Brand Image: Does it meet clients’ needs? Susan McNew

The Situation  In 1998, Ceridian had a moderate advertising budget and complete collateral system.  In 1999 & 2000, Ceridian went dark with all advertising and began a shift to a new internally developed collateral system.  In 2002, Ceridian hired a new Sr. VP of Marketing.

The Ceridian Brand Image  New logo.  New collateral system.  Small advertising budget.  New brand designed to increase curb appeal and generate greater awareness.

The Opportunity  Connect customers with Ceridian’s unique value.  Promise better future for our customers.  Establish context for Ceridian business activities.  Create motivated, focused employee culture.  Separate Ceridian from the competition.

The Research Question  Does Ceridian’s brand image appeal to human resource professionals’ needs?

Methodology  Began with focus group of clients.  Helped test the current brand image and define questions for survey instrument.  Phone survey to 774 clients and prospects  Immediate need for results  Ability to gather verbatim comments

Phone Survey  15 – 20 minutes to complete  $1,000 cash drawing  Dun & Bradstreet database  Ceridian’s sponsorship was not disclosed  3 weeks to complete

Survey Says  All questions focused on one of the following areas:  How they currently perceive the various human resource vendors.  What vendor attributes are critical to meet the requirements and needs of their company’s benefits, payroll and human resources departments.  How/where they receive their information about new products and solutions.  Demographics about their company.

Key Findings – Provider Positions % Aware of Provider on Aided Basis  Reported awareness by percentage.  ADP achieved the highest level of awareness.  Ceridian follows ADP at the next level of awareness.  Two other providers achieved awareness nearly as high as Ceridian; PeopleSoft and PayChex.  Fewer than one-fifth of the respondent companies are aware of ProBusiness, life care or ComPsych.

Provider – most likely considered Base: 774 Total Respondents Other Providers Less than 1%  ADP achieved the highest level of consideration.  Ceridian follows ADP at the next level of consideration.  Lower awareness is behind Ceridian’s lower consideration level in this study.  PeopleSoft and PayChex achieved consideration just below Ceridian but ahead of the other providers.  No other provider gained consideration among more than 1% of the respondent firms.

Key Findings – Provider Positions  Ceridian is more successful among the larger segments on the key market penetration measures.  Ceridian’s awareness and consideration are particularly low among Small company prospects.  ADP’s penetration levels are strong across all of these company size segments, especially Large Midsize firms ( employees). CERIDIAN SUCCESS RATES: Small [195] Small Midsize [181] Large Midsize [170] Large [143] Total [689] Awareness Consideration Considered & Aware ADP SUCCESS RATES: Awareness Current Use Consideration Considered & Aware

Key Findings – Ceridian  As expected, the overall rating for Ceridian among customers is much more positive than among Ceridian’s non-customers.  Just slightly more than one-third (36%) of the non-customers gave Ceridian a highly positive rating compared to nearly six-tenths (58%) of current customers.  “Good” (the middle rating point) is the most frequent overall rating of Ceridian among non-customers compared to “Very Good” among customers. Ceridian Non-Customers (n=198) Ceridian Customers (n=84) 47% 30% 6% 14% 4% 46% 12% 4% 29% 10%

Key Findings – Perceptions Top 2 Ratings of Ceridian – Customers vs. Non-Customers  As expected, Ceridian’s customers were more likely to give Ceridian positive ratings on every attribute.  Very large customer-to-noncustomer differences were found for …  Overall Rating  Data Secure/Private  Notable differences were also detected for …  Web Self-service model  Customer Support

Key Findings – Perceptions Top 2 Ratings of Ceridian – Customers vs. Non-Customers  Other attributes with very large Ceridian customer-to-noncustomer differences:  Integrated Solutions  Very Flexible  Customers were also more positive than non-customers for …  Quality and Reliable  Frees HR  Easy to Use  ROI  Relatively Inexpensive  Fulfill Quickly was the only attribute where customers are not more positive than non-customers.

Next steps  Ceridian now understands its position in the market.  Increasing Ceridian’s brand awareness has received management level attention.  The survey will be repeated in 2003.

Questions?