Luxe Box London by Lucy

On the 10th - 23rd December one of are very own, Lucy Heale, is showcasing Luxe Box London at the Start-Up Britain Christmas Shop in Richmond. PopUp Britain was created to give new British brands a rare opportunity to get their products onto the British High Street.

So pop down to meet Lucy and see her bold, iconic boxes packed with exquisite, hand-picked treats. The Urban Goddess Box will be on show; the perfect Christmas gift for those who appreciate quality and style.

The box includes the beautiful Wild Planet lavender scented candle ideal for long soaks in the bath, mouth-watering Rococo rose-pink champagne truffles for cheeky indulgent moments, a deliciously soft Tweedmill Textiles throw, a vintage collectable edition of classic love story Sense and Sensibility, a Thornback and Peel pigeon and jelly notebook and an elegant Reiko Kaneko lipstick mug.

Check out www.luxeboxlondon.com for more information.

The Brand Event and Eventia Awards

It's been a truly award winning week here at RPM, after incredible evenings at both the Brand Event and Eventia Awards.

The Brand Event Awards celebrate the event marketing strategies of the globe's biggest brands. On Thursday, RPM won the GRAND PRIX award for 'Best Alcoholic Drinks Event Strategy' for Smirnoff Presents Sensations, a one-of-a-kind dance event for 10,000 people at The O2. The M&S Agricultural show 2012 also won 'Best FMCG Event Strategy'.

Next we were off to the 2012 Eventia Awards, where RPM were awarded PLATINUM, the evening's most prestigious accolade, which recognises the agency that scored consistently high across all of its entries.

The following wins contributed to the score… 

GOLD 'Best Public Event' - Talisker Sail-in Cinema

SILVER 'Best Public Event' - Smirnoff Presents Sensations

GOLD 'Best Brand Experience' - Talisker Sail-in Cinema

SILVER 'Best Brand Experience' - M&S Agricultural Shows 2012

And finally, RPM Promotional People won gold for 'Event Services Supplier of the Year' for our work with Coca Cola and Sky.

What a fantastic end to 2012! Well done everyone.

Field Marketing & Brand Experience Awards 2012

Fantastic news as RPM and our clients Sky and Talisker picked up awards from the FM&BE's last night.

This year a special award for Experience Brand of the Year was introduced and RPM nominated Sky. Recognising a brand that has truly embraced live experience and made a significant impact on consumer awareness and brand perception, we were thrilled that Sky was declared overall winner!

The Brand Fans Award looks to award campaigns that have deeply engaged consumers and stimulated behaviour change. In this category RPM and Sky were awarded GOLD for Skyride, a campaign we are very proud of!

The Talisker Sail-In Cinema activation was awarded SILVER in the Most Effective Integration/Amplification category and BRONZE in the Most Immersive Event (Mass Consumer) category.

A tremendous evening for us and our clients and a huge congratulations to all involved on these campaigns.

Investing in ideas

The temptation to brainstorm the next Facebook in a creative session when responding to the latest brief seems ill advised at best. So, news that Coke has launched an Instagram competitor caught us off guard. Perhaps mobile photo-sharing is a big enough pie for them to happily take a slice and share it with the huge audiences in their owned channels that are yet to embrace this brave new world?

But, given the challenges that start-ups now face raising funding in an environment in which there’s increasing scepticism that those ad revenues will ever meet that magic point that turns an accelerating audience into a profitable business, perhaps now is a good time to reconsider the brand’s role in the start-up gold rush. Lots of great ideas struggle to convert an initial rush of new users into a consistent, engaged user base and it’s this engagement that investors will be looking at when bullet-testing the appeal of an idea. Getting to critical mass is still a faith game.

But what if an investor entered with the kind of reach that the best brands have access to through their owned channels, one that was able to help bridge that difficult period between the early adopters succumbing to ‘the next thing’ and a meaningful long-term relationship with normal users? Followers of the ‘growth hacking’ ethos who believe that early stage start-ups should disregard traditional marketing techniques and focus on tweaking usability and unlocking the ‘must have’ experience their product offers will disagree, but a brand patron might be a helpful partner here.

There are some great examples of brand-initiated apps, most of which follow the rule that an app should either be useful or irresistibly enjoyable while also born from the brand’s DNA. But there are so many great ideas out there in start-up land that will never reach an audience does the brand ever really need to build functionality from scratch?

Certainly, if we’re not aware of the ideas that are coming from this period of intense creativity then our own creativity will suffer. Worse, we may miss opportunities for our clients’ campaigns, platforms and experiences that create value for everyone in this chain – especially the audience.

Where’s your Felix moment coming from?

We’ve all watched in awe as Felix Baumgartner has demanded a new definition of ‘extreme’ and, in our industry, we should have been equally hypnotised by the benchmark set by his sponsors, Red Bull, in connected communications. By way of a couple of minor diversions into pre-social web sharing principles and the death of SEO as we know it, we’d like to argue that now is the time to have your damascene conversion to the currently buzz art of ‘content marketing’.

Exhibit one. Take this fascinating and passionately argued piece asking us to consider the existence of a 'social web' pre-web 2.0 and the ongoing relevance of pre-web 2.0 social sharing activity (you know, forwarding emails, posting to forums and the like). Because a great swathe of reporting in web analytics fails to account in detail where a referral has come from, this often gets wrongly identified as 'direct' traffic. The author argues that this is often the pre-web 2.0 traffic that you may recall from a time when we shared links via instant messenger, email and so on.

He calls this 'dark social', presuambly due to its 'off-the-radar' nature. The theory is that, even now, these sources are often responsible for 2.5x the referral impact of Facebook; in some cases up to 69 percent of social traffic may be coming from these kinds of sources.

Exhibit two. At a recent panel session on key digital trends for 2013 we were treated to an unusually candid assessment of the future of SEO by a couple of figures that have enjoyed a prosperous decade practicing that occasionally dark art. Namely, that optimising rubbish content for search will no longer cut it. This, mark you, is the SEO industry admitting that they can no longer get away with peddling search-optimised crap.

The reason? Google Penguin and Panda. Penguin is an algorithm (no come back… we promise this will be worth it) that penalises the search ranking of sites which practice the darker arts of SEO and Panda is effectively an algorithm that prioritises quality content in search results. On that latter one, you'll just have to trust us - we can't tackle the subjective notion of 'quality' in this post.

So, not only is the 'social web' a simple evolution of sharing behaviours that were well rooted in a pre-Zuckerberg web (the difference now simply being that some of us choose to publish and archive the things we share via Twitter, Facebook et al) but Google, the principle content delivery tool of the web, is working hard to purify any barriers that its technology has placed between audiences and the makers of good content.

The conclusion we're left to draw? Your content and social media strategy are supporting players that can have a huge impact on successful communications. But their role is to help people find great content and share it. Daily we see examples of great content that surges through our Twitter and Facebook feeds without much in the way of a content or social strategy.

Now, let’s bring Felix back to wake them up at the back. Red Bull Stratos brings truly inspirational content and effective strategy together in an event that’s brilliantly promoted and then handed over to the community (with careful management) to bring to life by virtue of their genuine excitement about the proposition. In this case: 'man attempts act that defies nature'.

Perhaps because of Red Bull's mastery of social channels the 'dark social' impact of this campaign registers less than the averages discussed earlier but you can be sure that as word of Felix Baumgartner's appointment with nature spread from sons to fathers, to mothers and their friends, even Red Bull lost full control of the channels.

This serves both as a reminder of the impact that digital can have now on how we experience content in a connected environment and of the flesh and blood impact of the 'real' on what constitutes a great communication. In a future where great content is the most powerful currency for brand communications these ingredients are inseparable. But undoubtedly, the first question you should ask yourself is ‘where’s the Felix moment going to come from’?

Sky Ride Edinburgh & Sky Ride Ipswich are a roaring success!

10,000 cyclists enjoyed a fantastic day at Sky Ride Edinburgh, as the city was transformed into a bike rider’s paradise. It was the first time Edinburgh had hosted a Sky Ride and participants cycled around the 10km traffic-free route passing by some of the city’s most iconic landmarks - Scottish Parliament, Holyrood Palace and Arthur’s Seat.

There were plenty of activities for everyone to enjoy; at Holyrood Park crowds were stunned by some amazing BMX and mountain bike demonstrations. Others enjoyed a well-earned break with a coffee from the British Cycling Bike Café and lots of children got creative, decorating their Sky Ride bibs in the Art Attack area. The Bike Station and The Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative were busy all day providing Dr Bike advice and repairs to participants. Chris Hoy and Edith Bowman attended and we carried out a live Q&A with Chris Hoy with questions submitted through facebook and twitter.

Over in Ipswich, 12,000 riders took to their bikes and cycled the 5km route in the sunshine. The riders were also lucky enough to wave off Team Sky as they embarked on Britain’s biggest bike race – the Tour of Britain. To celebrate and support Bradley Wiggins, Mark Cavendish and the other Team Sky riders, we brought some very special activities to Sky Ride Ipswich. Inspired residents had the chance to take on a Team Sky challenge and try to beat Wiggins’ Time Trial time – on a static bike. Riders signed autographs and chatted to fans, and a few lucky supporters even got a tour of the Team Sky bus.There was a whole host of entertainment all around the route, and activity areas at the Customs House, Alderman Park and the Cornhill Forecourt which delighted riders as they rode around the route.

CRUK Cancer Awareness Roadshow Visits Old Treacle Factory!

RPM has worked with Cancer Research UK to implement their Cancer Awareness Roadshow for over six years. The mobile unit tours harder to reach communities throughout the UK offering cancer prevention advice and free medical screenings from trained CRUK nurses. Over the years the Cancer Awareness Roadshow has doubled in size and reach, starting with just two mobile units in 2006 with a fourth introduced in 2011. Teams predominantly visit outdoor locations such as shopping centres and high streets, but are also provided with small kits to allow for flexible indoor working in locations such as work places, leisure centres and small community centres

Now it's RPM's turn to get our health checked! The Cancer Awareness unit will be hitting up the RPM car park on Thursday, offering all staff free health checks including BMI, waist measurement, and smokelyzer tests, as well as the opportunity to have a one-to-one consultation with the on-board nurses.

We’ve seen over 250,000 people from all over the country including the regions of Scotland, North east/west, Wales, Manchester & Birmingham, which is an enormous achievement! Check out the CRUK film on the effectiveness of the Cancer Awareness Roadshow, and you can see some pics on our Flickr page.

OurKidBrother Coverage in Access All Areas

Big shout-out to RPM's talent partner, OurKidBrother, who recently secured some press coverage in Access All Areas magazine. Julia Bruns, Director, spoke to Editor Nic Howden about how to secure the ideal band and brand partnerships. Check out a snap of the coverage below.

Sky Prism tours to Foodies Festival Oxford

Come and experience the excitement of 3D at our Sky 3D Prism at Foodies Festival where you can be immersed in a variety of amazing 3D entertainment. Get the family together to see what it could be like to have 3D cinema in your very own home, with the latest Hollywood blockbusters, music concerts and ground breaking nature documentaries, or get your mates round for the ultimate sports viewing experience with at least three live sporting events in 3D a week. Sky 3D is Europe’s only dedicated 3D TV channel and is available to Sky World HD customers with a 3D TV, at no extra cost. For those extra special moments you don’t want to miss; feel like you’re there with Sky 3D. You can’t miss us – look for the mirrored prism where 3D is brought to you.

Sky Ride Birmingham is a cycling success!

Sky Ride Birmingham was a roaring success this weekend with 18,000 cyclists taking to their bikes to explore Birmingham's traffic free city centre. The10km route passed by the Chancellor’s Court, Winterbourne Botanic Gardens and St. George’s Church and there were plenty of activities for the whole family to do and see, with BMX displays, an Art Attack area, Bike Café at the University campus and face printers and a DJ at the Optima Community Association.

There was plenty of inspiration to go around with double Olympic gold medal winning cyclist Laura Trott in attendance. She was on hand to meet riders and sign bibs alongside Sky Ride Ambassador Stacey Solomon. For more information on Sky Ride events, check out the Sky Ride website: www.goskyride.com.

RPM's Sports Day

Later this afternoon, six teams: GB, China, France, Australia, Jamaica and USA will compete fiercly at the very first RPM Sports Day, held at Ravenscourt Park. At RPM we don't do anything by halves, so each team has undergone rigorous training, taking their lunch hours to practise in the local park. There's been blood, there's been sweat and, yes, a few tears along the way, but what doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

The RPM Sports Day, organised by RPM's social society The Social Monkeys, will see a host of competitive and gruelling challenges such as the egg and spoon race, wellie throwing, the relay, rounders, sprinting and the two legged race. Medals and stickers will be rewarded for the winning team and of course the best dressed. We wish our teams the best of luck!

Events in 2013 - what must brands do?

Demand for truly memorable experiences has never been higher. More and more brands are now recognising the value of attaching themselves to high –profile events due to their increasing array of opportunities to publicise products and services as well as their huge capacity to create compelling content. RPM's MD, Dom Robertson, warns that amidst a summer full of events, brands need to make sure they don’t get too complacent. After all, consumers may experience event fatigue once the hype of 2012 dies down. To counteract this, here are his five strategies to keep consumers engaged in 2013 and beyond.


1. Be creative
In order for brands to keep consumers engaged post-Olympics, they will need to approach experiential with creative flair, capturing the imagination of the public and topping the exceptional experiences of 2012. The more creative a campaign, the more consumers will talk about it, interact with it and share it with friends- they’ll be proud and excited to be part of the unique experience. Creativity provides a platform for captivating content, which can then be distributed over a broad range of brand channels, expanding the campaign’s reach and extending engagement post activity. As consumer expectations will be extremely high after the Olympics, brands must continue to think outside of the box and place creativity high on the agenda.

2. Develop deep insight into the psychology of your audience
The ‘build it and they will come’ approach simply won’t cut it, so brands need to carefully develop experiences that are heavily rooted within the psychology and social calendar of their audience. They must re-evaluate who they are trying to reach and where those consumers will be during the peak of the campaign. The key will be to find the right people to attract, give them a great experience to enjoy and turn this interaction into a long-lasting relationship to benefit your brand into 2013 and beyond.

Brands should never under-estimate the value of understanding the psychology of your audience. The campaign will always need to reflect the needs, desires and aspirations of the target consumer and should aim to enhance a major aspect of their life: whether that’s the end of term at university, England competing in Euro 2012 or their work Christmas party. Look at the defining moments in your audience’s social calendar and tailor campaigns specific to them.

3. Remain true to your brand values
Brands must stay true to their values and ensure that every experience is authentic to their brand strategy, relevant to their consumer and to their environment; enhancing and adding value to both. No matter whether the experiential activity is leading future brand comms, or laddering into wider activity, brands must ensure a consistent consumer journey is amplified over additional channels and not acting in isolation. In order for consumers to remain loyal, brands must build a relationship based on trust by sticking to their brand beliefs, and fulfilling brand promises that their consumers have come to expect.

3. Think Innovation. Think Big
Even established and market-leading brands are looking for new ways to stay fresh. Strongbow for example has dominated the music festival scene for 14 years and is considered to be the No.1 festival cider. That said the brand recognises that in order to stay current it must look for new ways to move its position forward and provide relevant and engaging consumer experiences. A key component of this is establishing dialogue with festivalgoer’s both inside and outside of the festival environment.

In 2011, Strongbow launched a strategic social media platform that recruited teams of lads via the Strongbow Facebook page to help build the Strongbow Pub, ‘The Strongbow Graft and The Glory’. In exchange for their ‘hard graft’ building the multifaceted structure, the lads received a V.I.P. festival experience including speedboat transportation, luxury accommodation and Strongbow on tap, and their progress was documented on Facebook. Through tapping into social media Strongbow was able to keep consumers engaged pre, during and post event and offer a clear value exchange.

4. Establish the FOMO Factor
The Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is rapidly becoming a game-changer in how brands look to create and package events. In fact, it is the single largest emotional motivator amongst young people. Experiences have to be truly memorable and instil the, “I was there” mentality into the consumer.

The ability for brands to leave their mark is essential, but it requires them to build a community and connect with their audience on a level that they understand, appreciate and respond well to. In 2013 the bar will be set higher than ever and brands that aren’t ready for the challenge may well be for the high jump.

RPM join the Sky Velo team on the London to Paris cycling challenge!

On the 21st July, 15 RPM'ers took to their saddles and embarked on the greulling London to Paris cycle challenge, joining the Sky Velo team. Along with 140 riders, the team rode 300 miles over three days, with a route stretching across the English countryside, through the French villages and right into the heart of Paris, finishing up on the Champs Elysees during the Tour de France grand finale. Our very own Designer, Matt Convery, rode in at first place, beating the other 139 riders to a grand victory!

                                                   Matt Convery strikes a winning pose....

                                          The team refresh themselves with a few pints, all smiles...

Catching a glimpse of the Tour de France...

Music is Going Social

RPM's Digital Production Executive, Amir Lodge, explores the ways in which live performance continues to integrate with online to create a broader and more dynamic music experience...

In June 2012, as part of the American Express Upstaged tour, country music star Kenny Chesney performed in New Jersey, New York in front of 20,000 people.The performance was streamed live on video content providers YouTube and Vevo and promoted across various social media channels. What stood out from the average concert, was that, not only did Chesney focus on the fan base who turned up to hear him melt their hearts, but he also concentrated on his online fan base.

American Express tweeted that whoever watched the performance online would unlock an extra encore song. During his performance, Chesney checked with the Community Manager to see if there was a good level of online response and, when he got the go ahead, Chesney performed the song followed by an additional nine songs.

Similarly back in April, music virtuoso Jack White teamed up with actor and director Gary Oldman to create an interactive live streamed concert that consisted of 13 cameras around the concert hall. These enabled fans to watch the concert online and on their mobile devices. Those who watched the concert online were also involved in numerous tasks, one of which included piecing together photos of fans to form a photo of Jack White taken by Oldman.

These are just a few interesting examples of how bands and musicians are engaging fans through various digital channels. They are extending their reach to fans globally, creating stronger ties and increasing engagement in the latest technologies.

RPM Rock The Isle of Wight Festival

We have two engaging brand experiences at this year's Isle of Wight festival: The Sky Lounge and Strongbow Productions. The Sky Lounge is a V.I.P area exclusively for Sky customers, offering them a unique area to step away from the crowds. The experience brings customers closer to Sky’s content and allows them to chill out and engage with Sky. Areas include a secret garden, Sky Anytime Area and Sky 3D Lounge.

We’re proud to say that it’s our 14th year activating Strongbow at festivals, and this years’ experience won’t disappoint. The Strongbow area will feature a Strongbow van pimped-out as a bespoke DJ booth customised with a wall of speakers, as well as a large main stage, terrace bar, garden area and an impressive line-up of DJs and live talent, programmed with talent partners OurKidBrother. Let’s hope the weather holds out!

RPM Awarded Three IPM Awards

We are thrilled to announce that at last night's IPM Awards ceremony, we were awarded three Silver IPM Awards for the following categories:

Financial and Professional Services: Aviva - Aviva Athletics Roadshow
Household and Petcare: Unilever - Comfort Brights Colour Me Brighter
Shopping Centre Marketing: Unilever - Comfort Brights Colour Me Brighter

Here are the little beauties making a break for it in the cab home....

RPM's Aviva Athletics Roadshow Launches!

Our Aviva Athletics Roadshow kicked off this weekend at the Silverburn Shopping Centre in Glasgow. This is the second year we've worked with Aviva to showcase their sponsorship of the Aviva GB & NI Athletics Team.

The athletics themed roadshow experience invites the public to, ‘Back the Team’ this summer and educates the public on British athletics, showcasing the sport as a fun and accessible sport. Aviva GB & NI Team athletes will be making personal appearances and features will include informative discussions led by a leading UK Athletics coach and several digital based elements including a touch-screen athletics quiz, visual content displays on TV screens and an opportunity for shoppers to photograph themselves on a podium in front of an Aviva GB & NI Athletics Team image, to upload and share.

RPM Launch 'Focus on Life' Exhibition and Auction

Tonight RPM will be launching, 'Focus on Life', a private view and auction of leading photographers' work at the Getty Images Gallery. The exhibition and auction have been developed in aid of the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund to help raise funds and drive awareness of pancreatic cancer.

The event supports the efforts of Howard Kerr who, after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, decided to raise awareness and money for research funds by founding, and walking the Howards Way Walk, which stretches 100 miles. Over the last four years, RPM's Partner Lee Farrant joins a group of industry friends to walk this very stretch and collectively they have raised over £250,000.

As a direct result of Howard's effort and influence, the Howard Kerr PhD Studentship Award was created at Barts Hospital, to help find ways to detect pancreatic cancer at an early stage via proteins in the body. They are making some progress, but more research and money is needed and at a cost of £80,000 per year, the PhD Studentship is getting increasingly difficult to fund via the walk alone. Focus on Life is an additional fund-raising initiative to help raise extra funding and drive engagement with both Howards Way Walk and the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund.

RPM's latest projects!

May has been a busy month for us RPM'ers, with activations taking place for M&S, Sky Ride and The England and Wales Cricket Board. Here is a summary of all our experiential activity so far.

After a seven year hiatus, we were appointed by major retailer M&S to help deliver their ‘Farming for the Future’ sustainability initiative through activity at major Agricultural Shows this summer. The campaign aims to help educate, engage and inspire show going families and supply partners on M&S’ sustainable farming initiatives, encouraging brand loyalty and driving footfall into stores. The retailer also wants to recognise, reward and inspire existing supply chain farmers and suppliers.

Farming for the Future has been developed by M&S in partnership with M&S producers and processors to help tackle the future challenges of reduced energy availability, rising costs and a growing population through a programme of innovative activity. It is about making real changes today to create a sustainable farming future for tomorrow. The activity kicks off today at the Balmoral Show, and will also feature at The Royal Highland Show, The Great Yorkshire Show and The Royal Welsh Show.

Once again, we are uniting with British Cycling and Sky for the fourth year of Sky Ride. The campaign has a new creative concept called, ‘Everyone’s Invited’, encouraging the public to join the celebration of cycling, with something for everyone. Sky Rides are a series of fun, traffic-free rides staged across the UK; either mass participation cycle rides or friendly local rides with trained guides. Sky’s partnership with British Cycling was recently extended until 2016 and supports all levels of cycling, across all disciplines, and aims to encourage more people to ride.

Already, almost 700,000 more people across the UK are riding regularly (at least once a month or 12 times per year) through the Sky Ride campaign. In 2011, we delivered 17 Sky Ride events across the UK and Ireland with a total participation figure of over 200,000. This year there will be 18 Sky Ride events taking place across the UK giving more people the chance to get out on their bikes.

Finally, it is now our third year delivering enhanced spectator engagements for The England and Wales Cricket Board, to encourage advocacy towards all forms of cricket and broaden the appeal of the game. A TwelfthMan roadshow will be present at all international fixtures and both domestic finals to bring the Official Fan Community of England Cricket to life on a matchday. The roadshow will offer cricket fans unrivalled access to England Cricket with behind-the-scenes exclusives and news from the England camp as well as money-can’t buy prizes and engaging experiences.

At Friends Life t20 matches, we will deliver spectator engagement through a toolkit provided to all county cricket clubs, as well as enhanced activation at the launch match, Quarter Finals and Finals Day. At NatWest International T20 matches we will provide in-ground activations that engage the crowds and get fans behind the England team. The activity launches on 17th May at the 1st Investec Test between England and West Indies at Lord’s Cricket Ground, finishing on the 15th September at the Clydesdale Bank 40 Final.

How Will The Olympics Impact Iced Coffee Brands?

RPM's Managing Director, Dom Robertson, was featured in this week's Grocer Magazine discussing how the Olympic Games might affect sales of iced coffee brands. Dom extends this conversation on RPM Insights, looking at what coffee brands should expect from The Games and how brands should use The Olympics as a positive springboard.

Demand for iced coffee, particularly portable pick-me-up drinks, is spreading fast. Consumers now want something more adult than an energy drink, whilst retaining the same level of convenience. Events like the Olympics are built around a fast and quick model of convenience as consumers require easy access to a range of refreshments on a much more regular basis. However they also remain open to new ideas and new products which will enhance their overall experience of the events they are engaging with. Iced coffee brands therefore need to make sure, that not only their product is up to scratch i.e. it is really coffee, but that it is positioned as a counterpart to the sporting activity they are watching and interacting with.

The Olympics heralds the start to the British summer season, so as well as the huge increase in footfall in London, iced-coffee brands have even more of a reason to step up their sampling activity, raise brand awareness and get products into the hands of the consumer. Brands will be competing fiercely to make sure their product achieves the highest profile amongst the visitors to the Olympic park. Sampling activity during the Olympics should be, and will be rife, offering brands a huge platform and potential to build association with customers. However, in order to stand out, iced-coffee brands should think about distribution in a creative, original way that sets them apart from the competition and engages the consumer beyond the live activity.

Brands should aim to bring their key messages to life through an experience that offers interaction and added value that is truly creative. Examples of this could be a touring coffee pop-up bar/lounge or a coffee road show that could host light-hearted tasting sessions. This would not only drive trial but create capacity for brand engagement.The biggest challenge many brands will face is recognition in a market full of brands trying to reach consumers, therefore brands need to develop a clear distinctive proposition, which focuses on coffee loving adults, whilst not alienating those who may be easily converted.

The live activity should always be incorporated into an integrated campaign, supported by social media platforms. This will procure the longevity and on-going dialogue with consumers that is so crucial for long-term brand engagement. The live activity should usually provide stimulating content to be broadcast via social media, increasing the reach and keeping the activity alive for longer. Community engagement is not a 9 to 5 job; brands need to recognise this and build a sustainable social strategy which enhances the brand experience for the consumer whilst at the same time establishing a sustainable level of brand recognition.

Whilst summer, sport and sunshine all are strong associations with the notion of drinking iced coffee, brands need to remember iced-coffee isn’t just popular over the summer. Therefore all brand communications need to not only appeal to consumers looking for a more sophisticated, refreshing drink during the Games but establish their product as all year round proposition. Sales figures show that iced-coffee is commonly purchased throughout the year and as a result, iced-coffee brands have plenty more to play on than just their associations to the summer sun.

The Olympics will attract an extremely varied demographic, and as such, iced-coffee brands can expect to market to a huge array of people. This is crucial for sampling campaigns that drive trial of the product, and the high footfall will create huge opportunities. Iced-coffee brands should look to play on the values and messages of the Olympics to create relevant and creative marketing campaigns, but should ensure these can be adapted and evolved once the games are over. Using the idea of heritage, for example, brands could host iced-coffee parties as a quirky alternative to the quintessential English tea party, or drum up their associations to mind stimulation, asking consumers to take part in sport related challenges.

How are brands using heritage?

RPM's Head of Design, Greg Bennett, muses over design in the run up to The Olympics, touching on how brands have used heritage in the past to their advantage and what to expect from 2012.

Using heritage to drive sales certainly isn’t a new concept for brands; nor is it a strategy employed solely to echo British involvement in major events like The Olympics, or national celebrations such as the Diamond Jubilee. As the economy slid towards recession, for example, a number of household brands started to play on British heritage cues to satisfy anxious consumers’ need for the comfort of well-known, trustworthy brands in the face of uncertainty.

There are many recent examples of ads using ‘Britishness’ as a central theme. Hovis’s campaigns over the last few years is one example, another being the Pimm’s Summer Party campaign, which celebrated British summertime at its best. M&S is also making the most of being British in its advertising strategy this year, celebrating 100 days of summer. The retailer also uses British icons such as Twiggy and Take That, and in the past celebrated its 125th birthday by running penny bazaars, as a nod to its humble origins as a market trader in Leeds.

Other brands such as BA, Mini, Walkers Crisps, Warburtons and Duchy Originals all play on their associations with Britain to drive sales, and evolve and craft their brand design depending on the nation’s events calendar. Take the Royal Wedding last year, when brands went into overdrive with heritage-based campaigns. BA equipped several of its airliners with special liveries, whilst Warburtons increased its product ranges to include burger buns and hot dog rolls ready for street party BBQs. They were among dozens of British brands that shaped their design around the occasion to drive sales.

As for this year, during The Olympics there is likely to be a shift from brands using heritage to cement trust and tap into the excitement and celebration of national pride that heritage can bring, as the nation gets behind its competitors.

Retaining Talent

Dom Robertson, RPM's Managing Director, believes that keeping employees engaged, passionate and motivated is the key to staff retention. His comments, recently featured in the FT, are below.

Research proves that employees who are kept motivated, engaged and feel appreciated, work harder and stay with organisations for longer. In the past, one of the most common forms of employee engagement has traditionally been monetary rewards, such as performance related bonuses, incentive trips and pay rises. The current economic climate has limited this dramatically, meaning that companies have had to find new, more cost effective, ways to ensure employees stay motivated, engaged and loyal.

RPM is very focused on staff retention, (we have remained in the top 100 of The Sunday Times Best 100 Small Companies to Work For, for the last six years) and we devote a lot of time to ensuring our staff remain passionate and engaged with their work. This is managed through quarterly reviews by the HR department and the enlistment of a devoted social team, ‘The Social Monkeys’, who seek out opportunities for team bonding outings or other social occasions. Our Production Manager, Rory Sloan, began at RPM as a graduate 15 years ago. Similarly our Head of Strategy and Creative, Rob Wilson, has remained at RPM for 12 years, beginning as an intern.

In order to retain staff, RPM co-ordinate several initiatives including an annual company away day that shares with staff the direction in which the business is heading, delivers new and improved ways of working, and reinstates the company mission and values, usually delivered by the CEO, Financial Director and myself. The day is not only based around an open and honest showcase of the business, but also rewards the hard work achieved to date. The day includes Q&As and engaging team exercises to keep staff up to date with current client projects, ensuring that staff remain inspired, passionate and interested in the business. Special extras on the day have included entertainment from The Cuban Brothers, engaging industry speakers, and the creation of an RPM ‘all office’ music video.

At RPM we believe experiences are everything, and offer up to £1000 toward any staff member who wants to pursue an experience that will contribute to their current role or aid personal development. Each month, a fund is available and may be granted to help them fulfil an ambition. Experiences so far have included a photography trip to Tanzania, a wine tasting tour to the Rioja wine region, a trek to basecamp at Mount Everest and a typography course.We also recently launched the RPM Training Academy which seeks to utilise our in-house talent to educate fellow staff members on a variety of topics and skills. We pride ourselves on the talent within the agency and try to share it with others as much as possible. The training academy offers anything from photography courses to polishing up presentation skills and how to manage a creative brief.

I also believe it is important to recognise and reward hard work. Each week, our PR Manager co-ordinates a weekly newsletter that is circulated throughout the agency that specifically credits good work and initiative from staff members. There is also the opportunity for team heads to thank their teams for positive contributions they have had to projects.

Smirnoff's Battle of the Bands commences

14 CLUBS


7 RIVAL BATTLES


7 ORIGINAL NIGHTS


We are very excited to announce that the Smirnoff Battle of the Clubs campaign has gone live this week in GB.

Please all go to www.votesmirnoff.com or www.facebook.com/Smirnoffgb
Like the page – choose your battle – vote for your favourite club – share with your friends – get them to vote to earn countervotes against your rivals.

RPM will be activating at all winning events and will let you know who wins, when events are, and more about the exciting things we’ll be delivering at these events after voting closes on Wednesday 11th April.

Why should automotive brands embrace experiential?

RPM's Head of Strategy and Creative, Rob Wilson, believes passionately in the power of experiential to help car brands stand out from the competition. Here is his advice on using offline events and online communities to build brand advocates.

I believe the world has lost its emotional connection with cars, and I’m not alone. In an article on the BBC website entitled, ‘Why are US teenagers driving less?’, Brian Wheeler, Political Reporter, BBC News, claimed that ‘46% of 18 to 24 year olds said they would choose internet access over owning their own car’, adding that ‘the American youth have fallen out of love with automobiles because they are living their lives online’. Not only is the internet clearly providing an easier route to freedom, but as we live in a world more concerned with sustainability than ever, cars are now categorised as pollutants and considered bad for the environment. If we look back to the 1940’s and 50’s, cars symbolised liberation, travel, adventure and freedom. Nowadays consumers are using the internet to transport them to anywhere in the world at the click of a mouse. In order to re-engage the youth of today car brands have a huge challenge on their hands. Not only do they need to bring back the car icons of the 1940’s but they must re-establish an emotional connection to the car, putting themselves at the heart of online communities when online presence is everything.

Establish USPs
It is harder than ever to achieve cut through in the automotive industry, so much so that according to KPMG, the car market is set to intensify, reaching overcapacity to 20-30% by 2016. In order to stand out from the crowd car brands need to establish their USPs and use these to create unique identities. They also need to establish what their brand is about and how they can use it to engage people. Take Ford for example. If there’s any brand that should stand for pioneering, entrepreneurial, and unique it should be Ford. It led the way for engineering and motorcars and is arguably the car brand that changed America, yet I can’t think of a car brand in the UK that more represents normal, average, or middle of the road. With such a rich identity based on their American heritage, Ford’s Marketers needs to tap into the brand’s fascinating story and re-tell it in an engaging way; after all, consumers love a good story.

Similarly, let’s look at Range Rover: a car brand synonymous with adventure, off-road travel and discovery. If a brand is so well known for its exploration, shouldn’t Range Rover create something online that helps you discover the world? Or perhaps an app that helps you locate anywhere on earth? It strikes me as odd that Range Rover didn’t think to create Google Earth before Google did. It would have made far more sense, as ultimately Google are just a search engine. Range Rover’s car can ultimately ‘take you anywhere’ so they need to replicate this attribute through a consumer experience that offers a clear value exchange whilst highlighting the benefits of the model.

Tap into Communities
Traditionally car brands have been able to build great communities. Take those surrounding the Morris Minor, the VW, or the Mini. When it comes to car fanatics, their loyal communities exist online and offline and automotive brands need to ensure that each community compliments and works to benefit or build the other. On a recent trip to Brighton I was surrounded by thousands of VW cars that were all attending a VW Campervan meeting. I bet if I were to go online and look at the British VW Camper Van Society, their Facebook community would be huge. Brands need to find out what it is that their communities get excited about and they need to bring a little bit of that back.

It is always important to include existing car communities in any marketing decisions; hear what they have to say, and shape a campaign around their needs and expectations. For example, when Mini launched its new Mini 2010, the thousands of established Mini fans within the GB community fan hub should have been invited to test the car. This way, a community of 20-30,000 people would begin talking about your new car immediately and you could hear feedback from people that matter the most. Additionally, because they already love Mini, the chances are they aren’t going to talk about it negatively. If what people say is not going to be able to shape what Mini are doing with the car, they are doing it too late in my opinion. Marketers should look to involve people all the way through the journey so people understand why decisions have been made. What’s more, these people who are passionate about your brand are going to talk about it anyway, so better to involve them earlier. Someone who is an ardent Mini fan is going to say what they think about the car whether you involve them or not so better to involve them so that the consumer understands the journey you’ve been through.

Help people directly discover the car
We’ve done a lot of work with Nissan at the 02 Innovation Station, and the results are interesting. We’ve seen that people are engaged with cars, but only when they have an opportunity to see them and interact with them. If car brands can tap into online communities and simultaneously create opportunities for offline community events to showcase and allow consumers to discover the cars, they will increase consumer engagement.
 
Car brands need to transform cars into positive icons again, using online communities and offline events to build brand advocates, give people something positive to talk about and create direct experiences with the cars. When we look at putting messages into social media, there needs to be something that immediately resonates with consumers and offers them an immediate value exchange; something that they can pass on and talk about.

RPM and CRUK Engage Consumers on Cancer Prevention and Detection through Cancer Awareness Roadshow

Cancer Research UK and leading marketing agency RPM are launching the 6th annual Cancer Awareness Roadshow, which is set to hit the road this March and run for 36 weeks. The interactive and educational roadshow aims to increase awareness of cancer risk factors, increase people’s intention to change their behaviour and encourage earlier presentation and detection of cancer.

The roadshow gives Cancer Research UK the opportunity to reach a wide audience, and since 2006 it has received over 225,000 visitors. The roadshow is specifically designed to address cancer inequalities and also develops long-term relationships with local health workers in order to offer sustained support to visitors.

This year, the four Cancer Research UK units will be travelling nationwide, visiting London, Manchester, Glasgow and North East England.

Helen Rendell, Health Community Engagement Manager , Cancer Research UK, said of the roadshow: “We want to empower people to make healthy lifestyle choices and the Cancer Awareness Roadshow enables us to directly engage with harder-to-reach communities, offering them information on how to reduce their cancer risk, and spot it early. The Cancer Awareness Roadshow continues to be extremely successful, and I have every belief that this year we will continue to inspire, educate and inform the public to help reduce fear around the disease.”

Dom Robertson, Managing Director at RPM, said of the activity: “The Cancer Awareness Roadshow has been hugely successful in educating the public on how to prevent and detect cancer, which is something we hugely support. The roadshow is a highly engaging and interactive way to deliver health information, and our long-term relationship with Cancer Research UK has allowed us to see it evolve. I’m confident that this year’s campaign will ensure good-quality engagement and reach in communities that need it the most.”

RPM and E.ON all set for Ecobuild

We are all set to launch an engaging, customer centric experience for E.ON at Europe’s premier eco event, Ecobuild. The activity aims to highlight E.ON’s dedication to providing ‘Cleaner & better energy’.

We have developed a 20mx20m multi-use stand made up of three key areas: Residential, Business and Community Partnerships that will educate the public, businesses and large scale housing associations on how to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions - becoming ‘Energy Fit’ - through a variety of interactive installations.

These include a giant smart meter, an electric vehicle, solar energy panels, touch screens and a showcase of E.ON’s commitment to community work with children, public education and charities, through compelling imagery and screens. A team of E.ON Energy Fit experts will also be on hand to guide consumers through the dynamic experience.

Check out the coverage so far on The Drum and Field Marketing and Brand Experience.

How to Leverage Gamification for your business

RPM's Senior Digital Designer, Damian James, has been featured on B2B Marketing this week addressing the ways in which businesses can use gamification to increase staff loyalty. Check out his article below.

It’s hard to ignore the buzz currently surrounding the gaming industry, and with gamification increasing loyalty and engagement, it’s no surprise to see that B2B brands are also looking to capitalise on this trend. To that end, whether you plan to use gamification to increase staff loyalty, save money on training or to gain in-depth customer feedback, how can you make it worthwhile?

The first thing to establish are clear objectives: what do you want to get out of gamification? And what’s in it for the user? Businesses must acquire an understanding that the customer experience is the most important concern when it comes to gamification. Ultimately if it is not user-friendly, customers or staff will remain unengaged and your efforts will be left by the wayside.

Be true to your core values and content
Be realistic and don’t get caught up in the craze just for the sake of it. Despite its clear advantages, gamification can be expensive and time consuming to implement so businesses need to be practical about the level they are looking to employ, while remaining true to their objectives and ensuring the experience adds value for them as well as the user. Clear objectives to focus on could be training or education, motivation, employee engagement or customer feedback.

When it comes to gamification, your content is your best asset, so ensure to build your game mechanics around the substance of your business, while making it accessible, straightforward and easy to interact with. Just as LinkedIn has used gamification to encourage users to complete their online profiles with a simple percentage progress bar, HR departments could use gamification to motivate staff to submit details, or sales teams could be given target driven awards for their achievements via an incentive scheme.

Collect data and feedback
Gamification is a brilliant way to capture customer or staff data and feedback, for example, it can be collected through quizzes or surveys. These can help your business gain insight into your customers while at the same time giving them a voice in an original way in order to collect sufficient and honest feedback. Marketers should also look to track user interactions. How much and in what ways is the game's content being shared. Brands need to shift the importance from how long a customer spends online to how much they are sharing, how they are sharing and with whom. This not only provides insight but can also help to improve your gamification solution.

Tap into natural behavior
Humans are naturally competitive, ambitious and goal-orientated so harnessing these behaviors with gamification should be the foundation for any B2B campaign. We love to be recognised and rewarded for our accomplishments so building a reward system, such as prize draws, league tables or highlighting top achievers, will help motivate staff or customers and increase interaction. Importantly the experience should be fun and enjoyable otherwise people simply won’t use it.

Think about your target audience and which mechanics will resonate with them. Look at the types of gamers appropriate to your business or brand. These can include Achievers, Socialisers, Explorers or a combination of all three. Also think about how your gaming mechanic or solution will fit within your entire B2B campaign. To help choose the types of game mechanics you should also consider the lifecycle of your gamification experience and how to encourage longevity. Some users will be new, some will be regulars and a smaller proportion will become avid enthusiasts or brand advocates throughout the lifecycle of your campaign.

Don’t go overboard
Some are sceptical about gamification, and rightly so. Companies and brands can spend a lot of time and money developing complex games that add little to their business content by way of engagement. Planning and understanding how your game relates to the user, what benefits the user will receive and, more importantly, how the game fits in with a user’s perception of your business or brand are key to integrating game dynamics on a deeper level. Further to this the brand or product needs to be strong and tangible enough for users to really want to interact with it in the first place, in order for the game to be more than just a gimmick. Often the simpler the game mechanic, the better the results. Don’t plan on creating the next chart topping arcade game but look to build something simple and effective around your core content. If your content is already established it shouldn’t be hard to gamify.

Keep it simple
The reason gamification works is because it can simplify otherwise lengthy processes. Surveys or training can be broken down into smaller stages with a simple reward mechanic after each stage. This approach makes it easier to respond to laborious tasks by helping to map out the process and encourage progress. The easiest and most effective technique to use is a traffic light system. One such example is the traffic light system used when setting up a password; red equals weak; green equals strong.Car brand Chevrolet has utilised a simple traffic light system with its well thought-through colour coded dashboard mechanic for fuel efficiency – green, you’re driving efficiently; yellow, you’re not. While some people pay attention to the miles per gallon figure, without a target there is no sense of achievement. What Chevrolet has done is to simplify the process, so by keeping it green, drivers are technically ‘winning’. B2B brands can use similar processes in their campaigns to achieve basic but very engaging gamification.

RPM at Confex and IOEX

Anyone whose anyone in the events industry is talking about Confex and IOEX, both taking place at ExCeL, London this week from the 6-8th March. On the 8th we have several speakers from RPM gracing the stages addressing a whole range of subjects from an in-depth look at award winning RPM case studies, to the benefits of engagement marketing, to a look at the experiential sector in 2012. To give you the background, The International Outdoor Event Expo (IOEX) is a brand new event created to offer a major international showcase for the innovative and world leading UK Outdoor event production industry and Confex aims to connect event organisers with venues, destinations and support services.

Kicking things off for RPM will be our strategist Tim Jones, who will present our award winning Smirnoff Paint Fest case study at The Best of British Theatre at Confex at 10.30am. Shortly followed by RPM's CEO, Hugh Robertson, who will join the Haymarket Hub at 11am to debate experiential in 2012. He’ll be joined by Hotcow and Itch as well as Jeremy King from Event Magazine. Third up will be our Head of Production Rory Sloan and Strategist Tim Jone set to discuss how to ensure experiential success with the rules of engagement from 12.30-1.15pm on the IOEX main stage. (If you have any questions about engagement marketing that you would like either Rory or Tim to answer, please do tweet them to @rpmltd).

Shortly after Rory and Tim, Julia Bruns from our talent booking partner OurKidBrother will address the world of brand and event partnerships, followed by the FMBE Award Judging from 3.30-5pm, in which our Talisker Sail-in Cinema project for Diageo has been shortlisted for the Brand Experience Creative Award LIVE awards. Presenting the Talisker case study will be Tom Lovegrove and Tim Jones.

All in all a jam packed day for RPM, so make sure you are down there!

RPM Snap Vertical Rush Race for Shelter

If you were following our Tweets this morning, you'll know that RPM were snapping those brave enough to climb the 920 steps of Tower42 in East London for Shelter's 'Vertical Rush' fundraising initiative. Known as the UK's biggest tower running event, Vertical Rush invites 1,200 participants to climb the tower in the fastest time and help raise money for the housing charity. Our photographer was on hand to snap the step walkers as they warmed up, as they begun their steep ascent, and finally their collapse on the 42nd floor! Here are a few of the man in action.

Rory Sloan Explores Ticket Touting

I have read plenty about ticket touting in the press recently and have always struggled to share the same opinion as the majority of the industry. This is probably the result of very different objectives I have from those of more traditional event organisers. Few of the events that RPM run are looking for any financial return from ticket sales; doing one off spectaculars for brands works in a very different way from running a profitable festival or tour. Our and our client’s payback comes from increased brand loyalty and brand advocacy. The fact is we often charge simply to ensure the tickets have a worth and we get the capacity we want.

The drop off from free ticket events is always high and can be difficult to plan for, but what I find far more surprising is that the drop off from paid for ticketed events still remains at about 10%, and hasn’t reduced in the current economic climate. For a lot of events that we run, the actual event is just the tip of the iceberg and the true value of the project comes from the word of mouth, press coverage and social media amplification of the event. With all this in mind the closer we can get to capacity the better the result of the event. If someone has a ticket to one of our events which they buy three months before the line up has even been announced, why shouldn’t they sell it on to a mate if it turns out they can’t or don’t want to go? It suits me much better if they do.

In the past some of the arguments against ticket touting have been around individuals cornering the market and limiting supply in order to inflate the ticket prices. My limited understanding gleaned from A-level Economics taught me about the principle of supply and demand. If it really is the case that supply is likely to far outstrip demand then the promoter should be looking at holding the event in a venue with a larger capacity. If that’s not possible, then they should look to repeat the event. Alternatively, if none of those options are available they can always increase ticket prices, within reason.

It is much easier these days to control who gets hold of the tickets. We often organise ticket sales for events through Facebook so you know who is coming to the event. It also means you can limit the number of tickets sold to individuals and stop people buying up large numbers. Similarly, technology such as RFID enables consumers' Smartphones to become their ticket, which stops them from being sold on so easily. Alternatively event organisers can go down a public ballot route like the Olympics, Wimbledon or Glastonbury. There are still the corporate/partner tickets that can be abused at these events, but that is a whole different issue, and should be dealt with contractually between the event organiser and the partner/sponsor.

I realise the Olympics has brought in special laws to fine touts up to £20,000, and I certainly wouldn’t encourage people to break the law, but it is down to individual event organisers to decide whether their tickets can be re-sold. Personally I think it is just as criminal as ticket touting and tantamount to theft to not allow someone who, for whatever reason, has decided not to attend an event they have paid for and are refused a refund. The idea that you can only pass tickets on for free is outdated and I can only hope that the rise of websites like Viagogo will reduce organisers’ resistance to ticket re-sales and also ensure consumers are not out of pocket.

How Can Retailers Step Up Their Game?

RPM's Head of Retail Engagement, Simon Couch, believes retailers must step up their game to create relevant in-store experiences, ensuring shoppers are truly engaged and willing to remain loyal.

“I agree with Helen Edwards’ column, (Marketing Magazine, 18th January) on the importance of engaging the shopper and establishing innovative ways to create an exciting shopping experience. She rightly argues that consumer ‘infidelity’ is on the increase, and retailers must step up their game in order to build and retain loyalty. So beyond slashing prices how do they do it? Retailers, whether large or small operators need to ensure their brand remains versatile and ‘in tune’ with their local communities.

An effective way of doing this is tailoring their offering to the retail calendar using creativity to create a point of difference on the high street. 2012 especially represents great opportunities to do this. Take the Diamond Jubilee, which falls on the 5th of June Bank Holiday; the week the Euro 2012 Championship commences. Here for example there is a great opportunity to match quintessentially English products (such as Pimms, union jacks or scones) with more general summer season products (such as BBQ’s or gazebos).

To really stand out from the crowd, retailers must think locally. These are national, even global, events but be sure to make them relevant to your local shopper and community. Be reactive to news and events, find out if there are Jubilee street parties or Olympic screens, and be the champion. Create relevance and impact and sales will follow”

RPM in Communicate Magazine

Our Head of Creative, Neil Hooper, has been featured in this month's Communicate Magazine in which he analyses the slick new re-brand of the Imperial War Museum. To read his full review, have a look at the coverage on the Communicate website or check out pages 38-40 of the magazine.

RPM in Retail Week - Shopper Engagement

Our Head of Retailer Engagement, Simon Couch, gives advice to retailers looking to create stand out and build shopper engagement using a minimal budget. He urges retailers to remain reactive to events on a local and national level such as The Diamond Jubilee and The Olympics, and create synergies with these through relevant messaging, exclusive offers or bundle deals. The coverage is soon to be featured online which you can check out by clicking the following link: www.retail-week.com/surgery.

Social Media Captures Moments of High Engagement

In Rob Wilson’s piece on the benefits of pretesting, he shows us that by gaining consumer insight through focus groups pre-campaign, brands are able to create engaging, relevant activity that taps into a consumer need, instigating brand behaviour to fulfil it. This is all very well for pretesting, but is the same market research as effective for post-campaign measurement? How can market research, post-event, tell us how engaged consumers were during the height of a campaign? This is where social media comes in. With its real-time feedback and ability to have constant streams of conversation, social media is arguably more effective when it comes to capturing exactly how consumers felt right in the moment of engagement than a survey taken a few days later or even a few hours later.

Arguably then, market research is decontextualised, and as a result brands should always look to incorporate social media into their campaigns for this very reason. Despite what some may think, this doesn’t have to be a complicated process. Brands should always create a hashtag on Twitter for each event, which would help raise the profile of a campaign by drawing all conversation into one place. The hashtag also makes it easy to track and monitor from an evaluation point of view, and it encourages people to keep referring back to your event after it has finished. Facebook is also useful for gauging real-time feedback. Creating a bespoke Facebook page for an event/campaign and encouraging users to upload photos or comments is a great way to track what they really think, right when it matters the most.

Listening to people in social media works because the comments or feedback are made at the moment of high engagement. What you learn from this kind of medium cannot be gathered through research.

2012: The Year of the Consumer

Thanks to an increased number of social media platforms, consumers have more opportunities than ever before to voice their opinions, views and feedback, which is dramatically affecting business models. Where brands once talked and consumers listened, the opposite is now true, and brands have come to expect that their marketing strategy or product development plans are dramatically shaped and determined by the needs and desires of the consumer.

What’s more, consumers have also come to expect and demand a voice from the brands they interact with. Companies therefore need to be open to consumer dialogue and present multiple platforms to support this. Never before have brands been so focused on the consumer need, and they must aim to engage consumers through a path to participation, allowing them to be valued and heard. Brands must show consumers that they strive to make positive actions from feedback, even if it is negative. Negative feedback is an opportunity for brands, not a nuisance.

Recent Press Coverage

2012 is kicking off to a great start. Our Head of Retailer Engagement, Simon Couch, has been featured in this month's 'Bar Magazine' discussing the growing trend towards lower ABV products. Simon argues that consumers are becoming increasingly diet conscious, and as a result, brand owners are under growing pressure to increase their ranges to include products suitable for the health-conscious consumer. You can read his comments via the e-mag here.

Our Pop-Up team has also hit the headlines this month. Their hints and tips on creating a temporary retail space around the time of the Olympics have been included in 'Retail Focus' magazine, in which they also discuss why pop-ups should be a key part of a brand's marketing strategy.