Introduction to Protean Hospitality Partners

Š Protean Hospitality Partnership

Our Vision and Mission

Vision To be THE global hotel brand experts Mission Applying a unique methodology that integrates emotional and rational brand drivers to better understand, define and build differentiated consumer-centric brands

Š Protean Hospitality Partnership

Who We Are

We’re a boutique brand strategy advisory firm focused on helping our hospitality clients drive growth We combine our business/category expertise with tenacity, balancing rigor and creativity, to uncover new opportunities for your brand.

We work with a network of partners & collaborators to help operationalize the strategy

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Rain-ma-ker (rAn'mA"kur) A person, who causes it to rain, not by making it rain, but by bringing together the environmental, human and spiritual components that together make the perfect conditions for the rain to fall.

Strategic Rainmaking™ Creating an environment of knowledge, enthusiasm and alignment that crystallizes strategic solutions and brings them to the forefront into action and meaninginful results

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What we provide: Research | Brand | Operationalization

RESEARCH Understand the company, category and consumer

ACCELERATE ROI OPERATIONALIZE Align people, process, and systems to brand promise

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BRAND Understand and define a

What we provide: Brand Strategy Understand The Experience and Brand Drivers

New Product Development Understand and Define a Relevant and Differentiated, Experiential Brand

Brand Portfolio Management and Optimization Strategies

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Brand Essence; Value Proposition and Positioning

Brand Architecture

What we provide: Research

Brand Audits

Psychological Archetype Studies

Prediction Markets

Understand The Company, Category and Consumer

Qualitative and Quantitative Research

AnthropologicalEthnographic Observations

Semiotics Analysis

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What we provide: Research | Brand | Operationalization Our partner, Hotspex powerfully predicts success based on what consumers FEEL (emotions and perceived personality) and what they THINK in response to brands, concepts and communications.

What we provide: Research - powered by:

Emotional and Personality “FEEL” Attributes

Rational “THINK” Attributes

HOT Score

SPEX Score

(Impulse to Act)

(Decision to Act)

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What we provide: Research - powered by: Looking beyond the obvious‌

NEGATIVE DRIVERS Negative attributes do not appear in driver maps, but they are shown in the Hotspex Heatmaps.

Stated / Claimed Importance

Drivers are plotted against a dependent variable (purchase intent) in order to calculate a derived impact score.

TABLE STAKES

The cost of entry into a category, these attributes are important but not proven to be a strong driver of choice.

UNIMPORTANT

KEY DRIVERS

Claimed to be important, and proven to significantly influence choice.

HIDDEN DRIVERS

zz Neither claimed nor proven to be important.

Not acknowledged to be very important, but proven to significantly influencing choice.

Derived Impact on Brand Choice / Purchase

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What we provide: Research - powered by: The map represents the way consumers see the world and relate to brands‌

Like You

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What we provide: Research - powered by: The degree of “Heat” is represented by the % of respondents who selected an attribute. The ‘redder’ the color, the higher the % of respondents.

100%

1%

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What we provide: Operationalization

Customer Odyssey Model

Brand Impact Evaluation Systems

Operationalizing The Business Units Align Business Process to Customer Experience and Value Proposition

Human Capital Development Programs

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Executive Management Training Seminars

What we provide: Success Measurement & Course Correction Qualitative On-site Evaluation

Stakeholder Response

Brand Scorecard

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Tracking Studies

Track And Measure The Outcome: Course Correction and Resource allocation

Touch Point Audits

Our approach is collaborative and interactive

We make the conditions right so it wants to rain. And we rely on the Wisdom of the Crowd*

Close partnership

Frequent workshops and updates

Fluid and organic approach

Nobody knows what they don’t know

*Reference to “The Wisdom of Crowds” by James Surowiecki, Anchor Books, 2004

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Everybody contributes equally

The marketplace reigns supreme

What we believe about Experiential Brands ◦ The experience is the brand, and your brand is your business ◦ Brands are about creating emotional connections; over 50% of purchase decisions are emotionally based ◦ Experiential branding is the discipline of translating features and benefits into meaningful experiences, and building businesses and brands around these relevant differentiated experiences (RDE©) ◦ Experiences are co-created:  Marketers define the inputs, provide clues and deliver triggers (based on consumer needs/wants);  Consumer engages in the experience and forms judgments based on who he or she is at the time of contact

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What we believe about Hotel Brands ◦ Great hotel brands speak directly to the heart of guests before, during and after their experience ◦ Great hotel brands constantly surprises and delight in big and small ways ◦ Great hotel brands excel in mass localization: articulating a central brand idea through a network of intimate, locally devised and uniquely relevant experiences ◦ Hotel advertising and communication must trigger the emotionality of the experience, but the brand MUST deliver on the promise  Align to the business system

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What we believe about differentiation ◦ There are two predictors of brand success: relevance and differentiation ◦ Emotions are the great sustainable competitive advantage ◦ Features, attributes and benefits can no longer sustain brands ◦ There are very few products that somebody cannot copy exactly and sell for a little less or improve on and sell for the same price ◦ Creating a relevant differentiating experience (RDE©) is the most effective, most efficient, means of creating sustainable differentiation

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Our experience Hospitality, Travel and Leisure

Other Categories

Aeroplan

American Express

Air Canada

Brookfield Properties

Canadian Tourism Commission

Dell Canada

Cara Foods

Deloitte Consulting

Delta Hotels

General Motors

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts

IBM

Fallsview Casino

Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation

Metropolitan Hotels

Ministry of Research and Innovation

VFM Leonardo

Pepsi Frito-Lay

Prime Restaurants

Procter and Gamble

The Greater Washington Board of Trade

Rotman DesignWorks

The Newstead Belmont Hotel (Bermuda)

Second Cup

Tourism Toronto

Shoppers Drug Mart

Travel Gay Canada

Sport Chek

Via Rail Bell / BCE

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About Laurence Bernstein Laurence Bernstein has a diverse background of marketing, research and business consulting experience, culminating in his current focus on making companies and products grow by aligning business goals with customer experiences. Over a twenty five year career in advertising, marketing and consumer research, he has developed experiential positioning and brand strategies for major hospitality, automotive, financial services, and CPG companies. He is currently managing partner at Protean Strategies, a boutique consultancy he founded in 1998.

Laurence is a graduate of Cornell University and has held senior management positions with Westin Hotels and the Canadian Restaurant Association before starting his career in communication and strategic marketing consulting. As an advertising professional he held senior positions with Y&R Brands, TBWA Chiat Day and led the retail advertising division of Saatchi and

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Saatchi in Canada. He founded Protean Strategies and BC3 Strategies fourteen years ago.

He has been a leader in describing the experiential approach to luxury hospitality branding, and has developed several proprietary hospitality brand audit and emotionality measurement methodologies.

Laurence has authored numerous articles and white papers on experiential branding, and is a sought after speaker on brand and customer experience design. He has led seminars and lectured at Cornell University School of Hotel Administration, Johnson Business School; University of Toronto; Schulich Business School, Ontario College of Art and Design, to name a few.

About Peter S. Drummond Born and raised in Montreal, Peter has over 26 years of experience in business and brand strategy, and design. Peter brings wisdom, creativity and experience to the Protean Hospitality team. Peter has held a variety of senior positions in Montreal and Toronto: Operating as a Principal at PSD Consulting, VP & GM at Identica Branding & Design, Managing Director at Nucleus Core Strategic Properties, and Senior Strategist/Designer at Axion Inc. Peter’s vast experience includes creating and launching LEVEL5 Strategy Group.

Peter has led significant strategy projects for: Aeroplan, Second Cup, Shoppers Drug Mart, VIA Rail, Brookfield Properties, Rotman DesignWorks, Tourism Toronto, The Newstead Belmont Hotel (Bermuda), The Bank of Bermuda, and The Greater Washington Board of Trade and The Ministry of Economic Development and Innovation (Ontario).

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Nominated to Who’s Who in Marketing and Who’s Who in Canadian Business 2000, Peter graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, Virginia) with a BFA Communication Arts & Design. He also attended the Graduate School of Business Executive Management Program at Columbia University and is a frequent lecturer at the Rotman School of Management (University of Toronto).

For more information on

Protean Hospitality Partnership call Laurence Bernstein 416.967.3337

bernstein@proteanstrategies.com drummond@proteanstrategies.com 80 Cumberland Street Suite 1503 Toronto, ON M5R 3V1, Canada (416) 967.3337; fax (647) 258-9651 www.proteanstrategies.com

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