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Hyundai launches UK’s first online-only car store
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Hyundai has started what it claims to be the first entirely-online car store, with cash buyers able to have their brand new car delivered straight to their door.

The site, called Click To Buy, aims to streamline the process of buying a car, and you can reportedly finish your transaction within 5 minutes of opening the site.

It’s also possible to trade-in your old car, but that still requires exchanging it at a local dealership.

“The entire online process is possible to complete in about the same time as it would take to refuel your car,” said Tony Whitehorn, President and CEO of Hyundai UK, who believes the ‘haggle-free’ software is “a real benefit for those who feel uncomfortable doing so or simply don’t have the time.”

The site means you can order a brand new Hyundai from your mobile phone, but those paying through finance will still require additional paperwork.

“This is a pivotal time for the car industry as a whole and the start of what I think will be a transformative period,” explained Mr Whitehorn, “I’m delighted that we are leading the charge and we will continue to innovate within this space moving forward.”

Golden hashtag, emojis could replace Monopoly pieces
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Hasbro have put all eight Monopoly pieces at risk of replacement as part of new public vote.

Fans have been urged to go online to choose the ‘new generation’ of play pieces, a staple of the popular property-trading board game since its initial release in 1935.

Two further tokens, the Scottie dog and the wheelbarrow were introduced in the 1950s, and the iron was replaced in 2013 by the cat in a public vote, the last time all pieces were put at risk.

The vote presents the game’s iconic pieces with their original silver sheen, while introducing new pieces, such as the ‘T-Rex’, ‘Hashtag’ or ‘Wink Face Emoji’ in bright gold.

“No token – not even the Scottie dog — is safe!” said Jonathan Berkowitz, senior vice president of marketing for Hasbro Gaming. “Only time will tell if fans will decide to stay with the classics, keep a few favorites or pick an entirely new line up of tokens.”

With 56 new pieces looking to replace, other tokens include the rotary telephone, sunglasses and a log fire.

The updated Monopoly game will hit shelves in August, while a ‘token madness’ themed version is already on sale – featuring the current line-up against a selection of the new 56.

Mailjet crowns Waitrose winner of best Christmas email campaign…
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The email service provider Mailjet has revealed that Waitrose is ahead of its competitor supermarkets in the email campaign stakes, analysing key metrics including the chain’s subject lines, automation, cross-channel marketing and personalisation.

Reaching a total score of 21.3 points out of an available 29.0, this marks the second consecutive victory for Waitrose in the study and represents a significant improvement on supermarket’s performance from last year, rising 10 per cent overall.

Mid-market brands Tesco and Asda closely followed Waitrose’s success, hitting 20.0 and 19.9 respectively, however, Marks & Spencer struggled to compete scoring just 17.4 in total.

With regards to emails prospecting new consumer audiences, the research places Morrisons and Sainsbury’s joint last as both failed to send any communications to consumers who haven’t yet purchased through their online shopping platforms.

Josie Scotchmer, UK marketing manager at Mailjet said: “Consumers buy from the brands they build emotional connections with, particularly during the Christmas season. With low scores in critical areas for digital marketing like personalisation and automation, many supermarkets are not making the most of their emails to engage consumers with powerful storytelling.

As Mailjet suggests there has been much discussion on the importance of campaign personalisation this year, just two of the total eight supermarkets surveyed registered a score above 0.0. Specifically, Asda fell short on the top spot for its lack of personalisation, losing five points by omitting any room to add personal messaging to the email in favour of a singularly product-focused, visual structure.

Scotchmer added: “Winning greater share of the market in run up to Christmas holiday relies on having an online and offline campaign that fires on all cylinders. There are opportunities for all of these brands to learn from one another and broaden their use of digital strategies to engage and build loyalty with consumers at this critical period in the retail calendar.”

ANA members vote Transparency as ‘Marketing Word of the Year’…
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Members of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) in the US have voted the word transparency as the ‘Marketing Word of the Year’. 

During the week commencing November 28, the ANA surveyed its members online and asked them to vote on the ‘Marketing Word of the Year’ from a list of finalists prepared by the association’s staff. A total of 267 members participated and ‘transparency’ received the most votes.

A representative selection of verbatim comments from ANA members include: [Transparency] is the single most important issue in marketing and has the greatest potential benefit in terms of improving marketing ROI; [Transparency] or lack of, defines all media agency relationships and provides a new perspective to consider these relationships; and [Transparency] affects everything we communicate in marketing, from our product formulations and labels to how we communicate in all channels to our internal culture.

Bob Liodice, CEO at ANA said: “It’s no surprise that our members chose transparency the Marketing Word of the Year. Our media transparency study was one of our most important initiatives and it sparked fundamental behavioral changes among marketers and in the industry, here and around the world.” 

Other top choices considered by ANA members were customer experience, content marketing, influencer, and programmatic. It was the third consecutive year the ANA announced a ‘Marketing Word of the Year’. Previous winners were content marketing in 2015 and programmatic in 2014. 

 

RadiumOne scoops top spot in 2016 IPA Online Media Owner survey…
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RadiumOne has taken the lead position in the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising‘s (IPA) 2016 Online Media Owner survey, with 88 per cent of respondents either agreeing or strongly agreeing that their overall experience dealing with the company is of a good standard.

Leading the ‘Grand Prix’ category regarding agencies’ overall experience of dealing with media owners, the data-driven marketing agency is one of the seven companies to achieve a score of 80 per cent or more alongside Captify, Collective, Dennis Publishing, Inskin Media, Quantcast and Unruly. 

RadiumOne also achieved scores in excess of 90 per cent in the ‘Understanding of Own Products’ and ‘Ease of Contact’ categories; and 80 per cent across ‘Agency/ Owner Partnership’, ‘Overall Experience’, ‘Dispute Resolution’ and ‘Understanding of Client Strategies/ Objectives’. 

Nigel Gwilliam, consultant head of Media and Emerging Technology at IPA, said: “The purpose of this survey is to highlight to our agencies which online media owners are providing the best levels of service. Having swept the board at this year’s Media Owner Awards and in this autumn survey, it is clear that RadiumOne are the exemplars in this space.”

In addition, Spotify has taken leadership of ‘Online Pure Plays’ with a score of 75.7 per cent and Dennis Publishing with a score of 81.5 per cent leading ‘Crossover Media’.

Download the full survey here

Forum Insight: 10 ways to succeed at networking events…
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Walking into an event room full of people you don’t know can be a scary experience. However, there are proven ways to conquer this fear and make networking an enjoyable and a useful process to do business. Here, we share 10 of the best practices to eradicate those networking nerves.

  1. Plan ahead: Try to obtain the attendee list in advance and highlight the people you would like to meet. On arrival, contact the event organiser and say who you are trying to connect with. If they get the chance, an introduction between yourself and the other party will be made upon arrival. It might also be beneficial to go to the registration area to ask if one of your selected visitors has arrived.
  1. Get there early: If you are one of the first to arrive, it is much easier to strike up a conversation with a small group of people.
  1. Most people are in the same position: If you do not know anyone else attending, it’s good to prepare a few opening questions: ‘Any particular presentation you’re looking forward to hearing today?’; ‘What brought you to this event?’
  1. Join a group: Approaching a group of attendees already in full conversation is a daunting prospect. So be bold, confident, and simply ask: “May I join the conversation? I’ve just arrived and I’m keen to learn what’s going on.”
  1. Build interesting conversation: Ask topical and relevant questions to the specific event. Be a good listener and don’t dominate the conversation with your own stories and business ideas.
  1. Be helpful: Share your knowledge of the industry, your contacts and sources of information. If people perceive you as an experienced and knowledgeable professional, they will want to keep in contact and maintain a relationship.
  1. Use your business card as a tactical weapon: I have a friend who renovates old wooden floors, so his business card is made of a thin piece of wood and has proven to be a guaranteed conversation starter. Be imaginative with the design and the job title displayed. Anything that says ‘sales’ or ‘business development’ could cause people to fear a sales pitch is on the way. So try and think of a job title that encourages a productive conversation.
  1. Receiving business cards: Be sure to make notes on the back to remind you of the conversation and the person. This could become much use in future interactions.
  1. Following up: If you engaged in constructive conversation with an attendee and have agreed to follow up after the event, then set a preferred method of contact and make sure to do so promptly.
  1. What not to do: Sales pitches, even if you’re asked ‘what does your company do’, keep your answer to a very brief explanation. Don’t ‘work the room’ rushing from group to group as this is not the way to form business relationships. It’s better to have had four good conversations than a dozen meaningless chats.

 

Words by Paul Rowney, director at Forum Events Ltd.

Chatbots and VR to take over brand interactions by 2020…
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Research by Oracle suggests the relationship between customers and brands is set to undergo a “technological revolution” which will cause the number of human-to-human interactions to fall.

A total of 800 senior marketing and sales professionals across EMEA were polled for the ‘Can Virtual Experiences Replace Reality?’ report and found 78 per cent of brands expect to provide customer experiences through virtual reality in the next four years. Meanwhile, 80 per cent expect to serve customers through chatbots. 

Despite brands willing to embrace new technologies for the customer journey, many are struggling to make use of the valuable customer and prospect data, with 60 per cent not currently including social or CRM data in their customer analytics.

42 per cent already collect a great deal of data from multiple sources, but are unable to extract customer insights from it; and 41 per cent agree smarter analysis of customer data will have the biggest impact on the experience they deliver to their customers.

Daryn Mason, senior director, CX Applications at Oracle said: “While virtual reality may be seen as a passing craze by some, the commitment of some of the world’s biggest companies to develop VR products for consumers suggests otherwise.  Brands will always look to experiment with new technologies as they try to find ways of delivering innovative and memorable experiences for their customers.

“Brands are at a crossroads. There’s an early-mover advantage to experimenting and launching innovative services while others wait and see, but they need to walk before they can run.”

The report indicates brands are looking to implement innovative technologies that allow their customers to continue interacting with brands on their own terms. 80 per cent of brands will be using chatbots for customer interactions by 2020; 78 per cent of brands expect to be using VR for CX by the same year; and 48 per cent have implemented automation technologies in sales, marketing and customer service.

Mason adds: “The reality is that many brands are still unable to get a complete view of each individual customer so the immediate priority needs to be to organise and get value from the data they already have.  Customers will value a quick, helpful, personalised interaction regardless of how it’s delivered so there’s hope for us humans yet.”

Access the full report here

Guest Blog, Tariq Khan: Ensure your marketing technology investment doesn’t go down the drain…
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Take a look at the marketing technology landscape at the end of 2012, and compare it to now. What you’re seeing is a tenfold increase in marketing tech vendors in around three-and-a-half years, and the rate is growing aggressively.

How does this make you feel? Is it scary because of the potential expense and business case preparation; not to mention the complex challenges associated with managing the implementation of these systems? Or is it an exciting opportunity to use technology to compete and create more engaging experiences than any of your competitors?

In many cases there will be an equal measure of trepidation and excitement for the future. The chances are, to some degree, you are already on the journey. It’s no secret the marketing landscape is changing rapidly and with it a requirement to think in a new way. According to recent research from executive search firm Russell Reynolds, the first half of 2016 saw the highest turnover of CMOs since 2012, thanks to the rapidly evolving skill-set necessary to be successful in this new data-led era.

So what’s the best way to approach this hypermarket of marketing technology where new aisles and products are constantly being introduced and evolved? More importantly, once you have committed, how do you ensure you get the maximum value out of the technology decisions you’ve made?

The biggest pitfall we see time and again is that the technology hasn’t quite managed to unlock that beautiful strategic vision, and as such real-world ROI hasn’t quite lived up to the promise. According to a report conducted last year by Oracle Marketing Cloud, a staggering 92 per cent of respondents believe their marketing technology investments have not been well-implemented.

Buying the tech will only get you so far. Marketing technology vendors will promise “out of the box” solutions that will transform your business overnight. But simply building a tool will not solve the problems: only people can solve problems. The better people understand the tools, the better equipped you are for success.

That’s why an effective change management strategy is just as important as your choice of technology. Whilst partners can certainly help, the leadership needed to bring this change management strategy about can only come from within the organisation. 

Change, at its core, is a people process, and people are hardwired to resist adopting new mind-sets, practices, and behaviours. To achieve and sustain the transformational change that marketing technology brings about, companies must commit significant resources to ensuring they embed new processes and behaviours at every level.

Here are five practical tips to think about before, during and after a marketing technology implementation:

  1. Don’t underestimate the degree of organisational and operational change needed: Are your individuals and teams knowledgeable and empowered enough to be truly agile? Ensure everyone involved has KPIs that are oriented around serving customers and getting ROI from the investment.
  1. Ensure there is an emotional case for change: Many leaders are great at building the rational case for change, but they are less adept at appealing to people’s emotional core. Yet the employees’ emotions are where the momentum for real transformation ultimately lies. Communication is key here; try creating an on-going email campaign, videos and e-learning modules that help highlight the benefits to all levels.
  1. Carefully budget: If you’ve got a million to invest in marketing technology, spend half of this on training your team properly and on partnerships that put experienced experts in both technology and process alongside your team after go-live. Set sensible targets around when ROI will kick in; it won’t happen instantly.
  1. Aim to implement a significantly less sophisticated product at the start and build up: You learned to drive in the family run-around, not an F1 sports car. Phased releases of software that limits the complexity your team needs to manage will lead to a deeper adoption more quickly. Make sure you’re working with a technology partner who is comfortable with an agile methodology that facilitates this.
  1. Incentivise your marketers to “own” and accelerate the change: Provide a safe environment to push the new technology to its limits. It takes innovation, curiosity and a lot of trial and error to maximise the value of any new marketing technology.

As the marketing technology landscape continues to grow, it is tempting to think the new product on the market will prove paramount to unlocking your competitive advantage. Whilst this can be the case, it’s worth remembering that the machinery will never live up to its potential without the right people operating it. As such, marketers need take advantage of this period of change as an opportunity to break down traditional structures within their business and attain the organisational agility needed to stay ahead of their competitors. 

 

Tariq has 16 years’ of digital management experience working at the Financial Times, LBi & TMW before joining Navigate Unlimited as a consultant. A keen advocate of agile ways of working, Tariq’s delivery experience has seen him successfully lead and consult on hundreds of projects and programmes for high profile clients including BBC, Deutsche Bank, HM Treasury, Nissan, Guardian and Unilever.

Industry Spotlight – Digital vs Traditional: What works best for you?
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Print circulation numbers are down. On-demand and streaming services – sans un-skippable ads – are on the up. So what’s a marketer to do? Ditch the dinosaur channels and throw the entire budget at Larry, Sergey, Zuck and their contemporaries? Targeting, re-targeting and the ‘viral’ promise are all reasons to believe digital and social now reign supreme for the modern marketer, but in this we neglect to acknowledge the in real life (IRL) experiences and halting moments that also drive word of mouth and brand consideration – online or otherwise. So before you do throw everything at the digital plan, please ponder the following…

Magic in the mundane

If you haven’t heard the term ‘mindfulness’ this year then you’ve probably been living underneath the proverbial rock (and who would blame you in these turbulent times). It’s a reaction to our age of hedonism and the breakneck speed at which we’ve been living our lives, and like most trends, this desire to slow down and simplify is being reflected in publishing and advertising. In April this year, Ronseal decided to take a risk with a live TV spot which offered Channel 4’s Gogglebox audience three minutes of the unthinkable – watching actual fence paint dry. It was an inspired and effective product demonstration that earned them a trending spot on social media.

Stop the press

The digital evolution of the print industry is representative of the consumer’s move to more accessible, tailored and instant news without the barrage of irrelevant print ads. Despite the declining print figures, some brands still have the foresight to take advantage of reactive placements in bulk circulations, which often hit a captive, educated audience of commuters who will be reading cover to cover. Norwegian struck an extremely timely note in September this year following the news of Brad and Angelina’s break up, with a stark but cuttingly comic ad promoting their LA price promotion. The result: a viral campaign that puts it firmly in the hall of fame with Oreo’s ‘dunk in the dark’.

The great outdoors

Out-of-home and experiential marketing are truly challenging media. Bus wraps are hardly remarkable and being chased by a sampler at Waterloo while you try to catch your train isn’t entirely conducive to positive brand perception. The Economist challenges that notion. The publisher is infamous for its minimalist and innovative OOH creative, but it turned its hand to an unsettling on-the-ground activation in 2015 which was rebooted in the US this year. ‘High-protein’ is the new “on trend” claim for the food industry, and The Economists’ ice cream samplers achieved theirs by adding insects, the new proposed solution for the global food crisis which it covered in a ‘future of food’ feature. The campaign generated significant online press coverage and was branded ‘eye-catching genius’ by Business Insider.

The learning? Search for new value in formats that have become hackneyed and contrived. Opportunities to reach a cynical populace using these traditional methods still remain and can be extremely successful for the creative and confident marketer. Whether you’re aiming for ‘disrupt’ ‘be bold’ or ‘surprise and delight’ don’t miss the simple proposition with cut-through messaging that’s right in front of you.

Words by Nicholas Gill, founder and strategy partner at Team Eleven

Guest Blog, Catherine Spencer: The real problem with content marketing…
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‘Content’ as a word has seemingly got itself a bad name and it’s starting to cause a real problem for our industry – or so a number of recent articles would have it. It is a vague term that’s entered our marketing lexicon but, love it or hate it, it’s here to stay. Content marketing itself is not the problem, it’s the fact that most content has little to no impact on its target audience and really, it’s helping no one. We just get overwhelmed with clutter.

Take a look at any major UK company’s blog and you’ll see that most of the “content” they’re churning out doesn’t do the following:

  • Teach visitors something new or useful;
  • Give away handy resources for free (such as templates, cheat sheets and how-to-guides);
  • Inspire their visitors;
  • Clearly and concisely answer the question implied by the title.

The ‘Definition Problem’

One of the quirks of this industry is that we love coming up with complicated or vague words to describe what we do – and often they stick a little too strongly.

Remember when “selfie” became the Oxford Dictionary word of 2013 and we collectively went mad over how our country was going to the dogs? Well the unfortunate bystanders in the marketing industry mightn’t like it, but new words like “native advertising” and “content marketing” have quickly become the new normal.

Just by looking at Google search trends, it is clear that ‘content marketing’ has become widely accepted within the industry above ‘marketing communications’ since 2004.

 

equimedia-image-1

The ‘Practicality Problem’

While it is agreed that “content marketing” fits under the definition of “marketing communications”, referring to web content as “Marketing Communications” is tricky when working day-to-day in the ad industry. Actually, content marketing is just a small part of the overall marketing communications strategy.

When you’re working for global brands, you’ll find referring to a blog post as “marketing communications” will create more confusion than it’s worth. Confusion costs time and money in our industry and it goes back to the definitions problem – you might not like it, but the easiest way to be on the same page is to use the same language.

The ‘Content Problem’

Whilst most content indeed fails, it doesn’t mean content marketing itself is the problem. It means the people who’ve made the content maybe.

We’re not here to defend crappy content. But content marketing done right has tremendous value, there’s a reason it’s so big! It just needs to be matched with relevance.

To succeed with content, marketers need to develop content around a brilliant idea, focus on overwhelming the target audience with value, amplify the message by sharing the content with the right people, and finally ask for (and listen to) audience feedback.

Are we using the wrong word to describe content marketing? Maybe.

But let’s not forget the bigger picture: we should be focusing on value, not semantics. Whatever the buzzword might be that describes how we’re doing it, we really just need to get on and do it.

 

Catherine is a senior content, PR & social executive at equimedia. She joined equimedia in 2015, previously having worked in-house for a large charity. Today, Catherine manages marketing campaigns for a number of our large charity clients, as well as retail and insurance, from planning and production right through to delivery.