Teradata has scrapped the eCircle name, one of the most well-known brands in European marketing automation, following the purchase of the business in
June 2012, and folded it into the main business.
The company insists Teradata eCircle had only ever been a “transitional name” and will now revert simply to Teradata.
At a product level, eCircle’s eC-messenger will be rebranded Teradata Digital Messaging Center, the label currently used in the rest of the world.
In addition to the organisational and product name changes, Teradata eCircle media services will become Teradata Interactive. Teradata Interactive is a full-service online marketing unit and is part of Teradata’s broad offering of business services.
Volker Wiewer (pictured), who co-founded eCircle in 1999 and is now Teradata international vice president of marketing applications, said: “As one brand and one unified global organisation, Teradata can better deliver its market-leading solutions to help companies increase the value of their data and customer relationships.
“By any name, Teradata’s solutions are enabling marketers to more effectively manage operations, multi-channel campaigns and analytics, resulting in greater effectiveness and efficiency and increased ROI.”
Teradata will maintain its European HQ in Munich, with offices throughout the EMEA region including Denmark, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK. The company also has offices across the Americas, Asia and Japan, with more than 10,000 employees in over 40 countries.
This was first published on Decision Marketing. For more breaking news and opinion pieces on direct, data and digital marketing in the UK visit us at www.decisionmarketing.co.uk
Category: UK
Jess Butcher (pictured) tells how to use Augmented Reality effectively in marketing.
Today’s consumers are a demanding bunch. They want more than traditional, static advertising, they want interaction and magic. They don’t want to be shown a poster, they want to play with it. When they see a product in a magazine, they want to try it on and they insist they’re given more from packaging than just a receptacle for their goods.
Previously the elitist, futuristic realm of computer gaming and military training, augmented reality (AR) is finally entering the consumer space, and quick-witted marketing managers are grabbing hold of the technology, spotting it as a way of deftly, subtly and creatively packing infinitely more into all their campaigns.
At Blippar – the magic lens mobile app offering an AR platform to brands, media outlets and agencies – I’ve watched partnerships flourish with global clients, including Coca Cola, Conde Nast, Heinz, Justin Bieber, Proctor & Gamble, Nike, Disney and PepsiCo. Clients understand that enhanced consumer engagement is paramount when securing brand loyalty and return custom.
Here are the key methods for ensuring your AR campaign always hits the mark:
1. Include a strong CTA (Call To Action)
If you’ve invested in exciting ‘invisible’ collateral, it’s inexcusable to waste it by not showing users that it’s there or how to access it. Signify there’s something behind the 2D image and that something needs to be done to see it. Show them how to unlock exciting content, and explain what they’ll get when they do.
Omitting a noticeable, consistent CTA is where we’ve seen campaigns fail. Give users one they recognise and continue to provide the same one across all collateral. Familiarity is key.
2. Make it simple for consumers
Don’t assume knowledge when it comes to AR. It’s still a fairly new technology, but if you work within it, you’re bound to think everyone knows as much about it as they do. They don’t.
Hold users’ hands throughout the process to ensure it’s accessible. Ensure they know how to place their phones over the image, what to click, why to do it. If it’s too tricky people will become frustrated and not bother, leading to a wasted opportunity.
3. Create powerful content
Users need a reason to interact with AR, and it must be a good one. What unique experience will you offer that can’t be garnered simply by clicking on a website or downloading a coupon? ‘Delight, inform, reward’!
Still relatively new, AR – when executed well – is always visually impressive. But the surprising aesthetics won’t last forever. Who is still amazed when they see themselves on YouTube or are mentioned in a tweet?
First impressions are vital, but it’s crucial marketers think beyond the initial gimmick and offer something more tangible, whether virtual try-ons, free samples, sweepstake entries or prizewinning games.
Offer the complete package and you’ll guarantee users keep returning for more.
4. Refresh content regularly
Nobody continues visiting a blog if it’s never updated and the same goes for AR content. Why would consumers download coupons they’ve already used, recipes they’ve already tried, videos they’ve already seen? Don’t let your campaign go stale. It’s the quickest way to lose supporters.
Tap into the cultural zeitgeist and give AR enthusiasts what they want. Reward them for their time and effort. This is especially important if your AR marker doesn’t change – say, if it’s your company logo. Never rest on the laurels of one campaign: give users a reason to ‘unlock’ content on a regular basis. Keep them on their toes, wanting and expecting more. It’s the main reason they’ll share experiences with others.
5. Be social media savvy
Word of mouth is still the most powerful form of advertising and channels such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and email have kindly provided us all with a number of different loudspeakers. Use them.
Boast about your exciting forays into AR, whether on your brand’s blog, within the company newsletter, or in a tweet to your followers.
Similarly, at the user end, once you’ve made your AR experiences exciting enough for people to want to share them with the world, make it easy for them to do so. It’s the most effective way for them to flourish and, if they’re really good, go viral.
Jess Butcher is CMO, Blippar. She will be speaking at The Augmented Reality Marketing Conference at Guinness Storehouse on Tuesday April 15. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with speakers, experience demonstrations of latest technology and learn from previous case studies. Augmented Reality (AR) experts are flying in from Los Angeles, San Francisco, The Netherlands, France, UK and elsewhere. Presentations and panel discussions will be considering the effective application of AR to marketing and for building brands.
David Cole (pictured), MD of online research company fast.MAP, analyses French and English data from a new GMA survey.
Maybe it’s because we’re an island race that the British have parochial online buying habits. The French, for example, are twice as likely to buy sans frontiers.
But new research reveals it’s the British aversion to foreign languages which is a more likely cause.
In mid-February, the GMA commissioned fast.MAP to ask panels of 550 French and 1,120 UK adults (each panel demographically representative of the country) about their online buying habits.
While both nations have enthusiastically embraced online purchase, the French are far more likely to buy from other countries – probably because they are also twice as likely to speak the language. Click here to view/download the chart.
While almost half of the French online buyers (47%) made cross-border purchases in the last year, in the UK only a quarter (22%) did so. Of these, 31% of the French, but only 17% of the British spoke the language of the country they bought from.
Two in 5 French buyers (38%) and 7 in 10 of the British (70%) bought these imported goods from a website translated into their own language, showing the importance of investment in multi-language website options to companies wishing to tap into foreign markets (especially those wishing to sell into the UK). Click here for the chart.
The French were also twice as likely to use – and have no problem using – online translation software (13% v 6%). And although twice as many of the French encountered problems using this software (5% v 2%), this is as expected since twice as many were using them.
The French were also twice as likely to enlist the aid of a bilingual friend (4% v 2%), but only one in 100 of either nationality was helped linguistically by the company they were buying from.
The French are to be congratulated on their persistence, since 8% of those who experienced language problems managed to complete the transactions compared with only 3% of the British.
French cross-border buyers are also far more open to a wide variety of sourcing routes than the British. Fewer than 1 in 10 British buyers use a wide mix of multi-national sourcing methods, while the French are more than twice as likely to use several.
In fact, the British seldom stray outside of four main sourcing channels – auction site; search engine; company website; and email. This implies that for those selling into the UK, concentration on these media would be cost-effective, while those selling into France would be wise to consider a wider mix of promotional media. (Chart )
Two in 5 UK buyers heard about foreign goods and services via auction sites (UK 39%; F17%). The second largest UK influence search engines, was by far the most important source route in France (UK 36%; 49% F).
Second most prevalent in France was company websites (F 27%: UK 23%) followed by email (F 26%; UK 16%), while 22% of French and 7% of British buyers of foreign goods used comparison websites.
Between one and two in ten French buyers also used: comparison websites (22%); online ads (13%); social network sites (13%); TV and radio ads (12%); print ads (10%); and exhibitions (9%).
To download a variety of fast.MAP/ DMA/ IPM/ IoF annual marketing/ fundraising tracking studies, click here.
Account directors earning $125k (£75k)-plus up 45%, creative directors command 41% more in North America versus Europe, technical architects
wanted worldwide, says report.
Competition for talent at digital agencies and production companies is leading to sharp salary rises and remuneration gaps of up to 45% between some regions.
Globally, there’s never been a better time to be in the three most sought-after digital roles: account director, creative director, and technical architect. Senior-level strategists and user-experience leads also command strong salaries, although these vary according to where they live.
These are key findings the annual Salary Report by SoDA, the invitation-only organisation that represents top digital agencies and elite production companies worldwide.
The number of account directors earning more than $125k (£75k) increased by 45% between 2012 and 2013; while creative directors commanded up to 41% higher salaries in North America compared with their European peers.
Last year, the average salary for technical architects in North America was between $101-$110k (£60-65k) compared with $91-$100k (£54-59k) in Europe and Australia. The result suggests uniform global demand for this area of expertise, particularly in light of the sometimes significant salary gaps between these regions for other roles.
The SoDA Salary Report underscores a significant – and in some cases widening – salary divide between regions such as Europe and North America. In Europe, average salaries for project managers, creative directors, producers, graphic designers and copywriters stagnated last year as the cost of living rose.
While salaries for some of these positions in North America were also stagnant, they were, on average, 42% higher than salaries in Europe. This fact could lead to some top talent exploring expat opportunities.
The SoDA Salary Report also reveals:
- Account directors earned 11% more on average last year compared with 2012.
- Creative directors’ salaries rose by eight per cent, the most common salary range in 2013 was between $126-$150k (£75-90k).
- Unlike some corporate sectors where CEO pay has risen significantly, compensation for CEOs and managing partners in the study actually dipped 16% in 2013, from $200-250k (£120-150k) on average in 2012, to $176-200k (£105-120k)in 2013. This decline can partly be explained by a shift towards incentive-based pay (not captured in the study’s baseline salary figures).
- SoDA’s findings also suggest that top executives are shouldering some of the burden associated with tough economic times, in order to maintain or increase the salaries of key talent.
North/South America highlights
Overall, the highest salaries are paid in North America, with some roles such as account managers ($91-$100k or £54-59k) and social media directors ($101-110k or £60-65k) standing out. This contrasts with Europe and Australia where account managers earned between $61-$70k (£36-41k) and $51-$60k (£30-35k) in Latin America.
Salaries for top digital talent in Brazil remain above the rest of Latin America for many positions such as executive creative director, senior graphic designer, copywriter and front-end developer. But the gap is beginning to narrow given the economic strength of other markets in the region, such as Colombia.
Last year a senior Latin American producer could command between $41-$50k (£24-29k) compared with $71-$80k (£42-48k)in the UK and $101-$110k (£60-65k) in New York.
Europe highlights
Creative directors earned $126-$150k (£75-90k) in North America compared with $91-$100k (£54-59k) in Europe, $61-$70k (£36-41k) in Latin America and $111-$125k (£66-74k) in Australia.
While salaries for most key positions in Europe stagnated in 2013, the role of technical architect bucked that trend, rising more than 100% last year. APAC highlights
The Australian bull run of salaries in 2012 abated in 2013, with pay for producers, creative directors, graphic designers and copywriters declining last year.
Median pay for Australian executive creative directors fell from between $176-$200k (£105-120k) to $126-$150k (£75-90k)– the same as Europe. This reflects tightening margins on the continent, increased competition, with clients cautious over the direction of the economy keeping control of budgets.
Chris Buettner, SoDA’s executive director, said: “On a global level, most salaries analysed by SoDA were either stable or slightly up on 2013, despite the slow economic recovery in many regions. One of the reasons is that the world’s leading digital agencies and production companies are fighting hard to keep top talent from jumping ship to start-ups that offer high salaries and promise a golden lottery ticket.
“SoDA’s international growth over the past year has allowed us to segment the response data in more ways than ever before. In this year’s Salary Survey we are seeing pockets of salary inflation due to global demand for top talent in areas such as design, user experience, strategy and technical architecture.”
After generating more than £50million in revenue for its online retailer clients for the period of 2013, European affiliate marketing company, Optimus Performance Marketing (OPM), is closely monitoring the percentage of sales being generated for its top clients through different devices like computers, tablets and smartphones.
OPM specialises in generating greater sales for its collection of clients, with expertise in the area of dedicated affiliate programme management, affiliate marketing training and consultancy. The company works with a range of online retailer clients which fall under a vast array of different sectors including fashion, pharmaceuticals, jewellery, furniture, daily deal sites and visitor attraction sites.
Patterns spotted with regards to the fashion sector highlights that so far in 2014 there has been a significant increase in OPM’s clients making an increased number of sales through smartphone purchases. One of OPM’s biggest fashion retailer clients saw just 1.6% of its sales come through smartphones in 2013, yet since January smartphone purchases have accounted for 6.5%, indicating a 397% year on year increase in smartphone sales. A similar trend has emerged for a voucher site client of OPM, which has seen its sales generated through smartphone increase in percentage from 3% in 2013 to 22% this year, an increase of 735%.
After studying the results of two of the furniture brands on OPM’s roster, the company noted that one company’s sales generated by tablet device purchased had enhanced from 11.4% in 2013 to 17.6% so far in 2014 (a year on year increase of 153%). The second company had also seen a year on year increase of 134% for purchases made through tablets.
Looking at clients from a wider angle, with regards to the total revenue made in 2013, 81% of sales were generated through computer sales, whilst 16% came through tablet devices and 2% came through mobile. For the first two months of 2014, computers have produced 69% of client sales, with tablets accounting for almost a quarter of sales (24%) and almost 6% coming through smartphones.
Mark Russell, CEO of OPM, said: “We are constantly striving to improve our services to clients. One of the ways to do this is to monitor exactly how different sectors are making the most sales, and for which platforms they need to see improvement.
“From simply looking at the first two months of sales activity regarding some of our top clients, it is clear that 2014 is going to be a turning point with regards to more and more customers using their smartphones and mobile devices to make purchases.”
A major census has revealed that the door drop channel is continuing to see recovery across Europe and the UK and it remains a highly effective tool for marketers
The European Letterbox Marketing Association (ELMA) has published its third pan-European census of door drop media covering 22 markets and 180m households. The research found that the door drop market in Europe continued to recover from the recession with an increase of 2.2 per cent to 115 billion items in 2012. However, pressure on costs resulted in media spend falling marginally to €3.9bn; a decrease of 0.7 per cent compared to 2011.
Croatia was the only country to see an increase in the average number of door drops from 7 to 8 per week. The large economies of France, Germany and UK (244m items) all increased use of door drop, balancing the stabilisation and slight decline of volumes in the CEE and Scandinavian markets. UK households receive 5 door drops per week.
The largest volumes by country in 2012 continued to be Germany (23,300,000,000 million), France (21,177,000,000 million), Italy (12,000,000,000 million) and The Netherlands (11,020,000,000 million). The UK is ranked fifth with 7,214,000,000.
In a new development for the ELMA census, it looked at spend on door drop as a percentage of total advertising spend. The Nordic region, on the whole, allocates more spending to door drops with Denmark at 15%, followed by Finland (11%), France (9.6%) and Norway (8.1%). The lowest advertising spend on door drops is in the UK (1.5%), followed by Poland (1.8%) and Germany (2.0%).
Households in The Netherlands continue a three year trend of receiving the highest number of door drop items in Europe, although this fell by one to 35. Considerable distance remains between the highest and lowest users of door drop with Irish and Romanian households continuing to receive two, despite media spend on the medium rising in Ireland in the past year. The average number of items received by households across Europe remains 12.
Commenting on the research findings, Mark Davies, ELMA president and managing director of TNT Post DoorDrop Media UK, said: “The ELMA census confirms that the door drop sector in Europe has recovered from the recession but is experiencing pressure on price despite a welcome increase in volume.
“Our new data highlighting spend on door drops as a percentage of total advertising spend is illuminating and shows that the sector has to work hard to make its argument for a fair share of the advertising budget.
“Recent research from Experian, where 52% of household decision makers said door drops were the most important source of research about their purchases, followed by the internet at 24%, shows that door drop remains an, if not the most, effective tool for marketeers. It is our job to re-educate marketeers across Europe of the effectiveness and cost benefit of using door drops.”
ELMA represents the leading Pan-European distributors of print media, such as leaflets, flyers, catalogues, brochures, free newspapers and product samples. More than 130,000 people work for the companies within ELMA of which the vast majority are distributors. The aim of the association is to guarantee quality standards of member operations and promote the door drop channel.
Haymarket Media Group has chosen Air Business as their preferred service provider for a further five years based on excellent service and competitive pricing.
Air Business, the only global mail, distribution, fulfilment and integrated subscriptions management bureau, has been handling all of Haymarket’s 
international distribution and a section of their fulfilment since March 2012; they also handle freight and exhibition shipments. Coming up against strong competition in the tender process Air Business was chosen as Haymarket’s preferred supplier, for a further five years, based on the quality service they have provided for the past two years.
Gary Charlton, head of production and procurement for Haymarket, commented, “Air Business is a great supplier for us. When we moved our work to them two years ago, they promised that the delivery complaints we had would be greatly reduced and this has been the case. Of course competitive pricing is a great incentive, but we also take into account the service that they provide us, and ultimately our customers – the subscribers.Air Business has put a lot of effort into working with us on the service level agreement but the stand out from Air Business is the ability to deliver the final product to our customers.”
Adam Sherman, group managing director at Air Business, (pictured) commented: “Our customer support group have implemented a quality service over the last two years and we are delighted Haymarket Media Group has chosen us as their supplier for a further five years.”
Categories
Direct marketing gets personal
Kieran Kilmartin (pictured) looks at how much life is left in the classic channel.
The term ‘direct marketing’ often conjures images of mass mailers and other outdated, impersonal attempts by brands to reach their target audience. Today, brands that engage in this form of traditional direct marketing outreach are being eclipsed by marketers who use more innovative and personalised approaches. Ever evolving technology has created a plethora of channels for customers to communicate with brands, and the rapid shift in communications mediums has caused marketers to wonder: “is direct marketing dead?”
Dead? No. Being turned on its head? Yes.
Direct marketing is at a turning point and, as technology continues to change the way brands and consumers connect, the term becomes more relevant. For example, one monumental shift brought on by new technology is the “always-on consumer”, who is more digitally connected than ever before. As evidenced by the fact that nearly half of adults in the UK complete tasks on other devices while watching TV, connected consumers’ multitasking has opened the door to new marketing opportunities. This near constant connection provides brands with not only more customer touchpoints to build awareness of a brand’s product and message, but also with an increased amount of customer data that reaches across multiple channels. With an abundance of customer data available to brands, marketers can be smarter in how they approach customers and create a more personalised interaction that is closer to the true definition of the phrase “direct marketing”.
Informed interactions and personal relationships
Now, more than ever, customers expect personalised relationships with brands. To maintain customer loyalty and foster new customer relationships, direct marketing must shift to line up to meet these expectations or risk alienating customers who are tired of being treated impersonally.
While direct marketing’s new form is more challenging to master, when properly executed the benefits far exceed those of traditional push marketing campaigns, because customers are more accurately targeted with communications that speak to their specific needs. The engine that is driving direct marketing success today is Big Data and brands that are leveraging it to make sense of all of the data from their channels to pull customers in are breathing new life into their direct marketing campaigns.
That being said, while Big Data can provide the information necessary to create more direct, personalised interactions that customers demand, brands aren’t necessarily taking advantage of the opportunity at hand. Recent research shows only seven percent of marketing departments are taking control of Big Data, with a majority of its usage still residing in IT, which presents a huge market opportunity. Given the small percentage of marketing departments that are truly leveraging their data at present, brands that are able to explore and analyse all of the data at their disposal and turn insight into action will gain a distinct competitive advantage. However, the same research showed that organisations are not oblivious to utilising their data, as 53 percent of companies surveyed were using Big Data for customer relationship management. It’s apparent that brands are starting to recognise the shift in customer expectations and the importance of connecting with customers, but they have been slow to use data throughout the entirety of their marketing organisations.
With this recognised shift in brands’ customer communications, how can brands take advantage of the customer knowledge provided by Big Data to improve their marketing programmes?
As a starting point, brands should let these five key data-driven processes lead their customer communications:
- Understand the customer as an individual – Their preferences, event triggers and lifecycle with the brand
- Connect with the customer via multiple touch-points – Knowing customers’ habits surrounding those channels and which they prefer is key
- Micro-segment customer data – Enormous amounts of customer data may seem overwhelming but it enables refined segmentation based on customer behaviours, in turn allowing brands to ensure the message is relevant to each individual
- Plan automated, integrated, multi-stage, cross-channel initiatives that are informed by the above and are reactive to response rates. Rather than marketing ‘push’, brands are able to engage in conversation, pulling customers to the brand due to their unique needs.
- Monitor and measure – Marketing campaigns have used systems such as A/B testing to test the effectiveness of a campaign for years, so why wouldn’t brands do the same under the new definition of direct marketing. Using control groups can determine the most effective campaigns, which enables companies to measure response rates and success and continually improve on how customer data is being used.
The phrase direct marketing still sparks traditional push marketing concepts in the minds of many but, in reality, direct marketing is only just coming of age. This new form of direct marketing is more direct than ever, as it allows for an individual connection between brand and consumer. As new technologies continue to emerge, such as near field communications and advanced recognition technology, direct marketing will continue to shift and change to be more real-time and customised. Brands that embrace this new form of marketing and take full advantage of the benefits of Big Data to better understand their customers will come out on top.
Kieran Kilmartin is VP International Marketing, Pitney Bowes Software.
New research reveals that consumers’ patience has, in some cases, truncated from 10 days to 10 minutes in the space of a generation. It also shows
that men are generally more impatient than women.
Omnibus research commissioned by customer service specialists KANA Software reveals that the proliferation of digital devices and social networks has transformed British consumers’ tolerance of waiting times. What KANA calls the ‘expectation reflex’ has truncated, in a generation, responses measured in working days to a matter of minutes.
David Moody, head of worldwide product strategy at KANA, said: “Little more than a decade ago, 10 working days was the conventional commitment of businesses and organisations when responding to complaints; and also the span of consumer tolerance. This no longer applies.”
KANA asked a statistically representative sample of UK adults how frequently they checked for communication responses on their devices.
The key findings:
- Men are generally more impatient than women. Men will check a device for responses on average every 22 minutes, 30 seconds. Women will check every 26 minutes, 15 seconds.
- The 65+ age group checks devices more frequently than the 45-64-year-old group, reflecting the time they have available and their newly developed digital capabilities. This suggests digitally enabled pensioners will become the prolific and demanding complainants within five years.
- One-fifth of all social media users will check for a response at least once an hour, with one in 20 checking every 10 minutes or more.
The most frequently checked devices across all age groups:
- Email on smartphone – every 36 minutes
- Checking Twitter for replies – every 39 minutes
- Checking phones for texts – every 48 minutes
- Checking for missed calls – every 49.25 minutes
- Checking PC or laptop for email – every 54 minutes
- Checking Facebook for messages – every 57 minutes
- Checking voicemail – every 1 hour, 5 minutes
The frequency by age with which consumers check for responses on any device:
- 18-24: Every 9 minutes, 50 seconds
- 25-34: Every 9 minutes, 55 seconds
- 35-44: Every 21 minutes
- 45-54: Every 36 minutes
- 65-plus: Every 47 minutes
- 55-64: Every 1 hour, 30 minutes
KANA’s David Moody said: “In the past 10 years, organisations have lost the ‘time shield’ previously offered by postal services. The sense that a letter was on a journey and could be anywhere between the sender and the recipient has been lost. Our impression today is that as soon as we press send, ‘Mr or Ms Cosgrove in Complaints’ should be reading our complaint and working out how to respond. If we don’t hear back quickly, our impatience rises.”
He added: “Public-facing organisations have to recognise the adoption of social channels is truncating customer service processes. With smartphones acting as digital umbilical cords, the modern consumer is always connected. Unfortunately for service desks, ‘working days’ are an outdated concept.”
“Running a customer service operation is as complex as running air traffic control. Reductions in consumer tolerance can and should be met with a level of service that meets revised expectation. The technology already exists to support organisations that wish to monitor all channels and deal with queries and complaints in a rapid and personal fashion. Companies that don’t adjust their processes in the age of the adept digital consumer will be the losers.”
Additional findings
KANA’s polling also found that the average UK consumer has routinely used more than seven digital communication channels in the past year, challenging most customer-facing businesses. The explosion of social media platforms targeted at consumers in the past 10 years and ease of adoption are creating headaches for businesses as more consumers take to social platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, to seek help and air their grievances about poor service.
The average UK adult spends a ‘fraughtnight’ — or nearly two weeks — each year waiting for service, making complaints and using digital channels to direct their ire at companies that provide poor service.
The average UK consumer has used 7.4 channels of electronic communication in the past six months. Among18-to-24-year-olds, this figure rises to 8.4 channels. The figure is lowest in the 65+ age bracket, but even this age band uses 6.2 methods of electronic communication.
The poll found that an astonishing two weeks each year – equivalent to the amount of time typically taken for a summer holiday – are lost by every adult simply trying to get the service they need or expect from private and public sector organisations.
David Cole (pictured) shares the results of research undertaken last month. 
If you’re looking to place ads, run promotions or centre campaigns around World Cup match viewing in the UK, these consumer insights may help you to maximise the effectiveness of your budget.
It is worth bearing in mind that 47% of adults are not planning to watch the World Cup at all and three-quarters of these plan to watch other channels instead. So, if your target market includes non-fans, advertising/promoting around the strongest competing programmes could both save you money and help you to avoid clutter.
But 71% of those who are planning to watch the games, intend to take advantage of offers from brands they don’t normally use to enhance their viewing experience and to use the profitable betting tips for each game– a great opportunity for companies to achieve high levels of sampling.
When online research company fast.MAP asked a demographically-balanced panel of 2,500 adults in January about their plans to buy extra snacks, drinks and foods to enjoy around World Cup matches, firstly, we discovered that English fans have a pretty realistic view of our team’s chances of winning.
- 83% expect our elimination before the semi-finals and only 5% expect us to win.
- 26% expect England to be eliminated at the group stage and after that, a third will watch fewer matches. Half expect elimination before the quarter finals and a quarter of these will then stop watching.
- Overall, a quarter of those intending to watch will stop viewing once England is eliminated, but 43% will watch whatever happens.
So marketers who share this pessimistic view of England’s chances and are planning UK TV campaigns might want to capitalise on those early matches, because 75% plan to buy extra crisps, snacks and drinks to eat while viewing.
And meat and beer brands might want to tight-target football fanatics for the best chance of increasing sales, because the keener the football fan the more likely he/she is to buy beer and barbeque meat for World Cup games. Male football addicts under-34 are the most likely to try promoted brands. Altogether, 15% are planning barbeques.
The over-55s are least likely to buy extra food and drink; only 13% plan to buy for use before and13% for during games.
And carry-out food establishments should prepare for a World Cup take-away bonanza, because 40% plan to eat takeaways and 49% pizza, while viewing games.
Similarly, crisp, snack and drinks retailers would be wise to keep the shelves stacked because 75% plan to buy these (especially the 18 to 24s, a quarter of whom intend to consume them before and 4% during the game. 57% across all demographics will consume beer.
For more at-a-glance insights click here to view the fast.MAP World Cup Buying infographic.
David Cole is MD of online research company fast.MAP.