Experiential campaigns I've been working on!

I've been a busy bee working on some really awesome... and some not so awesome campaigns lately. With my job, I really do have to take the good with the bad sometimes- some campaigns are amazingly well thought through and executed and some are disorganised, boring and frankly feel a bit pointless!

So I thought I'd let you know what I've been working on and what I thought worked and what didn't from a frontline point-of-view!

#BLUFREEDOM

This is one of the best campaigns I've ever worked on, yet when the brief came in I was a little sceptical as working with a tobacco brand can sometimes be seen as a little bit unethical and I wasn't sure what the reaction would be.

For those who don't know- blu is a US-based e-cigarette company which has just been acquired by Imperial Tobacco, based here in Bristol. The brand was launched in the UK back in 2014 through these launch parties, showcasing their brand values and providing a sampling experience for their target market 'party people'.

The blu brand is focused around music, appealing to a more 'alternative' customer and have a strong emphasis on technology. Their brand values seem very integrated in everything that they do and they remain constantly focused on what they are trying to achieve. I worked on a launch party for all Imperial Tobacco staff in Bristol- held at the uber trendy creative space in Bristol- Paintworks. The whole event was totally in line with the blu brand with blu cocktails and champagne on offer, top class DJs, technology everywhere and of course plenty of blu e-cig samples to try.

Great PR event with @ImperialTobacco & @blucigs celebrating their partnership tonight!! #event #publicrelations pic.twitter.com/f3kbWFmQRF
— Steph Clark (@stefclarkx) February 5, 2015

The reason why I really loved the campaign is that the party attendees were really, really able to experience the brand and gain a sense of what it stood for.

 Harveys/ Bensons for Beds

You might think this is going to be one of my more boring campaigns- but actually, it's one of the most organised and I think rewarding campaigns I've ever worked on!

I used to associate both brands with cheap, low-quality furniture and Harvey's recognised this view amongst their consumers and aimed to change these perceptions. They worked on a complete re-fit in stores and held a launch event across their stores.

I was lucky enough to work on the whole launch weekend within the Torquay store, where myself and my event colleague Molly were greeting guests, handing them sweets and communicating the new store launch to customers.

The store were really grateful to have us in for the weekend and we gained really awesome feedback! Despite the action being really simple, customers did not expect to be faced with a tub of sweets when they came in to the store and therefore their reactions were great!

Dove Men- +Care

I got the chance to work with Dove Men at the 6 nations rugby match- Wales vs Ireland at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff- yes there are a few perks of this job! We were sampling Dove shower gels and driving brand awareness amongst rugby goers! Dove is one of my favourite brands and their ethos surrounding portraying 'real' men and women within their advertising is admirable. They aim to showcase an ideal man as a man who is comfortable in his own skin. 

As Dove Men is a key sponsor and supplier to the rugby teams- it was fundamental that their brand name was highlighted throughout the match and that consumers made that link between Dove and the rugby game. We had Dove ambassadors positioned at all exits handing samples to those leaving the game! It was a bit of a rush with 1000's of rugby fans to sample to- some of them had had a few too many beers and so was a bit of a challenge. 

Lovely team at the Millenium stadium working for @DoveMen today! #6nations #Cardiff #experiential #event pic.twitter.com/97mPclZ3Ll
— Steph Clark (@stefclarkx) March 14, 2015

Overall, the brand message was engraved in consumers minds and trial encouraged amongst hundreds of men and therefore I believe the event was a success! The place and target audience was entirely appropriate and well thought out as well as a perfectly organised event in terms of care taken and attention-to-detail, making this event a great success!

I have some really awesome events coming up in the next few months which I can't wait for! Keep your eyes peeled for updates and follow me on Twitter at @stefclarkx for more!

Steph

Customer service

When you think of marketing- customer service probably isn't the 1st thing that springs to mind or some people might not even realise how big of a part of marketing customer service actually is.
But although attracting customers to your brand and making them aware of your products is important; whats fundamental to the success of a brand is customer retention.

Have you ever noticed that the most profitable retailers are always the ones who provide impeccable customer service instore- Apple, Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Boots, John Lewis are all fantastic at it. I really do believe it's forefront to success and keeping your customer.

I had a particularly pleasant experience in Boots recently- one which surprised me.

I'm usually a MAC devotee and always buy my make-up in there, however after visiting the Debenhams store in Bristol and having a really rude sales assistant more interested in chatting too her friend and what was behind the till than actually finding me the product I needed, I decided to leave the store. I had actually intended to make quite a large purchase that day but I was so disappointed in the way she had dealt with me that I decided to leave- to be honest I have visited loads of MAC counters, in London, Birmingham, Manchester and the Trafford Centre and have never experienced any treatment like I had in there. However the Bristol staff have always let me down- sometimes blatantly having had just come back from a fag break (not nice when they breathe it in your face) or just generally not been interested in me as a customer.

Anyway, so I decided to try a different counter and went to try Boots instead this time, not only to get my advantage card points (most successful loyalty scheme ever) but by this point I was sick of Debenhams! I had heard great things about the Clinique products in blogs and wanted to give it a try- but as I hadn't tried them before I was slightly apprehensive- however the sales assistant was amazing and talked me through the products- she had amazing product knowledge and I explained my apprehension at spending a lot of money on products I hadn't tried before and she put me totally at ease by taking my phone number and offering to call me a few days later and then scheduling an appointment a few weeks later where she would check I liked them and see if I had any problems and if not she said I could return the products!!

I was astonished at how well she treated me- no hard sell and she really did look after me, seriously a different treatment from the MAC counter!!! Will definitely be returning to the Clinique counter.

Good customer service not only means that customers are more likely to return- they are also likely to spend more money!

Yet- even when you get these loyal customers- good customer service is neccessary as even one bad experience can put a customer off for life. Especially with the extent of social media today- 1 bad tweet, facebook post or youtube video can be detremental to the reputation of a brand. It isn't just a bad customer service experience shared with one person- it's shared with the WHOLE WORLD.
Similar to my blog post of public relations- posts and shares about negative news regarding a brand are FAR more likely to be shared than positive ones.

Take this video:



It currently has 650,000 views- all seen how poor hollister's customer service can be- although this may have been one isolated case, it has been seen by thousands and provided a negative association not only with the brand, but with the staff and customers may think twice about buying from Hollister in the future.

This just indicates the extent to how important customer service is in the first place. And at the end of the day- good training and brand values to begin with which are set in place in all areas of the business means there is less for the PR department to have to deal with and ultimately- less to clean up afterwards


Steph x

Inspiration and stamina

Hellooo! Well I finally completed all of my coursework for 2nd year! This means no more assignments until 2015! Can't believe how long away that is, although no doubt it will come around fast!
Now, I'm the kind of person who gets fascinated with certian people and then stalk their every movements on twitter and have to research everything about them!!
Well at the moment I'm a massive fan of Matthew Hussey- his speeches are amazing and although this video is long it is sooooo worth watching for anyone interested in business, not just entrepreneurship.

Everything he said inspires me and his drive and determination is something I try to mirror. No matter how many times people in your life tell you to give up, if you believe you can do something never give up. If I had have listened to people telling me to give up, I never would have passed my driving test, got in to university, moved to Bristol, worked in America, got a job at IBM... all things I am proud of achieving. And I think despite people using the reccession as an excuse for why they don't have a job or why they aren't looking for one, there are jobs out there for people who are willing to go the extra mile, put themselves out there and not give up.

 

Another thing which gives me motivation to work hard and prove people wrong is the fact I am female- when people consider 'success' or a 'successful person' I feel like they always think of a business man. I want to exceed the norm and make my own success as a female.

In the video, Matt talks about 3 key attributes of success in business;

• Selling yourself

I think I'm lucky as I am a naturally confident person who never stops talking, but for others who struggle with confidence they may have a problem in doing this. It's never cocky or embarrasing to talk about YOUR achievements and the things YOU are proud of, I think in order to impress others you have to go about this in the right way, but at the end of the day- opportunities are never going to come knocking on your doorstep you have to go and look for them

• Don't be afraid to take risks

I've learnt not to be scared of rejection recently, rejection in everything, not just in terms of a career.

My Mum tells me off sometimes because I just can't get my head around people who want to do the same thing day in day out and never want to make changes in their lives, she tells me "some people are just happy living their lives" well I know for a fact I NEVER want to be that person. I want to be stunned, surprised and thrilled every day of my life! I know this means I will be constantly working to do so, but I get bored easily and love change! I'm not afraid of trying new things, moving half way across the country, travelling to America and I think this mindset really pays off. Being comfortable is BORING.

• Say YES to everything

People always always tell me to stop doing this, that I take too many things on at once, but I feel like if I hadn't said yes to everything at the beginning of this year I wouldn't be in the place that I am now. At first I thought maybe I was trying to please everyone and just couldn't learn to say no, now I realise that by doing so I have put myself in a better position.

When you say yes to everything you can then make your own decisions on what you want to do, opening up your options can never be a bad thing.


Luckily, I have been blessed with confidence and I think having the confidence to be sure of yourself, your aspirations, goals and having the confidence to talk to new people, realise not everything will work out, something which Matt talks about a lot, are traits not everyone has, yet I think without these, the potential to succeed in business is less prominent.

Anyway a personal blog- not my usual type of post! You might not agree, all comments welcome.

Stephanie

Just a quick one!

Hello,
haven't wrote in over a week! Been super busy. Back in the north west for Christmas, which I am not enjoying as usual. I find this place so uninspiring I actually hate Lancashire! Sounds so negative but in Bristol everyone is so aspirational and hardworking and then I come up north and most people so bored and unmotivated! Sort it out Lancs.... I am having a nice time with my family though although I have a lot of work to do for my product pitch presentation, HRM assignment and finance exam in January STRESSFUL

I was also supposed to be attending a peugeot citroen, avon, caterpillar, BMW & PSA assessment centre in January too which would have added to the stress however I have some brilliant news to announce to my blog followers!

I got a job at IBM!!!

I'm sooo chuffed!! Got the phone call on Friday morning and I was in bed in a hotel room in Manchester and my phone rang and I sarcastically went "This better be a job offer" AND IT WAS!! Fate or what!!

Anyway so basically at my assessment centre day in Portsmouth I met this lovely lady who is the project manager for a B2B marketing team in Portsmouth and she interviewed me for a general marketing role. However she was impressed by me so much that she wants me to join her team in Portsmouth!! So I didn't need a 2nd interview like most people! I was soo pleased and I've already met my boss which is pretty cool.
Slightly daunting moving to Portsmouth as I've only been their once for my interview and I'm going to be living there in June! I'm so excited though and so pleased because I really wanted to work for IBM out of all of the placements I applied for! Going to buy a car in June and can't wait to be on a real wage and work for the 3rd most valuable brands IN THE WORLD

New normal blog post coming soon
Just thought I would fill everyone in!
Steph

My friends, goose and smashbox!

Heyy,
ok so this week I've been really unlucky! Got through to the assessment centre for peugeot citroen after passing the 1st interview!! Which I was super pleased about, however it's on the 10th January which is my finance exam so I can't go and I've emailed them begging but they won't re-arrange, which I'm GUTTED about :'( especially as I could really see myself there and I worked so hard on my application. I guess it wasn't meant to be!
Secondly, had my BMW telephone interview which went AWFUL as I was totally unprepared as I did it at uni cos I was in the middle of my group meeting for marketing in practice preparing our presentation, anyway I think I did well on the compentency questions but then she asked me what was my favourite BMW model and I froze I couldn't even think of one :-( so not expecting good news from them! Also got another interview lined up for next week and still waiting to see if I've been matched by IBM which is horrible as I'm really impatient!!

Our presentation is getting super close now and I think my group are finally working well! I hate group work and hope this is the last time I will have to work in a group during my course...probably not though.

So, writing this blog seems to have inspired a couple of my friends to start writing a blog which is exciting!
My good friend Sam who is on my course at UWE has started a marketing blog and he is a very opinionated and hilarious person so looking forward to hearing a bit more from him, you can check his blog out at: http://samvenning.blogspot.co.uk/
Also one of my girlies Sophie has started a blog too which is a bit more creative and personal which I like so you can check her out here: http://ohyoudramaqueen.blogspot.co.uk/
Finally, I have followed this blog for quite a while and it's definately one for the girls!! Zoe does beauty and fashion reviews and news and she's getting paid for it now I think so her posts have been very influencial! http://www.zoella.co.uk/
Let me know if you want me to mention you or if you want me to have a read of your blog cos I love reading new blog material!

Ok so tonight I went to Cribbs Causeway with 2 of my friends Rach and Beth and we went to Boots because I had heard about a new cosmetics company- Smashbox doing free makeovers and giving out free giftsets! So I booked an appointment for a treat for us all and we went along and I was very impressed!! Smashbox are huge in America and they came to the UK 3 months ago, they are owned by Estee Lauder who also make MAC and Clinique so I knew it was going to be high quality and I wasn't dissapointed. They did full makeovers for all of us and we got free products to try! Was a very girly and chatty session which I loved and they also do things like makeovers and photoshoots all for free so definately worth checking out! I think it's really important as there are so many make-up counters that girls can go to that new brands have an interactive and fun experience especially as I hadn't ever heard of them before and now I know loads about them from chatting to the lady who worked there. Very impressed!

Finally, something occured to me on twitter recently that I had been noticing increasingly.
I saw this account https://twitter.com/GreyGooseWanker and lots of retweets and follows from people I know.
I know a lot of people who will save up all week just to buy a bottle of Grey Goose at the weekend, and this has become an increasing trend over the last year. Grey Goose represented status, class and luxury and people who spend all their time working wanted to represent these things at the weekend. However, now I just think it has become a bit of a chav drink and not really for special occasions. I see guys getting 3 or 4 bottles a night and thinking their suarve when they are wearing sports t-shirts or trainers. Not really a good brand associate for Bacardi who own Grey Goose as one of their more premium spirits.
Although it is a premium spirit and represents indulgence and luxury, in order for Grey Goose to maintain this image they are going to have to work hard to ensure they can keep this brand image up, especially with bad publicity such as the site above. Although sales may have soared, is it for the right reasons and can they maintain the sales by using the same marketing and brand associations as they do currently.
They are just my predictions and opinions and if you don't agree feel free to comment and let me know!

Steph