Justin Bieber and why Manchester gets it right.

Ok so anyone who knows me will know that Manchester is my absolute favourite night out in the world I LOVE going out there!
Well I was shocked to see that on Thursday night, Justin Bieber of all people was in my favourite club, Sakura on Deansgate Locks. They get a lot of famous people in there and I've seen endless footballers, hollyoaks, coronation street, tv show stars etc. in there, but clearly Justin brings alot of press attention, not that sakura need it as they do an excellent job of marketing themselves as a high end club. Even on a Thursday night they can afford to charge £20 for entry and still have a huge queue outside and £2000 tables sold out.

However, on Friday night after his 2nd show in Manchester at the MEN, Justin headed for my worst nightmare club, Sankeys. If you don't know what Sankeys is they play grungy drum and bass etc.
Anyway he was REJECTED by the bouncers, despite his worldwide following and fanbase. Which of course hit headlines around the world. A very cunning move for Sankeys as they recieved much more publicity for NOT letting him in and kept their brand image prominent.

Then Sankeys posted this tweet:

Yes the rumours are true...we turned Justin Bieber away last night. He shuffles on stage and we can't be having that in Sankeys now can we!!
— sankeys (@sankeysclub) February 22, 2013

The tweet got thousands of retweets and got everyone not only talking about sankeys- but their tough reputation and risque brand personality. They then used the story to further promote their club nights by offering guestlist to anyone who tweeted "I got in and Bieber didn't".
By creating a hype based on humour and almost teasing and embarrassing, they managed to get a great deal of promotion for the club and by sticking to their own values have increased the reputation of the club as the way Sankeys want to be seen.
You can read the story here: http://metro.co.uk/2013/02/23/justin-bieber-turned-away-from-manchester-night-club-because-he-shuffles-on-stage-3510693/

Very clever management!!

Newsjacking

Sorry I haven't blogged properly in a while- been so busy doing uni work!
I wanted to talk about a new type of Marketing I think is so clever and the brands that can use this have to be quick & receptive!
Newsjacking is a spontaneous way that brands can follow a trend and feed off the back of a trend/news story to promote themselves/evoke positive brand associations. Brands have to monitor the news closely and then react to certain stories carefully to serve their own best interests!

I think it has been used a lot more in the states than here in the UK, especially with huge events like the US election and the superbowl.
For example, the BRITS2013 are on tonight and even just typing #brits2013 into twitter trends, I notice among many of my followers fantasising about 1Direction or Emilie Sande, that there are a number of brands 'riding on the back' of the event.

I think it's a great idea, because when you have an audience already talking about a subject, researching it and watching it, you can directly target that audience whilst they are already captivated.

Not only events and occasions can be targeted, but news stories and even scandals can help brands deliver a message.

This all depends on the brand personality though, I love this LYNX one as I usually love all LYNX marketing.

This was released when the naked pictures of Prince Harry were released and it really represents LYNX's cheeky, laddish brand personality.

However, this indicates that newsjacking isn't for every brand clearly! Newsjacking is usually humourous and if your brand conveys responsibility and serious-ness then newsjacking isn't going to work.

It can also go wrong.... especially when the news story is sensitive.

http://mashable.com/2012/10/30/american-apparel-sandy/

You can read this fab blog about when American Apparel took it too far and gained a negative reaction.

 

Steph

Republic's going!!

So if you live in the UK you may or may not have heard that the retailer Republic has now gone into administration. Not surprising as so many retailers have been slipping away in the last few months, but particularly annoying as I work there!! Most likely going to get made redundant, not the worst thing in the world as I was going to leave to start IBM in June anyway but very irritating as I just booked a holiday to Marbella which I am now not sure how I am going to pay off!!
But from my own experience of working there I understand some of the reasons, particularly from a Marketing perspective as to why Republic may have failed to make sales recently...
1. They didn't position themselves correctly: We sold cheap own-brands alongside brands like Kurt Gieger, Ravel and American Apparel. Either position yourself as cheap or luxury. You CAN'T be both.
2. Constant confusing sales promotion: the clothes had such a high turnover- good in some respects as constant flow of new products. However, the clothes are discounted so often we couldn't even keep up with the prices as staff- never mind the customers! I also think customers latched on to this and therefore wouldn't buy full price stock with the view it would be discounted the next week!
3. Bad customer service: I've worked in loads of retailers now; Primark, Next, John Lewis and I have to say Republic give their staff the least customer service training or any training at all for that matter! Republic could have done so much more with the service they offer with better training & management and providing an experience in their stores- something I think they were starting to achieve but better management of this was needed.
Just my opinions!! But very sad to see it go and will be keeping fixed on the news praying for a buyer so I can keep my job!