Choosing the right Roadmap for your campaign.
With the Government recently announcing a roadmap to ease England out of lockdown it might seem that things will start to return to ‘normal’ in life and also in Marketing. But will it really be ‘normal’? We asked some of our team for some of the changes that promoters might need to consider now.
The prize is right?
Our Head of Operations, Rina Gandhi, believes that regardless of the core creative idea, if the prize is wrong, the campaign will fail. Holidays, experiences, music events, tickets to festivals were all incredibly popular prizes in the past which have had to be totally side-lined over the past year.
The challenge now is how to satisfy the consumers’ wanderlust and give winners what they’ve been missing out on, whilst remaining cautious just in case things don’t go well.
The gradual easing of lockdown by 21st June does not automatically mean that we will be free of COVID-19 or even that the leisure and entertainment industries will resume a normal service. From 12th April self-catering accommodation is set to reopen in England and international travel can hopefully restart from 17th May but these are not guaranteed dates.
Overseas travel may still require virus testing or a vaccine passport – something that is still under consideration by many countries. Cyprus for example will allow British travellers who’ve been vaccinated to enter from May 17th, and Saga have announced that all of its 2021 travellers must be fully vaccinated too. Vaccine passports might even be necessary for entrance to venues or sports stadiums. Our Legal Team think that determining if a winner has had a vaccine and can travel would become something of a legal minefield and is best avoided for now.
So Rina’s advice is that for the time being offer prizes that have proved most popular during lockdown; cash, online vouchers, or tech items such as PlayStation 5s or smart TVs, phones, and home devices. If a promoter really does want to give away a ‘once in a lifetime’ star prize such as a holiday or experience she advises to allow a long usage period in the Terms. We are currently working on a Wyke Farm cheese brand promotion and the prizes are to win tickets to Glastonbury Festival in 2022 when the organisers expect things to have returned to normal.
The B-Word – Brexit
The Operations team are finding Brexit is also having a negative effect on our work for clients. Fulfilling prizes for winners in the EU can be prone to complex documentation and customs delays and often requires great care to avoid the lucky winner in France finding themselves with 100Euro VAT or import tax bill ! This all means additional expense, time, and administration at our end and a possible impact on the usual 28 day limit for winners receiving their prize. Our advice for those running pan-European campaigns is to offer cash payments or online vouchers that can be used overseas (except in Italy where cash/vouchers are not allowed!) . Even sending prizes from England to Northern Ireland can incur additional taxes and customs problems due to its border arrangements with the EU /Republic of Ireland, and a full tax declaration is required for items that are valued over £135.
Brexit has also uncovered some unusual quirks. For instance, we now need to be clear if the residents of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands can enter a promotion when we write the Terms & Condititions sincethese islands are neither part of the UK or the European Union.Our Legal and Operations team will consider all of these aspects carefully when planning promotions.
Is online the answer?
Since lockdown, many promoters have moved their campaigns from instore to social media but it’s now time to consider if that is still the best place to target a specific audience
The Government is hoping that non-essential retail, hairdressers, and gyms will reopen from 12th April and whilst it will be a long time before social distancing rules are relaxed enough to take shopping experiences back to pre-COVID levels, bricks and mortar might be a better solution for some. The high street and supermarkets will do all they can to win back their customers – and an instant win promotion can be one of the simplest ways to encourage them into stores.
Or perhaps your e-commerce presence needs to be bolstered to retain the online customers gained during lockdown? A prize promotion on a brand website or social pages can help retain loyalty and encourage sales. These are all changes that our team are happy to discuss with you as you navigate your campaigns in the new normal.
To find out more about what’s next for retail and instore marketing why not join our Shopper Marketing webinar on 17th March. PromoVeritas have gathered together three of marketing’s top experts to share their research and opinion on what will get shoppers into stores in 2021. You will hear from Professor Gareth Harvey, of “Christmas at Lidl” fame who consults on consumer psychology to Kraft, Tesco, Unilver and Cadbury. He will be joined by the head of Savvy Marketing and also the CEO of WPP’s The Store – the global shopper agency.
