Getting a leadership team closer to customers

Last year Steve Rowe, CEO of M&S, said in a television interview that M&S had lost touch with its customers and that he was determined to put this right. ​

After M&S had established a new Senior Leadership Team, we were challenged with creating a session which would allow 35 of the most senior executives to come face-to-face with customers. To understand their lives, what makes them tick and ultimately how they want to feel in life. 

Immersion in what today’s woman wants to feel 

Our solution took M&S stakeholders to the roots of what makes today’s woman tick – her priorities and problems. Our journey followed women across all life-stage segments. They logged their lives through a number of creative content tasks. These were designed to give us a real-life lens into how different parts of their lives triggered certain feelings. 

In the session we used content to immerse stakeholders in customers’ lives. We then united both parties to co-create the future of M&S womenswear. 

Energised to activate change 

The session was both revealing and uplifting. We titled the event ‘Making M&S Better Together’ and everyone agreed that the day lived up to this ambition.

Stakeholders were left with a much clearer understanding of how customers wanted to feel and how to win over each life-stage segment in their business area.