As a part of the interview process for Head of Marketing WeWork India, I was given this case study to attempt in 48 hours:
WeWork has shifted its focus to medium and large size businesses only. The company is currently operational in 3 cities in India and intends to expand to 4 more new markets (Pune/Hyderabad/Chennai/Delhi) in the country in 2019.
Their goal is:
To reach an occupancy of 75%+ in all markets
To have a 'top of the mind' recall for all stakeholders involved in the decision making process.
Increase ROI of all marketing led activities.
Strengthen it's brand presence in existing markets.
Please present a marketing plan - WeWork in India for 2019.
Make reasonable assumptions. Do respond back in a Powerpoint presentation.
Hope the presentation helps you!
4. Industry Overview
● There are close to 350 shared office operators present in India, spread across 800
locations in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities
● 85% of shared office space in India are in Tier 1 cities, while the remaining 15% are
in Tier 2 cities
● The space leased by co-working operators in tier 1 and tier 2 cities could touch 6-10
mn. sq. ft. by 2020
● Cost saving observed is between 10% - 25% when choosing a co-working space over
a traditional office space
Source: CBRE Reports
5. WeWork India Overview
● Number of Cities: 3
● Number of physical locations: 21
● Expanding soon in Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi
● Blue-chip companies are the fastest-growing segment of WeWork’s client base.
With over 25 percent of WeWork members being Blue-chip employees
Source: WeWork Press Reports and Blogs
6. WeWork SWOT
Strengths Opportunities
Global brand, with the know-how, delivering the brand promise Being the sunrise sector, it’s day one for expanding to more locations
in India
Head-start in India with a powerful JV with Embassy Group which has
ready assets and healthy capital
Enterprises, gig-economy contributors; are already looking for
alternative work spaces - Economics and demographics are favorable
Offering a strong connection with the entrepreneurial ecosystem Opportunity to Consolidate the market and enjoy economies of scale
Weakness Threats
Majority reliance on start-ups for space fill-rate Competition - Existing Tech-Parks, Regus, Cowrks, Awfis & Smartworks
offering cheaper solutions and a part of the TG is susceptible to switch
Easy to replicate business model and strong marketing is needed to
differentiate and communicate the Brand Values
Rise of real estate prices may affect availability of assets in key cities,
pricing and customer offerings
Concentration of majority need for co-working spaces are limited to a
few Indian cities
8. Marketing Goal
WeWork has shifted its focus to medium and large size businesses only. The company is currently
operational in 3 cities in India and intends to expand to 4 more new markets
(Pune/Hyderabad/Chennai/Delhi) in the country in 2019.
Their goal is:
● To reach an occupancy of 75%+ in all markets
● To have a 'top of the mind' recall for all stakeholders involved in the decision making process
● Increase ROI of all marketing led activities
● Strengthen its brand presence in existing markets
Source: Case-study given by WeWork
9. Business Case: WeWork is in 3 cities and is opening up in 4 more cities. To reach an occupancy of 75%+ in
all markets
Market Strategy:
● Value Proposition: State-of-the-art workspaces, community and flexible terms
● Positioning: Space that works for you
● Messaging:
○ Advantages of Community Living
○ Global Presence, Local Expansion
○ WeWork solves a problem for HR, Admin, Management and Employees
○ Cost:Benefit Analysis
○ Happy Enterprise Customer Stories
GTM Strategy
10. GTM Strategy (2)
● Marketing and Sales Model:
○ IPC / Broker Marketing
○ Marketing Qualified Leads to be nurtured via calls, emails
○ Get appointment for Virtual Tours
○ Schedule In-Venue Tours
○ Handover Information kit
○ Follow-up and convert lead
○ Tracking Happiness
○ Measuring Loyalty
○ Referral Program
11. Buyer Journey
Gets in touch
with Brokers
Looking to set
up office
Mid-Size to Large
Enterprise
Looking to
expand office
Visits Co-
Working
Spaces
Reaches out to
accelerators (if
relevant)
WeWork’s
Marketing and
Sales Channels
to positively
impact these
touch points
12. Understanding the Consumers
Enterprise C-Suite, Office
Admin, HR, International
Property Consultants
Employees of Organizations
Working at WeWork1 2
Decision Makers Experience Customers
13. Decision Maker Persona - Admin Head
Name: Umesh Agani
Job Title: Admin and Facilities Head
Age: 35-55 years
Responsible for: day-to-day activities that are related to financial
planning, record keeping & billing, personnel, physical distribution and
logistics, within an organization
Takes pride in: Cost saving, frictionless functioning, keeping management
happy, being the go-to-person in office for “jugaad”
Problems we can solve for them: Make them look good to their
Management for Cost and Time Efficiency
Admin head’s core customer is
the C-Suite / Management
Source: Primary Research, Names are
fictional
14. Decision Maker Persona - HR Head
Name: Margaret Thatcher
Designation: People Evangelist
Age: 35-55 years
Core responsibilities are to: plan, direct, and coordinate the
administrative functions of an organization. They also oversee the
recruiting, interviewing, and hiring of new staff; consulting with top
executives on strategic planning
Takes pride in: Creating a good work culture and environment for
employees to thrive in
Problems we can solve for them: Give them the work environment their
employees and management will be proud of, take load off many
community activities which are recreational / educational
HR’s primary customers are
the management and its
employees.
Source: Primary Research, Names are
fictional
15. Decision Maker Persona - CEO
Name: Satya Agarwal
Designation: CEO
Age: 30-55 years
Responsible for: strategy, innovation, revenue, team, culture, investor
relations, diversification…
Wears many hats and has a 100ft. Overview of almost all aspects of the
firm, it’s processes and resources
Takes pride in: Creating value, generating wealth
Problems we can solve for them: Scale, Facilities, Community
Source: Primary Research, Names are
fictional
Both, Internal and External
Stakeholders
16. Decision Maker Persona - International Property
Consultant
Name: Karthik S.
Job Title: Strategic Property Advisor, JLL
Age: 35-45 years
Responsible for: Maintaining relations with businesses that are expanding
to newer markets and helping them find office space. They perform
duties, such as study property listings, interview prospective leassors,
accompany clients to property site, discuss conditions of sale / rent, and
draw up real estate contracts.
Takes pride in: Closing deals and transactions
Problems we can solve for them: Give them Grade-A office spaces with
world-class amenities and customisation per their client requirement
The Enterprise is their Primary
Customer
Source: Primary Research, Names are
fictional
17. Marketing Plan Overview
Time Period Jan 2019- Dec 2019
Tentpole Build Awareness -> Induce Enterprise Trial -> Follow Through with Stickiness
Pillars Top Enterprises are already clients - Microsoft, SalesForce, Deloitte
Global Community Builder and Ecosystem Enabler
Happy Customers
Multiple Locations across cities for all your team members
The workplace experts
What do we build Awareness
for? Advantages of Community Living
Global Presence, Local Expansion
WeWork solves a problem for HR, Admin, Management and Employees
Cost:Benefit Analysis
Happy Enterprise Customer Stories
Mediums Content - Blog, Testimonial, Email, Social Media, PR
Advertising - Digital Advertising, Offline, Direct Marketing, Partnerships
18. Branding
City Specific Marketing:
● 360 degree campaign across digital - social, search and network; Radio, Local Paper - inviting venue
tours for new cities; 500 people get one month free access
● Direct Mailer of Virtual Venue Tours to existing enterprise organisations
● Geofence targeting of up to 10 KMs from WeWork Venue via OOH
● Targeted hoardings right outside the enterprise companies which we want to onboard
Eg: Outside Ola’s office:
Tell Bhavish to give WeWork a Spin!
#ChaloNiklo
19. Branding
Co-marketing the big enterprise wins:
● Short-burst 360 degree campaign announcing Large Enterprise’s choice of picking WeWork as their
workplace
● PR outreach in both Traditional (National and Regional) and Digital Media
Direct Marketing with International Property Consultants:
● Assisting the sales team with marketing material and merchandise to help keep IPC’s on top of
WeWork’s existing and future plans and value proposition
● Personalised direct marketing for IPC’s to have top of mind recall
20. Demand / Lead Generation
Trial Offers
● Free one month trial campaign to select 500 customers across cities to use WeWork spaces
● Retain ~20% customers for 6 months to recover campaign cost
Digital Marketing:
● Whitepaper Marketing on LinkedIn and Facebook
● Gather Qualified Leads via Search and Display Marketing
Partnerships:
● Tie-up with incubators and accelerators like Microsoft, Nasscom, Y-Combinator
● Tie-up with associations like CII as venue partners for weekend events
21. Content Marketing
Get insights from Google Trends and BuzzSumo to get trending topics related to our industry and the
community and create content to:
- Help the right people relate to us
and bond with us
- Create brand love and loyalty
- Built thought leadership
22. Whitepaper
Content and Dissemination Impact of initiative
Schedule Whitepaper Subject Enterprise Lead Generation PR
April Impact of Coworking in emerging
cities
- Get sign-ups from Management, HR and
Admin in lieu of early whitepaper access
- Direct mailers with WhitePaper Reports
- Distribute whitepapers via CBRE, CII,
Nasscomm
Use whitepaper to support
quotations and facts in the
Press
December Econimic Impact of Co-
Working at a micro and
macro level
What do we build awareness for:
Global Presence, Local
Expansion
Y Y
We solved a problem for
HR, Admin, Management
and Employees
Y Y
Advantages of Community
Living
Y Y
Enterprise Customer
Stories
Y Y
Cost:Benefit Analysis Y Y
23. Testimonial
Global Enterprise Org Global Enterprise Org Indian Enterprise Org
Story The story of XYZ India begun even before our first
hire. The market was growing rapidly and we
wanted to set up a team fast. We begun hiring the
team leaders who then expanded their team. We'd
started out with our office in Regus, Bangalore and
switched to WeWork to help us share the burden of
office administration and more.
We now have our team members sit our of
Bangalore but have meetings and conferences from
WeWork across Gurgaon and Mumbai.
We have offices across countries and we wanted to give the
same work environment to our colleagues, world over. The
choice of moving into WeWork was easy as they give us the
freedom to enjoy world class facilities while we're busy
doing what we do best.
Our first few clients in India also happened to be other
WeWork members. It's like working with your colleagues,
clients, evangelists, all under one roof
When we started our Bangalore operations, we
were not sure how we'd expand our team. We
opted in for WeWork for it gave us the flexibility
to scale up and scale down almost immediately.
What started as a 10 seater capacity has now
turned into a 250 seater space for us. When
you're scaling your business, space should be the
last thing one should have to worry about!
Spokesperson Global HR Head Admin Head CEO
What do we build awareness for:
Global Presence, Local
Expansion
Y Y
We solved a problem for HR,
Admin, Management and
Employees
Y Y Y
Advantages of Community Living Y Y Y
Enterprise Customer Stories Y Y Y
Cost:Benefit Analysis Y Y Y
24. Blog
Content and Dissemination Metrics
Content Schedule Bounce Rate Time Spent
Readership
Views
#MeToo and what to do? Jan
Advantages of being mindful at work Feb
Under 60%
Over 60
seconds per
piece
Page views to
increase by
50%
Millenials are defined by age or a state of mind? March
Impact of Coworking in emerging cities April
The science behind music and work May
Case study of how We > Me June
How to move towards Sustainability everyday July
How to Network for Win-Win Relationships August
The advantages of not owning anything Sept
How to attract women to work in tech? Oct
Community Special - Spreading the Love this Diwali Nov
Econimic Impact of Co-Working at a micro and macro level Dec
26. Please note: The budgets, KPI’s and measurement can be advised upon fine-tuning of the program and
evaluating current marketing mix and performance
Rise in Lead
Generation
Lead Conversion Time Efficiency Top of mind Recall Increased Fill
Rate
Branding
Lead Generation
Content
Marketing
PR
Impact of Various Marketing Initiatives
27. Function Initiative Initiative's key asks Effort Impact Cost Timelines
Branding Brand Building - Segregating messaging backed by consumer insights
from the TG
- Unified internal and external positioning in
accordance with global guidelines
- Positively impacting the buyer's journey
- Measuring High NPS from existing customers
High High High One peak campaign
with sustenance in
flights
Lead
Generation
Acquisition/Lea
d Generation
- Lead generation with qualifiers such as size of
company, scale of employees to be passed on to Sales
- Online and Offline marketing channels to be used for
lead generation
- Partnerships to yield more leads
Medium Medium Medium All year round
Content
Marketing
Brand Building - Help the right people relate to us and bond with us
- Create brand love and loyalty
- Build thought leadership
High Medium Low All year round
PR Brand Building - Focus on PR with a digital twist
- Stress on social media sharing by the press
publications
- Regional Media PR as important as National PR
Medium Medium Low All year round
Measurement