Category: Country Focus

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Europe In the News UK

Coupon craze reaches new heights

coupon41UK shoppers redeemed 603 million coupons in 2013 – up 35% from 2012 and worth £1.7billion

UK shoppers’ appetite for coupons has reached new heights, increasing by over a third (35%) in 2013 compared to the previous year.

According to coupon experts Valassis, coupons and vouchers worth £1.7billion were redeemed last year, showing that the coupon craze is far from over even though the economy is strengthening. This means the average household redeems coupons and vouchers worth approximately £64 in a year. (26.4 million households in the UK in 2013: National Office of Statistics)

Figures from Valassis retailer clients reveal the following:

  • Coupon and voucher redemptions increase by 35% with 603 million coupons redeemed in 2013, up from 448 million in 2012
  • The total value of coupons and vouchers redeemed is £1.7billion
  • Retailer-issued coupons have driven growth, but manufacturer-issued coupons are increasing

The figures from Valassis, which works with 85% of the market, show that coupon redemption is continuing its upward trend, with volumes increasing by 223% since 2010. Retailer-issued coupons are driving most of the growth and account for 71% of redemptions or 466 million coupons.

Charles D’Oyly, managing director of Valassis, commented: “The 35% increase in coupon redemptions in 2013 is exceptional. Bearing in mind that retail sales in 2013 grew by just 1.6% compared with 2012, such growth is remarkable.

“The recent increases in retailer-issued redemptions are primarily due to the popularity of coupon-at-till promotions and price matching promises which mean the consumer would not have been able to buy certain items as economically elsewhere.”

Compared to 2012, and indeed any of the last five years, redemption of manufacturer-issued coupons is rising once again and 2013 saw a 50% jump in the volume of such redemptions, compared the previous year.

D’Oyly continued: “What’s behind this growth? Our recent research indicates that consumers’ use of coupons is widespread across all demographics (*), and supermarkets have responded accordingly by increasing their use of coupons as the promotion of choice for targeted consumer offers.

“We were also encouraged to see that part of the overall growth was driven by manufacturer coupons which have been largely flat for a number of years. We attribute this resurgence partly to increased awareness of couponing’s efficiency and effectiveness as a promotional tool, as well as the tendency for manufacturers to take their lead from retailers’ promotional activity. In 2013, average face value decreased from £1 to 85p, which suggests that manufacturers are refining their coupon tactics and trying to find optimal offer points that trigger behavioural change with consumers.”

* Valassis Gfk NOP research findings in November 2013 showed that 39% of ABs planned to use ‘everyday low price promises’ as part of their Christmas grocery shop, compared to 51% across other demographics.

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In the News UK

UK political groups warned to play by marketing rules in lead up to local and European elections

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has written to the main UK political parties warning them about the need to follow data protection and electronic marketing rules ahead of the European and local elections on May 22.

The Information Commissioner Christopher Graham’s letter follows a number of concerns raised with the ICO about the political parties’ use of market EU flagresearch surveys to gain political support.

Genuine market research can be carried out in order to help inform a party’s positioning and formulate policies. However, communications claiming to be research that are also intended to canvass support now or in the future are covered by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. The regulations apply to all electronic marketing, including texts, calls and emails.

Christopher Graham said: “This is about the political parties demonstrating best practice, and being open and upfront with voters about their marketing activities, explaining to people in an open and transparent way how their personal details will be used.

“The rules apply to political parties, just as they do to businesses and charities. In communicating with voters, the parties need to be clear about what their intentions are and why they are asking people for their information. We don’t need election campaigns featuring nuisance calls, spam texts and canvassing under the guise of ‘research’.”

The ICO has produced detailed guidance for campaign groups explaining the data protection and electronic marketing rules. The guidance states that campaigning organisations must:

  • only send marketing emails, texts or make automated telephone calls to people who have consented to being contacted;
  • identify themselves and provide an easy way to opt-out of future direct marketing at all times;
  • be clear on whether they are carrying out market research (seeking someone’s opinions) or political campaigning (seeking to persuade them to vote a certain way); and
  • be extremely careful when using ‘viral marketing’ that encourages individuals to contact friends and family on the organisation’s behalf.

Read Christopher Graham’s letter in full, here.

 

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In the News UK

DPD to launch new Sunday delivery service for retailers

Online retailers get Saturday collections for ‘next-day’ Sunday delivery

UK delivery company DPD is set to become the first UK carrier to provide a nationwide express Sunday delivery service for all its customers. The service, which will start on July 20, will help create more than 500 new jobs around the UK as DPD’s depot network expands to accommodate a seven day week.

The new service will also mean that, for the first time, DPD will be able to collect from business customers on a Saturday for next-day delivery on Sunday. Equally, on a Friday, online retailers will now be able to specify either Saturday or Sunday delivery. Deliveries will be made between 9am and 5pm on a Sunday and DPD’s network of more than 50 UK depots will be open during those hours.

From launch, DPD will have the ability to deliver to more than 98% of the UK population on a Sunday and the service will include DPD’s award winning one hour Predict timeslot deliveries, where parcel recipients are notified by text or email of their one hour delivery timeslot in advance, and can then track their driver in real-time all the way to their front door.

Dwain McDonald, DPD’s CEO, said; “I’m delighted to be able to announce our new Sunday service. We know from talking to retailers and recipients that there is a real demand for Sunday deliveries. The majority of our larger customers in the retail sector are moving to a 24/7 operation, so we wanted to make sure that they have a trusted delivery partner that can provide a full collection and delivery service every day of the week too.

“Saturday has long been the busiest retail day of the week, but with the blurring of the offline and online retail boundaries it can now also be the busiest day for e-tailers. Therefore it is very appealing for e-tailers to be able to offer next-day delivery for those customers who buy on a Saturday.

“The launch of DPD’s one hour timeslot service Predict was a game-changer for the delivery market. Now customers are far less tolerant of having to wait in all day for a standard courier to turn up. But the market has moved on and shoppers want immediate delivery, seven days a week. Predict gives you complete control over when and where your parcel is delivered – from the initial notification on your smartphone on Saturday evening, to tracking the driver to your door or being able to relay alternative instructions to him in real-time. As a result, I think most people will see this kind of smart Sunday delivery service as an excellent addition to their options.

“We are committed to an unrivalled programme of investments in the UK to ensure we have the smartest technology, the most up to date network infrastructure and the best people. Our weekend service is proof of how this can all come together to provide an unbeatable package for retailers looking to differentiate their delivery service.”

With DPD’s Predict service, recipients receive a notification of their delivery the evening before and are able to access five ‘in-flight’ delivery options, including; ‘Change the delivery day’, Deliver to a specific neighbour’, ‘Deliver to a safe place’ and ‘Collect from nearest depot’. These can be accessed via a smartphone, tablet or desktop at any point during the delivery if the customer can’t be at home on the day to accept their parcel. DPD now send around 1.1 million Predict notifications every week and approximately 10%, or over 100,000 recipients, use one of the in-flight options.

DPD recently announced its most ambitious expansion plans to date with the development of 15 new depots in the UK in 2014, including three new ‘super-depots’ capable of handling 25,000 parcels a day. Construction of DPD’s new £100m parcel hub at Hinckley Commercial Park in the East Midlands is well underway. The facility, which will be the largest of its kind in Europe and capable of handling 70,000 parcels an hour, is on schedule to be completed in 2015, creating up to 1,000 permanent full-time jobs.

DPD is a member of one of Europe’s leading parcels groups GeoPost, wholly owned by France’s La Poste, the second largest postal group in Europe.

The company employs more than 7,000 people in the UK, operating more than 3,000 vehicles from over 50 locations and delivering 1.6 million parcels per week.

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In the News UK USA

Online and on the loo! The 10% of UK consumers who shop in the lavatory

DID you know that ten per cent of UK online shoppers have made a purchase while sitting on the loo?u8_toilet-smartphoneb

Not only that, but 72% of mums are most likely to make a purchase while in bed.

New research has pinpointed many consumers’ shopping preferences while concluding that 60% of UK consumers shop online every week.

Sailthru, a provider of personalised communications technology, has just announced the results of its market research focusing on consumer online shopping preferences.

The study was conducted by Redshift Research during March 2014. Key takeaways from the findings indicate that UK consumers not only have a very positive response to personalised communication, but actively understand the concept and today are demanding more tailored marketing communications from brands.

In fact, 63% of UK online shoppers are likely to read a personalised message they receive from a brand they know and then complete that purchase (51%) following a personalised offer.

Other key statistics include:

  • 57% of online shoppers prefer to make a purchase on their home computer or tablet, with the most popular place to make a purchase (56%) being from bed.
  • 64% of online shoppers prefer it when a brand recommends products the consumer has previously shown an interest in – such as items on the wish list or in a shopping basket.
  • 60% prefer it when a brand sends personalised communication with reference to a past purchase or browsing history. With almost two fifths confirming that branded emails are ‘very’ or ‘sometimes’ helpful when tailored to their interests.

With individuals now interacting with a brand across multiple mobile devices, every brand experience needs to be optimised for mobile to mitigate low conversions and/or basket abandonment. In fact, 42% of online shoppers have abandoned a purchase because it was too complicated to complete on a mobile device and 60% still prefer to use a laptop over a mobile device, due largely to a poor mobile experience.

Consumers are telling brands loud and clear that they want their online browsing experience optimised for mobile. They would be more likely to increase both average order value and purchase frequency if every brand experience were optimised for their chosen device – 45% of shoppers said they were likely to make an online purchase if the website was easy to navigate on a mobile.

Neil Capel, founder and CEO of Sailthru – which has its HQ in New York City – said: “The research shows that consumers are very clearly demanding personalisation from their online and in-store shopping experiences. In order to meet this demand, brands must understand their customers on an individual level, deliver content that is interesting, timely and relevant to each user and also optimise that content to render on any device. It’s about giving every individual what they want, when they want it and recognizing that need even before they do.

“This is the future of successful brand to consumer marketing.” Capel concluded: “Now, more than ever, brands need to stop toying with the idea of personalisation and make moves to provide relevant and platform specific communications to their customers or risk being left behind. The innovative brands that we work with have moved away from ineffective segmentation and instead created personalised experiences for each of their customers that tailors content across any device – whether that is via email, mobile or web.

“The results our clients are seeing speak volumes about the power of personalisation.”

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Europe In the News

Within Europe, cost of a standard letter in Germany remains reasonable: DHL report

Letter Price Survey 2014 shows higher rates in Europe

Even though the German postal rate for a standard letter rose by 2 cents to EUR 0.60 in January, the price of a stamp continues to rank in the mid-range among European prices and below the European average, according to the latest European postal-rate comparison.

The 13th version of the annual European postal-rate study analyses the rates for standard letters in all 28 EU member countries as well as those in Norway, Switzerland and Iceland.

Since the 2013 study was conducted, postal rates have been raised in 14 European countries. The rate for a standard letter in Norway is currently EUR 1.28. By contrast, it is only EUR 0.26 in Malta.

When such fundamental factors as dissimilar purchasing power and labour costs found in individual countries are taken into consideration, Germany’s postal rates rank among the most favourable in Europe.DHL postman (WEB)

Over the past ten years, postal rates have risen by nearly 20 per cent on an inflation-adjusted basis. By contrast, the German rate for a standard letter has fallen since 2004 by nearly 8 per cent on an inflation-adjusted basis. A sharper decline was seen only in Portugal, Cyprus and Croatia.

Deutsche Post also charges favourable rates for a letter sent from Germany to other European countries (the Europabrief): While Europeans pay an average of EUR 1.03 for an international letter, the cost of the German Europabrief remains EUR 0.75.

The study can be downloaded here. 

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In the News USA

USA DMA: ECHO awards competition now open

Deadline for submissions Is May 23.

In recognition of the world’s top data-driven marketing campaigns — measured by strategy, creative, and results, the USA Direct Marketing Association echo(DMA) has announced that the 2014 International ECHO Awards competition is underway.

The awards will be presented at a gala ceremony in October in San Diego, California. The deadline for submissions is next month: May 23. Registrations received before Friday May 2, will receive a $100 discount.

Linda Woolley, DMA’s president and CEO, said: “The ECHOs exemplify the heights of success that can be achieved through great data-driven marketing and equally great creative.

“As the incredible wealth of data available to us increasingly fuels our economy and our data-driven lifestyles, and when combined with superb creative that snags us and holds our attention, it’s truly exciting to see how these things drive outstanding results in exceptional marketing campaigns.”

Winners will be selected in 15 business categories — automotive; business and consumer services; communications and utilities; consumer products; education; financial products and services; information technologies; insurance; nonprofit; pharmaceutical and healthcare; product manufacturing and distribution; professional services; publishing and entertainment; retail and direct sales; and travel and hospitality/transportation.

The ultimate team award

Jenny Abreu, DMA’s director, awards & recognition programs, said: “This year’s call for entries competition continues the theme, ‘The Ultimate Team Award,’ and new tag line ‘Achieve the Ultimate with a Common GOOOAL!’ honouring this year’s BIG game — which couldn’t be more fitting.

“After all, ECHO-award winning campaigns exemplify outstanding team work — as they incorporate the ECHOs’ three pillars — for creative, strategic — and game-winning results.” The integrated marketing effort supporting the entries is developed by Quinn Fable Advertising, Inc. (New York).

This year’s ECHO competition will honour excellence in integrated and single-channel direct-response campaigns spanning a diversity of channels, such as alternative media, banner ads, catalogue, direct mail, email, mobile, print, search marketing, social media, telemarketing, television/video/radio, web advertising and web development.

Tedd Aurelius, vice-president, director 1-2-1 engagement, The Martin Agency, is chairman of the DMA International ECHO Awards Board of Governors. He said: “We’re seeing that the best customer engagement efforts are coming from all over the world, not just the US — and each year, the winning ECHOs serve as a benchmark for direct response brilliance that is both measurable and accountable.

“Our Gold, Silver and Bronze ECHO winners are selected from hundreds of entries, ranging from acquisition, to penetration, to retention programs, which showcase brands using data-driven insights to power their strategy, generating fabulous creative ideas that achieve amazing results.”

Each year, ECHO entries include data-driven campaigns from the US and more than 50 countries – and 2014 entries will be judged later this spring and early summer in Australia, Denmark and the US.

This year’s Awards Ceremony and Gala will be held on Tuesday October 28, during the DMA2014 Annual Conference & Exhibition: The Global Event for Data-Driven Marketers, at the San Diego Convention Center.

In addition to the Gold, Silver and Bronze ECHO awards, four special awards will be presented: the Diamond ECHO Award for the most prestigious and, considered, the top campaign overall; the Personal Connections ECHO Award sponsored by Pitney Bowes; US Postal Service Gold Mailbox Award; ECHO Green Marketing Award; and Henry Hoke Award.

For more information about the International ECHO Awards, which will be presented Tuesday evening, October 28, 2014, during DMA2014m click here. The DMA2014 Annual Conference & Exhibition will be held October 25-30 in San Diego, California.

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Global Next Practice

Artificial Intelligence – why is it a hot topic?

Dominic Trigg (pictured) says artificial intelligence (AI) is shaping our world. It’s been no surprise to me to see the topic of artificial intelligence (AI) being talked about more and more within the media of late. They are the words on everyone’s lips and it is shaping up to be one of the hottest topics…

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In the News UK USA

NSA ‘used Heartbleed for years’

Insiders at the US National Security Agency claim that the organisation has been exploiting the so-called Heartbleed bug for nearly two years to capture datansa-used-Heartbleed-for-years-300x212 on individuals instead of informing the rest of the online community.
The claims, denied by both NSA and White House chiefs, follow whistleblower Edward Snowden’s allegations that it was common practice for the organisation to deliberately introduce vulnerabilities to security software.
NSA spokeswoman Vanee Vines said in an email: “[The] NSA was not aware of the recently identified vulnerability in OpenSSL, the so-called Heartbleed vulnerability, until it was made public in a private-sector cyber security report. The reports that say otherwise are wrong.”
The Heartbleed bug could potentially affect hundreds of thousands of web and email servers which run open source software and has triggered major warnings across the world.
Online users are being urged to change all their passwords and usernames where possible as the bug went undetected for more than two years.
A blog post by Tumblr last week even urged people to “call in sick and take some time to change your passwords everywhere – especially your high-security services like email, file storage, and banking, which may have been compromised by this bug”.

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Asia-Pacific Australia In the News

ADMA Global Forum expands

Australia: Netflix, Cirque du Soleil, Monster Worldwide, Audi – four co-located conferences with 100+ global speakers at the expanded ADMA Global Forum in Sydney in July.

The Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) is expanding its Global Forum to four co-located conferences featuring 100+ global speakers.

ADMA CEO, Jodie Sangster, said: “We continue to bring the best data-driven experts and finest global brands to Australia to help marketers, advertisers and creatives explore world-wide best practice at our popular ADMA Marketing & Advertising Forum. But we believe our remit has become broader.

“The marketing and advertising landscape is evolving so rapidly that ADMA Global Forum has to change with our industry. The marketing universe is no longer segmented as it was previously. Now, disciplines like creativity and media/publishing fall into our remit because they are also becoming data-driven. We feel that creativity, media and data analytics need their own conferences to explore the latest international ideas and trends under the ADMA Global Forum umbrella.”

In addition to the Marketing & Advertising Forum, there will be three new conferences – ADMA Creative Fuel, ADMA Media Connect and ADMA BI & Analytics Lab – making ADMA Global Forum the biggest marketing, media and advertising event of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region and the go-to conference for the industry to hear from global innovators, creative geniuses and disruptors.

ADMA Marketing & Advertising Forum (July 29-30)

ADMA Marketing & Advertising Forum is the heart of ADMA Global Forum, bringing together the world’s foremost innovators in marketing and advertising, data analytics, lead generation, loyalty and content. The first six speakers to be announced are:

  • Tim Donza, director Consumer Insights, Netflix (USA)
  • Jordan Fiksenbaum, vice president Marketing and Public Relations, Cirque du Soleil (Canada)
  • Rohildev Nattukallingal, CEO/inventor of Fin, RHL Vision Technologies (India)
  • Jörg Dietzel, head of marketing, Audi Korea (Korea)
  • Laston Charriez, senior vice-president Marketing (North America), Western Union (USA)
  • Michael Scott, general manager Marketing, Virgin Australia (Australia).

New: ADMA Media Connect (July 29)

ADMA Media Connect brings together media, publishing and brand advertising leaders and popular media commentators to give a 360° view of the new media landscape. It will focus on the issues keeping this industry awake at night. Attendees will hear from disruptors who are challenging traditional models and brands that are achieving that elusive deeper engagement with their audiences. The first two speakers to be announced for Media Connect:

  • Jorge Urrutia Del Pozo, vice-president Operations, The Huffington Post (USA)
  • Bob Garfield, marketing and advertising analyst/Guardian columnist/author/NPR Radio presenter/TV commentator (USA).

New: ADMA Creative Fuel (July 28)

ADMA Creative Fuel is an inspiration-focused event featuring global creative leaders from agencies/brands showcasing the best creative executions from around the world. Themes to be explored: where inspiration comes from; the rise of storytelling in content, and the growing connection between creativity and new technologies. The first three speakers to be announced are:

  • Paul Middleditch, director Plaza Films (Australia)
  • Chris Dickey, senior vice-president/director of Digital Strategy, The Martin Agency – one of Ad Age’s 10 Top Agencies in 2013 (USA)
  • Vanessa Zuppicich, creative director, MTV Brand and Commercial (Australia).

New: ADMA Business Intelligence & Analytics Lab (30 July)

ADMA, partnering with the Institute of Analytics Professionals (IAPA), has created a one-day conference for business analyst professionals. ADMA BI & Analytics Lab brings together the best and brightest minds working to redefine the back-end processes of business and reshape the BI and Analytics space. The first two speakers to be announced for this event are:

  • Jean-Paul Isson, author and global vice-president Business Intelligence and Predictive Analytics, Monster Worldwide Inc (Canada)
  • Dr Pek Lum, vice-president Solutions and chief data scientist, Ayasdi. (USA)

ADMA Global Forum will feature the latest global research, delegate breakfasts and numerous social/networking opportunities. The popular Innovation Zone (July 29-30) returns to showcase the latest products and technologies to help marketers, advertisers and creatives in their jobs.

The Marketing & Advertising Forum, Media Connect and BI & Analytics Lab will run in Sydney at the Hilton Sydney Hotel from July 28-30. ADMA Creative Fuel will be held at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art Australia. Follow on Twitter @admaforum and connect using #admaforum. Check out speaker bios and keep up to date with ADMA Global Forum news here. 

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In the News UK

Power and persuasiveness of inbound marketing for SMEs – new white paper

London School of Marketing releases its latest whitepaper addressing the power and persuasiveness of inbound marketing for small and medium enterprises
The London School of Marketing – which offers accredited marketing and business qualifications in the heart of London – has published its latest white paper titled, ‘Inbound Marketing for Small and Medium Enterprises’ using its own institution as a detailed case study.

“With the boom of Generation F and the exponentially increased use of the internet, inbound marketing has gained prominence over the last few years,” the white paper says. “Put simply, inbound marketing attracts leads through quality content. It involves a pull strategy as opposed to pushing messages through purchasing ads and email lists. [It is suitable for] small and medium enterprises because it is cost-effective, powerful and transparent. “

Within the free downloadable white paper, the London School of Marketing follows the rise of inbound marketing strategies and tactics, while discussing the five key stages of inbound marketing for small and medium-sized enterprises looking to expand their brand and grow their customer base.

“The unique thing about inbound marketing is that your audience finds you,” say the school’s experts. “That is why the starting point of inbound marketing is to understand your audience. You need to have a basic idea about what they want to know about you or from you. Then you need to harness that knowledge with quality content.”

This document is part of a series of white papers launched monthly by the London School of Marketing and is available for download here.