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Week ending - Friday 29 March 2002 Supplied by http://www.brandrepublic.com This week's top stories: MVC selects Heresy to oversee £5m CRM task John Lewis hires first marketing director for national branding push Renault picks Dialog as sole UK DM shop TfL hires Triangle to push capital’s congestion tax Callaway Golf job for ‘revolutionary’ ball goes to CHJM News stories from the last 4 weeks MVC selects Heresy to oversee £5m CRM task By Ravi Chandiramani - LONDON (Marketing) The Music and Video Club (MVC) has handed its £5m through-the-line account to Heresy as it prepares to step up its CRM activity. The entertainment retailer has opted to shift the bulk of its adspend away from standard advertising towards leveraging its seven million-strong customer database. The move is part of a broader strategy to stave off increasing competition from the major supermarkets and take on market leader HMV. MVC previously used Roose & Partners as its advertising agency. “Our mission is not to be a trendy brand, but to understand what really motivates our customers,” said MVC’s marketing director Louise English. “Heresy will work on our complete brand proposition, but the key strengths to us are its CRM capabilities.” Part of the brief will be to overhaul MVC’s membership card scheme. It plans to expand the scheme by linking up with third parties to incentivise MVC customers with special offers such as concert tickets and film previews. The retailer is also aiming to increase the proportion of sales through its web site mvc.co.uk, as well as StreetsOnline, which it acquired last year. MVC currently has 89 stores across the UK and holds 6% of the entertainment retail market. It was demerged from retail group Kingfisher last July and is now part of the Woolworths group. English said TV advertising would be confined to a pre-Christmas campaign. Heresy, which is part of the Chime group, picked up the business in a pitch against Proximity and KLP Euro RSCG. “MVC’s realised its best interests lie in forming closer relationships with its existing customers, and we’re keen to make it pay off,” said Shaun McIlrath, Heresy’s creative director, who led the pitch with former BT head of advertising Tim Patten. [back to top] John Lewis hires first marketing director for national branding push By Jennifer Whitehead - LONDON (Brand Republic) John Lewis, the largest department store group in the UK, has appointed its first head of marketing, Murray Hennessy, as it prepares for a major shake-up of its brand with a new nationwide focus. Hennessy will take up the role of marketing director in April. He is currently managing director of John Lewis Direct, the direct selling arm of the group, a role which he will retain alongside his new post. John Lewis says the move is part of wider changes at the group, which will see it move from being a regional to a national brand. It is rebranding existing shops, adjusting trading hours, refurbishing major stores and introducing a new corporate identity. Hennessy will oversee the group's existing marketing function, which includes the direct marketing department. John Lewis has been slow to embrace modern marketing methods and only launched its first branding campaign not linked to a specific store in 1996, with a series of posters by Court Burkitt, now Burkitt DDB, which remains the retailer's retained agency. Hennessy said: "The need to keep up momentum and innovate is paramount and I look forward to the developments that are ahead." He reports to Luke Mayhew, managing director of John Lewis Department Stores. The John Lewis Partnership operates 26 department stores across the UK and, along with its 136 Waitrose supermarkets, the group has a turnover of £4bn. [back to top] Renault picks Dialog as sole UK DM shop By Mark Kleinman - LONDON (Marketing) Renault has handed Publicis Dialog a three-year contract to be its sole UK direct marketing agency. The appointment formalises a relationship that has seen Dialog carrying out project work for the French car-maker during the past two years. It also cements the Publicis group’s ties with Renault, with Dialog’s sister agency Publicis responsible for the car-maker’s £70m above-the-line spend. The appointment is a recognition of Dialog’s previous work and is designed to give consistency to Renault’s DM communications. Recent work by Dialog for Renault has included a DM push to promote its range of diesel models and a campaign to launch its Trafic van to the small business and fleet market. Renault’s models include the Scenic, Clio, Megane and Laguna.Earlier this year, it attempted to move the brand upmarket with the launch of the Vel Satis estate saloon and the Avantime, a coupe/ multi-purpose vehicle hybrid. Launching next month, the Vel Satis will sell at between £20,000 and £30,000. Last November, Renault lost its chief European marketer, Thierry Dombreval, to rival Toyota as the Japanese manufacturer’s senior vice-president of sales and marketing. Dombreval was replaced at Renault by UK managing director Benoit Marzloff, who became head of marketing for the Renault group and a member of the company’s management committee. The company has a UK market share of around 7%, behind Ford and Vauxhall. Dialog’s appointment was overseen by communications director Chris White and direct marketing and promotion manager Julie Montgomery. [back to top] TfL hires Triangle to push capital’s congestion tax LONDON (Marketing) Transport for London has appointed Triangle Communications to promote its controversial congestion charging scheme to the capital’s motorists. The scheme was given the go-ahead by mayor Ken Livingstone earlier this month, and will see a £5 levy imposed on drivers entering a specified zone within central London. Triangle will be responsible for developing a major public information campaign, along with TBWA\London, which was earlier this month appointed to handle above-the-line work. Estimates suggest the total marketing spend is likely to be up to £15m. Media will be handled by PHD. [back to top] Callaway Golf job for ‘revolutionary’ ball goes to CHJM LONDON (Marketing) Callaway Golf is launching a major relationship marketing push in a bid to make its ‘revolutionary’ new golf ball the preferred brand among the sport’s enthusiasts. The firm is launching the HX ball with an integrated campaign through Claydon Heeley Jones Mason. The work depicts hexagonal holes in a series of unlikely situations, suggesting that because the HX ball can travel further than the average golf ball, it has the power to break through distant objects. The campaign is backed by ambient activity such as stickers placed on cars parked at golf clubs. The notes say ‘Sorry about your windscreen’ and advise people to try out the HX ball. [back to top] News stories from the last 4 weeks: |
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