StartUp Beat

“At a time when consumers are actively avoiding marketing messages, brands can no longer afford to underestimate the voice of their customers,” said Andrew Leary, CEO and co-founder of Passenger.  “In fact, Passenger is the direct result of market innovators voicing their need to engage and activate customers.”

The company says that brands such as Coca-Cola, ABC Television and Sara Lee are leveraging Passenger to deploy private brand communities designed to facilitate discussions with customers and better understand how to respond to changes in consumer behavior, attitudes, tastes and market trends.

“We are trying to re-invent customer connections by engaging in a richer, deeper dialogue with our customers, while also helping us to drive bottom-up innovation,” said Ravi Parmeswar, vice president of Sara Lee’s Central Insights Group.

Founded in 2005 and privately held and backed by Shelter Capital Partners, Passenger says that it leverages a customer community, helps companies identify opportunities and provides a means of collaborating with customers to refine new marketing strategies before investing in them.  

“Marketers must look for new ways to integrate seamlessly with emerging online communities and glean customer insight,” said Art Bilger, managing partner of Shelter Capital.  “Passenger recognized this need and pioneered an innovative platform that is unmatched by competitors and for the first time provides brands with an all-encompassing customer collaboration tool.”

“The power of online communities is increasingly important as companies recognize that community engagement is becoming a key contributor to customer insight,” said Adam Sarner, principal research analyst at Gartner.  “Companies are realizing that there is a correlation between bottom-line business growth and levels of customer advocacy.”

Passenger - www.thinkpassenger.com