Did anyone else find a renewed love of takeaways during lockdown? We know we did! Post lockdown one of the top things we all wanted to do was to go out for dinner with friends and family – 49% of UK adults surveyed saying it was something they missed! And now with the Cost of Living Crisis hitting us all hard, unfortunately going out for dinner or getting a takeaway is something we are all conscious of doing.

However, TLC Marketing have built an incredible Dining Network of restaurants and takeaways alike to offer to your customers, at a fraction of the cost to you. This means your customers can get back to doing what they love to do. TLC have created an e-book with insights for you to deep dive into and hopefully see how TLC could help you with your new campaign – take a look Here!

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Ian Lacey, Business Development Director at Filmology, shares his thoughts on the value of cinema lead promotions to drive sales.

Everyone loves cinema!

Okay, that might be a bit of a sweeping statement; but there’s no denying that a trip to the cinema can be an exciting and enthralling experience. Plus, with just about every cinema around the country upgrading to state-of-the-art digital technology, the lure of the big screen has become an even more immersive experience for everyone.

And let’s not forget the small matter of the whopping 177 million admissions in 2018 alone (Mintel) and the fact that cinema appeals to all age groups – lots of ticks in the boxes for those savvy marketers out there looking for an ideal promotional partner!

So, taking these statements into account, is cinema relevant in the world of promotional marketing? Obviously, I would argue of course – yes! Surely delivering a successful sales promotion relies on a prize that people actually want, and if over 170m admissions a year is to go by, then yup, I certainly think there’s a strong case…

But there’s a big caveat here: and that’s the promotional world does seem to be leaning more towards gifts with purchase.

For example, Pepperami’s “Terrify a Friend for Free” promotion (a 2 for 1 for Merlin Park Entry) did well at the recent IPM awards. But you can’t simply be giving away a £10 cinema ticket for a £2.75 pack of Pepperami (Source: Tesco). The consumer would certainly be happy, but the brand would be bankrupted!

Therefore, I would argue the promotional methodology is key to success.

Instead of a 2-1 offer or ‘free ticket’ promotion, consider a collector scheme that everyone has the chance to win. Perhaps even look at a risk-based promotion, or even mix this up further with other prizes so that everyone can still win (i.e. non-winners of a cinema incentive win a money off coupon or even the dreaded 2 for 1 entry to a theme park… a personal view I might add!).

However, promotional marketing is not just about selling sticks of meat. What about the White Goods sector? After all, this sector is seemingly wedded to their cashback promotions – dull, dull, dull.

How about mixing up the consumer incentive and offering 6 months-worth of cinema tickets if you buy the latest washing machine of your dreams? Okay, it’s true very few of us like spending our hard-earned cash on such things, but if it meant we could go to the cinema after the spin dry, then perhaps this makes the purchase all that more enticing.

Of course, when considering cinema as a prize, we always think of cinema tickets to the latest blockbuster, right? At Filmology, we can be a tad bit more creative than that…

Think about annual passes, 6 months of free cinema, free popcorn and drink etc. And it doesn’t stop there – win a private cinema screening for you and your friends, win a half day to take your Xbox to your local Odeon and hold a FIFA tournament on the large screen. You hopefully get my point!

If you work with an expert like Fimology, we can generate innovative ideas that sells products.  We can even source a film inspired holiday – live like James Bond for the week, for example (yes, we’ve done it!).

Cinema of course is reliant on the film slate – what’s coming up? Well, the rest of 2019 has a whole host of huge films on the horizon – The Lion King, Terminator: Dark Fate, Frozen 2 and of course Star Wars in December. 2020 will also have some equally great films (Top Gun Maverick & Bond 25 being just two highlights – need I say more?)

Hopefully this article has inspired you to think about cinema and when you’re next scratching your head about a killer incentive to drive sales for your client. Consider the world of film and cinema: there’s more to life than cashback and the 2 for 1’s you know…

If you would like to find out how Filmology can help you, get in contact with Ian Lacey at ian.lacey@sodexo.com

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Lauren Miles, Senior Account and Marketing Executive at Mando, explores the most successful European brands, what they have in common and what they’re doing to stay on top.

For the past few years the Financial Times has compiled a list of the fastest growing brands in Europe. Interestingly the latest list has only 3 companies in the top 20 that were there the previous year.

This year’s top 20 list apart from 1 company have all been found in 2007 or later. Taking the number one spot this year is London based start-up Deliveroo founded in 2013. They registered revenue growth of 107,117% from 2013 – 2016. The top 20 have a wide range of sectors including Food & Drink, Technology, Travel & Leisure and Construction to name just a few. The European countries the companies in the top 20 were founded in is also diverse; 5 from the UK, 5 Spanish, 5 German, 3 French, 1 Czech Republic and 1 Dutch.

The companies getting it right all have one thing in common. Convenience. When thinking about promotions, convenience is key. Route of entry is the first port of call, and if this isn’t clear or convenient for your customer, they are not going to engage with your brand. Having a simple route of entry such as entering a URN online and having an instant win or click to win mechanic ensures maximum engagement from consumers and the strengthening of a brand / consumer relationship. Any barriers to entry such as needing to upload a till receipt or a delay in being able to enter will significantly deteriorate consumer engagement rates.

Customers want a more convenient streamlined life with as little hassle and stress as possible. They want to make a choice and want their chosen option to arrive on their doorstep at a time to suit them. Companies that want to have an impact on the European market must consider how they can make things as easy as possible for their customers to access their brand and product and how easily they can then get the end product to the customer, no matter what industry they are in.

Here are the companies getting convenience right:

Deliveroo

Forbes reports that Deliveroo averaged around 25% month on month growth over the last few years. Deliveroo tapped into the niche market of people wanting food delivered at a convenient time, often from restaurants or cafes that don’t offer delivery themselves. William Shu the founder put his idea in to practice after repeatedly wanting something delicious for lunch but being unable to leave his desk and none of his preferred lunch places delivered.

iTravex

iTravex is a Spanish travel and leisure company founded 12 years ago in 2007. They sit at number 5 on the list. They are an all in one high end travel agent with an online and offline booking engine, able to organise trips and excursions. Currently iTravex is only available for trips in Spain but with their significant growth and multi-lingual employees, it can only be a matter of time before they begin to expand across Europe.

HelloFresh

HelloFresh the well-known meal-kit start up founded in Germany dropped 17 places this year from 1^st to 18^th but still made it into the top 20. Founded in 2011, they rapidly expanded nationally and then in 2012 into the UK, US and Australia. By 2014, HelloFresh were delivering over 1 million meals per month. They deliver meal-kits to people who don’t want to think about what they are going to cook each night.

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Lauren Miles, Senior Account and Marketing Executive at Mando, lists some frightfully bad activations from brands that should have known better.

Some promotions can initially seem like a brilliant idea, but occasionally they can go wrong, and when they do, it turns into a nightmare that you can’t wake up from. Some of the biggest brands in the world have got it wrong. Below are a few spooky stories and how they could have avoided it.

Build-a-Bear

You would have thought that brands would have learned after the Hoover disaster, but Build-a-Bear created chaotic scenes across Britain’s high streets in July 2018. They created a “pay your age” promotion where you could build any type of soft toy but only pay your child’s age. E.g. if your child is 5, then you will only pay £5. These bears can retail for as much as £50 each. The queues started forming before the shops were even open with some reports that they were a mile-long inside shopping centres. Within a few hours, shops were having to close unable to keep up with the demand, resulting in very unhappy children and a backlash for the company across social media. Vouchers were handed out to try and appease the unlucky ones while they waited in line and Build-a-Bear said they would reach out to those who were disappointed.

Hoover

Possibly the most famous example of a brand getting it wrong. In August 1992, they launched their free flights promotion, and it certainly seemed too good to be true. The offer was extremely generous “spend £100 on any Hoover product and receive two return tickets to Europe” (this was also extended to America). The demand was overwhelming and while struggling to keep up with this demand, Hoover launched a second promotion in the USA offering something extremely similar. Hoover struggled to keep up with the demand and by this point they were drowning in negative publicity, which only made more people take advantage. The entire promotion ended up costing Hoover around £50m and some of the legal cases lasted over 6 years.

It’s not just the UK who’s gets it wrong, read below to see where companies have got it wrong across the globe.

Domino’s

In 2008, the US went through a recession, and a campaign idea was to use the word “bailout” and a code to get the user a free medium pizza. The promotion never came to fruition, but the code had still been approved and made active. Word quickly spread once someone had discovered it could be used and Domino’s had delivered over 11,000 pizzas before the code was deactivated the following day.

Pepsi

Back in 1992, in the Philippines, Pepsi wanted to increase their market share as it was only 17% compared to 75% of Coca-Cola. The inside of bottle caps were printed with 3 digit numbers that could win cash prizes of 1,000 – 1 million Indonesian pesos. 1 million was the top prize. When the winning number (349) was announced, almost 500,000 people had a winning bottle cap. Pepsi couldn’t honour paying our 1 million pesos to every winner, as it would have cost them $18 billion. This resulted in many lawsuits for Pepsi where customers were unhappy and sued the company.

Carl’s Jr

In 2009, Carl’s Jr online promotion for a free “Famous Star” hamburger went viral. 276 winning customers were texted a passcode and a URL that was valid for 48 hours to download a coupon for their free burger. However, word soon got out and Carl’s Jr soon had to stop the promotion, only being able to honour the coupons downloaded legitimately.

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YouGov, a market research and data analytics firm, and Mando-Connect, a specialist Partnerships and Rewards Agency, have commissioned the largest ever study into what the British think of loyalty. The study questions over 270,000 people on what they want from loyalty programmes, who engages the most, and the impact that offering a programme has on brands.

The ground-breaking study reveals exclusive and actionable insights which are highly useful to the promotions industry, helping brands and agencies understand how best to reward people and with what kinds of rewards for maximum impact.

We have highlighted three key insights from the study, and shown what the promotions industry can learn.

1. Brits love loyalty programmes and rewards, but women and older age groups engage more

The British are huge fans of loyalty. 77% of GB adults are members of at least one programme and 59% think all brands should offer one. There are significant variations by age and gender. For example, 85% of women are members compared to 70% of men. The research also suggests that programmes are failing to connect to younger people, with only 61% of 18 to 24-year-olds currently belonging, a figure that falls to 54% among men in this age group.

What Promotions can learn: As with loyalty, promotions need to recognise variations in motivation and behaviour by demographic and design mechanics accordingly.  For example, as with loyalty, Mando’s 40 years of promotional response data clearly shows that there are significant variations in the effectiveness of different promotional mechanics by age. Respondents over 55 are most motivated by money off coupons and money back activities, with an online route to entry. 18-24s in contrast are more motivated by instant gratification win mechanics.

2. People want rewards from partner brands

The study reveals that 55% of programme members want partner rewards. This insight holds true in every sector, except for hotels (where loyalty members value both partner and the brand’s own rewards equally at 59%) and beauty salons (62% want partner rewards vs 67% who want the brand’s own).

What Promotions can learn: Smart use of partner rewards in prize pools can significantly increase participation and engagement levels. Mando’s data clearly shows that promotions incorporating partner rewards are highly motivating to audiences across Europe. For example, McDonald’s Monopoly is an excellent example of a promotion which uses partner rewards, as well as the brand’s own, to create an exceptionally impactful and exciting prize pool. McDonald’s customers can win food from McDonald’s as well as broad range of partner rewards – from Now TV passes to stylish Mini Coopers. This promotion has run for many years and continues to go from strength to strength; the impact and appeal of the partner rewards is a core component of its continued success.

3. Most people want to save up for higher value rewards

Our study with YouGov identified three types of loyalty reward behaviours. The most popular reward behaviour is to collect points “The Collectors”. This group save up their points, aiming for a higher value reward (41%). They are followed by “The Regulars” who redeem when they want to (27%) and “The Early Redeemers” who use up their points at the earliest opportunity to claim lower value rewards (20%).

What Promotions can learn: Brands need to understand whether their target audience are collectors or early redeemers and design prize pools with higher value or lower value prizes to match. For example, collector schemes have always been a very effective way to engage older audiences; this mechanic is popular in many sectors aiming to drive repeat purchase or frequency of visit. Our data suggests that collector mechanics could also have strong appeal to a younger demographic; there are many “collectors” under 25 in the UK. To get it right, brands need to profile whether their target audience are primarily collectors or early redeemers, and design mechanics to match.

An opportunity for the Promotions Industry?

The research also demonstrates a lack of membership of loyalty programmes in 3 sectors: beauty (3%), banks (4%) and cinemas (6%), despite heavy investment in programmes in these sectors. This data could suggest that there is a big opportunity for promotions to take the lead in these sectors – engaging consumers in ways that loyalty programmes can’t.

To learn more about the research highlights, please click here: www.mando-connect.co.uk/what-the-british-think-of-loyalty-programmes. Or download the full whitepaper here.

Joshua Kennedy is Marketing Manager at Mando. Mando (part of WPP) develop promotional rewards and incentives, which are born from science. Mando utilises 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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John Lyons of Brandmovers provides some timely advice for those looking at using receipt validation in their promotions

Everyone’s talking about receipt validation for promotions, rebate and loyalty, but why and when should you use it?

In the past, activating a proof-of-purchase sales promotion or loyalty program required significant investment in product packaging, integration with a limited set of retailers – or just one retailer – or cost-prohibitive inflexible solutions, along with the blind hope that the model would deliver ROI.

With a number of technology-based receipt processing platforms coming to market, it’s now possible to use scalable and flexible automated purchase validation as part of your sales promotion, rebate incentive or rewards program.

It may sound complicated – but actually it’s simple.

Customers submit photographs of receipts via a wide range of electronic media – smartphone camera, email, SMS – and have them validated almost instantly. At the same time, any decent receipt validation solution should data capture all pertinent information from the customer’s receipt, including date/time, the store purchased from, and – if you want it – their entire shopping cart, to give added insight into purchase patterns.

A robust system will come complete with fraud prevention built in.

You can use it for:

• Proof of Purchase Promotion – gift with purchase, coupon claim, purchase necessary prize draw, instant win.
• Repeat Purchase Promotion – frequency of purchase, buy x products to unlock a gift, earn entry to prize draw, instant win.
• Rebate or Cash back.
• Loyalty Program – points-based rewards program, incentives and benefits program.
• Trade Incentives Program – reward B2B trade purchases, incentivise and reward B2B sales representatives.

But when is receipt validation best used, and why would you choose this mechanic over more traditional models?

Five Reasons to use Receipt Validation:

1. As an alternative to unique code on pack

Quickly deployable and with no impact on printing or packing, purchases can be validated almost instantly. Run promotions or loyalty programs in a more cost-effective fashion without having to worry about the effect on production lines or packaging design.

2. If retailer support isn’t available

Marketers should be looking for a truly retailer-agnostic digital and mobile solution that is not dependant on integration with POS systems or geography. Ideally, solutions should work with any retailer or with multiple retailers – so if the purchase can be identified, the receipt can be processed and rewards activated. This is especially relevant for products that can be purchased anywhere, such as a can of Pepsi.

3. Gain extra market research

Data capture should be able to digitize not only the content needed to verify the relevant purchase, but also retailer, date, location, payment method of purchase and the entire purchase basket for deep dive data insights and pattern analysis.

4. Connect directly with your brand consumers

Receipt validation should be deployed to create a direct communication loop with brand consumers, without negative impact on retailers. Often this helps strengthen brand-retailer partnerships, with insights leading to mutually rewarding activations.

5. Build towards a loyalty solution

If you’re new to receipt validation, then start small – learn to crawl before you walk before you run. You should be looking to upscale and learn from localised test activities. Data from these should help you plan and implement bigger projects successfully, based around your business objectives and your customer data. The goal should be to design a well-planned multi-territory enterprise loyalty execution and deliver real return on investment.

John Lyons is Managing Director, Europe, of Brandmovers, a global leader in digital engagement promotions and loyalty that help brands connect with their consumers.

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