July 20th, 2009

Research from the Institute of Fundraising and Charity Finance Director’s Group indicates that 2009 will be worse for charity organisation incomes than predicted.  In the face of this, charities are being forced to diversify the dialogue they initiate with possible givers.  I’m sure the mention of Twitter will have the more cynical of you sighing “not again”, but some charitable organisations are proving that it works for them.  The more astute of you will have noticed the trending topics drop down, indicating the most popular subjects of the day.  Proving popular amongst these, with regular mentions is “Charity Tuesday”.  Designed to encourage people to list their favourite charities on a Tuesday so that people then follow them on Twitter, the initial results are proving favourable with Bullying UK stating that they have received 1000 additional followers from this source alone.  With the donation apps still to be fully tested as effective methods for giving, the power for direct asks remains to be seen, but as tool for awareness it is certainly proving effective.

Source: Third Sector, Bullying UK, Twitter

July 13th, 2009

The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s latest Marketing Trends Survey (Spring 2009) reveals that many marketers believe the worst of the recession is over, although the rest of 2009 will remain extremely challenging.

The survey, conducted for The Institute by Ipsos MORI, reveals that the number of marketers who believe the UK economy will worsen in the next 12 months has halved to 34 per cent (down from 70 per cent in the Autumn 2008 survey). Likewise, those believing the UK economy will improve in the next 12 months has risen sharply to 26 per cent (up from 11 per cent in the Autumn 2008 survey).

When questioned about the prospects for their own organisation in the year ahead, more marketers believe business will improve (35 per cent) than believe it will get worse (24 per cent) – reversing the decline in confidence seen in the previous four surveys.

As belts tighten, marketing spend is increasingly being focused on the activities that marketers believe deliver the best return on investment – Customer Relationship Management, Public Relations and email marketing. In contrast, marketing spend on advertising (excluding online) is down 4.9 per cent, reflecting the fact that 23 per cent of those surveyed believed it delivers the worst return on investment.

Commenting on the findings, David Thorp, Director of Research and Professional Development at The Chartered Institute of Marketing said,

“Despite fears over the economy and job prospects for the rest of 2009, it is clear that we are turning a corner in marketers’ confidence about the future. For now, marketers are wisely concentrating their spend in the most effective activities, and as we move into 2010, I’m convinced this more professional approach will stand them in good stead when the economy recovers.”

April 24th, 2009

The last decade has been dominated with talk of how to convince people to dedicate their time towards being interested in whatever you’re trying to get them to consume. However as countless articles have begun to state we may be shifting towards a paradigm of attention as the commodity of choice that we ask consumers to exchange. Countless facts may be fired off about how many marketing messages the average person is exposed to but how many actually take root and hold away? An excellent example of understanding motivational marketing and talking to people when and how they want is the recent increase in popularity of Swedish music platform, Spotify. This has taken advantage of the business model in the culture of free in order to look at new ways to help brands get a hold of consumer’s attention. The free model of subscription to a vast library of music at the expense of being forced to listen to adverts has proven particularly popular with unofficial figures having sign up at 1.5 million with 40,000 average new users a day. With large distributors and brands already on board the next move is rumoured to be mood advertising with adverts matched to the music the user is listening to – see opportunities open up such as films to soundtracks, events to “feel good” music ad infinitum.

Source: Brand Republic , The Telegraph, Click Through

April 12th, 2009

Marketing Magazine reports that Kraft is bringing back Mellow Birds coffee.

Alongside the launch campaign, targeted at studients, is an ebay store,  which sells not just the coffee, but also music, mugs and themed bedding. All at £1.89 (the price of the coffee)

Marketing success and bargains to boot!

April 9th, 2009

HSBC have announced that they have set aside £1billion for mortgage lending for those with a 10% deposit, which will be welcome news to first time buyers. With a 4.99% two year fixed rate, this deal is likely to attract a lot of interest – however consumers will have to hold or take out a HSBC Plus account or be a premier customer.

10% deposit, HSBC, mortgage

March 23rd, 2009

Mushy peas are shedding their regional roots after Tesco said sales of the northern staple had quadrupled in the past year. Tesco is now launching an own-label version of the product across the UK for the first time, following a rise in sales of 320% in the past 12 months.

“Even just a few years ago no-one would have believed that mushy peas would have become not only a top-selling food but also a delicacy – but that is what’s happening,” said Tesco senior buying manager Simon Dryell. “Sales have never been great, which is why we only ever stocked them in literally a handful of stores but in the last year, thanks to the credit crunch, demand has quadrupled and we are set to launch them across the whole UK for the first time ever. “Until very recently they were mainly popular across the Midlands plus in Lancashire and Yorkshire in the north but sales are growing and now sales are creeping as far south as the Home Counties for the first time ever.”

Author: Richard Parkes

Source: The Grocer

March 20th, 2009

Greenshootsblog.com was delighted to hear on the radio this morning about Regus offering free offices for startup businesses. To make sure that we’d heard it right, we checked, and sure enough, realbusiness.co.uk is among several sites to report this welcome succour for newly formed businesses.

As a part of their Get Started campaign, Regus are offering startups a variety of packages – from ongoing use of offices worldwide, to rooms for “intense planning” of these new businesses. For us, this is a double whammy: firstly, we love that there are brands out there actively promoting new businesses and secondly, that there are businesses forward-thinking enough in tough times  to think of literally growing their next generation of customers.

February 27th, 2009

One industry to see the positives of the recession is one close to my heart – film.  Figures published from the Cinema Advertising Association indicated that cinema admissions had in fact increased by 1.1% in 2008.  As an industry measure it would appear that those who believed the cinema experience to be dying may have perhaps cried wolf a little too soon.  Whilst people may be increasingly tentative in their attitudes towards parting with large sums of cash on cars and holidays right now; the idea of luxury is one central to our society so questions of what can be judged to be affordable treats arise.  Film in all shapes and forms seems poised to take advantage of this shift in customer behaviour.  The positive impact of this is two-fold for both consumer and industry.

For the consumer, recent research published from psychologists at the University of San Francisco indicates that choosing an experience based purchase over a possession based one is likely to make you happier.  You just have to look at the increasing popularity of experiences like Secret Cinema for exciting new ways to experience film.  The social impact of this may in fact roll over into the film industry itself.  The prevalence of genres such as chick-flicks is likely to remain popular; great for advertisers – you only have to look at the Sex and the City film positioning in 2008 and the tie-in opportunities.  However (and not to overly bog myself down in the mire that is high vs. low cinema) the cultural questions that have been thrown up may have an interesting impact on the subject/format (ad infinitum) of film itself.  And unlike the depression of the last century, British cinema is actually in great shape to take advantage of this.  Beyond national cinema, 2009 is shaping up to be a great film for both blockbuster and arthouse – roll on Watchmen for me.  I await the results of the next few years with interest….

February 6th, 2009

In the current doom and gloom, it seems visual communications that lighten the mood are the way forward. We love the current ‘comparethemeerkat’ campaign by VCCP for comparethemarket.com- it’s a refreshing approach to what has become a very predictable sector and message. The fun and interactive campaign has created a really positive reaction, and could suggest a trend towards ‘feelgood communications’. Plus, anything that reminds of Borat is a winner.

http://www.brandrepublic.com/Campaign/News/871144/Wealthy-meerkat-comparethemarketcom-ad-campaign/