Best Buy plans bank holiday push for first store opening

US consumer electronics retailer Best Buy is launching a localised campaign to support the opening of its first UK store.

The arrival of the US chain marks the UK’s first major retail launch since Banana Republic.

Best Buy marketing director Kevin Styles says: “The Thurrock marketing campaign will feel like a national launch in a local area.”

The campaign will be a combination of traditional activity including outdoor, radio, press, direct mail, print as well as digital and social media, developed to build brand recognition and promote its value and service.

The store will sell home entertainment, computing, mobile and gaming equipment and, unusually for the sector, a range of electric bikes, scooters and cars as part of its “GreenTech” energy efficient range.

The 52,000 square feet store opens in Thurrock, Essex on Friday 30 April to take advantage of the May Bank Holiday. A “four day launch festival” will showcase the best in technology, entertainment and offer customers “phenomenal value”, says Styles.
He says there will be similarities between the US and UK brand and communications, with a core strategy of making technology “simple,exciting and interactive”.

Social media is at the heart of Best Buy’s strategy in the US, and this will be mirrored in the UK.
Best Buy works with advertising agency CHI & Partners and WPP-owned DM and digital agency Wunderman & Freud Communications.