Brand and Reputation insight are core to high value Intelligence Capital

The MRS’s excellent paper on Intelligence Capital is something that resonates very strongly with us at Tovera. (https://www.mrs.org.uk/resources/intelligence-capital)

We find that clients attracted to our proposition tend to be those who (either implicitly or explicitly) embrace the idea of intelligence capital as an asset that has an impact on business performance and value creation. They appreciate that it is necessary to invest in intelligence capital in the same way as investments are made in physical and human capital. Those organisations that struggle with the concept of investment in research and strategic thinking are often those whose needs are identified in one function, say marketing, while decision-making re investment can be dissipated across functions. I remember a time when advertising agencies realised that the procurement function was gaining in strength and becoming an important, sometimes pivotal, element in the client decision-making unit. The response of some of us in the advertising industry was to do the best job we could of including the procurement executives as early as possible in the process of selling our wares. How could the dreaded numbers guy stand a chance of appreciating the value of what the fluffy agency was proposing without having it demonstrated to them?

This brings us round to the MRS’s concept of intelligence culture. Without a culture in which there is a commitment to insight, and the gaining and sharing of that insight throughout the organisation, the chances of building up a valuable store of intelligence capital are much reduced. All those sources of insight, gained through all the functions and channels of an organisation, should be collected, managed, shared and valued throughout the organisation.

One of the reasons that this concept resonates so powerfully with us is that it mirrors our thinking so well – we love it to be reinforced and validated! Our Brand and Reputation model encompasses perceptions of all aspects of the organisation – its brand, its products and/or services and its reputation. We always start by mapping all stakeholders relevant to the project in hand and bring together all available insight, including primary research that we carry out, and view it through the lens of the totality of the organisation and the context in which it operates.

We deal in perceptions – the stuff of intangible value and the bulk of what makes up an organisation’s financial value. Applying intelligence capital creates new value in many ways according to the MRS and we see our particular contribution as being to the strengthening of brand value.

All of this requires marketing, communications and insight directors to make the business case for investment in intelligence and identifying expected returns on investment.

We’re here to help.

For starters, click here to request a copy of our paper, Completing the picture, the Brand and Reputation story which provides a useful introduction to the concepts of Brand and Reputation and their value.

Or if you prefer, you can click here to arrange a free, no obligation 40 minute video call with our founder partners to talk through the potential opportunity at your company or organisation.