Guest comment: Good marketing is for life, not just for the Olympics

Simon Robinson, senior director marketing and alliances EMEA, Responsys, discusses how marketers can build on marketing success achieved during London’s summer of sport and transform it into long-term gain.


The run-up to the 2012 Olympics was surrounded by buzz and hype. As the world waited with bated breath, all eyes were firmly on London to prove it was capable of pulling off a world-class sporting event. And so the scene was set. Tickets were bought, and sponsors scrambled to make sure that when tourists descended on London, their brands would be front of mind. But it wasn’t just sponsors gearing up their promotional activity – many other retailers realised the potential gain to be had from an event as big as the Olympics and decided to flex their marketing muscles in order to attract larger volumes of shoppers and boost sales figures.
With industry experts predicting that the Olympics would bring a much-needed boost to the UK economy and the retail industry specifically, retailers tailored new marketing campaigns around the sporting events. In the early days of the event, most shoppers shied away from Central London’s high streets. But after a slew of gold medals for Team GB and a spot of welcome yet unpredicted sunshine, shoppers turned off their TVs and headed out to the shops to buy memorabilia and associated goods. Yet although the ‘Olympic effect’ did not have the desired and expected sales boost for all retailers, it has undoubtedly allowed many of them to gain valuable insight into shoppers globally that can be used once the crowds have dissipated and buzz around the event has faded away.
The British summer and the Olympics may now be over, but that doesn’t mean that marketers can’t use what they have learnt during this time to boost future marketing campaigns. There are a few things that marketers should be doing to ensure that any success achieved this summer isn’t an isolated incident. One example would be to use the data provided by customers who opted-in to use Wi-Fi hotspots across London during the Olympics to help identify shopping habits and preferences. These can then be used to improve targeting, personalisation and segmentation for future marketing campaigns.
Mobile is another channel which can offer long-term gains. In the warmer months, customers take advantage of the weather and longer evenings to get out and about. Along with the annual flood of holidays in July and August, the Olympic spirit has exacerbated the effect this year as spectators flocked to sporting events and themed celebrations all over the country. And since the best way to reach a consumer on-the-go is to take your brand mobile, this summer has been a time for brands to concentrate on their mobile offering (including emails which will be viewed on smartphones or tablets). So why stop now? Smartphone penetration is above 50 per cent and rising in the UK – mobile presents a great opportunity to reach customers with targeted and personalised content while they are on the move, wherever they may be. Most brands should have capitalised on the summer with tailored mobile campaigns, and consumers will continue to be glued to their mobile devices long after the snow has begun to fall this winter. Marketers can build on that momentum and use what they’ve learned to inform their mobile strategy for the rest of the year and beyond.
Events such as the Olympics are also a great way to try out “test and learn” campaigns so that brands can improve future campaign success rates by testing, improving or eliminating certain elements of their existing marketing campaigns. And with plenty of major campaigns centred in one way or another around recent sporting events, the end of summer is the perfect time to evaluate your performance and ask yourself: did your campaigns perform as expected? What worked well? What could have gone better? Be honest – if something didn’t work, find out why it didn’t work and make the needed changes in time for your next marketing campaign.
Rather than see the Olympics as a past chapter in an as yet unfinished book, marketers should think about how the campaigns used around this summer’s sporting events can be leveraged to sustain success long after the closing ceremonies. Like the gold medal winners of London 2012, savvy marketers will be the ones that learn from their past performances and use this information to adapt to changing conditions and react to the best effect. After all, good marketing is for life, not just for the Olympics.
By Simon Robinson
Senior director marketing and alliances EMEA
Responsys
http://www.responsys.com/