FMCG

We come from FMCG backgrounds ourselves and we work in this sector often. 2 examples:

Nestle:
Repositioning confectionery brands in Central Europe

Identifying growth sectors within a new attitudinally based audience segmentation
Proposition option development and evaluation to arrive at new brand propositions for a portfolio of brands

Setting brand priorities in view of above

Inbev:
Evaluating an redefining the Stella Artois target audience
Sizing the opportunity in view of the redefined audience
Gaining belief in the analysis across the organisation and identifying what needs to change as a result of our work via companywide conferences and workshops

The Cultural Sector

We find ourselves working here because

one of our publishing clients took us with her when she became Marketing Director of one of the world’s major Museums. Now we deal with lots of museums, galleries and arts venues across the world.

For the National Gallery in the UK we have conducted an audience segmentation, then identifying perceptions of the Gallery amongst visitors within the segmentation and similar non visitors to assess their relative perceptions, Messaging has then been developed to attract disposed non visitors

For the Musee de I’Air et de l’Espace in France we have worked on the optimal proposition and execution for a new children’s area within the museum

In a similar sphere we have conducted a global internal communications project for Amnesty International 

To download our Culture brochure click here: Muse Cultural Venues Experience.pdf

Publishing

A friend of ours was at dinner with the Publishing Director of a major book publisher. She had a problem with sales of one of her authors and so he recommended us to her. A project followed and the author went to No. 1 in the bestseller list, never having been in the top 10 before. 

Since then we have worked with some of the world’s leading authors and have also worked on imprint portfolio management and imprint naming

We have worked with most of the world’s leading publishers 

Technology

‘Nokia unveils the world's first media phone for Internet access’
Nokia press release dated February 23 1999 

Internet on a mobile phone has existed for barely 10 years. It has been in widespread use for an even shorter period. Some of our clients in other sectors have brands that are over 100 years old.

Telephony, IT and internet businesses face unique challenges, often trying to assess the potential of markets and the appeal of products that have never existed before. Markets and competitors are constantly changing. This requires ways of identifying and evaluating opportunity that are more projective than those in more established sectors.

Examples of our work include working with Microsoft looking at structure and culture to put the consumer closer to the center of thinking, with O2 to develop and evaluate music offerings for the youth market and with a number of clients to evaluate the impact of online social media on brands and communications  

Financial Services      

Systems limitations, regulatory control and the frequent delivery of brand experience by people can create as much frustration for managers as for consumers.

There is no other sector where the nature of our experience is so diverse:

Direct Line: NPD

NatWest: ln branch literature evaluation and rationalisation

Invesco Perpetual:  Developing a Marketing Strategy, putting evaluation mechanisms in place and auditing departmental skills

HSBC: Global integration of an acquired bank

Go HERE to see examples of insurance work

Retail

Not one sector but several really.

Our work for Waitrose is very different than that for Windsmoor, as is the nature of their businesses

We have worked on areas such as:

Defining attitudinally based target audiences and identifying their needs, brand definition and how that definition comes to life in practice, including staff engagement workshops

Campaign planning processes and principles

Environmental issues: consumer attitudes and retailer response

NPD launch communications planning

"The team responded well to a challenging brief.  A very clear process helped to unite different internal perspectives, and we were impressed both by their creativity and depth of analysis."

"You really listened to what my needs were and didn't try and redefine it or build your part (so many consultancies stretch the brief so they end up trying to redo your whole brand strategy for you regardless of what you've asked for and that's actually not all that helpful!)"

“The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”

Norman Vincent Peale

B2B

B2B and service businesses have a lot in common. People often deliver the brand and service experience and there are moves to work more online, bringing +’s and -’s.

We have run global projects, for example for the Swiss based medical testing equipment business, Tecan, defining what positively differentiates them from competitors in the eyes of different customer sectors and how that  is built upon and communicated.

We have also run local projects for UK businesses. For example, defining the proposition for PwC’s strategic consulting division, which is less well known and so perception is led by the perception of the accounting practice

"The most important thing for us was that Muse understand and value everyone’s contribution – editorial, sales, marketing…This collaborative approach ensures buy-in from the start, which is vital in an intuitive business such as ours."

"The originality of the approach succeeded in generating high quality ideas in a very short space of time."

“They properly defined the consumer, then developed a clear, motivating proposition and brought it to life in an effective manner. The brand has achieved record sales subsequently”

"They were good at taking our work and moving it on. They worked fully with Lowe, our advertising agency."