Thought Leadership
Long-term Brand Alignment
Brand Audit Case Study
Halcrow, a major UK engineering consultancy firm, was looking to gain a better understanding of their clients’ perception of their service, in order to realign their own vision and planned future direction.
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The firm was recognised as a major player within the UK engineering industry, with a considerable international presence, especially in the Middle-East and Australasia. Starting with a one-off client perception study, Nisus worked with Halcrow for almost a decade on client research. Delivering the results of an initial 25 face-to-face interviews at board and senior manager level, with clients across the UK, the findings were not in line with what had been expected and amounted to a wakeup call, prompting the client to set up their own client relationship department to bring about improvements to the client experience.
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With the realisation that the perception Halcrow had of themselves differed significantly from that of their clients, they continued to use Nisus for brand perception research and insight into their key clients’ needs for the following nine years, until the company was acquired by US giant, CM2H Hill in 2010.
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Our external clients participated actively in research every 18 months, but there was a clear link in their willingness to participate driven by the determined efforts to accommodate end client needs. Nisus managed to develop a strong sense of intimacy with these clients, which helped the business extract more value.
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Andrew Payne – Former Client Care and Strategic Relationship Development Director of Halcrow Group Limited
Building on an initial acknowledgement of the disparity between their clients and their own perceived strengths, Halcrow used the research thereafter to give a clearer impression of their brand and in time realigned this with what their clients expected from them. With a clear view of how they were seen in the market relative to their competitors, they were able to identify what changes were required over time, based on consistent research results.