Moving Brand Ambassadors to Grand Ambassadors

Johannesburg, South Africa

A recent article in the New York Post describes the advent of Grand Ambassadors, which is a prognosis of where the experiential activation industry in South Africa could be, given training and investment in brand ambassadors.

This investment will develop the brand activation industry and ambassadors in addition to offering customers greater scope, marketing mix integration and ultimately increased sales.

Commitment to brand, not ad hoc approach
Working in experiential activations can offer tertiary students and young job seekers great brand exposure and skills development. Some students and job seekers have an ad-hoc approach to the part-time employment when it comes to experiential activation campaigns. It is often regarded as a gap-filler or a quick solution to earn additional cash before the holidays. One needs to drive solid commitment to the work and process continually. For passionate adoption of the process and work is delivered when you invest and treat each individual as more than just a number and more like a full-time employee.

Training and testing
Professional training sets the tone and importance of a specific campaign. Instead of representing an agreed mechanic or brand manual, meticulous composition and interpretation for total understanding from a brand ambassador’s experience facilitates better understanding and higher resonance. It is a fine art to translate brand speak into activation speak. This sets the course for the right behaviours, higher compliance and excellent execution. Training should also be repeated and divided into digestible modules. It is usually difficult to absorb all the information in one session. Stringent testing also indicates how serious the campaign should be regarded and in turn sends a strong message that one is only looking for dedicated, passionate and professional activators.

Certification
Repeatedly, I have seen that recognition supersedes additional cash incentives above what the brand ambassadors are being paid to do. Certification must be approached from two directions. The first is acknowledgment for top marks, in addition to those who passed where a high threshold has been set, and second is ongoing top performance during the duration of the campaign. This covers sales, engagement, punctuality, accurate reporting etc.

Promotion
Tier climbing is another significant motivator where brand ambassadors strive to be promoted to the next level, based on their performance, commitment and professionalism. As they progress up each tier, they earn more and again recognition drives commitment.

Skills Development
Having recently launched a training centre (http://ow.ly/kymQ8), it is focused on equipping the South African youth with essential life and business skills to increase their employment opportunities in both the formal and informal job sectors. Not only is this a way of giving back to the community and our people but this delivers true loyalists and positive advocates helping to recruit even more talented ambassadors.

Brand ambassadors could become grand ambassadors given the time, focus and dedication. The knock-on benefit is two-fold – increased performance and investment in our youth.

Where’s the Experience in Experiential?

Johannesburg, South Africa

 

There is no denying that when it comes to the launch of new products or variants, product sampling is one of the most effective vehicles and is one of the main drivers included in the mix. The other is when brands are looking for a cost-effective quick solution to move product off the shelves. Both avenues have their merit but it is going to become increasingly difficult to maintain/increase retailer mindshare and support if we do not raise the bar and deliver medium to long-term value.

 

Looking at the generic approach of in-store experiential, it is no surprise that retailers are raising the barriers of entry. We need to do more than the narrow cut ‘n paste punting product tactics and start delivering real strategic value to the retailers.

The new currency in FMCG retail is shopper delight. Retailers are focussed on delivering a pleasurable and efficient shopping experience. The theory is that this drives loyalty, which in turn will deliver greater basket share. Part of this is reducing clutter and angst when navigating the aisles. 

Retailers are also honing in on category performance and cross category pollination and are less interested in individual brand performance. Both these trends are challenges that the industry and FMCG brands need to address.

Solutions

A few years ago, we started piloting category centric experiential initiatives. One of our first was for a baking aid company that rejuvenated its brand and packaging without new product innovation or variants. Hard to sell vermicelli and silver coloured decoration balls in a destination category where there is generally price and quality parity among competitors. Competition was rife and the customer was fighting for increased shelf share. 

We developed an engagement programme where we took a series of cake recipes, mass baked them and then sampled them as bite size treats nationally. This was enough to induce purchase and definitely encourage switching at shelf. However, we went further. Our demonstrators also carried recipes cards and if the shopper liked one, the demonstrator gave them the recipe card and then guided the shopper to purchase all the ingredients. This was not only baking aids but also flour, eggs, baking powder, milk – everything one needed to bake the perfect cake.

The net result was that instead of being an invasive product punting campaign, this initiative became a valued shopping experience. It drove category and cross category sales and the brand benefited, not only from its increased product sales but also from increased retailer mindshare, as we showed in post analysis how we increased shopper delight and basket value. This led to more facings and long-term gains for both the brand and retailer.

The future of in store experiential heavily rests on delivering sublime shopping experiences and solutions that complement the retailer’s shopper and drive category growth.