The IPM received the very sad news that Alan Crossman had passed away at his home in Bedford.

Alan was one of the early pioneers in Door-to-Door marketing with Circular Distributors and then Marketforce in the days when just a few companies had delivery teams across the UK delivering to millions of households on weekly frequencies, long before Free newspapers and demographic targeting came to dominate this service. His prominence within our industry was evidenced by his election to the IPM Board (ISP at it was then) and then acknowledged further by his appointment as a Fellow of the ISP. In the mid 90’s Alan then joined the wider promotional marketing services group Mailcom as Sales Director.

Alan was very well known throughout the industry professionally and socially. ISP Summer Lunches were all the better for Alan’s presence where he would ensure everyone had the best time they possibly could. He was a real character in the truest way always insightful and always a person you wanted to be around. On behalf of the IPM and its members we send our deepest condolences to his wife Sandy and his two son’s and daughters. Alan’s funeral took place on the 15^th of February in Bedford.

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Featuring the best of TV, video games and film from the past year

We have finally made it to the end of the year, and if there is something we can all agree on – it’s that we have had some amazing entertainment to help us get through it. 

As is tradition, the team at Experience12 are back at it again with their pop culture Christmas challenge, and this year it’s bigger and better than before.

As the world opened up following the pandemic, 2021 proved itself to be a bumper year for entertainment. October alone saw 16.4 million cinema admissions – the biggest October since 2012. Consumers are watching nearly 4 hours of TV a day, which although down on 2020 during lockdown, is still 50% more than 2019. And 93% of 16-24 year-olds are playing video games which is up from 73% in 2020.

To celebrate their love of pop culture, Experience12 have created their largest pop culture Christmas challenge yet. Hidden in their IP isometric illustration is a total of 47 references across film, TV and video games – some more overt than others, but a true pop culture aficionado will spot them all.

We’ve included a taste of the full image, but head to www.experience12.com/xmas for the full experience.

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As part of the agency’s expansion and growth plan, Kate Umfreville moves to Managing Partner of award-winning creative experiences agency, The Producers. Umfreville has played a key role in the stabilisation and growth of the business over the past 18 months and will be responsible for the agency’s team, client delivery and growth plans.

The new Managing Partner role is part of a new management structure for PrettyGreen Group, an award-winning collective of Creative Communications agencies. The new Board sees Emma Grace and Jessica Hargreaves take on the roles of Co-CEO, while Mark Stringer becomes the Group’s Chairperson and Sarah Henderson moves into a Group Managing Director role.

Mark Stringer remains the majority shareholder of PrettyGreen Group and will oversee the Board, helping provide vision and direction, whilst also focussing on scaling SKOOT, the carbon negative navigation and carpool app he co-founded.

Jess Hargreaves, Co-CEO of PrettyGreen Group, says: “It’s been a tough couple of years for the experience industry and sadly some agencies haven’t survived. However, Kate’s leadership, not only stabilised The Producers, but enabled growth. She navigated the Pandemic and Brexit challenges by diversifying the agency’s services developing its digital and hybrid experience offering, bolstering health and safety counsel, and further expanding into Europe. We are excited about what the future holds on our mission to be less ordinary.”

Kate Umfreville, Managing Partner for The Producers, says: “While recent times have been a struggle for the industry, it’s also given us all the unique opportunity to think and do differently. Never before have we learnt and developed so quickly, so we can deliver meaningful and safe experiences to people whether they are at home or in real life. The experience industry isn’t back, we never went away, but we are different as we have a stronger less ordinary offering and expertise. I’m excited about this next chapter.”

The Producers is an award-winning creative experiences agency that delivers Less Ordinary experiences for Less Ordinary returns for brands wanting out of their comfort zones. Current clients include LEGO, Audible, SMARTY and White Claw.

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• Just before Bonfire night SMARTY’s ‘Date the Game’ bar will help gaming fans reignite the flame on their relationship with gaming, with a speed dating game session to get them out of their same-game rut
• Attendees will also be able to win £500 worth of gaming prizes*
• Date the Game opens on Thursday 4^th November from 1pm – 9pm at Platform, 2B Worship Street, London, EC2A 2AH
• Tickets to be booked in advance via the Universe app here.

SMARTY Mobile is inviting gamers to Date the Game (Not the Player) with its Date the Game Bar opening on the 4^th November. Encouraging fans to put the spark back in their game play, SMARTY is offering them the chance to speed-date their way through an eclectic menu of games to find their next big thing.

From brand new games, undiscovered gems, and iconic classics, SMARTY wants guests to discover an exciting new game they never knew about or rediscover an “old flame” in the form of a classic forgotten game from their past. The Date the Game Bar will have three zones, each featuring different games available on the likes of Nintendo and PlayStation.

Alongside the games on offer, gaming influencers will be on hand to guide people on their speed dates, with guests taking part in a gaming quiz upon arrival to help find their ideal gaming match. Attendees will also be offered a token where they can redeem a free pizza and drinks.

Visitors will also have the opportunity to go head-to-head with the influencers in order to win a bundle of new video games and gear worth £500.*

* The prize will be split into tiers: 1^st x £250 / 2^nd x £150 / 3^rd x £100

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1 in 10 shoppers have cancelled a planned considered purchase due to poor instore advice – Gen Z most likely to seek out experts – Gekko urging retailers and brands to implement new ‘experience-centric playbook’

Brands across some of the top retail categories potentially missed out on close to £15bn in instore revenue in the past year, due to poor in person advice. The finding comes from new research commissioned by field marketing and retail experience agency, Gekko. The study of 2,000 consumers, conducted by OnePoll, looked at what influences shoppers in making a ‘considered purchase’ – purchases that are made with significant financial or emotional thought. The research revealed 1 in 10 shoppers said they had walked out of a shop due to poor advice relating to a considered purchase they were definitely going to make. This equates to some £15bn in revenue overall over the past year.

The experiences vary across categories and age groups. Gekko surveyed experiences across several key retail categories including: Consumer electronics, homeware, baby & child, gaming, home improvement, clothing & apparel. Overall 59.8% said they had received ‘excellent or good advice in store’, highlighting the benefit of human interaction and face to face sales. However £15bn could be a drop in the ocean of additional revenues that could be accrued with better advice. 37% of shoppers in the consumer electronics category revealed they would be prepared to spend more if they received excellent and knowledgeable in store advice, indicating a golden opportunity for retailers. This compared with 30% of shoppers in the home improvement category and 27% in homeware/ home furnishings and 21% in clothing and apparel.

According to the survey, 50% of Brits made a ‘considered purchase’ in DIY during the pandemic, more than in any other category. However only 1 in 5 (21%) rated the advice they had as ‘excellent’ in making the purchase. This was compared to 32% for baby and child, 31% for gaming and 24% for consumer electronics. Meanwhile 1 in 4 DIY shoppers (25%) were so disappointed by the advice they were put off making an expensive purchase altogether, with 11% pulling the plug on the purchase and walking out of the store.

Encouragingly for the future of physical retail, Gen Z are most likely to seek out great advice in store (45%) versus an average of 38% and are more likely to find staff knowledgeable across categories. They are also the most likely out of all ages to appreciate product demos (39%) against a 29% average across all ages. 1 in 2 Gen Z’ers  (52%) and 38% of Millennials will spend more for a good experience in store across all categories – crucial for the development  of experiential retail.

Meanwhile, a conclusive  85% of shoppers are now doing online research before making a considered purchase in-store. 84% of Gen Z, 45-54 and 55-64 categories were even higher at 89% and 90% respectively. Interestingly, 69% said a well synchronized online and offline experience would make them more likely to make a considered purchase.

According to Daniel Todaro: “Our research highlights the timeless appeal of a positive engagement with an instore expert. While we have spent so much of the past year and a half shopping online – it is clear online alone is no replacement for the experience and interaction of trained advisors. They are consistently the best way to influence and convert a sale of a considered purchase item. While there is overall satisfaction, our survey clearly shows more can be done and retailers have potentially missed out of billions. Now this is not to say that all retailers are doing it wrong. In fact some with a real customer service first mentality are doing it amazingly well. Every person that walks through the door should be viewed as a potential customer, an influencer, someone who will talk about you positively through their experience and tell others in person, online or on social media and is not viewed as just another body to ‘deal’ with.”

He continued: “Belying the stereotypes, it is also clear the generations who most welcome expert advice are the younger ones – indeed as our research indicates the right advice can lead to younger customers willingly spending more. This is good news for the future of bricks and mortar retail, but it doesn’t mean retailers don’t need to adapt. Our survey also shows that a joined up and seamless experience online and offline is also now expected with older generations also more likely to research. Brands already know the need to embrace experts and adapt to survive in a changing market, it’s now about making the investment to do so and implement the new experience centric playbook.”

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Brands can harness the power of sampling at point-of-use across the UK for Brits’ Autumn staycations

N2O, the UK’s number one experiential marketing agency, is delighted to announce its newly-established partnership with data-driven media channel Geezy, giving exclusive sampling and product placement opportunities in Airbnb properties.

The agreement comes at a time when an estimated 44% of Brits have decided to holiday at home this autumn*, highlighting the massive opportunities for brands to reach consumers with their beauty, food and drink, entertainment and leisure products, as well as larger products such as furniture for product placements.

Dan Jenner, Strategic Partnerships Director at N2O, said: “Having access to an extensive portfolio of Airbnb’s holiday rental properties signifies a massive opportunity for brands. There’s no better place to sample or experience a product or service than in an environment that closely mimics your home. And with the ability to be incredibly specific with targeting, we can ensure brands are getting their products in front of their ideal demographic in a way that’s really helpful to consumers.”

He continued: “We see this kind of brand opportunity as a means to really pave the way for the future of product demonstrations from brands worldwide.”

Dhruv Kohli, Senior Vice President of Growth and Strategy of Geezy, said: “We’re very excited by this exclusive partnership with N2O to offer their extensive client base a really powerful opportunity”.

*Source: YouGov global travel profile 23 September 2021 https://business.yougov.com/content/38322-UK-travel-autumn

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How Systems Thinking can help brands more meaningfully connect on social media

It’s ironic that, despite our name, social media specialists have long worked in isolation.

For too many years, social media departments have been relegated to weaving the mysterious dark arts of social in shady corners, while the ‘real’ marketers get a seat at the brand table. Sure, we might get a sneak peek of a marketing plan or be on the receiving end of new brand assets that refuse to squeeze into a thumbnail but, for the most part, we’ve operated in a social vacuum that stands apart from the wider brand ecosystem.

This approach flies in the face of Systems Thinking. Rather than look at a brand world as an interconnected whole, the reductionist view of many social media practitioners focuses on social media in silo, reducing it to its most basic parts – likes, impressions, posts, and channels. This approach may have worked for a while but given social’s increasingly important role in brand discovery and consideration, it’s time for the boundaries between ‘brand’ and ‘social’ to be removed. Instead, we need to explore how social media can become an extension of the wider brand world.

To find out more download 1HQ’s Cue magazine, All Systems Go, here.

Credit: Tom Wrigley, Digital & Social Communications, Strategy Director, 1HQ UK

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Re:Claim Street Festival was a brand new FREE city centre mass participation event featuring music, sports, arts gaming and more. With live performances, activities, hands on experiences and workshops, there was something for everyone on the day.

GO! Southampton, Southampton’s Business Improvement District (BID) team funded the first-time event on September 25^th 2021. This new concept event was designed to encourage visitors and residents back into the city centre to Re:Claim the streets for themselves.

The event will now be seen as an annual event and will become Southampton’s flagship event in their bid to become The UK City of Culture 2025, an award they recently reached the longlist for alongside 7 other UK cities.

IPM members, GottaBe! Marketing was delighted to be selected as the partners to promote the event. With their head office in Southampton, they were keen to help in Southampton’s bid for UK City of Culture 2025.

The team at GottaBe! supported the event through various digital, OOH and multicultural marketing channels. There was a focus on creating a young audience that represented the cities culture and diversity and this had to be reflected in marketing communications. Through creating a stand-out brand and targeted advertising GottaBe! were able to deliver incredible results.

With over 250,000 people reached with marketing activity the event was a massive success. On the day footfall was up 73% on the previous week, with over 22,000 people in the city on the day.

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The COGS Awards are now open for entries!

The only program that recognises the champions behind the scenes that make it all happen.

Seeking to celebrate and elevate the incredible work this industry’s service agencies have continued to deliver these past 18 months.

Categories have been refined with a new one added relating to Covid. The process has been simplified too, so it couldn’t be easier, check out the brochure here for more details and download the entry form.

Deadline for submissions is 12th November, so you better get started!

Good luck, we can’t wait to see what you have done.

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