Marketing Trends from Early 2014 Courtesy of Leo Burnett London

February 2014 The Knowledge Centre

The Knowledge Centre
Newsletter February 2014


Welcome to the latest of our quarterly newsletters.
The Knowledge Centre is to Leo Burnett LDN what the Tube network is to London –
sure, one can theoretically exist without the other, but everyone will be grumpy and
late and there’ll be a general feeling of despair mixed with ennui. We rumble along
behind the scenes, delivering carriages full of information, pausing at the red lights of
doubt and, er, stretching similes to breaking point.
We work with lots of clever folk who share new and fresh ideas with us, which helps us
to keep a keen eye on what the world’s up to. We’re pleased to be sharing our findings
with you. Inside this bulletin you’ll find snapshots of the various internal publications
that we create and circulate, as well as highlights from a selection of our information
resources, and plenty of press coverage of our lovely new ads. This quarter we’ve
become a little preoccupied with automation – see what you make of that.
From hard-hitting insight to piquant cultural memes, you’ll find all sorts of useful info
within. Organised, reliable info that generally arrives on time, unless someone gets
their briefcase wedged in the door at Sloane Square or something.
Oh, and if you fancy a chat, drop us a tweet - @LeoBurnettLDN

Daniel Bevis
Senior Knowledge Editor
Leo Burnett London


Frisk is a weekly in-house newsletter from the Knowledge Centre and the Planning
department, discussing trends, cultural snapshots and general stuff that piques our interest.
Here’s some of what we’ve been sharing lately.

INSTAFAX

Short-form video is everywhere these days. Vine offered us six seconds, Instagram expanded the offering
to fifteen, but that’s more than enough. People want brevity; quick things that they can look at in the short
space before the microwave goes ping or the bus doors heave open with a pneumatic sigh – miniature
video snippets fill in the micro-gaps in the day when we’re momentarily not doing anything else. Such is
the modern world.
The BBC have noticed this. They’re not stupid. So they’ve started condensing the daily news into tiny
15-second bursts and pumping them out on Instagram. It’s an astute observation of modern digital
behaviour, and potentially a way to throw a few current affairs into the consciousness of today’s digital
butterfly, maybe. Well, it’ll either work or it won’t. (Also, I like the retro Ceefax reference in the name.
Ceefax was great.) http://instagram.com/bbcnews#

APRON STRINGS
An interesting fact that you may have seen in the news recently - more than a quarter of 20-34 year-olds in
the UK are still living with their parents. (You may also have noticed that many news outlets are using the
phrase ‘still living at home’, which irritates me greatly. Everyone lives ‘at home’, unless they’re homeless.
But I digress...)
Sticking around at your folks’ place has myriad advantages - cheap rent, a well-stocked fridge, you don’t
have to freak out if you break the plumbing... for a lot of people, this greatly outweighs the stigma of being
a thirty year-old who still lives with their mum.


But frivolity aside, for many it’s a necessity to stay
with parents indefinitely - it’s just not economically
viable to do otherwise. Rent’s expensive, house
prices are bonkers, jobs are scarce.
Wanna crunch the numbers? The Guardian’s
DataBlog has you covered. Look:
h t t p : // w w w . t h e g u a r d i a n . c o m / n e w s /
datablog/2014/jan/21/record-numbers-youngadults-living-with-parents

COMMUNITY SHOP
Food waste is an everyday horror story. The amount of food that doesn’t even make it to supermarket
shelves because of some packaging defect is staggering; it all either ends up in landfill or gets squished into
animal feed. But Community Shop is a concept that takes this perfectly good scran and makes it available
to those who need it.
The pilot store is in Rotherham, and its stock is provided by the likes of Marks & Spencer, Asda and Tesco.
Food that’s deemed unsuitable for mainstream sale due to aesthetic defects - but is still perfectly fit for
sale - is available at up to 70% off. The hook is that you can only shop at Community Shop if you’re a
registered member, having proven that you’re receiving government benefits. Great idea, huh? And if it
proves successful (which it should), they’ll be going nationwide. http://www.community-shop.co.uk/


TRANSLATE.COM

URINE DETECTORS

Google Translate is a hilariously hit-and-miss thing.
Sure, it’s extremely useful to have this free, easyto-use doodah that allows you to turn text from
a language you don’t understand into one you do
(or vice versa), but it’s not something you’d put a
huge amount of faith in. Words can be ambiguous,
nuances get lost, colloquialisms and sentence
structures don’t cross borders, and you can end up
getting completely the wrong end of the stick (or
‘Kant died engineering, van die erde Stok’, which is
what you get when you translate ‘the wrong end of
the stick’ into Hebrew, then Italian, then Afrikaans,
then Chinese, then Icelandic, then back to English).
So, translate.com aims to circumvent this confusion.
It’s an app that runs on crowdsourced results - you

It’s a truism that public elevators always smell of

upload some written text, or an image of some text,

widdle. Weird, isn’t it? I’ve been in lifts loads of

or a sound or video file of someone speaking, and

times and have never been struck by an unquellable

one of the two million users will offer a translation.

compulsion to void my bladder all over the place.

For added peace of mind, these translations can

For one thing, it’d be mortifying if the doors were

also be checked for accuracy to prevent this

to open while you were still mid-stream. How would

happening: http://youtu.be/akbflkF_1zY

you explain that? ‘Sorry, it really hums of wee-wee

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/translate.com/

in here, I thought that was what we were supposed

id740974884?mt=8

to do...’
The catchily-named Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid
Transit Authority are, ahem, taking matters into
their own hands with this issue, fitting their lifts
with urine detectors (by which I mean sensors, not
little detectives in raincoats paid to stand there
and point at your winkle).
Brilliantly, the sensors detect the activities of
slashing miscreants and immediately alert any
police officers in the vicinity, who will then
presumably either arrest them or - much worse shout in a loud voice ‘THIS MAN DOESN’T WASH
HIS HANDS AFTER HE’S BEEN TO THE TOILET’.
Clever. http://bit.ly/Mf5Afa


CATACOMBO
This is one of those brilliantly odd ideas that doesn’t sound real, but is: a coffin for music lovers that’ll play
them their favourite songs for eternity. The system exists in three parts: CataPlay, CataTomb, CataCoffin.
The first of these is a Spotify-connected platform that allows friends and wellwishers to create playlists - if
you’re the soon-to-be-dead party, it might be an idea to prime these people with a cheat sheet. Or y’know,
bequeath them your iPod. The music gets streamed to CataTomb, a smart 4G-enabled headstone with an
LCD screen, showing any passers-by what you’re listening to down there. And of course, there’s CataCoffin
- your eternal resting place, stuffed with speakers (including a big-ass subwoofer!). It costs $23,500 - but
if you imagine that we’ve got, say, 200 years before the inevitable nuclear apocalypse, that’s only about 32
cents a day. Well worth it.
Of course, if you were particularly mean and had a recently deceased relative who you weren’t that keen
on, you could sneakily erase their iPod and fill it with Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. Imagine that. Forever.
Your own personal hell.http://youtu.be/SDpC5ZYcA7M

TRANSLATE.COM
Short-form video, as previously discussed, is all

You could take a short video, wang it out as a

the go these days. And now PeekInToo is giving

‘PeekShout’ - then other ‘Peekers’ would get a

the format a further twist, by combining it with a

notification that something’s going on in an area

mixture of ChatRoulette-esque randomness and

they’re interested in. Of course, whether or not this

geographical searching.

is a format that’s a) necessary and b) something

Let’s say there’s something happening on the
other side of the world that you’re interested in
- a gig, perhaps, or a speech or sporting event.
You can ping out a request for a 12-second video
of it - if there’s a user there, they’ll whack up a
bit of content. No need to friend anyone, it’s all
anonymous....or let’s say you’re walking down the
street and suddenly an alien spaceship slams into
the side of a building.

people are likely to use remains to be seen, but it’s
certainly of interest. (Just bear in mind the anonymity
angle. ChatRoulette is anonymous, and that’s
full of strange men showcasing their gentlemenv e g e t a b l e s . ) h t t p : //w w w. p e e k i n t o o . c o m /


MOMDOMS
Ooh, cringe. Parents are so embarrassing, aren’t they? Why do they have to try to talk to you about
“intercourse”, instead of letting you learn about it yourself from the dirty mags you find in the woods like
normal people do? Honestly. They only had it off the number of times it required to create you and any
siblings you may have, so what possible advice can they have to offer you on the deployment of your own
fledgling genitals?
OK, from the parents’ point of view it’s pretty hideous too. I’m not looking forward to the day when I realise
that the small person I see as a source of dirty nappies and warming cuddles has morphed into an angry
little thing that wants to do gross stuff with boys. (Or girls, who knows how she’ll turn out?) So approaching
the subject with a smidge of humour is probably the best way to go. And that’s where Momdoms come in.
It’s basically a tin of rubber johnnies that you give to your freshly pubic offspring, bearing such tongue-incheek slogans as ‘wrap that package tightly’, ‘be careful of the crabs’ and ‘because I said so’. This, in theory,
will eliminate any awkwardness from the birds-and-bees chat.
...at least, that’s what we’ll have the kids believe. In actual fact, the whole idea’s designed so that the thing
that presents itself at front-of-mind at the very moment your child is about to get nasty is an image of their
mum’s face, thus immediately putting them off and ensuring that no “intercourse” takes place. Genius.
http://buymomdoms.com/


THE HUMANE EATING PROJECT
Note that the word in the title is ‘humane’, not

It’s a brilliant concept - up until now, there would be

‘human’. ‘Humane’. That’s very important.

no way of knowing whether your local Utah Fried

The trend of consumers showing an interest in the
provenance of their grub has been growing for
years now, it’s not really anything new. Food miles,
Fairtrade, all that business. But we’re increasingly
finding that technology is being harnessed to check
up on ingredients while out and about. The Humane

Chicken was dressing the poultry up in medieval
costumes and making them joust in the kitchen
without jumping over the counter and checking for
yourself. This’ll save you the embarrassment and
inevitable arrest. http://www.humaneeatingproject.
org/

Eating Project is one such idea - it helps restaurant
customers to choose where to eat by seeing
whether the eateries in question source their meat
from suppliers who have treated the animals fairly.
(Y’know, before they went after them with the boltgun.) It also provides healthy conversation ammo if
you’re friends with vegans and feel you’re being left
behind in the chat.

LIVING WITH
Mental health issues affect a staggering number of people, although you may not always be really aware
of it. A lot of people who are battling such demons prefer not to talk about it. Unfortunately this means
that outsiders’ understanding isn’t all that it could be, and the ensuing perception that it’s a minority thing
serves to stigmatise, meaning that the whole situation is a self-fulfilling spiral of not-wanting-to-talk-aboutit.
So, for those afflicted that might consider a more open forum, Living With offers an alternative. They’re
selling t-shirts that allow sufferers to wear their condition on their sleeve - well, chest - and fight stigmas
with openness. Four are available: depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, ADHD. Their designs are abstract
patterns rather than just signs that say ‘I have ADHD’ or whatever, inviting comment and allowing the
wearer to discuss it on their own terms. They also allow the acceptance of the condition to be worn as a
badge of honour, rather than the monster being hidden in the shadows. Which all makes perfect sense.
http://www.livingwith.co/


We work closely with Canvas8, a deep-dive insight network who ‘make the complex simple by
helping us make the simple significant’. This quarter, they’ve provided us with a piece on ‘life on
autopilot’. If you’ve ever hoped for a smart egg-tray to factor into your lifestyle at some point,
you’ll enjoy this…

LIFE ON AUTOPILOT
Depression-era economist John Maynard Keynes and cartoon family The Jetsons might not seem like
kindred spirits, but they shared the same vision: in the future, machines would do all the hard work for us.
Judy Jetson had Rosie the Robot Maid and Keynes predicted that the industrial revolution would usher in
the 15-hour working week. So what happened to their dream? Not much, apparently; studies suggest we’re
working longer than ever. [1]
But a new wave of technological advancements is making it easier than ever to plug into an automated
lifestyle, changing the way people consider time and resources. Why run your own errands, wait for
information or even make decisions when you could outsource all these tasks to machines?
One unassuming Verizon employee – “someone you wouldn’t look at twice in an elevator” – did just that,
farming out his entire job to China, via email. [2] In exchange for four-fifths of his six-figure salary, he
enjoyed eBay-ing and watching cat videos on YouTube. His working day finished with an email update of
the tasks ‘he’d’ completed for his boss. This might not be typical just yet, but it could just be the spirit of
things to come.
This techno-utopianism – the belief that life is full of fixable problems if we can just code them properly –
isn’t just part of the cult of Silicon Valley, but a growing expectation of everyday life. Increasing swathes of
‘lifehackers’ worship ease and efficiency, seeking the autopilot button. But this isn’t about zoning out – it’s
about taking an executive position in your own life, with one finger resting on a switch that just gets the job
done. Minimum effort, maximum output.

© Egg Minder (2013)


THE STRESS THAT COMES
WITH ‘STUFF’

BUILDING A RESPONSIVE
ENVIRONMENT

We are technologically spoiled. But our tech is

According to Reuters, the home automation market

overwhelming us with information, and drowning

was worth $1.5 billion in 2012, and is predicted to

us in stuff. The internet’s vast fields of content are

more than double within the next five years. [8]

empowering, but they can also be unmanageable,

While the top end of the market continues to invent

and even paralysing. Studies have shown that the

ever more elaborate ways to automate every part

more options people have, the less likely they are

of the home, simple, time-saving solutions remain

to actually choose anything. [3] Other research

in demand across all markets. Slow cookers –

has found that multitasking, the habitual stance

arguably the original ‘set it and forget it’ gadget

of second-screening digital natives, makes people

– have seen a recent spike in sales, while the

more stressed and less effective. [4]

adoption of wireless technology like RFID and NFC

In our offline lives, this stress is maximised by
our innumerable possessions: the average person
spends around ten minutes each day ransacking

in products are transforming houses into data-rich
environments, which their owners can measure
and manipulate at leisure. [9]

the house or emptying pockets in search of

Home automation company Nest Lab is remaking

misplaced items. [5] A UCLA research team

the thermostat for the autopilot generation.

looking at life at home in the 21st century found

Essentially the control panel for personal comfort

families overwhelmed by clutter, who lamented

and energy efficiency, thermostats are too often

their unmanageable mounds of stuff, while stress

trapped in ugly white boxes with complicated

hormone levels soared. [6]

settings that do nothing but disempower their

But overwhelming as it may occasionally be, the
internet can offer quick fixes that the real world
can’t – and there are signs that its irresistible
allure might actually be making the rest of our
lives more difficult to manage. Recent research by

owners and waste their time. “What does “fan/
auto” vs. “fan/on” even mean?” implores Nest cofounder Matt Rogers, berating standard thermostat
controls. “How does a normal consumer understand
these things?” [10]

Scott Wallsten, an economist at the Technology

Nest’s ‘learning thermostat’ monitors your daily

Policy Institute in Washington, found that for every

routine and sets itself accordingly - raising the

minute Americans spend relaxing online, they

temperature when you’re home, lowering it when

spend approximately 16 fewer seconds working,

you’re out. It’s a relationship that grows over

and four fewer seconds doing household chores.

time, so eventually you can totally outsource even

[7]

thinking about your heating to the thermostat
itself, leaving you free to just live. It’s one of a
number of smart solutions – see Twine or IFTTT
– that encourage people to turn their homes into
smart, communicative machines.

© Nest (2013)

© Twine (2013)


THE HUMAN TOUCH

THOUGHTS ON AUTOPILOT

But while machines win out on efficiency and

Robots and assistants aside, if you’re having to make

consistency, they can never match the judgement

decisions about these things, you’re still technically

and sensitivity of human beings. A new generation

working. And if you’re still technically working,

of personal assistants are providing services that

there’s probably a smart product somewhere

that only real people can, and they bear little

designed to make it easier. Google Now is one

resemblance to the Downton-esque butlers of

such product – a part of the corporation’s mission

history.

to transform smartphones into telepathic personal

Where neither humans nor computers are enough
on their own, services are emerging to find the
sweet spot between the two. New age personal
styling service Thread combines the strength and

assistants. On a basic level, this means getting
reminders to “buy milk” when you’re near a store,
but the underlying message is: “we’ll remember, so
you don’t have to”.

speed of a computer algorithms to filter through

Impressive as this service is, all Google’s really

thousands of clothing choices online, while people

doing is delaying the results of your ‘search

are paired with human stylists who further filter

request’ until you walk near a shop. It still relies

through the resultant choices, with the nuances of

on you consciously signalling that you need milk.

personal taste in mind.

But Google’s ultimate aim is to anticipate those

Micro-labour services like Taskrabbit, Mechanical
Turk and Fiverr combine human and computer
in a different way, using the internet to link the
little things people need doing with those who
are prepared to carry them out for the right price.
They’re servants for the middle classes, who can
be switched off and on at will and don’t require
a pension plan. “I delegated tasks that had been

needs before you do. They can’t predict the future,
but they can predict parts of it. Human behaviour
is actually pretty predictable a lot of the time.
One study from Northeastern University used
smartphones to map how people moved around
the city. Researchers found that 93% of the time,
they could accurately predict people’s movements.
[12]

marinating on my to-do list for months,” explains

And with people using smartphones for all manner

lifehacker Steven Corona of his experience with

of tasks, from maps to emails, calendars to search,

Fancy Hands, a service that lets people outsource

data crumbs are scattered everywhere. After a

15 tasks for $45 a month. [11]

few months, Google could accurately suggest –
unprompted – “leave for your meeting early today
because there’s heavy traffic on your route.”
And it’s not just Google, but the increasing potential
of the cloud that supports our spluttering, forgetful
minds. Digital notepad and archive system Evernote
already serves 13 million people. The Toyota Friend
alerts you when your tyres need changing, or the
battery needs recharging. “No one is happy with
their human brain,” says Evernote Founder and
CEO Phil Libiin. “So I decided to make a product
around that.” [13] eBay Head of Strategy John
Sheldon predicts that Nike+ apps that order you a
new pair of shoes after you’ve run 300 miles, or a
bicycle helmet with a sensor that “knows” when a
crash has happened and orders you a new one, are

© Taskrabbit (2013)

imminent realities. [14]


Meanwhile, the myriad internet-run subscription

And outsourcing too many of our decisions to

services like Amazon Prime, Dollar Shave Club

technology risks errors that only human judgement

and Tie Society outsource the joyless tasks of

can avoid. T-shirt printing company Solid Gold

remembering to buy essentials, or enter the same

Bomb thought they were onto a great system when

bank details time and again.

they handed over their entire process to a series of

The endgame is the brain as a processor, not a
hard-drive. And with technologies like Google
Glass, the distance between our minds and our
technology will be shorter than ever. After all, our

algorithms and printers. When the web discovered
they were shipping t-shirts with slogans like ‘Keep
Calm and Rape A Lot’, their slick automated
production line suddenly didn’t look so good.

brains seem more than happy to outsource, given

Ultimately, the best life hacks, gadgets and

half the chance.

solutions don’t provoke this fear – they work in
favour of human dignity, autonomy and control,
and in the service of simplicity rather than against
it. And crucially, the machines work for people, not
the other way round. The key to a happy life as
an autopilot is all about allowing total control. The
most life enhancing products are about creating a
simple but smart relationship between the user and
the service – one that you’re free to leave at any
time. An app that orders you new running shoes
after ‘x’ miles is a compelling idea, but threatens to

© The Jetsons (1963)

turn into a Sorcerer’s Apprentice-style nightmare if

INSIGHTS AND OPPORTUNITIES

it can’t be switched off at will.

endless

And if commanding an army of smart assistants

opportunities to tinker with when fine tuning our

and digital helpers is to become the norm, then

daily lives, though of course not everyone agrees

real trust is the only way to assuage any fears of

this would be a good thing. For every tech-

creeping cyborgisation. After all, as John Sheldon

utopian or ‘Quantopian’ – that’s a community of

says, “ambient commerce is about consumers

11,000 quantitative analysts whose CEO believes

turning over their trust to the machine.” [14]

Data-saturated

environments

create

‘“anything that is subject to human judgement can
be improved by automation and machine learning”
– is a sceptic, even dystopian vision of a totally
‘smart’ world full of autopilots would look like. [15]
As part of the ‘Too Smart City’, an art project by
designers JooYoun Paek and David Jimison, a
bench was designed that detects when someone
sits on it, and slowly begins to tip, eventually
dumping the sitter onto the floor. It’s an absurd
but poignant illustration of the anxieties that are
tied to this techno-utopian future. [16] Too much
‘smart’ and our simple needs will be neglected,
over-complicated
to

make

us

by

a

force

that

threatens

gradually

more

uncomfortable.

Sources
1. ‘Q. So just how much unpaid overtime does the average UK worker do each week?
A. 7hrs 18 mins’, The Independent (March 2013)
2. ‘Developer outsourced entire job to China, spent hours surfing the web, watching
cat videos’, The Huffington Post (January 2013)
3. ‘Too many choices: a problem that can paralyse’, The New York Times (February
2010)
4. ‘Is multitasking bad for us?’, NOVA (October 2012)
5. ‘Lost something already today? Misplaced items cost us ten minutes a day’, Mail
Online (March 2012)
6. ‘Got stuff? Typical American home is cluttered with possessions – and stressing
us out’, TIME (July 2012)
7. ‘On the 4th of July, a declaration of dependence’, The Washington Post (July 2012)
8. ‘Analysis: U.S. industrials, telecoms to face off in home automation’, Reuters
(August 2012)
9. ‘Slow and pressure cookers find favour’, BBC (October 2013)
10. ‘Nest co-founder Matt Rodgers on frustration as a muse and learning from Apple’,
99U (April 2013)
11. ‘How I automated the boring parts of life’, Lifehacker (October 2012)
12. ‘Human behavior is 93% predictable, research shows’, Northeastern (February
2010)
13. ‘The Future of Evernote: from memory machine to time machine’, The Next Web
(September 2011)
14. ‘One day, Google will deliver the stuff you want before you ask’, Wired (September
2013)
15. ‘Quantopian, a community of quants, picks up $6.7M from Khosla, Spark’,
TechCrunch (October 2013)
16. ‘Too Smart City - JooYoun Paek, David Jimison’, Real-time Cities (2013)


Crunch is an Arc newsletter, highlighting interesting campaigns in the area of sponsorship and
brand activation, sharing these titbits with the wider group. Here are some snapshots from the
latest issue…

UNCLE DREW
For those that haven’t seen the Uncle Drew series - watch it! It’s a great demonstration of a one-off viral
video turning itself into a full-blown campaign.
The Pepsi max team wanted to take a fresh approach and feature one of their newest ambassadors –
Cavaliers rookie Kyrie Irving - and use him to front creative based on the idea that ‘you look at the product
and see one thing, but inside it is something different’. They disguised Irving as an old man and took him
to a real street basketball game.
The YouTube video received 27m views in 3 weeks and 80% of viewers watched for 5 minutes. The viral was
so successful that Pepsi Max created a story by adding 2 more episodes.

SQUAT FARES
In Moscow, subway commuters were able to get a
free ticket by completing 30 squats in two minutes
at a special ticket machine. It was used to generate
interest ahead of the Sochi Winter Olympics.
http://youtu.be/ojo9M1cPSPI


ROCKET MAN
The stuff of science fiction no longer… watch
manufacturer Breitling worked with Yves Rossy
(aka JetMan) to produce a human jetpack which
allowed him to fly individually around Mount Fuji.
http://youtu.be/fnnOxRK_gc4

HANGOUT WITH MAN UTD STARS
2013 saw sponsors and rights holders exploit Google+ hangouts by bringing players closer to the fans.
Google+ Hangouts are a free video chat service from Google that enables both one-on-one chats and
group chats with up to ten people at a time. Manchester United’s logistics partner DHL drove fans via their
@DHL_ManUtd Twitter handle to find further details about the first ever Man Utd hangout. The Hangout
was part of DHL’s ‘The Journey From Good To Great’ campaign, launched on Google+ in conjunction with
the team’s new training kit. The event was subsequently promoted on Man Utd’s official website with a
press release that included more specific details and claimed the first-of-its-kind event was an innovative
platform to bring fans even closer to Manchester United and its first team players.


Storebites is a regular in-house roundup of tangy titbits relating to shopper marketing and the
goings-on in the retail environment. Here are some highlights from the latest issue…

AN INCREASINGLY VIRTUAL WORLD
Mobile internet has now firmly established itself as

For example, one of Russia’s largest cosmetics

a sales channel and has changed the commercial

chains, Ulybka Radugi, has collaborated with

landscape.

more

marketing technology firm Syngera to introduce

affordable than ever before, the pool of digital

checkouts that read facial expressions and register

shoppers is growing daily. Tablet ownership has

emotions

more than doubled in the past year, rising from 11%

historical purchase data, Ulybka Radugi is able

Q1 2012 to 24% Q1 2013, and with the number of

to launch customised campaigns and targeted

digital touchpoints opening up, there are a growing

promotions.

With

digital

devices

now

of

shoppers.

Combining

this

with

number of ways to influence shoppers. They now
have access to so much more choice than ever

Beyond the store, German retailer Upcload has

before, whether it’s an everyday essential or a big

made it possible for clients to be measured via

ticket item; they can shop for anything, anytime,

their webcams, thus allowing them to try on

anyplace, anywhere.

any garment virtually before committing to buy.
Topshop also used technology to engage with their

This rise in online shopping has consequently

shoppers during fashion week. They gave models

transformed

showrooms.

front-facing cameras which enabled viewers to

Retailers are now merchandising less stock in a bid

watch the catwalk shows live on YouTube as well

to improve the shopper experience, giving rise to

as following the goings-on backstage in real time

omni-channel strategies that link online and the real

via Instagram and Twitter.

retail

spaces

into

world together seamlessly. Furthermore, the rapid
development of technology is allowing retailers to

After the show, viewers could use the “Be the

create fresh experiences for their customers.

Buyer” app which allowed fans to create personal
outfits with the pieces from the runway collection
and get tips from the buyers on how to put their
perfect look together. Shoppers were not only able
to buy the clothes the models were wearing, but
also the nail polish they were wearing too!

In the grocery channel, digital mostly impacts the
‘pre-shop’ when shoppers are comparing prices,
trying to save time and money.


However,

shoppers

smartphones

to

are

receive

increasingly

using

Despite this, networking sites provide a platform

personalised

push

for

listening

and

interacting

with

potential

notifications from apps, navigate the retail space

shoppers. Coca-Cola joined Facebook in 2008 and

more efficiently as well as searching out offers

has generated 75 million likes in 5 years, focusing

across their favourite products in a bid to achieve

less on product and promotions but more on fans,

greater value. Other reasons shoppers leverage

leveraging ‘shareworthy’ content.

digital is to get a greater understanding on product
sourcing and guidance on how to achieve a healthy
lifestyle. By understanding shopper needs by
category, manufacturers can help make shopping
trips easier by focusing mobile messaging in the
right places.
Price transparency too has become increasingly
important with digital innovation.

IGD found the main reasons for using social
networks for food and grocery was to search for
recipes and learn what others are saying about a
product.

Shoppers can compare pricing and promotions

They also found that product endorsements via

from one retailer to another using sites such as

Facebook encouraged over 60% of people to visit

MySupermarket.com, enabling them to cherrypick

a brand’s page. Brands need to consider creating

retailers for different categories. And what about

content that is engaging and interactive; they need

virtual shopping communities? They are the next

to inspire, educate, entertain and provide the ability

step in the pricing revolution, where people join

to personalise to deepen the shopper’s level of

an online group to negotiate bulk discounts.

activity. Examples include Lidl, who use Facebook

Examples include ‘Milk, Please!’ in Italy where local

in Belgium to let customers design cupcakes on

folk collaborate to buy groceries and even Tesco

their page, with the three most popular creations

is trialling ‘Wine Co-buys’ where the price drops

going into development.

when more shoppers commit to buying.

Aldi also uses Facebook in the USA to invite

According to IDG, 8 out of 10 shoppers use a social

shoppers to take a ‘switch & save’ pledge, then be

networking site; however, only a third connect

entered into a draw to win $20 gift certificates.

with food/grocery companies through Facebook,
YouTube or Twitter.

But with digital continuing to innovate at such a
pace, what does the future hold?


It seems there are two trends: ‘predictive analytics’

Thanks to major brand partnerships, the virtual

and ‘gamification’. Predictive analytics is when

products correspond to the products currently

retailers leverage cognitive computing to learn and

available in real stores. Another example is GoldRun,

pre-empt individual’s shopping preferences and

a free iPhone app launched to allow retailers to

provide personalised promotions according to their

deliver virtual goods and user rewards through

future behaviour. This provides the opportunity

social media games, guides and loyalty programs.

to increase sales, reduce shipping, inventory and

Their partnership with H&M allows shoppers to try

supply chain costs. Amazon is one retailer already

on outfits virtually and post images to Facebook to

jumping on the innovation. Their model is based on

create personalised ‘look books’. The app enables

purchase history, cookies, surveys and generating

fans to collect virtual items, snap a picture of them

geo-targeted sales predictions.

and receive a 10% discount off their next purchase.

This creates a constant flow of products being
pre-shipped towards their expected geographical
destination. The final address will then be confirmed
while in transit (from one hub to another). Whilst
this model is still in its infancy this could be the
future for pure play e-tailers.
Gamification in simple terms is leveraging gameplaying to encourage engagement. But why would
anyone do it? Well, because there are benefits
to be had, such as added incentives, plus it’s an
outstanding way to motivate consumers.

In

an

ever-increasingly

technology-fuelled

existence, companies need to understand how
their shoppers, brands and categories are affected
by technology and develop a digital marketing
strategy

accordingly.

Building

both

brand

differentiation and emotional engagement to
optimise the interaction will give the strategy that
will succeed in a virtual world.
Ultimately it aims to spark a competitive drive
amongst

consumers

that

makes

content,

behaviours and tasks more creative and appealing
The social game Retail Therapy currently pursues
the

furthest-reaching

concept.

Here

players

design their own virtual store, stock it with virtual
products, and hire employees. .

Sarah Leccacorvi
Board Account Director


GROUP PR

We make ads. You know that. And we like it when people say nice things about them, as they
often do. Here’s the recent chatter…

Marketing Trends from Early 2014 Courtesy of Leo Burnett London

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Marketing Trends from Early 2014 Courtesy of Leo Burnett London