Route to market, permanent brand ambassadors and branding – they’re all part of the activations model. Peter Kohlöffel, ProActive’s head of sales for Africa, gives the lowdown on this increasingly important aspect of the out of home arsenal.
1. As consumer/brand engagement evolves and changes, so too must activations and experiential marketing. Tell us about your Route to Market offering?
As we expanded both in footprint and capacity, what we discovered is that it is often difficult for brands and products to be available in areas that are off the beaten track, such as spaza shops and other retail outlets in rural areas. As a result, we created a new offering called Route to Market, where we take a product to areas that can’t usually be accessed by traditional merchandisers.
Through a turnkey strategy we stock shelves, provide branding and trained brand ambassadors to promote the service or product, follow up with the shop owners and restock. In order to generate and support sales, we also implement experiential marketing campaigns such as Shoppa Shows to further engage with consumers when they are most open to marketing messages.
2. Why is It so important to have brand visibility at every touchpoint in the consumer journey?
Activations aren’t just about brand awareness and a once off campaign. Activations are about building brand loyalty and generating sales on an on-going basis – this is key. In order for this to happen, every touchpoint in the route to purchase has to work effectively to keep a brand top of mind; especially for brands and products that have been around for a while and need a boost in sales because competitor brands have entered the market.
3. What are the benefits of ProActive’s Route to Market?
The beauty of Route to Market activations is that they are tailor-made, very flexible, people centric, Client centric and scalable. There is also the ability to have add on services that add more value to the campaign.
4. ProActive’s Shoppa Shows are another marketing platform that work extremely well within the LSM B market.
Shoppa Shows offer an ideal platform for intensifying brand awareness and brand affiliation, while multiplying product sales. Because of their immediacy and because they are live, Shoppa Shows have the capacity to create excitement and encourage product purchase.
We have added innovations to this platform that are in line with consumer needs and desires. We’ve done our research, we’ve kept our ear close to the ground and the result is a new and improved Shoppa Show which will enhance a consumer’s shopping experience and increase sales – it’s a win-win for all.
Thanks to ProActive’s associations within the retail environment, Shoppa Shows are staged within strip malls, large retailers and wholesalers during the busiest shopping periods. They can also be staged as part of a bigger event. As a result, reach per touchpoint is enormously effective.
5.What are permanent brand ambassadors?
In a nutshell, the primary concern of permanent brand ambassadors is how the consumer sees the outlet. We use technology to geo locate the PBA and ensure that all the KPIs are met, and as a result the shelf health of the outlet is always in a better place with a PBA. This offering works because the PBAs have excellent relationship with the outlets; having good relationships in outlets, they work together with external service providers and most importantly, they ensure that out of stocks are minimised and the new products are always well stocked on shelf.
6. Your other new offering is branding. Tell us about this.
This offering creates a branding structure for clients that enables the business to proactively brand areas in a sustainable and scalable manner, while looking for any and all opportunities. The results are phenomenal. We measure the results using an app specifically created to monitor branding. It collates tangible and measurable research results.
7. Why is it so important for brands to have on-going activations as part of their marketing activities?
Activations need to go beyond just a nice-to-have marketing platform, they need to strategically generate sales and enhance brand loyalty. It’s not a cut and paste marketing element, each campaign needs to be tailor-made to meet objectives.
