What is brand, and how are brands built? Our founder, Julian Kynaston, answers these questions and more in this no-holds-barred, fast-paced account of how he launched and grew Propaganda into one of the UK’s most successful brand consultancies.
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2 The client’s problem
Ask consumers about the car retail industry and immediately tales of aggressive sales, bad service and poor aftersales care are recounted. Amidst the skepticism, The Car People had to address this perception when seeking to build a credible and successful car supermarket brand. These misgivings had been reinforced by the growth of the car supermarket sector; selling cheap, no-frills cars to undercut and challenge the main dealer market.
Despite their commitment to give consumers an honest, hassle-free car buying experience, The Car People felt that their brand was becoming increasingly tarnished by the industry legacy. Their difference was simply not getting through to prospective customers.
The Car People already had a strong platform for growth. While they had a loyal customer base and strong conversion rates (17% of sales were from repurchases, over 25% from personal recommendation and 40% of visitors converted to sale) they were generally perceived as a small regional player, in a market where size typically generates consumer confidence. Furthermore, they didn’t have the budgets and resources to compete with the incumbent ‘big boys’ such as Carcraft.
What actions could The Car People take to communicate their difference, build trust with consumers and stimulate growth in an increasingly challenging sector?
3 Project background
The Car People initially approached Propaganda to develop a TV advertising campaign to raise awareness and build customer affinity based on the positioning of an honest and hassle-free car purchase experience.
Propaganda immediately identified the need to conduct a programme of customer segmentation and buying behaviour research to independently validate or challenge the existing view of the team at The Car People.
The research programme Propaganda designed sought to understand the profile of The Car People customer and their attitudes, what those customers wanted, and what they thought of the brand. The subsequent positioning contributed to accelerated growth and expansion of The Car People franchise throughout the North of England, with an additional site launch in Summer 2007.
Propaganda understood that if we could not outspend the competition, we would have to out-think them by building a brand proposition that customers believed in and engaged with. The last thing the brand needed was to be seen as just another over-promising, under-delivering car supermarket.
4 Consulting activity
The Car People had a restricted budget, but ambitious growth plans. After initial consultation we arrived at the following marketing objectives:
4.1 Knowledge before assumption
We knew that we needed to understand the business completely before drawing any conclusions or making any recommendations. The research programme we undertook analysed the business from a 360 degree perspective. The consulting team interviewed existing, prospective and lapsed customers to understand their needs, perceptions and attitudes in relation to the car-buying experience. Mystery shopping, conducted in the main outlets, enabled the team to walk in the shoes of the customer and experience the car-buying process firsthand.
Desk research was conducted to identify market dynamics and understand the macro consumer, which could influence the growth prospects at The Car People. Finally, we analysed the historical performance, reviewed customer data and interviewed staff and the senior team about their perceptions and aspirations.
4.2 Built a consumer driven strategy
The research phase demonstrated clear opportunities for The Car People to challenge the existing codes of the car retail sector and create a differentiated, compelling brand positioning. Our research showed that while decision making in car purchase was traditionally viewed as a male domain, the final decision makers were in fact women in 70% of cases. In car retail, this audience had been largely ignored by the sector and we saw a clear opportunity to directly target and appeal to this demographic. Qualitative research showed that women were disenfranchised by the aggressive sales techniques of retailers and were instead motivated by a relationship built upon mutual respect and trust.
Furthermore, client data analysis demonstrated the success of the business at converting sales once customers visited the premises. Our research showed that being part of the customer consideration set, whether purchase was imminent or not, was incredibly valuable to The Car People.
Our solution
The research validated the hassle-free, honest approach The Car People had sought to adopt throughout the organisation. The creative and strategic teams at Propaganda developed a differentiated brand proposition to bring the brand to life and create empathy with its core female target audience. The proposition focussed on forging an open and trusting relationship with female decision makers while always maintaining accessibility and relevance to men. The subsequent strategy ensured that the brand story translated to every part of the buying experience.
We then developed an integrated marketing communications strategy that ensured the target audience were hit with the right messages, at the right time, with the right frequency. The customer communications campaign was designed to deliver maximum impact during the pre, mid and post sales periods and Propaganda recommended the use of multiple media channels, including web, DM, TV and radio, to spread the brand story and associated benefits. The brand tone was carried through to the in-store environment with straight-talking, friendly POS materials that guided the customer in their decision making, without being pushy or intrusive.
4.3 Change the rules of communication, before someone changes them for you
The research demonstrated how disenfranchised car buying customers were with most car retailers. The ‘deal-driven’ approach was viewed as pushy, aggressive and inappropriate. Moreover, this approach did not fit with the friendly and approachable personality of The Car People and the long-term relationships they sought to build.
Our solution
The messages throughout the marketing communication programme were written to challenge the industry norms and give The Car People a distinctive and engaging personality that customers could relate to. We defined a clearer female tone of voice for the brand that created relevant differentiation from competitors. Furthermore, the communication avoided the ‘deal of the day’ approach and concentrated on the distinctive approach of the team and added benefits of buying from The Car People, focussing on the hassle-free experience.
4.4 Building the brand from the inside, out
We knew that an external brand communication programme, regardless of its strength, would not achieve the required business results unless it was adopted and endorsed by the entire internal team. We understood that customer expectations could be damaged by just one miscommunication by a member of staff. We also had seen firsthand the passion and commitment the internal team had for The Car People and we needed to ensure that this continued through to the new brand proposition.
Our solution
From the earliest stages of the research findings, through to the design and implementation of the brand communication, the internal teams were informed and involved. We held a series of brand workshops and discussion groups with every member of staff in the business, in all areas and at all levels of seniority. Following the launch of the brand programme there have been ongoing brand forums amongst the staff across the sites to ensure the brand promise is delivered consistently and continuously.
4.6 One hit doesn’t work
The Car People understood the commercial value of building long-term customer relationships. The Propaganda data analysis reinforced the importance and opportunities that could be exploited simply by retaining existing customers and building long-term relationships with new customers. We knew this couldn’t be done simply by communicating with customers once, or by using the same media over and over.
Our solution
We designed and implemented a customer loyalty programme that used customer data profiling to build relevant and targeted messages based on customer history. Customers were contacted at appropriate intervals to remind them of The Car People experience and encourage them to recommend the brand to friends and family. Moreover, for new customers, the brand campaign has evolved to extend the brand story to further engage prospective customers with The Car People experience.
4.7 Timescales
The research phase began in February 2006, with strategic planning commencing in May 2006. The brand programme was launched externally in August 2006.
4.8 People involved
The programme was led by a senior consultant, supported by researchers, strategists and creatives. During the strategic development stage the senior team at Propaganda had daily dialogue with the board at The Car People to ensure challenge, build and buy-in was ‘live’ and relevant.
During the implementation and creative development stages a broader project team was involved, working with the client at all levels to ensure smooth implementation.
5 Success factors and challenges
• The key challenges focussed upon the validation of a positioning that challenged strong industry orthodoxies and gained client conviction to stand behind it. The brand proposition required The Car People to approach customers differently from the norm.
• Since brand launch, The Car People’s growth has outstripped predictions and outperformed the market. Final quarter sales for 2006 improved 17% on average compared with the previous year and they have exceeded an annual turnover of £100m.
• In the months following the brand launch, new customer visits increased by an average of 22%. Spontaneous awareness (independent research) demonstrated improvements from 8% to 26%.
• Personal recommendation now accounts for 38% of sales (from 25%) with 99% of customers claiming they would buy from The Car People again.
• Repeat sales from existing customers have grown from 17% to 25%.
• Industry journal What Car? ranked The Car People as number 2 for performance (from number 9 the previous year).
As for Propaganda:
• The relationship with The Car People has demonstrated how important existing internal knowledge and experience is. We knew that the internal audience held a very strong conviction in their difference before the involvement of Propaganda. While there might be a temptation to adopt an entirely new strategy, we believed it was important to build upon the existing success of the business while validating (or challenging) it from a position of knowledge and not assumption.
6 The client/consultant relationship
From the outset, the relationship between The Car People and Propaganda has been open, challenging and collaborative. The combined team arrived at a set of clear and tangible objectives at the earliest stages of the programme. While these evolved over time, the regular dialogue between client and agency built extremely strong foundations to ensure success.
“Since their earliest engagement, we have worked side by side with Propaganda. They have challenged our thinking but always respected our success. They have helped tap into the psyche of our customer, current and future, to build profitable long-term relationships that offer us competitive advantage. We are proud of the brand we have built together and look forward to growing our business even further with the assistance of Propaganda”
Jonathan Allbones, Sales & Marketing Director
Executive summary
Illamasqua is a premium cosmetics brand, launched November 2008 in the UK. In the subsequent year it has has significan impact on UK make-up retailing and has now launched into the USA and the Middle East.
Propaganda has worked with Illamasqua over the past 3 years to prepare a business strategy to position the newly developed company as the only premium, British cosmetics brand to establish a strong and valuable emotional connection with its consumers – existing market research demonstrated that consumers mainly connect to individual products, rather than brands.
Illamasqua’s mission has been to provide a range of make-up that encourages consumers to explore their alter ego with a full range of professional premium products that focus upon use at night-time, a unique territory for any brand in the sector.
Since launch, Illamasqua has achieved enviable distribution in some of the UK’s most successful retail outlets, as well as establishing a strong online channel. By Q2 2009, Illamasqua started international expansion with its launch into the USA.
Behind the success is the passion, focus and belief of the combined client / firm team that a make-up brand could challenge the promiscuous loyalty of consumers. Working closely with the client, Propaganda has been instrumental in bringing verified consumer insight and market validation to inform business planning, product development and ongoing brand strategy.
Working together, Propaganda and Illamasqua have launched a code-breaking cosmetics business that has delivered £2.2m sales (wholesale) in its first year.
“Since we first started thinking of creating a new cosmetics brand, Propaganda has worked side by side with us. They have challenged and evolved our thinking to ensure that we were fully prepared to take on what is certainly one of the most competitive retail sectors in the world.
They have been instrumental in tapping deep into the psyche of consumers to ensure our brand is based upon real and tangible consumer demands. The Propaganda team have combined an acute understanding of retail cosmetics with independent advice that gives us informed confidence in our decision-making. This is critical at such an early stage in the business evolution.
We are extremely proud of the brand we have built together with Propaganda and everyone at Illamasqua is excited about the future prospects for the brand, both in the UK and abroad.”
Carl Atkinson, Managing Director
2 The client’s opportunity
In 2007, a small team of experienced business people came together with a shared vision and ambition to create a new brand in the cosmetics sector that built shareholder value and brought a new dimension to a congested marketplace. The team believed a new market space existed but they didn’t know the precise form or shape of the business they were going to grow.
The cosmetics sector was worth £1000 billion in the UK in 2006, split across the core product areas of face, eyes, lips and nails (Source: Mintel). Within this value, £330m sat at the ‘premium’ end with 24.5% value growth predicted to 2011. While the size of the market and its growth prospects demonstrated a lucrative opportunity and clear direction for the positioning territory of the proposed brand, the team knew there were several challenges and strategic decisions to be made before the brand could be formed, developed or launched:
How to:
• create a new brand in a market dominated by large, global brands with significant marketing budgets, strong trade relationships and well established retail channels
• build brand affinity and encourage trial with consumers in a sector where individual product loyalty has traditionally superceded loyalty to an overall brand proposition
• motivate and engage a challenging trade audience bombarded daily by new cosmetics ranges and operating under very tight retail sales KPIs
• launch a new, premium brand against a backdrop of extreme economic uncertainty (Q3 2008) for both trade and consumer audiences
The client realised that in order to address all of the above challenges they required a clearly defined brand positioning; product range and business plan with a supporting customer engagement strategy to create strong and immediate interest from both trade and consumer audiences.
3 Project background
The client team approached Propaganda for professional support to help address the identified opportunities and challenges at the earliest stages of the business concept. Propaganda was specifically briefed to provide strategic recommendations with reference to the brand positioning and profile, product ranges, NPD and customer engagement strategy for the new brand.
Upon consideration of the brief with the client, we recommended a bespoke Discovery programme that involved a comprehensive and rigorous study of market dynamics, consumer needs and trade motivations to ensure the recommendations were made from a position of knowledge, rather than assumption. The subsequent programme was instrumental in the creation of the Illamasqua brand and its long-term strategic direction.
4 Consulting activity
The consultative engagement, which continues to this day, was formed on the premise that we needed to understand the market at a 360° degree perspective in order to make accurate and insightful recommendations.
4.1 Scoping the market
At the first stage there was a requirement to validate and quantify the size of the market opportunity for a new brand. Propaganda interviewed market analysts and retail experts to more accurately size the premium market opportunity and provide insights into the key consumer trends that would influence decision-making.
The key insights
• The macro trend of ‘premiumisation’ (where consumers seek to reward and indulge themselves with premium brands) remained strong and relevant even in challenging economic circumstances.
• There was an equally strong appetite amongst retailers to maintain a compelling premium brand range in their stores
• The overall market was dominated by four key brands who hold over 75% of the market between them
The recommendation:
The market opportunity existed; we now needed to gain consumer insight to define the right brand positioning.
4.2 Getting underneath the skin of the consumer
Propaganda designed a two-stage consumer research programme to deliver robust consumer insights to the client.
Stage one: Creative workshops with premium make-up consumers to probe experiences, perceptions, aspirations, usage (frequency & occasion) and potential opportunities for a new brand.
The key insight: Women were extremely emotionally connected to the act of making-up, but there was little emotional connection to the brand they purchased. Consumers recorded ownership of as many as 32 brands in their cosmetics bag (up to 20 used daily) yet all were willing to switch to other brands.
The recommendation:
• Take a brand-led (versus product-led) approach to launch and rollout
• Establish an emotional connection with consumers. They have an appetite for it
Stage two: Recruited ‘early adopter’ consumers in the confidential environment of friendship groups to glean insights about their most intimate hopes and desire thus enabling the brand to build a credible emotional connection.
The key insights:
• An overwhelming desire for a cosmetics brand to help consumers visibly demonstrate their desire to standout with extreme looks (e.g. fetish & glamour/burlesque)
• A clear segment of consumers who wanted to convey their ‘alter-ego’
• Consumers sought support and advice to achieve these ‘alter-ego’ looks
The recommendation:
• Create a brand that directly and explicitly tapped into the consumer desire to bring their ‘alter-ego’ to life
• Support consumers with professional advice on product application (in-store demonstrations, on-line videos, professional master classes)
4.3 Building the trade dialogue
Propaganda knew trade engagement was critical for initial distribution and rollout as well as long-term development and growth prospects. We conducted confidential interviews with buyers from leading UK cosmetic retailers probing their perceptions, needs, views on opportunities as well as testing the brand hypothesis.
The key insight
The primary theme was a concern about the dominance of a small number of global brands in the sector. The trade wanted a brand to launch with a differentiated proposition to provide them with strong competitive leverage (versus launching another ‘me-too’ offering). In short, they wanted a new brand to ‘shake things up’.
The recommendation:
• Provide retailers with a differentiated and consumer validated proposition, creating new space in the premium category
• Offer them competitive leverage
4.4 Building best-in-class products
The new brand needed to find a superior and successful manufacturing partner that could deliver the brand proposition, as well as meeting the challenging demands of the UK retail market. We sourced and shortlisted a number of potential partners.
The solution
A clear contender emerged to work with the brand team. Kryolan had over 80 years experience and a strong reputation for developing cosmetics for the exclusive use of professional theatre and film make-up artists.
Kryolan were the perfect fit for the new brand for three reasons:
• Ability to create the strong pigments desired
• Premium quality of their manufacturing
• Absolute focus on the professional market.
By appointing them as partners, our brand broke new ground by being able to truly substantiate the use of the word ‘professional’.
4.5 Brand development through differentiation
Following all stages of the research we now needed to fully develop the brand concept. Propaganda teams worked together to translate the research insights into a brand that could be seen, heard and touched.
Positioning
From a consumer perspective, the emergence of their alter-ego was most associated with night-time. We saw an opportunity for the brand to directly tap into this insight. The new brand was explicitly positioned to focus upon the night-time; a first in the cosmetics industry.
Naming and identity
‘Illamasqua’ exuded a mysterious and alluring personality. The visual identity demonstrated the sophistication, seduction and darkness of the brand personality. ‘Illamasqua, make-up for your alter ego’ was born.
Launch
Propaganda created a differentiated brand launch and implementation plan (trade and consumer) to build immediate awareness of the brand, stimulate interest and encourage trial.
4.6 Testing the proposition with the professionals
During the final stage, Propaganda shadowed some of the country’s leading professional make-up artists on shoots and assignments to gain first-hand feedback about the brand. The professionals were extremely positive about Illamasqua and freely offered their endorsement. This, combined with the professional status of Kryolan, has allowed Illamasqua to legitimately claim its position as the first and only professional cosmetics brand in UK retail.
4.7 Keep moving forward
To ensure that Illamasqua stays at the forefront of the premium cosmetics sector, Propaganda has developed an NPD process that fuels product and range innovation. A cross functional ‘art team’ has now been established to inspire and inform every stage of new product design. The team brings together artists, musicians, professionals, media and marketers to work with consumers in fuelling the NPD pipeline for the brand.
4.8 Timescales
The Discovery programme began in October 2006, with strategic planning commencing in May 2007. The brand was fully launched via an exclusive retail listing in Selfridges, Oxford Street in November 2008.
4.9 People involved
The programme was sponsored by the Chairman at Propaganda and jointly led by the Planning and Creative Directors in the firm. Researchers, business strategists and creatives supported the lead team.
5 Success factors and challenges
Though only 13 months into trading, Illamasqua has already delivered a strong set of results from a standing start:
Sales
• Wholesale sales £2.2m 2009 (retail £3.2m)
• Wholesale sales predicted to grow to £6.3m in 2010 (retail £7.5m)
• Online sales (via illamasqua.com) will achieve £800k during 2010 (£375k margin contribution)
Distribution
• Exclusive, high profile launch in Selfridges, Oxford Street (success fuelled rollout to other Selfridges stores and stimulated further trade interest)
• UK distribution in 8 stores (Fenwick, BT2, Selfridges, Debenhams and asos.com
• Successful, high profile launch into 28 Sephora leading stores across the USA (August 2009)
• Launched into Bloomingdale’s Dubai secured for Q1 2010
Profile
• Trade feedback shows that Illamasqua is as a serious competitor to L’Oreal, Estee Lauder and LMVH “the most exciting event in make-up for 25 years” (Source: Selfridges)
• Illamasqua NPD has been widely celebrated by the media as a “cult new beauty brand” (source: Grazia)
• Blind product testing with consumers outperformed MAC (biggest market share) 4 to 1
• Illamasqua is endorsed by leading mak-up artists (e.g. Alex Box) and celebrities (Sienna Miller, Lily Allen, Beth Ditto, Courtney Love and Amber Le Bon.
6 The client/consultant relationship
From the outset, the relationship between the team at Illamasqua and Propaganda has been open, challenging and collaborative. While the objectives have evolved over time, the regular dialogue between client and firm, and the involvement of trade and consumer target audiences has ensured well-informed, real-time decision-making and proactive planning for the brand and its long-term growth.
“Since we first started thinking of creating a new cosmetics brand, Propaganda has worked side by side with us. They have challenged and evolved our thinking to ensure that we were fully prepared to take on what is certainly one of the most competitive retail sectors in the world.
They have been instrumental in tapping deep into the psyche of consumers to ensure our brand is based upon real and tangible consumer demands. The Propaganda team have combined an acute understanding of retail cosmetics with independent advice that gives us informed confidence in our decision-making. This is critical at such an early stage in the business evolution.
We are extremely proud of the brand we have built together with Propaganda and everyone at Illamasqua is excited about the future prospects for the brand, both in the UK and abroad.”
Carl Atkinson, Managing Director
Greggs and the Food-on-the-go Market
Rewind to 2006 and the frenetic world of food-on-the-go. In the queue are major players like McDonalds and Subway, and comparative lightweights such as WHSmith and Boots. Somewhere in between stands Greggs – undecided on how to get a slice of this new, manic market. Baking since the 1930s, Greggs had tasted phenomenal success. But while it was busy baking, market-savvy competitors moved in, and Greggs’ customers moved out.
Though market-spend on the ’sandwiches and savouries’ category was increasing, Greggs’ sales were plummeting. In December 2005, Subway, its main competitor, overtook Greggs in sandwich sales, and opened 250 new stores. Subway now boasted 800 busy stores, while Greggs, with more than 1000, struggled to keep pace.
As Subway grew 42% year-on-year to become the third largest sandwich retailer, Greggs suffered a drop in earnings from £ 47.1m to £42.2m. Pre-tax profits hit an all-time low, going from £50.2m in 2005 to £40.2m in 2006. The Managing Director’s report: “Trading conditions during 2006 were the most demanding we have encountered for well over a decade.”
Finally, in 2006, Greggs decided to bite back. They asked Propaganda to reverse the declining trend and give people a reason to come back to Greggs.
Bringing Greggs’ People Back
Our key objective was to bring new and lapsed users back into Greggs’ stores. To do so, we had to get an insight into the business, and the brand. Our extensive national qualitative research threw up some interesting facts:
People had forgotten what Greggs really stood for. To answer competition, Greggs had moved towards a fast food offering, obscuring its bakery heritage. In the process, their savouries – which they were loved for – were also losing sales. Greggs’ shelf space was as confused as its customers.
Solution: To be able to stand strong against Subway and McDonalds, Greggs had to create a distinct point of difference. The emotive qualities of Greggs as a bakery had to be revived.
Freshness and quality were the ingredients for food-on-the-go success. But, Greggs was now being edged out of the ‘fresh’ space by Subway, which prepared food in front of customers. And it didn’t help that Greggs’ focus had shifted to value-for-money food, which was interpreted as ‘cheap’.
Solution: Instead of great-value fast food, Greggs had to offer ‘Fresh, great-value food, delivered fast’ to cater to the increasingly health-conscious eater.
People loved the just-baked smell of a Greggs store. They fondly remembered the freshly-baked smells wafting out as they passed Greggs. But now, they needed to go in.
Solution: We needed to revive Greggs as bakers creating good, honest food for a modern market. The competition couldn’t claim baker-fresh at a national level – this was Greggs’ USP.
Creating a Unique Brand Positioning
The insights, unearthed by our research, crystallised into a clear, simple strategy.
Consumer insight: “If I can grab something quick, that’s been baked fresh today, it will be more tasty and satisfying.”
Product differentiator: Baker-fresh food
Brand proposition: Baker-fresh food on the go
A clear point of difference, grounded in Greggs’ heritage and product. We now had to develop an emotional attitude for the brand – one with modern relevance.
‘Good-honest’ captured the familiarity and warmth of a local bakery, summed up the desire for high quality for the price paid, and reflected the down-to-earth brand attitude. A new brand endline was developed to reflect the positioning: ‘Greggs the Bakers: Ready when you are’.
The Launch Campaign 2007:
Bringing the Brand Positioning to Life
Historically, Greggs’ advertising had been product and offer-led, failing to create consumer affinity with the brand. Our creative strategy needed to address this while driving Greggs’ new positioning home.
We realised that for most of the nation, Greggs had been part of growing up, and that included celebrities. It was frequently mentioned in the media by A-listers like Sara Cox and Mila Jovovich. Now, we wanted an iconic celebrity to be a beacon for the brand and capture its personality: good, honest, down-to-earth. But one who wouldn’t overshadow the brand – this needed to be Greggs’ campaign.
Propaganda came up with the perfect candidate: Paddy McGuinness, half of one of the UK’s most successful comic duos (with Peter Kay), known for his tongue-in-cheek, lovable sense of humour. Research proved he appealed nationwide, to men and women.
What if we created a fictional role for Paddy? One that showed him indulging his passion for Greggs’ freshly baked food during his day.
The creative challenge was to take the olfactory insight from research about the ‘baker-fresh smell’ and translate it across visual and aural media. 70% of memories are evoked through smell, so the team developed a route that centred on the ‘Greggs aroma moment’, communicated through the ‘Satisfied Sniff’.
Each creative execution saw, or heard, Paddy stepping into Greggs and inhaling the delicious smell of baking. This was followed by a dreamlike sequence as Paddy found his Shangri-la through the smell and taste of Greggs’ freshly-baked food. Research demonstrated this was critical in communicating Greggs’ difference.
This was supported by a radio campaign, with Paddy as a Greggs FM DJ. The focus was still on baker-fresh, brought to life by Paddy’s comic delivery.
The strategy also flowed into POS and outdoor, where the objective was to raise perceptions of Greggs’ quality through strong food photography and by promoting product benefits.
Another significant element of the campaign was the launch of a microsite featuring Paddy, in synergy with TV and radio, inviting consumers to find out about Greggs’ products, play online games, take up promotional redemption vouchers and enter competitions. This was all aimed at involving consumers further with the brand and creating an emotional link.
Launching an Integrated Media Plan
The creative elements were pulled together through an integrated media plan. The major factor in developing the plan was Greggs’ regional focus. Scotland and the North East were the heartland, with high store volume, strong awareness, positive brand perception and loyal usage. The North West and Yorkshire were relatively mature, with good store penetration, strong awareness and usage. The Midlands and Wales & West regions had experienced a decline in awareness and regular usage after a period of limited advertising. London and the South East had experienced a growth in the number of shops, but awareness and usage were minimal. Our media strategy had to answer all the different levels of awareness, and reach these regions.
Working with our media partner, the team developed a media plan consisting of an overarching national solution, supported by regional media to cover regional differences.
National television starting in April 2007 supported all regions, with the less mature regions benefiting from exposure that would not have been affordable on a regional basis. A combination of Terrestrial and Multichannel stations were selected to deliver high frequency of exposure. 40sec ads were placed at the campaign launch and during high-profile football games to maximise impact. 30sec and 10sec were combined for the remainder of the campaign, with 10sec gradually up-weighted towards the end of the campaign, to elongate the period and maximise frequency.
The regional media solution consisted of additional TV to deliver a heavyweight campaign in the Midlands and Wales & West (to answer the declining use and awareness). Radio campaigns supported tactical product launches in Scotland, NE, Midlands and Wales & West – with heavyweight breakfast and pre-lunch airtime. Proximity outdoor activity (6 sheets and phone boxes within 300m of stores) supported store awareness at the lunchtime decision-making junctions in key cities in the Yorkshire and NW regions. Key areas of North London and the South Coast were supported with a high quantity of outdoor activity.
In addition, a sales promotional plan was implemented alongside the advertising campaign, targeting a 1.2m leaflet drop in Yorkshire and NW. Sampling and ad bikes outside shops helped hammer home the brand message and grab people’s attention.
Results: Getting a Slice of Good, Honest Success
The exhaustive research and work that went into Greggs’ campaign paid off. The positive effect on the brand was immense, both in terms of consumer perception and sales. All achieved in an exceptionally short time span.
The effectiveness of the strategy and campaign was assessed through a quantitative brand and ad tracker, and by monitoring sales and the uptake of promotions.
Brand and advertising response:
The January Omnibus showed that National Spontaneous Awareness of Greggs had increased from 24% in August (during the pre-campaign period) to 29% after our October campaign.
Greggs’ commercial was No. 13 in a list of 20 most recalled ads in Adwatch, the weekly ad-recall section in Marketing magazine. It beat bigger national campaigns by agencies like Fallon, BBH and JWT, London.
There was a very strong awareness of Greggs’ key messages, with 66% saying it communicated ‘freshly baked’, and 58% saying ‘food-on-the-go’.
44% mentioned Paddy as one of their main reasons for liking the ad, a key reason the ad cut through the clutter.
Post-campaign, Greggs’ scores for ‘out of touch and traditional’ decreased whilst ‘modern and up-to-date’ rose, with a migration upwards in the user groups.
Most importantly, the campaign resulted in the return of Greggs’ lapsed and occasional users – one of the campaign’s main aims. Amongst males, 9% of occasional users, and 2% of regular users came back to the stores. Amongst females, 12% of lapsed users, and 11% of occasional users returned.
Sales:
After the first burst of advertising in April, Greggs’ shareholders were given a report they could cheer about. Like-for-like sales had gone up by 4.9%, despite challenging weather in the weeks prior to the report. Their operating profit had gone up by a huge 24.5%. By the end of the first half of 2007 sales hit £256m, up 5.2% on 2006, with profit up 18.3% to £14.8m.
In 2005-2006, Greggs’ savoury sales in particular had been plummeting while the savoury market was booming. To address this, our second burst of advertising focussed on Greggs’ savouries, specifically targeting their top selling products – sausage rolls, steak bakes and cheese & onion pasties.
The result? Savoury sales in individual regions shot up by as much as 22%. National sales of sausage rolls increased 20%, steak bake 28% and C&O pasty 22% – with a national increase in all savoury sales of 15%. This resulted in a 9% increase in sales across all products nationwide.
Sales continued to improve beyond the campaign period, resulting in like-for-like sales in the second half of 2007 experiencing a 5.8% increase.
By the end of the year Greggs had a brand new energy. Final trading reports in 2007 showed a sales increase of 5.3% and analysts had revised upwards their profit forecast for the year. Greggs image in the market had improved, with people coming back to its stores, and spending more on average. This saw its share price shoot up from 3997p in Sept 06 to 5324p in Sept 07.
Baking a Brand Better
This new brand strategy formed a strong foundation for growth, and established a strategic approach that fuelled the focus of the business during the difficult two-year trading period that followed in 2008 and 2009.
During these tough market conditions Greggs stayed true to their core brand strategy, single-mindedly focussing on their bakery credentials and the ability to deliver affordable, quality food to the nation. They continued to invest in national advertising, with the overarching aims of changing customer perceptions of the brand and communicating the real Greggs difference.
To meet consumer demands throughout the UK economic downturn, campaign messages were created to target credit-crunched customers. These focussed on special offers and value for money – always underpinned by their bakery credentials and improved quality messages.
Following new creative development in 2008 and national brand campaign bursts in April and September 2009, Greggs finished this difficult trading period on a high, with a 7.2% jump in sales in the six months to July 2009 and the calendar year as a whole seeing total sales increase by 5%. Despite the credit crunch, the financial year for 2009 saw Greggs Plc turnover £658m and deliver a pre-tax profit of £49m.
ghd’s turnover shot up from £5m in 2003 to £85m in 2006; it topped the 2006 Sunday Times Fast Track 100 table for private companies; it was launched in 15 international markets; attained UK Top 100 Cool Brand status and in 2007, the business was successfully sold for £160m.
In 2001, three men from Yorkshire discovered revolutionary hair iron technology in the USA. They imported the technology, and began trading from one of their homes in Ilkley. This was the start of the ghd journey.
As the business started to warm up, ghd approached Propaganda. They wanted advertising that positioned ghd as “the original and best.” But, when we launched our brand Discovery, we realised that there could be much more to the ghd story than just a burst of advertising.
Propaganda challenged ghd’s brief because we could see its massive potential. It could go beyond ‘hairstyling’, and into the world of beauty and fashion. It could be transformed from a product to a brand.
Discovery revealed that the words used to describe ghd almost had a religious overtone. People using ghd ‘worshipped’ it, others ‘believed’ it was capable of ‘hair miracles’. This inspired our brand strategy – ‘A New Religion for Hair’.
Our objective – position ghd as the first ‘hair beauty’ brand and convert positive perceptions into brand loyalty.
Next: Distribution with a difference! In the face of rapid growth, Propaganda suggested that distribution be reined in and limited to salons. We were certain there would be sustainable benefits to making it exclusive. A £2.6 million campaign on TV, billboards and in the press, positioned ghd as a miracle-worker for women.
Hallelujah!
Executive summary
Boost had enjoyed strong growth since its inception in 2001, but the internal ambition and drive of owner and MD, Simon Gray, to move Boost to the next level of performance and achievement meant that Boost wouldn’t rest on its laurels. As one of the only sectors of the soft drinks category to deliver volume and value growth, energy drinks was an attractive target for many manufacturers – new and old, large and small. Boost couldn’t be complacent about retaining, let alone growing, the market share it had achieved.
A successful business operating in the highly competitive and congested energy drinks sector, Boost was born out of an opportunity that Gray saw from his experiences as a loyal energy drink consumer. Established to provide the independent, impulse retailer with a credible value alternative to the premium brand leaders, Boost had grown to become the UK’s 4th largest energy drink in the impulse category (source: Nielsen)
The team at Propaganda were immediately engaged by the passion and belief of Simon Gray and his team, but knew that the key to success was to understand the brand as the trade understood and perceived it. By defining a credible, compelling and relevant point of difference, we would be able to ‘bottle’ the passion.
While Boost had achieved great success in a few short years, there remained an internal belief that this was just the tip of the iceberg, and that the business was on the verge of achieving significant incremental growth in terms of both volume and value.
Our collective challenge was to arrive at a positioning for Boost that resonated and engaged trade customers and savvy consumers alike, and had cut-through in a marketplace dominated by big-budget brands with the power to out-shout each other with aggressive advertising strategies.
The working relationship we have established with Boost is is one of a true strategic partnership:
• Launching a brand proposition that captures and translates the true essence and attitude of the business for trade, retail and consumer audiences simultaneously
• Developing a key account strategy that leveraged incremental business from existing trade customers through focussed support and communications
• A targeting strategy that gave the business the right tools to attract and convert new business opportunities
• Helping the business prioritise and address the multiple opportunities that have been presented in a way that could be effectively managed and supported through a tight business infrastructure
Fundamentally, the work we have done with Boost has supported them in achieving 26% YOY growth during 2009, with a strong continued growth trajectory throughout the first four months of 2010.
“When I first came to Propaganda, I wasn’t sure which opportunities to attack first. Over the past 18 months, we have collectively gained a new and deeper understanding of our sector and business that gives me real confidence that 2010 and beyond will far outstrip the performance of previous years. We are clearer than ever about our brand difference and future direction”
Simon Gray, Managing Director
Executive summary
Most men and women have a story to tell about dieting and weight-loss, whether it’s how liberated they felt when they reached their weight-loss goal, or the frustration they felt a few months later when they regained the weight.
Cambridge enjoyed a successful period in the 1980s, when it was at the top of most slimmers’ lists. However the market became crowded, with increasing numbers of quick-fix lifestyle diet brands emerging. Consumers were faced with an abundance of choice. With an outdated brand look and a lack of understanding about the evolving competitive landscape, Cambridge lost its consumer appeal.
Working with Propaganda, Cambridge made a bid to regain its position as a market-leading weight-loss brand by implementing the biggest changes the company had seen in its 25-year history.
The brief took a 360° look at the business model, challenged the way the weight-loss brand was delivered, researched the market, the opportunities, consumer needs and the competition. It highlighted Cambridge’s key difference and gave the internal team the confidence to bring the brand into the 21st century. To date, the brand strategy has delivered an increase in like for like sales of 10% to March 2010 – resulting in the highest sales in company history.
“Working with Propaganda has allowed us to gain a real understanding of what consumers want from a weight plan, and we can now tailor our messaging to appeal to a wider audience within a heavily competitive market.”
Eileen Skinner, Managing Director Cambridge Weight Plan
Executive summary
Despite a progressive approach and superb technology, being a Huddersfield-based SME was stopping FMG winning against the likes of the AA and RAC in the outsourced fleet services sector – even though the ‘big boys’ were slow and inflexible.
FMG wasn’t cross-selling between its three differently named business units, and the group had little visibility.
So we created a new brand that responded to genuine needs, merged the three businesses into one, and created a supplier loyalty programme, a thought-leadership programme and a new set of authoritative collateral.
FMG Support now wins contracts where it would never previously have been considered. It is now seen as an opinion-leader in the sector. From £29m in 2004, FMG Support projects a turnover in 2007 of £75m.
Propaganda delivered FMG Support with:
• An independent Discovery programme to unlock market insights
• Maximum results from a limited budget
• The confidence to break through the glass ceiling
• The experience and expertise to launch a thought-leadership programme
• An understanding of how to pitch at different levels
• The ability to link sales and marketing strategies
• Experience in creating integrated communications programmes.
“For over two years, Propaganda has delivered tangible results and been instrumental in shaping both our business and marketing strategy. One clear differentiator has been the detailed research they invest in, making sure our decision-making stems from real understanding.
“We work closely together to roll out change across our business, and so we have relationships at all levels.
“Our investment with Propaganda has been significant, but the returns have been indisputable. We are delighted with the services that we receive and really do consider Propaganda an integral extension of our team.”
Nick Brown, Chief Executive
Executive summary
To disassociate themselves from aggressive car supermarkets and associated customer service stigma, car retailer The Car People approached Propaganda to help stimulate future growth and differentiate them in a crowded market. They believed their approach was different: friendly where others were aggressive, trustworthy where others chased sales and committed where others focussed on the short-term.
Propaganda’s mission? To devise a marketing strategy to stimulate future business growth for The Car People based upon a credible and compelling proposition fuelled by customer insight, not internal assumption or instinct.
Propaganda created a new brand proposition programme driven by an extensive and independent research phase, based on the unique combination of customer needs and The Car People’s ability to deliver them. The proposition rollout has touched every area of the business and customer experience.
Since the proposition’s launch in August 2006, the brand has achieved a 9% growth and a turnover above £100m (43% growth since 2006). This growth has been delivered against a background of increased accessibility of new-car sales deals, and diminished sales in the used-car sector (source: Barclays Motor Dealer Review). Independent tracking research shows growth in customer awareness, appreciation and re-purchase.
Propaganda provided The Car People with:
• An independent research programme identifying true customer insights
• An integrated marketing communication programme that improved brand awareness, appreciation and affinity, leading to sales growth and stimulated re-purchase
• A new CRM programme to build long-term customer relationships
“Since their earliest engagement, we have worked side by side with Propaganda. They have challenged our thinking but always respected our success. They have helped tap into the psyche of our customer, current and future, to build profitable long-term relationships that offer us competitive advantage. We are proud of the brand we have built together and look forward to growing our business even further with the assistance of Propaganda”
Jonathan Allbones, Sales & Marketing Director
Executive summary
Spear & Jackson is the UK’s oldest tool manufacturer. Within an industry under significant pressure from overseas competitors, the company was operating its wood saw division at a loss, on a turnover of just £675,000.
Despite a highly traditional market, where the new is often rejected over the tried and trusted, in 2004 Spear and Jackson successfully launched a new wood saw at more than twice the price of its closest competitor.
In order to achieve this, Spear & Jackson had tasked Propaganda with turning the wood saw division around. So we conducted in-depth research to gain real understanding of the industry and its consumers, to guide new product development, and to create a compelling proposition to take to market. The result was the Predator saw.
The new saw has improved Spear & Jackson’s market share by over 10%. Sales are up by 200%, the division’s turnover is now almost £3 million, and headcount has increased – but only by 75%, maximising margins. Consumer demand created the opportunity to introduce a further four saws within the series, and led to a capital investment of £350,000 to facilitate expansion.
“In a sector not known for dynamic marketing, where cost-cutting is seen as the most effective solution to profitability, it was a political risk to bring in consultants with a different approach. However, Propaganda’s Discovery process and ability to unearth real industry and consumer insights ensured that while the strategy was seen as unconventional, it was always grounded in fact. This minimised our risk and enabled us to develop a new product range and a campaign strategy. The result delivered by Propaganda defied the state of the market, and turned Spear & Jackson’s wood saw operation around.”
Derek Thomas, marketing director, Spear & Jackson
Strategic and creative agency, Propaganda, was highly commended for Customer Engagement at this year’s prestigious Management Consultancies Association (MCA) Management Awards for its work with leading make-up brand, Illamasqua. The commendation is another success story for Propaganda, which continues to pick up awards for its work.
Held at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London last week, the MCA Management Awards celebrate the value that UK consulting delivers for clients by identifying the strongest case studies where organisations in the private or public sector have achieved a significant improvement in performance through working with management consultants.
A panel of esteemed judges and leaders in their fields, including Sally Scutt, Deputy Director General of the British Bankers’ Association and Harriet Arnold, Deputy Editor of The Business Life Desk, at the Financial Times, all praised the standard of entrants this year and celebrated the wealth of talent in our industry.
Propaganda has worked with Illamasqua since its launch in 2008 to deliver a business strategy that has positioned the newly developed company as the only premium, British cosmetics brand with a strong and valuable emotional connection with its consumers.
Propaganda has been instrumental in providing verified consumer insight and market validation, which, in turn has informed business planning, product development and ongoing brand strategy. These market insights have ensured Illamasqua’s success in the UK’s leading department stores as well as establishing itself in the USA, Australia, Asia and Europe.
Commenting on its success, Propaganda Chairman, Julian Kynaston said: “It is a great achievement that we have been recognised in this way by the Management Consultancies Association. We set out to make Illamasqua the make-up of choice across its entire product range, and through a successful working relationship, Propaganda and Illamasqua have indeed launched a code-breaking cosmetics business that has delivered £2.2m sales (wholesale) in its first year.”
Carl Atkinson, Managing Director at Illamasqua continues: “From the very beginning of our relationship, Propaganda has worked side-by-side with us. It has challenged and evolved our thinking to ensure we were fully prepared to take on, and succeed, in one of the most competitive sectors in the world”.
Strategic and creative agency Propaganda has praised three of its clients in reaching the regional finals of this year’s Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award, announced today.
Simon Gray, managing director of Boost Drinks, Tim Whitworth, chief executive of clothing brand Republic and Ken Brook-Chrispin, chairman and chief executive of Seabrook Crisps, are three of the eight shortlisted regional finalists.
The group are among 112 companies short-listed across the UK that will compete at regional award events in June. Regional winners will then go on to vie for the title Ernst & Young ‘UK Overall Entrepreneur Of The Year’ 2010 – currently held by Michael Spencer, Chief Executive of ICAP plc – at a ceremony held in London in October.
Sponsored in the UK by Credit Suisse, the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates people who build and lead successful, growing and dynamic businesses. The awards recognise entrepreneurs through regional, national and global awards programmes in more than 135 cities in 50 countries.
Laura Kynaston, joint managing director, Propaganda, said: “We are very aware that all of our clients run innovative, successful businesses, but to see three clients receive recognition within one prestigious national programme like Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year awards is a fantastic achievement. We have worked closely with each of the businesses to align their brand and business strategy and look forward to continuing to deliver strategic and creative initiatives that will complement their growing organisations.”
