Join us for a Catalyx Coffee with Ihab.
Each month our Brand Manager, Esmeralda Voegele-Downing, sits down with one of our fantastic team members to have a catch-up over a cup of coffee in which you can get to know some of the people who make Catalyx tick and what they’re up to…
Ihab Baligh is our Senior Commercial Director with two decades of client-side perspective and a lifetime of globetrotting across four continents. I’d say this forms his superpower; knowing exactly how to connect with anyone on the planet, what people need from Catalyx, and understanding how to bring it to them in a way that is bespoke and efficient. However, as far as naming one single superpower goes, this would be disregarding both his irrepressible wit and his refusal to see any challenge as insurmountable.
On that last winning quality, when asked to join me for a Catalyx Coffee despite being roughly 500 miles away from the café in which I sat, Ihab said, “Yes, I’m taking this very seriously.” Indeed, he always does. One last little superpower of his; karaoke, and being the life of any office party. So, as The Proclaimers once said; “I would share coffee over 500 miles.”
Without further ado, it’s my pleasure to hand the mic to the inimitable Ihab. Please enjoy the very first international Catalyx Coffee.
Ihab! Tell me about your week.
Hello! This week has been very interesting. I’ve been mainly having conversations with lots of clients from Europe, the USA, and the Middle East. It’s been really interesting to discover a shared tension in the room between all; by that I mean a pain point in the industry. When we talk to clients, we’re pushing for innovative process to bring uniqueness to innovative pipelines. The tension is: if our product is so unique we might completely lose familiarity.
A key question this has modelled into has been how to be authentic with innovation. If we push ideas to the point of innovation and it goes so far, we’re distant from the familiarity of the category. You may lead consumers to be mistrustful, not eager to adopt, not feeling like it’s relevant. So, this week I’ve been having this conversation especially with a lot of F&B brands. The conversation is all about balance and figuring things out as a team.
If I would have a mic here and speak to the whole client side through my experience, I would say this: look for a partner, not a proposal.
Your point about teamwork rings true – how do you foster that for clients?
It’s a great question, and it requires a complex answer. As data capture becomes, in my view, a commodity, I think any consumer centric research agency positioned for success must now be an evolution of a consultancy – because that’s the right thing. It was not a, “Let me share the data and methodology,” – it’s a consultative approach! Especially with Catalyx, it’s more of a partnership than a delivery of information. It’s no longer a ping pong of, “I send you a brief, you send me a proposal.” What works now is, “Here is my problem, let’s think together how to solve it.”
I don’t think the client is looking for a brief/ proposal relationship. What’s happening sometimes with me and my clients, I get this brief, they have 10 concepts to discuss, already fully fledged. I look at the details and see the difference between them is minor changes in the fine print of their RTBs. I see it as, at that point, just splitting hairs about 10 different ways to say the same thing, rather than solving for a problem. When my clients hear this, it clicks, and they change the brief – it’s better by far to be looped in from the start. That’s the future.
If I would have a mic here and speak to the whole client side through my experience, I would say this: look for a partner, not a proposal.
That client-side perspective brings such a boon to projects. Do you find yourself reaching for your previous experience, day-to-day?
Well, originally I’m a construction engineer. I spent most of my professional life in P&G for 20 years, totally on that client side with a focus on marketing and brand building. This is the core line, and when I was left I was a SVP for a region. I made the jump from building bridges to building brands! They’re both logical, rely on analytical skills, and a strong framework and execution.
I am able to comprehensively tell the client what I would do in their shoes.
When I joined Catalyx, I brought the thinking of actionability to talks with our clients. I think the biggest threat to this research industry is just simply reporting data. Companies would be happy to get that data, but as a client, what are you actually doing with it? What’s the actionability? What’s next – and so what?
I used to be in the decision room for these clients, so today, when I present our work I can say “this is what the data is telling us, but here’s what we’re actually going to do with it.” I always add a slide or two to bring recommendations to life. That’s where the magic happens.
The 1 +10 +30 presentation structure that we do I am a huge fan of. For the 1, meaning our executive summary, I put my executive hat on and I am able to comprehensively tell the client what I would do in their shoes. At the end of the day I’m giving you what you need to do to win.
Do you think working with Catalyx back when you were a client would have changed things for you?
It would have saved me a LOT of time. And time is money, by the way! Our way of summarising recommendations is called a taxi ride because…
Because… time is money?
[Laughs] Exactly! I would look around at my team who I trust, say, “Esmeralda, tell me about this data”, get to the action point, cut through a lot of slow decisions and be able to pursue those priorities that create impact, and quickly. The taxi ride can give you that.
Time is valuable indeed. Most importantly, how do you spend it when you take a break?
I look for the slopes and the ski! [Laughs] I live in Geneva, so I’m looking forward to going to Verbier next week and taking my kids and my wife there. Personally, I’m looking forward most to the après-ski…
Usually I go to nearer slopes, but Verbier will be a treat for us. Other times my family and I go to France, sometimes Chamonix, as it’s only an hour or so from us. My kids are much, much, much better at skiing than me – but I can’t say that in front of them. Hopefully they don’t read this!
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