MBA Geek

I came across a really amusing marketing piece by the Weetabix Food Company where an advert on TV shows them using a minimising gun to make their mini Weetabix and the operator accidentally gets minimised. The advert encourages you to help Find Nigel by visiting a purpose built website. The website guides you through a few inane games, but always reinforcing the chocolately goodness that the new Weetabix Mini have. I thought it was a really good and cohesive marketing piece which immerses the viewer in an experience that would be too hard and expensive to convey by TV alone.

Obviously, different products would have different ways of encouraging action from views. A company selling information and cures for Mesothelioma cancer for example, would find it pretty hard to engage in this way. But for FMCG tyle products (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) I thought this was a genius campaign, both in its viral aspects and in terms of the depth of consumer immersion.

Great work guys!

I was thinking about my previous post, which was about our recent visit to Butlins and was thinking about the pointers that I picked up from the trip. I think the major take away was the success of Marketing as an encompassing function. You see, many organisations see marketing as a means to an end, a way to get clients through the door, a way to attract their attention. The great thing about our experience seemed to be the fact that marketing seemed to be engaged with the entire customer experience.

Does this mean that marketing should dictate how a company is run? Well, it depends. If the merits of your company isn’t based around the customer’s experience, then maybe not. For example, selling industrial equipment supplies is more than the customer experience. It’s about reliability and performance. But, if on the other hand, you’re engaged in delivering a valuable experience to your customers, then marketing SHOULD dictate the where and the wherefores of how the service is run.

What do you think?

We spent a weekend at Butlins in Skegness recently and it was interesting to see some of the things their marketing team and strategy have put in place. Here are some great things I saw:

• Focusing on the target market: First of all, who are the target market at Butlins? Well, they have a number of segments they attract, but each of these was catered for individually. If you’re a kid, there’s a whole selection of things to do. If you’re a parent, there are loads of things to keep your kids amused and give you some space. If you’re into live entertainment, there’s something new every evening. If you’re into gambling, there’s a whole selection of slot machines and bingo you can lose yourself in.
• Deliver: The delivery of the service Butlins provide is excellent. Do they provide accommodation? food? entertainment? In part, yes; but the real deliverable is a complete holiday experience. Everything I saw was aimed at delivered a great experience to the holiday makers, from the hassle-free check-in, through the selection of entertainment options, all the way to the cordiality and approachability of the staff. For example, when there’s entertainment put on in the evening, a number of staff members are present who’s sole role is to entertain the kids. This means that the kids have a great time, and so do the parents because they don’t have to hassle about keeping their kids in check or worry what they are doing.
• Leverage the great experience: I think the greatest takeaway though was the fact that Butlins will try to keep their customers engaged and encourage them to book their next holiday while they are still there. There’s no better way to sell something to a client! There are reminders around the complex offering incentives if you book your next holiday and I could have sworn that these changed on the last day to “If this is your last day, you might want to book your next holiday”

All in all, an enjoyable stay at Butlins, and some great lessons learnt.