interview with Mikael Selling, co-founder of Opticom International Research AB, Södra Cell presents its Future Lab initiative on Södra Cell’s special Pulp Lab site. During the interview Anna Altner, Manager Pulp Labs at Södra Cell International, and Mikael Selling discuss the advantages of Future Lab and how it helps Södra Cell to understand the future and potential for foamed paper.
To view the interview, click here.
About Future Labs
The Future Lab method is a propriety-owned concept by Opticom which has been developed since 2003. Since the first Future Lab, conducted with Assa Abloy, it has been very successfully conducted with a large number of clients within the Medical & Healthcare sector and was launched in the Forest Products Industry early 2011.
About Södra Pulp Labs
Södra Pulp Labs is all about the passionate quest to find new sustainable materials. The forest is our renewable resource for the future and we think a lot of the products we make today from oil-based plastics and other materials could be replaced by cellulose.
A MISUNDERSTOOD INDUSTRY STILL FUN TO WORK IN
Posted on September 9, 2011 by Opticom
The pharmaceutical industry does not get the appreciation, respect or financial compensation it deserves. Health care providers are perceived as adversaries rather than partners and there are no natural possibilities to obtain access to the final customer. These are some of the conclusions from the industry survey that the industry journal Pharma Industry, and Opticom, conducted for the second consecutive year. The survey includes answers from 173 respondents representing 57 different pharmaceutical companies active in Sweden.
Besides complaints against the general attitude towards the industry the survey raises questions regarding the medical expertise within TLV (The Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency) and concerns with their strong one-sided focus purely on cost. The lack of a comprehensive view on health economics makes it difficult to work with medical innovation in Sweden. The trade organization LIF (The research-based pharmaceutical industry in Sweden) is considered to be too weak and invisible in the public debate where it is supposed to represent and work in favour of the industry. Despite all this, eight out of ten industry representatives think it is fun to work in the pharmaceutical industry.
Read the full article about this industry wide survey (in Swedish).
NEW OPTICOM REPORT SHOWS OPPORTUNITIES IN PHARMACY MARKET
Posted on September 7, 2011 by Opticom
Today Opticom launches the first comprehensive report about the market situation following the re-regulation of the Swedish pharmacy market. The report is based on results from in-depth interviews with leading executives at pharmacy companies, a survey among representatives for the pharmaceutical industry as well as an analysis of published market research about customers’ satisfaction with pharmacies.
Some of the conclusions from this report:
• Both pharmaceutical companies as well as pharmacies want to develop their cooperation, but few have taken direct initiatives to do so
• More than 300 new pharmacies have opened, but still there is criticism against the fact that the availability of certain products has deteriorated
• The re-regulation has not lead to lower prices yet
• The Swedish state needs to reconsider its role in relation to this market – The role of Apoteket AB is questioned by other players
• Future: Consolidation and increased differentiation. The pharmacy companies have a great, strategic opportunity in clearer positioning
Read more about this report in the full news release (in Swedish):
News Release – Första heltäckande rapporten om apoteksmarknaden
For more information, please contact:
Marijn van der Sluijs, Project Manager or
Jacob Ahlsson, Project Manager
at +46 8 50 30 90 00 or [firstname]@opticom.se.
OPTICOM RAPPORTERAR FRÅN PFIZERS SEMINARIUM PÅ ALMEDALSVECKAN
Posted on July 7, 2011 by Opticom
Live report av Jacob Ahlsson, Opticom, från Pfizers seminarium på Almedalsveckan 7/7, 2011: Regeringens läkemedelsstrategi – i väntan på kejsarens nya kläder.
Medverkande:
Christina Åkerman, Generaldirektör, Läkemedelsverket. Mats Eriksson (m), Ordf SKL Sjukvårdsdelegation, Region Halland. Helene Hellmark Knutsson (s), 2:e v ordf Landstingsstyrelsen, Stockholms Läns Landsting. Anders Henriksson (s), Ordf Landstingsstyrelsen, Kalmar Län. Kristoffer Tamsons (m), Landstingsfullmäktige, Stockholms Läns Landsting. Steve Sjöquist, Patientföreträdare. Tommy Björk, Patientföreträdare, STÖDET. Erik Blix, Moderator.
Enligt Christina Åkerman, Generaldirektör på Läkemedelsverket och en av författarna till den nya läkemedelsstrategin kommer den att vara klar och presenteras under augusti i år. En mycket central fråga är patientsäkerheten. Felaktig förskrivning av läkemedel kostar samhället 10 miljarder årligen enligt Christina. Läkemedelsstrategin kommer också att gynna den kliniska forskningen i Sverige eftersom det skapas en gemensam struktur för hur uppföljningen ska gå till, med tydliga nationella uppföljningsmått. En öppen uppföljning tros också minska den ojämlika vården och öka följsamheten. Varför tar det då så lång tid att få fram en ny läkemedelsstrategi? Läkemedelsstrategin är nu godkänd i den arbetsgrupp som har jobbat med att ta fram den och den är nu på remiss hos landstingen för godkännande och vilket självklart tar tid när vi har 21 landsting.
Patientföreträdarna Steve Sjöquist och Tommy Björk är oroliga för att landstingen inte ska komma överens eftersom samordningen mellan landstingen är så dålig. De pratade också om “onda strukturer” inom landstingen som ser till den egna makten i första hand. De lyfte också fram hur ojämlik vården är idag och risken för att de öppna jämförelserna inte kommer att påverka tillräckligt. Tommy menade att “vi har ju öppna jämförelser redan idag, t o m grannlandsting förskriver väldigt olika och man ser att det skrivs ut sämre läkemedel i det ena landstinget med tydligt högre mortalitet som följd utan att det sker någon förändring”. Det som skulle krävas är hårdare styrning. Patienterna blir allt mer pålästa men långt ifrån alla är det och det är ett stort problem. Det största problemet med strategin är enligt Tommy implementeringen eftersom landstingen kanske väljer att tolka den olika.
Enligt Helene Hellmark Knutsson (s), 2:e v ordf Landstingsstyrelsen, Stockholms Läns Landsting, är det positivt med en nationell läkemedelsstrategi men det finns saker som fattas. Vi har idag en produktionsinriktad sjukvård på bekostnad av den kliniska forskningen vilket är ett problem på lång sikt. På kort sikt anser Helene att något som också måste läggas till är ett gemensamt IT-stödsystem till förskrivande läkare som ger tydlig information om både patienten OCH läkemedlen. Det skulle leda till en bättre förskrivning av läkemedel och en högre följsamhet till nationella riktlinjer.
Samtliga landstingsföreträdare som deltog i paneldiskussionen ansåg att läkemedelstrategin inte går långt nog och att det kommer att bli problem med implementeringen. Enligt Tamsons (m), Landstingsfullmäktige, Stockholms Läns Landsting, anser att det är när strategin presenteras som arbetet börjar.
Anders Henriksson (s), Ordf Landstingsstyrelsen, Kalmar Län menade att den nationella läkemedelsstrategin är mycket bra och att den kommer att bli ett stöd för att minska felförskrivningen i landet. Kvalitetsregister är bra.
Mats Eriksson (m), Ordf SKL Sjukvårdsdelegation, Region Halland välkomnade också han strategin och menar att den kommer att minska ojämlikhet och orättvisor. Men det kommer att bli problem med implementeringen eftersom det finns 20 huvudmän. Det kommer finnas exempel på landsting som har ”en egensyn och kanske inte går hela vägen”. Det är viktigt fortsatte Mats, att de lokala läkemedelskommittéerna inte gör andra bedömningar än de nationella myndigheterna. Det blir också viktigt att jobba med skillnader som är omedvetna inom landstingen.
Mats Eriksson ansåg avslutningsvis att läkemedelsstrategin kommer att bli en spång över krondiket mellan landstingen å ena sidan och de nationella myndigheterna å den andra.
PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES WANT TO DEVELOP THEIR COOPERATION WITH PHARMACIES
Posted on May 6, 2011 by Opticom
A recent market study on the pharmaceutical industry’s views on the pharmacy market shows that several pharmaceutical companies want to develop their cooperation with pharmacies.
The study was conducted by Opticom International Research AB in collaboration with Pharma Online. Opticom also completed a meta-analysis – a compilation of published market research – on customer satisfaction with the pharmacy market. These two studies were presented this week during Apoteksmarknadsdagarna.
Both studies will be included in a final report presented later this spring. This final report will also include a study with leading executives at pharmacy companies about current and future challenges.
Read more about these studies in our news release (in Swedish):
News Release – Marknadsstudier om Apoteksmarknaden
OPTICOM GOES LIVE WITH FIRST FUTURE LABS IN THE FOREST PRODUCTS INDUSTRY
Posted on March 25, 2011 by Opticom
Today, many companies in the forest products industry are facing major challenges that may require radical actions and changes in the way they operate. Some of the most predominant challenges are due to environmental reasons, technological progress, structural changes somewhere along the value chain, new demands from end-users, etc. These radical changes – or sometimes even paradigm shifts – often mean that companies have to enter into unknown terrain, both from a technical and a market-related point of view. Breaking new grounds requires having reliable information and new networking possibilities from many different stakeholders throughout all levels of the value chain.
To meet this need Opticom has developed a unique concept where different stakeholders meet and discuss today’s challenges and future opportunities in round table discussions and through in-depth interviews. Following more than a year of developing the concept and adapting it to the challenges of the forest products industry, Opticom is happy to now go live with the first Future Lab in the forest products industry on behalf of Södra Cell.
The Future Lab is a platform that combines market research with professional networking with key stakeholders, aiming at enhancing the knowledge about trends in an area, as well as to envision the key stakeholders’ demands and needs concerning the development of the area. By building a network and involving its members in round-table discussions on relevant topics, clients will both gather critical information as well as gain trust among the targeted participants. By building such a network of ambassadors, clients will have unique opportunities to continuously test concepts or hypotheses or to just ask a quick question to the network.
For the members, the network will not just give them an opportunity to obtain vital first-hand information on development and plans, but also to be part of relevant and adequate discussions in a network with other key stakeholders throughout the value chain. The Future Lab concept is a platform which can be used for any product, end-use segment or on a corporate level in the organisation. The overall aim is to build long-term relationships by showing commitment and therefore gaining trust and interest among the participants. A key in this is to initiate discussions that actually are interesting for the participants.
The Future Lab concept will help you get answers to the following questions:
1. What does the value chain for new products/applications/solutions look like?
2. Who are potential clients and business partners?
3. What commercial potential do these products offer?
Future Lab will enable clients to:
> Form a strong and long-lasting network with important stakeholders throughout the entire value chain
> Increase strategic communication with key stakeholders and gain knowledge about their expectations and requirements
> Create an open innovation atmosphere focusing on future trends and opportunities that leads to enhanced knowledge about the future
> Create a speedy access to actors of the value chain for testing of new products, services, distribution concepts, design ideas etc
> Get excellent marketing & PR: Future Lab will help raise awareness about the client and shows the market that the company is a front runner in the industry. The Future Lab network will contribute with word-of-mouth.
The Future Lab method is a propriety-owned concept by Opticom which has been developed since 2003. Since the first Future Lab, conducted with Assa Abloy, it has been very successfully conducted with a large number of clients within the Medical & Healthcare sector. For more information about our Future Labs in the forest products industry, please contact Mikael Selling, Corporate Advisor & Partner at Opticom.
OPTICOM NOW ON FACEBOOK
Posted on March 18, 2011 by Opticom
Like many of our clients, we believe social media are an important component in keeping up relationships with our clients. As a first step in developing our social media presence, we have now created a company page on Facebook.
Our presence in social media will give our clients to get to know Opticom better. As business is done between individuals, we believe that the direct interaction that social media provides will allow our clients to develop a closer relationship with Opticom that both will benefit from.
To check out our Facebook page and follow us, please go to:
http://www.facebook.com/OpticomIR
OPTICOM RELAUNCHES BRAND EQUITY TRACKING SURVEYS
Posted on February 14, 2011 by Opticom
Since their start in 1999, Opticom’s brand equity tracking surveys have been established as the industry benchmark whereby brand owners have been able to measure the value of their brands in relation to competition and detect trends over time. Although the trackings were conducted yearly from the beginning – at least for woodfree coated paper and cut-size uncoated woodfree paper (office paper) – over time it became clear that clients were more interested in a follow-up every second year.
Following further client input, the design and approach have been critically reviewed with the aim of developing a 2.0 edition of the Opticom Brand Equity Tracking Survey during 2010 and at the start of 2011. This review resulted in a new set-up of the survey now being launched for woodfree coated sheets.
One of the guiding intentions in developing version 2.0 has been to make sure the surveys add even more value to their subscribers by improving and optimizing the geographical coverage, as well as target group and company size coverage, to develop a more to-the-point questionnaire and index calculation, and to provide a more suitable set of deliverables allowing a better use of information provided.
This new edition is based on a more focused and shorter questionnaire that is more appealing to respondents, but the purpose is still to identify and rank the leading brands based on their brand equity. The reduced length will ensure that more respondents will be willing to participate and it will also improve the quality of each interview. What is more, the focus is on brands specifically rather than also addressing attitude, satisfaction and loyalty towards suppliers and brand owners. An additional benefit of this more focused questionnaire is that there will be room to add single-client questions for topics that are of particular interest to our clients.
By extending the scope to also represent the Nordic and Eastern European markets, the surveys will become more truly European and will allow for a fairer presentation of the leading brands that may not originally have their focus on the Western European markets that from the beginning constituted the so-called basic countries. Similarly, optimizing the coverage of target groups and company sizes will allow our clients to more easily use and analyse the information provided on a level that is appropriate given the decisions that need to be taken on the basis of the results and analysis.
In addition to developing the standard report package to include the deliverables in terms of reports and statistical presentations that suit most of our customers, the report package now also includes a pre-presentation by means of a web conference as well as a workshop-like presentation to allow for more immediate usage of the survey results. The pre-presentation allows us to tailor-make the presentation for the workshop meeting which will help our clients to understand how far they have come with their brands and, if desired, the workshop can easily be extended to include defining what should be done to improve their brands’ positions. Furthermore, clients are also offered the opportunity to subscribe to a tailor-made report package focusing on clients’ key markets and presenting a total report that is adapted to the client’s geographical coverage.
For more information about Opticom’s brand equity tracking surveys please contact: Cecilia Vassal Nyholm at cecilia@opticom.se.
OPTICOM AT MEDICA 2010, THE WORLD’S LARGEST MEDICAL EXHIBITION
Posted on November 16, 2010 by Opticom
Jacob Ahlsson, Project Manager at Opticom, will visit Medica between November 17-19. If you wish to meet him there and discuss about how Opticom can help you to make better business decisions, please call him at +46 (0) 708-39 90 09.
OPTICOM RESEARCHES THE PHARMA INDUSTRY
Posted on September 27, 2010 by Opticom
In the September edition of the Trade Magazine “Pharma Industry”, Opticom launches a brand new Industry research survey answering questions like; what do the pharma industry think about their own future, and which questions are currently the most critical for the Pharma industry. The answers, gathered by a websurvey distributed to selected people within the industry, show a somewhat conservative industry reluctant to change in spite of new industry ground rules. But it also shows that the pharma industry is a valued workplace with high ratings on job satisfaction.
To access the full article in Swedish click on the following link:
Läkemedelsindustrin – med nya spelregler men fast i gamla hjulspår
For more information please contact Åsa Lindelöf at +46 8 50 3090 00 or asa [at] opticom [dot] se.
THE MOST VALUABLE CARTONBOARD BRANDS RANKED BY OPTICOM (BRAND OWNERS)
Posted on July 13, 2010 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today announces the results from “The Brand Tracking Survey – Cartonboard for consumer packaging 2010” defining and ranking the most valuable cartonboard brands in Western Europe according to brand owners (consumer goods manufacturers).
The results are based on interviews conducted in January-February 2010 with approximately 400 brand owners located in Western Europe, representing six different end use segments: Cosmetics & beauty care, Pharmaceuticals & healthcare, Chocolate & confectionery, Frozen & chilled food, Dry food, Wines & spirits. Respondents are responsible for or heavily involved in selecting which cartonboard grades and/or brands that are to be used to produce the folding cartons that their consumer products are packed in.
Main findings
Brand owners are, according to the survey, getting more knowledgeable about cartonboard brands as they now refer to brands rather than to the type of cartonboard and/or the name of their cartonboard supplier. The overall level of brand recognition is, however, still far from the level seen among carton converters. When segments are analysed on an individual basis, it is clear that some segments show a higher level of brand recognition than others: e.g. Cosmetics & beauty care and Pharmaceuticals & healthcare.
The seven brands that qualify for the Western European ranking (including all six end use segments) based on their Brand Equity Index and thus are the most valuable brands in Western Europe according to brand owners (consumer goods manufacturers) are:
Tambrite
Incada
Invercote
Simcote
Alaska
Rochcoat/-blanc
Chromolux
A sign of the improved brand knowledge is that all seven brands qualifying for the total ranking this year are real cartonboard brands in contrast to the survey in 2008, when two of the top brands were in fact names of cartonboard suppliers.
In most of the segments, the brands which qualify for the ranking lists are well established since many years. However, in the Cosmetics & beauty care segment there are three brands qualifying which are relatively new to market and they are Algro Design from Sappi, Carta Elega from M-real and Trucard from Tullis Russel. It will be interesting to see the future development of these brands vs. the established top brands. Currently they play in different leagues with Invercote being the by far strongest cartonboard brand according to owners of Cosmetics & beauty care brands and Incada and Ensocoat also very much ahead of the newcomers. However, there is no time for complacency in this industry.
A fast positive development for a particular brand is best illustrated by Alaska (International Paper) in the Pharmaceuticals & healthcare segment; up from a 9th place in 2008 to number one this year.
To summarise, the survey shows that brand owners are getting more knowledgeable about cartonboard though awareness still is on a fairly modest level.
“The raised interest in and knowledge about cartonboard brands could and should be translated into opportunities for the cartonboard producers” says Jessica Tommila, responsible for this survey at Opticom. She also adds that building and sustaining a strong brand, requires a thorough understanding of what it takes to open the doors to the brand owners and earn their loyalty. What drives awareness and initial purchase for example and what would make them switch from the brand/s they currently use to another brand?
For more information, or ordering of the survey, please contact
Cécilia Vassal Nyhom at cecilia@opticom.se
THE MOST VALUABLE CARTONBOARD BRANDS RANKED BY OPTICOM (CONVERTERS)
Posted on June 28, 2010 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today announces the results from “The Brand Tracking Survey – Cartonboard for consumer packaging 2010” defining and ranking the most valuable cartonboard brands in Western Europe according to carton converters.
The ranking of brands takes into account both awareness of and satisfaction with the brand. Satisfaction encompasses quality associations, perceived brand performance and loyalty towards the brand.
The results are based on interviews conducted in January-February 2010 with 213 carton converters from seven Western European countries: Germany, the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. All the converters who participated in the survey use virgin fibre cartonboard for their cartons and they produce folding cartons for at least one of the following end use segments: Cosmetics & beauty care, Pharmaceuticals & healthcare, Chocolate & confectionery, Frozen & chilled food, Dry food, Wines & spirits.
Main findings
The survey shows that overall brand knowledge among carton converters is improving. It has also become more competitive in the sense that brands outside of top ten are narrowing the gap and they are potentially challenging the more well-established brands. Results indicate that several of the cartonboard companies now put more emphasis on branding their products.
There are three cartonboard companies with relatively stronger brands and/or development over time than others:
• Iggesund with Invercote maintaining its position as the clearly most valuable brand among Western European converters and its other brand Incada in a 4th place
• Korsnäs in 2nd place thanks to the brand taking a lead from a quality associations and loyalty point of view
• Stora Enso with Ensocoat up from a 6th place in 2008 to a 3rd place and its other brands Tambrite, CKB and Performa also in top ten; mainly as a result of an improvement in the awareness of the brands
The other cartonboard producers active in the Western European market are considerably weaker.
The following list shows the most valuable cartonboard brands in Western Europe according to carton converters. The ranking is based on the Brand Equity Index:
Invercote
Korsnäs
Ensocoat
Incada
Tambrite
CKB
Simcote
Performa
Chromolux
Rochcoat/-blnc
Alaska
Besides the brands qualifying for the total Western European Brand Equity Index ranking, there are another nine brands that qualify for the Brand Equity Index ranking in only one geographical market respectively. The strongest of these are CMPC in the UK and Trucard in Germany; both are a top brand in the respective market. Results have also been analysed per main end use segment for the converter and some brands are clearly more recognised and appreciated for certain end use segments than others.
The survey does not only measure how well known and appreciated brands are and how loyal users are towards them. It also looks into purchasing behaviour such as how influential converters are when selecting cartonboard grade and/or brand, how often they buy a certain brand and what the main drivers are behind the brand selection.
In line with the actuality of the topic, the environment constitutes a new and important part of the survey. Opticom has looked into how much environmental aspects matter when converters select a brand, how brands perform and whether or not there is a brand and/or supplier being superior to others in this respect. The results show that there is not yet any supplier or brand that, according to the converters, can claim to have taken a lead in the environmental area. There is thus so far no direct correlation between investments made aiming at improving the environmental sustainability and credibility of a supplier and/or brand and the market perception of the same.
To summarise, the survey shows that there are plenty of opportunities to make a difference for owners of the cartonboard brands but as Jessica Tommila, responsible for the survey, puts it: “Building and sustaining a valuable brand is not done overnight, it requires commitment and above all consistency in defining, communicating and living the brand/s”.
The survey adds value to you if you are interesting in finding out any of the following:
> How do your customers (the converters) view your brand? What overall strengths and weaknesses does it have?
> Is your brand well-known where distributed? That is, does its awareness reflect its availability in the various markets?
> What do users of your brand value when it comes to quality characteristics?
> How well does your brand fulfil converter demands; both in absolute terms and in relation to competition?
> How loyal are converters to your brand? Are they sensitive to changes in e.g. pricing, product quality or logistics?
> How important are the environmental aspects to a converter when selecting brand in general and what are the environmental expectations on your brand in particular?
> Is your brand one of the leading brands from an environmental point of view?
The findings provide useful information that enables owners of the cartonboard brands to for example:
> Define where to focus the efforts in order to create a stronger position for their brands; is it question of raising awareness of the brand or more about influencing converters’ quality perceptions or even improving the actual quality of the brand?
> Analyse their brands’ positions in the various markets and end use segments to see where they have competitive advantages and not. Though brand promises are not solely about product quality features, a lot of valuable input is provided when it comes to how to define the brand promise.
The information should be considered valuable not only to the sales force and the marketing departments handling marketing communication but also to market/business planning and development departments responsible for improving the quality of the brands. Knowing your customers (current as well as potential) and how they view various matters is the key to successful business.
For more information, or ordering of the survey, please contact
Cécilia Vassal Nyholm at cecilia [at] opticom [dot] se
REVISED BRAND STRATEGIES SHUFFLE TOP OF EUROPEAN OFFICE PAPER BRANDS AROUND
Posted on January 14, 2010 by Opticom
Opticom International Research now presents the results of the 9th edition of the “Brand Equity Tracking Survey – Office Paper”. This industry standard benchmark survey for office paper brands has been conducted among more than 4 000 professional end-users across 7 countries in Europe.
The top European office paper brands according to the Opticom Brand Equity Index are:
Rank 2009 (2007) Brand (Brand owner)
1 (1) Xerox (Xerox)
2 (3) HP (HP)
3 (5) Navigator (grupo Portucel Soporcel)
4 (2) Impega (Lyreco)
5 (NEW!/2*) Lyreco (Lyreco)
6 (4) Viking (Office Depot/Viking Direct)
7 (14) Canon (Canon)
8 (6) Clairefontaine (Clairefontaine)
9 (12) Océ (Océ)
10 (8) Antalis (Antalis)
11 (10) Data Copy (M-real)
12 (NEW!/7*) Office Depot (Office Depot)
13 (BACK!) Evolve (M-real)
14 (9) Motif (PaperlinX)
15 (11) Discovery (grupo Portucel Soporcel)
16 (NEW!) Plano (Papyrus)
17 (18) Double A Paper (Advance Agro)
18 (NEW!/20*) Ricoh (Ricoh)
19 (NEW!) Rainbow (Papyrus)
20 (15) Future (UPM)
* New but rebranded; comparative ranking for predecessor (Impega, Niceday and Nashuatec respectively)
To access the full news release click on the following link:
News Release Brand Equity Tracking Survey – Office Paper 2009
For more information, or ordering of the study, please contact Marijn van der Sluijs at +46 8 50 3090 00 or Marijn [at] opticom [dot] se.
OFFICE PAPER SUPPLIERS CHALLENGED IN A VOLATILE MARKET
Posted on December 17, 2009 by Opticom
Opticom International Research (Opticom) today announces the results from the third independent pan-European study evaluating “The Top Suppliers of Office Paper” in Europe.
The study ranks suppliers of office paper based on how well they fulfil the demands on a number of supplier- and service-related criteria as well as the loyalty towards the suppliers. The results are based on more than 4 000 interviews with professional end-users of office paper across seven countries in Europe.
The supplier index ranking list according to professional end-users (offices) looks as follows (number within brackets indicates 2007 year’s position):
Rank (2007) Company (group)
1 (NEW!) Fiducial
2 (5) Inapa (Group)
3 (2) Lyreco (Lyreco)
4 (1) Viking Direct (Office Depot)
5 (12) Antalis (Group)
6 (4) Office Depot (Office Depot)
7 (13) PaperlinX
8 (14) JM Bruneau (3 Suisses International)
9 (8) Igepa (Group)
10 (7) Papyrus (Group)
11 (11) Océ
12 (17) Xerox
13 (6*) Ricoh
14 (10) Staples (Staples)
To access the full news release click on the following link:
News Release – Top European Office Paper Suppliers 2009
For more information, or ordering of the study, please contact Marijn van der Sluijs at +46 8 50 3090 00 or Marijn [at] opticom [dot] se.
WE NEED TO RETHINK! CLEAR MESSAGE FROM THE SWEDISH FOREST INDUSTRY
Posted on November 30, 2009 by Opticom
Opticom International Research and Nordic Paper Journal presents the results from a new Swedish study surveying perceptions related to change readiness in the forest industry, which challenges the sector are meeting and how the future prospects are perceived.
In total 432 respondents working within the Swedish forest industry has participated in a web survey concerning the forest industry and its future. The survey was sent out via email by Nordic Paper Journal as well as being accessible on Nordic Paper Journal’s website. The survey was open for response during June-August 2009.
”The results from the Swedish study are very interesting and clearly shows that the industry needs to become more market focused, create a better environment for “thinking outside the box” and to achieve a higher level of innovation. There is however no lack of faith in the future and the majority still believe in the forest industry.” (Mikael Selling, Corporate Advisor & Partner at Opticom)
10 overall conclusions from the survey
1. The significance of the forest industry in Sweden will be reduced
• The majority, 61 % believe that the significance of the forestry industry in Sweden will be reduced.
• 38 % however consider that the decrease is temporary and that the industry will pick up again one way or another.
2. Increased market and customer focus is most important in order for the forest industry to be more successful
Responding to: Which 3 factors are most important to focus on in order for the forest industry to be more successful?
• 62% of the respondents consider that “increased market and customer focus” is most important for a forest company in order to become more successful.
• A “higher level of innovation” is coming in as number 2 with 59% of respondents.
• The third most important factor, mentioned by 53% of respondents is to “increase the utilization/usage of bi-products”.
• “Reducing costs” and “increasing productivity” are of course mentioned by respondents but are not among the top three.
3. The forest industry has too narrow a focus responding to: Which 3 factors are given priority by the forest industry today?
• Almost all respondents, 91% consider that “reducing costs” is the predominant factor that the industry focuses on today.
• On second and third place are “increasing productivity” and “mergers/acquisitions”
• The conclusion according to the survey is that the forest industry has too narrow a focus on production related issues, and hence market issues do not get the necessary attention.
4. The environmental debate is an obvious opportunity for the forestry industry
• 93 % of respondents see the environmental debate as an obvious advantage for the forest industry. This is a very interesting and important signal to the industry but also to opinion leaders, authorities, government and to the EU-commission.
5. The forest industry’s environmental communication can almost be described as a fiasco
• As many as 44% of respondents view the forest industries environmental communication as unsuccessful/without results which must be considered as a clear underperformance.
• Only every fourth respondent consider the forest industry’s environmental communication successful.
• It is worth noting that 30 % of respondents claim that the environmental communication is neither successful nor unsuccessful. If it’s not successful then it hasn’t left any impression and the money is practically wasted, which in turn means that the communication has failed.
• With these results as a reference it’s quite obvious that the environmental communication can almost be described as a fiasco.
6. The forest industry is faced with a permanent trend shift and the consumption of printing and writing paper is going to drop in Europe
• 76% of respondents say that the forestry industry is facing a permanent trend shift and the consumption of printing and writing paper is going to drop in Europe.
• There are however divided opinions as to whether the drop will be significant or not. Almost half believe that there will be quite a small drop whereas 42 % expect a sharp drop.
7. The forest industry is seen as technology and production orientated
• It’s absolutely clear that the forest industry is regarded as “production and technology orientated”. This is the perception among as many as 94 %.
• When it comes to “marketing and customer orientated” the picture looks different. Only 35 % agree with that statement.
• “The forest industry is an industry of the future” is still regarded as true statement by a majority – 55 %. Only 4 % consider it not to be!
• According to a majority of respondents the forest industry is not perceived as “open minded and creative”, and this is both unfortunate and troublesome.
• Only 19 % of respondents believe that the forest industry has “a high level of innovation”
8. The forest industry does too little to exploit the potential in cellulose fibre
• The majority (83%) think that the pulp industry should change its production in order to manufacture something else out of the cellulose fibre in addition to paper pulp.
• As many as 76% think that the forest industry does too little to exploit the potential in cellulose fibres.
9. A narrow majority see the forest industry as a good employer
• A narrow majority (52 %) sees the forest industry as a good employer and would promote the forest industry as an attractive employer to a friend or child.
• However, as many as 30 % would not recommend the industry to friends or family.
10. Many in favor of investing money in forest shares
• There are obviously many respondents who believe in a positive development for forest companies. As many as 70 % would consider investing in forest shares given the opportunity.
• Only 14 % say that they would not consider forest industry shares if they had money to invest. The result at least reflects that there is a clear belief in the future among respondents.
Conclusions and general reflections
• The forest industry is one of the most capital intensive industries and has invested in high technology production facilities. High capacity utilisation and cost efficient production is a fundamental key to maintain profitable operations and be competitive. That is why it is simply necessary that one is production and technology orientated. But, at the same time one must also be market and customer orientated and be highly innovative in order to survive the razor sharp competition in the global market and in order to be successful. This is where weaknesses within the industry can be seen; according to the survey, the industry is primarily focusing on cost cutting and efficiency measures and giving too little attention to market related matters and innovation. Here, the industry clearly has to rethink!
• There is no doubt that the industry must increase its market focus, create a better environment for “thinking outside the box” and to achieve a higher level of innovation. It is especially important to make use of the cellulose fibre for products other than just paper. There is great and unexploited potential here. This is particularly important since there is an expected drop in the demand for printing and writing paper in Europe due to a change in reading and media habits.
• The forest industry has a good environmental story to tell, but they have not managed to demonstrate this well enough in the debate. In this area there is still plenty to work on.
• In spite of the various challenges the majority of respondents in spite of everything see the forest industry as an industry of the future and the majority would tell their children that it is a good industry to work in.
• That there is faith in the future can clearly be seen in terms of how many that would be willing to invest their money in forest shares if they won Euro 10.000, which the majority would do. That can be interpreted as a good sign!
For more information, or ordering the results from the survey, please contact Mikael Selling at:
Opticom International Research, Grev Turegatan 30, SE-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
Direct phone: +46 (0)8 50 30 90 13
Mobile phone: +46 (0)708 39 90 13
Fax +46 (0)8 50 30 90 01
E-mail: Mikael@opticom.se
CLARO SHOWING AN IMPRESSIVE PROGRESS
Posted on October 19, 2009 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today announces the results from “The Brand Tracking Survey – Woodfree Coated Paper 2009” whereby the most known, bought and appreciated woodfree coated sheet brands in Central & Eastern Europe are defined. The results are based on interviews with 457 professional paper buyers in the sheet-fed offset printing segment across four Central & Eastern European countries; Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.
Merchant owned brands clearly dominate the Central & Eastern European market and particularly strong brand owners are Antalis with both Claro and Novatech in the top and PaperlinX with Hello being a top brand. UPM Finesse is the only mill owned brand with a relatively strong position in these markets. However, though not frequently mentioned spontaneously, other mill owned brands, like G-Print and Arctic, are recognised by a very large share of the Central & Eastern European printers. In these countries, it is also more obvious than in Western Europe, that some brands are more known than bought.
In line with the actuality of the topic, Opticom has given the environment a special emphasis in this year’s survey. Printer expectations on the environmental credentials/friendliness, when selecting a brand, are measured and also their perception of the performance of their current main brand/s with respect to environmental credentials/friendliness. For the first time ever, Opticom furthermore asked printers to mention the leading woodfree coated sheet brand from an environmental point of view and why that brand is perceived to be superior to other brands. According to project manager Jessica Tommila, the results indicate that Central & Eastern European printers (so far?) put less emphasis on the environmental issues than their Western European peers and that is it is even clearer than in Western Europe that there is no leading environmental woodfree coated sheet brand in the four markets covered in the survey. There are thus some very interesting opportunities for brand owners if the aim is to claim the position as the greenest woodfree coated sheet brand.
This is the third time that Opticom measures awareness of woodfree coated sheet brands in Central & Eastern Europe and for the first time, Opticom makes public the list of most well-known brands in these markets. The list below shows the 15 most known brands in Central & Eastern Europe in 2009 based on their total spontaneous awareness* among sheet-fed offset printers: (brands marked in green show a positive development in % vs. 2008)
Hello
Claro
Novatech
UPM Finesse
Maxi
Profi
Garda
Black Label
Tom & Otto
Polaris
BVS
Core
MultiArt
Luxo
2U
In contrast to Western Europe, the most frequently spontaneously mentioned brands in Central & Eastern Europe are to a large majority merchant owned. Within top fifteen, there are only three mill owned brands: UPM Finesse in 4th place, Garda in 7th and BVS in 11th.
Since the start of the survey in 2007, there has been a very positive development with respect to brand awareness. When comparing with 2008, almost all of the top fifteen brands show a higher awareness level, as reflected by brands marked in green in the table above. The largest increases (vs. both 2007 and 2008) are seen for the top three brands; Hello, Claro and Novatech.
Hello is still the number one brand from an awareness point of view but Claro has now taken the 1st position in terms of share of printers saying that they buy the brand.
The survey not only ranks woodfree coated sheet brands based on how well-known they are but also based on how well they meet sheet-fed offset printers’ expectations on a number of quality performance criteria. It also identifies the level of loyalty towards the brand in terms of the likelihood of being purchased again in one year’s time.
When it comes to expectations on the quality features of the brands and their performance, the five most important criteria are the same as in Western Europe; consistent quality, runnability, printability, value for money and fast ink-setting & drying. Printers are overall somewhat less satisfied with the performance of the brands than in Western Europe and the three most known brands, Hello, Claro and Novatech, all need to improve and better fulfil user demands as they do not even make the top three with respect to quality associations.
The survey adds value to you if you are interesting in finding out any of the following:
> How do your customers (the printers) view your brand/the brand that your paper is re-sold as? What overall strengths and weaknesses does it have?
> Is your brand or the brand that your paper is distributed as, well-known where distributed? That is, does its awareness reflect its availability in the various markets?
> What do users of your brand/the brand that your paper is re-sold as, value when it comes to quality characteristics?
> How well does your brand/the brand that your paper is distributed as, fulfil printer demands; both in absolute terms and in relation to competition?
> How important are the environmental aspects to a printer when selecting brand and printers selecting your brand in particular?
> Is your brand one of the leading brands from an environmental point of view?
> Is there a risk in printers not selecting your brand in one year’s time? If so, why?
The findings provide useful information that enables brand owners to for example:
> Define where to focus their efforts in order to create a stronger position for their brands; is it question of raising awareness of the brand or more influencing printers’ quality perceptions or even improving the actual quality of the brand?
> Analyse their brands’ positions in the various markets and printer segments to see where they have competitive advantages and not. A lot of valuable input is provided when it comes to how to define the brand promise.
> Understand how printers view the environmental aspects when selecting a woodfree coated sheet brand
The information should be considered valuable not only to the sales force, but also to marketing departments handling marketing communication and market/business planning and development departments responsible for improving the quality of the brands. Knowing your customers (current as well as potential) and how they view various matters is the key to successful business.
For more information, or ordering of the survey, please contact Jessica Tommila at:
Opticom International Research,
Grev Turegatan 30, SE-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
Direct phone: +46 (0)8 50 30 90 06
Mobile phone: +46 (0)708 39 90 06
Fax +46 (0)8 50 30 90 01
E-mail: jessica@opticom.se
About Opticom’s brand surveys for woodfree coated paper
Opticom International Research has since 1999 annually carried out an evaluation of the woodfree coated paper brands in Western Europe and since 2007 also in Central & Eastern Europe. Up to 2008, the total Brand Equity encompassing spontaneous awareness, top of mind, quality & associations and loyalty as well as purchasing determinants; frequency, drivers, were measured annually. As of 2009, the brand tracking will be concentrated to mainly awareness and quality aspects every second year and the total Brand Equity every other second year. The environmental aspects are likely to constitute a concurrent theme every year to enable tracking progress over time.
This year’s survey ranks the woodfree coated paper brands based on how well-known they are in the respective market and printing segment (this news release referring to the Central & Eastern European market for sheet-fed offset printing) and how well the brands meet printers’ expectations on a number of quality performance criteria. The quality related criteria evaluated are:
> Consistent quality
> High runnability
> Good printability
> Fast ink setting & drying
> High opacity
> High whiteness
> High bulk
> Value for money
> Wide range of paper qualities
> Environmental credentials/friendliness
In addition to these criteria, the importance of net price and end use/r specification was also rated.
The survey has also indicated the level of loyalty towards the brand in terms of the likelihood of the brand being purchased again in one year’s time and for the first time the survey identifies the leading woodfree coated sheet brands in Central & Eastern Europe from an environmental point of view.
A total of 457 quantitative CATI-telephone interviews were carried out in four markets; Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland during June and July 2009. Though results are not included in this news release, the survey was also run for the first time in Switzerland and totally 101 Swiss sheet-fed offset printers were interviewed. A brand must be evaluated by at least ten respondents in a minimum two of the four markets covered in order to qualify for the calculation of the Spontaneous Awareness Index, the Top of Mind Index and the Quality & Associations Index (quality expectations and relative performance of the brand).
The survey was also carried out among both sheet fed-offset and web heat-set printers in Western Europe. The results are published in three different reports:
> Western Europe Sheet-fed offset printers
> Western Europe Web heat-set printers
> Central & Eastern Europe Sheet-fed offset printers – this news release
WELL-KNOWN BRANDS HAVE SO FAR NOT CLAIMED THE POSITION AS THE LEADING ENVIRONMENTAL BRAND
Posted on October 8, 2009 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today announces the results from “The Brand Tracking Survey – Woodfree Coated Paper 2009” whereby the most known, bought and appreciated woodfree coated sheet brands in Western Europe are defined.
The results are based on interviews with 885 professional paper buyers in the sheet-fed offset printing segment across seven Western European countries; Germany, the UK, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. Total as well as country specific results are available. The survey shows that some brands are more known than bought and also that some brands more often are the printer’s main brand than others. Also, top brands from a quality associations’ point of view are not necessarily the best known brands.
Environmental aspects are heavily discussed at many seminars and conferences and for most, if not all, paper producers and merchants, environmental responsibility is very high up on the agenda. Opticom has also given the environment a special emphasis in this year’s survey as it measures printer expectations on the environmental credentials/friendliness when selecting a brand and printer perceptions of the performance of their current main brand/s with respect to environmental credentials/friendliness. For the first time ever, Opticom also asked printers to mention the leading woodfree coated sheet brand from an environmental point of view and why that brand is perceived to be superior to other brands. The outcome first of all sends a signal of a need to better educate the printers in environmental issues. According to project manager Jessica Tommila, the results indicate some very interesting opportunities for brand owners as no brand so far has claimed the position as THE leading environmental woodfree coated sheet brand in Western Europe. Symbol and Novatech are the two most frequently mentioned woodfree coated sheet brands, closely followed by Hello, Maine and Condat. None of them are mentioned by a very large share of the printers though.
Opticom has tracked awareness of woodfree coated sheet brands since 1999 and for the first time, makes public the list of most well-known brands in the Western European market. The list below shows the top 20 brands in 2009 based on their spontaneous awareness* among sheet-fed offset printers in Western Europe: (brands marked in green show a positive development in % vs. 2008)
Hello
Main Gloss
Profi
Novatech
Satimat
Garda
Luxo
Magno
Creator
Lumi
Condat
Galaxi
Claro
Chromomat
Burgo
Maxi
R4/R4 Chorus
BVS
MultiArt
Black Label
Hello has, since the start of the brand tracking, been and still is clearly the number one brand from a spontaneous awareness point of view. It has a strong position in most of the markets included in this survey. However, compared to earlier surveys, the % gap to competing brands has become smaller.
Out of the top ten brands, only Novatech has a similar geographical spread to Hello as it is a top ten brand in all the six markets where it is distributed. Most other brands have a more limited geographical basis for their total awareness score. Profi and Luxo, the top two brands in Germany and Garda, the clear number one brand in Italy are the most local brands in the total top ten list, but to some extent that is also applicable to Creator, the leading woodfree coated sheet brand in Spain.
As the survey has been conducted since 1999 it enables defining trends over time. The results from this year’s survey raise questions for some of the top brands. Is a decline in the share of printers mentioning the brand as bought temporary or the start of a negative trend for that brand? Is an increased awareness vs. 2008 after a very stable awareness level 2005-2008, the start of a positive trend or just temporarily positive for that brand?
The survey not only ranks woodfree coated sheet brands based on how well-known they are but also based on how well they meet sheet-fed offset printers’ expectations on a number of quality performance criteria. It also identifies the level of loyalty towards the brand in terms of the likelihood of being purchased again in one year’s time.
When it comes to expectations on the quality features of the brands and their performance, printers first of all value consistent quality, runnability, printability and value for money. In line with the financial crisis, the latter has also become more important vs. previous editions of the survey.
The survey adds value to you if you are interesting in finding out any of the following:
> How do your customers (the printers) view your brand/the brand that your paper is re-sold as? What overall strengths and weaknesses does it have?
> Is your brand or the brand that your paper is distributed as, well-known where distributed? That is, does its awareness reflect its availability in the various markets?
> What do users of your brand/the brand that your paper is re-sold as, value when it comes to quality characteristics?
> How well does your brand/the brand that your paper is distributed as, fulfil printer demands; both in absolute terms and in relation to competition?
> How important are the environmental aspects to a printer when selecting brand and printers selecting your brand in particular?
> Is your brand one of the leading brands from an environmental point of view?
> Is there a risk in printers not selecting your brand in one year’s time? If so, why?
The findings provide useful information that enables brand owners to for example:
> Define where to focus their efforts in order to create a stronger position for their brands; is it question of raising awareness of the brand or more influencing printers’ quality perceptions or even improving the actual quality of the brand?
> Analyse their brands’ positions in the various markets and printer segments to see where they have competitive advantages and not. A lot of valuable input is provided when it comes to how to define the brand promise.
> Understand how printers view the environmental aspects when selecting a woodfree coated sheet brand
The information should be considered valuable not only to the sales force, but also to marketing departments handling marketing communication and market/business planning and development departments responsible for improving the quality of the brands. Knowing your customers (current as well as potential) and how they view various matters is the key to successful business.
For more information, or ordering of the survey, please contact Jessica Tommila at:
Opticom International Research,
Grev Turegatan 30, SE-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
Direct phone: +46 (0)8 50 30 90 06
Mobile phone: +46 (0)708 39 90 06
Fax +46 (0)8 50 30 90 01
E-mail: jessica@opticom.se
About Opticom’s brand surveys for woodfree coated paper
Opticom International Research has since 1999 annually carried out an evaluation of the woodfree coated paper brands in Western Europe and since 2007 also in Central & Eastern Europe. Up to 2008, the total Brand Equity encompassing spontaneous awareness, top of mind, quality & associations and loyalty as well as purchasing determinants; frequency, drivers, were measured annually. As of 2009, the brand tracking will be concentrated to mainly awareness and quality aspects every second year and the total Brand Equity every other second year. The environmental aspects are likely to constitute a concurrent theme every year to enable tracking progress over time.
This year’s survey ranks the woodfree coated paper brands based on how well-known they are in the respective market and printing segment (this news release referring to the Central & Eastern European market for sheet-fed offset printing) and how well the brands meet printers’ expectations on a number of quality performance criteria. The quality related criteria evaluated are:
> Consistent quality
> High runnability
> Good printability
> Fast ink setting & drying
> High opacity
> High whiteness
> High bulk
> Value for money
> Wide range of paper qualities
> Environmental credentials/friendliness
In addition to these criteria, the importance of net price and end use/r specification was also rated.
The survey has also indicated the level of loyalty towards the brand in terms of the likelihood of the brand being purchased again in one year’s time and for the first time the survey identifies the leading woodfree coated sheet brands in Central & Eastern Europe from an environmental point of view.
A total of 457 quantitative CATI-telephone interviews were carried out in four markets; Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland during June and July 2009. Though results are not included in this news release, the survey was also run for the first time in Switzerland and totally 101 Swiss sheet-fed offset printers were interviewed. A brand must be evaluated by at least ten respondents in a minimum two of the four markets covered in order to qualify for the calculation of the Spontaneous Awareness Index, the Top of Mind Index and the Quality & Associations Index (quality expectations and relative performance of the brand).
The survey was also carried out among both sheet fed-offset and web heat-set printers in Western Europe. The results are published in three different reports:
> Western Europe Sheet-fed offset printers
> Western Europe Web heat-set printers
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OPTICOM STRENGTHENS ITS POSITION WITHIN MEDICAL & HEALTHCARE BY TAKING ON A HIGHLY EXPERIENCED CORPORATE ADVISOR
Posted on September 21, 2009 by Opticom
Opticom International Research AB has decided to further strengthen its position as a leading global market research and consulting firm within the medical & healthcare area by taking on Ms Sylvie Bove as a Corporate Advisor.
Sylvie is a senior international marketing executive with more than 15 years experience from sales, strategic marketing and business development within the Life Science Industry. Her multicultural background together with her worldwide responsibilities, have given her a strong experience in global launches, internationalization processes, and result creation in a multicultural environment. She is also an experienced leader who uses coaching based leadership to develop and motivate teams and individuals.
Sylvie has now decided to use her experience and strengths to support Opticom’s customers in developing their business by making better and faster decisions. Sylvie focuses on supporting top management teams in developing and implementing sustainable strategies to manage uncertainty in a fast changing environment, incl. Market research, strategy workshops and leadership/team development.
“We are very pleased to have Sylvie onboard. With her vast experience from the industry and from working with top management worldwide, she will add great value to us and our clients.” says Nina Nordqvist, business area manager of Opticom’s medical & healthcare division. “Sylvie also brings with her an extensive network, which is very valuable for us and she will be a great asset in expanding our business both in the Nordic region and on a global level.”
“I came in contact with Opticom over ten years ago as a client and was very impressed by the quality of their research. They really focus on helping their customers make better decisions, using their experience and competence to give good advice and recommendations on how to act on the results from the research” says Sylvie Bove. “I am looking very much forward to working together with the Opticom team and use my experience from the industry in securing an even better understanding and support to our customers”.
FÄRSK UNDERSÖKNING VISAR ATT SKOGSINDUSTRIN MÅSTE TÄNKA OM!
Posted on September 16, 2009 by Opticom
Opticom International Research och Nordisk Papperstidning presenterar idag resultaten från en färsk undersökning där vi tagit temperaturen på förändringstrycket i skogsindustrin, vilka utmaningar den står inför och hur framtidsutsikterna uppfattas.
Totalt har 432 personer med koppling till skogsindustrin deltagit i studien som har skickats ut med e-post via Nordisk Papperstidning samt funnits tillgänglig på Nordisk Papperstidnings hemsida. Studien har genomförts under perioden juni – augusti 2009.
“Resultaten från undersökningen är oerhört intressanta och visar tydligt att industrin framförallt måste öka sitt marknadsfokus och dessutom satsa mer på att bejaka nytänkande och tillvarata möjligheter för att uppnå en högre innovationsnivå. Detta är nödvändigt för att man skall klara dagens och morgondagens utmaningar på den globala marknaden . Framtidstro råder det dock ingen brist på och de flesta tror på skogsindustrin” säger Mikael Selling, Corporate Advisor & Partner på Opticom.
ÖVERGRIPANDE RESULTAT FRÅN STUDIEN
Skogsindustrins betydelse för Sverige kommer att minska
• De flesta, 61 % anser att skogsindustrins betydelse för Sverige kommer att minska, vilket är
ett intressant observandum.
• 38 % anser dock att nedgången i branschen är tillfällig och att industrin kommer att återhämta sig i en eller annan form.
Ökad marknads- och kundfokus viktigast för att skogsindustrin ska bli mer framgångsrik
• 62 % av respondenterna anser att ”ökad marknads- och kundfokus” är det viktigaste att fokusera på för att ett skogsföretag skall bli framgångsrikt.
• En ökad innovationsnivå kommer som god tvåa nämnt av 59 % av respondenterna.
• Den tredje viktigaste faktorn är att man skall satsa på att öka utnyttjandet/tillvaratagandet av biprodukter, vilket 53 % av respondenterna satt som en av de tre viktigaste åtgärderna.
• Kostnadssänkningar och produktivitetsökning finns givetvis med bland nödvändiga åtgärder men anses inte lika viktiga som alternativen ovan.
Skogsindustrin har för ensidig fokus
• Praktiskt taget alla, 91 % anser att kostnadssänkningar är den fråga som industrin
framförallt fokuserar på i dag (se graf på föregående sida).
• På andra plats kommer produktivitetsförbättringar och på tredje
strukturförändringar, dvs. uppköp/sammanslagningar.
• Slutsatsen är enligt studien, att skogsindustrin har för ensidig fokus på teknikorienterade frågor.
Miljödebatten är en klar möjlighet för skogsindustrin
• 93 % anser att miljödebatten är en klar möjlighet för skogsindustrin. Då gäller det naturligtvis att utnyttja denna möjlighet så långt det går. Detta är en mycket intressant och viktig signal till industrin, men även till opinionsbildare, myndigheter, riksdag och regering.
Skogsindustrins miljökommunikation är närmast att likna ett fiasko
• Tyvärr anser 44 % att industrins miljökommunikation är resultatlös/misslyckad, vilket är ett klart underbetyg.
• Endast var färde respondent anser att skogsindustrins miljökommunikation har varit framgångsrik.
• Intressant att notera är att 30 % av respondenterna anser att miljökommunikationen varken är framgångsrik eller misslyckad. Är den inte framgångsrik, så har den inte avsatt några spår, då är det bortkastade pengar och då är den, som vi ser det, i praktiken misslyckad! Med detta som utgångspunkt är det ännu tydligare, att miljökommunikationen är närmast ett likna ett fiasko!
Skogsindustrin står inför ett permanent trendbrott och konsumtionen av skriv- och tryckpapper kommer att gå ner i Europa
• 76 % anser att vi står inför ett permanent trendbrott, och att konsumtionen av skriv- och tryckpapper kommer att gå ned i Europa.
• Det råder dock delade meningar om hur kraftig nedgången blir. Drygt hälften tror på en
svag nergång, medan 42 % förväntar sig en kraftig nedgång.
Förpackningar och hygienprodukter har bäst framtidsutsikter
• De flesta anser att förpackningar och hygienprodukter är de som har bäst framtidsutsikter.
• Tidningar anses utan tvekan ligga illa till i framtiden, det anser hela 77 % av respondenterna.
• Även direktreklam och kopieringspapper tillhör de produkter som har sämst framtidsutsikter,
det anser 41 resp. 25 % av respondenterna.
• Böcker och magasin är enligt undersökningen hotade, om än inte lika allvarligt.
Skogsindustrin uppfattas som teknik- och produktionsorienterad
• Det är fullständigt klart att skogsindustrin uppfattas som ”produktions- och teknikinriktad”. Det anser den absoluta majoriteten av respondenterna (94 %).
• När det gäller ”marknads- och kundorienteringen” ser bilden annorlunda ut. Här anser
endast 35 % att så är fallet.
• Att skogsindustrin är ”en framtidsbransch” anser ändå majoriteten 55 %.
Endast 4 % tror inte att industrin är en framtidsbransch.
• Enligt enkätsvaren anser de flesta att skogsindustrin inte är en bransch som bejakar
nytänkande eller ser möjligheter”, och det är både tråkigt och bekymmersamt. Det är absolut nödvändigt med en annan inställning i industrin för att man skall klara de utmaningar man redan är utsatta för samt även de som kommer i framtiden på både kort och lång sikt.
• Endast 19 % av respondenterna anser att skogsindustrin har ”hög innovationsnivå”.
Skogsindustrin gör för lite för att exploatera potentialen i cellulosafibern
• En absolut majoritet, 83 %, anser att massaindustrin måste tillvarata möjligheterna att
framställa andra produkter ur cellulosafibern än bara tillverka pappersmassa. Detta kräver
förstås nytänkande och villighet att tillvarata möjligheter, och just den egenskapen är det
enligt enkätsvaren si och så med i industrin!
• En klar majoritet, 76 % anser att industrin gör för lite i dag för att just exploatera
potentialen att tillverka t.ex. kemikalier ur cellulosafibern.
En knapp majoritet ger Skogsindustrin godkänt som arbetsgivare
• Även om en knapp majoritet, 52 % av respondenterna för sina barn skulle beskriva skogsindustrin som en attraktiv arbetsgivare, är det ändå en hög andel, 30 % som skulle ha en motsatt uppfattning. Detta är förstås ett problem för industrins framtid, som riskerar att få problem med att rekrytera kvalificerad personal. Det är klart att en bransch som präglas av dålig lönsamhet och ideliga nerläggningar med friställning av personal inte är särskilt attraktiv som arbetsgivare. Det är egentligen förvånande att så många i enkäten ändå anser att industrin är en attraktiv arbetsgivare. Det tyder på en viss framtidstro hos dessa individer.
Många positiva till att investera pengar i skogsaktier
• Det finns uppenbarligen många som tror på en positiv utveckling för skogsbolagen. Så många som 70 % kan tänka sig att investera i skogsaktier.
• Det är bara 14 % som inte skulle satsa på skogsaktier överhuvudtaget, vilket är en mycket klar minoritet. Utfallet återspeglar en klar framtidstro för skogsindustrin bland respondenterna.
SLUTSATSER OCH ALLMÄNNA REFLEKTIONER
• Skogsindustrin är en av de mest kapitalintensiva branscherna och sitter med högteknologiska produktionsanläggningar. Ett högt kapacitetsutnyttjande och en kostnadseffektiv produktion är A och O för att få lönsamhet i verksamheten. Därför är det naturligt och nödvändigt att man är produktions- och teknikinriktade, det måste man helt enkelt vara. Men, samtidigt måste man också vara marknads- och kundorienterade och ha en hög innovationsnivå för att klara den knivskarpa konkurrensen på den globala marknaden och att vara framgångsrik. Det är här det brister enligt enkätsvaren eftersom fokus i alltför hög grad ligger på kostnadsjakt och effektiviseringar.
• Det råder ingen tvekan om att industrin måste öka marknadsfokus och satsa mer på att bejaka nytänkande och tillvarata möjligheter för att uppnå en högre innovationsnivå i verksamheten. Inte minst gäller det att utnyttja cellulosafibern för andra produkter än till just bara pappersmassa. Här finns en stor, outnyttjad potential. Detta är inte minst viktigt då man förväntar sig en minskad efterfrågan på skriv- och tryckpapper i Europa pga ändrade läs- och medievanor med en starkt ökad användning av Internet.
• Förpackningar och hygienprodukter förväntas ha goda framtidsutsikter, men det räcker inte. Industrin måste utveckla nya produkter och nya lösningar, vilket återigen kräver ökad marknads- och innovationsfokus.
• Skogsindustrin har i hög grad en miljöanpassad verksamhet, men detta budskap har man inte lyckats få fram tillräckligt bra i debatten. Även på detta område finns det åtskilligt att göra.
• Ett flertal av respondenterna anser trots allt att skogsindustrin är en framtidsbransch och en majoritet skulle säga till sina barn att det är en bra arbetsgivare.
• Framtidstron syns tydligt när det gäller hur många som skulle sätta pengar på skogsaktier om de vann 100.000, vilket de allra flesta faktiskt skulle göra. Det kan tolkas som en bra signal!
För mer information, eller för att beställa studien i sin helhet, vänligen kontakta Mikael Selling:
Opticom International Research
Grev Turegatan 30, SE-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
Direct phone: +46 (0)8 50 30 90 13
Mobile phone: +46 (0)708 39 90 13
Fax +46 (0)8 50 30 90 01
E-mail: mikael@opticom.se
OPTICOM STARTING UP “BRAND EQUITY TRACKING SURVEY – OFFICE PAPER 2009”
Posted on August 24, 2009 by Opticom
From mid-August Opticom has started the preparations for the 2009 edition of the “Brand Equity Tracking Survey – Office Paper”. In addition to the more than 4 000 interviews in the basic countries Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium, interviews with professional purchasers of office paper will be conducted in Poland, Switzerland, Sweden, and Denmark.
The “Brand Equity Tracking Survey – Office Paper” has throughout the years provided Opticom’s clients with more than just a ranking of the leading office paper brands. Combining the yearly up-dated research results and Opticom’s extensive experience from the paper industry with our clients’ own knowledge and market data has allowed leading paper producers and distributors to make better business decisions when it comes to the marketing and the branding of office paper.
As fieldwork will be conducted in September and October, reports will be available towards the end of 2009. For more information, or a customised study quote, please contact Marijn van der Sluijs at +46 8 50 30 90 00 or marijn(at)opticom.se.
WHICH WOODFREE COATED PAPER BRANDS TAKE THE LEAD IN THE EUROPEAN MARKET IN 2009?
Posted on July 1, 2009 by Opticom
2009 year’s brand tracking survey for woodfree coated paper is currently being conducted and if you are interested in knowing which brands that take the lead this year, results are expected after the summer holidays.
Opticom International Research has since 1999 annually ranked and tracked the most valuable woodfree coated brands in the European market according to sheet-fed offset and web heat-set printers. The ranking has been based on the Opticom Brand Equity Index which is based on four key drivers of brand equity; Spontaneous Awareness, Top of Mind, Brand Performance and Brand Loyalty.
The research coverage is very extensive as totally 1 450 sheet-fed offset printers are interviewed across twelve European markets and 150 web heat-set printers across seven markets.
Questions primarily concern awareness and performance of the brands but in this year’s edition there is also a special emphasis on environmental aspects. Opticom will through the survey be able to identify which woodfree coated paper brands that are perceived to be superior to others from an environmental point of view and reasons why according to the printers.
Should you be interested in subscribing to the survey, please contact the Project Manager Jessica Tommila at jessica (at) opticom (dot) se or +46708399006.
OPTICOM CONTRIBUTES TO CONFEDERATION OF SWEDISH ENTERPRISE TAX COMMISION REPORT
Posted on July 1, 2009 by Opticom
Mr Urban Bäckström, Director General of the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv), and chairman of the organisation’s eight- member Tax Commission, presented the commission’s final report on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009.
Need for a clearer and more transparent tax system
The main conclusions of the report are that Swedish taxes have to be cut, mainly on capital and wages for skilled labour. Taxes also have to be better visualised through a simpler and clearer system and transparent information on the total taxation. There through better conditions for business enterprise can be created.
Thorough work behind the report
Members of the Tax Commission, representing various parts of Swedish commercial and industrial life, have been travelling around the country, arranging meetings and listening to around 1000 entrepreneurs from the very north to the very south. The information gathered at these meetings forms a basic foundation in the commission’s work. In hearings with experts in the field the commission has formed an opinion on how future taxation should be designed in order to improve Swedish competitiveness and standard of living.
In addition, around 10 researchers and experts have written penetrating analyses on strategic and current challenges concerning taxation. In one of these reports, the two economists, Professor Ulf Jakobsson and Jan Herin, specifically looked into taxation in a knowledge society and Sweden’s attractiveness as a goal for foreign investment and for highly skilled foreign workforce.
Opticom conducts vast survey among company top executives
One important source of information for this report was a survey where Opticom interviewed 200 respondents in leading positions, mainly CEO’s, in both foreign as well as Swedish owned companies of various sizes and present in various business areas.
One result of the survey is that the Swedish entrepreneurial climate is generally perceived in a positive way even though the overall result is impaired by negative aspects like high individual taxation and restricting Swedish labour laws.
The individual climate in Sweden, including questions on wage levels, taxation, disposable income, career opportunities and general quality of life, was rated less positively than the entrepreneurial climate. 71% of respondents say it is more difficult to recruit skilled co-workers to Sweden compared to other countries and only 4% said that it is easier.
The respondents were also asked about Sweden’s position as a destination country for recruiting skilled co-workers and according to the results the main weakness is by far the taxation. The authors’ conclusion is therefore that if Sweden wants to be able to develop its knowledge driven economy in a globally competitive environment it is necessary to lower the high and progressive income tax.
For more information, please contact: Mats Nygård at mats (at) opticom (dot) se or +46 850309008.
To access the Tax Committee’s full report please click on the following link:
http://www.svensktnaringsliv.se/…/article80819.ece
To access the underlying reports regarding income tax and knowledge society as well as the Swedish business climate please click on the following link:
http://www.svensktnaringsliv.se/…/article74442.ece
MIKAEL SELLING, CO-FOUNDER OF OPTICOM, WILL SPEAK AT THE FOREST INDUSTRY AWARDS 2009
Posted on June 6, 2009 by Opticom
Mikael Selling, Co-founder of Opticom, will speak at the Forest Industry Awards 2009 in Sweden, Stockholm on Wednesday, September 16.
OPTICOM INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH SIGNS AN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AGREEMENT WITH PHARMEXX NORDIC
Posted on May 28, 2009 by Opticom
Opticom has signed an international cooperation agreement with pharmexx Nordic, part of pharmexx GmbH – a world leading consulting company within contract sales in the Medical & Healthcare sector.
The agreement entails a joint offer by Opticom and pharmexx of prepared integrated solutions, tailor made for Medical & Healthcare companies. Using our vast expertise within this business we are able to help our clients to establish their products and services in the global marketplace – both faster and more cost effectively. The pace of change within the Medical & Healthcare sector has increased and will continue to do so, both globally as well as locally. This sector is undergoing constant change and in order to be competitive, companies must both foresee these changes and achieve a deeper understanding of them.
Opticom’s and pharmexx’ daily commercial operations include actively monitoring and following-up on events and trends in order to understand and foresee what is going on locally, regionally, and globally. All aimed at gaining increased insight and knowledge to help our clients make better business decisions.
“By uniting both our companies’ competences in a strategic alliance we are now able to offer our clients wider service and deeper analyses prior to product launches and the development of market plans” says Göran Olsson, CEO for pharmexx Nordic.
“Our clients will benefit from a simplified process in creating an integrated business plan, based on the conducted market analysis. Clients will save both time and money thanks to a complete solution where we cooperate in well established, highly specialised teams with vast business experience” says Carl Michael Bergman, CEO at Opticom International Research.
In the autumn of 2009, Opticom and pharmexx Nordic will jointly launch an integrated consulting product called “Wow” – the effective business guide with market insight for better product launches. This product is a platform for decision making which includes market insights and a complete business plan over five years within selected market segments and target groups. “Wow” consists of the following parts:
1. Customer segment prioritising
2. Description of markets and its dynamic
3. Presentation of market pattern and behaviour, including trends
4. Description of set of regulations, alternatives and patient flow
5. Direction of marketing and communication
6. Launching costs
7. Organisational proposal
8. P & L from three to five years
For more information, please contact:
Carl Michael Bergman, CEO, Opticom International Research AB
Mobil: +46 708-39 90 02
E-post: carl.michael@opticom.se
Göran Olsson, CEO, pharmexx Nordic AB
Mobil: +46 706-69 77 86
E-post: goran.olsson@pharmexx.se
OPTICOM PARTICIPATES IN THE “JAMES LIND’S DAY”
Posted on May 6, 2009 by Opticom
Opticom participates in the “James Lind’s day” (En dag för forskning och hälsa) in Kungsträdgården in Stockholm the 20th of May 2009. The purpose of this day is to increase the public awareness of the importance of clinical research. Opticom will be around to interview the public as well as be present with our tent for discussions and meetings all day.
The initiator of the “James Lind’s day” in Sweden is Karolinska Tirial Alliance. James Lind was a Scottish ship doctor who conducted the first documented clinical trial in 1747. His crew on the ship “Salisbury” was suffering from scurvy (vitamin c deficiency) and he gave them different dietary supplements. Those in the crew who were given a daily dose of citrus fruits quickly recovered, while the outcome was worse for those who were given cinnamon, ginger or salt water. The first clinical trial was a fact!
Starting with this initiative, Opticom is also launching a new strategic partnership with the magazine “Vitalt Vetande”, where the results from the day’s research will be published. For more information about Vitalt Vetande, please visit: www.vitaltvetande.se.
“HIGH LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE – BUT CHALLENGES TOO”
Posted on February 23, 2009 by Opticom
The survey, which was carried out by Opticom International Research, involved interviews with 130 customers in 12 countries. The customers were asked to evaluate Holmen Paper in such areas as delivery service, product quality, technical service, business relations, personal contacts and the company’s general image. The results were then compared with the most important competitors. “Our customers refer to reliability, a high level of professionalism and service-mindedness as qualities in which Holmen Paper excels. But the results also show we have to do better in other areas,” says Henrik Sjölund, Marketing & Sales Director at Holmen Paper.
The study ranks the criteria that customers consider to be most important. At the top of the list is correct delivery together with runnability, printability and quality uniformity of the products. Personal service and confi dence in the suppliers’ account managers are also rated highly and Holmen Paper receives top marks in this area.
“The market is exceptionally demanding and the customers’ feedback will therefore lead to concrete action and improvements. This will involve employees at every stage along the chain,” says Henrik Sjölund. When the overriding goal – to be the customers’ supplier of preference – was decided on, four value concepts were adopted as the foundation of Holmen Paper’s development process: customer focus, professionalism,
courage and commitment.
“Customer focus is the central concept. The customers’ perception must always guide our development activities and make us the partner they prefer to work with,” says Henrik Sjölund. To follow up the company’s development process, surveys will be carried out regularly at 18-month intervals.
This article was originally published in Holmen Business Report in 2009.
AFTONBLADET: MARKETING MANAGERS ARE INCREASING WEB ADVERTISING
Posted on January 7, 2009 by Opticom
Seven out of ten media agency consultants that are working with digital media expect to see increased budgets in 2009. Half of all marketing managers will increase their budgets assigned for web advertising.
Aftonbladet.se has with the help of Opticom International Research asked 50 of their most important advertisers and 50 representatives from their most important media agencies about their marketing budgets for 2009. 48% of the advertisers claim that they are planning on increasing their marketing budget assigned for web advertising in 2009. Among the media agencies, 71% believe that their customers will increase their web ad spending.
A total of 88% of the respondents claim that their web based advertising budget will either increase or remain the same in 2009. When it comes to the total marketing budget, 39% of the advertisers expect to see increased budgets this year. The uncertainty is higher among the media agencies as 18% believe in increased budgets whereas a slightly larger share, 20%, believe in reduced marketing budgets.
The faith in web based advertising is very high among both advertisers and media agency consultants. 44 percent of the advertisers find the web being better or much better than other media channels. Among the media agencies, the corresponding figure is 45 percent.
– In these gloomy times I think it is great to see that there indeed are some positive trends as well, says Anders Berglund, Sales Director at Aftonbladet.se and the initiator of the survey.
There is a larger share of respondents claiming that they will increase their investment on the web compared to the share claiming that they will increase their overall marketing budget. This means that some advertisers will decrease their spending in other media.
– It is hard to tell which other media that will be affected. It could be DM, TV or Print. It all depends on the kind of advertiser, says Anders Berglund.
This article was originally published at www.dagensmedia.se 2009-01-07.
OPTICOM INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH TODAY ANNOUNCED THE RESULTS FROM THE BRAND EQUITY STUDY WHERE THE STRONGEST WOODFREE COATED WEB BRANDS IN WESTERN EUROPE ARE IDENTIFIED AND EVALUATED.
Posted on October 23, 2008 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today announced the results from the Brand Equity study where the strongest woodfree coated web brands in Western Europe are identified and evaluated.
The survey has been made among close to 150 web heatset printers in Western Europe (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and Spain.) The findings not only show the strongest woodfree coated web brands in Western Europe but also what actually makes the web printers buy a certain brand. The result allows for comparison between brands as far as perceived brand performance is concerned and also shows how loyal the web printers are to the various web brands and what factors that could actually make them switch.
In total 26 different woodfree coated web brands have been tracked: Allegro, Furioso, LumiPress, Royal Roto, Arctic, Galerie Art, Maxigloss,-satin, -silk, Royal Web, BVS, Galerie Fine, Mega, Royal Xpress, BRO, Garda, Novatech, Tecno, Condat Gloss/Silk, G-Press, Pavarotti, UPM Finesse, Condat Matt Périgord, G-Print, Presto, Creator, Ikono, R4/R4, Chorus.
The 2008 Brand Equity Index ranking list according to web heatset printers in Western Europe looks as follows:
Rank 2008 (Rank 2007): Brand – Brand owner
1. (1) UPM Finesse – UPM
2. (2) Royal – Sappi
3. (3) Lumi – Stora Enso
4. (4) R4/R4 Chorus – Burgo
5. (5) Condat – Condat/Lecta
6. (6) Galerie – M-real
7. (BACK) Creator – Torraspapel/Lecta
8. (7) Allegro – M-real
To access the full news release click here.
For more information, or ordering of the study, please contact Emma Grundström at +46 8 50 3090 00 or emma(at)opticom.se.
OPTICOM INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH TODAY ANNOUNCED THE RESULTS FROM THE STUDY EVALUATING “THE TOP SUPPLIERS OF WOODFREE COATED SHEETS” IN WESTERN EUROPE
Posted on October 1, 2008 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today announced the results from the study evaluating “The Top Suppliers of Woodfree Coated Sheets” in Western Europe.
The results are based on a comprehensive study with 1225 sheetfed printers in seven countries in Western Europe; Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and Spain. The study is ranking the top suppliers based on how well they perform and fulfil the demands when it comes to service as well as other criteria that are crucial to sheetfed printers. The loyalty towards the suppliers has also been measured.
Similar to findings from the supplier part for Central & Eastern Europe, the woodfree coated sheet market is also in Western Europe mainly a merchant market. It is however a more well established market where paper producers have a stronger presence than in Central & Eastern Europe. Paper merchants included in this study are Antalis, Berberich, Burgo Distribuzione, Elliot Baxter, Igepa, Inapa, Malmenayde, PaperlinX, Papyrus, Sarriópapel and Torraspapel Distribucion. Paper producers included are Arctic Paper, ArjoWiggins, Burgo, Fedrigoni, Grycksbo, Lecta, M-real, Sappi, Scheufelen, Stora Enso and UPM.
The supplier index ranking according to sheetfed printers in Western Europe looks as follows (last year’s ranking within brackets):
Top Supplier in Western Europe according to sheetfed offset printers (Rank 2007):
1. PaperlinX (4)
2. Papyrus (2)
3. Igepa (1)
4. Burgo Distribuzione (new)
5. Inapa (3)
6. Antalis (5)
To access the full news release click here.
For more information, or ordering of the study, please contact Emma Grundström at +46 8 50 3090 00 or emma(at)opticom.se.
OPTICOM INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH TODAY ANNOUNCED THE RESULTS FROM THE EUROPEAN STUDY “THE BRAND EQUITY TRACKING SURVEY – WOODFREE COATED PAPER” WITH THE FINDINGS ABOUT WOODFREE COATED SHEET BRANDS IN WESTERN EUROPE
Posted on September 26, 2008 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today announced the results from the European study “The Brand Equity Tracking Survey – Woodfree Coated Paper” with the findings about woodfree coated sheet brands in Western Europe.
The study is ranking brands of woodfree coated sheets based on how known they are in the market, how well they meet customers’ expectations on a number of quality performance criteria as well as the loyalty towards them. The study also identifies buying behaviour and purchasing power trends. The results are based on interviews with 1225 professional paper buyers in the sheetfed printing segment in Western Europe.
In total 44 different woodfree coated sheet brands have been tracked: Allegro, Arctic, Black Label, BVS, Challenger, Chromomat, Claro, Condat Gloss/Silk, Condat Matt Périgord, Core, Creator, Daco, Essential, EuroArt Plus, Furioso, Galaxi, Galerie Art, Garda, Go, G-Print, HannoArt, Heaven 42, Hello, Ikono, LumiArt, -Silk, Luxo, Magno, Maine Gloss, Maxigloss, -satin, -silk, Mega, MultiArt, NopaCoat Prestige/Stratos, Novatech, Printover, Profi, R4/R4 Chorus, Regency, Satimat, Starline, Symbol, Tempo, Tom & Otto, TripleStar, UPM Finesse.
The 2008 Brand Equity Index ranking list according to sheetfed printers in Western Europe looks as follows:
Rank 2008 (Rank 2007): Brand – Brand owner
1. (1) Hello – PaperlinX
2. (2) Novatech – Antalis
3. (6) Magno – Sappi
4. (5) Maine Gloss – Arjo Wiggins
5. (8) Garda – Cartiere Garda/Lecta
6. (3) Satimat -Arjo Wiggins
7. (NEW) Claro – Antalis
8. (7) Creator – Torraspapel/Lecta
9. (9) BVS – Scheufelen
10. (16) Lumi – Stora Enso
11. (19) MultiArt – Papyrus
12. (4) Condat – Condat/Lecta
13. (13) Black Label – Antalis
14. (NEW) Mega – M-real
15. (10) Galaxi – Inapa
16. (11) Chromomat – Arjo Wiggins
17. (18) TripleStar – Sappi/Papyrus
18. (BACK) Tom & Otto – Antalis
19. (15) Maxi – Igepa
20. (17) R4/R4 Chorus – Burgo
21 (20) Condat Matt Périgord – Condat/Lecta
22. (12) Core – PaperlinX
To access the full news release click here.
For more information, or ordering of the study, please contact Emma Grundström at +46 8 50 3090 00 or emma(at)opticom.se.
THE RANKING LIST AND RESULTS FROM THE 2008 SURVEY “TOP SUPPLIERS OF WOODFREE COATED SHEETS” IN CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE WAS TODAY RELEASED BY OPTICOM INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH
Posted on September 19, 2008 by Opticom
The ranking list and results from the 2008 survey “Top Suppliers of Woodfree Coated Sheets” in Central & Eastern Europe was today released by Opticom International Research.
Sheetfed printers in C&EE are ranking the top suppliers based on how well they fulfil their demands when it comes to different supplier- and service- related criteria. The ranking is also a result of how loyal customers are towards the different suppliers. The supplier survey is, just like the actual brand study, based on close to 500 interviews with sheetfed printers in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.
Due to the nature of sheetfed business (99% of all respondents have a paper merchant rather than a paper producer as their main supplier of woodfree coated sheets), the supplier part of this survey includes evaluation of paper merchants such as; Alfapapir, Antalis, Berberich, Cezex, Europapier, Gumiprint, Igepa, Inapa, PaperlinX and Papyrus, but also paper producers such as Burgo, M-real and UPM.
The Supplier Index ranking according to sheetfed printers in C&EE looks as follows (last year’s ranking within brackets):
Top Supplier in C&EE (Rank 2007):
1. Igepa (new)
2. Papyrus (4)
3. Europapier (1)
4. Antalis (5)
5. PaperlinX (2)
To access the full news release click here.
For more information, or ordering of the study, please contact Emma Grundström at +46 8 50 3090 00 or emma(at)opticom.se.
OPTICOM INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH TODAY PRESENTS THE RESULTS FROM THE SECOND INDEPENDENTLY CONDUCTED BRAND STUDY “THE BRAND EQUITY TRACKING SURVEY – WOODFREE COATED PAPER” IN CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE
Posted on September 15, 2008 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today presents the results from the second independently conducted brand study “The Brand Equity Tracking Survey – Woodfree coated paper” in Central & Eastern Europe.
The study is ranking brands of woodfree coated sheets based on how known they are in the market, how well they meet customers’ expectations on a number of quality performance criteria as well as the loyalty towards them. The study also identifies buying behaviour and purchasing power trends. The results are based on interviews with close to 500 sheetfed printers in Central & Eastern Europe. Four countries are covered in this edition of the Brand Tracking survey; Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.
In total 36 different woodfree coated sheet brands have been tracked: 2U, Allegro, Arctic, Bianca, Black Label, BVS, Claro, Condat Matt Périgord, Creator, EuroArt, Galerie Art, Garda, G-Print, HannoArt, Heaven 42, Hello, Ikono, LumiArt,-Silk, Luxo, Magno, Maxigloss,-satin,-silk, MediaPrint, Mega, MultiArt, Novatech, Polaris, Prelude, Presto, Profi, R4/R4 Chorus, SilverStar, Symbol, Tempo, Toccata, Tom & Otto, UPM Finesse.
Of the 36 brands tracked, eight of them qualified for Opticom’s Brand Equity Index (BEI). This Index consists of four different key drivers of brand equity: spontaneous brand awareness, top-of-mind awareness, brand performance and loyalty. The eight most valuable woodfree coated paper brands in Central & Eastern Europe according to Opticom’s Brand Equity Index (BEI) are:
Rank 2008 (Rank 2007): Brand – Brand owner
1(2). Claro – Antalis
2(1). Hello – PaperlinX
3(3). Garda – Cartiere Garda/Lecta
4(5). UPM Finesse – UPM
5(4). Novatech – Antalis
6(new). Profi – Igepa
7(7). Luxo – Papyrus
8(8). Black Label – Antalis
To access the full news release click here.
For more information, or ordering of the study, please contact Emma Grundström at +46 8 50 3090 00 or emma(at)opticom.se.
WOOD PRODUCTS MARKET FRAGMENTED – LOCALLY STRONG SUPPLIERS AND DISTRIBUTORS, BUT FEW WITH PAN-EUROPEAN PRESENCE
Posted on September 10, 2008 by Opticom
The leading suppliers and distributors of wood products are today announced by Opticom International Research on the basis of its “The Future of Wood Products – Market, Brands and Top Suppliers 2008” study.
The results are based on a comprehensive interview programme with 1 500 professional wood products buyers and distributors in Western Europe among key customer groups to the saw mill industry: Building & construction, Joinery & formwork, Furniture, Parquet, Packaging & pallets, Distributors & importers and DIY chains.
As can be noticed in the listing of the main suppliers of wood products presented in the news release, very few of the suppliers of wood products take a considerable market share. The supplier most frequently mentioned as main supplier of wood products is Saint-Gobain Building Distribution which has been mentioned by 4% of the professional wood products purchasers covered in the survey.
Please access the news release by clicking on the following link:
News Release – Top suppliers of wood products 2008
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mikael Selling at +46 (0)8 50 30 90 00 or by e-mail at mikael(at)opticom.se.
BRAND OWNERS ARE GAINING POWER IN THE CARTONBOARD PURCHASING PROCESS – CAN MILLS CONVINCE THEM OF THE VALUE CREATED BY THEIR BRAND OFFERING?
Posted on June 26, 2008 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today announces the results from the 3rd edition of the pan-European “Brand Equity Tracking Survey – Cartonboard for Consumer Packaging”.
This study is ranking brands of virgin fiber cartonboard on how well-known they are in the market, how well they meet customers’ expectations on a number of quality performance criteria as well as the loyalty towards them. The study further identifies buying behaviour and purchasing power trends. The results are based on interviews with more than 700 professional cartonboard buyers among both converters and brand owners from selected end-use segments in Western Europe.
Iggesund Paperboard is strengthening its position and its brands should be considered to be the two most valuable brands in Europe. Korsnäs continues to climb in the ranking list with Frövi and Stora Enso is both a winner and a looser with Neocart tumbling down while its corporate brand is rising. M-real is gaining with Simwhite/Simcote but is the biggest looser with Avanta falling out of the ranking list.
In contrast to the results for converters, it is harder to say who should be considered to be the strongest players among brand owners. Iggesund and Stora Enso do not take a lead that is as strong as among converters, whereas Korsnäs and M-real appear to have succeeded better in reaching out to this important customer group.
Please access the full news release by clicking on the following link:
News Release Top European Cartonboard Brands 2008
Should you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Marijn van der Sluijs at +46 8 50 30 00 00 or by e-mail at marijn(at)opticom.se.
SOFTWOOD PRODUCERS ARE ALMOST UNKNOWN TO END-USERS IN EUROPE – ARE THE FREQUENT CRISES AMONG SAW MILLS SELF-INFLICTED?
Posted on June 12, 2008 by Opticom
Opticom International Research today announces the results from a new pan-European study evaluating “The Future of Wood Products – Market, Brands and Top Suppliers.
The results are based on a comprehensive interview programme with 1 500 professional wood products buyers and distributors in Western Europe among key customer groups to the saw mill industry: Building & construction, Joinery & formwork, Furniture, Parquet, Packaging & pallets, Distributors & importers and DIY chains.
“The saw mill industry, an important industry sector to many Northern European countries and often plagued by cyclical profitability, is according to findings in this Opticom study in a stage where tremendous opportunities can be found in order to improve long term profitability. Today the saw mills are stuck between the interests of middle-men and the end-users. In order to capitalise on the potential market opportunities the saw mill industry must change their business strategies and become more end-use driven” says Mikael Selling, Corporate Advisor & Partner at Opticom.
Please access the news release by clicking on the following link:
News Release – The Future of Wood Products 2008
Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mikael Selling at +46 (0)8 50 30 90 00 or by e-mail at mikael(at)opticom.se.
OPTICOM PARTICIPATES IN EPHMRA 2008 CONFERENCE
Posted on June 11, 2008 by Opticom
Nina Persson, Business Area Manager for the Medical & Healthcare Division at Opticom will attend the EphMRA 2008 Conference, 25 – 27 June 2008, Barcelona, Spain, to share knowledge and expertise with leading Market Research and Marketing Practitioners within healthcare from across the world.
The EphMRA conference is renowned for providing a programme of distinguished calibre speakers delivering papers of high quality. The conference brings a mix of market research experts, corporate practitioners, and academics together to deliver great content. Presenters representing major pharmaceutical companies and agencies will offer best practices, techniques, and insights into challenges facing the pharmaceutical industry.
INCREASED CUSTOMER FOCUS NECESSARY FOR THE FOREST INDUSTRY!
Posted on May 26, 2008 by Opticom
The forest industry in Europe and in North America, now increasingly often described as an industry in crisis, has too one sided its focus on cost cutting and is not listening enough to its customers. This statement was made by Mikael Selling, Corporate Advisor and Partner of Opticom International Research in Stockholm, Sweden, when giving a speech at the annual global forest & paper industry conference arranged by PricewaterhouseCoopers in Vancouver on May 8th, where the main theme this year was “Challenging Times – Winning Strategies”.
Today’s competition within the forest industry is fierce and the profitability is well below satisfaction.
- It is a given that a lot of effort is needed to reduce costs, but that is not enough, said Mikael Selling. – Now is the time to also focus on the market and to put yourselves in your customer’s shoes, with the aim of understanding their situation and needs. This is necessary as the industry now is meeting its biggest challenges yet, Selling argues.
– By looking at your business through the eyes of your customers, and by having a good dialogue with them, you have a far better chance to improve your offerings and to find ways of differentiating yourself from your competitors. That way it is possible to strengthen your position as a supplier as well as improving your profitability and margins. This is without doubt a huge, unexplored potential and a fantastic opportunity for companies within the forest industry, says Mikael Selling, comparing the situation with that in the consumer goods industry where customer- and market focus is crucial in order to survive.
Even though the majority of the companies in the forest industry still are not practicing this way of working, there are examples of foresighted companies that do. Södra Cell International, one of the largest pulp suppliers in the world, was being mentioned by Mikael Selling as one of those companies. Since many years, Södra Cell is conducting systematic and regular in-depth interviews with their global customers, and its business strategy is partly being based on the findings from these interviews. – Södra Cell is a very good example of a company that is genuinely customer- and market oriented, said Mikael Selling.
– It was extremely interesting to be invited as one of the very few Europeans and give a speech at PwC’s conference this year, says Mikael Selling, who has more than 20 years experience of working with the global forest industry. This was the 21st yearly PwC conference, which also this year gathered more than 400 delegates from all over the world; mainly decision makers within the forest industry.
– Without a doubt, increased customer and market focus is a ”Winning and necessary strategy” for the forest industry, concluded Mikael Selling his speech in Vancouver.
TELL YOUR CUSTOMERS WHAT THEY NEED
Posted on July 1, 2005 by Opticom
Over the years, Opticom has conducted extensive research on buying behavior among customers in the pulp and paper industry. In particular, our Brand Equity surveys have demonstrated the complexity of the paper buying market and the consequently difficult task of segmenting the customers into distinct and easily manageable marketing categories. Further research has shown that in many cases “the customer” in the pulp and paper industry (not limited to paper) is perceived by the supplier as a somewhat omniscient and unpredictable element on which the supplier nevertheless seems to heavily rely for answers, ideas and suggestions concerning new products. This paradox creates a situation that ultimately distorts the positive meaning of customer focus as well as the original balance between the supplier and the customer.
In reality, customers’ product choices are the weighted sum of a number of perceived benefits and disadvantages of a given product at a given time. And, the supplier’s passive stance is the result of a lack of fundamental understanding of the reasons behind this weighting. This text presents a new theory on mapping and linking overall customer drivers to product function, potentially restoring the balance.
Usually, when trying to understand customer choice in this industry, three important facts are overlooked. Firstly, it is not enough to look at end users if you want to get to the root of end user choice patterns. Everything that happens on a particular level in the distribution channel, e.g., the producer level, happens as a consequence of, or will have a consequence on, something else on another level, e.g., the end user. In short, there are ripple effects going both ways. Secondly, all products with similar functions at each level in the channel must be accounted for when predicting customer choice. This is not limited to pulp and paper products since products from other industries must also be considered. For example, information technology might solve similar problems and fulfill similar needs. Thirdly, as we follow the distribution channel leading toward the end user, the availability of similar products increases while the specialist, or peak, knowledge of these products decreases. The closer we get to the final customer the more exposed to perceived equal alternatives the customer will be and the more information this customer will need on the benefits in his individual case of a specific product versus another, initially perceived equal, alternative. Lack of such information will increase the risk of perceived random choice, which will make meaningful market segmentation impossible.
Map needs and demands
How can we generate the kind of understanding needed to present the benefits of a certain product to the targeted user in the best possible way without asking those specific questions that the customer sometimes has problems answering and, in fact, would like the supplier to know? At the core of understanding lies a complete customer mapping in terms of needs and demands equalling drivers within a number of relevant areas not limited to the need for service, product quality, price etc. (the usual segmented suspects). In doing this, the combined drivers of the target customer will indicate desired functions of a current product/product to be, and not necessarily a specific product.
Questions to ask are: what should be the (positive) results of product use and/or what problem should the product solve given the combined customer drivers? Are there other products currently providing the same results/solving the same problems for that customer?
Based on the information derived it will be possible to:
1. Observe which drivers are currently being fulfilled by one and the same product — segmenting the market according to existing products and brands.
2. Observe how many of the drivers in a target group are currently being fulfilled by one and the same product — mapping of “best-in-class products”.
3. Estimate the possibility of creating a product that will fulfil more of the present drivers.
4. Calculate the possible market share of any given product given the knowledge of the relevant drivers.
Creating a win-win situation
With all the information about the relevant drivers being available and matched with the specific capabilities of the individual supplier, the possibility of creating something that comes close to a perfect match or win-win situation increases. Moreover the initiative will be supplier-driven.
Finally, to gather this information about the customer, an unorthodox view on actual marketing activity is needed. In the words of David Packard: “Marketing is far too important to be left to the marketing department.” Quite recently, this statement has materialized in the marketing theory Total Integrated Marketing as presented by Hulbert, Piercy and Capon. The theory states that marketing should be an activity comprising every department in a company, from finance to human resources, transforming this entire set of capabilities into a seamless system.
Ultimately, every point of contact with a brand is that brand to the customer and a possible source of information for the supplier. Make it count!
This article by Opticom’s project manager Camilla Wiwe was originally published by RISI in PPI Magazine, where it can be found in the archives at:
http://www.risiinfo.com/db_area/archive/ppi_mag/2005/07/viewpoint.html