Towards a 360-degree view of the customer:

Hulbert, B. J. and Brush, I. (2009) Towards a 360-degree view of the customer:. Academy of Marketing Annual Conference 2009 Putting Marketing in its Place, Leeds, United Kingdom.

Abstract

Many organizations claim to be customer-centric, but few actually are. Without a deeply complex understanding of the customer, companies are unable to fully optimise their marketing strategy.

Consumer Insight provides the understanding needed to develop long-term relationships and customer loyalty. There is a need for fundamental changes in organisational structures. Consumer Insight must be seen as journey rather an end point, and in this way, market research departments need to be strategically repositioned as Consumer Insight units, so as to emphasise the importance of a deeper understanding at the centre of an organisation.

Moreover, companies need to escape the ˜tyranny of the market™ and see the horizon through new eyes in order to contextualise what they already know. Consumer Insight often emerges from looking at a problem differently, and by being eclectic in research methods.

Despite the widespread acknowledgement between both academics and leading practitioners of the professed value of this concept, there are few contributions that have provided an aggregated framework to develop a holistic view of the customer.

Disparate attempts to conceptualise and acutely define what insight (in any form) actually is, have meant there is little or no universally agreed definition. In fact, those attempts that have been made seem to use insight interchangeably with knowledge, a synonym evoking implications that insight can be managed and transferred across disciplines.

This research aims to fill that gap by examining the disparate marketing theories and models that, when interpolated, can help develop a 360-degree of the customer through a conceptual framework. Furthermore, with no agreed classification of the Consumer Insight Concept, a succinct definition is provided as a foundation for further research.

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