Manchester-based advertising agency, Red C, has been commissioned to undertake a ‘brand refresh’ exercise for Wolseley UK’s ‘Center’ brands. The brand refresh exercise will see new logos and collateral designed for Plumb Center, Parts Center, Pipe Center, Climate Center, and Drain Center. As part of the initiative Red C was also asked to rebrand the Integrated Supply business to Integrated Services, complete with a new logo.

Wolseley UK is the UK operating company of Wolseley plc, the world’s number one distributor of heating and plumbing products. Speaking about the rebranding exercise Julie McLean, Head of Marketing for Plumb and Parts Center, who was part of the project commented: “We wanted an evolution not a revolution as we were building on our high brand equity and the trust our customers have in each of our individual brands. This was a very important project to get right and we knew we could trust Red C to understand that and deliver for us, and they didn’t disappoint.”

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For an online retail store the top spot of a search engine results page for any product you sell is the holy grail of online marketing, it is like having the prime spot on the high street or the biggest and best shop in the mall. Of this lucrative cherry there are also two bites, organic and paid listings.

One online company seems to have achieved this lofty goal in fairly short order, namely one worldstores.co.uk.

In an apparently shrinking market of home and garden furniture Worldstores.co.uk is thriving and last year boosted revenue by 70%. So how did they do this?

First some background information.

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I have a real love/hate relationship with those emails that pop into my inbox before I even open my eyes in the morning, tempting me to must-buy experiences, weekends away and 10 vibroplate sessions.  These emails may appear harmless, but the promise of self-improvement and gourmet food just proves too hard to resist for me!  And such is the reason for Groupon’s success…

The name Groupon comes from the term “group” and was developed by now CEO, Andrew Mason in 2008.  It grew out of a website called The Point, where you can start a campaign and ask people to participate and deliver action because of the strength in numbers.  Just as the campaigns need a ‘tipping point’ of people to become viable, Groupon needs a certain number of buyers to make the deals valid.  This collective buying gives us the access to the deals which just seem too good to be true.

To date Groupon serves 500 markets and 44 countries.

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Thursday 17th November 2011- why is this such a significant date you may ask? Well I shall tell you. At approximately 11pm on that very day, at the Ramada Jarvis, Manchester, Red C won an MI award for the Best Retail Marketing Strategy on Jessop’s! Whoop! Celebrations all round. You may be thinking that’s fab but what does it mean? Why were we worthy of this win? Well as you read through this you’ll find out the intricate details of what a winning retail marketing strategy involves….

Who are Jessops?
Jessops is the UK’s largest specialist photographic retailer with 208 stores. Visit any of these to enquire about a camera and you’ll leave furnished with a wealth of knowledge and insight about the product in question. However, Jessops’ emails didn’t exude the same enthusiasm, expertise, personality or product range that they offered. This was a key factor in the failure of their emails to convert sales, especially when combined with a design that was dull and uninspiring. In a crowded marketplace, having enthusiastic staff with this level of expertise can be a key differentiator for customers. Jessops needed to make effective use of their emails to communicate this to their database of customers.

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Day two of the ECMOD Direct Commerce Show started with a session entitled ‘Increase your revenue by recovering lost sales’.  Abandonment in the sales cycle is something I know a little bit about as it’s something that I’ve spoken with my clients about several times over the years.  However, I wanted to use this session as a reminder of its potential power and perhaps pick up a new statistic or tactic.

Increase your revenue by recovering lost sales – Dominic Edmunds, Salescycle

The session with Dominic Edmunds from SalesCycle was a little like a sales pitch but putting to that one side, the content of the presentation was extremely thought provoking.  Firstly, a new statistic, which I’m convinced I’ll be quoting several times over the next week or so.  Apparently, MarketingSherpa have recently announced that 60% of shopping carts are in fact abandoned…  can you image the lost revenue figure associated with such a figure!?

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We have a rule at Red C.  If you attend an event, seminar or conference you must share your learnings and experiences with your colleagues and clients via a blog article.   So here is my report on Day 1 of the ECMOD Direct Commerce Show.

Power Panel – Where is the growth?

Speakers; Aamir Ahmad, MD, Dwell; Gerald Dawson, CD, Long Tall Sally; Kevin Hague, Partner, M8; Joe Murray, Founder, Worldstores; Nigel Swabey, CEO, Scotts & Co; Nick Wheeler, Chairman, Charles Tyrwhitt

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So here we are, three months in, and Red C has had me unleashed upon them without the safety net of my predecessor Anna Chan around to guide me. Though whilst I’m holding my breath and wishing myself luck, I think I’m going to be alright.

Here’s why:

1. The people I’m working with are ace. They are funny, clever and helpful

2. Holiday treats, birthday treats, leaving treats…there’s always some kind of sweet treat on offer, not to mention the decent coffee. Suddenly 7am starts don’t seem so bad

3. It’s a bit of a cliché but I can honestly say I’m learning something new thing every day

I remember when I first started searching for a placement last year and thinking that just getting one was what counted. Now I realise actually just how important getting the right one was. And I certainly found that at Red C.

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Last week I was one of several people who have a passion for Direct Marketing who were asked to do a talk on behalf of TNT about direct marketing in the digital age. One of my fellow speakers certainly won the prize for the brightest pants… bright red… and with his boundless energy and positivity you’d be forgiven for thinking he was a children’s entertainer!

As well as winning the prize for the brightest pants on the day, Stephen Shaw from BlippAR also won the prize for totally exciting me creatively with the BlippAR iPhone app which takes Augmented Reality to a whole new level. Launched in the summer of 2011, BlippAR is a free smartphone app that uses the in-built camera to recognise things in the real world and instantaneously provides you with digital connections, information or interactive entertainment on your phone screen.

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Pot Noodle... it's what students live off you know!

It’s been a month since I completed my placement at Red C, and I’m back studying at university. I’m back into student life, which, in case you’re wondering, doesn’t just mean sitting around eating beans on toast and watching Doctors on daytime TV. But it does feel  strange as the reality of returning to university as a final year student is a far cry from what I imagined it to be. Whilst I’m sat in a stuffy lecture hall struggling not to fall asleep from the lecturer’s monotonous voice, making notes about theory models, I can’t help but think back to my time at Red C and think how different it was.

I find myself missing the hectic bustle of the office, the ringing phones, even having to check through all the email links. It’s then I realise just how much Red C has changed me, motivated me and inspired me. When I look around at the other students who didn’t complete a placement, I can’t help but feel they’ve missed out. I feel my time at Red C was invaluable in helping me develop and for setting me on course to achieve my goals in advertising.

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Manchester agency Red C has won a two year email marketing contract from high-speed rail operator Eurostar.  The agency was chosen from among 15 agencies following a multi-stage pitch process. The remit is to assist Eurostar in the strategic development of their pan-European email marketing and to deliver a suite of email communications for the UK, France and Belgium.

Following the recent deregulation of the European passenger rail market, Eurostar is implementing a number of changes to it business in preparation for the arrival of direct on-rail competitors for the first time.  The appointment of Red C is part of this programme as the company wanted to work with a single agency to help develop a unified and coherent approach across all markets.

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