What will the next ten years hold
for Christian Brothers Automotive?
A lighthouse vision for 2029.
THE COMPANY

Christian Brothers Automotive is a national automotive repair business founded in 1982. Since then, they’ve redefined service with free shuttle service, educational estimates and an industry-leading warranty. But after 37 years of revolutionizing their industry, the competition had caught up.

THE SITUATION

CBA was at a turning point in their business. The industry was changing. And as CBA’s founding leadership looked to the future, they asked themselves a significant question: What do the next 10 years look like?

THE CHALLENGE

CBA came to Liquid and we collaborated on several key objectives, covering revenue, market, and customer and employee experience objectives.

WHAT WE DID
  • Ethnographic, Quantitative, and Qualitative Research
  • Deep Data Analysis
  • Touchpoint and Journey Mapping
  • Swarms
  • Experience Prototyping
  • Brand Strategy and Design
  • Event Launch Design
THE DISCOVERY

We did quantitative customer surveys and qualitative interviews. We performed audits of CBA’s brand, competitors, store experience and industry. We conducted 18-plus hours of interviews, visited stores and ran a workshop in Houston, TX. And we received 8,000-plus customer survey responses, while analyzing over a million transactions.

One particular insight centered around return visits—something franchisees and the home office believed to be a strength.

But the data showed us that a majority of customers simply weren’t coming back for a second visit over an eight year period. This presented a significant opportunity to the team. How might we design CBA’s brand and services to ensure that they were meeting the needs of their customers, and drive return visits?

CBA Customer Experience Design C2
THE COLLABORATION

Liquid went to CBA’s home office in Houston, TX, to facilitate two Swarms—our method for co-creating and collaborating with clients in real time. Thirty-one participants helped generate and prototype 800 unique brand innovation concepts. After, we distilled these down to three big ideas to test with customers. Our second swarm focused the one brand concept that would propel CBA into 2029. We spent four days in Houston with a focused group of 23 participants to bring the concept to life.

THE UNVEILING

In May 2019, we helped CBA unveil CB2.O in Marco Island, FL. It started with a keynote presentation, then a breakout experience that brought the new vision of the company to life. Attendees could visit five stations, including Brand Strategy, Digital Experience, Service Offerings, App Prototyping, Architecture and Customer Journey. Each was supported by unique iPad experiences, including a CBA app prototype and a VR experience to visualize the new store concept.

THE PATH FORWARD

Moving forward, we’re continuing to help CBA reimagine—through new and evolved services and products, fresh thinking on physical and digital experiences, and an updated take on the impact CBA wants to have on its community.

SWARMING WITH LIQUID

A Swarm is when your key people and our key people get together in a room and co-create solutions in real time. This gets assignments off to an aggressive start, aligns our thinking and priorities, shrinks timelines, and leads us to strategic places we might never get to if we followed a more traditional path.

SEE THE APPROACH