Case study: Why brand tracking is a priority for Simplicity

Simplicity is New Zealand’s nonprofit, ethical fund manager, whose mission is to make all Kiwis richer and smarter with money. And they’re well on their way – growing to over 120,000 members and over four billion dollars of funds under management. 

Better still, Simplicity is living their purpose, donating 15% of profits to charity, a stunning $3,293,872 so far. They’re truly disrupting New Zealand’s financial services industry. It’s fitting that they were Tracksuit’s first client.  

Carving out a space in an established industry

For Jennie O’Donovan, Head of Communications, Education and Marketing at Simplicity, finding a brand tracking solution was a priority. 

“We are a new brand in an established industry, doing things a bit differently”, she explains, “it’s helpful for us to know how Simplicity is viewed by the public, and where the brand sits compared to others in the industry”. 

“It was useful to discover that while awareness was, comparatively, fairly low, consideration was high – this information helps us focus our limited marketing budget and use it more effectively,” Jennie says. 

Before Tracksuit, Simplicity used Google Analytics to monitor its website and app, which, Jennie says, was useful but limited to human behavior: “It didn’t give us any insights into brand awareness or our broader target audience”.

Tracksuit's timeline tab shows the brands progress over a 12 month period. The current display shows how Simplicity, and their competitor set, have tracked against the brand statement 'is a brand that invests the most ethically". Whilst it's a value prop the entire category is fighting for, Simplicity has continuously punched well above their weight with noticeable peaks throughout. This view also tells the story of category-wide trends, notably the dip through September.

Similarly in the Statements tab above, data displayed on a 3-month rolling average shows Simplicity's leadership, being recognized as one of the most ethical Kiwisaver options in New Zealand. We can see their strength towards this association in the data above where, during a campaign period, 9% of respondents agreed that Simplicity invests the most ethically.

The success of their brand is further supported in their image tab, the section of the Tracksuit dashboard which illustrates brand profile insights such as distinctive characteristics. It’s a testament to the product and the team's communication strategy that a healthy mix of both functional and emotional assets are being expressed when respondents are asked what they feel about the brand. 

Tracksuit's imagery tab is a qualitative piece of data that helps show what the market thinks of your brand, and how effective your communication and marketing is. It also provides insights around the wider market, offering the opportunity to benchmark against competitors (powerful if you’re a disruptor brand like Simplicity, operating in an established market). Respondents who are aware of the brand are asked "Thinking about brands of Kiwisaver, what comes to mind when you think of...". Simplicity has an impressive mix of functional and emotional associations.

Developing insight led messaging

Jennie also used Tracksuit to understand the effectiveness of specific campaigns and messaging. Insights led to some important messaging adjustments early on. 

“One thing we tried fairly quickly after using Tracksuit was to move the focus away from promoting low fees (a key message that had clearly got through!), to emphasizing the benefits of being a Simplicity member (great returns, supporting Kiwi charities etc)”.

For the Track Team, working with game-changing organizations like Simplicity, and watching their brand go from strength to strength is the best part of the job. Seeing how insights from the Tracksuit platform can help marketers like Jennie spark big ideas for new campaigns - or even effective messaging shifts - is what gets us up in the morning.