5 things you need to know this week
From Waitrose’s new personalised deals to Ted Baker’s virtual store – catch up on all the big news you might have missed this week.
Ted Baker launches virtual shoppable store
High street fashion brand Ted Baker has created its first ever virtual store and could soon roll out the concept across its estate according to brand communications director Craig Smith.
Designed by virtual reality firm Avenue Imperial, the virtual store offers a high resolution 360-degree panoramic view of Ted Baker’s new store in Shoreditch, London. Online shoppers can walk through the online store and click on items to bring up more information and a link to purchase.
Smith told Marketing Week: “I hope this is a showcase for the future as we want to have the best digital and physical stores in the world.”
Waitrose unveils personalised promotions
Waitrose fired the latest shot in the supermarket price wars this week with a new take on deals. Customers that have its myWaitrose card – and there are now 5.8 million of them – will be able to pick their 10 favourite items from a list of almost 1,000 and receive a 20% discount every time they buy them.
The aim of course is to boost loyalty through increased basket size, shopper frequency and of course revenues. While Waitrose has performed better than the market and the big four over the past year, it was forced to issue a profit warning last year and has seen sales growth slow as price deflation hits its business.
However, Mark Price also has loftier ambitions. He thinks ‘Pick your own offers’, as the scheme is called, could revolutionise the promotions space – stopping customers having to buy what is on offer and letting them buy the brands and products they want to be on offer.
He explained: “When it comes to promotions the customer hasn’t had a choice up until now.”
“The genius of ‘Pick your own’ is that customers get 20% off the lines they really want, that they buy every week. It’s giving for the very first time customers the power over pricing.
Mark Price, managing director, Waitrose
Rimmel London advises other brands to let vloggers take control
Brands must learn to give up advertising control to ambassadors and bloggers or risk getting left behind. That was the advice offered by Rimmel London’s UK marketing manager Sarah Pirrie this week.
Speaking at an event held by TV marketing trade body Thinkbox, she said brands that want to “truly connect” with a young audience of 16-24 year olds must put faith in their brand guardians. She speaks from experience having orchestrated campaigns with pop stars such as Rita Ora and model Kate Moss. TV presenter Billie JD Porter also hosts a lifestyle channel for the brand on YouTube.
“I think it’s still tough for a brand’s ego to give up control of their advertising to brand guardians but they must realise ambassadors can give you credibility.”
Rimmel London, UK marketing manager Sarah Pirrie
Her comments come as the use of vloggers by brands continues to rise. However some marketers have been stung, with the Advertising Standards Authority banning campaigns from both Oreo and P&G for not making the link with the brand clear enough.
Bacardi takes a ‘brand first’ strategy
Less than six months after appointing a global CMO Bacardi has done away with the position as its switches its marketing focus to brands rather than categories. It is part of a number of changes by the brand – including the launch of marketing centers of excellence and the appointment of new regional CMOs – aimed at bringing Bacardi “closer to its markets and making [its brands] more relevant to consumers.
“With these changes, we will be able to adapt our focus to our brands, not categories, and position ourselves to fully leverage the benefits of having world class global agency and media partners,” says CEO Mike Dolan.
Wimbledon hopes social media can be almost as good as being at the tournament
Wimbledon is little more than a week away and the tournament’s organiser, the All England Lawn Tennis Association, is keen to talk up what its doing for the vast majority that don’t have tickets.
The focus is on social media and offering fans an experience that is almost as good as being at the tournament. It has turned to Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter to help build engagement, looking to move away from just offering news and updates to replicating Wimbledon online.
“We hope it will be the next best thing to being here,” said head of digital and content Alexandra Willis.