So, what do you do? I work in marketing....

By Sophia Thomas, Account Manager

When I tell people I work at marketing agency the common belief is that I spend my day scheming about how to get people to buy more of our clients’ products and at the end of the day we only care about driving consumerism. While of course there is an element of truth to that, the reality is we don’t just use creativity to increase sales and fill your homes with endless ‘stuff’; we also use our skills to highlight health and social issues.

What we do isn’t just about creating something visually stunning, exciting or different, it is about shedding light on insights and existing human behaviours and then figuring out what we need to do to challenge held  and create beliefs and incite action.

One of my favourite examples of a campaign that highlights a fantastic cause is last month’s UN for women campaign which demonstrated how something as so seemingly simplictic as, Google,  can become a rather effective tool in revealing some startling insights. The campaign was based on actual Google search results which revealed the widespread prevalence of sexism and discrimination and downright opposition to women’s rights.

Not only does this campaign demonstrates how we combine creativity with insight to catch people’s attention, but it also shows that we aren’t just in the business of communicating products and services to consumers; instead we are in the business of starting conversations.  Sometimes that conversation is about your choice of toothpaste, but other times it is about a women’s right to be equal.

So next time I tell someone I work in marketing, before they let their imagination runaway with thoughts of evil plots, I’ll make sure to remind them that we aren’t villains we just simply want to chat.

Want to get further involved in the UN for Women campaign?  Join the conversation on Twitter by using #womenshould

Are you set up to deliver reactive brand experience?

By Nadia Mkinsi, Planning Executive, RPM

This month saw the release of the latest instalment of Honda’s Start Something Special campaign, which seeks to inspire consumers vicariously with big, heart-warming experiences. The latest video depicted a soon-to-be-married couple of die-hard Honda drivers who had asked their local dealer to lend them three black CR-Vs for the bridal party. On their wedding day, eight CR-Vs delivered a series of thoughtful surprises: the band the couple heard on their first date, a troupe of Irish step dancers, and unexpected relatives flown in from Ireland.

The video itself is a saccharine and fairly generic piece of digital content designed to “go viral” and be circulated across social media platforms (it has racked up just shy of a million views); it is the highlight of the hondastories.com which collects consumer-submitted anecdotes. But it also serves to illustrate a rare case of ‘reactive’ brand experience.

Rapid response marketing has become increasingly popular in the past year or so. When something begins to trend online, brands have a narrow window to ride the trend and be relevant; prime examples of this are Lynx’s Prince Harry ad after his Vegas Scandal, and Oreo’s program of daily newsjacking. However, we rarely see this strategy employed in brand experience.

We can only speculate as to the actual process behind the Honda video – but it’s apparent that a local dealership spotted an opportunity in the couple’s (fairly mundane) request and forwarded it to the brand team, who then collaborated with agency RPA to create the experience as part of the brand’s wider campaign. What’s commendable, though, is that the internal culture at Honda actively encourages these initiatives, and that their people are ‘switched on’ enough to identify new and interesting opportunities, even outside of the usual channels and structures.

Although the process is bound to be more complex than, say – writing a clever tweet, or designing, approving, and buying last-minute media space for a press ad – the impact is also bound to be larger. Fostering a culture of collective commitment and optimising communication channels can help to create an environment that is conducive to delivering reactive brand experience, and reaping the rewards of ideas with real sociability.

iOS7′s iBeacons: turning content strategy into retail transactions

By James Poletti, Head of Digital Strategy and John Viccars, Senior Shopper Strategist

Apple might just have quietly shaken up our expectations of the long-discussed internet of things. After the company’s September Keynote, a slow trickle of articles followed noting a feature barely addressed in Tim Cook’s presentation. It’s a technology that has been available in iPhones since the 4s and is, in fact, used in most leading handsets. In short: low energy Bluetooth that enables connectivity over a short range without draining power in your device.
Through a profile called iBeacons, this energy-efficient connectivity can be paired with cheap sensors that enable object-to-device interactions in environments like shops, concert halls and museums. Allied to a native mobile application, iBeacons usher in an opportunity for retailers to push content to shoppers’ devices and to facilitate indoor mapping – allowing, say, Topshop to take a customer on a personal stylist’s journey around the shelves from the comfort of their handset. With such immense potential to connect digital content with the physical world, iBeacons might just be the first brief for departing Burberry boss Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s new SVP for retail and online stores.
If there was any concern that tech commentators were over-reading the significance of iBeacons, Paypal’s recent launch of Beacon – their service that uses the same technology to allow users of the Paypal app to make payments via USB dongles plugged into retailers’ tills – should get our attention.
So what are the drawbacks? Well, it’s not NFC; which will frustrate those that have invested money and energy in that format. But, iBeacons operate in a much broader range (around 150 feet) and do away with the need to bring device and transmitter into close proximity. So they are better placed to steer shopper journeys over greater distances. Despite Paypal’s support though, there remain concerns over the transfer of sensitive financial data at this range. So, we can probably leave wallet-less payment on the NFC feature sheet.
None of this dampens our excitement about the implications of iBeacons for brands and retailers. At the heart of the opportunity, as we see it, is the chance to join up all the investment that the last few years have seen: connecting content strategy with the point-of-purchase to finally prove the effectiveness of all that social media investment, if you will.
We know that shoppers need to create mental alibies to justify purchases. Digital content can deliver these in the way that standard point-of-sale, or even most shop floor staff, cannot. Justifying an expensive jacket by exploring its design and production, for example, and showcasing a compelling production story can suddenly tip the value scales.
Upsell and cross-sell can be achieved with targeted content designed to unlock the purse strings. A supermarket could recommend a nice bottle of red to go with that steak picked up at the meat counter. A fashion retailer could feed-in what garments are trending on social media.
Crucially, retailers need to intercept showrooming behaviours – where in-store shoppers check prices and user reviews on their mobile. Price for the shopper isn't simply a question of “am I paying too much?” For example, John Lewis’ “never knowingly undersold” promise could become a true price pledge for even the most savvy shoppers. User reviews could be delivered in a seamless manner to build confidence in purchase.
As we have talked about elsewhere, the expectation of mobile influence – not to be confused with m-commerce – is huge, with L2 ThinkTank estimated to influence global sales of $689,000,000,000 by 2016.
The hope is that iBeacons will become a useful ‘always on’ tool for shoppers to dip into as their need state dictates, rather than a flood of uninvited pushy brand intrusion. Discount offers easily become overwhelming. Getting the right content to the right shoppers is the challenge and responsibility that all retailers and brands face. Bombardment will turn us off. Additionally, to simply switch this potential on, the minimum requirement for a brand is an engaged audience using its existing native app.
So, the opportunity is most exciting for those brands that have earned an authentic relationship with their most loyal customers. Take, for example, the Tesco app twinned with the user’s Clubcard account and social media connection to the brand; the data runs deep. With the ability to broadcast to mobile via the app, using push notification, the communication possibilities are that of pinpoint accuracy and relevancy for the shopper.
Finally, the potential to unlock digital content in an in-store environment via object-to-device iBeacon technology means those statements in your social media strategy – conversation, engagement, storytelling – will be even better positioned to create a relationship with customers that leads all the way to the till.

This article was first published on The Wall 

Is real world ‘sociability’ the key to social media success?

In a week when the brilliant That Is Not An Insight Tumblr reigned supreme for most of us, RPM’s James Poletti attempted to swerve buzzword bingo and bring together some of the most creative people working at the intersection of digital and real world experiences to discuss a social landscape beyond your desktop.

Tom Roope from The Rumpus Room, Pascal Auberson from Specialmoves and Tim Manning of Swarm brought a complementary set of perspectives and experience to the topic.

We started from the view that to activate participatory ideas and drive earned media, it’s simply not enough to pour owned media on the fire and expect it to take. Instead, we discussed the role of real world experiences either as the initiator of audience participation – capturing audience content in the moment - or as an outcome for content gathered and then brought to life in an experience.

Concrete examples come in the form of a couple of Rumpus Room case studies discussed by Tom: their X-Box: Lilly Allen campaign in which fans were recorded signing the song in-booth and their footage then translated into a video mosaic of user content. To the Google Gallery: For Everyone project in which user content was projected in a big media takeover of Times Square, with the big reveal being – when  your image showed in the square – which was then captured and shared back to you via social networks:

Talk Talk's X Factor campaign show's how it's done.

Much debate centred on what constituted the elusive and crucial quality of ‘give-a-shitability’ that would encourage audiences to participate and hit that share button, feeling good about the content they were broadcasting under their own personal brand.

Specialmoves showed a number of projects and R&D work in which audiences used smart phones and gesture control to control outdoor digital interfaces, such as their DIY City project:

DIY City - Empowering people to redesign their urban spaces

And Swarm gave us an insight into how content and, by extension, social media interactions could be brought to life in-store:

adiVerse - Making digital physical

The panellists also talked about the best ways to execute content and sharing interactions in the real world, agreeing a number of simple do’s and don’ts.

All of that and only one appearance on That Is Not An Insight (a fairly charming one, at that):

To find out more about the session or request content relating to it, just drop a line to rebecca.collins@rpmltd.com

The team in action

Milka try a little tenderness... chocolate rewards for your affection

Milka recently encouraged the Argentinian public to try a little tenderness to get free chocolate. Its latest campaign involved a vending machine placed a short distance away from a Milka cow statue. As it lacked coin slots, passers-by had to figure out how to obtain the chocolate. By joining hands with one another to form a “chain of tenderness,” sensors on the vending machine and the cow were activated simultaneously, prompting the machine to release bars of chocolate. After each delivery, the cow statue moved further away from the machine, so that more hands were needed to connect the sensors.

‘Smell-vertising’ or as it’s formally known sensory-marketing

We’re all familiar with the good old fashioned scratch and sniff concept and it’s a well-known fact that smell sells. From local stores that infuse their aisles with the smell of baking bread, shopping malls that emit alluring coffee aromas as you walk through the entrance, drawing shoppers cafes like moths to a flame to children’s stores that subtly soothe parents with lavender scents in order to create a relaxing shopping environment and increase dwell time in aisles.  

Smells are scientifically proven to subconsciously influence the human mind and subsequently consumer behaviour.  A study conducted by Washington State University into cognitive behaviour found that shoppers who were exposed to one simple scent spent 20% more than shoppers who were exposed to a similar scent made from two ingredients.  Mental processing for the simple scent was minimal and therefore freed up the shopper’s cognitive capacity, allowing them to focus on shopping and spend more. 

Whilst this theory is by no means a new development, it is only in recent years that brands have started to wake up to 360-degree sensory marketing.   Recent successful campaigns from McCain, Premier Foods and Mr Wagg have been based around smell,  but excitingly McCain have decided to build on the  success of their 2012 campaign outdoor campaign that targeted commuters with mouth-watering smells at bus stops, and with it innovate the shopper marketing category.

Their latest shopper marketing campaign sees the smell of a freshly cooked baked potato being wafted along the aisles of supermarkets from special end of aisle barkers; meaning going to the supermarket on an empty stomach could become even riskier than before.

With this campaign McCain seek to shift their marketing focus from predominantly visual to an olfactory shopper experience, achieving cut through in-store and side stepping the fight for visual differentiation in a heavily congested shopper environment, what’s more shoppers are unable to easily filter out the sensory cues of a sweet smelling campaign in the same way that they can turn away from visual stimulation, unless they hold their breathe that is.

So whether you consider this campaign to be a nasty taunt to those who make the mistake of visiting the supermarket on an empty stomach or an exciting advance in shopper marketing I think sensory marketing is here to stay.

MINI Roller Coaster

For the adrenaline junkies among us the mere thought of a roller coaster induces a feeling of excitement and delight. With a new video advert that is expected to go viral, MINI Canada are hoping to get your heart racing. Production company Asymetric, transformed three MINI cooper 5 models into MINI Roller Coasters, by removing the rear seats and roof, then adding custom built roller coaster frames as well as carts, speakers and wind blowers, to create the optimum visual experience.

The cars were driven around the streets of Toronto where actors screamed as if travelling at gut turning speeds, when in reality they were cruising slowly along the urban streets of Toronto.

 

This video is MINI’s newest execution as part of the brands ‘Not Normal’ platform that started back in May. The campaign accentuates MINI’s uniqueness in comparison with other motor brands opting to highlight excitement over comfort and style or reliability. Not that MINI compromises any of those factors; it just heroes USP's that are not traditionally a focus for motoring brands. MINI is known not only for the classically British cars that they produce but the effortlessly cool brand identity that they have created.   This campaign manages to bring to life their brand and derive attention and emotion from both loyal and new customers.

 

Their video content captures the disruptive and effective nature of the campaign –stopping passers-byin their tracks, encouraging them to capture their own #MININOTNORMAL moment and share it with their social networks, subsequently increasing the reach of the campaign in an organic, credible manor.

 

Dave Douglas Partner/ECD at Anomaly was right when he said 'The stunt was truly unconventional and not the normal way to communicate the brand core of excitement'

 

We certainly get a taste of what it’s like to be Not Normal from this campaign and in the words of MINI who wants to be average anyway?

 

 

Read more about the '#MININOTNORMAL' campaign here


 

Shhhhh It’s a Library...

The official Online Oxford Dictionary yesterday became a few words richer; one word that made the cut was the term ‘selfie,’and those familiar with social networking need no introduction to such a term. So with the ‘selfie’ now firmly holding a place in the dictionary the trend is clearly here to stay, and as a result can defiantly be used as a successful marketing tool. 

The New York Public Library jumped on this band wagon last week, when it unveiled two photo booths allowing visitors to -

'Capture a moment in their library visit’

Each photo can be tagged with a caption that indicates how the photographed has used the library. 

With the trend of the 'selfie' being so colossal the campaign could prove to be a great success for The New York Public Library, the campaign coincides with the release of new digital content within the library. This fun idea along with the big focus on digital content has the potential to create a buzz and attract younger clients into the library, and shake the cliché that libraries are boring places.

Click here to read more about the campaign on NYPL official website.

  

Three steps to help brands connect digital content with in-store experience

RPM's  Head of Digital Strategy, James Poletti and Senior Shopper Strategist, John Viccars provide a 3-point guide on how to connect digital content with in-store experience.  

Brands are now adept at creating engaging digital content, but often neglect the integration of real world physical marketing such as in-store experience. Fortunately, emerging location-based technologies are helping to join the dots.

No longer a fringe sport, many brands now operate 24/7 digital content strategies, bringing audiences into their world like a media title firing the passions of readers across multiple publishing platforms. Think of the way Waitrose combines utility (recipes, shopping lists, wine matching) and customer publishing with its excellent iPhone app, all alongside magazines, vibrant social media communities and a YouTube (and now TV) channel helmed by celebrity chef ambassadors. Yet, Waitrose’s in-store content experience is a curiously "printed word" affair.

Where our digital and physical worlds align is, of course, mobile. According to L2 ThinkTank, mobile influence – not to be confused with m-commerce – is estimated to influence global sales of $689,000,000,000 by 2016. Plus, shoppers are increasingly using mobile in-store. A Cisco Study shows 8 out of 10 people already shop through "bits and bites". This existing and rapidly growing shopper behaviour is ripe for exploitation by brands. The opportunity is huge.

But there remains a disjuncture between shopper and shop in this behaviour. Hence the widely reported phenomenon of "showrooming", where shoppers jump online to find competitor pricing and recommendations. By treating showrooming as a threat, not an opportunity, retailers risk copying the music industry’s mistake of trying to stem an ultimately uncontrollablebehavioural shift.....

Click here for the full article, published on Marketing online. @rpmltd 

Toyota RAV4 - Taking online, outside

Toyota Africa have brought the Toyota RAV4 online site to life on a 1.8km cycling track in Johannesburg.

Fitting it with sensors, custom-built mechanisms, and Wi-Fi. Wooden overhead ‘menu bars’ and different sections which cyclists could select by tapping wooden buttons along the trail as they cycled through.

Different options triggered different changes and information to be displayed, much like navigating a web page, including a Twitter feed option. Near the end, riders were prompted to book their test drives, and a tree stump printed out their test drive booking slip, which also served as their entry to a competition!

Hyundai Undead

Following last year's Hyundai Undead marketing campaign for the 2013 Elantra Coupe, the car brand has teamed up with "The Walking Dead" and its creator Robert Kirkman yet again. This time, they’ve launched The Walking Dead Chop Shop, an iPhone, iPad and soon-to-be Android app inspired by the show and comic book series that lets fan design their own survival machines. See this campaign in action on You Tube

From Sketch to Store - When illustration meets photography

French Connection UK commissioned famous fashion photographer Rankin to capture its Autumn/Winter 2013 collection for the brand's first black and white campaign, "From Sketch to Store." The photographer's in-house creative content agency, The Full Service, conceived the edgy-yet-playful video and shoot that will run online and in print until December. The pictures show male and female models whose nude forms were sketched over with designs -- including shoes and accessories -- by illustrator Jo Bird. The final photos are of them sporting the collection's finished looks. The merging of photography with the clever illustrations make a simplistic yet impactful campaign.

No such thing as an original idea?

The presentation below was given by Senior Planner, Tim Jones, and RPM Head of Production and Artwork, Rory Sloan, at this year's Confex event, when asked to address the topic of creativity in the events industry. Now, clearly, the title is designed to provoke. But the more we lived with the contention that there is no such thing as an original idea, the more true it began to seem.



No such thing as an original idea? from RPMagency

A slight evolution (driven mainly by modesty) proposed that “…there is only the orginal application of an idea.” This forced us to put our money where our mouth is and attempt to provide an RPM step by step guide to great ideas.

The deck offers six steps to help ‘turn inspiration into ideas of value’ and uses both RPM and other agency case studies to illustrate. It is far from prefect but it hopefully stimulates some thought and further discussion. Enjoy.

What does 'Say & Do' mean in the world of social media?

As any of our friends will tell you, we're passionate believers in the mantra of 'Say & Do', at its very simplest we believe in translating brand promises into tangible behaviour. Actions speak louder than words. It's easy to 'get' how our work in the realworld delivers on this credo but perhaps less immediately apparent how it informs our approach to the world of digital and social.

The article below by our Head of Digital Strategy, posted last week on Brand Republic's The Wall blog, makes the case for this approach to the world of social media interactions, where 'saying & doing' comes to life in the parallels between digital sociability and realworld sociability. That is, the combination of realworld interactions - where we have the opportunity to trigger the evangelists of social media and inspire the content creation that fuels social interactions - and the community and dialogue that these realworld sparks ignite. If you like, 'doing' as the catalyst that triggers social 'saying'.

Of course, the realworld isn't a prerequisite for successful digital activity but we believe that it is an immensely powerful way to approach successful social media campaigns. We'd love to hear from other people with insights into balancing experience in the social mix - whether you agree or disagree.

In the meantime, you can read the piece here:

Picture the scene: you’re ready to hit go on your big social media project but are suddenly gripped by fear. The fear that despite all the research, the great concept, media spend, beautiful design and user interface, the audience just may not react with the infectious thrill you need to make this a ‘message that moves’. We deal in human responses and can never completely mitigate risk, but could it be that a solution to successful creativity in social media is so obvious that the clue is in the name… that ‘sociability’ is the fuel we need?

Read more...

“I had no idea what I was doing, but it felt good”

Hi, my name is Nobby and I’m a Junior Art Director at RPM, here to talk about two things: skateboarding and improvisation.

When I was 14 (when I began my skateboard story) there were no waves where I lived and I wanted to surf. So I surfed a skateboard. Then when I turned 15 and my brother passed his driving test I discovered an attraction to speed; but I was too young to drive. So I took that skateboard to the top of the biggest hill I could find and went down it until I was fast enough (and brave enough) to overtake the very cars I wanted to drive. I had no idea what I was doing, but it felt good.

Backwards nose-manual - because the front didn’t have a kick.

This never ending search for my own path has bought me to a whole universe of styles and disciplines in the world of wood and wheels that is mostly known as longboarding. I cruise, I dance, I slide, I downhill, I freestyle, and I mostly do a blend of all these things and make it all up, and that’s the beauty – the making it up, literally as you go along. It is a constant flow of untethered creation.

So for me skateboarding is the purest form of creativity. When I stand at the top of a hill there are limitless ways of skating just that one hill – a never ending series of lines, slides, early grabs and hippie jumps. I could skate that one hill my entire life and never repeat an exact run. And the beauty is that there isn’t just one hill, there are thousands.

My a selection of my full quiver of boards.

And just as an artist has his styles and development, a songwriter his instruments and genres, I have my boards and… me. The moments are fleeting, or memorable. They are innovative, or classic. They are spontaneous, or planned for years. But most of all they are pure imagination that I have created and no-one will ever do it the same as I do.

A 5-0 on a 3 foot quarter.

Everyday I get to think, write, draw and laugh – my creative skills are paid for, and it’s one hell of a feeling. But no matter what brand, what project or what media I’m working on it all comes back to a simple world – improvisation, or as a more professional aged version of myself calls it: problem-solving. This ability originates from my skating, it comes from having to do things in a way no-one else does, having to be instantaneously creative for hours at a time. You see a bench? I see a jump, a grind, a slide, a challenge, an opportunity. This entire concrete jungle we live in is one big opportunity, so to use my native tongue *ahem* if you wanna go shred some rad gnarballs and nail a few brews after give me a hollah yeah?

An early grab on a 5 foot quarter.

The Best Corner Shop In The World... Ever™

Across the road from the office is the C&S Grocers…

To those in the office, we know it more fondly as "Joe's". It's your traditional corner shop, with wares packed high to the ceiling in no particular order (a little unfair but I'm setting the scene). It is a truly family business with father (Joe), mother, daughter and son. Joe is becoming increasingly frail so the family have been more and more active the last year or so. It does pretty good business from our office (I alone spend far more than I should on crisps, chocolate and the occasional Mr Kipling) but there is no hiding; it is a tough existence.

Every time I walk past (strangely, not when I pop in), I have the same thought... How can a creative, strategic and idea-driven marketing agency, only 20 yards down the road, make their business better? We are paid by some of the most famous and successful brands in the world, so surely we can deliver some improvements to Joe's?

This ambition always leads me to ask the same questions:

Q1. What is it about Joe's that makes it Joe's (the brand personality) and do I need to change or embrace this to deliver success?
Q2. Where would this success come from (the target audience)? A corner shop is just that - a shop on the corner - meaning locality is king. I can't see a global mail order business developing but never write it off.
Q3. Should I keep my big, agency-twisted nose out of their lives and simply enjoy what they do?
Q4. Will I ever do anything about it? This post is at least a start, I suppose.

The best I have so far is this...

A simple rebrand to The Best Corner Shop In The World... Ever™

This simple trademark does nothing more than package and celebrate everything that makes Joe's Joe's. From the 27 year old stickers on the door to the appalling (but occasionally worthy of passing on) jokes that the son makes every day (perhaps shared in a blog or on Twitter). The magic is in the promotion and some clever branded paper bags.

Who wouldn't want to have something, be it a Twix or some bog roll, from the greatest corner shop in the world? The footfall question is easy enough - there are two Co-ops, a Sainsburys and a Tesco all within five minutes...

The thought continues...

Written by Tim Jones, Senior Strategist here at RPM

Get Smart about Smartphones to Appease Digital Shoppers

The smartphone is changing how we shop. From showrooming to hitting the January sales in a more convenient way, smartphones have placed shoppers ahead of retailers and brands in the race to master digital. This gap is set to widen as retailers struggle to keep up with the expectations of the increasingly demanding digital shopper. Smartphones are creating a bridge between physical products and digital worlds, but retailers and brands are failing to grasp the nettle.

To quote Deloitte: “around 6% of in-store retail sales are being influenced by smartphone use, equivalent to £15.2bn of sales in 2012”. And it’s a trend that’s set to grow: “By 2016, more than 80% of consumers are expected to own a smartphone and Deloitte estimates that between 15% and 18% of in-store sales will be smartphone-influenced, equivalent to £35-43bn”.

It’s already well-entrenched that digital shoppers use their smartphones for practical searches such as locating stores, checking deals, comparing prices and researching products – all top motivations. But the smartphone’s potential as a shopping tool goes way beyond these relatively prosaic functions.

Smartphones have seamlessly integrated into our lives like a multipurpose Swiss army knife. This creates a golden opportunity for brands and retailers to reach their shoppers in new, value-added ways whilst building brand equity. So why aren’t retailers and brands doing more to connect and influence their shoppers through smartphones?

Some are trying, but few – if any – are scoring full marks. I came across a QR code in Tesco’s spirits aisle the other day. Shopping for a party, I was on the hunt for spirits and mixers to make cocktails. I scanned said QR code in the hope of finding inspiration. But imagine my disappointment to find myself being directed straight to Tesco’s m-commerce page.

Tesco was essentially showing me another way to purchase what was directly in front of me… and I wasn’t even showrooming. Sadly, this is typical and shows that retailers aren’t fully embracing smartphones. In fact, it feels like they’re playing catch-up with the expectations of digital shoppers.

Looking back at how retail has evolved over the past 5 to 10 years, it doesn’t come as a surprise to find it’s the shoppers who are ahead of the game. Shoppers, with their busy and demanding lives, have required more convenience. And it’s this that has driven the shift from high street and neighbourhood stores to online shopping, ‘grocery plus’ stores and an evolution of on-the-go retail; think Tesco Extra and BP + M&S Simply Food.

In line with this need for enhanced convenience, shoppers also want to maximise their free time. They now expect quality shopping experiences. This has led to better destination retail in retail parks and shopping malls, with Westfield being a case in point. Retailers that didn’t pay close attention to shopper’s demands and expectations have disappeared. Similarly, if retailers ignore the digital shopper’s need for smartphone plug-ins, they may also find themselves going the way of HMV and Comet.

It’s understandable that retailers and brands may feel the fear about investing in this largely unchartered territory, but it’s soon going to be impossible to ignore the role that smartphones play in shopping. Trendwatching’s ‘Point-Know-Buy’ report shows that consumers’ expectations of what smartphones can achieve is high and search will no longer be limited to text.

Next generation apps create an expectation that we can point our smartphone at anything and have information fed back to us in a relevant and personalised way. Every brand must now consider how their physical product can link to the digital brand world.

The question that retailers and brands need to consider is: how can the smartphone optimise the path to purchase? Identifying barriers to purchase is great place to start. If only that Tesco QR code had taken me to a place where I could get cocktail recommendations.

The creative opportunities are manifold. I could have been guided by the type of party I wanted, or the nature of the occasion could have been matched to the right mixers. These simple ideas foster a much richer experience and, most importantly, can help trigger purchase.

In fact, smartphones are an ideal vehicle for triggering purchase. But, again, retailers and brands are being woefully slow to realise its potential. There are, however, a few exceptions. The Emmi Murmeli app features an animal, Murmeli, from the Swiss milk processing brand’s ATL campaign. Murmeli is a Tamagotchi and when the animal becomes hungry, he must be fed by using the app to scan codes on real Emmi products.

This is a great way of getting product in hand and creating purchase triggers. If retailers and brands were more open to using smartphones as a tool to drive purchase, they would feel the benefits in more than one way. Not only would they be satisfying the expectations of digital shoppers, they could also increase revenue.

There’s no doubt that the digital shopper offers brands and retailers huge and untapped potential. As a marketer and a shopper, I personally cannot wait to use my smartphone to pre-order and pay for my coffee so it’s waiting for me at Kings Cross – a nice and convenient way to perk up the daily march to work.

I’d also like to get genuine inspiration in complex categories… like spirits at Tesco. Even better, how about using my smartphone to find products, like the ever-elusive mustard, without traipsing around numerous supermarket aisles and bothering harassed staff? Or scanning a pile of jeans and instantly finding my size? Or streamlining my wallet by getting receipts sent straight to my mobile?

Shoppers are digital already and they have great expectations from smartphones. It’s up to brands and retailers to stop lagging behind.

This article was written by John Viccars, Shopper Strategist here at RPM, and first appeared on The Wall: http://wallblog.co.uk/2013/01/30/get-smart-about-smartphones-to-appease-digital-shoppers/

RPM take third place in the IG City Challenge

The big news in cycling is Lance Armstrong's admission to Oprah Winfrey. The bigger news in cycling is last night's London Bike Show showcasing of the world's first indoor criterium, a 600 metre specially developed track with two long straights and several challenging turns (as one of our riders painfully found out).

During the evening the track held media and industry races over twenty laps but the main event was the IG City Challenge, which saw twelve city firms ranging from law, entertainment and marketing battle it out over four events. A rider from each team participated in either a two-lap time trial, 500 metre sprint, eight-minute hill climb or a twenty-lap criterium race. Finishing proceedings off would be a highly-anticipated team relay.

After four events and with just the team relay to go, RPM were lying in fifth place with our main rivals, Team Sky, just two points ahead.  But… with incredible bravery from Matt Convery (who raced on despite severe road rash from a crash on the Crit) the boys from RPM pulled it out the bag with perfect changeovers and blistering pace, finishing in third and giving us enough points to overtake Team Sky.

With solid performances from the whole team and a stage win from Joe Dizon, RPM ended up third overall and enjoyed the glory of a podium finish!

People say its not the winning that matters, but the podium finish felt pretty good. And a brilliant night was had by all at this well-run and unique event.

Head down to the London Nocturne and check it out when you get the chance.

Inspiration Information #2.

Time for part two of those things we expect to grab both our attention and excitement in 2013...

The high street as window to mobile shops

As the high street continues to take a beating (RIP HMV) we expect to see an increasing trend towards stores as experiences, hand-in-hand with this development will be the increasing role of mobile in-store. Presently, mobile is delivering only 0.5% of total retail spend; about £2 billion. Research from Barclays Corporate suggests this will rise to 5% by 2021.

As where we spend our retail pounds (whether this is the high street or office in front of our laptop) becomes less and less significant in a world of always-on mobile shopping opportunities, so we expect the physical experience of brands to become richer and a much greater point of differentiation for the best. Superfast 4G mobile operator EE, for example, has conceived of its in-store experience as a brand encounter rather than a handset showroom.

So, the shop becomes ever more focused on delivering an immersive, experiential brand experience. With this will come experiential campaign executions like Westfield’s ‘Future Fashion’ events, into which the personal mobile experience is integrated and shopping is always just a click-away.

Real-time personalisation

Examples abound throughout 2012 of this exciting trend, from the coffee cup sleeve with the latest Twitter headlines printed on it courtesy of a national daily newspaper, to Hellmann’s Recipe Receipt which custom-prints recipes onto your till receipt at the supermarket based on the content of your basket. Then there’s Google’s brilliant Chrome Web Lab at London’s Science Museum (a Willy Wonka wonderland of machines powered by web and social technology).

Personalisation is, of course, the primary currency of the best Facebook campaigns whether that’s the high polish personalised videos like the celebrated Intel Museum of Me and Take This Lollipop or those now well-worn executions that integrate your street into films via Google Street View, the latest from Stella Artois.

We like the trend towards social media activity that elevates and celebrates the audience either by placing their content at the heart of media, like Samsung’s Valentine’s campaign in Piccadilly Circus which displayed lovers’ messages via Facebook to the giant advertising screens, or with responsive Facebook creative released real-time to fuel active community participation. This was followed through into TV advertising by Costa Coffee whose Coffee Heads advert gathered singing heads from their Facebook audience and then unleashed them onto primetime on the final ad of their campaign.

RPM turns 20!

This week we celebrate our 20th Birthday and say goodbye to our teenage years. It’s hard to believe the journey we have been on, from our humble beginnings in a converted cowshed outside Wokingham with no clients, three not particularly mobile phones but a huge sense of excitement and belief in what we could achieve.

We’ve had an extraordinary time building RPM up to where it is today, working with incredible clients, their businesses and some of the brightest and most ambitious people in the industry.

Some interesting milestones over the 20 years…

1993 RPM founded with £15,000 in a cowshed on a farm outside Wokingham

1994 RPM launches Staffing division and wins M&S, WM Grant and Unilever as clients. RPM launches Production and Creative divisions

1996 RPM embarks upon three year launch of PG Tips’ pyramid bag.  RPM buys LFP Photography and launches RPM Photography

1997 RPM moves to new office in Station Rd, Hampton

1998 RPM creates one of the first festival Brand Experiences for Strongbow (still going strong 14 years later!)

1999 RPM completes three year regional launch of PG Tips’ pyramid bag & wins Unilever’s Global Effectiveness Award

2000 RPM survives Millennium Bug & wins first £1m account with Camelot

2001 RPM wins Agency of the Year from both Marketing Magazine and The Grocer Awards GRAMIA

2002 RPM moves into The Old Treacle Factory, London, wins Deloitte Touche Indy 100 Fastest Growing Companies and begins our longstanding relationship with Diageo

2003 RPM wins Marketing Agency of the Year for the second time

2005 RPM sets up a specialist Planning & Concept Team and launches the RPM grad scheme (over 40 grads to date and counting)

2006 RPM goes global, securing its first global client – FIFA (activating FIFA Interactive World Cup) launching Blackberry Bold in 22 countries and delivering The Sky Festival (36 events for 31 channels over one weekend in Manchester)

2007 RPM is No. 1 in Marketing Magazine’s Experiential League Tables and remains the largest independent agency

2008 Winner at the MCCA Awards, Development of Agency Talent. RPM Digital comes to life

2010 RPM wins Sports Industry Award for Mass Participation (Skyride) and Diageo's European Innovation Agency of The Year for Smirnoff Global Brand Activation. RPM begins working with E.ON and ECB

2011 Over 20,500 Promotional People staffing days.  RPM wins Agency Leadership Award at Field Marketing & Brand Experience Awards and Blade for Sky at The O2, is in Sunday Times Best Small Companies to Work For, for the sixth consecutive year

2012 In the Olympic year and summer of cycling, RPM succeeds in getting 1m people to cycle more regularly and 15 RPM cyclists ride London to Paris to witness "Wiggo" secure victory in Tour De France. RPM sweep the Awards Board with two Diageo Marketing Brilliance Awards, Platinum, Grand Prix and Gold Wins at Eventia, Brand Event Awards and FM&BE Awards respectively.

As proud as I am of everything that has been achieved, it is utterly eclipsed by the sense of debt and gratitude I owe to those who have played their part in making our original vision a reality. I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to each and every one of you.

As humbling as the achievements to date are, in truth, we’re just getting into our stride and I remain incredibly excited about what lies ahead for RPM and the wider industry..

Hugh Robertson

Inspiration Information #1.

January Blues. What January Blues? We're raring to go here at the Old Treacle Factory and to usher in a year we expect to bring exciting innovations to our work and the industry in general we'll be blogging some of the trends, technology, cultural and business developments pushing things forward throughout January.

Crystal ball gazing is a mug’s game, so we’re not going to set ourselves up as marketing soothsayers but we do want to share what's exciting us as we enter into the most exciting year yet at RPM. These are the things putting a spring in our step every morning. Please share yours with us here or on Twitter, and check the Pinterest boards for daily inspiration.

'Social content', not social media

Content Marketing was the buzz phrase of 2012 for digital marketers and looks set to dominate the agenda this year for the Econsultancy crowd. For us, the important revelation the marketing world woke up to here was that a social strategy is not about what platform your brand should be on (Facebook? Pinterest?) but what content your brand’s audience wants from you. The platforms, of course, follow.

Writing in Marketing Magazine in December, Gordon MacMillan claimed that 2013 would be about throwing your social media strategy out the window and starting again. His point was just this; that brands should start with what they are going to say whether that’s called branded content, brand journalism or content marketing.

Too many brands know this all too well from Burberry to Bodyform (who both executed great work in this space last year) for it to be a revelation. We look forward to more coming around to the idea of entertaining, adding value, supporting customer passions and opening up their relationship with their audience through the power of content.

One note of caution on ‘content marketing’ though, watch out for the digital marketers who will turn this into another branch of the more dubious aspects of SEO, creating list article after list article as catnip for social sharers.

Real World Digital

From devices like the Twine box, which can be wired to Tweet when your washing is done or when the kids have their fingers in the chocolate cupboard, to the Nest thermostat which is controlled from your phone and learns your schedule to control the heat in your home accordingly, the ‘Internet of Things’ is going mainstream this year.

We love the applications that we’re already seeing in the marketing world – Bubblegum dispensers controlled by Twitter hashtags, city-centre snowstorms triggered by Foursquare checkins.

Take a look at our ‘Real World Digital’ board on Pinterest for more inspiration.

Start-ups go B2B

It’s getting harder and harder for the slew of consumer apps to cut-through amidst all the noise and that troublesome requirement for meaningful revenue models. Cynical tech scene commentator ReadWriteWeb reckons this will be the year when we take the axe to all those unused apps ‘with filters’ that have flooded our smartphones.

Some smart maneuverers have already sidestepped their original consumer proposition and gone B2B in search of meaningful revenue – take a look at Percolate who started out as a content digest for the time-poor culled from your social feeds but is now using its technology to power dashboard software that combines insight with content publishing for brand clients.

As it becomes more and more important for the tech innovators to make money we foresee more and more opportunities for brands to collaborate and bring value to their audiences in partnerships with tech’s best minds.

More next week and if you'd like to bring something to our attention, hit us @rpmltd on Twitter.