Avon was brought to life 135 years ago and ever since has strived to address inequalities that women are subject to. The brand believes in creating a better world for all, but in an attempt to give the brand a facelift, whilst remaining relevant in the beauty world, it aimed to strike the balance between classical and contemporary.
Marketing Insight – Avon’s well-timed glow up in the saturated beauty industry
The beauty brand is currently ranked the fourth largest beauty company in the world and has always prided its brand identity as “empowering women by providing them with earning opportunities, to be financially independent and to work from the comfort of their homes”. Despite the brand being so iconic and well-known, it is often categorised as “used by my mother” or people are aware of the brand but never consider purchasing the products. There is no doubt that the beauty industry is severely saturated and whilst Avon holds market shares and brand awareness, it does come up against tough competition. To deal with this issue and feel more “modern and contemporary”, Avon rebranded in 2023, focusing on “Embrace Your Power” and has implemented a multichannel digital strategy and reach wider and broader audiences, all whilst keeping its personalised face-to-face service to blend into its new yet classical image.
Media Innovation
Spreading the brand identity both virtually and physically
Avon like other big beauty brands opted to work with well-known influencers, such as beatboxer Hamza who highlighted how Avon’s products provide her with the confidence to perform. These advertisements spanned across advertisements on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, with each channel providing its own unique reach and connection to various audiences. TikTok for young trendsetting, Instagram for owning the best pool of pulling beauty data and Facebook as a connection with its Avon representatives. Using a mixture of media channels can allow brands to gain further exposure, and in Avon’s case, they targeted each individual channel accurately.
Pushing further digital strategies
Whilst the various platforms enabled Avon to share its voice, it still needed to fill the gaps of capturing new audiences and user habits from each channel in order to push its messaging that bit further. The use of influencers and direct message ads on Messenger and WhatsApp were integrated into the campaign. Building connection was key and the voices of key opinion leaders in the beauty category are an expansion of the brand’s image. Regarding Messenger and WhatsApp advertising, Avon created a digital shoppable brochure called “Avon On”, which digitalised the whole purchasing system. The clever movement here is, it still has Avon representatives to complete the buying, so a mixture of traditional and online purchasing come together to become more inviting for broader age groups. Broadening into online shopping channels such as Amazon has allowed for growth into subscription models, generating a new revenue stream.
In-store experience expansion
Avon not only made movements online but also opened new stores for consumers to immerse in the in-store experience. Shops opened across Europe, America and Africa, expanding the franchise in retail. Partnering up with retail giants such as Amazon and Superdrug further increased the brands awareness and taking the omnichannel strategy from brand into conversion.
Accelerating Growth – finding beauty in the process
One of Avon’s main goals of this transformation was to meet the customers’ needs. Leveraging various channels allowed Avon to open opportunities for more A/B Testing and product recommendations, all whilst demonstrating how vital personalisation really is. This spans across identifying audience behaviour, building cooperation between social platforms, unearthing the most profitable consumers and targeting them directly. The physical shops were able to open successfully due to these trials and data reporting. Avon has now launched stores across 26 different countries and is able to observe trends from representatives within 5-mile radius range of Superdrug. “Finding things, reviewing quickly, getting the data and then building a strategy around it is definitely a big part of how we want our operation to unfold.” – Alex Long, Avon’s chief commercial marketing officer. The strategy and technology they have used is not complicated but comprehensive. By opening into multi online channels, it’s still on its way to prove that they are not only classical, but also contemporary, good value and understand the audience it needs to resonate with today.
Richard Slater and Jamie Hewitt have been announced as joint managing directors at MI Media in a move to drive the business forward and further develop its offering across its three core pillars of Marketing Insight, Media Innovation and Management Intelligence.
Richard is taking on a client leadership role, supporting the client teams in developing strategies that deliver on clients’ short-and-long-term goals. Having previously worked at MediaCom, Richard joined MI Media as a Business Director and employee number four in 2011, before becoming managing director in in 2021.
Jamie is taking on a business & client strategy leadership role, responsible for ensuring that MI Media has the structure, training and resources in place to continue to accelerate growth for its clients, its business and its people. With over 25 years of industry experience, Jamie is celebrating ten years at MI Media having also joined the agency as a Business Director from MediaCom.
Richard and Jamie are supported by a senior leadership team with core responsibilities across client servicing, data & digital, investment, finance and new business & marketing.
Richard Slater, joint managing director, said, “Having worked with Jamie for so long, I know we have complementary skillsets. With this new setup, the agency gets the full benefit from what each of us has to offer. Jamie has been critical to advancing our agency offering, recognised most recently in the role he played in achieving IPA Effectiveness Accreditation and CPD Gold for MI Media. It’s great to be working in partnership with him and, alongside the other senior leaders at the agency, I believe we will work as an effective team to create an exciting future for MI Media and our clients.”
Jamie Hewitt, joint managing director, said, “It’s fantastic to join Richard in leading the business. In 10 years, I’ve had the fortune to help shape the business as it has grown. We will continue to grow through our learning and engagement with the industry while our teams deliver exciting client work. It’s a privilege to take the helm as we move into our next chapter.”
Following the recent conversations we have been having around ESG we have been reflecting on how we as an agency need to work to ensure we’re doing the best for the planet, our people and our clients’ businesses. With the internet accounting for 4% of global emissions, advertisers have to be aware and accountable for the part they play in global warming. As an agency, we act as the gatekeepers between advertisers and media owners so are well positioned to ensure both sides have sustainability on their radar.
The first step is to ensure our own operations are as efficient as possible. We’re proud to have recently achieved our FuturePlus accreditation – enabling us to both track our current performance but also set goals to continually improve. In order to get there, we need to focus on our scope 3 emissions – of which the campaigns we plan and deliver are the biggest carbon contributors.
This has led us to open conversations with all our partners about how to reconcile the absolute need for performance whilst being as sustainable as possible. In order to do so, we need a robust carbon measurement framework that we can include on every plan with recommendations on how to off-set. The ultimate goal, however, is to be able to choose media providers that align with business performance goals and deliver unrivalled effectiveness, whilst being as carbon light as possible.
Working with effective partners
By building partnerships with experts in the field it enables us to offer smart solutions to our clients. We recently spoke to Multilocal Media regarding its products and specific capabilities around carbon solutions.
According to Ad Net Zero, advertising generates double the carbon emissions of aviation. Current solutions often compromise performance because they come with incremental costs. Additionally, the ability to find audiences at scale and deliver campaigns is hindered by the application of blanket carbon thresholds. CarbonSmart is Multilocal’s innovative solution designed to reduce carbon emissions generated through programmatic advertising campaigns without sacrificing campaign metrics.
Multilocal’s proprietary Active Curation process, CarbonSmart eliminates unnecessary bid requests, ensuring effective impression delivery and performance while significantly reducing carbon emissions. This high-performance, low-emission ad campaign solution is validated by Cedara, the leading carbon intelligence platform.
By utilising win-rate match technology to eliminate redundant bid transactions within the PMP, Multilocal achieves an average of 80% reduction in carbon emissions per campaign, all while enhancing performance.
Audience Curation naturally reduces media wastage by targeting the right audiences in the right environments. This approach minimises the data processing needed to identify and reach the ideal audience, resulting in more efficient and effective campaigns.
CarbonSmart enhances this efficiency by reducing unnecessary bid requests in each deal. Each bid request carries a carbon emission value due to the energy required for data processing. By eliminating redundant bid transactions, it significantly lowers the overall carbon footprint of advertising campaigns.
As a result, CarbonSmart delivers impressions and performance while significantly reducing the carbon footprint, ensuring that campaigns are both effective and environmentally sustainable. This meets the increasing demand for responsible marketing practices.
Benefits of working with partners
Carbon measurement in advertising is still in its infancy, with pioneers creating their own carbon measurement tools adopting varying methodologies with equally varied results. In response to the industry cry for a global standard, Ad Net Zero and Garm have release a new framework – setting the standard across the media world. However, it’s still early days with the calculator currently only covering digital, OOH and TV – but is a step in the right direction.
In order to accelerate progress, businesses need to share learnings and pool knowledge, yet fears of not having consistent measurement, making mistakes and being accused of greenwashing hold businesses back. That’s why focus on progress over perfection will drive the industry forward and make sustainable advertising not only more accessible to businesses of all shapes and sizes, but will also lead to more effective campaigns. It’s encouraging to see stories in the trade media demonstrating this, with Ebay reporting their latest digital display campaign reduced carbon by the equivalent of 16,000 kms driven by a car: all whilst increasing VTR% and viewability.
It’s important this isn’t done in silo and media businesses need to club together to share information, learnings and mistakes. There are mountains of reports, legislation and research coming out all the time so having a network of people across the industry interpreting the findings can only be a net positive.
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Partnerships with companies like Multi-local will effectively enable clients to compare the performance of their Carbon Smart activity vs their BAU activity: ultimately helping them to drive better commercial performance and be more environmentally sustainable.
Stephanie Lee, Account Manager
For this month’s ‘A day in the life’ we were joined by Account Manager Steph, who chatted to us about facing her public speaking fears, lessons to be reminded of and her dream canned wine client.
What led you to a career in media?
Before embarking on my media career at MI, I was working in retail at Majestic Wine. It was bittersweet to leave as I loved the company and everything that the brand stood for. Majestic really sparked my love for wine, and I really enjoyed getting into the nuances of it all but in the words of Dolly Parton, I was ready to be ‘working 9 to 5’, as unfortunately retail goes hand-in-hand with shift work. I was eager to move away from these working patterns and media had always been an interest of mine that I was keen to explore a career in.
What is your proudest moment at MI?
This would have to be when I completed my first ‘smash up’, which consist of presenting a client’s post campaign results and analysis to them. Our client Médecins San Frontières (MSF) host these in person (in front of 50 people might I add!!) and for someone who doesn’t enjoy being the centre of attention or particularly thrive off public speaking, this may seem like a recipe for disaster. However, after battling some nerves, I got through it. Now a small part of me can say that I did enjoy presenting to the room on the spring malnutrition campaign.
What advice would you give to someone looking to go into the world of media?
Simply go for it! It’s a highly entertaining industry from the actual day-to-day work to the people you work with, whether it be within your agency or the clients themselves. And of course, the social aspect is a lot of fun too.
I do think that before embarking on a career within the media landscape, get swotting and really research and scope out what area you would like to work in. It’s a hugely wide-ranging industry, so get to know it as best as you can. This can determine whether you want to focus on creative, planning, buying, the list goes on and on!
What mistakes have you learnt from the most?
Whilst it isn’t exactly a mistake, one lesson that I continue to remind myself of is that less is definitely more! I aim to apply this approach when creating and delivering presentations, whether it be client reviews or new business pitches. I am lucky to work with a great bunch, and we know our stuff, so it’s key that we trust ourselves. We don’t need thousands of words and slide after slide to show that we are knowledgeable, we can let our mouths do the talking. Being at the heart of what we do for clients day-to-day, means we can, and we sure do, know how to talk about our areas of expertise and what’s happening in the industry.
Do you have a dream client?
**without an ounce of hesitation**
Well now you know my love for wine, I guess this won’t come as a surprise. My dream client is definitely The Uncommon. Its creative branding is excellent, its ESG approach is spot on and ITS WINE! For those that are unaware, The Uncommon is a UK canned winery, and in fact it was the first UK winemaker to achieve this accreditation. The brand, which is hugely distinguishable, has over the years branched out across various Hub spots in both M&S and Waitrose. It is currently getting out and about with various pop ups and stocking in a few extra select supermarkets. Whilst it does a lot of social activity, I do think it’s the right kind of brand to excel at OOH. It would do well by simply advertising on 6 sheets, but where its branding would really shine would be through more experiential OOH. It could spice things up a bit and create an immersive wine sampling pop up with a blind tasting or something to win a coupon, who doesn’t love discounted wine?! This would really create a buzz around both the product and brand.
This month we reflect on June trends which looks at the shifts in the roles of marketing decision makers within brands and what that means for future strategy, how the retail sector is in its “in-store era” and the welcome changes introduced to improve collaborative measurement of carbon emissions in the industry.
Repositioning of roles: CMO to CBO
It was recently reported that Compare the Market has restructured its business by separating its customer data operations from brand marketing. The company has eliminated the role of chief marketing officer (CMO) and introduced the position of chief brand officer (CBO). The role will be accompanied by a newly appointed chief customer officer (CCO). The transformation of CMO roles into CBO roles reflects broader changes in how companies look to approach marketing, brand management and customer engagement in the future. This shift aligns with industry trends, where we have seen companies such as Starbucks, UPS, Lyft and Uber also redefine their marketing leadership structures to focus more on customer data and technology integration.
For Compare the Market, its competitive advantage lies in its strong brand and extensive customer data. The new structure plays to this, allowing the CBO to focus on long-term brand value and the CCO to align customer and data strategies. I think we could all easily recall Compare the Market’s brand platform from its clever and memorable “compare the meerkat” adverts over the years. Its distinctive brand recognition demonstrates simplicity and the humour used makes light of a typically dry sector. This strategy has included collaborations with celebrities and major brands to keep the brand engaging and relevant.
Given some of the big advertisers have already started to restructure marketing roles in this way, it’s likely the trend will continue. The shift from CMO to CBO roles reflects the evolving landscape of marketing, where long-term brand value, data specialisation, technological integration and a customer-centric approach are increasingly prioritised. By redefining these roles, companies aim to build stronger, more resilient brands that can adapt to changing market conditions and consumer behaviours.
In the “in-store” retail era: harnessing real-time data to improve results
As picked up in various articles last month that honed in on retail, retail media’s effectiveness heavily depends on measuring campaign outcomes through strategic media planning. From our own experience of working with retail brands and measuring effectiveness through digital marketing, we appreciate the importance of getting measurement right to allow for the best growth and results. Measurement applies across the board, multi-channel, across every inch of a campaign. We know through our own measurement and the vast number of other examples out there, that off-site (i.e digital) retail advertising is highly effective. So where can we expand? Well as discussed recently, it’s the era of the “in-store” retail experience. In-store advertising is producing results and coupled with technology and the data that can be extracted from customer behaviour, it’s important to be considered for retail clients.
In-store advertising
Let’s consider firstly the in-store ad experience and how that can be most effective. To tap into this market, enhancing the in-store experience with unique and memorable moments is key. Digital signage plays a big role, especially with retail media ad spending expected to exceed $106 billion by 2027. We’ve seen major players like Amazon entering the in-store DOOH space and innovative brands like H&M using holograms to surprise and engage shoppers. With over 90% of customers unhappy with current in-store experiences, retail media has a big opportunity to improve this. By using familiar technologies, retailers can provide engaging and personalised content at the point of purchase. Another option as by Paul Brenner, SVP for retail media and partnerships at Vibenomics was in-store audio advertising as a solution. It improves the shopping experience with curated music, relevant promotions and contextual brand messages. I’m sure we have all been partial to hearing ads in stores and it’s not something new, but it is proven to be effective and targeted.
Harnessing in-store data to improve advertising
We know the retail sector is going through a digital transformation, with additions such as an increase in , conversion tracking and using transactional data for precise advertising down to an SKU level. Even how brands buy media is likely to change, with new programmatic capabilities to buy ad space on retailers’ digital screens in-store. The ability to access real-time data is extremely beneficial, however the in-store data adds an interesting layer to this.
Adding to this, we couldn’t forget to mention AI. The excitement around how AI can improve in-store sensors for better audience insights was discussed. This technology helps retailers optimise product placement, test packaging and displays with instant feedback. From an advertising angle, customers could get personalised ads on digital screens, via audio or by mobile apps for nearby products, tailored to their preferences and past purchases. It’s targeting at its best by utilising real-time data. This seamless, data-driven experience is the future of retail media.
A big step in the right direction – common currency for measuring carbon in media
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. As an outcome of the 12-month GARM-led global engagement effort to build common measurement tools and processes, Ad Net Zero has now introduced a Global Media Sustainability Framework to standardise the measurement of carbon emissions across various media channels, including digital, TV and print. This recent news is very much welcomed by us as an agency. It’s a great step and one we’ve all been pushing for to improve consistency and collaboration between advertisers, media owners and agencies in the effort to reduce carbon on media plans.
Supported by major advertisers and media companies, the framework aims to provide consistent methods for tracking and reducing media-related greenhouse gas emissions.
The initial formula covers TV, digital and OOH media, with other media types to follow. This initiative encourages industry-wide adoption to help advertisers and their partners minimise their carbon footprint effectively. It’s what we love to see and hope to get on board within the future.
It goes without saying, football fans are nothing short of passionate. With engaged fans, comes a connection to not only their team, but the shirt on players’ backs. Shirt sponsorships were introduced in the late 70’s and ever since, the relationship between the shirt and sponsor have gone from strength to strength. For brands wishing to amplify their brand awareness, utilising the power of football shirt advertising enables them to expand into global markets. In this campaign, we explore how sometimes marketing investment isn’t as costly you as you think if you come up with a smart concept with vast and effective reach.
Marketing Insight: kicking off the partnership
As League Two football club, Stevenage’s, home fixtures saw on average 3,000 fans take to the stands, the club wanted to develop an idea that would not only generate additional revenue but also increase reputation for the lower league club.
The start of 2019/2020 football season saw the beginning of a two-year partnership between Stevenage and the fast-food giant Burger King. FIFA, (now called EAFC) is also known for its realistic video game simulation with millions of people playing globally having the ability to choose their leagues and team. The shirt sponsors are visible throughout the video game and, with a main target audience of young males ages 12-30, this opportunity perfectly aligned with Burger King’s target audience.
Media Innovation: bringing the partnership to life and overcoming booing fans
The partnership was brought to life with the first campaign ‘The Stevenage Challenge’. Everyone loves a freebie, so for the campaign Burger King and Stevenage encouraged FIFA players to share footage of goals scored, repping the Stevenage home or away kits to win Burger King rewards. The two-week competition resulted in 25,000 goals hitting the back of the net being shared across social media!
Despite some initial backlash when the partnership was announced and home kits were revealed, Stevenage was the most frequently used team within the game for the campaign period. FIFA streamers and influencers also got involved on Twitch and YouTube, both playing as Stevenage in-game, but also wearing the home kit live on stream. Alongside this, high profile TV presenters such as Gary Lineker praised the campaign, leading to further exposure.
It’s believed that Burger King paid around £50,000 for the shirt sponsorship for the season, which is a fraction of the price you’d likely have to pay for a campaign that has reached so many individuals within their target audience on a global scale. Stevenage’s Chief Executive Alex Tunbridge told BBC News, “It’s PR that you couldn’t buy as a League Two Club, unless you reach the third or fourth round of the FA Cup.”
Accelerating Growth: building on campaign success to achieve brand goals
The campaign led to a huge increase in website impressions (1.2 billion) which generated value for both brands. Due to the success of the initial campaign, Burger King and Stevenage launched further campaigns, one being the Burger Queen with the Stevenage Women’s team to help promote and build awareness for the Women’s game.
The incredible success of the campaign was recognised in the industry, winning the Grand Prix in both the Direct and Social & Influencer categories at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
This campaign goes to show that for a low-level budget, you can really place your brand in front of the right eyes, whilst receiving huge engagement from your target audience. It shows the value a successful partnership can create for the partnered brands. For Stevenage, despite being a lower league club it was able to affordably increase shirt sales which generated revenue and exposure. And for Burger King, it delivered huge numbers of impressions for a fraction of the normal cost. Great success for all!
MI Media was brought to life in 2008 and from the get-go, our independent media agency has accelerated growth for challenger brands through media strategy, planning and buying. We value the importance of relationships with substance and due to our independent nature, we are able to fully focus on clients’ interests and objectives. When business challenges arise, we are here to build the most effective strategy and put media to work, which is exactly what we did for our shortlisted client, JML.
A core pillar of growth for MI Media this year, has been our data offering and the end of 2023 saw our very own data product, MIDAS come to life. Whilst our data centric approach is beneficial to client campaigns, it is only as strong as the team analysing it and we were thrilled that last year we could bring both elements of this together for the challenge at hand.
In 2023, our client JML had seen a downturn in its sales, revenue and profit due to the disruption in the retail landscape and it needed to focus harder on its digital sales channels. Our primary objective was to optimise JML’s digital accounts across PPC, Shopping and Amazon to capitalise on a crucial sales period and ultimately turn around what had been a challenging year. By the end of the campaign, we had managed to fully transform the client’s account and the results speak for themselves.
Our team got under the skin of JML’s business objectives and went over and above to execute on this. To make it to the podium would really be the cherry on top for our small but mighty digital team.
Client satisfaction is what we strive for, which shines through in our response from JML’s Group Marketing Director: MI supported us through a critical digital transformation period where sales growth was central to business stability during turbulent market conditions. The MI team’s strategic management has revolutionised how we run our digital sales channels; it’s been hugely impactful work. They’ve provided deep knowledge of the digital space in PPC and granular-level data management across our entire product portfolio and digital estates, to give us comprehensive SKU-level profitability visibility, which has given us complete confidence in their work and provided impressive results. MI Media’s incredible passion for its high-quality work and its approachable personability with its clients is what make MI so remarkable and unique for an independent agency of its size. We’ve loved working with them from day one”.
Whilst it is hugely rewarding to receive positive feedback from clients, it is also important to us as an agency that our teams are passionate about the work that they do. The team working on JML are thrilled that their hard work has been recognised.
George Hobday, Head of Digital & Data at MI Media comments “We are consistently striving to work hand-in-hand with our clients to scale their business and being shortlisted for the PPC Campaign of the Year (B2C) Award for this year’s UK Digital Growth Awards 2024 is a true reflection of our team’s hard work, dedication and commitment to achieving and exceeding our clients’ goals and objectives.”
Testimonials
Jamie Gibbins, an Account Manager here at MI comments “MI’s approach to campaign planning and strategy allows so much opportunity for success. We work alongside the business and not for them which makes data collaboration so easy. We are able to take real insights from the clients back end and apply this to our campaigns to deliver whichever KPI is necessary for the account.”
Our Account Director on the account, Jamie Walsh, highlights what it means to be shortlisted to this award “Being at MI for 5 years, it is clear that when working across biddable campaigns, we are always focused on driving the best performance for clients. It is always a great feeling when we see campaigns perform well and the direct impact of our optimisations on client business. I feel that these campaigns often go unrecognised, so it means the world to be shortlisted for the award. Getting recognition for our achievements really means a great deal to the team.”
This article was originally posted by the UK Digital Growth Awards.
George Hobday, Head of Digital & Data
For this months A day in the life we sat down with our Head of Digital & Data, George Hobday who gave us insight into his passion for all things data, how our dashboard MIDAS was established and dream brands within the subscription space.
What led you to a career in media?
Well, as I am not one to beat around the bush, ultimately, I needed a job. But, if we were to rewind back to pre-University days, I was in fact introduced to the industry through an internship with MediaCom which focused heavily on PPC. On reflection, my degree was a tell-tale sign that I was drawn to the world of data. Whilst studying Archaeology and Ancient History, I spent a lot of time using physical data to back up theoretical hypotheses, combining an art form with a science. Like many following their degree, I was unsure exactly what I wanted to do after university. But I had a niggle to continue my development within the media space as I not only knew that I understood the various aspects of the role, but I also enjoyed it which is often half the battle.
What really led me to having a long-standing career in media is my passion for digital media and the results of my work. I get a huge buzz out of knowing my work has not only led to evident positive results, but that it also has had a meaningful impact on the businesses that I have worked for. I find that to be incredibly rewarding.
What is your proudest / most memorable moment at MI?
Wow, 13 years at MI, let me have a think. I suppose one thing that stands out for me is a challenge that I faced and overcame for a client. The client was wanting to integrate both its large management tool and its CRM system. Whilst its internal team had been struggling to create this, I managed to solve the issue. This meant that as an agency we could have full visibility on both our actions on the account and the impact of our work on the client’s internal system. In this case, the account grew and so did the client’s business. Problem solving is something that I thrive from, and I guess it was from this momentous task that saw the creation of my pride and joy…MIDAS.
MIDAS is simply our live reporting dashboard that enables us to monitor delivery versus growth metrics. The dashboard provides more than just reporting, MIDAS’ advanced analysis using machine learning provides insights to guide media budget optimisation. Whilst we feel that MIDAS is the ultimate reporting suite (we may be slightly biased) our data and analytics capabilities go much further. Our data team can align with web developers, CRM teams and other media agencies to enrich clients’ internal data and connect media buying to business outcomes. This is hugely beneficial for reporting purposes as the more information on customer conversion pathways and media touchpoints that we can connect with a client’s CRM, the more insights we can gather to inform future campaigns.
What advice would you give to someone looking to go into the world of digital and data led marketing?
Simply, keep learning. You are never going to know everything that you need to know, so don’t stress or worry about not knowing it all to begin with. Remember to learn from every branch and remember that both soft and technical skills are just as important as each other. Oh, and keep asking questions.
What mistakes have you learnt from the most?
I have learnt from each and every one of my mistakes, and I try not to repeat the same one twice. The best thing about making mistakes is that you can gain multiple learnings from them. I have come to realise that the mistakes you learn the most from, are often the mistakes that are the hardest to fix. Nitty gritty mistakes are sometimes easier to overcome. Actually, it is the ‘people based’ mistakes that provide the best learnings. Whether it’s misreading a client’s wants and needs, or making mistakes with the people you work alongside. In my managerial roles over the years, I have learnt that not all outcomes and approaches suit everyone, as a manager it is vital to find out the various ways that keep the different people on your team on track and engaged.
Do you have a dream client or an ad campaign you particularly love?
A client like Gousto or Mindful Chef would be great to work with. Their business models really appeal to my data scene. The success of their models will be driven by the more insightful data based on the food products suited to consumers. What is also very attractive about these brands is that they can appear in almost all channels. Their chance for growth is only really limited by their ambition.
This month we reflect on May trends which include advertisers that are making headlines based on building ESG into their marketing strategy, how subscriptions services across retail are remaining a strong choice for consumers and how media owners in display are hyper-targeting as they prepare to navigate a post-cookie world.
A brand leading sustainably by example
If you want to see a brand prioritising ESG in its marketing strategy, look no further than Giffgaff. It’s a forward-thinking brand which leads by example and this recent article in Marketing Week highlights that. Giffgaff not only works on its on its own ESG deliverables but also challenges its agencies, partners and suppliers to work harder towards joint sustainability goals. As an agency, it’s interesting to see a brand leaning so strongly into this and comparatively how we can encourage brands to take more of this approach if it’s slightly more unfamiliar territory.
Giffgaff’s marketing strategy director, George Bramall, emphasises the importance of incorporating carbon impact into media planning; alongside reach, frequency, and cost. Over the past year, Giffgaff has reduced its carbon footprint by a whopping 52 tonnes, 14% of its annual media plan, by considering carbon impact in its media strategy. This includes taking bold decisions such as potentially diversifying from major digital players like Facebook and Google to newer suppliers with better carbon reduction practices.
Achieving B Corp accreditation, Giffgaff launched the “Up To Good Collective Fund” to support carbon reduction efforts. The company prioritises decarbonising at the source of its advertising and collaborates with partners to ensure responsible reach, such as turning off out-of-home sites after midnight. Initiatives like providing 250 refurbished phones to Big Issue vendors underline Giffgaff’s commitment to sustainability. Bramall notes the challenge and reward of achieving B Corp status and balancing people, planet and profit. Giffgaff’s digital-only approach aids sustainability by minimising its physical footprint. Looking ahead, the company aims to enhance its responsible reach principles and leverage its sustainability ethos to attract top talent.
Consumers are choosing convenience in retail with subscriptions
It’s a trend that won’t be surprising to many of us, as we assess our own behaviours towards shopping. Retail subscriptions are a significant growth area for eCommerce, offering consumers convenience and reducing their need for in-store shopping.
A recent survey by PYMNTS found that 42% of subscribers shop in physical stores less often due to their subscriptions. While nearly one-third of subscribers rely on scheduled or auto-fill subscriptions, 15% show to prefer manual online orders.
When it comes to demographics, unsurprisingly, younger consumers, particularly millennials (39%) and bridge millennials (38%), are more likely to use subscriptions than older generations. However, only 3.8% of subscribers have completely stopped in-store shopping, but for particular brands such as pet food subscriptions, this rises to 11%. Additionally, almost a third of subscribers foresee exclusively using subscriptions in the future, though currently, 35% report no change in their in-store habits.
There are numerous reasons why consumers are purchasing from retail subscriptions rather than going into stores. Dare we say it, many behaviours have stemmed from the pandemic which accelerated the change in how people shop. More obviously it is due to things such as convenience and saving time. Coupled with this is the shift in what is important to people such as personalisation and product offerings based on consumer preferences and previous purchases, enhancing the shopping experience and ensuring tailored products. Subscription services also often provide discounts or special pricing, making it more economical for consumers to subscribe than to purchase the same items individually in-store. Using digital marketing as an advantage, there’s the added benefit of pushing product discovery, allowing consumers to discover and try new products they might not have selected on their own, something you may not be able to do so easily in store. The challenge for eCommerce merchants is to attract those still shopping in-store by meeting evolving consumer expectations with innovative subscription services.
What a display! Soaking up insights from our media owners
In May we hosted the experts from MiQ, TapTap Digital and Teads who shared insights into their latest innovations within the display space. The team from programmatic media partner MiQ, detailed their approach which centred around the pillars of Identify, Activate and Measure. They showcased the transition from cookie-based targeting to advanced geo-contextual targeting. These contextual methods using cookieless datasets, leverage MiQ’s privacy-centric Airgrid technology to build personas and create audiences based on browsing behaviour. MiQ’s measurement solutions include display metrics, brand uplift and sustainability indicators, moving away from traditional brand metrics and offering a comprehensive, risk-free solution aligned with diverse business objectives.
Location, location, location: TapTap Digital highlighted the power of location-based data in a post-cookie world, demonstrating how it defines and discovers ideal customers through geo-referenced Mastercard data and extensive postcode-level insights. With a mind-boggling 200,000+ geohashes in the UK, TapTap offers real-time geo-fencing, mobile retargeting and location-adaptive solutions across display, mobile, digital OOH, DOOH and CTV, ensuring precise audience engagement and adaptability to time and weather.
The team from Teads shared their in-feed display advertising solutions across premium publishers, emphasising a readiness for a cookieless future with advanced accidental click removal technology and creative optimisations. They highlighted the platform’s ability to provide comprehensive insights on audience behaviour, attention, conversions and carbon output, boasting a 99% higher carbon efficiency compared to other in-feed publishers.
All three share a common goal of leveraging advanced, privacy-centric technologies to effectively engage and measure audiences in a post-cookie world as well as a commitment to sustainability and operational efficiency.
For years Charities have been honing in on “signature” or “flagship” events in order to amplify the strength of brand and fundraising efforts. Due to the size and scale of such events, they are hugely impactful for both brand awareness and the all-important fundraising targets.
Marketing Insight: using events to reach and connect
One “signature event” that has established itself as a staple in the charity events calendar, is Cancer Research UK’s Race For Life. Born in 1994, this event now sees hundreds of thousands of participants come together every year to commemorate and celebrate family and friends, all whilst raising money for the cause. While Cancer Research UK run multiple other significant fundraising events, the Race For Life is consistently the highest raising mass participation event in the UK each year.
Despite Covid-19 forcing events to standstill for quite some time, Cancer Research overcame this issue after its annual 2020 race was unable to take place. In order to recover some of its forecasted losses, the brand opted to take a virtual shift, and that is where “Race for Life at Home” stemmed from. The Massive Top 25 list in 2021 revealed that 19 of the previous top 25 charity events were unable to go ahead in 2020 and only 51% of income was achieved, with income falling from £143M in 2019 to £74.6M in 2020.
It is difficult to pinpoint a specific action that the brand undertook in order to launch the event to success, with the first event in 1994 seeing a total of 750 women taking part to raise £48,000. However, there are a series of innovations taken over the years leading to this success. In Paul de Gregorio’s ‘I wish I’d Thought Of That’ talk he mentions how, “Race for life has been so successful for so long because innovation is at its heart – it doesn’t stand still. This innovation seeks to make the event as inspiring and supportive for all the women who take part by giving them the opportunity to take their stand against cancer.”
Media Innovation: effective strategies to differentiate a charity’s brand
Paul de Gregorio also highlights the two special characteristics that were introduced for the participants, to inspire and commemorate others. From 1998, participants completed the race with signs on their backs, whether it be to celebrate those who have survived cancer, or to commemorate loved ones who had lost their lives to the disease. From 2001, before every event, a one-minute silence was introduced giving participants the opportunity to reflect. It is important to remember the reasons why participants fundraise for these events. Adding personal touches was extremely powerful and served to inspire others to take their stand and participate in future events.
Another factor of success for the Race For Life is it’s inclusivity. Whilst it is true that initially this event was only open to women, it was this unique non-competitive atmosphere that made the event special to participants and kept supporters coming back year after year. Participants are encouraged to “Walk, jog or run” either 3km, 5km and 10km distances it highlights the steps taken to ensure that people of any ability within the UK are able to take their stand against cancer and participate in the event. Race For Life doesn’t stand still, it is reactive to feedback and with recent studies showing that supporters would be more likely to take part in a mixed family and friends group, Race For Life in 2019 opened up participation to everyone. There is no doubt that the level of inclusivity and accessibility put in place for the event is a major contributing factor to its success. By reducing the barriers to entry, you can significantly improve event participation.
Race For Life has also paved the way in the form of technology and fundraising tools. Cancer Research UK has worked very closely with JustGiving to ensure a seamless and streamlined experience for participants to set up online fundraising pages. They also ran a telemarketing test in 2004 where fundraisers were contacted and asked if they would be willing to also support Cancer Research UK through Regular Giving, which showed strong response rates.
Utilising customer lists and cross-marketing fundraising products is now a fundamental part of any charity fundraising strategy, it was this kind of action from innovative charity brands that paved the way for such strategies.
Virtual events may be mainly associated with the impact of COVID-19 and lockdown, and it is true that there was a significant increase and pivot towards virtual events in 2020. However virtual events have been effective long before that. The ALS ice bucket challenge back in 2014 raised $115 million worldwide. Charities like Alzheimer’s Research UK also ran challenge events, such as the award winning “Running Down Dementia” from 2016, which by 2019 had raised over £1million. MI Media had the privilege of working on this campaign in 2022.
The Massive Top 25, who compile the 25 largest mass participation fundraising events, highlight how on average, when charities lost events but provided another avenue to offer support, they held on to 40% of the income they would expect in a normal year. Cancer Research UK’s Race for life at home, raised £2.8m in 2020 and £1.5m in 2021. Despite this not reaching figures of its in-person events, a switch in approach enabled the brand to raise funds in the absence of in person events.
Accelerating Growth
According to the Cancer Research UK Annual Report & Accounts 2019/20, £57.4m total was raised from events. This equates to over 57% of event income coming from Race For Life, highlighting the significance of hosting flagship events. In total, the Race For Life has seen over 10 million participants and has raised over £970m since it’s beginnings in 1994.
Virtual events likely saw their peak in 2020/2021, with the The Massive Top 25 2023 reporting a drop in virtual events income of 50% year on year. The benefits of virtual events are the low cost of running and low cost of entry form of fundraising that can still produce successful income generation. Virtual challenges are inclusive and can be a personal endeavour for participants to complete in their own time in locations they are comfortable with, whilst still having the opportunity to fundraise. I suspect that we will see many charity brands reduce their investment in virtual events moving forwards, however this may give those who remain the opportunity to find new participants.
Cancer Research UK’s Race For Life demonstrates the effectiveness of event fundraising. Having a flagship event significantly contributes to fundraising efforts. Tapping into people’s fundraising motives in fundraising is vital, as well as ensuring events are inclusive and accessible It opens up the pool of applicants and fosters a non-competitive environment. Innovation is key, it is important to keep testing new methods of acquisition and streamline your fundraising efforts to maximise the amounts raised.
If you would like more information or guidance on your fundraising events, both in person and virtual, please contact us and we will be happy to help.
