EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES SEPTEMBER 2016

SPOTLIGHT ON CONSUMER INSIGHT What do customers really want? This month’s Spotlight looks beyond traditional marketing approaches and explores new models for understanding customers and creating hit products. CUSTOMERS The Elements of Value Eric Almquist, John Senior, and Nicolas Bloch | page 46 What consumers truly value can be difficult to pin down and psychologically complicated. But universal building blocks of value do exist, creating opportunities for companies to improve their performance in existing markets or break into new markets. In the right combinations, the authors’ analysis shows, those elements will pay off in stronger customer loyalty, greater consumer willingness to try a particular brand, and sustained revenue growth. Three decades of experience doing consumer research and observation for corporate clients led the authors—all with Bain & Company—to identify 30 “elements of value.” Their model traces…