Tovera is a strategy consultancy specialising in building enterprise value with corporate brand and reputation.
We advise on how to build strong corporate brands and reputations.
We know that both – working together – are powerful drivers of value and long-term success.
We use a unique and proven methodology – the Tovera Brand & Reputation Model – which brings leading brand and reputation thinking into a single framework for analysis and strategy development.
Our expertise and approach allows us to work above functional constraints, bringing various strands together for a holistic view of what’s required to build and protect brand and reputation. This ensures that ultimately, all corporate brand and reputation activities work in support of the whole: building support, mitigating risks and building measurable long-term value.
WHAT WE DO
Our entire focus is on understanding, defining, building and protecting corporate brand and reputation. Our founding partners – Ann Binnie and Spencer Fox – are leading thinkers in corporate brand and reputation strategy. We understand that successful strategies rest on expert analysis and insight development. That’s why – as well as being expert in strategy development – we’re also research experts, Certified Members of the Market Research Society with a carefully developed and tested research and analysis framework.
We provide corporate brand and reputation audits, analysis, strategy development and implementation advisory.
Research
We have a tried and tested research methodology based on the Tovera Brand & Reputation model.
Our model acts as a framework for research design, data collection and analysis and it can be applied to all audiences. This approach allows a side-by-side comparison of audiences – whether small sample, hard to reach stakeholders (such as Senior Influencers or Government Regulators) that require a qualitative approach, or large sample customer or consumer audiences that call for a quantitative approach.
Our approach works whether analysing existing research or primary research or both. The result is a detailed assessment of brand and reputation across audiences of interest providing the basis for robust, evidence-based insight development.
Tovera Consultants are highly experienced in both qualitative and quantitative research methods and are Certified Members of the Market Research Society.
Insight
We take insight development seriously and separate insight development from research for two reasons.
First, because sometimes we find there isn’t a need for new research as there are ample existing sources to analyse for insight development. Second, and more importantly, for us, insight development, done properly, requires a complementary skillset and approach to research.
In developing insight, we draw together all relevant inputs – such as our own research, published data and other relevant extant sources – and we analyse these through the prism of the Tovera Brand & Reputation model, considering the findings in the societal, market and commercial context.
As experienced strategy consultants we often deploy a variety of other models – depending on the brief and issues emerging – always pointed towards ensuring the insights we develop are robust, relevant and rooted in evidence.
Strategy
Our approach at Tovera is strategic, always seeking to answer: what is going to make the biggest difference…
…to building and protecting brand and reputation in a way that is sustainable over time? Often our work leads towards defining purpose, positioning or proposition – or all three. Sometimes it’s a communications or marketing strategy. Sometimes our brief is simply to get a clear view of brand and reputation and then to help in building a strategy on how to improve that position. Often we’re looking at how stakeholders currently view a corporate brand (the actual positioning) versus how the corporate wishes to be perceived (the desired positioning), then defining the strategy to bridge the gap.
Whatever the start point or desired outcome, our strategic approach is guided by the Tovera Brand and Reputation model. Everything we do leads to understanding, defining, building and protecting corporate brand and reputation.
WHAT WE THINK
Protect and increase company value with a corporate brand and reputation strategy
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WHO WE DO IT FOR
Problem:
Just Eat, a founding client of Tovera, made its IPO in April 2014. At that time the leadership recognised that the business would be held to higher standards and a higher level of scrutiny than it had been as a privately held entrepreneurial challenger brand. The company needed to create an effective corporate communications strategy.
Intervention:
Tovera was appointed to look at the brand and reputation of Just Eat with a view to developing insights to inform Just Eat’s first corporate communications strategy. Our approach included primary research with important stakeholders, including customers, partners and other key stakeholders.
Our resulting advice was that to mitigate risks and leverage opportunities, Just Eat’s brand proposition and reputation strategy must hinge on owning ‘Choice.’
Impact:
This work went on to inform the corporate communications strategy, the new brand proposition and image and Just Eat’s core purpose. We are especially proud of our work with Just Eat as we have been recognised by them as playing a significant role in helping them grow market share and protect value.
Problem:
Pret had suffered the extremely distressing death of a customer following an allergic reaction to one of its products. In the midst of the crisis there was a need to get a sense of its impact and how best to reassure customers, partners and the wider stakeholder universe.
Intervention:
It was necessary to assume a wide-ranging brief: we were tasked with getting a sense of the impact of the crisis on the perceptions and expectations of stakeholders and what they would need to see and hear from Pret in order to remain supportive. Our methodology was applied sensitively, using our model as a framework, to engage with a sample of key stakeholders, both internal and external to the company.
Impact:
The core insights that we developed informed the corporate communications response, helping to fuel the recovery of Pret’s reputation and revenues. Our advice impacted upon the strategic business drivers and purpose. It uncovered the need for Pret to reassess its brand proposition relative to its customer and stakeholder expectations. That work is on-going.
Problem:
Novartis Oncology (NO) was playing in the most competitive area of pharmaceuticals in the most highly regulated industry where there are immense societal pressures on companies to balance commercial imperatives with social impact.
NO was at the forefront of completely new ways to treat cancer but was conscious of being perceived as simply one of the pack while competitors were gaining ground. There was a clear necessity to differentiate the brand so that it stood out from what had previously been described as “a sea of sameness.
Intervention:
The entry-point for Tovera’s brief in this case was via brand. Our assessment of both brand and reputation among key customers and stakeholders led to confirmation of the problem and the need for some left-field brand thinking. Applying this to the insights derived from our primary research Tovera developed a number of candidate propositions to differentiate the brand and worked with internal stakeholders to develop those and arrive at an agreed expression
Impact:
The purpose and corporate brand proposition that were agreed then were incorporated into the briefs for corporate communications and marketing strategies for NO.
The following year, in the PatentView Corporate Reputation of Pharma study, Novartis was ranked overall 3rd out of 19 companies for corporate reputation, stating “Novartis has, year on year, steadily increased its overall ranking for corporate reputation among UK patient organisations.”
Problem:
Qualicaps, the pharma devices arm of Mitsubishi Chemical, had a commercial strategy problem in that they needed to bring three separate divisions into one aligned entity. These divisions were in different markets and product sectors, and had brand assets in the form of manufacturing/assembling capability and trusted brand names.
It was also driven by a central operating philosophy, Kaiteki, Japanese for harmony of business and society, which gave it a potential purpose that was not being lived consistently.
Thus the – somewhat ironical – issue was these various assets were not working in harmony and in many cases were in conflict.
Intervention:
Tovera’s brief was to assess the various aspects of the brand and brand architecture and advise the client on how best to align the disparate elements, maintain and position those brand assets that worked to contribute to a defence against competitive threats, while maintaining the desired central purpose of Kateiki. We interviewed key internal stakeholders across the divisions and, working with leadership, created candidate architectures and helped guide a chosen direction.
Impact:
The ultimate deliverable was a new brand architecture for the business, with a clearly defined brand proposition working in harmony with its purpose: ‘Kaiteki. We continued to work with sub brands and helped in briefing for corporate identity.
HOW WE DO IT
We bring both brand and reputation teams through a single strategic planning cycle. In the Discovery phase analysing research of various methods, quantitative and qualitative, in stages we call the Landscape (an analysis of all available sources through the single lens of the Tovera Brand and Reputation model) and the Diagnostic (using the analysis and our expertise to reveal strengths and barriers to success).
The Definition stage is where we develop insights from the discovery stage to inform a holistic brand and reputation strategy, leading with a corporate brand positioning and direction for marketing, corporate communications, public affairs and senior leadership decision making on matters pertaining to corporate reputation.
We also advise on fit for purpose measurement systems that can include qualitative monitoring of senior stakeholders and/or quantitative measurement among larger groups such as employees, consumers and publics. Sometimes this is simply advising on improvements to existing programmes other times a full review and design of a new programme.
WHY WE DO IT
We take pride in doing good work. It’s the driving force in all we do at Tovera; we genuinely believe in our own core purpose.
Our Purpose: In advising businesses on how to build the strongest corporate brands and reputations, we’re helping them be the best they can be vis-à-vis their customers, their stakeholders and wider society. In our own small way, we are making the world a better place through improved corporate behaviour that benefits us all.
CORE TEAM
Below is our core project team made up of leading experts in fields of brand, reputation, data analysis and marcomms. We are supported by our Board of Experts as well as parters such as Dynata (large data collection company in the EU).
Spencer Fox: Spencer has over 20 years of experience in brand and reputation strategy and is a passionate advocate of brand differentiation. The early part of his career was spent in advertising and it was during his time at JWT that he first used the Thompson Total Branding protocol. He later founded Axis Communications, a consumer brand and advertising agency where he developed The Foundry, a brand positioning methodology working with clients such as Levi’s, ITV and Abercrombie & Kent. This work led him to pursue a role at Reputation Institute where he established the UK business and led major corporate reputation research projects for organisations such as IHG, Samsung, Tesco, AstraZeneca, Kellogg’s and British Gas. The combination of his brand and reputation experience led him to establish Tovera – the UK’s first pure-play brand and reputation consultancy. Spencer has a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Cass Business School in London. He is a member of the Market Research Society (MRS).
Ann Binne : Ann is a highly regarded brand and research expert. She previously worked as Board Planning Director in three top London advertising agencies before setting up her own business, latterly in partnership with a fellow ex-planner. Client experience is extremely wide: Mars, E & J Gallo, News International , BBC Radio, Charities Aid Foundation, Barclays Wealth, Landor, The Reputation Institute, Ogilvy, and JWT are just a few examples. As an independent consultant she applies planning principles, consultancy, research and facilitation skills to strategy, positioning and communications development in the wider branding and design world, across sectors that include charities as well as commercial, international as well as UK. Ann has an MSc in Business and is a qualified Enneagram teacher. She is a full member of the Market Research Society, a member of the Marketing Society, a Fellow of the RSA and has made contributions to books on Design Agency management, acted as a judge on APA (now CMA) annual awards, taught on MRS Summer School and since 1995 has had an entry in Debrett’s People of Today.
Rachel Kirk : Rachel is a data analytics expert. After graduating from the University of Warwick with a BSc in Mathematics, Statistics, Operational Research & Economics, Rachel embarked on a career in the Government Statistical Service. She held positions managing and analysing National Statistics in the fields of labour market and immigration, as well as providing quantitative analysis in several research projects concerning UK immigration and the NHS.
Since joining Tovera in 2015, Rachel designed research programmes for clients such as Just Eat and Highways England.
Spencer Fox : Spencer has over 20 years of experience in brand and reputation strategy and is a passionate advocate of brand differentiation. The early part of his career was spent in advertising and it was during his time at JWT that he first used the Thompson Total Branding protocol. He later founded Axis Communications, a consumer brand and advertising agency where he developed The Foundry, a brand positioning methodology working with clients such as Levi’s, ITV and Abercrombie & Kent. This work led him to pursue a role at Reputation Institute where he established the UK business and led major corporate reputation research projects for organisations such as IHG, Samsung, Tesco, AstraZeneca, Kellogg’s and British Gas. The combination of his brand and reputation experience led him to establish Tovera – the UK’s first pure-play brand and reputation consultancy. Spencer has a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from Cass Business School in London. He is a member of the Market Research Society (MRS).
Ann Binne : Ann is a highly regarded brand and research expert. She previously worked as Board Planning Director in three top London advertising agencies before setting up her own business, latterly in partnership with a fellow ex-planner. Client experience is extremely wide: Mars, E & J Gallo, News International , BBC Radio, Charities Aid Foundation, Barclays Wealth, Landor, The Reputation Institute, Ogilvy, and JWT are just a few examples. As an independent consultant she applies planning principles, consultancy, research and facilitation skills to strategy, positioning and communications development in the wider branding and design world, across sectors that include charities as well as commercial, international as well as UK. Ann has an MSc in Business and is a qualified Enneagram teacher. She is a full member of the Market Research Society, a member of the Marketing Society, a Fellow of the RSA and has made contributions to books on Design Agency management, acted as a judge on APA (now CMA) annual awards, taught on MRS Summer School and since 1995 has had an entry in Debrett’s People of Today.
Rachel Kirk : Rachel is a data analytics expert. After graduating from the University of Warwick with a BSc in Mathematics, Statistics, Operational Research & Economics, Rachel embarked on a career in the Government Statistical Service. She held positions managing and analysing National Statistics in the fields of labour market and immigration, as well as providing quantitative analysis in several research projects concerning UK immigration and the NHS.
Since joining Tovera in 2015, Rachel designed research programmes for clients such as Just Eat and Highways England.
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TOVERA
TOVERA stands for Two Truths:
The two truths are that to be successful in the long-term, businesses need both a strong brand and a strong reputation. ‘To’ is taken from some Celtic and Scandinavian spellings of ‘Two’ and ‘Vera’ is derived from the Latin for True Cause – Vera Causa. Together they make TOVERA: two truths. 
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