You buy a new car, there are some flowers on the passenger seat, you buy a camera and they throw in a couple of packs of batteries, buy a pair of suede boots and there in the box is a can of cleaner. Small gestures that don’t cost a lot and don’t need to be done, but make a huge difference in your perception of the retailer.
It’s said that ‘retail is detail’ and it’s never been more true than in these straitened times, so wouldn’t it be both sad and potentially more damaging in the longer term (whatever that means these days!) if small gestures like these bit the dust?
There’s been a lot of coverage of Starbucks ‘free coffee for your name campaign’, some of it complimentary, most of it cynical. Maybe that’s an inverse reaction to the power of the Starbucks brand – that’s for another day!
I must admit I was surprised when Starbucks didn’t want to capture any details off me when I bought my coffee, and some may see that as a missed opportunity.
Maybe we should cut them some slack and appreciate that maybe, just maybe they were seeking to make the customer experience a more pleasurable, more personal experience. It might just be our ‘britishness’ that’s uncomfortable with giving our name so openly. Compare the coffee shop to that great British institution – the public house – in some cases it can take a lifetime for the barman to find out your name and then have the courage to use it. Things have changed, are changing every day and we need to get used to it.
Or is it that Starbucks understand the power of a personalised experience? That’s one which remembers what you’ve bought in the past and uses the information in an appropriate and timely fashion – isn’t that all that Starbucks are asking their people to do? Recent research tells us that it’s one of the most important things customers look for when they are choosing which brand to buy.
We’ve discussed the idea of turning individual dials before and the concept of the aggregation of marginal gains, and retail is just another great example – don’t always look for the ‘big idea’ as a solution, you can gain more by implementing lots of little initiatives that combine to make a big difference. This is the key to Kevin Roberts’ recent controversial presentation, and we think it’s true, especially in the world of retail which changes overnight and demands action and reaction in equal measures.
Rules Of Engagement
Marketing like most things in today’s society is evolving faster than ever. The channels through which we communicate are continually expanding and what consumers expect and demand from brands has changed significantly from the days when they were simply listening, and the brands were telling.
Today the industry is a far more engaging and reactive place where dialogues between consumers and brands foster relationships and drive business behaviour. Some have argued that the balance of power now lies with the consumer and they can literally make or break brands in the socially aware environment.
Whether that’s completely true is a subject to debate . What isn’t in doubt is that the marketing paradigm has shifted. However, the traditional model is as relevant as ever, as it adds clarity and focus to an overly eager and fast moving industry.
This is something that many marketers in their excitement about the digital era seem to have overlooked or forgotten.
Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
The excitement of being able to quantify and measure practically everything means that there is a temptation to do so. Of course it’s important to measure, but we should ensure we are measuring the right things. Understand what the key measurements of success for your business are and measure them – there’s nothing new in that, we’re not rocket scientists, but it seems that many people are throwing out the old with the new. I never said ‘Emperors’s New Clothes’, but I may have thought it!
Decisions are made reactively, to the newest trend, tool or twitter event, and while I do not deny that being real-time, engaging and reactive is essential, this should not be at the cost of considered business and marketing decisions. There should be room for both and they should work together.
This was brought home to me while sitting in a presentation at the Social Media World Forum a couple of weeks ago listening to a Q&A session regarding Facebook followers – something brands place significant value in and so they should. BUT my concern is that they have forgotten why they’re important.
Brands are so concerned about the numbers that they’ve forgotten to consider what to do with these followers once they have them! What’s the value in having 50,000 followers if they aren’t engaged, promoting your brand or more importantly buying your products? Look at all the people outside my shop looking in – but not buying anything!
Equally, it’s no good driving all your sales through social media if the cost per customer is prohibitive – that’s going to be a very short business model. So understand the relative merits of the whole channel mix and where your best customers come from, and as a very wise man once told me – always measure, always test, always learn and always apply the fruit of your knowledge.
So I put it to the industry to take a step back, bring out the old rule book and get back to basics.
What is the objective, who is the target market, where are they, what do they want, how can we best engage with them and through which channel!
A Little Creative Wednesday Fun!
Here’s a short round-up of some of the nice and creative things we’ve found out there – click the images and enjoy!
Music
NOISY JELLY from Raphaël Pluvinage on Vimeo.
Colour
Animation
Growing Up from Jr.canest on Vimeo.
Typefaces
Copy
Fuel to the fire?
Now you could say that we are cynical, what with it being the end of the tax year and all, but if you want to increase demand and consequently end of year billings (and a nice bit of tax revenue) what could be better than a classic viral marketing campaign?
A whisper of ‘don’t panic’ from Downing Street had motorists rushing to the pumps.
There is little doubt that motorists are worried and they are stocking up – on Wednesday petrol sales were up by 81% and diesel by 43%, by Thursday demand for petrol rose 172%, and diesel by 77%, according to the independent retailers’ body RMI Petrol.
The AA has estimated that increased sales on Wednesday will bring in more than £32million in extra fuel excise duty so whether or not some clever play is at hand one can’t deny the success of this fortuitous viral campaign – a marketer’s dream.
A storm in a gerry can or an ultra successful push to the pumps – you decide…
Red, white and hue?
Watching the England versus Holland game the other day got me wondering, does the England football team have a brand identity? Something we can all recognise, belong to, empathise with?
Of course it does you may say, it’s Sir Alf, the 3 lions, Gazza’s tears, Wembley, 1966 and all that. Fair enough, we all (England fans that is) understand that, but in terms of the home kit or the “visual identity” of the team this changes nearly as often as the name on the England managers office door.
After wearing the last kit (which was partly designed by everybody’s favourite friendly neighbourhood Manchester creative legend Mr Peter Saville) for just 6 (yes 6!) games, the powers that be have decided it needs to be updated yet again. Gone are the multi-coloured, multi-cultural St George crosses which were proudly placed onto the broad shoulders of English football’s finest, to be replaced by white, white, more white and a little bit of red.
In fact it’s the first England kit ever not to feature any blue whatsoever, the first piece of brand dilution to take place on our new national apparel.
Blue and white shirts become red and white, blue shorts are now white, blue and white socks, you guessed it, are now red and white – even the keeper’s traditional green kit is now red. It’s all so confusing! Are we playing in an English home kit or a Danish away one?
What would happen if other brands changed their identity with the same regularity? What if the famous Heinz beans packaging changed from blue to red (then 6 months later changed to orange)? What if the humble hackney carriage (or black cab to you and me) became pink? The list could go on and on, the brand would become more and more diluted, and the consumer (which at the end of the day is surely the most important thing in all of this) becomes more and more disenfranchised, and perhaps in the end decides to go elsewhere.
In times of austerity brand loyalty is top of every company’s agenda, every customer lost is revenue lost and, in keeping with the theme, another goal scored by the opposition. For companies to keep themselves in the consumers’ line of sight a consistent visual identity is the best way to stop their products becoming lost in the ever increasing fixture pile up, and stops them becoming another un-recognisable face in an ever expanding crowd.
Over time brands evolve and values change, but the one constant is that companies need consumers to consume and keep the money rolling in. There’s always going to be another product that does the same thing for less money but as long as a brand has a loyal consumer following and a recognisable face then it’s in with a fighting chance. Of course it’ll always have to do what is says on the tin (and sometimes more) but as long as that’s the case, being seen is always going to be one of the best ways for it to stay in the game.
And maybe that’s the thing about the England football team and it’s brand identity, it’s remit is just to be seen no matter what combination of colour’s the shirt is sporting, or how bad it’s product performs on the pitch. Design a new kit, advertise it, tease the consumer, create a buzz, get it talked about and get it seen. You might not like it but you’ll definitely know about it, and you might have even been persuaded to buy it.
In contrast to tins of beans and the myriad of other similar products, there’ll only be one England. Not numerous different versions, not two, just one. And even when at times the peoples game seems to be less about them and more about their wallets, it’s one of the few brands in this country at least that can keep re-inventing and changing itself because by and large it’s consumers will consume it, and no matter what they won’t be tempted to try another brand.
It’s ingrained in the psyche, it’s born of the green and pleasant land. Perhaps one of the greatest brand identities this country’s ever invented was the red and white flag most of us were born under and for the most part stay loyal to because no matter what happens at Euro 2012 (probably not a lot as far as England are concerned), there’ll always be an England and they’ll always be someone who needs another new England shirt. Hurry up Harry we’re going down the pub, it’s not a sham. Or is it…?
Watching the England versus Holland game the other day got me wondering, does the England football team have a brand identity? Something we can all recognise, belong to, empathise with?
Of course it does you may say, it’s Sir Alf, the 3 lions, Gazza’s tears, Wembley, 1966 and all that. Fair enough, we all (England fans that is) understand that, but in terms of the home, the kit or, the “visual identity” of the team this changes nearly as often as the name on the England managers office door.
After wearing the last kit (which was partly designed by everybody’s favourite friendly neighbourhood Manchester creative legend Mr Peter Saville) for just 6 (yes 6!) games, the powers that be have decided it needs to be updated yet again. Gone are the multi-coloured, multi-cultural St George crosses which were proudly placed onto the broad shoulders of English football’s finest, to be replaced by white, white, more white and a little bit of red.
In fact it’s the first England kit ever not to feature any blue whatsoever, the first piece of brand dilution to take place on our new national apparel.
Blue and white shirts become red and white, blue shorts are now white, blue and white socks, you guessed it, are now red and white – even the keeper’s traditional green kit is now red. It’s all so confusing! Are we playing in an English home kit or a Danish away one?
What would happen if other brands changed their identity with the same regularity? What if the famous Heinz beans packaging changed from blue to red (then 6 months later changed to orange)? What if the humble hackney carriage (or black cab to you and me) became pink? The list could go on and on, the brand would become more and more diluted, and the consumer (which at the end of the day is surely the most important thing in all of this) becomes more and more disenfranchised, and perhaps in the end decides to go elsewhere.
In times of austerity brand loyalty is top of every company’s agenda, every customer lost is revenue lost and, in keeping with the theme, another goal scored by the opposition. For companies to keep themselves in the consumers’ line of sight a consistent visual identity is the best way to stop their products becoming lost in the ever increasing fixture pile up, and stops them becoming another un-recognisable face in an ever expanding crowd.
Over time brands evolve and values change, but the one constant is that companies need consumers to consume and keep the money rolling in. There’s always going to be another product that does the same thing for less money but as long as a brand has a loyal consumer following and a recognisable face then it’s in with a fighting chance. Of course it’ll always have to do what is says on the tin (and sometimes more) but as long as that’s the case, being seen is always going to be one of the best ways for it to stay in the game.
And maybe that’s the thing about the England football team and it’s brand identity, it’s remit is just to be seen no matter what combination of colour’s the shirt is sporting, or how bad it’s product performs on the pitch. Design a new kit, advertise it, tease the consumer, create a buzz, get it talked about and get it seen. You might not like it but you’ll definitely know about it, and you might have even been persuaded to buy it.
In contrast to tins of beans and the myriad of other similar products, there’ll only be one England. Not numerous different versions, not two, just one. And even when at times the peoples game seems to be less about them and more about their wallets, it’s one of the few brands in this country at least that can keep re-inventing and changing itself because by and large it’s consumers will consume it, and no matter what they won’t be tempted to try another brand.
It’s ingrained in the psyche, it’s born of the green and pleasant land. Perhaps one of the greatest brand identities this country’s ever invented was the red and white flag most of us were born under and for the most part stay loyal to because no matter what happens at Euro 2012 (probably not a lot as far as England are concerned), there’ll always be an England and they’ll always be someone who needs another new England shirt. Hurry up Harry we’re going down the pub, it’s not a sham. Or is it…?
