IPM Members Zappit are proud to announce new platform rezolvecx.com establishing Compensation as a Service as a new customer care category.

For years, complaint resolution has been manual, slow and expensive. Compensation as a Service changes that, enabling brands to resolve consumer product complaints instantly through secure, managed digital payments delivered in seconds.

The platform enables brands to issue digital goodwill payments within defined financial guardrails, turning reactive complaint spend into a controlled and measurable engagement channel.

Already deployed across the UK and Europe with brands including Unilever, Colgate, Fever-Tree and BOL Foods, Rezolve operates at both SME and enterprise level.

“Moving to digital vouchers has completely simplified our current process. It’s quicker, easier, and fits how we work today especially with more of us working remotely. The team have been great – collaborative, responsive, and always open to feedback and quick to find solutions when we’ve needed them. It just feels like a much more modern, simple way of working now.”
Sarah Samtani – Consumer Care Manager, Organix

“Working with the team at Rezolve is great. The level of service and attention we receive is excellent – the team is so responsive, professional, and clear in their communications. The platform itself is so incredibly intuitive, which makes it easy for new agents to get up to speed quickly. It streamlines our consumer care process and helps us respond to queries faster and more effectively than ever. Rezolve has become an integral part of how we strive to deliver great service.”
Nika Bureick – Consumer Experience Capabilities Expert Germany, ABInBev

How does it work?

While brands invest heavily in incentives and loyalty programmes, complaint-related compensation has remained manual and inefficient.

Rezolve enables organisations to:

• Issue compensation via instant at-till redemption, cashback or direct payout
• Distributed digitally in seconds – zero P&P costs
• Reduced cost per resolution and driving significant time savings
• Capture structured consumer insight
• Drive retention and increase lifetime value

In effect, Compensation as a Service formalises complaint spend as a measurable,
performance-driven channel. “Compensation has historically been treated as an administrative task,” said Mark Fraser, Founder of Rezolve. “Yet it represents significant spend. Compensation as a Service brings speed, structure and accountability to that spend, turning complaint handling into a strategic revenue lever.”

Rezolve positions Compensation as a Service as a core component of modern consumer
engagement infrastructure.

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Number one Italian cheese brand, Galbani is putting a cheesy twist on the UK’s favourite viral recipes with the launch of its pop-up Burrata Bar. Doors will open in Shoreditch on 4th July, with all ticket proceeds going to Anthony Nolan charity.

The bar, which has been created by Clarion Communications, will serve up a five-course tasting menu curated solely from trending TikTok dishes. It has been launched after research revealed Brits are binning the humble cookbook and nearly two-thirds (62 percent) are turning to TikTok for their recipe inspiration instead.

In a year when Burger Bowls, Marry Me Chicken, and Watermelon Burrata Salad lit up our feeds, nearly two in five Brits (38 percent) admitted they don’t even own a cookbook. With many saying they never actually use them (37 percent), find them too expensive (36 percent), too bulky to store (33 percent), or just a bit old-fashioned (22 percent).

The Burrata Bar, which is open to the public on 4^th and 5^th July 2025, is pulling out all the stops with a five-course feast dedicated to everyone’s favourite creamy cheese. From oozy Burrata Sandwiches and Baked Burrata to a zingy Strawberry and ‘cream’ Salad, crispy fried Golden Burrata, and even gooey Burrata S’mores – it’s a cheese-lover’s dream come true. And with one in five (20 percent) modern Brits saying burrata gets them genuinely excited, Galbani is speaking the nation’s love language.

It is expected that the pop-up event will drive further demand for Galbani Burrata – which is currently performing well within the market, representing more than a third (33%) of the total burrata market and growing +7.5% value sales year on year[i].

“We’re not just dishing up food, we’re creating an experience made for sharing,” says Heloise Le-Norcy Trott, Marketing Director Lactalis UK&I “Our menu’s all about the dishes people are already loving online, swapping with friends, and craving at home – now with a gourmet twist. Burrata is the star of the show, but it’s that classic Italian vibe of sharing great food with great company that makes the Burrata Bar special.”

Galbani worked in collaboration with Clarion Communications and their events partner Hopper to bring this exciting concept to life, blending culinary innovation with strategic communications to create a truly memorable and shareable brand experience.

Tickets are available here now for The Galbani Viral Burrata Bar, which will be open to the public on 4^th and 5^th July at 133 Bethnal Green Road, E2 7DG. Each ticket will secure a welcome drink and a five-course tasting menu, with all ticket sales proceeds being donated to Anthony Nolan charity. Some walk-ins will be available on the day.

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The UK government has recently opened a consultation on the future of zero-hour contracts, a decision with potentially far-reaching consequences for many sectors, especially the promotional marketing industry. Many IPM members rely on zero-hour contracts to staff fluctuating campaign demands, providing essential flexibility. For workers—including students, part-timers, and freelancers—these contracts offer the freedom to work across multiple agencies. During this period, it’s crucial to consider how these contracts can meet the needs of both businesses and workers. This article explores the potential implications, offers critical insights, and encourages active participation to collectively shape how these changes are implemented, ensuring they work for everyone—businesses, agencies, and the workers who make our campaigns possible.

What is a Zero-Hour Contract?

Zero-hour contracts are agreements where employers are not obligated to offer a minimum number of working hours, and workers, in turn, are not required to accept the work offered. These contracts provide critical flexibility, particularly for students, parents, freelancers, and those balancing other commitments to work around their schedules, accommodating studies, family responsibilities, or other part-time work. For employers, it provides the ability to quickly adapt to fluctuating business needs without the burden of fixed staffing costs. This type of contract first entered the public debate in 2013, when industries needed a workforce that could adapt quickly to changing demands—particularly in sectors like hospitality, retail, and promotional marketing.

Flexibility vs. Fairness: The Debate

A pro-worker, pro-business economy demands genuine, two-sided flexibility for both employers and employees. The problem to date has been that this flexibility has too often gone one way. Through the Employment Rights Bill, the government aims to fulfil its pledge to end exploitative zero-hour contracts. It is proposed that this type of contract does not offer the worker any form of certainty as to their earnings, making it difficult to apply for credit or a mortgage, to rent a flat, to plan for major events like weddings or holidays. Flexible hours of work can benefit both workers and employers, but without proper safeguards, this flexibility can be one-sided.

A pro-worker, pro-business economy demands genuine, two-sided flexibility for both employers and employees. The problem to date has been that this flexibility has too often gone one way.

Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds MP, Secretary of State for Business and Trade

Too many people are drawn into a race to the bottom, denied the security they need to raise a family while businesses are unable to retain the workers they need to grow. We’re raising the floor on rights at work to deliver a stronger, fairer and brighter future of work for Britain.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner

The Impact on Promotional Marketing

Promotional marketing—especially experiential campaigns and live activations—relies heavily on the ability to quickly scale staffing up or down based on client demands, campaign types, and specific locations. Zero-hour contracts have been instrumental in providing the workforce flexibility needed for these unpredictable scenarios, enabling agencies to meet diverse client needs efficiently. The flexibility of zero-hour contracts benefits not only businesses but also workers—many of whom are students, freelancers, or part-time professionals looking for dynamic and short-term opportunities.

Our initial conversations with members have shown that these changes could significantly impact how some businesses operate. Without the option for zero-hour contracts, the promotional marketing industry may struggle to meet client demands and maintain the high level of agility required to succeed in an environment where staffing needs shift rapidly. The banning of such contracts could place significant strain on the workforce and the industry as a whole, potentially leading to decreased employment opportunities and a reduction in the industry’s economic contribution.

IPM General Manager Emma Kirk

Challenges in Implementing Reforms

Agency work is inherently unpredictable, with workers frequently choosing this type of employment precisely for the flexibility it offers, allowing them to fit work around other commitments. However, the proposed reforms—such as guaranteed hours—would not only limit workers’ freedom to choose when to work but also hinder agencies’ ability to respond swiftly to campaign demands. Striking a balance between flexibility and stability is crucial for ensuring the industry can continue to flourish while offering fair conditions for all involved.

A key complexity in the promotional marketing sector is the tripartite relationship between agencies, workers, and end clients. With the proposed reforms, questions arise about who should be responsible for offering guaranteed hours or providing reasonable notice of shifts—should it be the agency, the end hirer, or both?

Why Industry Voices Matter

The Employment Rights Bill presents a pivotal moment for sectors like ours that depend on agile staffing solutions. Now is the time for us to collectively shape how these changes are implemented, ensuring they work for everyone—businesses, agencies, and the workers who make our campaigns possible.

The IPM is actively gathering vital input from across the industry to present a well-rounded response to the government consultation. We need real-life examples, data on economic impact, and ideas for how to protect workers without losing the adaptability that our work demands. Your insights could be the key to ensuring the new measures support our industry.

Join the conversation and help shape the future of work in our industry by completing the feedback form via the link below. The deadline for submissions is Friday, 15th November 2024, at 4 pm.

Click Here To Find Out More and Submit Your Feedback!

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Opinion from Andrew Ryan, Director at Halo

When John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola in 1886, not even their catchy positioning of “Delicious! Refreshing! Exhilarating! Invigorating!” could persuade consumers to try it over all the other carbonated wonder tonics and elixirs already on the market.

So, to help increase sales his bookkeeper started giving away tickets for free tastes of Coke, but Pemberton chastised him for extravagance. Fast forward a few years when tycoon Asa Griggs Candler bought the company in 1888, he revisited the bookkeeper’s idea, and distributed thousands of bits of paper like the ones above, and so the coupon as we know it was born.

By 1913, Coca-Cola had redeemed over 8.5 million free drink coupons.

Thankfully the humble coupon itself has made a smooth transition to the 21st century and the new dawn of digital coupons will soon be the norm. If you want to boost your sales and attract more consumers, couponing is still a solid marketing tool to use. Coupons can help you create a sense of urgency, reward loyal consumers and increase brand awareness.

This is especially true in the cost-of-living crisis when consumers are even more value conscious. The tightening of consumer purse strings is placing an even greater demand on the need to deliver value where it matters. This is being born out from our findings across the UK, Europe, Africa and the US that there is a noticeable increase in response and uptake on any promotion that delivers real consumer value. Free and Save messages are currently outperforming all other mechanics.

However, unknown performance can place greater demands on budgets which is where Fixed Fee comes in to provide much needed cost certainty. Fixed Fee is perfect for when costs are variable and the final outcome is unknown. It allows a campaign to be budgeted for regardless of the final performance, protecting the variable costs under a one off completely covered​ Fixed Fee with the backing of re-insurance.

By combining the powerful mechanic of couponing with the cost certainty benefits of Fixed Fee, brands can better navigate these tough trading conditions.​

Why coupons?

1. Couponing creates a sense of urgency. When consumers see that a coupon has an expiration date, they are more likely to act fast and make a purchase before they miss out on a good deal.
2. Couponing appeals to the masses, everyone loves saving money, and couponing allows consumers to feel like they are getting more value for their money.
3. Couponing encourages repeat purchases. By offering coupons that can be redeemed on future purchases, you can increase consumer retention and loyalty. You can also use coupons to cross-sell or upsell other products or services that complement your main offer.
4. Couponing generates word-of-mouth. Social sharing. When consumers are happy with purchases, they’re more likely to share their positive experiences with friends and family. You can also incentivize referrals by offering coupons to both the referrer and the referee.

  Quick couponing checklist                                         

• Set clear goals and objectives for your coupon campaign. What do you want to achieve? Who do you want to target? How will you measure your success?
• Choose the right type of coupon for your offer. There are different types of coupons, such as percentage off, £1 off, buy one get one free, free delivery. Choose the one that best suits your product or service and your target audience.

Tracking, ROI and first party data

• Analyse and optimise your coupon campaign. You can monitor and evaluate the results of your coupon campaign regularly. You can use metrics such as redemption rate, conversion rate, average order value, consumer acquisition cost, consumer lifetime value. You can also collect feedback from your consumers to improve your offer and consumer experience.
• Coupons can help you collect valuable consumer data and feedback. You can use coupons to ask consumers for their email addresses, phone numbers, or opinions. This can help you build your consumer database and improve your marketing strategies.

The humble coupon might not get the recognition it deserves, especially at awards events, but you clients will thank you for the direct impact it can have on driving trade.

Couponing is certainly not broken, far from it, but they might need fixing in which case we’d be delighted to help.

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In the first of our 6 featured cases from campaigns carried out through the Covid pandemic we have this example that we think showcases our industry’s specialism and creativity in overcoming very difficult circumstance.

All of the 6 case studies were selected by a panel of judges from a much wider pool of impressive work carried out by IPM member organisations and this week we are featuring this submission from TLC.

One Million Meals

Campaign Managers

Rob Scott, Group Creative Director, TLC Marketing Ltd

Client name,  OMM

Feeding frontline workers for free

Campaign Video

One Million Meals (OMM) was the creation of an entrepreneur who wanted to tackle two of the highest profile aspects the Covid 19 pandemic in one solution. Support and feed our frontline hero’s – Keep our catering industry alive. Through the creation of www.onemilliommeals.uk donors were able to donate at various levels and the proceeds were used entirely to supply frontline staff with wholesome hot food created from local restaurant / catering organisations. A truly fantastic concept but as with many philanthropic endeavours in a not-for-profit enterprise they lacked the media exposure to get the traction needed to be successful.

OMM engaged TLC’s creative department who used design, creativity and its media contacts to achieve valuable cut through at a time when every other charitable cause was trying to do the same. Donating their time for free, TLC breathed new life into the logo and secured over £100,000 of free media, including celebrity endorsements from David Beckham and Amir Khan. The campaign was recognised by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson who sent a personal message of thanks to the founders. How they managed to get the Proclaimers to agree to the re-wording of “500 miles” is just one fantastic example of their boundless energy and resourcefulness.

Judges’ quote

“While, by their own admission OMM was “late to the party” you can’t deny the impressive list of media‐friendly names who endorsed the activity and the positive intent behind it.”

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The key motivation for running a consumer promotion is always business growth.  This might be stimulation of short-term sales but also an increase of brand equity leading to longer-term sales too.  

However, one of the additional benefits of running activations is the opportunity to capture incredibly valuable information about your shoppers and build your database of customers.  

Data is the heartbeat of every business and all need to know more about their customer.  Even if you think you know them now you want to stay in touch with them to help define your future plans and that customer contact will always need to evolve and grow.  The reliance on third party data providers is expensive and facing more challenges especially online with the deprecation of cookies (even if that has been delayed).

There are brands that do not naturally lend themselves to engagement online where almost all customer data capture now happens.  For low interest categories, more functional products and impulse purchases the traffic volume to a brand website might be incredibly low as a proportion of shoppers.  Some brands really do need an incentive or value exchange to get the traction.   

Consumer promotions present an opportunity to drive visits to a brand environment and acquire fresh customer data.  It is important to point out that the relevant data privacy rules must be respected and opt-in / opt-out checks in place.  However, the potential for customer connection and data generation through promotions is often overlooked and undervalued.

5 reasons to collect customer data

Better understand your customer

Learn more about your customers with the potential to even segment your target audiences for future growth.  Even a few simple questions (on an entry form for a promotion for example) can help drive future product development, influence communications or determine the next promotional plan.

Build and evolve your CRM

Gain permission to re-contact customers and achieve greater understanding of them.  Upsell, cross-sell or get early feedback for NPD and offers.

Open up to customer feedback

Make connections, build trust and enable customers to share their challenges and contribute to future success. 

Drive advocacy

Word-of-mouth and peer recommendations are incredibly powerful and enabling a friend-get-friend approach (respecting data privacy) to sharing news and offers including promotions (such as Mars’ Win2Gether) increases the opportunity to learn even more about even more of your customers.

Enable measurement

With customer data you have the ability to track, measure and evaluate marketing activity as well as brand equity.  A more robust customer database can help with control & test experiments too and benchmark performance over time.

Chris Arnold is Business Development Director at VCG PromoRisk.

Contact: chris@vcgpromorisk.com

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PHL Group is a friendly, owner-managed Handling Company with over 20 years of experience in Fulfilment and Delivery. We offer a wide range of specialist marketing fulfilment services and IT solutions.

PHL Group recognises that the Marketing industry faces ever-changing priorities. We are passionate about working in partnership with agencies and brands to understand their challenges and opportunities. We believe that a flexible, customer-centric approach to fulfilment is the key to achieving success in a fast-paced, data-driven world.

As part of our company mission, we continually strive to improve our customer services and IT support. We have designed a quick fulfilment survey you can access here, to explore your current fulfilment needs and examine the threats and opportunities that will impact your business development. Your feedback will help us shape our ongoing mission to provide affordable and future-fit fulfilment solutions.

As a thank you for taking part in our survey all participants will be entered into a fantastic prize draw. One lucky winner will receive a £500 voucher with Coolstays.com. Coolstays offer unique and unusual places to stay across the UK, Europe and worldwide. Accommodation includes glamping, luxury treehouses, windmills, lighthouses and deluxe beach huts – So stay somewhere extraordinary!”

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While government restrictions continue to significantly impact the events industry, TRO has shown that live events are still possible with their work on the recent BMW Group UK Showcase event.

Taking place prior to the national lockdown and in line with all government regulations, the media and influencer event – by invite only – welcomed more than 150 guests to Bicester Heritage Centre over 5 days in order to get hands on with the new 4 Series and the wider BMW and MINI range, including the 5 Series LCi, MINI Countryman LCi and MINI Electric.

The activity creatively brought together the BMW and MINI brands in a COVID-safe way through a series of themed spaces including BMW M Town, Electric City and MINI Downtown, which enabled the brands to communicate the product line-up in a distinctive and memorable way. Guests were also able to drive a wide range of cars on road routes as well as track and slalom activities.

With carefully constructed COVID protocols and a pre-defined journey, guests were able to enjoy a welcoming, safe and ultimately highly enjoyable experience, which was reflected in post-event feedback where 98% of guests scored 5/5 for feeling ‘completely safe’ and 95% of guests scored 5/5 for enjoying the event ‘very much’. The event had been designed with both safety and wow factor in mind right from the start, and both were achieved in equal measure.

Client Partner at TRO, Lucy Knill, commented: “It was so exciting to see how pleased all guests were to be able to come to a live event again, and how everyone respected all the COVID protocols that we asked them to follow with not a single word of complaint. This is also true of the large crew and supplier network involved, all of whom were so careful and respectful whilst still delivering an event which would have surpassed expectations even in ‘normal’ times, let alone mid-pandemic.”

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The power of face to face lead generation at events and tradeshows to a targeted market is something businesses are undeniably going to miss over the next 6 months. Digital marketing is great but actually speaking to customers and creating a connection and engagement with a brand is so much more powerful in person. With the announcement of the 6 months, lead time before an event or exhibition in the UK can run – clever companies are looking at socially distanced ways of still creating experiential activity. We have run street marketing campaigns throughout lockdown for local customers which have been really successful and our staff have only given us positive feedback. People have been really happy to see a smiling face and engage in a safe interaction. experience staff in France have also run a countrywide roadshow thanking logistics hauliers and truckers with a coffee and voucher. We have also had a shopping centre activity running for various brands.  Retail centres are still very busy and stands can be socially distanced and safely run. Pop us and street marketing are also pretty much risk-free financially – they can be moved on short notice and being outdoors – do not risk any current restriction. Marketing agencies should definitely be looking at running some roadshow activity or a pop-up activity. People are missing social interaction and it’s a great opportunity to differentiate your brand in a crowded digital world until the event industry returns next year.

experience staff are a worldwide event, exhibition and promotional staffing agency. We provide legally employed, professional event staffing solutions for events, pop-ups and roadshows across the United Kingdom, Europe and Worldwide. We have created thousands of effective staffing experiences for marketing agencies and event organisers. Our agency is a proud member of the IPM – the Institute of Promotional Marketing the trade body representing the promotional and event services industry. We are Covid-19 safe agency and provide safe, social distancing staffing services and best practice for our clients.

Contact experience staff on hello@experiencestaff.com

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During the lockdown, UK advertisers have pulled a staggering £1.1bn in spend. Spend on TV fell 37%, Press by 42%, radio 34.5% and out-of-home practically dried up with an 85% reduction.

While these figures make for tough reading for the ad and media industry, spare a thought for anyone in the experiential marketing business. With no one venturing out, groups of more than six being made illegal, the onslaught of Covid-19 continues to be unrelenting in its cruelty.

The thought of getting anything other than hand sanitiser, in the hands of consumers seems to be losing battle.

Despite all the barriers that have been put in place to keep people safe, you’re never going to stop people buying things. And we’ve seen some pretty seismic changes in how we shop over the past six months alone.

Everything from panic buying of loo roll to a surge in demand for deliveries of stationary as the world suddenly discovered it could work from home.

Consumer behaviour changed almost overnight. They found a way to get their hands on what they needed without too much difficulty.

But with consumers self-selecting only what they need, brands are still struggling to introduce new and relevant products to people. A task made all the more difficult by locked front doors, a hesitance to engage with anyone outside of social bubbles and doubts over the sanitation and cleanliness of packaging.

Marketers have had to start thinking like consumers, and it’s led to some simple, yet brilliantly engaging tactics which are delighting consumers by putting new brands in their hands in an unexpected way.
Sampling.

It sounds simple, yet there’s more to it than just handing out a few freebies.
Sampling agency Relish can prove that with the right products delivered through the right partners to the right people at the right time can be one of the most effective ways to affect consumer purchase decisionmaking.

Ben Bestford, Head of Strategic Partnerships at Relish Agency adds “For many of our clients, sampling is proving to be one of the most powerful tactics during the lockdown. Our TRY. LOVE. BUY approach has seen increases in purchases from samples of over 300%. And we do that without any pestering or hard-sell. In the consumer’s eyes, they have received a little something extra for nothing and that goodwill goes a long way when it comes to deciding to make a purchase.”

And if you think sampling is a simple as popping a few freebies in a box, there’s far more to it than that. Who gets what sample is vitally important and looking at customer data and legacy propensity models means the recipient feels they’ve been considered further helping the decision to buy.

“We also go to great lengths to gather online feedback from the people who receive our samples. This helps us and our clients determine what to try next. And in the constantly changing world, we’re in today, it’s as close to up-to-the-minute feedback as you’re likely to get from your customers”, adds Relish’s Bestford.

So where does this leave us as we face the run-up to Christmas and our busiest retail events of the year? Econsultancy has just published results of a survey that shows 58% of UK consumers say they’re shopping more online than they did before Covid-19. That’s only going to increase in the current climate combined with continued restrictions. That’s a lot of parcels being delivered to a lot of homes.

If Sampling isn’t a serious part of your marketing strategy going forward, you may find your brands are left out in the cold. To find out more about how you can access Relish Agency’s extensive portfolio of retailers, contact them on team@relishagency.com

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