The IDM Business Performance Awards: Diamond and Facet Winners 2007
The quality of entries to the 2007 awards was exceptional. From turnarounds of failing brands to generating high levels of interest in worthy causes, the level of innovation was outstanding. The summaries below reveal truly excellent direct practice at work.
DIAMOND WINNERS
The top award, the much-coveted BPA Diamond, is reserved for the direct marketing programme judged to have made the most outstanding strategic contribution to overall business success.
BPA DIAMOND WINNER
Client: BBC TV Licensing
Agency: Proximity London
Campaign: TV Licensing Students Campaign
Over the course of the past four years, TV Licensing has targeted students with a multichannel campaign that has not only achieved record sales among students, but has also established buying a TV licence as the norm. The programme has involved educating the audience about the need for a licence, informing them of the consequences of evasion, and convincing non-payers that they really will get caught.
The activity begins on the day students arrive at university. Posters and leaflets are highly visible on campus, including in rooms and libraries.
Stands are taken at Freshers Fairs, with ongoing PR via student media. In addition, digital activity, including text, email, banners and content on student union websites, have been adopted. Students without a licence are mailed with escalating messages about the consequences. These are co-ordinated with visits from Enforcement Officers. Across the four-year period, results have steadily improved. From educational year 2003/04 to 2004/05, sales of student TV licences rose by 8 per cent, jumping by 24 per cent to 2005/06, with an ROI of 12:1. In the current year, a further 5 per cent rise has been achieved at the same ROI. Creative solutions have been found to tackle myths about TV licences, such as that nobody gets caught. Using research into these attitudes, it was recognised that students do not take the issue seriously.
Anti-humour was therefore adopted which raises expectations of a funny payoff, without delivering one. This delivered against the tag line, “It’s not funny watching TV without a licence.”
Evaluation was undertaken to isolate the effect of individual elements of the campaign, from background broadcast activity, via targeted direct mail, to Student TV programming and event stands, and additional field presence on campus.
Where all four components are used, purchasing rates are nearly twice those of single element activity, at an index of 1.90 to 1.00. A model has been developed to predict both sales and costs for future activity, allowing different media combinations to be optimised. The anti-humour approach is continuing, with user generated content being added. Awareness of the need to buy a TV licence now stands at an all-time high of 84 per cent.
The judges were impressed by the fresh and imaginative way of tackling a long-term problem shown by this programme. Insights into student consumption habits had been well applied. They praised the “well-constructed contact points around the student lifecycle”.
SILVER WINNER
Client: Picture Financial
Agency: Watson Phillips Norman
Campaign: "Put Yourself In The Picture"
Since launching in 2004, Picture has established itself as the number two brand in the overcrowded, highly competitive loans market. It has achieved this using a classic direct response model which has delivered a loans book worth £1bn in two years.
Picture’s positioning is to target secured personal loans to homeowners with a good credit history who want to consolidate their existing credit. Unlike many other brands in the market, it is not focused on sub-prime borrowers. The typical customer is aged 30 to 45, in a family unit with household income over £30,000, homeowners with heavy use of credit, but no defaults.
Research was used to develop a clear brand positioning which would work well in direct response. This was tested to allow the strongest elements to be identified. It was recognised that customers needed to feel that loan consolidation was normal and that Picture understood their needs.
An integrated media schedule was used, with propensity scorecards applied to direct mail activity. Response rates and loan acceptances have both grown over two years. The combination of insight, skilful media planning and the right messaging has driven Picture to become the second biggest player in this market. The judges were impressed by this stellar growth and its breakthrough in a crowded sector.
BRONZE WINNER
Client: Which?
Agency: Mike Colling & Co/Watson Phillips Norman
Campaign: Which? Subscriber Acquisition
Which? was seen by consumers as old-fashioned and focused solely on testing white goods. This was leading to a decline in new members and a need for radical change in its marketing approach, moving away from a prize draws to brand-led messages.
A five-stage solution was adopted. Research identified the needs of potential subscribers. New propositions were developed that, while brand-led, would stimulate response. A new media schedule was adopted, and a conversion route, making the phone the first point of contact.
Free guides to choosing products and services were offered via DR ads, in place of the mass mailed prize draw. Broadcast media were selected based on efficiency in reaching the target audience and generating response, together with the cost per contact/sale. Responders were offered a three-month trial of Which? at a reduced price.
Response volumes soared by up to ten times previous rates, with conversion rates of 30 per cent. ROI rose 3.5 fold over previous levels inside a year. The success of the DR allowed pure brand messaging to be applied to shift attitudes. Brand messages have achieved important uplifts in key values and attitudes towards Which?, as well as boosting already high response rates to direct marketing activities. The judges were impressed by this “relaunch of a tired product under pressure”.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Client: Hewlett Packard
Agency: Tidalwave
Campaign: Hewlett Packard UK Test Drive
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Client: Tesco Stores
Agency: EHS Brann
Campaign: Green Clubcard "Rewarding The Green Consumer"
The Facets
This is the collective name for the twelve awards under the sub-categories of Direct, Data and Digital. They are awarded in recognition of excellence in a specific marketing discipline.
Direct – Acquisition
Sponsored by Blue Sheep
Winner
Client: Which?
Agency: Mike Colling & Co/Watson Phillips Norman
Campaign: Subscriber Acquisition 2006
For the last ten years, Which? magazine had been suffering falls in subscriber numbers, rising costs to recruit new ones and declining ROI on its direct marketing. The prize-draw promotional mechanic was also worn out. Using consumer insight to understand barriers to subscription, a new brand-led communications programme was put in place.The results were seen in response rates ten times higher than had been previously achieved. ROI rose 3.5-fold in a year. The judges praised an integrated approach that “made the brand cooler with a great proposition and creative message”.
Runner up
Client: Oxfam
Agency: DraftFCB
Campaign: "I'm In"
Direct – Retention
Sponsored by Rumsey Short
Winner
Client: Carphone Warehouse
Agency: WDMP Communications
Campaign: Fashion Picker
With the success of the Motorola V3 Pink mobile phone, sole distributor Carphone Warehouse recognised the emergence of a new type of customer, more interested in the handset as a fashion statement than in its features. As part of an upgrade programme, attitudinal segmentation was used to understand drivers of the female 18 to 30 market.
A new communications programme, using Vogue-style illustrations, was introduced for these customers. This has driven a 233 per cent increase in sales compared to previous best-performing activity, drawing a response rate of 3.6 per cent and ROI of 3.58:1. The judges praised its “clever, involving, quirky approach” which shifted the market towards viewing phones as fashion accessories.
Runner up
Client: Cats Protection
Agency: TDA
Campaign: Kit e-mail Campaign
Direct – Creative
Sponsored by Barraclough Edwards Chamberlain
Winner
Client: Welsh National Opera
Agency: N/A (In-house)
Campaign: "If WNO Made You Cry Last Night"
With a target ROI of 10:1, customer retention is critical for Welsh National Opera, which sells 80 per cent of its tickets via direct mail. Having attracted new audiences with its production of La Boheme, the company wanted to reinforce the experience, especially as first-time opera-goers are often evangelical immediately afterwards. To capitalise on their memory of a powerful emotional experience, WNO created a new direct mail pack including specially-branded tissues. These carried details of the next suitable operas, Madam Butterfly and Carmen. The mailings were timed to drop the day following the performance which targets had attended. On booking, WNO offered to send a pack of tissues to a friend. Sales rose, huge word of mouth was generated, and the judges complimented this innovative and simple approach.
Runner up
Client: Navigator Response Advertising
Agency: Navigator Response Advertising
Campaign: Subbuteo Pack
Direct – Innovation
Sponsored by Archibald Ingall Stretton
Winner
Client: Welsh National Opera
Agency: N/A (In-house)
Campaign: "If WNO Made You Cry Last Night"
In its productions, WNO demands high standards to sustain its world-class reputation. In its marketing, despite modest budgets and tight schedules, similar high standards are also called for. To retain new customers gained from a production of La Boheme, WNO came up with an imaginative new mailing timed to arrive the day after a performance had been seen. Containing a branded pack of tissues, the mailing provided information on the next suitable productions – and an offer to send tissues to a friend if a booking was made. This established a platform for continued contact and service, offering advance programme ordering, pre-show talks and special Web-based features. The judges were impressed by a campaign which “captured a moment in time feeling of being at the opera”.
Data - Customer Insight
Sponsored by Alterian
Winner
Client: The Pension Service
Agency: N/A (In-house)
Campaign: Odyssey Customer Segmentation
As part of the Department for Work and Pensions, The Pension Service (TPS) manages the delivery of state benefits to 13 million pensioners. With a challenging transformation programme deploying an efficient and effective CRM model across the whole business, TPS needed a complex solution to drive a customer-centric operation. Overcoming legal hurdles on data sharing and working with third party suppliers, TPS was able to develop a customer segmentation solution across five dimensions that polarised its customer base into six groups and 65 subgroups. It has been able to align service levels and channels to customer need, ensuring TPS maximised customer benefit and experience while optimising expenditure.
Runner up
Client: GB Airways
Agency: EHS Brann Discovery
Campaign: The Privilege Programme
Data – Targeting
Sponsored by DQM Group
Winner
Client: Royal Mail
Agency: N/A
Campaign: Reaching Movers: Home Movers Mailing Service
Moving house is a major trigger for purchasing, with new home owners spending more in the first six months after a move than during the next five years. With 2.5 million households moving each year, this represents a major marketing opportunity, especially with 40 per cent registering for Royal Mail’s Home Movers Mailing Service, which redirects their post. By appointing data value management specialist DQM Group to manage the data, service and sales support, Royal Mail has been able to provide more sophisticated profiling, analysis and targeting, with extended attributes and the inclusion of business movers. Response levels are typically in double figures. The judges were impressed by national data used at a local level to deliver high redemption rates.
Runner up
Client: PDSA
Agency: EuroDirect
Campaign: Legacy Recruitment Mailing
Data – Innovation
Sponsored by EuroDirect
Winner
Client: LV=
Agency: CACI Ltd
Campaign: Optimising Marketing Strategy To Maximise Value Created
LV= has pilot tested a marketing optimisation engine, GSolve, from CACI prior to deciding on acquiring it for roll out. The system combines the client’s existing propensity models with genetic algorithms to select the optimal marketing plan. In the first phase, this was tested on two-months’ historical data, showing that sales increases of 165 per cent would have been possible. The second phase ran the solution across a random sample of prospects and compared results to a test group. The system led to sales increases of 295 per cent, with a 550 per cent increase in value created. The judges were impressed by the thorough piloting and commented on the great analytical concept and outstanding results.
Data - Best use of data in B2B marketing
Sponsored by EHS Brann Discovery
Winner
Client: Royal Mail
Agency: DQM Group
Campaign: Haymarket Drives Sales From Using Healthy Data
To grow its share of the marketing directory business, Haymarket Business Media recognised the need to update its existing business records and create a comprehensive database of all marketing suppliers. It chose the Royal Mail Data SURE process, developed with, and delivered by data value management specialist DQM Group to carry out a data audit, database enhancement and deduplication. Data SURE is a comprehensive bureau solution comprising data audit and profiling, suppression, updating, replacement and extension of data. Ongoing database maintenance is part of the new Data SURE programme.
Runner up
Client: Invitrogen
Agency: EMarket2
Campaign: Invitrogen
Digital – Acquisition
Sponsored by Experian
Joint Winner
Client: Monarch Airlines
Agency: Greenlight
Campaign: Natural Search Campaign
Despite heavy investment into Pay Per Click search advertising, Monarch Airlines had no previous endeavour into natural search and therefore its search engine visibility was limited. Greenlight researched historical search behaviour on budget flights to identify 500 keywords, from which a search optimisation programme was developed. The airline is now in positions one to three on Google for its primary search terms, traffic on its website has grown 80 per cent year-on-year, and natural search revenue is up 56 per cent, producing ROI of 360:1.
Joint Winner
Client: Automobile Association
Agency: Dare
Campaign: AA Car Insurance Trigger Email Programme
Drop-off rates between online insurance quotation and purchase is high. Email was used to reactivate previous non-completers – and to drive new prospects – using seven tailored messages. These emphasised The AA Team’s problem-solving approach using data gathered in the online quotation. The campaign achieved ROI of 11.7:1 over six months.
Digital – Retention
Sponsored by Concep
Winner
Client: GB Airways
Agency: EHS Brann Discovery
Campaign: The Privilege Programme
The only source of data available to GB Airways was via inflight surveys, providing rich personal data but no information on transactional value. By redesigning the survey, opt-outs were reduced and more opt-in email addresses captured. Analysis of the data identified six core groups, with second home owners the most valuable targets. GB Privilege was developed as a bespoke email programme for this group. Passengers who had not provided an email address were also targeted via direct mail. Tests showed that targeted, personalised emails were effective – generating £3.75 of revenue from every delivered email.
Runner up
Client: Tesco Stores
Agency: Forward
Campaign: Tesco Mum's Choice
Digital – Branding
Sponsored by WWAV Rapp Collins
Winner
Client: Avis Europe
Agency: OgilvyOne Worldwide
Campaign: "People Are More Important Than Cars"
Avis used service innovations suggested by its own employees to reinvigorate its slogan that “We Try Harder”. Websites with a high affinity for the target audience were chosen for high frequency hits on this group during their online week. Travel content areas were selected to ensure the audience was in a travel frame of mind. By moving from price to brand messages and respecting local language, the campaign was able to drive up unprompted brand awareness by 16 per cent and purchase intent by 20 per cent. Awareness of key brand and service attributes were also driven up among 8 million unique website users. The judges applauded the “desire to use digital as a cornerstone in a shift of the brand.”
Runner up
Client: Barclays
Agency: Dare
Campaign: Barclays Premiership - Win A Contract
Digital – Creative
Sponsored by CHI & Partners
Winner
Client: COI/Home Office
Agency: Profero
Campaign: Child Protection On The Internet: "Smart Online, Safe Offline"
To keep pace with changing technology and audience sophistication, creative approaches about online safety have to keep evolving. Building an online network of friends is important to the target audience of 11 to 14 year olds, which can lead to poor judgements about who they are meeting. In the campaign, an innocent yellow smiling emoticon masked a predatory figure in differing scenarios depicting the damaging effects of giving strangers personal information. Some 105 million impressions were generated with a 1.73 per cent click through rate. In research, eight out of ten of the audience said they understood the risks and 532,000 children are safer online.
Runner up
Client: Oxfam
Agency: DraftFCB
Campaign: "I'm In"
