Case Story: Business to Consumer

21 markets, one solution

Vodafone Group global segmentation

Summary
Situation
Vodafone wanted to conduct
a global segmentation of
consumer mobile phone users
that could be truly actionable
in the companys day-to-day
decision making. The aim was
to develop a framework that
could be used both at Vodafone
Group level and by Vodafones
local operating companies
(OpCos) in 21 markets.
Approach
We worked closely with the
OpCos to get buy-in, and with
Vodafone Group to design a
solution to meet the current
and future needs of the
business. We optimised the
segmentation at a local level
and added qualitative research
to help bring the segments to
life.
Outcome
The segmentation has been
rolled out worldwide and
feeds into strategy across a
number of different business
areas. It has been used to
support media planning, to
drive targeted communications
campaigns and to prioritise
key customer groups for
proposition development.

GfK had the

best expertise
Joanne Pearson,
Head of Global Customer Insight,
Vodafone Group

Situation
Segmentation is an essential tool for companies
to understand their customers and spot market
opportunities. Vodafone approached us to
conduct a global segmentation of consumer
mobile phone users. It wanted to develop a
common framework that could be used at
Vodafone Group level and also by its local
operating companies (OpCos).
The segmentation was part of a drive to
increase efficiency by making it easier to deploy
Vodafone Group strategy at a local level. In
particular, it was vital for the segments to be
applicable to local markets and not just at a
global level to enable the OpCos to support the
project and implement the segmentation.
The challenge of meeting these objectives
was that Vodafone has 21 local operating
companies in Europe, the Middle East, Africa
and Asia Pacific, meaning that wide cultural
and market differences had to be reflected in
the segmentation. There was also a significant
logistical challenge in working with numerous
local representatives.
We were selected for our Marketing Sciences
expertise and our experience in delivering large,
complex and culturally-diverse segmentation
studies.
We have tackled a very big project here. We
had lots of companies to choose from who are
capable of managing projects of this size, but GfK
had the best expertise and the most extensive

experience with surveys on such a scale. GfK has

an outstanding ability to analyse data volumes
and to translate them into conclusive results.
There is a wealth of brilliant analysts at GfK.
Joanne Pearson,
Head of Global Customer Insight,
Vodafone Group

Approach
Working with local OpCos
The local operating companies were involved
from the beginning. We worked together
with Vodafone Group to conduct video calls
with representatives of each of the OpCos.
The calls were designed to introduce the
programme and the project team and to
ensure the OpCos needs, market trends and
cultural considerations were fully understood.
The calls also helped to build rapport with
the representatives of the OpCos. We asked
them to contribute to the questionnaire, and
sufficient time was built in to gather their
feedback.
Many of the OpCos suggestions were included
in a pilot questionnaire. We analysed the results
of the pilot to see which questions correlated
with each other and which were discriminatory,
in order to reduce the questionnaire length.
This rigorous approach meant that all parties

Case Story: Business to Consumer

It was very much a

partnership, we worked
together to deal with a
project that was extremely
difficult and complex... We
have got a pragmatic and
robust solution which has
been bought into really
well internally. It took a
lot of thought, effort and
brainpower but we have
made something that could
have been very difficult
seem simple.

Gillian Brooks,
Senior Insights Manager,
Vodafone Group

WE ARE GFK
We are one of the worlds leading
market research companies with
over 12,000 experts in more than
100 countries around the world.
We understand that your future is
based on big thinking. And thats
our offer to you and every one of
our clients. Whatever your size,
and wherever you are.

could be sure that only appropriate questions

were carried through to the final questionnaire
and that each stakeholder was confident that
their input had been thoroughly reviewed and
tested.
Optimising the segmentation
We conducted 62,400 25-minute telephone
or face-to-face interviews with mobile phone
users in Vodafones 21 markets. Quotas were
set and data weighted to be representative
in terms of demographics, region and other
key variables of interest to Vodafone. The
segmentation was based on both needs and
behaviours but was designed so that segments
could be profiled using standard demographic
variables.
The next step was to optimise the
segmentation at a local level. This involved the
team looking at the distribution of segments
in each market; larger segments were subsegmented and profiled separately, whilst
segments too small to identify or manage but
sufficiently similar in attitude and behaviour
were combined to form larger segments. We
checked the resulting local solution with OpCo
representatives to ensure that the segments
had sufficient resonance in each local market.
The optimisation process was a significant
investment but resulted in a robust and
tailored segment solution for each market.

Making it actionable
We worked with Vodafones communications
and media buying agency to ensure that
the segmentation would be actionable. The
segmentation was based on both attitudes
and behaviours, giving a rounded view of
consumers, and ensuring that the resulting
segments were believable and realistic. The
team also ensured that the segments could be
easily targeted for media buying.

Outcome
The resulting segmentation solution was
global in scale but felt authentic at the local
level. We worked with Vodafone Group to roll
out the segmentation by delivering face-toface workshops in each of the 21 markets,
meaning that individual OpCos felt included in
the segmentation solution and were keen to
adopt it.
The segmentation feeds into strategy across
a number of different business areas such
as brand development, media strategy,
handset portfolio management, NPD and
retail. It has been used to support media
planning and to increase efficiency, to drive
targeted communications campaigns, and to
prioritise key customer groups for proposition
development.

Bringing the segments to life

We used qualitative research to gain a deeper
insight into the segments in some of the key
markets, conducting 125 three-day diaries
followed by in-home filmed immersions in
a selection of 12 countries. From this, we
created communications materials including
filmed qualitative footage, which was then
used in implementation workshops with the
OpCos. This gave stakeholders and OpCos a
detailed understanding of the segments and
engendered confidence about adopting the
scheme.

Contact
Wendy Jones | Research Director | Business & Technology
Ludgate House | 245 Blackfriars Road | London SE1 9UL
Tel +44 20 7890 9319 | wendy.jones@gfk.com
www.gfk.com