Marc Rigby of MRM looks at the relevance of Promotional Marketing to today’s marketing industry

Part of my misspent youth was dedicated to undertaking a degree in Marketing. How shiny and new it all felt back then in the 1980s, with brand spend all hovering above and below some imaginary line.

I chose below the line. Cash, holidays and cars. Neck labels, fix-a-forms and scratch panels. Free flights, treasure hunts and soft toy Labradors. Activity so impactful in its imagination and creativity that sometimes it didn’t even need a press release to make the national news.

Fast forward 18 years into the new millennium and the chance to assess where the trends of integration, omnichannel and the like have taken the old trouper that is Promotional Marketing. And no better place to do that than at the 2018 IPM awards, particularly as MRM was a sponsor this year.

But first, some context. To paraphrase Lord Black of Brentwood in his excellent introductory speech at the Awards, “I have never known such a time of change and flux.”

An economy showing marginal growth with Brexit concerns and growing inflationary pressures, dictatorial government legislation and public health concerns.

After a decade of dominant price promotion activity there is evidence of the usurping impact that EDLP pricing is having in the shape of the sales strategies of German retailers Aldi and Lidl.

And look at the fact that retailers such as Asda, Ikea, Next et al chose to step away from the bun fight that is Black Friday. It is low prices not short term price offers that is winning the promotional day.

So, can added value promotions still have a role to play in building the all-too-important brand equity?

Promotional Marketing as a marketing multiplier

What this year’s entrants consistently demonstrated is that their campaigns defined promotion as less about a proven collection of techniques to drive sales and more about the role Promotional Marketing can play when it has the chance to contribute to the marketing multiplier effect that boosts a campaign’s impact and how its customers really begin to engage with it.

What do I mean by that last statement? That campaigns truly reach another level when a great idea is founded in a brand truth and delivered to a consumer as a total brand experience.

Take the immense piece of work that is Lucozade Energy and TBK Group’s ‘Unstoppable Bottle’ – a multi award winner at the 2018 IPM Awards (see the picture above). Product packaging uniquely adapted to the activity. Check. Product sampling. Check. Relevance of activity to brand proposition. Check. Amplification of activity with advertising and social media. Check. Tangible motivating reward. Check. Add the fact that the activation was the first of its kind and it was delivered flawlessly achieving outstanding results, and you have a deserved winner. And, in striking a sensory, emotional, relevant and behavioural chord with the audience, it truly delivered a brand experience.

Clearly, promotional success need not be as reliant on retail presence as it once was. Packaging still remains a primary medium to communicate through, even if the power of the retailer’s own brand limits the opportunities to stand out in store. Getting listings and facings is a hard and often expensive challenge for any underperforming brand. Today’s marketer has a number of channels to drive communication of a promotion. Digital activity can undoubtedly help to build your story and promote the activity to a targeted audience. Hell, it even serves as an ideal place to store your terms and conditions. But it can also very quickly undermine your best efforts if your activity doesn’t pass the scrutiny of your consumers.

Not that this was a problem for another award winner. Nestlé KitKat and ZEAL Creative’s personalised KitKat packs proved how the public’s appetite for personalisation can be integrated into an established brand’s packaging.

So I hope I am not alone in concluding from this year’s crop of winners that, within the armoury of marketers, Promotional Marketing remains a trusted and effective weapon. And whilst the idea at the heart of any marketing campaign should be embedded in the brand proposition, creativity can only truly thrive with the support and expertise of practitioners who understand the importance of planning, insight and how best to manipulate the Promotional tools; not to merely drive sales but also deliver brand experiences that challenge and engage the audiences they seek to reach.

At MRM, we like to think we are defined by our services but measured by our results.  That is a statement that should be a maxim for our whole industry.

Marc Rigby is Managing Director of Multi Resource Marketing Ltd (MRM), a marketing services agency celebrating its 25^th anniversary this summer. MRM is a sponsor of the IPM Awards 2018.

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El Jimador, a leading premium tequila brand owned by US drinks giant Brown-Forman, is launching a ‘smart’ bottle and connected drinks coaster, using technology developed by Norwegian NFC experts, Thinfilm.

The six-figure deal is a key element of el Jimador’s omni-channel ‘Soccer Moments’ campaign, and is being heralded as the biggest ever largest NFC-related activation for a tequila brand. El Jimador is the sponsor of the Mexican National Soccer team’s 2018 US tour.

In collaboration with Thinfilm, el Jimador has incorporated NFC tags in custom bottle-neckers and branded coasters. When tapped with a smartphone in-store, at home, or on the go, el Jimador customers can instantly submit their favorite soccer story for a chance to win $25,000, custom jerseys, and other prizes. The NFC tags fully integrate with Thinfilm’s CNECT Cloud Platform and enable el Jimador marketers to view real-time tapping activity, analyze campaign performance, and uncover actionable insights.

The connected el Jimador bottles and coasters are being distributed through select retail outlets, bars, and restaurants across the United States.

Ed Carias, Senior Brand Manager for el Jimador tequila at Brown-Forman says: “Our Soccer Moments campaign is connecting us with consumers who are both fans of soccer and fans of the el Jimador brand. By leveraging the smartphone that most of us carry today, Thinfilm’s NFC solution significantly extends our ability to establish those connections, build lasting consumer relationships, and drive the success of the el Jimador brand.”

Following its Soccer Moments promotion, el Jimador plans to use Thinfilm’s NFC mobile marketing solution in a “Day of the Dead” campaign this coming October.

“It has become increasingly common for leading brands like el Jimador to position NFC as a key enabler within major omnichannel marketing initiatives,” said Davor Sutija, CEO of Thinfilm. “The Soccer Moments campaign is a perfect example.”

Thin Film Electronics ASA is a publicly listed company in Norway with global headquarters in Oslo, Norway; US headquarters in San Jose, California; and offices in Linköping, Sweden; San Francisco; London; Hamburg; Singapore; and Shanghai. Its Thinfilm solutions use NFC to connect FMCG products to the Internet of Things.

El Jimador is a premium 100% blue agave tequila made by Mexican distillery Tequila Herradura, founded in 1870. In 2007, the company was bought by Brown-Forman for $776 million. Over the past 10 years, Brown-Forman, which owns other alcohol brands including Jack Daniel’s, Southern Comfort and Finlandia Vodka, has been expanding international distribution for el Jimador and it is now sold in 136 countries, compared with the 56 countries at the time of the acquisition.

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Lucozade Sport, the UK’s best-selling sports drink, has unveiled limited-edition packs featuring a new version of its ‘Move More, Win More’ on-pack competition, first run a year ago, offering consumers the chance to win one of 20,000 prizes, ranging from Fitbits to holidays for two.

The on-pack activity will be supported by a £5m Through-the-Line ‘Made to Move’ campaign to inspire consumers to be more active over the summer. Fronted by Lucozade Sport brand ambassadors, boxer Anthony Joshua and footballer Harry Kane (pictured), a combination of TV, proximity, digital and social activity will show the nation that no-one ever moved forwards standing still. The campaign will culminate at point of purchase with bespoke ‘Made to Move’ POS, developed to maximise the opportunity in-store and encourage purchase of the special packs.

To enter the competition, consumers have have an iPhone with Apple Health Kit installed, a smartphone with Google Fit installed; or a smartphone and a FitBit device. They then need to download the Lucozade ‘Made to Move‘ app and sign up for an account. They can then log eligible exercise activities (either walking, running, cycling or swimming), which translate into ‘Exercise Contributions’. Every day they complete an Exercise Contribution entitles them to be entered into that day’s prize draw. If consumers achieve three Exercise Contributions on separate days during a week, then they can enter the weekly draw.

Prizes for daily draws include Fitbit Charge 2 devices, Lucozade Sport drink bottles, vouchers for 500ml bottles of Lucozade Sport, pairs of Tough Mudder tickets, PureGym passes, and Goals sessions. There will be a maximum of 50 daily prizes awarded.

Every week, one entrant will win a bigger prize, which may be a Fitbit Ionic, a trip for two to the British Grand Prix, a trip to Paris to watch the finish of the Tour De France, holidays for two in San Francisco, New York, Florence or Dubai, or fitness weekends in the Peak District.

Lucy Grogut, Lucozade Sport Brand Director at Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS), says, “With the biggest event in the football calendar just around the corner, our new limited-edition packs will allow retailers to capitalise on the increased interest in sports drinks this summer. We know Lucozade Sport sales spike by up to 12% during sporting tournaments, so this presents a huge opportunity for our customers. We’ve got 20,000 prizes up for grabs – that’s 100 per day – so we know shoppers are going to be incentivised to pick up even more Lucozade Sport this summer season.”

The on-pack competition will run on all major pack variants from April 23rd until October, with the latest phase of Lucozade Sport’s ‘Made to Move’ ATL campaign kicking off on June 4th. Consumers can enter via the app for the chance to win prizes including Fitbits and holidays for two.

Lucozade ran a similar promotion under the same name a year ago.

Lucozade Ribena Suntory is one of the leading soft drinks businesses in the UK and Ireland. LRS was formed in 2014 and is part of Suntory Beverage & Food Europe. Its soft drinks brands include Lucozade Energy, Lucozade Sport, Fitwater, Ribena, Orangina and True Nopal cactus water.

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Persil UK has been encouraging families in London to get outdoors and active to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the launch of the brand’s ‘Dirt is Good’ marketing platform with ‘Get Out Here’, a Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) activation delivering content triggered by the weather in real-time.

Running on Ocean’s full motion Eat Street screen at Westfield London, the campaign uses live weather data to trigger video content allowing the display to show current temperatures, weather conditions and the walking distance to Holland Park, their nearest source of outdoor fun.

Families can connect to the screen’s Wi-Fi to access a map and directions to the park, which is a short walk from the shopping centre.

Get Out Here reflects Persil’s commitment to get families outdoors and embrace dirt. The brand cites consumer research which reveals that dogs are five times more likely to be taken out to the park than children – and that only one in three kids has ever climbed a tree.

Created by MullenLowe London, Get Out Here was one of the commercial winners of Ocean Outdoor’s eighth annual digital creative competition, which aims to reward great creative concepts that push the boundaries of digital out of home (DOOH) advertising.

Video footage on the screen will also include a dynamic count of fun activities families can enjoy in the 22.5 hectare park, including the number of birds to count, muddy puddles to jump in and snowmen to build.

The idea is that families will break out of the urban jungle to experience the freedom of the real outdoors like kids used to, playing on Persil’s 10th anniversary of “Dirt is Good.” The campaign broke on March 1st 2018 and runs for two weeks.

Jennifer King, Senior Brand Manager for Persil UK, says: “Families love getting outdoors but we know that life can get in the way. This is an innovative way to nudge us all to embrace the outdoors and make more happy memories.”

Alex Okada, Global Executive Creative Director for Dirt is Good, adds: “Sometimes we are so immersed in our busy lives, distracted by the always on digital world that we don’t stop to think how close and accessible nature is to us. The idea is to use technology and data in order to remind and inspire people to enjoy the outdoors. Not having enough time outdoors is not a only problem for kids, but also a problem for all of us.”

Ocean Outdoor head of marketing Helen Haines comments: “Get Out Here is a really simple idea that actually works in all sorts of environments and out of home locations. It’s a fun execution and a wonderful way to encourage more families to go play and get messy. That’s why it was chosen as an Ocean competition winner.”

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Tesco is combining store data with DOOH.com’s RUSH delivery platform to deliver festive product offers and individual store opening hours to digital Out of Home screens in close proximity to stores across the UK in a campaign using the slogan “However you do your Christmas, everyone’s welcome.”

Ads will display a variety of offers and will change throughout the day, before switching to a localised store message in the evening. The retailer says the aim is to respond to the needs of its customers with “true convenience messaging”.

Nick Ashley, Tesco’s Head of Media and Campaign Planning, says: “The ongoing digitisation of the OOH landscape is a welcome development for us. It enables us to serve our shoppers in a way that is even more relevant and helpful to them – especially in the final few days before Christmas.”

Elodie Rodriguez, senior account manager at Kinetic, which booked the media, adds: “This campaign is a fantastic demonstration of intelligent data usage in OOH to create hyper-relevant and contextual creative to assist shoppers in the run up to Christmas. By delivering real-time content to consumers via RUSH technology, we’re delighted to be reinforcing Tesco’s long-standing motto of helping shoppers”.

Jeremy Taylor, head of strategy at DOOH.com, comments: “The festive period can be a frantic time for consumers, making it increasingly important for ad content to be relevant as well as engaging. By being smarter with digital OOH, Tesco can deliver hyper-localised information direct to customers on a national scale.”

Media was planned and booked by MediaCom and Kinetic respectively across the UK, with BBH designing thousands of creative variations to run in the lead up to Christmas day. The delivery was managed using DOOH.com’s RUSH platform, working in conjunction with Tesco’s API to deliver bespoke content for each local store.

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A new American Airlines campaign to drive awareness of its product and network offering from London has become the first of its kind to utilise geofencing technology with a moving object – in this case, a London black taxicab.

Building on a successful campaign last year where outdoor sites were geofenced, media specialists MediaCom has now taken this one step further by presenting consumers with highly-targeted digital ads from ‘wrapped’ taxis as they pass them on the street.

The innovative campaign, which kicked off this week and is due to run until the start of November, aims to connect the latest in digital technologies in GPS and Wi-Fi to the outdoor advertising environment, says MediaCom.

MediaCom has bought select advertising space around London, including OOH advertising on office digital panels, Canary Wharf shopping centre and a domination at Canary Wharf, together with online advertising.

The media agency has also worked with taxi advertising company Ubiquitous to upgrade the on-board taxi technology, partnering with location tech business Mobsta to build the API connections that connect the two together.

Brady Byrnes, Director of Global Marketing at American Airlines, said: “American Airlines is all about innovation. Our flights from London give travellers the most connected experience, with on-board Wi-Fi being at the very heart of this offering.”

Catherine Pronzato, Managing Partner at MediaCom UK, added: “We are always looking at how new technology can help our clients innovate in delivering their business needs. We’re excited to partner with American Airlines to launch this ground breaking technical solution.”

“Tapping into taxi location data to determine proximity to the target audience is an innovation that will deliver valuable additional brand touchpoints,” says Daemon Brown, Commercial Director at Ubiquitous.

The new application could allow brands to push promotional messaging to consumers on the move. A number of brands have already been experimenting with the delivery of mobile coupons offering money off products to drive consumers in store to buy.

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New packaging technology is helping promotional marketers create even greater impact on the way people shop, says Chris Baldwin from Sodexo. PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

Technology is moving faster than ever with new ways to find, buy and redeem products popping up every day.

Not to state the obvious, but that makes technology more important than ever in driving a successful campaign — and brands who get on board with innovation can reap the benefits in terms of appeal and functionality. Great tech should make life easier, right?

Is there anything new about packaging technology?

According to the Savvy Cynics 2016 Consumer Promotions Survey Report, nearly 70% of people either look for, or are attracted by, promotional messages on product.

Clearly, on-pack promotions have traditionally played a huge role in promotional campaigns but the whole industry is now changing dramatically and with it come new packaging opportunities.

Retailers can tap into innovative packaging ideas, overcoming issues around space, design, and manufacturing to reach more customers and make an impact.

Augmented Reality – looking forwards, and up, and down….

A ‘newish’ way to take your conversation with customers to the next level is with Augmented Reality (AR). With AR, brands can boost an offer with loads of extra, fun content. Consumers simply use a zapcode to access more info from games – and competitions too.

Casper Thykier, co-founder of AR specialists Zappar, is a leader in AR technology. He says: “If you get the three Cs right, you get engagement and dwell time.”

In this case, the three Cs are:

• Context
• Call to Action
• Content

Thykier adds: “AR packaging is great for increasing frequency with your product and giving you rich data analytics, turning your physical products into a living, breathing multimedia channel you control.”

Some of the best examples in recent years include inspiration from traditional consumer promotions, fused with technology to appeal to the discerning 21st century shopper.

In 2011 Heinz used technology created by Zappar’s rival, Blippar, to grant access to a Heinz recipe book (which when you think about it is a surprisingly traditional offering.) By downloading the app and holding it up to a Heinz ketchup bottle, shoppers could view the recipes which appeared on pages as if they were on the bottle itself. Heinz used this to drive people to its Facebook page to access more content.

NFC Keeping in touch with your Customers

Near Field Communication or NFC for short is also allowing consumers to interact with brand packaging. By tapping their smartphones on the labels the tags transfer data between devices wirelessly and without data or internet required.

Potential brand applications are numerous, such as advertising, shopper activation and engagement and loyalty schemes.

Malibu recently used NFC technology to great effect as part of their #BecauseSummer campaign in September 2016. They encouraged consumers to tap the image of a Malibu sunset on select bottles, to gain access to exlusive content, as well as being entered into prize draws.

Let’s get personal…

Personalised experiences with brands have become easier than ever thanks in part to a rise in digital printing.

Brands such as Marmite, Coca Cola, Nutella and Vaseline have seized the opportunity to create fully bespoke personalisation for consumers and considering that the worth of the digital print for packaging market was valued at £10.5bn in 2015 and is expected to grow annually by 13.6% according to a study by Smithers Pira, I think we can agree this trend is set to explode in popularity.

Coca Cola’s ‘Share-A-Coke’ campaign which featured 100,000 of the most popular names printed on bottle labels around the world contributed to a 6.8% increase in Coca Cola’s global Facebook community, as well as boosting their index scores from 9.6 to 12.4 on the first day of the campaign alone.

So has digital printing reached its tipping point?

With so much potential in this approach to packaging, not to mention digital printing’s economic and speed to market advantages, it’s a proven way to engage with customers whilst remaining very cost effective, so it seems like a no-brainer to continue going forward.

As technology continues to advance and experiences with AR, NFC and iBeacon become more seamless, Global brands have an exciting opportunity to exploit ‘new-age packaging’ to create a new kind of customer experience that has a holistic focus on the creation of ‘marketing moments.’

Those brands able to find the right balance of brief, slick and seamless product interactions with their audience, will reap the most reward-  building trust, relationships and loyalty over time in the most fun way possible.

Chris Baldwin is Director of Consumer Programs at Sodexo. The Sodexo family, which includes the Promorati brands Protravel, Filmology, Fotorama and Entice, is Headline Sponsor of The IPM Awards 2017.

Fotorama, part of the Sodexo family has published a new eBook, How new technology is driving the promotional marketing industry, taking a closer look at the digital revolution and how it can help marketers influence shoppers.

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GLACÉAU smartwater is running a geo-targeted ‘hyper-local’ Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) campaign which shares tips from celebrities, fashion experts and other influencers with Londoners who are within 500 metres of a beacon-equipped poster site.

Launched at the start of September 2016 and running for the entire month in affluent Chelsea and trendy Hoxton, the outdoor ad units will alert nearby users with information like the tastiest brunch in Chelsea or the trendiest pedicure in Hoxton. The Coca-Cola-owned enhanced water brand says it “aims to distil the very best bits of London into ‘on-the-go’ recommendations for busy urbanites.”

The ads will alert consumers within 500 metres to check out top tips from London based influencers, including blogger Reem Kanj and stylist Roxie Nafousi. Smartphone users with a range of partner apps installed will receive a push notification encouraging them to click and discover top recommendations in the area.

The creative follows the GLACÉAU smartwater summer outdoor marketing campaign, which aimed to bring a sense of simplicity to the complex through placing smart and witty outdoor adverts across London.

Bryony Lester, Senior Brand Manager at GLACÉAU smartwater, commented: “We’re using advanced technology to distil insiders’ knowledge about their favourite areas of London. Through working with new innovations, we have created a simple way for busy city dwellers to receive interesting content that they can enjoy in their local area.”

The beacon technology has been implemented by Kinetic Worldwide, global leaders in contextually activating audiences on the move, in partnership with Tamoco, Proxama and JCDecaux.

Kinetic’s Director of Innovation, Rosh Singh, added: “The use of beacons in the London: Distilled campaign is not only groundbreaking, but also exactly what brands should be aspiring to do – hyperlocal media, serving useful content in innovative ways. The perfect use of ‘push’ messaging and beacons.”

GLACÉAU Smartwater is the first bottled water brand in the UK to use a unique method of vapour distillation, using British spring water in its evaporation, condensation, and precipitation process. A combination of electrolytes is then added resulting in a distinctive taste.

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Malibu, the world’s no.1 coconut flavoured rum, has launched Internet of Things enabled bottles into Tesco in the UK on an exclusive basis. Consumers with smartphones just have to tap the image of a ‘Malibu sunset’ on the bottles to access content and be able to enter prize draws instantly.

The 40,000 ‘connected’ Malibu bottles use Near Field Communications (NFC) chips, similar to the ones found in Transport for London’s Oyster cards and many credit and debit cards. Malibu points out that by using NFC chips, there is no need for consumers to download an app to their phone.

The campaign is part of the worldwide Malibu #Becausesummer campaign.

Pernod Ricard UK, which owns and markets Malibu, says that its exclusive research has revealed a growing trend in consumer demand for “experiences not products, whereby consumers are no longer buying products and services – they are buying experiences delivered via the products and services. By changing the dynamics and challenging traditional views, brands can significantly increase their engagement with new and existing consumers and, the more innovative the approach, the more chance of reaching a new audience. Malibu has responded to this consumer need by introducing the ‘connected’ bottles technology.”

The campaign has been developed through an on-going partnership between Malibu and creative agency SharpEnd, and follows work undertaken at The Absolut Company’s innovation lab in Stockholm, where Absolut and Malibu collaborated on a ‘connected’ bottles showcase. The project has now led to the very first pilot of this kind in the UK.

Embracing the technology, Malibu will be turning each bottle into a direct, digital touchpoint for consumers. ‘Tapping’ the iconic sunset logo on the Malibu bottle will open up a world of five amazing digital #Becausesummer experiences that consumers can access through their mobile browser, including:

• Instant-win competition – tap to win UE Boom speakers
• User-generated-content competition – consumers are encouraged to upload a summer snap. Google’s Cloud Vision API will then use its automated machine learning capabilities to recognise the content of the image and classify it into a theme (e.g. BBQ, Festival, Beach). Once classified, a personalised, branded image is sent back to the consumer.  They are then entered into a prize draw to win a holiday to Barbados (7 nights all-inclusive)
• Bartender in a bottle – drinks recipes
• Bar locator – uses the consumer’s geo-location to find the nearest Malibu bar and alfresco drinking spots if the weather is good
• Playlist – connects to Malibu Play on digital audio streaming platform Mixcloud for playlists from Groove Armada, Marvin Humes, Clean Bandit and more.

There is an age-gate to access prizes and content, only users aged 18+ can access these experiences.

Jo Alexander, Malibu Marketing Manager at Pernod Ricard UK, comments: “This is a huge step into an exciting future for the alcohol sector, and part of our on-going push for Malibu in the digital space. We couldn’t be more excited that Malibu is leading the way in brand innovation by bringing this advanced technology to the forefront of the industry. This concept is consistent with our ‘Because Summer’ wider campaign as we wanted to ensure that our target audience of young-adult fun starters could get the most out of summer – and our ‘connected’ bottles do just that with a number of exclusive prizes on offer at the tap of a bottle. As a first for Malibu, we know that this will be a huge hit with consumers and we can’t wait to see their reactions. This is just the beginning for this exciting new technology.”

Cameron Worth, Founder of SharpEnd, comments: “Bottles are now media platforms, able to drive localised content that is defined by the market that sells the product and maintains the consumer relationship. Once the bottle becomes a media platform there are so many different things that can be delivered that are beneficial to shoppers. This provides an entirely new way to communicate with them and brings Malibu directly in front of its target audience, presenting the opportunity to drive brand loyalty through service delivery.”

Tomas Roope, Creative Lead, ZOO Google Creative Services EMEA, adds: “We are hugely excited about being part of bringing such a complex suite of technologies together, to build such a simple, user friendly bridge between packaging, mobile and shoppers’ passion for self-expression. For us this is a really intriguing exploration of something that only a few years ago would have been prohibitively complex technically. For us this really feels right on the edge of user retail innovation.”

The ‘connected’ bottles will be in-store from the beginning of September; all bottles will have an accompanying neck-tag to provide the consumer with a clear explanation of the technology.

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David Tymm of i-movo argues that digital coupons and vouchers can be the final link that completes online promotional campaigns

Like those wearing sandwich boards proclaiming ‘The End is Nigh’, commentators’ predictions on business and technology should be treated with extreme caution.

Shortly after the baseless mutterings about the fatal fallout of the ‘Millennial Bug’, ‘research’ from various quarters with a vested interest in creating doom and despondency suggested that shopping would be conducted entirely online in the near future.

Webvan would be delivering our groceries; boo.com would provide our wardrobe and buy.com would sell us everything else. All of this conspired to cause a stampede amongst traditional retailers to secure their online presence as quickly as possible.

At that time, 8% of all retail sales were online. The comparative figure is now 15.2% – a significant change for sure, but definitely not the end of the world as we knew it.

This change, however, obscures the underlying fact that while some traditional retail sectors have been decimated (electronics, books and music for example) and others, such as newspapers and magazines, are just about hanging on, other sectors have remained relatively stable: food, drink and grocery included.

But this, too, is overly simplistic. The seismic contractions caused by the 2008 financial crisis precipitated what the former boss of Waitrose hailed as a “once every 25 years” change in shopping behaviour.

Cash-strapped consumers developed a taste for frequent ‘top-up’ shops at convenience stores supplemented by occasional trips to supermarkets for better value staples. When factoring in huge improvements seen in ‘food to go’ offers at local stores and major market-share gain at the discounters, much of this sector remains intact – just not as we knew it and not as predicted.

Just as the meteorite did not kill the dinosaurs (the ensuing global winter did), the internet did not kill bricks-and-mortar retailing; instead, it gave rise to a multi-channel approach.

The most savvy retailers recognised that while most purchases are made in-store, those same purchases are often researched thoroughly online. Best practices allow observation of customer behaviour across whichever channel it takes place in. Retailers who mastered this have fared much better than those who did not – some have disappeared altogether.

Brand-owners of consumer products typically sold in a ‘traditional’ retail environment experience the problems of precisely identifying the brand’s consumer and determining how responsive they are to their influencing efforts.

Despite brand owners investing heavily in online marketing, unless a resultant sale is also made online, a return-on-investment figure for those campaigns has been fiendishly difficult to establish.

‘Closing the loop’ between a consumer’s digital fingerprint and their physical footprint is therefore the key for brand owners to realise value from their online media investments. There are examples emerging that show just how effective this can be.

The world’s largest soft drink manufacturer harnessed social media and other online tools to drive a sampling campaign across 60,000 UK supermarkets and convenience stores. Facebook allowed incredibly precise targeting across all standard demographics combined with lifestyle markers. In this case, a voucher for a free product was promoted to the target audience.

This same technique was used across eight further online channels, allowing the manufacturer to assess relative performance in real-time and adjust the media buy accordingly. The results speak for themselves, with a redemption rate of 37.5% in one channel and a 15.6% overall average. This is significantly better than the industry average of 2% for paper vouchers.

As an added bonus, the brand owner harvested a validated email or mobile phone number for each consumer that responded to the promotion.

Molson-Coors wanted to engage consumers and introduce them to Coors Light at the optimum temperature of 4°. Their TV campaign featured brand ambassador Jean-Claude Van Damme encouraging viewers to visit a website where they could sign up friends to receive a ‘Damme Cold Call’.

After selecting from a range of pre-recorded phrases‘, friends were then ‘phoned’ by the ‘Muscles from Brussels’ and told they would receive a digital voucher for a free four-pack when they had listened to the whole message. A 52% redemption rate suggests this message was received loud and clear, albeit with a guttural Flemish accent.

Walkers Crisps brought their famous ‘cash in the bag’ promotion bang up-to-date with Gary’s Great Ingredient Hunt. Consumers entered a competition to win cash prizes ranging up to £100 and millions of free packs of Walkers.

Consumers confirmed their entry by submitting a unique ‘on pack’ code either online or by text. Prizes were then distributed via a digital voucher redeemable at, in many cases, the nearest shop to the consumer’s home address, offering convenience and the level of instant gratification they expect. The brand gained vital real-time insight into campaign performance and consumer behaviour at a store level.

The ‘missing link’ between the online and offline experience in all these examples is the digital voucher that joins the dots. As with any chain, a broken or missing link reduces its value to being purely ornamental.

David Tymm is Chief Executive Officer of award-winning Secure Digital Voucher network i-movo. i-movo hold multiple patents for its innovative solution. It works with over 60,000 participating retailers, has delivered more than 300 successful campaigns and has processed over 17 million vouchers worth in excess of £250 million.

i-movo is a sponsor of the IPM Awards 2016.

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