Kaizo has been shortlisted for Best Consumer Relations Campaign at the CIPR Excellence Awards 2013, for its work with Fitbit, and for two awards at the 2013 Gold and Platinum SABRE Awards.

SABRE Award nominations are for Best Consumer Electronics campaign (Fitbit: Rise of the ‘Fit-Brit’) and Best UK campaign (Unilever VIP: Proving a Social Community Can Be Commercial).

Good luck Fitbit and Unilever teams!

The need to prove their value has compelled PR practitioners to hone their skills to a point where those following the correct ideology can have a demonstrable positive effect on clients’ business.

It is undeniable that marketing and PR spend is under more scrutiny than ever before. Clients are under pressure to prove tangible value to the business, and historically this has been a challenge for PR and earned media. However, it has actually been a force for good, compelling agencies and clients to question how activity is actually having an impact on the business.

It’s created even more valued partnerships, and helped move PR away from being a ‘nice to have’ budget-line item to a ‘must have’ activity.

Of course, it isn’t simple and different brands in different sectors will measure and monitor in different ways. A consumer electronics brand selling through Amazon is different from a B2B brand selling complex IT systems. The sales cycles, channels, cause and effect and timeframes are quite different.

However, there are four mantras that we believe help to deliver.

Sales cycles start and end through compelling stories and conversations

We start at the very beginning of the customer journey. What conversations do we need to be stimulating; what questions do we need to answer; how do we position the brand; and how best do we promote the product? When do we need to surprise; and when do we need to sell?

For Truvia sweetener, our Voyage of Discovery event on the roof of Selfridges told the story of the brand and its main ingredient, stevia, to consumers, retailers and partners. It created a potential customer base for well-executed ATL advertising to exploit when the product hit the shelf.

Communities are sales generators, not just ‘likes’ on a page

Although there continues to be a, perhaps unhealthy, fascination with the number of likes and followers a brand has, many are starting to see their social-media fans as more than just numbers. Conversations with these communities are starting to be valued as ways to increase propensity to purchase.

An example is Unilever VIP, a Facebook community that invited opinion, asked for ideas and actively looked to increase customer loyalty. Through a custom-built Facebook application, VIP encouraged consumers to engage more closely with 11 of the company’s most recognisable brands, including PG Tips, Carte D’Or, Persil, Domestos, Magnum and cleaning range Cif.

For this and any community, consistent research into sales behaviour and brand favourability is vital to measure, justify and amplify the role of earned media.

Great coverage still earns its keep – and it can be proved

Editorial coverage for coverage’s sake just doesn’t cut it anymore. A namecheck against an issue unrelated to a brand might satisfy an ‘opportunities to see’ target, but not a business objective. The impact of these sought-after, third-party recommendations, whether by traditional media or the ever-growing (but still less influential) blogger community, is clear if the right measurements are used.

Launching the Visa Prepaid CitizenCard solely through PR was a great example of how we can have a direct impact on business.

With a focus on national media to drive volume of application, we generated 112 pieces of coverage that resulted in a significant uplift in purchases.

Commercial value, not just creative outputs, make the campaign

Pounds (or euros) mean more that print and pixels, but commercial value can come in many different shapes and sizes. For some, it’s sales; for others, it’s changing perception or building awareness.

Our integrated campaign for digital security brand Gemalto created stand-out in the contactless mobile payments arena. It included: a French free-running video (illustrating touchpoints and the convenience of mobile payments) that generated 100,000 views; and brand-building coverage on Sky News and in The Times and Financial Times – all supported by consumer insights. However, the real value was in the collateral package that the sales team took into boardrooms – changing perceptions of Gemalto’s capabilities and increasing deal flow.
These four mantras help us develop campaigns that go beyond the ‘thud factor’ and deliver real value for businesses and brands, be it through changing behaviour, driving awareness, increasing sales or engaging communities. That’s what PR and earned media should be doing, and is what will ensure a mutually beneficial, effective and longstanding client/agency relationship.

The original article appeared in Marketing Magazine.

Kaizo has been shortlisted for this year’s DADI Awards in the ‘Best Use of Social Media’ category for its work on Unilever VIP, an online community that encouraged consumers to engage more closely with 11 of the company’s iconic brands, including PG Tips, Carte D’Or, Persil, Domestos, Magnum and Cif.

The DADI Awards recognise and reward digital excellence. The awards will be announced in London on 8th November 2012.

For brief details of the campaign please visit www.kaizo.co.uk/experience.

Kaizo has been shortlisted at this year’s prestigious Digital Impact Awards, organised by Communicate Magazine in the UK.

The nomination is in the ‘Best Community Development’ category for Unilever VIP, an online community that encouraged consumers to engage more closely with 11 of the company’s iconic brands, including PG Tips, Carte D’Or, Persil, Domestos, Magnum and Cif.

The Digital Impact Awards recognise, benchmark and celebrate excellence in digital stakeholder communications.

The awards will be announced in London on 16 October 2012.

For brief details of the campaign please visit www.kaizo.co.uk/experience

Last week’s announcement [http://www.foodnavigator.com/Financial-Industry/UK-scraps-sell-by-dates-on-food-products] that UK food manufacturers have been asked to remove ‘display until’ and ‘sell-by’ date labels from food packaging takes us one step closer to clearer, more user-friendly food labels. Or does it?

According to research carried out by the Food and Drink Federation [http://www.fdf.org.uk/news.aspx?article=5504], shoppers continue to be confused by the difference between ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ – both of which are set to stay. The former states when a perishable food is no longer fit for consumption; the latter gives information about the quality of non-perishable food products [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14926429].

Reducing unnecessary food wastage is a goal we should all share and DEFRA’s guidance is a bold step in this direction, by removing stock rotation information that is of little use to consumers.  However, it appears there is still a big job to be done to make food labels crystal clear and meaningful to the end customer. It’s a challenge we communicators should rise to and not simply leave to the regulators.

Delighted to announce that as of yesterday we are now wholly owned by our existing management team following a successful MBO.

Whilst we remain the same business in the same premises with the same teams, our new independence highlights key attributes we feel bring a fresh perspective to communications’ challenges targeting consumers and businesses.

We’re impartial, whether advising on media choice or brand direction; self-sufficient, so no sub teams and silos to add complexity and cost; free thinkers, so great ideas flow and are encouraged; and now importantly self-governing so we’re able to offer a flexible approach to your PR and earned media budgets.

We thank all our clients, including Truvia®, Flora/ Becel, Cisco, CA Technologies, Unilever, mxData, Johnson and Johnson, Serco, and Elsevier, for their continued support and look forward to a successful future together.

Awards frenzy continues at Kaizo with two more shortlist nominations this time in the PRCA Awards.

In the Internal Communications category our campaign with Travelport; “Express Yourself” – delivering a world class improvement in employee advocacy, gets the nod.

Following wins at the Holmes Report earlier this year in the International Campaign category our work for Unilever; What If People’s Hearts Stayed Young? Is once again recognised.

The awards take place in London on 26 October.

At a PR star studded night, Kaizo picked up two awards at the European Sabre Awards held at the Roundhouse in London.

In the product category we picked up the award for best European Webcast for our campaign for Unilever entitled “What If People’s Hearts Stayed Young?” which promoted globally a joint initiative with the WHF as well as encouraging uptake of Unilever Becel’s Heart Age online tool. The campaign was also shortlisted in the Best Multi Country Programme Category.

We also picked up the awards for Best European Product Media Relations for “Do you Flip?” a campaign for Flip Video (part of Cisco) to drive awareness and sales amongst youth audiences and mums. The campaign also picked up a certificate of Excellence for Best use of Broadcast for the same campaign.

Both awards have taken pride of place in our reception and are having hourly polishes…

We love the new Flora ad campaign that has just been launched to encourage people to look after the hearts they love. Have you seen it yet?