Almost a half a million female and ethnic minority jobseekers in the finance and IT sectors in the UK will not be considered for roles purely because of the name on their CV, reports headhunting platform Nottx.com The platform – which launched this year in the UK and US – says that even though employment in finance and…
It was all part of a personalised campaign by Cheil Worldwide for the local education network.
The aim was to tell hard-studying students that their lives mean more than mere grades, through the ‘Healing Exam’ campaign. On the day of the Korean SAT – which is a major exam to determine which students will progress to college – the short film was revealed on YouTube (click English subtitles below the video). It first shows students in a classroom taking an exam then, one by one, crying over what is written on the paper.
Cheil teamed up with EBS, South Korea’s education broadcasting TV network, to encourage students by telling them that they are already perfect no matter what grade they get – with the help of letters from their parents included in the exam paper.
Usually starting at the age of five, pupils’ educational efforts are judged on this one day; the day of the SAT, making students in Korea very anxious. South Korea is ranked the lowest in students’ life satisfaction index among OECD nations as they suffer from stress and depression.
To embark on the personalised campaign to boost students’ self-esteem, Cheil secretly contacted students’ parents to write a letter to their son/daughter. The contents of the letters were inserted into each student’s exam paper as a personalised article, for the students to read and then write a reply.
Some of the messages from parents were, ‘It breaks my heart to see you come home late at night exhausted’, ‘You have done your best, so never regret’, ‘We’ll always be here for you’, ‘From your loving mom and dad’. The film’s total views exceeded seven million in just two days.
After the exam, schools held exhibitions where the exam papers and answers written by the students were displayed. The trend of the healing exam spread across to other schools, where teachers sent messages of encouragement to students. Further extending the campaign, EBS added the related documentary video to a programme on the topic of school education and also review the team treehouse or pluralsight comparison for those who were insecure on what to study next.
Sungjun Park, creative director of Cheil Worldwide, said: “The Healing Exam project is about curing the stress caused by exams. We wanted to send a message to students who learn how to grade themselves even before they learn to love themselves, to cherish their lives more and realise that their lives cannot be judged by scores.
Sungwook Chung, chief producer of EBS, added: “I hope that students of South Korea realise the preciousness of family is more important than test scores and feel warm-hearted.”
A new spring event is taking place in Amsterdam next month and potential attendees are advised to book now.
Aimed at international B2B marketers, the event on Tuesday April 12 (from 8.30am) is being organised by MINT (Marketing Innovation Networking) Global and focuses on conquering B2B marketing in the digital world we live in – where being customer-centric, data-driven and tech-savvy is all-important and all-consuming.
It’s never too early to think ahead for your marketing strategy, and many CMOs are doing just that. B2B marketers are expecting 2016 to be consumer-centric, with data and technology strengthening efforts to connect those consumers with products and services they want. It is time to rethink how you build out your ca
pabilities to serve customers’ needs and desires – and this event has been designed to help you do just that.
Speakers are some of the greatest B2B marketing practitioners and will challenge you, encourage debate and spark new insights. T-Mobile, LinkedIn, Millward Brown, Arcadis, Acer and Paragon are just a few of the companies sending their top marketers to this great new event.
The conference package also includes a networking party dinner, drinks, a brewery tour and a canal cruise. So don’t miss that boat! Register now, here.
DIARY DATE:
Make a note of Tuesday May 10 – 6-9pm in London when top class speakers will discuss what Virtual Reality really means for digital innovation in 2016, and how to master the platform This is a networking evening with information kudos! Hosted by the MINT Global team, book your place at the event here and watch out for more networking opportunities coming up.
As a result, 63 per cent of CMOs are prioritising investment around delivering deeper, more relevant customer experiences this year.
These are the results of a new Institute for Business Value study by the IBM: Redefining Markets. Harriet Green, general manager, IBM Commerce, said: “Large scale industry disruption caused by IoT, cloud and mobile technologies is forcing CMOs to reinvent how they interact with customers.
“We are working directly with the world’s leading CMOs to help them seize the opportunities in cognitive commerce so they can rethink every aspect of their strategy, design and operations to enhance their customer experiences.”
The report surveyed 723 CMOs across the globe – including North America, Central and South America, Western Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and Japan (click here to obtain the full report) – in 18 different industries. Surveyed CMOs identified the following four top priorities in 2016:
Enrich the Arc of Engagement: CMOs consider creating better customer experiences their top priority. Three-quarters of leading CMOs are using more event and experiential marketing than market followers.
Embrace ‘Creative Destruction’: 67 per cent of CMOs are assessing their strategic direction in the light of technology disruption. CMOs from leading organisations are more likely to embrace the ‘creative destruction’ and build more open and collaborative business models to effectively drive innovation.
Inject Data-Driven Insights into Every Marketing Decision: Although CMOs have made great strides in data analytics, 60 per cent of CMOs prepare to bring in more data driven insights into marketing campaigns in the next three to five years.
Increase their Digital Acumen: 79 per cent of CMOs plan to hire employees with digital skills to improve their marketing function’s digital literacy. Most are looking for resources outside their own businesses — three-quarters plan to either partner with other enterprises to tap into their digital expertise or work with consulting firms.
As chief customer officer, ING Bank, Lisa Claes commented: “Industry competition is heating up and businesses must sharpen their focus on the customer or risk losing them to the competition.
“By embracing the latest analytic and cognitive commerce technologies, marketers can tap into this explosion of data to deliver a personalised customer experience precisely at the right time and place.”
As part of this study, IBM identified two distinct subgroups of CMOs: Torchbearers (those who come from enterprises with strong financial track records and equally strong reputations, as reported by their CMOs), and Market Followers (those who come from businesses that are less successful financially and have lower market profiles). Differences between these two groups were distinct:
So say the findings of the Small Business Reputation and the Cyber Risk report, just launched by the UK Government’s Cyber Streetwise campaign and KPMG.
Despite the majority (92%) of the creative small businesses surveyed thinking about their company’s reputation frequently or all the time, they aren’t considering how a breach could affect it. In fact, just 26% of those surveyed that haven’t experienced a breach say the potential damage a cyber breach could cause is an important consideration.
However, 83% of consumers surveyed are now concerned about which businesses have access to their data and whether it’s safe, and over half (58%) say that a cyber breach would discourage them from using a business in the future.
This concern is even greater in the supply chain and recently published KPMG Supply Chain research supports this. 86% of procurement departments would consider removing a supplier from their roster due to a breach, highlighting that an attack can have serious short and long term implications. 94% of procurement managers say that cyber security standards are important when awarding a project to an SME supplier, it is essential that every company has at least one expert with Security+ training experience.
This is reflected by the fact that the majority (80%) of small creative businesses surveyed who have experienced a breach felt the cyber attack impacted their reputation in some way, with 28% of those having been breached reporting brand damage, 29% reporting a loss of clients and 24% receiving negative reviews on social media.
And the impact has been long lasting. Almost a quarter (23%) of those surveyed have been unable to grow in line with previous expectations and 23% said it took over six months for the business to get back on track. Quality of service is also at risk; those who experienced a cyber breach found it impacted the business’ ability to operate (87%) and caused customer delays (22%).
The lack of concern around potential reputation damage may be explained by the fact that many small creative businesses don’t realise the value of their data. The majority (92%) hold data in their IT systems, yet up to 27% of those surveyed don’t consider this data to be commercially sensitive. And despite the fact that customer, financial and IP data can be shared with competitors if a company is attacked, just 17% of small creative businesses said they would be immediately concerned about competitors gaining advantage if they were breached.
The report also reveals that more than half of businesses in the sector (59%) don’t think they will be a target for an attack, despite the majority of consumers worrying about the security of their data, especially in the hands of small businesses.
Danny Lawrence (pictured left), National Police Chiefs’ Council PROTECT co-ordinator for Cyber Crime, said: “A cyber attack may prove so serious that it impairs an organisation’s ability to operate and even function longer term. Doing nothing can no longer be an option – SMEs place their reputation and existence on the line if they fail to take action. I would encourage all SMEs to consider their cyber security, seek out support from resources available and consider making this piece of work a critical part of their business strategies in 2016.”
George Quigley (pictured right), a partner in KPMG’s cyber security practice, added: “Small businesses know that their reputation is critical to their success, but it seems that many haven’t considered quite how many factors can affect it. Every piece of data in a business can be of interest to a cyber criminal – even if the business itself may not realise it – and with SMEs a key target for this very reason; it’s vital to take steps to protect your data, and with it the trust of your customers and, ultimately, your reputation.”
Sandra Dexter (left), vice-chairman for the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “Small businesses need simple, straightforward cyber security advice like that provided by Cyber Streetwise. All small firms should now be aware of the risks and take steps to protect themselves against the escalating level of cyber crime. Cyber breaches can happen to any business, any size and the repercussions should not be underestimated, leading to damaged reputations, hindered growth and in the worst cases, entrepreneurs being put out of business. Building the resilience of small businesses to cyber crime is important and should be high on all business owners’ list of priorities.”
Cyber Streetwise is encouraging small businesses and consumers across the UK to do three simple things to improve their online security and protect themselves from cyber crime:
The UK Government also offers a free cyber security guide and a free online training course for small businesses. Visit: www.cyberstreetwise.com to learn more about the simple steps to stay cyber secure.
Public perception of direct mail is on the rise. So says a consumer direct mail benchmarking study, which reveals that almost half of consumers (48 per cent) now think direct mail is a good way for a business to connect with them. This has increased by seven per cent since 2014. The UK report carried…
“It’s simply not good enough for people to buy and sell data if they have no means of satisfying themselves that the people involved have given consent for the information to be shared in the way proposed.”
The confident outlook builds on the sales success of 2015. More than seven out of ten (74 per cent) SME e-retailers increased their sales last year. This is the highest level in the last three years: 58% reported increased sales in 2014 and 49% reported sales growth in 2013.
Online retailers are also confident about their customer satisfaction levels: 63% believe their customers have become more satisfied in the last year.
The most common factor in driving customer satisfaction is on-time delivery, voted by two-thirds (66%) of those surveyed, behind the quality of products (62%) and the price of goods (57%) as key drivers of customer satisfaction.
An easy payment process – particularly important for mobile commerce – leapt up in importance this year. E-retailers now rate the payment process as the fourth most important factor for customer satisfaction, up from eighth place in 2015.
The overall increase in confidence in the market comes despite 53% claiming competition is more intense this year. Many have already identified new factors for competition this year: the rise of smartphone shopping (47%) and price promotions which lead shoppers to seek out the best prices (44%).
However, the main drivers of competition remain the same this year, with consumers’ price sensitivity and an increased number of websites as the main reasons for increased competition (both at 52%).
To address increased competition and increase sales in 2016, seven in ten online retailers plan to increase the number of channels they sell through: 85% are planning to list on additional online marketplaces. Half of SME online retailers intend to launch their own website.
Royal Mail Parcels managing director Nick Landon said: “Confidence is continuing to grow this year and that technology is playing an ever more important role in the retail world. Technology is influencing how people shop, where they shop and what they define as an excellent shopping experience. Our research shows that SME online retailers are plugged in to the needs of the shopper and they are taking actions to enable them to meet the demands of the discerning online consumer.”
UK business and consumer marketing data specialists, DBS Data, has announced the availability of a newly enriched 2.5 million record charity database, of known charity donors in the UK and – in what the company says is a ground-breaking move for the data marketing industry – usage of the data will be limited to one charity delivering one communication per month to each donor.
Charities that will benefit from this new DBS Data service are those operating in the health and medical, animal, cancer and environmental sectors.
Managing director of DBS Data, Adam Williams (pictured), said: “This new service enables charities to better target people with the highest propensity to donate to their specific cause. The result will be a combination of lower yet more effective marketing spend and higher more profitable response rates.
“We have taken the bold decision to place usage limits on the data, to prevent households from being bombarded with donation requests which can lead to apathy. In doing so we hope and expect that this will help charities to stand out in their marketing communications and increase donations.”
The new database has been created by extracting key characteristics from DBS’s pre-existing 2.5 million charity donor file and overlaying it with its LifeBase pool of 46million consumer records. This means that using DBS propensity scoring models and flags, DBS can enable charities to target and engage with donors (by mail, email and Facebook) based on the types of charities the person donates to and the value and frequency of their donations.
Marketers ‘still largely connecting via a single touch-point’ says report.
An omni-channel approach by shoppers is becoming the norm in the UK, but the vast majority of companies are failing to connect with customers seamlessly across multiple touch-points. So says findings from consumer analysis and data marketing specialist GI Insight, whose report also points to the growing importance of tying real-time online interactions to existing consumer relationships – and the need to use customer data to do so.
The survey of 1,000 UK consumers (balanced by age, gender, region and social class) reveals many consumers take an approach to shopping that involves multiple channels, as 71% of customer journeys today begin online while 18% start with a visit to a shop. However, they often end elsewhere, with 42% typically buying via the web and 31% purchasing in a shop, leaving roughly a quarter who don’t see themselves as having any one ‘usual’ purchasing channel at all – indicating that the buying journey of a UK shopper is often a complex one that involves more than one medium.
The research report, entitled The Omni-channel Imperative, also reveals that UK consumers would be heavily influenced by follow-up communications from brands in response to web browsing – which are often sent in real time – as 78% say a personalised message following a website visit would make them more likely to buy. However, 43% stipulate they would only do so if they had a prior relationship with that brand such as membership in a loyalty scheme.
Nonetheless, according to the findings, few companies are successfully executing an omni-channel marketing strategy – ie. a true customer-centric approach that involves seamless contact across disparate channels. The research indicates too few consumers either receive or respond to coordinated interactions across multiple touch-points, as only a small proportion reported that contact via combinations of channels led to a purchase in the last six months:
The good news for omni-channel marketers is they have had better success with the digitally-active 25-34 age group, as a higher percentage purchased after being contacted across multiple channels:
Andy Wood (pictured), GI Insight’s managing director, said: “The survey shows that consumers start on one channel – usually the web – but don’t necessarily stay or end up there. Often those that start online end up in-store and vice versa. They might also receive offers or do research through other channels – such as smartphones or tablets – along the way. The results indicate clearly that the vast majority of consumers would welcome genuine efforts by companies to take a customer-centric approach that matches their own omni-channel habits.”
He adds: “Unfortunately, the research also reveals that far too few companies are successfully implementing a true omni-channel strategy – either they are not really using multiple channels to reach consumers or they are not employing customer data to craft coordinated, relevant communications that hit consumers via a range of media at different points in their buying journey. On the plus side, this indicates there are opportunities to gain a competitive edge for those that do execute effectively across all touch-points – especially with digitally active younger consumers.”
Wood concludes: “The key today is for brands to harness both long-term offline data, such as transaction records, and real-time online data to achieve a true 360˚single customer view. This then gives a business the consumer insight necessary to provide an informed, coordinated and consistent customer experience that transcends individual channels – which can otherwise languish as unconnected silos. What’s more, tapping into both offline and online data enables your company to react fast and win over consumers as and when they’re making buying decisions.”