#StartupStory: Power Lab goes back to basics

Megan Power, former award-winning investigative journalist, editor and columnist.

Power Lab offers its clients brand reputation, crisis readiness, PR and media relations focused on customer experience with particular emphasis on customer journey auditing. It is also able to assist with CEO positioning and profile building, media spokesperson training as well as guidance on navigating social media effectively.

Clients have included Discovery, FlySafair, MultiChoice, Business Leadership South Africa, Wimpy, Debonairs, Steers, Mugg & Bean and the KidsRights Foundation.

Former award-winning investigative journalist, editor and columnist Megan Power is at the helm and brings 30 years of media experience and skill to the role. At the Sunday Times investigative unit for several years, Power broke numerous front-page stories including the explosive arms deal, the banned chemical dye, Sudan Red, in food on supermarket shelves and the drug trafficking wife of SA’s former spy chief.

Sunday Times: How the SABC lied to us

Megan Power  22 Oct 2012

More than just a label

Danette Breitenbach  31 Oct 2014

Here, she talks us through the agency’s commitment to 'No spin. No bull. No fluff.' and what sets the agency apart from the rest...

How did the idea for the business come about?
Power Lab is a strategic communications agency offering a full range of communications support with a focus on customer experience. It offers customer journey audits, brand reputation, crisis readiness and management, PR and media relations.

After leaving The Power Report (the weekly consumer column I wrote for the Sunday Times) at the end of 2016, I began consulting on brand reputation and was approached to test an established customer journey for a large company. It was a great project – revealing numerous consumer challenges – and led to the company implementing key changes following my findings.

Other audits followed, with a client pointing out the gap I was filling. This planted the seed for an agency. When my brother, Kevin Power (founder and MD of digital agency Conversation Lab) offered to partner with me, Power Lab was born.

Elaborate on the agency's tagline: 'No spin. No bull. No fluff.'
After nearly 30 years working in SA newsrooms, including many years as an investigative journalist, news editor and the last six as a consumer columnist, I don’t do spin. And the clients we like to work with don’t do it either.

Consumers today are no-nonsense, with much higher expectations; they see right through insincerity. Good communication has to be authentic, decisive and honest.

What is Power Lab's competitive advantage?

Customer experience (CX) and journey mapping seem to be buzzwords thrown around a lot these days but when you interrogate it, businesses usually aren’t living up to their brand promises or offering the user-friendly experience they claim to.

Our audits are done strictly from a consumer’s viewpoint, evaluating every touchpoint on the way, with emphasis on effort required, personalisation and peace of mind across all channels.

We identify the gaps, pain points and weaknesses in a journey, and then suggest how to fix them.

It’s often the smallest, simplest changes that can have the most significant impact on customer loyalty and retention. Consumer research suggests that by 2020 customer experience will be more important than product or price as a brand differentiator.

We go to the heart of a business in a very tangible way, doing practical, on-the-ground work nimbly and efficiently. It’s what big corporates – more used to large, expensive legacy consultancies – are wanting and needing right now in a market that changes at pace.

A big advantage is having Conversation Lab as a strategic partner; it makes us a one-stop shop for clients wanting digital offerings alongside strategic communications and customer journey work, and it offers great collaboration for Power Lab, being able to lean on and learn from a bunch of talented, creative people.

What obstacles did you have to overcome to launch?
The first real obstacle was fear of the unknown. I had to have the confidence to make the decision to build something. It’s always easier to stay in your comfort zone; small-scale consultancy work definitely felt safer. But once decided, launching ended up being the easiest part.

Growing a viable agency, differentiating from others, and bringing in new business is where the real challenge lies.

What are some of your short and long-term goals for the agency?
Short-term: to create more awareness of Power Lab and to grow new business.

Long term: I want to see the agency develop and mature, bring in and train new talent and become an agency valued for its distinctive customer experience and communications work.

What's next on the agenda?
Right now, we’re preparing to start an exciting customer journey audit for a great new client; doing content creation work for another; and strategic communication and media engagement for a third; and in between, we’ve got a pitch or two to prepare for!

For more information, go to Power-Lab.co.za.