1. How does Accenture target its business-to-business audience so effectively?

Accenture was founded as an Administrative Accounting Group and was a consulting

department at Andersen Consulting. Later, Accenture became a separate business entity in

the year 1989. Due to differentiation and innovation strategies of the company, it was

successful in increasing the customer base to expand the business reach. It has now become

one of the most successful IT consulting firms and consistently ranks among top firms in the

world.

Accenture targeted its business-to-business audience using different tactics. They

have been discussed below in detail.

i. Rebranding strategies

Accenture was successful in creating a unique brand name for the company which

was effective and inoffensive in more than 200 languages so as to avoid future problems

of company expansion despite the very high risk of being undermined by its former

parent company. The name Accenture rhymed with the word “adventure” and “future”

providing the customers a sense of confidence on the longevity of the firm. It also

retained “Ac” of its original company Andersen Consulting. This rebrand campaign was

very successful in retaining brand equity and advertising, marketing and communicating

their business to the prospects. This strategy helped them gain 11 percent brand equity in

the first year.

ii. Continual innovation, setting new benchmarks as compared to competitors

Accenture, with the aim to differentiate its products and services from the

competitors used innovation strategies. Accenture’s competitors such as McKinsey were

highly specialized at developing strategies whereas IBM was highly skilled in

 technological implementation but the company wanted to be good at both. This gave the

company a competitive edge. The company energized its resources towards

transformational consulting and outsourcing capabilities to retain the existing customer’s

base and attract new customers for business expansion.

iii. Distinctive identity and value proposition

Accenture built their tagline “Innovation Delivered” supported by the statement

“From innovation to execution, Accenture helps accelerate your vision.”  The positioning

of innovation was to help clients meet their business objectives in every step. The

company also introduced contracts containing incentives which were realized at the time

business objectives were met. Accenture also based its bonus distribution on five metrics

including the cost-cutting. Accenture used its value proposition by encouraging high

quality and skilled employees providing tech services to B2B business. These strategies

helped the organization meet its targets effectively along with its clients and employees

and helped portray a good image of their consumer-centrism.

iv. “High performing” business campaign through celebrity endorsements

Accenture’s new tagline “High Performance. Delivered.” was campaigned

through celebrity endorsements which featured golf superstar Tiger Woods. The firm

understood the importance of celebrity endorsements. As athletes have an impeccable

image and symbol of high performance, the company implied that they are high end

performers and an active participant in this competitive world. They spent millions on

advertisements and all of them mostly featured Tiger Woods with the slogan “Go on. Be

a Tiger.” This campaign ran all over the world and helped the company enhance their

international presence.
 v. Extensive use of emerging technologies and globalization

Accenture was very quick in adopting changes. The company engaged itself in

far-reaching advertisements to capture clients from different countries. They launched a

“Greater Than” campaign where the company highlighted their successful case studies

that involved big and renowned companies like “Unilever, Starwood Hotels, and

Caterpillar” to show the world that they stand to what they say is “High Performance.

Delivered.” Accenture promotions appeared on cabs and billboards in major cities and

were circulating in all print, digital, and social media which helped them effectively

target their B-to-B audiences.

2. Evaluate Accenture's history of branding campaigns. What remains consistent

throughout?

The case of Accenture has provided a good example of how marketing excellence

helps companies to sail through the impediments on its way forward. Accenture has

successfully undergone various marketing transformations after its independence from

the Arthur Andersen Company. All throughout the history of branding campaigns,

Accenture has consistently held the positioning of delivering innovation and high

performance to its client and prospects. This has also been a unique differentiator from its

competitors such as IBM and McKinsey.

Evaluating the history of branding campaigns, we can realize that Accenture has

smoothly transformed and overhauled its brand completely without losing much of the

previous brand equity and credibility. Prior to its present brand name, Accenture was a

separate business unit of an accounting firm Arthur Andersen bearing the name Andersen

Consulting.  Accenture, in the course of rebranding its logo, undertook a clever and
unique approach. According to Poggenpohl, et.al (n.d), the new logo used the initials

“AC” in a unique way, with a lower-case “c” resting above and to the right of the upper-

case “A.” This graphic identity was drawn from the exponential notation in mathematics,

so the logo communicated “A” raised to the “c” power. The retaining of the “AC” of the

original Andersen Consulting, was unique as it helped the firm to retain some of its

former brand equity, while the graphic identity reflected power and vision the firm

nourishes. The name Accenture holds the meaning “accent on the future” and rhymes

with the word “Adventure”.

To establish the new brand name, Accenture, the company launched a global

advertising, marketing and communication campaign targeting senior executives at its

clients and prospects, the media, industry analyst and potential recruits. Through the

marketing campaign, Accenture unveiled its positioning tagline “Innovation. Delivered”,

with the supporting statement “Accenture helps accelerate your vision”. This tagline and

positioning statement has tapped both excellence at technology innovation and execution

delivered that would satisfy and meet the client’s expectation. Accenture also

communicated another tagline “High performance. Delivered” by featuring Tiger Woods,

one of the golf superstars at that time as an ideal symbol of High performance. This

endorsement has helped Accenture communicate the importance of high performance of

its product and services, in a subtle yet powerful way, and can be viewed as an example

of excellent marketing. At the next transition, Due to the media controversy of the

Spokesperson Tiger Woods regarding his personal life, Accenture had to face a

marketing turbulence around that incident which led Accenture to drop Tiger Wood from

its spokesperson position. After disassociating with Tiger woods, in order to ensure
effectiveness and relevancy to its customer segment, Accenture launched the “Greater

Than” campaign using its logo with the sign (>) on top of its name to reflect that brand

position.

The value it aimed to provide its customers through innovation in IT integrated

business processes has been at the very core and the firm has cultured every branding

activity around the core value throughout. The firm has understood the importance and

impact of branding and marketing itself on reaching and communicating with the

customer base and thus, has been consistent in allocating a huge portion of their budget

on the same. From this, the consistent reinforcement and reminder of the brand

positioning to the consumers through various branding and advertising campaigns and

delivering services up to the expectations of the client, indeed, has helped Accenture gain

more trust from existing clients and brought in more valuable potential new clients. The

commitment and positioning of Accenture as a growth partner, helping clients meet their

business targets and achieve their vision and position, through its services and

commitment policies has made Accenture a market leader in the IT consulting industry

with a brand market value of 9 billion in 2013.Thus, we can infer that the branding

campaigns launched by Accenture speaks volumes about the firm’s approach on

positioning strategy and brand building and it is safe to say that the grip Accenture has

maintained in their branding is exemplary.

 References

Poggenpohl, T., Murphy, J., Harvey, B., & Teeter, C., (n.d). Accenture: Rebranding and

repositioning a global power brand. Retrieved https://docplayer.net/38351009-Accenture-

rebranding-and-repositioning-a-global-power-brand-1.html

Accenture Official Website

https://newsroom.accenture.com › accenture-corporate

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