Posts Tagged ‘BEcause Australia’

Last weekend the BEcause Australia team launched a sponsorship activation for Australian Power & Gas.

The energy retailer is a proud sponsor of the Richmond Tigers Football Club in Melbourne.  For our Northern Hemisphere readers, this is Aussie Rules Football.

The campaign, called ‘Bringing out the Tiger in You’, focuses on engaging Tigers fans at the “Before the Pounce” family events hosted in Melbourne before key home games.

The first event was a great success.  Within the Australian Power & Gas Dome, children were encouraged to ‘show us the power of their roar’ by having their face painted as a tiger and taking to the stage to give their best roar. Video footage of these roars was streamed to screens within the dome for all to see. The best clips then featured in Australian Power & Gas’s half-time 30 sec TVC that very same day. The ‘power of each roar’ was also logged on a ‘roar-o-meter’, with the most powerful ‘roarer’ winning the chance to appear as the Tigers mascot.

The Australian Power & Gas Facebook page was revamped by the BEcause team to support this activity.  Fans could track activity, look at the best photos and were invited to view video edits.

The support from the Tigers fans clearly worked, as Richmond beat the Demons by 59 points!

1. Know your agency

The best integrated campaigns invariably come from those agencies that work with a blend of strategic, planning and creative talent. Recognise that your agency may want to challenge corporate norms, so check internally how you can push the boundaries and consider what parameters could be flexed in delivery terms. Are new things really not possible, or have you never asked? If you need support selling in new concepts to other areas of the business, ask your agency for advice and support in doing this. They want it to happen as much as you.

2. Understand the difference between a big idea & a big reality

Excellence in delivery does not start once a project moves into the ‘let’s make it happen’ stage. It starts in the boardroom when appraising ideas. An experienced brand experience agency should quickly be able to tell you what big experiential idea on paper, won’t translate in practice… and sometimes vice versa.

3. Be the consumer

The idea came from a consumer insight, shouldn’t the execution? Pre-empt from a consumer’s point of view what could detract from a positive brand experience. No you can’t do anything about the weather, but you can help ensure….

- that you’ve contingency planned

- your experience accommodates different engagement levels

- any staff or brand ambassadors passionately know what they’re talking about

- you’re responsive to feedback and learning’s

4. See things with your own eyes

Whatever the experience you’re looking to create, ensure you’ve experienced the touch point for yourself. This may involve a site visit, a rehearsal bump in/out, revisiting the supermarket aisle with your work hat on, immersing yourself in a new social media tool before your use it. Seldom can you deliver a seamless experience, if you’ve never experienced it yourself before.

5.  Empower your front line staff

Whether they be face-to-face Brand Ambassadors, social media community managers or a sales rep, give them the tools they need to be knowledgeable, enthusiastic and pragmatic. Immerse them in the brand, the campaign and the execution detail. That way they will communicate with consumers in a way that is genuine, and they will be able to exercise common sense when improving the delivery of an experience.

At BEcause, we have considerable experience helping brands both plan and execute effective integrated marketing campaigns. And we know that brilliant delivery is all about brilliant teamwork – across every aspect of our business and yours.

 

Anna Bradshaw, Account Director at our Sydney based office, takes a look at one of Australia’s top integrated campaigns of the moment, and applauds the unsung heroes behind the campaign’s execution.

Going into any branch of Coles, Woolies or your local convenience store in recent weeks, you couldn’t help but notice the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign, featuring different first names printed on bottles of Coca-Cola.

In the first phase of the campaign which launched in the Autumn, Australians could pick up a personalised bottle, or buy a can and get it personalised at one of 18 Westfield shopping centres.  Widely supported by out of home and social media, the campaign quickly captured the imagination of local consumers.  A second phase had over 30,000 fans voting on the next 50 names to release, results were announced in mid-December, and those winning names have already been on shelves throughout this month.

At first, like many others, I was struck by the genius of such a simple idea. It taps wonderfully into the brands iconic nature and people’s love of personalisation. In doing so, it invigorates the brand keeping it top of mind whilst also being a strong sales driver which doesn’t erode value.

But then I went on to thinking that though this is a simple idea – as is all too often the case with integrated brand experiences – making them happen isn’t all that simple.

The unsung heroes of this campaign are the print, production, logistics and supply chain departments. A great idea poorly executed, goes back to being a weak idea – the devil is in the detail. This campaign would fall flat if the labels were a significantly different quality to that of the real thing, or the time lag between the names being decided upon and them appearing in-store was too great, or if the different names weren’t evenly distributed across the country.

This is a truly integrated campaign which works not only across different consumer touch-points, but also across different client and agency disciplines.

It’s a lesson for all brand teams.  If ever you find yourself thinking “great idea, but I’m not sure we’d get our Operations team on board to make it happen”, be willing to challenge that mindset.

Good agencies can certainly deliver great integrated ideas.  But excellence in integrated delivery can’t come solely from them.  The key is getting all areas of your company working in tandem if you want your marketing to fizz and not fall flat.

Having spent the last 5 years in a senior role at BEcause London delivering campaigns for leading FMCG brands, Meredith Cranmer has recently returned to her native shores to head-up our new Australian office. We talk to her about her career at BEcause, Aussie culture and her perspectives on conversation marketing.

Tell us a bit about your time with BEcause and what led you to set up the Australian office.

I started with BEcause in 2006, working with Scottish & Newcastle (now Heineken) on The Biggest Round campaign, and I’m still very proud of what we achieved. It was a massive learning curve that involved large-scale activations and a high level of understanding on how to get the best out of field staff. Since then I’ve worked with a diverse range of clients that includes Durex, Oxfam and Perrier (whom I got to take to an exclusive event in Ibiza…a definite highlight of my time at BEcause so far). In the back of my mind I’ve always fancied being part of starting an agency, but also wanted to get back to the southern hemisphere. Life has a funny way of taking a turn and creating opportunities for you. Sydney is an amazing city, so beautiful and with a lovely vibe.

What have you got planned at the Australian office? Any exciting projects coming up that you can mention?

We are currently settling in to our office space in Surry Hills. I can’t reveal any names of new clients yet, but with summer coming up we are working on some exciting event concepts which definitely make the most of the Sydney summer sun!

Which BEcause campaign are you most proud of and why?

Ahh, so many to choose from. But the one that stands out in recent memory is the Eurostar ‘Highspeed Theatre’ at the Start festival last year which was six weeks from concept to activation. Taking serious messages like sustainability and bringing them to life in a fun and engaging way via theatre provided a great example of why brand experience is such an effective conversation tool.

Which brand would you most like to work with and why?

Can I be cheesy and say Apple? Not only do I love the products, but it’s a great example of an ‘experience’ brand. They have thought about the consumer across every touch-point.

Which Australian campaign has been the most inspiring to you recently?

Probably not a campaign as such, but Sydney recently staged the most amazing festival called Vivid. The city was taken over after dark by spectacular interactive light installations and projections, awesome music and creative workshops. The highlight was definitely the immersive light projections on the Sydney Opera House sails.

 

What are the cultural differences (if any) between Australian and UK consumers and how do you tailor your approach to suit?

I think the primary difference relates to lifestyle and this is heavily influenced by the weather. People in Australia really value the outdoor life and being active, it’s no wonder they are so good at sport! On the flipside I think the UK weather means that we spend more time together inside so some of our interests are more culturally-based. On a deeper human level we all have the same wants and needs, whether that’s spending more time with friends and family, to fall in love, have less of a commute and so on. The key is to understand different ‘tribes’ of people on a local level – where they live and what their interests and motivations are.

Why is conversation marketing the best way for brands to build reputations?

As a brand owner I think you have to understand that conversations are happening all the time, both good and bad. Why wouldn’t you want to join the conversation so you can listen and learn, address the bad conversations and build on the good? Conversation marketing helps brands stay in touch with what their consumers are saying and actively encourages two-way dialogue. By listening and responding you are in a much better position to influence the way your brand is perceived and spoken about.

Email Meredith here or check our website for details on how to get in touch with BEcause Australia.

This month at BEcause, we’re proud to announce that we’ve opened our first overseas offices in Sydney and Moscow as we start to grow our global network.  An office in South Africa is to follow shortly.

BEcause Australia is headed up by Meredith Cranmer, a local Antipodean and former Senior Account Director in the agency’s London office.

Based in Surry Hills, Sydney, BEcause Australia will offer a full range of experiential marketing services to domestic and international brands throughout the region.  Services on offer will range from simple sampling campaigns to fully immersive, live brand experiences – amplified as required through digital and social media channels.

BEcause Russia has been created under the leadership of Igor Gusev, formerly Marketing Director at Unilever (Russia & Ukraine).  Based in the heart of Moscow, the office will draw on the local talents of a diverse range of marketing partners to create bespoke teams for any experiential, digital or social media campaign targeting Russian consumers.

Sharon Richey, Founder and CEO of BEcause, comments:

“We have big ambitions for BEcause on the global stage, and these are the first of a number of new international offices we’re looking to open.  We live in an increasingly globalised world, and a growing international network will ensure we’re right on top of global trends and cultures – as well as sharing learnings and new ways of doing things.  At the same time, we know that activating in a local market works best when working with local talent.  We’re keen to talk to more ambitious boutique agencies and partners overseas who would like to be part of the BEcause global network.”

Meredith Cranmer, Head of BEcause Australia, comments:

“Although we’re a new name in Australia, we’re backed by one of the biggest names in experiential marketing in the UK, and that gives us a real edge out here.  Having worked with a host of big global brands such as Pampers, Heineken and Durex, we know what it takes to get people talking.  I’m relishing the chance to introduce BEcause’s distinctive blend of creativity and experience to Australian brands and consumers.”

Igor Gusev, Head of BEcause Russia, comments:

“Experiential marketing in Russian is still a relatively new discipline, so the potential for growth here is huge.  BEcause Russia will bring together the diverse talents of local agencies such as Voskhod, Redkeds, Advant, 4DPR, Brand Mobile, BTL Marketing and Advant to create a unique, multi-disciplinary experiential offering.  And because we’re backed by the global resources of the BEcause network, clients will be guaranteed an exceptional level of creative thinking and delivery.”

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