Adam Stewart, Marketing Director at Rakuten’s Play.com : “As we launch into the Golden Quarter, retailers are preparing for their busiest months of the year. However, the difficulties the high street has faced this summer, including the disruption the Olympics brought to the high street, and the millions of pounds retailers will spend on commercial rent this weekend on property will inevitably encourage them to think about the ways that they can reduce overheads.
The high street will always be integral to retail but this quarterly rent payment makes it clear that shop owners’ budgets are being squeezed by huge costs.
In a recent report, Deloitte estimated that online sales account for the equivalent of more than 60m square feet of retail space. The investment and resources that go into running 60m square feet of bricks-and-mortar shops is huge compared to the investment needed to set up shop on the internet. Using e-commerce alongside a high street offering is one of the best ways to increase sales and grow the business.
For many retailers e-commerce is not the main pillar of their business but the payout on property this weekend is proof that retailers should consider how their online and offline offerings can compliment one another in order to increase sales and diminish overheads.”
Monarch Airlines
To promote its brand new ski routes, Monarch Airlines is launching a direct mail campaign with mobile image recognition platform, Blippar this week. Featuring British Triple Olympian and brand ambassador, Chemmy Alcott, the unique campaign allows Monarch’s customers to bring the slopes and its new destinations to life through the Blippar app on the mobile device.
The campaign, created by direct response and relationship marketing agency WDMP, is the first ever airline marketing campaign to use this technology to interact with its target audience. It aims to highlight the fact that, through Monarch’s new routes, skiers and snowboarders have new ways to access the best snow in Europe.
G2 Joshua
Leading creative agency G2 Joshua has been awarded a Bronze at the annual Euro Effie Awards for their innovative ‘Summer in a can’ campaign for Pringles.
Procter & Gamble had tasked the agency to find a way of selling an additional one million Pringles cans during the summer despite the absence of any blockbuster events to drive advertising. G2 Joshua exceeded this target by 30 per cent to achieve 1.3 million sales.
Taking advantage of the products cylindrical shape, the campaign encouraged consumers to use the can as an amplifier by attaching a speaker to one end. For every three cans of Pringles purchased, customers received a free speaker. For those unable to make it to a music festival during the summer, the Pringles speaker recreated the feeling at home or in the park.
The campaign was geared towards young adults, and out of the 5,000,000 Facebook fans Pringles gained during this period, 80 per cent were in this particular bracket.
Bobby Hui, Executive Planning Director at G2 Joshua comments: “As one of only 22 campaigns recognised with an Effie, we are thrilled to receive this honour and recognition. ‘Summer in a can’ was a fantastic project to be involved with and we are very grateful to all the team involved who enabled us to achieve such high results.”
