The 'Together Nestle relationship center', opened for Nestle Japan's 1.4 million members, will be expanded to cover other Nestle brands at a later stage. Together Nestle is a CRM programme, which Nestle has been developing in the market since 2000 with McCann's help. About four per cent of Japan's households are members of this programme, which provides a range of benefits and services.
Aside from building customer loyalty, a key objective of the centre is to reflect customer voices in product planning and communications.
As such, staff at the call centre have been trained to engage callers in chatty, friendly dialogue, as friends and neighbours, rather than just reading from scripts and handling as many calls as possible. The conversations are recorded, and the dialogue is then analysed by partner firms to glean insights for product developmentand communications activities to help drive consumption of a broader portfolio of Nestle brands.
While the venture is not expected to affect brand assignments, it does however embed McCann more deeply into Nestle's business.
McCann opened a similar centre in Paris last year - which works for both Nestle and other McCann clients. The success of the Paris centre was a key factor in the Japan launch. "Clients are increasingly talking about ROI and measurability, this is one way we can enhance the work we do for our clients and deliver additional value. We are looking at developing the concept in other markets worldwide," said Pamela Larrick, CEO, MRM Partners Worldwide.