The Uncomfortable Truth: A Great Product Is Not Enough There is a widely held belief in product development: if you carefully craft a product – optimise its features, sharpen its proposition, fine-tune pricing and packaging – you are setting yourself up for success. And to a certain extent, that’s true. Robust product development processes –rooted in consumer insights, concept testing, iterative design optimisation, etc. – are indeed a necessary condition for success. They ma

DVJ Insights has been nominated for Research Agency of the Year in the Netherlands by the Data & Insights Network. This award recognises agencies that have made a strong and visible impact on the Research & Analytics industry over the past year. It reflects hard work, a high standard of quality, and the ability to lead in innovation and growth. For DVJ Insights, this nomination reflects a strong 2025. The company achieved sustainable growth, maintained 100% client retention

Ferrero is one of the world’s largest sweet packaged food companies, with iconic brands such as Nutella, Kinder, Tic Tac and Ferrero Rocher enjoyed in more than 170 countries. Fabrizio Testa, Senior Insights Manager at Ferrero UK & Ireland, has spent over eleven years working across different markets and roles within the company, from testing new products directly in-market to leading consumer and shopper insights. In this conversation, he shares his perspective on what truly

Fernando Cobos leads Consumer Insights, Growth Planning and Digital Insights at Essity, a global hygiene and health company operating across both consumer and professional markets. In this conversation, he shares how Essity approaches brand growth through a structured global framework that combines data, investment discipline, and local market flexibility. From managing penetration and product mix to navigating growth in commoditised categories, Fernando explains why consiste

Ny bok från DVJ Insights visar varför hållbar varumärkestillväxt är ett ledarskapsbeslut Stockholm, 15 april 2026 - I decennier har vi vetat hur varumärken växer. Öka penetrationen, bygga mental tillgänglighet och investera konsekvent över tid. Principerna är väl etablerade och allmänt accepterade. Ändå har många organisationer fortfarande svårt att uppnå hållbar tillväxt. Enligt DVJ Insights är problemet inte brist på kunskap, verktyg eller data; det är hur organisationer är

At our last week’s Brand Growth Event, Mark Ritson made a point that should have landed harder than it probably did: Category is the number one driver of brand growth. Product, he argued, still matters enormously — but not in the way many organisations assume. It’s less often about constant new product development (NPD) and many times more about existing product improvement (EPI). That distinction is more than semantics. It points to a fundamentally different way of thinking

Brand growth is one of marketing’s most talked-about ambitions, and one of its least clearly defined concepts. Ask ten marketers how to achieve it, and you will likely hear ten different answers. Ask academia, and the answer becomes even more nuanced. In a conversation with Tammo Bijmolt, Professor of Marketing Research at the University of Groningen, one thing becomes clear: brand growth is not a single lever to pull, but a system of interconnected forces that must be carefu

Lantmännen is an agricultural cooperative and Northern Europe’s leader in agriculture, machinery, bioenergy and food. The group is owned by 17,000 Swedish farmers and is operating across the whole value chain, “from field to fork”, with a portfolio of well-known product brands within food such as Scan, AXA, Vaasan and Kungsörnen. Yet the Lantmännen brand itself does not sell products directly to consumers. Instead, the brand functions as a powerful endorser brand; a guarantor

In this conversation, Fiona Naughton, Chief Marketing Officer at CoinZoom, reflects on how brand growth has evolved across her career in technology-led businesses including PayPal and Robinhood. At CoinZoom, a regulated digital currency exchange and fintech platform operating across nearly 169 countries, Fiona focuses on bridging the gap between crypto and everyday financial behaviour. Drawing on decades of experience across mobile technology, gaming and financial services, F

DVJ Insights has been named a finalist in the AMMA Awards (Best Use of Data & Technology), together with a.s.r. and TheMerge. The nomination recognises an innovative approach to making creative development more data-driven through the use of AI. In many organisations, media decisions have long been guided by data. Creative decisions, however, are still often based on intuition and discussion. This case shows how AI can change that. Together with a.s.r. and TheMerge, DVJ Insig

There is no ''Right'' Segmentation - Only More or Less Useful Ones Segmentation is one of marketing’s most established tools. Almost every organisation has one — often several. They are carefully developed, visually appealing and intellectually robust. And yet, many segmentations underdeliver.

BUUT is a newly launched Dutch neobank focused on teenagers and, soon, young adults. Built from scratch by the makers of Tikkie and backed by ABN AMRO, the brand has a bold ambition: to build the strongest financial generation ever. We spoke to Sanne van Kuijk-Evertse, Head of Growth at BUUT, about purpose-driven brand building, native content, and why financial brands need 13 touchpoints before conversion. Purpose Embedded in the DNA For Sanne, brand growth begins long befor

We’re proud to announce that DVJ Insights has been named a Finalist at the British Data Awards 2026. The British Data Awards celebrate organisations that are making a meaningful impact through data and analytics across the UK. This year’s edition saw a record 462 entries, spanning start-ups, scale-ups, government bodies, and global organisations. Being recognised in this diverse and competitive field is a significant achievement for our team. The awards highlight excellence a

With more than seven million customers per week and 125,000 employees across its stores, Albert Heijn operates at a scale few retailers can match. But scale alone does not guarantee growth. In a category where consumers can switch supermarkets every single week, growth must be earned continuously. For Johan van der Zanden, Chief Marketing Officer and member of the executive board at Albert Heijn, brand growth is not about a single lever. It is about orchestrating a system and

In banking, growth is never just about campaigns. It is shaped by reputation, regulation, trust and public opinions. For Tanja Bom, Head of Marketing Communications at ABN AMRO, brand growth starts with one clear metric, brand consideration, but achieving it requires much more than communication. It demands emotional creativity, disciplined data use, organisational alignment and, above all, living up to what you promise. In this conversation, she reflects on the realities of

Valerie van Schaick, Chief Marketing Officer at Alpine Hearing Protection, leads the global brand strategy for one of Europe’s fastest-growing companies in the hearing protection category. From sleeping better at night to protecting hearing at festivals or on motorcycles, Alpine develops solutions for moments when sound becomes a challenge. In this conversation, Valerie shares how the company drives rapid international growth through a combination of problem awareness, fast e

With over 25 years of experience in commercial and marketing roles at companies such as Unilever, Grolsch, and now Asahi, Ard Bossema, General Manager EMEA & Latin America, has seen the marketing landscape evolve dramatically. Yet despite the changing tools and technologies, the fundamental drivers of growth remain remarkably consistent. In this conversation, he shares how Asahi approaches brand growth through a clear framework, how the beer category is adapting to shifting c

Brand is one of the few assets that touches every part of our business. It influences pricing power, shapes media effectiveness, determines whether distribution drives sales, and even impacts talent and investor confidence. Brand is not a department. It is a multiplier. In our Brand Growth (BG) study, where we interview around 2,000 marketers each year, one theme keeps resurfacing: the increasing need to demonstrate marketing efficiency and profitability. Marketing is no long

In retail, the moment of truth is often described as the instant a consumer decides whether or not to buy. In pharmacy, however, that moment is fundamentally different — and more complex. According to Alba Labarca León, Head of Pharmacy Division at Avizor and former Colgate-Palmolive leader with more than 22 years of experience, brands do not win or lose at the shelf alone. They win, or disappear, through recommendation, availability and focus. A Dual Moment of Truth in Pharm

Many organisations now operate with multiple software development models. One model follows a traditional engineering structure focused on stability, formal validation, and controlled releases. Another model uses AI-native workflows integrated into development environments, where generative systems assist or even lead coding tasks. Both models use the term done to describe completion, but the meaning varies significantly. The difference arises from when uncertainty is absorbe