You can read Nicola’s full feature here:

http://www.nma.co.uk/features/social-commerce/3023282.article

 There is a good logic to Facebook stores as they offer retailers a more direct and potentially profitable way to connect with their Facebook fans, and starts to answer the question many big brands have been asking – “How can you make money from social media?”

For frequent users of Facebook being able to shop your favourite brands directly on the site will make life simpler and more convenient, and could well prove highly popular. Although, to fully maximise the potential of a Facebook store retailers will need to be mindful that it will be some of their most loyal customers who will coming to the store. So it will be important to ensure the shopping experience is tailored to meet what could well be a higher customer expectation of the retailer and their products.  

However there has to be a word of caution, because whilst retailers want to sell things if they end up bombarding people with messages they risk becoming viewed as a supplier of spam, and even potentially damaging the relationship they have with their Facebook fans.

Conversely if developed appropriately you can see a huge potential for Facebook shops, particularly for brands that have a strong and sizeable Facebook following, and they should certainly be giving many marketing departments food for thought.

As a marketing channel social commerce is still in its infancy and it is too soon to know exactly how this will play out, and with technology constantly developing it may well take a totally different form in the space of just a few years. Ultimately this makes it more important than ever for the marketing profession to monitor, review and remain open minded to the potential of social commerce, and at the same time be brave enough to take the plunge!

As reported in Marketing Week, these digital watermarks embedded in the publication will also allow readers to scan the magazine to access interactive video and further information. Significantly this is the first UK customer magazine to use this technology.

 You can read the full feature here:

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/media/print/superdrug’s-customer-mag-dares-to-go-digital/3023352.article

I like this idea because, whilst there is and will continue to be, an increase in the use of smartphones there is still an important role for physical communication materials to play. Retailers for example still need to take into consideration customers who don’t have smartphones, and even those who’ve yet to embrace their full functionality.

The strength of watermark technology is that it offers an innovative and convenient way for customers to interact not just with the publication but also with the brand.

Ongoing it will be interesting to see how quickly and widely watermark technology is adopted, and which sectors make the most use of it. Beyond retailers you can easily imagine its adoption in sectors such as tourism, the arts, leisure and technology.

Watermark technology certainly seems to have the potential to impact massively on the industry as it effectively creates a bridge between both new and traditional media.

You can read the feature here:

http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/3022949.article?cmpid=MWE01&cmptype=newsletter&email=true

We know times are tough, however I can only stress how important it is for retailers to place a value on their own  integrity, and the need to be honest and transparent with their customers - especially when it comes to price.

This is why I particularly like JLP for staying true to being “Never Knowingly Undersold” you just can’t argue with its honesty and it certainly makes it easy for customers to trust them.

Price will continue to be central to supermarket marketing strategy.However the supermarkets have to understand that as customers become more price sensitive their pricing strategies will come under increasing scrutiny from customers and competitors, making it even more important to ensure that all price led offers and promotions are genuine and fully transparent.

The following link gives a brief explanation of Facebook Deals; http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/3022875.article?cmpid=MWE01&cmptype=newsletter&email=true 

If popular this could prove to be a highly cost-effective way to win customers, and has the potential to develop into a powerful new marketing tool.

 This is important to stress because in this day and age marketers are faced with a huge raft media choices for their campaigns, and one of their critical success factors will depend on identifying the right combination of media to ensure that their messages reach the appropriate volume of potential customers.

 The other part of the equation that also plays a crucial role in the success of the campaigns is the creative executions they use, and this post is focuses on these ATL campaigns.

 As it is by no means a definitive post please do feel free to comment and add your views to my comparison of the comparisons.

I know there are more than 4 comparison websites however the four that I know of, due to their marketing activity are:

Compare the Market

Go Compare

Confused

Money Supermarket.com

I’ve listed these in order of what I consider to be marketing excellence with the first 2 being considerably ahead of the latter in terms of their success in getting my attention. It would be interesting to know if my order reflects their current performance.

If you think about Compare the Market what thoughts come in your mind? Of course you think of the Meerkats and the exceptionally creative ads that have brought them to life. Appropriately they are supported by their own website and ultimately are becoming an integral part of the Compare the Market brand. Creatively there is huge scope to continue developing the Meerkats particularly if they become increasingly humorous, and move closer to their customers through an increased use of social media.

From a marketing perspective this works because as a comparison site you want to appeal to as many people as possible, however with society becoming so diverse it becomes increasingly difficult to create campaigns that appeal to a mass market. On that basis the genius of the Meerkats is that they are truly difficult for anyone to dislike or object to. Further they appear in well produced ads that are now taking the concept to the next level by introducing new characters and stories for us to enjoy.

Overall this puts Compare the Market in a very strong position and in my opinion ahead of the other three.

Next up is Go Compare and didn’t you just nearly fall off your sofa the first time Gio Compario aired on our screens. He didn’t give you an option but to take notice of the ad, basically because of the song that is loud and fast paced. This is smart marketing, as increasingly in homes across the country, the TV is just on in the background as people surf the net instead. So shouting it out loud is one way to get potential customers to look up from their laptops.

As a character and as ad campaign Gio really is “Marmite” however so long as sufficient numbers of people either like or are emotion neutral towards him Go Compare have got it right as those people will remember their name and use it. Of all comparison sites Go Compare also seem to have also made the most use of commercial radio and considering the importance of the theme song to their campaign this makes absolute sense.

I’m not however certain that Gio has the same potential as the Meerkats to become an integral aspect of their brand, however they do have huge potential to drive maximum benefit from their theme tune and at the same time generate further traffic to their site, and an even higher level of consumer awareness.

This I believe they could achieve by launching an online competition to encourage people to video and upload themselves singing the Go Compare theme tune. Clearly a perfect social media opportunity and if categories were set-up, for example: choirs, individuals, schools, pop groups etc with prizes on offer you’ve created a huge almost X-Factor like online competition all based around your theme tune. This promotion could be further enhanced by asking the public to vote for their favourites, which of course they’d have to do by visiting the Go Compare site and registering their email address (further emarketing use potential). To conclude the competition you’d probably want to run a live final with some expert judges and of course the winner would perform with Gio and become a TV ad for Go Compare.

By doing something like this Go Compare would, I believe, start to become seen as the brand of choice amongst the comparison sites and it could even give them competitive advantage over Compare the Market.

This brings me to Confused.com, where a few months ago I remember their boss on the Welsh TV news explaining they’d had a drop in performance and that he knew their advertising wasn’t doing the job they wanted it to do. I really respect him for saying this and being so open – truly commendable and of course I looked forward to their new ads, and then I saw them.

Firstly as we’ve seen with Go Compare music can work really well in an advert, however using “Need Somebody to Love” as the music – I just don’t get it. Likewise cartoons can be great however again lots of cartoon people dancing around, makes me ask what does Go Compare want me to think and ultimately what do they want me to do? Unfortunately, it really doesn’t make me want to type www.confused.com into my laptop.

Then you get the message about being 18 million strong – OK they want me to know they have lots of customers, and yet I’m still not encouraged to visit the site. Is being 18 million strong the strongest and most convincing message to get me to visit Confused? I’m not convinced.

Also I’m a little concerned about this figure because it isn’t validated, so does it mean that today they have 18 million current customers or does it mean they have served 18 million customers since they went live? Guess what I’m confused but not in a good way.

That said and done I do believe that Confused does the potential to make-up much of the ground it has no doubt lost to Compare the Market and Go Compare, however in order to this they would need to become far more radical in their marketing activity.

Having Confused as a name is just crying out for a huge dose of creative excellence to create their own totally and utterly confused world – where of course everything comes good when you visit Confused. I’d go as far to suggest the business should truly embrace confusion throughout the brand, and this could manifest itself through a whole range of quirky and intelligently confused executions in all areas of the business.

This would truly bring the concept of Confused to life for both its employees and potential customers, and on that basis engaging with some of the best creative minds in the industry would be very beneficial for Confused.

Creating a business that intelligently makes confusion an attribute could very well result in the creation of the most dynamic, fun, interesting and engaging of all the comparison sites. Basically for Confused its time to get radical.

Finally of the four its Money Supermarket.com, and I’ve little to say about them to be honest, yes I’ve seen their adverts and also the Travel Supermarket ads which has sort of confused me as to what they are all about. With Money Supermarket, they are using a comedian, Omid Djalili (who in his own right is a great performer), and some of the ads are quite funny others less so, but they just haven’t managed to endear me to their brand.

I know you have to be careful when using comedy in ads and to get it right can be tricky and in this instance I just feel they aren’t getting it right and I’m left with a very weak impression of Money Supermarket.com.

It could well be that they are in a similar position as Confused and are being eclipsed by the campaigns of Compare the Market and Go Compare. Maybe they need to go back to the creative drawing board and truly tell themselves that if the campaign proposals don’t instantly come across as being outstanding then don’t even commission them.

One thing is certain, over the next couple of years it will be fascinating to see how the comparison sites develop, how they start to make effective use of social media and how their brands develop, and ultimately which one goes on to sustain a market leading position.

However, I’m noticing some pricing “adjustments” that – whilst technically fine, still seem to fly against the messages of trying to help customers save money.

Allow me give you an example, for most of last year both Tesco and ASDA were selling bottles of their own-brand bleach on a promotion of 2 bottles for £1 – what a bargain!

Then towards the end of last year Tesco nudged the price up to £1.10 for 2 bottles, whilst ASDA kept their offer at 2 for £1 – top marks to ASDA. Now in battle of the bleaches ASDA have taken their own-brand bleach off promotion and are currently selling it at 68p per bottle.

If you do the maths that means 2 bottles at ASDA now cost £1.36 – a whopping 26p more than Tesco.

Now the problem I have with this from a marketing perspective is that ASDA have added their “Rollback” POS to this product because the single bottle is now 68p compared to the previous single bottle price of 70p. Well considering that for at least a year this product was on the 2 for £1 promotion, I really can’t imagine many customers only buying one bottle for 70p – it’s a no brainer. So yes technically the product is now 2p cheaper per single bottle, but really come on ASDA you can’t for a second think your regular customers will genuinely think you’re offering them a saving on this product.

This is where I’d offer a word of caution to all retailers – your customers are becoming increasingly price sensitive and they will notice these “tweaked” prices, and whist you can make these “adjustments” you would be well advised to show more respect to your customers and ensure that your offers are genuine.

Oh and in terms of appropriate and effective POS, Tesco are promoting their own-brand bleach with a simple message “Bestseller” – a good way to attract the attention of the big brand bleach buyer and offer them the confidence to switch and save.

2011 is going to be a challenging year for retailers and when using price as a selling tool hopefully they won’t underestimate their customers and truly strive to deliver genuine offers, and not just play around with offers and POS – time will tell.

So with that highlight behind me for 2011 I’ll be keeping my eye on the world of marketing and look forward to sharing with you my thoughts on our favourite discipline over the coming months. As always if you have any comments feel free to send them through.

In fact I’ve got a feeling it is the first Welsh app developed for Google’s Android phone, and its always good to have a first!

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2010/02/11/charity-delivers-working-women-in-wales-inspiration-via-iphone-91466-25809627/

It’s always great to see a campaign come to life and I’m really looking forward to seeing this one grow – it’s always good to stay busy!

In the UK during the boom years, when many people wanted to show how successful they were, one of the easiest and most obvious ways to so was through the car you drove. In this respect nothing played up to an Alpha male mid-level businessman’s ego more than a shiny 5 Series and more junior executives would feel their 3 Series put them ahead of their Mondeo counterparts.

Which was great in terms of sales for BMW, however the world is changing, not just in terms of the recession but also in the way the media has been encouraging people to economise, consume less and be less ostentatious. On this basis if BMW continued to market itself as a prestige brand its messages would increasingly become out of kilter with consumers. Further, with industry under increasing pressure no doubt there would have been a concern that fleet sales would suffer.

So with Joy essentially BMW have in a single swipe given consumers a new reason to consider BMW, and most importantly it is an emotional reason. After all time and again emotion beats logic in the consumer decision making process. No longer does owning a BMW mean “look at me I’m a big cheese” instead the brand is now suggesting it is for people who enjoy life and enjoy living it, with their BMW being one the joy factors in their world.

This is where the campaign really does smart in so much as whilst many people have lost their jobs, the biggest problem the recession has caused for the economy is the undermining of peoples confidence. By doing so, and adding the media’s rush to make thrifty trendy, it is in BMW’s interest to give people permission to enter the showroom, take the plunge and buy the car. Essentially, the Joy campaign does this by telling people “Its OK to enjoy yourself”, it is giving consumers permission to stay loyal to the brand, it is blowing away the businessman stigma and reinventing the brand.

The next masterstroke for campaign comes from the fact that the competition will really struggle to compete on the same basis. Ultimately BMW have grabbed emotion as their USP, and the emotion they have grabbed is Joy. You can’t really see Audi pitching up with “Happy” or Mercedes with “Elated” or Jaguar with “Chuffed to bits” can you?

Overall the timing and execution of GSD&M’s work for BMW has been exceptional.