Michelle Bancroft, Account Director at ATOM Marketing part of Fluid Group, shares how brands can integrate into their consumers lives by tapping into their attitudinal preferences.

Emotional impulses are influencing purchasing decisions more than ever before and brands need to engage consumers by tapping into their attitudinal preferences. Millennials are disrupting the retail space and brands need to keep up if they are to keep their relevance in this ever-changing landscape.

Successful brands are immersing with culture, fashion entertainment and news to integrate themselves into consumers lives whilst matching their ever-changing perceptions and values.

Culture and brands are intertwining and some of the most successful companies have embedded a cultural strategic approach to regain or retain relevance.

Take Patagonia, a business in business to save our planet, they recruit on this basis, they create products on this basis and they give back to the community on this basis. They understand the importance of the image their brand conveys to the world and they tackle this from the top down.

P & G’s ‘Thank you Mum’ was a genius stroke, that took a sporting sponsorship to a whole new level across a portfolio of brands showing appreciation for all the Mum’s behind the Olympians. This campaign stood out, it worked across brands and had an emotional connectivity that was enhanced pre during and post Olympics.

Vimto’s anti-advertising  ‘I see Vimto in you’ was a brave move suggesting to viewers to close their eyes rather than watch the advert. In a nod to Holden Caulfield’s ‘goddam phonies’ Vimto are encouraging consumers to be themselves and not a fabrication of the world around them.

The consumer landscape is changing and I think Holden would approve.

“It’s funny. All you have to do is say something nobody understands and they’ll do practically anything you want them to.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

If you’d like to find out how ATOM marketing can help you, get in touch with Michelle Bancroft at michelle.bancroft@teamatom.co.uk

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Michael Kalli from ELLO Media tells us about the research they have conducted into consumer expectations of loyalty programmes in the market and have created a report to help shape loyalty programmes to meet customer’s desire.

To download the report visit the website here

Operating in increasingly crowded markets where consumers have a multitude of tools at their disposal to help them find the best possible deal, for brands, the value of customer loyalty is higher than ever before.

Despite this, in succumbing to providing short-term benefits of convenience and value for money to compete with other businesses in a constant ‘race to the bottom’, it can be easy for brands to lose sight of the value of a loyal customer.

Rapidly evolving customer expectations surrounding loyalty means it is vital for brands to gain a comprehensive understanding of their audiences in order to adapt and refine their services to provide innovative, bespoke offerings that promote customer retention and deliver long-term benefits.

To gain insight into this, we surveyed 1,000 UK consumers to investigate their views on customer loyalty, providing brands with a resource to help inform and shape the engagement offerings that people desire.

Respondents were asked questions on a wide range of topics including brand engagement across the utility, banking, insurance, supermarket, fashion retail, in-house telecom, mobile network operator and media provider vertical sectors; attitudes towards loyalty schemes and what they offer; how brands communicate with them; and what makes them disloyal.

The report revealed that nearly half of UK consumers (47%) believe it no longer pays to be loyal, and with leading consumer finance experts promoting the idea that it is better to shop around, it comes as no surprise that some 57% of consumers have switched providers in at least one market sector (utility, banking, mobile network operator, supermarket, fashion retail, in-house telecom and media) in the last 12 months.

More than one fifth had switched either utility or insurance providers, 22% and 21% respectively, and more than one in eight (13%) had switched their in-house telecoms provider in the past year.

However, more than a third of consumers across all market sectors said they would be loyal to brands if they got true value for their loyalty.

When asked to identify which brands they felt most loyal to across differing market sectors, the brands that consumers feel most actively loyal to in each sector were identified as:

• Media provider – Netflix (32%)
• In-house telecoms – Sky (23%)
• Supermarket – Tesco (20%)
• Utility – British Gas (18%)
• Mobile network operator – EE (18%)
• Fashion retailer – Primark (17%)
• Insurance – Aviva (14%)
• Banking – NatWest (12%)

Consumers were also asked how they like their loyalty to be rewarded:

• Supermarket vouchers (53%)
• Restaurant discounts (24%)
• Cinema discounts or tickets (19%)

Using this data Ello Media created an ‘Understanding Customer Expectations of Brand Loyalty Programmes’ report to provide brands with a resource that will help them shape the customer loyalty and engagement offerings that people desire. 

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Many retailers have started their Black Friday sales in advance of the event on the 23^rd November and Savvy’s latest research suggests this year the sale will be bigger than ever. Insight Director, Alastair Lockhart, explores what the findings suggest about consumer behaviour this year and what this means for retailers.

Despite 84% of shoppers believing there is too much hype surrounding Black Friday, this year 53% of UK shoppers plan to buy something during the event, up from 43% who made a purchase in 2017. Around a third of shoppers expect they’ll spend more this year than they did last year.

The findings highlight how younger shoppers are driving growing interest in Black Friday, with 71% of 18-24 year olds planning to buy something.

Most shoppers expect to shop Black Friday online (84% of those getting involved), however 42% plan to buy something in-store – with older shoppers most likely to get out to stores.

In large part due to heavy discounting from retailers like Amazon and Currys PC World, electricals is expected to be the largest Black Friday category. 54% of Black Friday shoppers plan to buy electricals, with clothing and footwear the second largest category (41% planning to buy).

Although some retailers actively avoid participating in the Black Friday sale, Savvy’s research shows the event is a concrete fixture in the retail event calendar. 62% of shoppers believe all retailers should have a Black Friday sale, and almost one-third see the event as the most important sale of the year.

From the retailer’s point of view we continue to see a professionalisation of the event. Retailers are planning the event far in advance, buying stock specifically for Black Friday, and a growing number have extended the sale beyond a week. With consumer confidence fragile, Black Friday can provide an opportunity for retailers to kick-start Christmas spending – the challenge will be maintaining their profit margin during the crucial Golden Quarter of trading.

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Lauren Miles from Mando gives advice on how to create promotions within a strict budget.

When there is little or no marketing budget, it doesn’t necessarily give reason to panic. With a restricted budget there are many great promotions to run. Even when creating a promotion under a strict budget there are many options to choose from, and importantly, still targeting customers effectively.

Research and concepts from industry professionals indicate that in fact, even when budgets are tight, there is still the need to market to customers. Those who dare to push forward and promote are those who flourish, and by advertising and marketing (when competitors are also struggling with reduced budgets), you can increase market share, return on investment and uplift in sales. Businesses who cut the marketing budget tend to under-perform, paving the way for competitors keeping their marketing spend constant, to over achieve, gain new customers and market share from others losses. Research has shown that consumers like the reassurance of familiar and well-known brands, it provides a sense of comfort and a key aspect for brands to manage is the balance between eye-catching price cuts versus adding value through offering customers something unique and diverse, as added-value promotions are more cost-effective to run than you may realise.

Money Back Guarantees and Try Me Free promotions are incredibly economical tools, in turn, giving the customer comfort and reassurance in the brand enabling them to claim their money back if not completely satisfied, removing the purchase barrier. Reducing the customer’s purchase risk advises your product is worth the asking price. Try Me Free promotions are proven to improve sales uplift, and are excellent for new product trials. Offering Taste Guarantees with new products encourages trial without fear, and if the customer doesn’t enjoy the product, they can return for a refund, and some restaurants for example KFC, will exchange for another meal of your choice. This in turn will increase brand trust, repeat purchase and enhance brand loyalty further down the line. The added bonus of a guarantee style promotion is the differentiation setting you apart from your competitors and most savvy shoppers will choose your product above everyone else’s; plus, these variations of promotions are cheaper to run than you think! These are extremely popular and effective promotions that feature in our top five promotional mechanics list, find out more in the link provided.

Brands often use coupons as a means to retain brand loyalty when budgets are tight, and although studies have previously shown that customers prefer getting something extra for free as opposed to receiving a discount, shoppers still delight in receiving a coupon from a brand that doesn’t normally do offers, making the customer connect more emotionally with the brand, and frequently leading to increased basket spend especially if a minimum order amount applies. To read about the different sales promotion mechanics click the link provided.

Attracting customers through value-added sales promotions can be a cost effective alternative to discounting your product. Discounting your product can lead the customer to have expectations and only buy your product when it is on offer, additionally with large discounts customers tend to be suspicious regarding quality and whether this has been compromised.

Mando can help you get the most out of your budget and we can do this through a detailed analysis, building a comprehensive risk profile across a range of promotions in various industries and countries, to gauge its impact and performance. Mando will then discuss all relevant findings, draw estimations and further educate on how best to strengthen your promotion within your budget.

Lauren is Senior Account and Marketing Executive at Mando. Mando (part of WPP) develop promotional rewards and incentives, which are born from science. Mando utilise data, grounded with reasoning, combined with insight to help you deliver exactly what your consumers want, with a solution that is right for your brand. Using unique data and expertise they provide complete solutions including promotional risk management, prepaid incentives and brand partnerships, which continuously help create some of the world’s most memorable marketing campaigns.

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