Shopper/buyer-activated promotions
For the marketer, this relatively new phenomena – the ability of the shopper/buyer to access at will a plethora of online sources of information and to send and receive communications 24/7 – means a sea change in response from just answering enquiries (through call centres?). Accept that the technology may be mind-boggling (so just get someone else to do it) and realise that this is now – and that’s how people communicate, but (and believe it) the need for marketing messages and promotions is at least just the same or greater. So support and assist the shopper/buyers as they seek information, comment or endorsements (this two-way communication is what is different); provide this, but go further: offer solutions through content and point them to your website, encourage them to share – through promotions – and reward those with questions when your team replies and/or do the same for those who respond with data (e-mail address or mobile phone number). Provide a bounce back with a promotion too. Case study 30 gives a good idea of what is possible.
Case study 30 – The Ad that Ran by Geometry Global for Intersport
Intersport (IS), a sports retailer in the Czech Republic, wanted to launch its new running collection, with almost no production or media budget. The objective was to get to a specific target audience – amateur runners (a lot of people are taking up running and bragging about it on social media) – and bring them to the shops. There are two major sports retailer competitors, however none – including IS – has a large brand presence.
The creative idea: Intersport motivated runners to use any running app and run in the shape of the Intersport brand logo: ‘IS’. Users who shared their routes on their social profiles got a discount coupon for running gear. The further they ran, the bigger the discount in the shop, and the bigger their wish to brag about it on social media! By running in the shape of the IS brand logo, the audience proudly advertised the brand on different digital platforms. A 2016 IMC Gold Award.
Technology
Technology interfaces. This section is a technology brief. Do jump this section if you know it all. It will be out of date before it is even printed. This chapter should really itself be a media stream (using Layar [see below] with a constantly changing text, with video and audio) covering the continuous and exciting developments in technology and its application to communication for the shopper/buyer and, as a result, how the brand manager, supplier and retailer can fit in marketing communication and promotion to that stream. Using the Layar app you would be able to wave your mobile over the print here and see an up-to-the-minute description of the latest technology with video clips of what it can do for marketing communication and promotion. Read more about the technology in the headed paragraphs that follow.
Searchability. Nowadays, when information on any product, service or brand is sought, the shopper/buyer can access a communication device to find the answers 24/7. The search typically includes visiting websites through a mobile, tablet, laptop or PC. It may of course arise while watching TV; or be a retailer-generated mobile alert (SMS, social media alert or e-mail); or from accessing a QR (or AR) symbol in print or an NFC triggered mobile message, that may direct them to bricks-and-mortar outlets with promotional offers; or to apps that can be downloaded. This is all dependent on technology that is deployed by the retailer, brand or supplier. It equally depends on the technology available to the shopper/buyer (that which they own) and, of course, whether the shopper/buyer chooses to use the technology. Hence the chapter heading; it is the shopper/buyer that leads the action. The future will see consumers constantly able to access information and news from anywhere on the planet. Mark Anderson of the Strategic News Service has coined a term for this – AORTA (Always On Real Time Access).
Camera and GPS action. Another current technology innovation, in Japan at the moment, is iButterfly, which surely will become loved and used globally. The shopper scans with their camera/app a retail environment (mall or high street) with their mobile, and geo-targeting will respond with a series of butterflies viewed across the camera screen. Participating outlets are shown as butterflies on screen; the shopper either catches them in a form of gamification play (recording ‘butterfly points’ towards future offers) or clicks on a specific butterfly, when that outlet signifies promotions just for them – and which, by entering the store, they can redeem. This is the modern equivalent of the book of store vouchers offered by Westfield when it opened its White City mall (the offers are still available; see website or print advertisements in local press – Evening Standard), except the offers can be targeted to the shopper precisely. There are other innovations: SoLoMo – Social Local mobile – is an incoming technology that combines location with acknowledging presence of a mobile and then ascertains the distance to participating outlets. The system provides extensive feedback to the marketer while acting as a form of companion – for example, in the retail area.
Technological sales assistance. Triumph, who sells lingerie, used a body scanner in a launch at Selfridges and then screened the body shape so that a shopper could see what they would look like wearing the lingerie as the body shape moved around on screen. Over 100,000 tweets resulted and a hike in sales. Taking ‘selfies’ are all the rage; women taking photographs of themselves without make-up raised large amounts of money for a charity (without the charity being involved); men followed suit by taking selfies with themselves wearing make-up. Inviting people to participate in such promotions seems a sure-fire way to achieve considerable brand involvement.
BRIEF 7.1. What are the facts on TV and mobile? (source in parentheses)
TV related
• ‘Consumers today watch TV, surf the Internet and check new emails simultaneously – though 64 per cent of 55+ year-olds stated they have never participated in this modern habit’ (Trust PMS).
• ‘The average family home contains 10 different devices, with almost six (57%) of these connected to the internet. These devices are encouraging family members to second screen, with three quarters (73%) of those surveyed saying they use a separate smartphone, tablet or laptop while watching TV’ (Internet Retailing).
Mobile related
• ‘Families in the UK are using instant messaging and video calls to talk to each other in the home’ (Research Microsoft Advertising).
• ‘Almost one in three (30 per cent) said they use devices such as tablets and smartphones to let each other know when dinner is ready (rather than shouting up the stairs), or ask for help with homework’ (Sparkler).
• ‘Mobile adspend in the UK grew to £429.2m in the first half of 2013, an increase of 127% compared to the same period last year’ (IAB report).
• ‘In 2012, 36% of advertising spend in the UK was on digital. This is up from 19% in 2007’ (OFCOM’s 2013 International Communications Market Report).
• ‘Some 27% of all online sales, worth £3bn, were placed on a mobile device. Of those mobile sales, 82% were from tablet computers. The figure was up by 131% on the same time last year. Meanwhile, sales from a smartphone rose by 186%’ (Internet Retailing).
• ‘According to, U.S. mobile retail sales are estimated to grow from $12 billion in 2013 to $27 billion by 2016 – a $15 billion increase in only 36 months’ (Forrester Research).
• ‘Smartphone usage in the UK has increased from 62% in 2013 to 68% in 2014’ (eConsultancy).
• ‘Watching online video content has become increasingly popular, rising from 61% in 2013 to 66% in 2014’ (eConsultancy).
• ‘Twice as much was spent via mobile devices as was spent using them in December 2012. The figures beat IMRG’s original estimate, last January of 12% growth’ (Internet Retailing).
Source unverified
• ‘In fact, people walking through store aisles with a smartphone in hand are 14% more likely to purchase’.
• MMS has three times the engagement of SMS.
• In the US, the government’s FEMA offered ‘text message shelters’ which directed users to the nearest shelter for hurricanes and earthquakes once their zip code was entered.
Social media
• Social media is a means to provide feedback or complaints directly to brands.
• ‘Visiting social networks has also gained popularity (72% in 2014 compared to 64% in 2013)’ (Internet Retailing).
• The merging of social and mobile is the perfect combination for food and drinks ads using fun and witty videos.
Internet, websites and e-mail
• Tablets now account for more web traffic than smartphones, concluding that although smartphones are more common, tablets offer a far more convenient browsing experience.
• ‘Looking more broadly at internet usage across devices, it was found that 83% of UK online consumers use the internet daily in 2014 and 64% several times a day, compared to 75% and 57% respectfully in 2013’ (Internet Retailing).
• ‘30 seconds or less is the average length of time that consumers spend reading or listening to online marketing communications’ (Responsys report).
• ‘More UK online consumers purchased on the internet in 2014 than 2013 (77% compared to 72%)’ (Internet Retailing).
• ‘Advertisers online spent a record 6-month figure of £3.04 billion in the first half of 2013, an increase of £435 m or 17.5% on the same period in 2012’ (IAB Digital Adspend report). The report shows that the increase has largely been driven by a massive take-up of online and mobile advertising by the fast-moving consumer goods sector.
• ‘UK shoppers spent £91bn online in 2013, according to new figures. The internet retailing market grew by 16% during the course of the year’ (IMRG-Capgemini eRetail Sales Index for December). It was capped by a final month in which online sales rose by 18 per cent, with £11 billion spent, up from £9 billion in December 2012. The IMRG now forecasts 17 per cent growth in 2014, and estimates £107 billion will be spent online over the year.
• ‘Estimate that 21% of retail sales now takes place online’ (etailing trade association).
• ‘61.8% rise in Click & Collect orders and a shift to traffic from PC to mobile devices making up over half of traffic to johnlewis.com’ (John Lewis).
• ‘Internet advertising expenditure to almost double between 2013 and 2017, growing by 56.5% over the 5-year period’ (Key Note Forecasts).
• ‘The channel on which consumers spend the longest time interacting with marketing messages is email – 50 per cent of consumers spend on average between 5 and 30 seconds on incoming marketing emails. This suggests that the unobtrusive, opt-in nature of email continues to reign supreme’ (Trust PMS).
• ‘Typically (49 per cent) receive between 2 – 10 emails per day from all brands they actively subscribe to, almost one-fifth (19 per cent) of consumers receive 11 or more marketing emails per day, only 8 per cent of consumers are reading every marketing email they receive, compared to 43 per cent who are reading less than half of emails sent by marketers’ (Trust PMS).
• ‘Consumers are most likely to look at or read marketing content from brands on weekdays, between 5pm and11pm (23 per cent)— 32 per cent of consumers have liked a brand on Facebook, while just 12 per cent claim to follow a brand on Twitter’ (Trust PMS).
• ‘A third of consumers (33 per cent) expect brands to contact them with relevant incentives and discounts within a day of registration or subscription to a website or service. To the consumer, this isn’t an unrealistic expectation – they are savvy to the fact that marketers collect data on them. They expect this to be used to provide quick, highly relevant discounts, services and products based on the behaviours they have shared with the brand’ (Trust PMS).
• A third of UK internet users in 2013 are accessing the internet using a tablet. This is up from 24 per cent on the previous year. The 2012 figure was double that of 2011.
• Giving staff tablets helps overcome showrooming.
BRIEF 7.2. Website search changes optimised for mobile. Eu Gene Ang from Econsultancy explained at the end of June 2017 that the search engine results page (SERP) is now a single column designed to appear the same on mobile and desktop. This has reduced the number of ads that appear to seven, so, optimising keywords and bids has never been more important, but there is a plus: more space is available to draw attention to the brand, internal sitelinks and even reviews. It is important to review current AdWords ads and read up on the extensions at Google’s AdWords support site,
BRIEF 7.3. Google is changing from an ‘information engine’ to a ‘knowledge engine’. Instead of showing search results only based on keywords, Google now aims to understand through its updated algorithms each user’s intent and provide the best answer it can on the front page. A search provides a normal SERP (located on the left), but there is also a ‘Knowledge Panel’ on the right containing commonly-sought detail about the subject. Marketers should re-examine keyword strategy (known as Search Engine Optimisation [SEO]) and ensure they are not trying to optimise for short keyword terms which are already well catered to by Google. In addition, the index for non-mobile-optimised words is not updated as often as the mobile-optimised index, so prioritise the latter. A new Google search feature based on AI is RankBrain, which prioritises material that is fresh, engaging and deep.
BRIEF 7.4. Google’s top 10 tips for multi-screen site development
1 Be sure of search: make sure mobile users can easily access your site through search.
2 Focus on speed: smaller images and careful coding can help.
3 Design for key tasks: re-evaluate the key tasks for your mobile users and design for them.
4 Identify users’ needs: your homepage should guide users to the right place.
5 Aid moving between screens: give ways to share and save content to revisit on another device.
6 Be touch friendly: users should never feel the need to pinch and zoom.
7 Simplify checkout: use default inputs, user data and good error design for easier-to-use forms.
8 Don’t rely on mouse overs: users on touch devices simply can’t see them.
9 Customise, don’t cut: offer the content and capability of the desktop, but customise, don’t overload.
10Prompt calls: provide buttons to start phone calls at potential conversion drop-off points.
This expectation of mobile-friendly content extends beyond the site experience. With 48 per cent of e-mails opened on mobile devices (according to Litmus), the inbox needs to be able to make the transition between devices. This can be tricky, considering the coding limitations of e-mail messages.
Social media. The principal social media sites are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram, Flickr, Vimeo, VK, WhatsApp, Snapchat and Dropbox. Google Photos and YouTube feature too. Pinterest offers an app which can be integrated with supplier and retailer software packages, offering a smooth transfer to websites. This allows the shopper to make a purchase from the non-purchase Pinterest site. Instagram is probably overtaking the others for marketers as, according to Mobile, it offers to cross-fertilise a brand’s most loyal fans, visually enhancing through genuine real-time content material of which is more relevant to shoppers. Instagram was not intended originally for commercial use but offers lifestyle insights of other shoppers and can be linked both to a brand website and to Facebook. WhatsApp has reached the milestone of 1 billion daily users.
Understanding social sentiment that differentiates between positive and negative feedback helps marketers establish the shoppers pulse, but also allows the marketer to harvest and to use the shoppers’ language in subsequent messages. Social media is a trusted source of independent recommendations or otherwise of a product, brand or service. More importantly, it is one of the six media that need to be used to discover the engram the shopper’s mind file – which can be set against the brandgram. The impact of social media on shoppers is immense and marketers need to somehow direct shoppers to social media sites. A dedicated team is required to be able to respond in near real time – both to pick up and use plaudits and correct misunderstandings or misinformation.
Influencers on social media, who may be celebrities but are often those with a large number of followers, write a single post which can affect sentiment (think the Kardashians and their followers).
BRIEF 7.5. Celebrity influencers. UK marketers are willing to pay celebrity influencers on Facebook more than £75,000 for a single post promoting their brand, compared with £67,000 to YouTubers per video and £53,000 per Snap for Snapchat stars (a study of 200 marketers working directly on influencer programmes across the UK, by Rakuten Marketing and Morar Research). Premium fashion marketers are willing to pay the most to Facebook celebs – with fees per post rising to over £160,000. Eighty-six per cent of marketers admit to not being sure how influencer fees are calculated, while 38 per cent can’t tell whether a campaign is actually driving sales. Despite this, 75 per cent of respondents said they expected their influencer spending to rise over the next year – with 35 per cent expecting it to grow by more than 50 per cent.
BRIEF 7.6. Influencers. Celebrity chefs are excellent at raising sales of ingredients, utensils or ‘gadgets’. Health and beauty correspondents are recommending anti-ageing creams, and when they did this with a Boots own product described as ‘the best’, men were arriving in the UK from abroad with the product high on their shopping list from anxious beauty-seeking partners.
Technical wizardry. Adaptive designed sites will detect the device that the person is using and serve a design specific to that device. Responsive design is where e-mails and websites are designed to be responsive and will expand, contract and rearrange themselves based on the space available to them. Mobile-first is a strategy for approaching the design of sites and e-mails, encouraging consideration of the smaller screens first. The result is very streamlined designs, where the content and accessibility take priority over design-heavy elements and eye candy. In the mobile inbox, some mobile-first e-mails are super skinny when viewed on a larger screen. Finally, there are two other considerations:
• Proactive. The mobile user is required to register to receive messages. These usually make offers. When an offer is taken up, a further offer (bounce back) should be made to retain involvement. Registration can be achieved through the offer of a game or app.
• Reactive. Responding to shopper queries without the need for registration.
Mobile is an important way to send a message to consumers, who increasingly have their smartphones and tablets within arm’s reach 24 hours a day. ‘Mobile has become the wiring and the plumbing of retail, with impressive progress in integrating mobile calls to action in-store and in the vicinity’, according to Mobile Marketer, adding that agencies (in the US) are not keeping up and that budget needs to be allocated to offer more than just porting PC web creative. Catalina Marketing suggests that ‘By combining in-store location, past purchase history, purchase intent, purchase cycle and numerous other points, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) marketers have an unprecedented ability to influence the consumer the instant before they make their purchase decision. It’s cool, it’s the future of retail’. However, it is easy for marketers to fall into the trap of sending too many messages and annoying users, especially when the same message is being delivered across mobile’s multiple messaging platforms.
QR codes, augmented reality, applications. Three useful technologies are described here.
• The QR code is another ‘across all media’ message deliverer. A QR code (quick response) is a type of 2D bar code that is used to provide easy access to information through a smartphone. The QR code is offered on any photographically available media – print is the most common form – on packaging, on posters, in magazines and in newspapers. It can also be produced on a dynamic media – the only requirement is that it can be photographed by a smartphone.
Static QR codes, the most common type, are used to disseminate information to the general public. The code’s creator can track information about the number of times a code was scanned and the associated action taken, along with the times of scans and the operating system of the devices that scanned it.
Dynamic QR codes (sometimes referred to as unique QR codes) offer more functionality. The owner can edit the code at any time and can target a specific individual for personalised marketing. Such codes can track more specific information, including the scanners names and e-mail address, how many times they scanned the code and, in conjunction with tracking codes on a website, conversion rates.
BRIEF 7.7. QR code example. An advert in the Sunday Telegraph for purchasing trees for gardens – accessing the QR code takes the viewer to the website where hundreds of trees can be seen and orders placed. Each tree has a description of suitability for planting location, etc.
• Augmented reality (AR). Augmented reality is no longer just for enhancing advertising campaigns – there are now many more practical applications of the technology to improve the customer experience. In camera mode, the mobile is used with imposed messages or pictures imposed on the screen.
BRIEF 7.8. IKEA app. An example is the IKEA AR app, available to download now from Apple’s app store and Google Play, which will work with any smartphone or tablet. All the customer needs to do is place the catalogue in any space within their home, activate the app, and they can see exactly how a virtual Billy bookcase or sofa fits into the real-time environment. IKEA states that the app ‘resolves the problem of 14% of customers who say they’ve bought the wrong-sized furniture for their rooms and over 70% who say they don’t really know how big their own homes are’. This is of particular importance to the UK customer as our houses are the smallest in Western Europe. The app is by Metaio software company, who also developed the VW and Audi interactive owner’s manual apps, designed to replace the weighty paper tome taking up valuable space in the glove-box. The app allows the user to point their device at any feature of the car and the app gives quick assistance to any query, identifying more than 300 elements and quickly pulling up maintenance guides in a 3D overlay.
BRIEF 7.9. Layar. The first company to develop an augmented reality app for mobile for use with the first digitally shoppable was Layar. In the September 2013 issue of Seventeen, it was possible to scan over 220 pages with a mobile device and add any item to a shopping basket. It was also possible to create an in-app mood board to pin favourite clothes or styles, unlock discounts when scanning certain adverts and unlock bonus content such as videos and playlists.
BRIEF 7.10. Zappar teamed up with Pedigree to add augmented reality to children’s annuals, making a compelling case for augmented reality’s effectiveness in engaging with the consumer and in helping traditional print media integrate itself into the digital market.
• Applications (known as apps). An app is a downloadable piece of software that allows a user to carry out actions without a need to understand the software workings. Examples include an app that can be used to display items in a supermarket and allow users to place an order. An app can be used to read QR codes. In today’s hyper-competitive app marketplace, simply creating a great app isn’t enough. You need a solid app marketing plan to make sure you can bring in the users you need to meet your goals. The best approach to is to validate your marketing strategy with testing and benchmarking. Firms such as Fiksu offer a benchmark service, which test-markets your app and provides a detailed report that compares your likely costs with others in your app category, plus concrete recommendations for improvement.
Internet websites and e-mails
Website and search. Search engines are now remarkably responsive to search. Shoppers rapidly access websites. There is now enough professional support for a website to become an excellent marketing and sales site and it not intended to describe in this book the setting up of a website. In addition, search engines such as Google take advertisements on a pay-per-click basis that appear alongside search results and on webpages. As an aside, research by Sponge found that 78 per cent of UK retailers do not offer free wi-fi in-store to shoppers. Half of the shops that do are collecting valuable information and benefitting from the opportunity to engage with shoppers while offering something of value to the shopper. The best experiences the survey finds come from John Lewis and Warehouse, with Debenhams and Pret A Manger providing a more involved experience. According to EpiServer, Debenhams meets shoppers demands in terms of speed, key functionality and ease of use. One in ten log on to free wi-fi at restaurants and cafes daily – so the shopper demand is there.
User initiation is key; when someone chooses to engage, that’s the opportunity for marketers to really deliver an experience that is favourable and welcomed. Where a lot of advertisers go wrong is creating experiences that are disruptive and jarring, forcing people to leave the page. It’s essential to keep users on the page so they can easily go back to their original content at any time.
Ecommerce appears to have reached a tipping point, as new figures suggest that mobile devices are now behind 55 per cent of all online sales. Analysis from e-retail trade associations has found that sales via desktop have been steadily declining, with all online growth now coming as a result of sales through mobile devices.
BRIEF 7.11. Autoglass®, the UK’s leader in vehicle glass repair and replacement, invested in a mobile-optimised site in 2010 to reach more customers on the go and increase sales leads. Overall, mobile bookings are up by 11 per cent and clicks are up by 53 per cent year on year.
BRIEF 7.12. Plusnet, a provider of broadband and phone services, built a website using responsive web design to facilitate site conversions on all devices and improve user experience. The business has seen online sales via smartphones and tablets grow tenfold year on year.
E-mail. Advertising can also be placed alongside e-mail messages when e-mails are accessed. If the shopper/customer has agreed, then they can be sent marketing and sales material and messages by e-mail. Usually this is after registration with the originator. Companies no longer need dedicated staff responding to e-mails but can use e-mail automation. It was estimated in a Gartner report that by 2020, customers will manage 85 per cent of their relationships without talking to a human and that such nurtured leads, according to DemandGen, will produce on average a 20 per cent increase in sales opportunities. Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50 per cent more sales-ready leads at a 33 per cent lower cost (Forrester Research). It has been found by GetResponse that e-mails that include social sharing buttons have a 158 per cent higher click-through rate. Nucleus Research, giving an overview of marketing automation, states that it drives a 14.5 per cent increase in sales productivity and a 12.5 per cent reduction in marketing overhead.
RedEye reported that personalised e-mail automation should be used for registration, reactivation, chasing abandoned baskets, conversion, thank yous, cross selling and social ‘shared/liked’ messages. RedEye also recommends a frequency or timeliness of e-mails, in effect providing a life cycle of e-mails that acquire, convert, develop a relationship. Selling and making offers with promotions is an additional consideration. The e-mails are based on the online and e-mail behaviour of the customer. It is now possible to extend that automation to website direction, sending a text message and receiving a call from a call centre. However, mobile users are also increasingly using their devices to check for e-mail messages, making it imperative for marketers to ensure their e-mails are optimised for mobile.
BRIEF 7.13. JCDecaux in Belgium wanted marketing directors to know that even in these modern times, outdoor is still a very effective medium. But as marketing directors are very busy people that receive thousands of similar requests a day, an e-mail wouldn’t get them to attend a presentation. So, without asking their permission, a photo of each marketing director was placed on a single billboard near their office along with their name and an e-mail address for JCDecaux.
They reacted exactly as predicted: confused, shocked and a little annoyed, and making contact wanting to know what the purpose was. The response was an e-mail apologising for any inconvenience, and stating: ‘We just wanted you to experience the effectiveness of outdoor advertising. As you got so many reactions from only one single billboard … Just imagine what our entire network could do for your brand!’ They were invited to sign up for a presentation … as they had experienced the effectiveness of outdoor for themselves (An IMC Gold Award winner 2016).
Resulting impact for the marketer
Reacting to consumers. Consumers are becoming more selective about which messages they pay attention to from brands, hopping from one device to another in a short space of time. Marketers need to orchestrate individualised customer experiences across the digital channels – with the most relevant offer for that particular moment. Mass-marketing techniques no longer pay off. Consumers are looking for quick, digestible content that is highly relevant to their wants and needs and delivered across their preferred digital channels.
Internet and mobile direct marketing spend. Three yearly surveys (WKS and DMA) show that marketers change their budget allocation very little year on year. UK Source Trading has tabled their findings (Table 7.1.)
Table 7.1 Trends in spend for marketers
Source: UK Source Trending.
BRIEF 7.14. Social media reliability. A survey of 170 digital marketing and advertising professionals found that 72 per cent of respondents said that they now consider social media to be a more reliable source of public sentiment than traditional focus groups. When discussing social media as a research tool, 11 per cent of brands and agencies surveyed say they consider their market research to be ‘very thorough’.
BRIEF 7.15. Sir Martin Sorrell commented in an interview with the Harvard Business Review that he thinks Facebook and Twitter are for PR, not advertising. He believes they are a branding medium and about developing the brand over the long term. Someone saying something nice on Facebook about your brand is probably not going to drive an instant purchase!
BRIEF 7.16. So which retailers use what social media? An analysis of McDonalds social media activity by EConsultancy found that McDonalds had not touched its Google account. IKEA and Walmart have done the same, while ASOS and John Lewis are active with daily updates. On Pinterest, McDonalds has one single account but runs no competitions, and because it operates in 119 countries and the rules vary in each country, it is not very active and simply copies content from Flickr on to Pinterest – it only has 2,000 followers there. By contrast. Red Bull and Walmart are very active on Pinterest. McDonalds is active on Twitter in some countries but not others. It posts a lot but only responds to about 20 complaints daily in the US. Facebook is the social media where McDonalds is most active, but only locally (500,000 fans in the UK); globally there are only about five posts a month. McDonalds does record a high ‘liked’ ranking – possibly because it is a global corporate. If the intention is to maintain a presence in peoples’ minds (see the earlier Chapter 3 about engrams) then its wide coverage has maintained that.
Mobile marketing for the client or business
For a marketer, there is no problem using a promotion through mobiles – the technicalities allow it; if you can’t do it, find someone who can. The key to get the shopper buyer to notice and respond is to think really creatively and, through intrigue and curiosity with a value or price promotion, get a response. A bounce back should then be used, again with a promotion, in any follow up. Case study 31 is a creative example.
Case study 31 – CheltenHAM Festival of Micropig Racing by Space for Gala Coral Group
A new breed of online/mobile users typically has active accounts with two bookmakers; Coral’s social media community has a high percentage of ‘active’ customers. One key task was to generate meaningful social media conversation, putting Coral ‘top of mind’ when customers were placing bets. The campaign had to cut through the Cheltenham-related competitor communications and get people talking about and betting on their mobiles with Coral.
Race films were edited into long- and short-format videos and Vines, including shots from a pig-mounted camera (the ‘Ham Cam’) and comedic racing commentary. Videos were seeded across Coral’s Instagram, Vine and Facebook channels, using #CheltenHAM as the campaign identifier and supported by posts and photo content. Promoted posts on Twitter helped boost reach and were enhanced with a promotional mechanic offering chances to win free bets every day by predicting the winning pigs. The call to action in this campaign was the content itself. The audience are prolific sharers and commentators on social media who actively seek out the funniest clips, gifs, quotes and photos to share and boost their social standing.
Coral achieved a 28 per cent share of voice (the next best brand was Betfair at 16 per cent). The campaign achieved an increase of 478 per cent in socially referred traffic to coral.co.uk during the Cheltenham Festival versus the average for the previous 4 months, a 95 per cent increase in bets placed on a mobile device and a 62 per cent year-on-year increase in total bets placed (650,000 in 2014 vs. 1,050,000 in 2015), showing the power of a fun creative idea to entertain and engage consumers’ imagination. At the bookmaker’s busiest time of the year, it not only delivered tremendous stand out but led to a tangible, considerable business impact, all on a micro-pig-sized budget. It won an IPM Grand Prix award in 2016.
The challenge for marketers is that because mobile is such a personal medium, users have a high expectation that messages be relevant and add value to their lives. Today, the marketing funnel has never been more important. According to Econsultancy, 46 per cent of consumers research on a smartphone before making a purchase in store; it’s therefore not surprising that 62 per cent of companies believe understanding how mobile users research/buy products is very important.
There are ways for marketers to address these issues, including increasingly sophisticated user analytics that provide customer context alongside traditional methods used in advertising such as A/B split testing, where two versions (A and B) are compared which are identical, except for one variation that might impact a user’s behaviour. Typically version A might be that currently used (control), while version B is modified in some respect. As with any direct marketing strategy, testing and learning are key. One of the challenges for marketers is aligning the channel with the target user experience on mobile. Marketers need to think about mobile as being interactive. Generation X and Y are hugely driven by instant gratification and the fastest way to reach them with an interactive message is SMS – they send something and get it back right away. The brand manager and retailer need to ensure they provide a multi-screen capability for the shopper.
Do banner ads deliver? On the whole, banner ads are ubiquitous, yet often ignored. While many mobile ads are ineffective, research – and, arguably, profits – has shown that those built for the small screen, that allow users to choose whether or not to activate the ad, drive more interaction and deliver a far better experience than standard banners. The question, then, is how to serve up ads that are not unwelcome guests and whose messaging fits the medium, because ads can only be effective if readers aren’t thinking about them as ads. They have to be noticed, but not noticeable, and in the context of what they’re reading or searching for but not interruptive. Optimising for this kind of experience on mobile presents unique challenges; chief among them is the obvious: the amount of real estate at one’s disposal is miniscule by web standards. That single limitation alone requires a new way of thinking. Mobile has pitfalls and opportunities for publishers and marketers alike. The smart ones will try to imagine what could be and adapt rather than imposing their will. At their finest, mobile ads should feel like part of the experience, using the precise form of non-linear story-telling that web hyperlinks made possible.
The discovery that the shopper/buyer builds a ‘mind file’ of a brand and products in the subconscious mind and, as one message element, seeks peer reassurance through social media/verbal communication before purchase means that a brand manager, supplier or retailer needs to make it easy for shoppers to click through or to be directed to social media. Genuineness of content is essential, and attempts to influence comments made will be discovered. A website, app or any other new technology should be designed to allow browse and discover rather than search and buy.
BRIEF 7.17. A model for online fashion shopping – Dressipi. How do you personalise recommendations for emotional purchases like fashion? The Dressipi ‘mission is to help retailers grow and stay relevant by giving their customers the confidence to look and feel great and removing all hassle from the shopping experience’, revolutionising the way women shop and dress, offering an effortless experience where everyone has free access to the digital equivalent of the personal stylist the have always dreamed of. By combining proprietary technology with the know-how of a team of expert stylists, Dressipi allows women to discover and put together the clothes, accessories and brands that fit their shape, style and personal preferences perfectly – so they can look their best every day, whatever the occasion. The individual’s Fashion Fingerprint is determined and the occasion for which they are dressing. Then, at point of purchase, for those wanting to find the right fit for their style and shape, the Dressipi Size Finder determines their best size for each individual brand and style of clothing – ensuring they never have to purchase the wrong size again. Over 3.5 million women currently use the Dressipi service to make better shopping and dressing decisions every day.
Case study
Case study 32 – Unilever Peperami ‘Fanimal’
• Objective: The purpose was to increase trial around the 2010 World Cup.
• Strategy: To build relevance with the key 18–to 24-year-old audience, appearing cool and engaging to under 16s.
• Solution: To offer 1,000 impact-activated rubber shouting mascots with a repertoire of comically insulting phrases about rival teams communicated on 10 million packs with entry via SMS and winners redeeming online.
• Results: Sales uplift was nearly 4 times the target with entries 50 per cent higher. Brand penetration increased from 13.6 per cent to 14.4 per cent in a crowded marketplace. IPM Award 2013 Gold winner.
Summary
Marketers must assume that the speed of technology change will continue and should employ those under 30 (?) to keep ahead of the competition. Communication is clearly heading towards a domination of mobile over all else. Who knows, though – the Google spectacles or the mobile watch or indeed devices inserted into clothing may replace the mobile. A social media-provided content focus would seem to match the needs of the next generation, allowing the recommendation of peer users to highlight the products to buy for any group (segment) of customers as shoppers and buyers. This fits in well with the engram discovery and the need to build the shopper’s mind file, and the requirement to receive messages from distinct sources.
Self-study questions
1 Describe new uses for the following in your company:
• NFCs
• QR codes
• Augmented reality – download Blippar and Layar and try them out.
2 Why is mobile becoming the preferred communication channel?
• What are its technical benefits?
• What are its relationship benefits?
3 What are the pros and cons of e-mails versus text messages?