How Really B2B won gold for 'Most commercially successful campaign' for its campaign for M&S Corporate Gifts - Awards case study: How Really B2B ...
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Awards case study: How Really B2B won gold for ‘Most commercially successful campaign’ for its campaign for M&S Corporate Gifts
Contents
1. Introduction 3
2. About the client company 4
3. Strategy – broader challenges the business was facing 4
4. Objectives of the campaign 6
5. The target audience 7
6. Media, channels or techniques used 8
7. Timescales of the campaign 12
8. Results 13
Contributors:
Kristina Haddrell,
group account director, Really B2B
Susan McKay,
CMO, TMF Group, and judge
at the B2B Marketing Awards 2020
2 Contents Awards case study: M&S © B2B Marketing
Section 1
Introduction
Looking to end 2019 on a high, M&S Corporate Gifts To date, the campaign has generated 1575% return
wanted a strong multi-channel campaign to reach its on investment and almost £2 million confirmed
enterprise audience and drive an increase in sales sales revenue. What’s more, year-on-year sales have
revenue of gift cards and eCards. jumped by 81%, completely surpassing the campaign
objective. With figures such as these, it’s no surprise
Although a globally-recognised brand, the then that Really B2B won gold for ‘Most commercially
competition for corporate gifting is rapidly increasing, successful campaign’ at the B2B Marketing Awards in
so an impactful and integrated strategy was needed November 2020.
to cut through the noise of a crowded marketplace
and reinforce M&S Corporate Gifts’ status as the go-to So how did they manage this?
partner for corporate gifting.
Really B2B was entrusted with the task. A propensity
modelling exercise allowed the agency to truly
understand M&S Corporate Gifts’ enterprise customers
and prospects and adapt the campaign messaging
and segmentation accordingly, to create a theme and
strategy that resonated with the decision-makers who
are notoriously hard to reach.
This insight shaped the ‘Be Unforgettable’ campaign
theme, which was bought to life through both a core
and key strategy, consisting of high-impact direct mail,
insightful thought-leadership content, digital and
inside sales to nurture prospects through to qualified
sales opportunities.
Susan McKay, CMO of TMF Group, and judge at the
B2B Marketing Awards 2020, commented: “The
‘Be Unforgettable’ campaign stood out from the
competition because the marketing strategy was well
thought out and clearly articulated. The team developed
a strong, specific set of objectives at the outset, to drive
engagement with a defined group of enterprises, then
took a methodical approach to their strategy using clear
thinking and data to drive decision-making throughout.”
3 Section 1 Awards case study: M&S © B2B Marketing
Section 2 Section 3
About the client Strategy
company – broader
challenges
Before we get into it, it’s important to provide a little bit
of context around the client company. M&S Corporate
Gifts is the business arm of retail giant, Marks and
the business
Spencer. Supporting their clients, they offer a range of
gift cards and e-codes for both employee benefits and
customer retention/acquisition incentives.
was facing
For over 20 years (and with a group turnover of
£10.6 billion), their brand reputation, combined with
unrivalled expertise and vast product range, ensures Broadly speaking, M&S Corporate Gifts was facing
their thousands of clients, across a range of industries, three major challenges:
feel safe in the knowledge that they’re supported by
one of the UK’s most-loved brands. Standing out:
Although a globally recognised brand, the competition
for corporate gifting is rapidly increasing.
Capitalise on Christmas:
With the Christmas period always a key focus for
retailers, M&S needed a strong, integrated strategy in
place to leverage the season and drive increased sales.
Deep dive into the data:
Targeting a broad audience, it was imperative that
M&S had a clear understanding of their customers and
prospects to align their campaign segmentation and
messaging, ensuring relevance.
M&S needed a strong campaign
message to cut through the noise
of a crowded marketplace and
reinforce their status as the go-to
partner for corporate gifting
4 Section 2 Awards case study: M&S © B2B Marketing
Section 4
Objectives of the campaign
Ultimately, the objectives of Really B2B’s campaign for “We know that M&S has got a quite large product range,
M&S Corporate Gifts can be split into two main areas: from food to home furnishings to clothes, etc. So, from
a gift card perspective, we know that the recipient can
Business objective: probably always find something that they want and that’s
meaningful to them. So, going back to the early stages
To engage with enterprise businesses over the of the campaign, it was all about generating awareness.
2019 Christmas period and deliver a 33% sales Then, we also wanted to position M&S as the go-to
uplift from 2018. partner for a corporate gift card.
“We also wanted – and needed – to make the customer
Marketing objectives: journey as easy as possible, so that we could help
generate the revenue for the M&S sales team. And,
To get under the skin of M&S’ customers and whilst gift cards are beneficial all year round, there was a
prospects and use this insight to inform a data-led clear peak season in the months leading up to Christmas.
segmentation strategy; to develop a high-impact, So, the focus for us was to generate and nurture those
integrated campaign that resonates with the audience businesses through, so that they would then convert
and drives opportunities for M&S’ sales team; to create during the peak season. So, it’s really all about finding
an impactful key account strategy to cut through the the right point of time for them to purchase.”
noise and engage hard-to-reach decision-makers; to
measure and directly attribute revenue generated from
the campaign.
Speaking during a recent B2B Marketing Podcast,
Kristina Haddrell, group account director,
Really B2B, provided a bit more depth: “Our key
challenge was really to show that gift cards and eGift
cards are suitable and transferable into the corporate Want to listen to the
world. We now know that sales teams use gift cards full B2B Marketing podcast
to thank customers for their loyalty. We also know with Kristina Haddrell,
that HR departments use them to say thank you to group account director,
their employees, and that can be either as a one-off Really B2B?
piece, or as part of a regular employee reward and Check it out here!
motivation scheme.
5 Section 4 Awards case study: M&S © B2B Marketing
Section 5
The target audience
The 21,000-strong database that Really B2B targeted that we ran was ‘Be Unforgettable’. The theme that we
was made up of UK businesses with 500+ employees, had for it was: in today’s transactional world, taking
within the following sectors: the time to show your appreciation as a gesture is
something that is unforgettable.
› Automotive.
› Manufacturing. “It’s something that would really resonate with
› Telecoms and broadband. employees, as well as customers. So, the unforgettable
› Construction. aspect of the campaign worked really well for M&S
› Transport and travel. because gifts from M&S are unforgettable, and also we
› Advertising and marketing. wanted the businesses themselves to be unforgettable
to whoever their target audience was as well.
The campaign was segmented into client/customer-
focused gifting and employee-focused gifting. “This theme really helped us to cut through the
gift card market, and it reinforced M&S as the go-
to-partner for providing those corporate gift card
schemes. We used that theme to tie in all of our
creative and our messaging. The approach that we take
5.1 Client/customer-focused gifting was to always optimise all the channels that we use.
We want to ensure that we deliver a good return on
Job functions that were targeted in this side of the our clients’ investments and that’s something that we
campaign were: sales, marketing and customer service take pride in! So, we continue to adapt our approach
operations. Potential uses for gift cards here included: and we utilise a number of different channels. So, for
acquisition, retention, loyalty and ‘refer-a-friend’. this campaign, we used direct mail, email, social PPC,
amongst others.”
On the employee-focused side of the campaign, job
functions that were targeted included: HR, directors/
heads of people, compensation and benefits. Here,
the potential use of gift cards included: performance
rewards, incentives, long-service awards and
maternity/paternity gifts.
Kristina said: “Each year that we’ve worked with M&S, create a culture
we’ve developed a specific campaign theme, and
of giving at
that’s based on previous learnings and the insights that
your business
we know about the target audience. The last campaign
this Christmas
6 Section 5 Awards case study: M&S © B2B Marketing
Section 6
Media, channels or techniques used
To ensure the data was used optimally, an analysis 6.1 Methodology
and propensity modelling exercise was carried out,
allowing Really B2B to review segmentation, refine The database was analysed and segmented into the
the messaging hierarchy and establish the audience’s following messaging categories:
likelihood to engage and spend. This was something
that Susan was also particularly impressed by during › Existing customer.
the judging. › Customer incentive audience.
› Employee benefits audience.
She said: “Segmenting the audiences clearly by ‘type
of giving’ meant they could personalise content and Really B2B then reviewed businesses who engaged
messaging, and evoke an emotive response during with M&S across the last year to ascertain the significant
the Christmas period using a multi-channel approach spenders and most engaged audiences. All data was
to customise the experience. Further segmenting for then scored on their propensity to:
existing customers versus new encouraged further
refinement of the messaging based on engagement › Respond to communications.
levels and propensity to buy.” › Convert to sale.
› Spend (volume and value).
In the B2B Marketing Podcast, Kristina added: “It
was this agile approach that allowed us to increase Once propensity by segment was established,
the engagement, and then we can leverage sales messaging was segmented further into the following
at key moments that’s appropriate to the audience. categories, and the messaging hierarchy was refreshed.
Also, obviously, it delivers that revenue that M&S
are wanting.” › Ready to buy (prospect close to conversion).
› Warm to hot (positive engagements, but more
communication needed to convert).
› Look-a-like audience modelled from the high-
propensity records.
› Low engagement (fresh data and data with
quantitatively low engagement).
7 Section 6 Awards case study: M&S © B2B Marketing
6.2 Campaign theme 6.3 Website
Really B2B needed a campaign theme that would An in-depth website audit was carried out to review
allude to the Christmas period, but also have longevity the user experience and ensure it met the needs of
beyond it. After reviewing M&S’ brand, service and the audience.
customer truths, Really B2B created a theme which
reinforced the strength of the brand, whilst bringing to Actions following the audit included the following:
life the impact their corporate gifting options have on
their enterprise audience. › Optimised site map – to improve the customer
journey.
‘Be unforgettable’: In today’s transactional world,
taking the time to show your appreciation is a gesture › Updated look and feel – to draw greater attention to
that’s not quickly forgotten. call-to-actions and align with campaign theme.
‘Unforgettable’ evokes an emotional response, › Content hub created – to improve SEO and track
inspiring the audience to deliver a memorable content engagement (which hadn’t previously
experience to gain the loyalty of customers and been a focus for M&S). Website bounce rate
employees with an M&S gift card. The quality of M&S’ decreased from 65% to 2.48%.
products means that, however the recipient choses to
redeem their card, they will not easily forget the gift
they’ve been given. Thought leadership content was created in the form
of infographics, ebooks and tip sheets and tailored for
This theme was then rolled out across all messaging both the employee benefits and customer engagement
and campaign collateral. audiences. The content was promoted across all
channels to drive downloads and engagements.
Segmented landing pages were developed as a
hub for this activity. These hosted key benefits to the
specific audiences, as well as a how-to-order brand
video and a contact form, as a quick contact point for
the time-poor audience.
M&S’ paid search campaigns (Google and Bing)
were aligned with the updated campaign theme
and messaging and revised to direct prospects to
segmented landing pages.
› 14% increase in conversions.
› 24% drop in cost-per-click.
8 Section 6 Awards case study: M&S © B2B Marketing
Tip 2: Employees who practise
mindfulness report a
Make time for mindfulness in their stress
Mindfulness is a great way to give back to employees, 28% levels
as it’s a gift that keeps on giving! Techniques like meditation,
breathing exercises and yoga are fantastic for stress relief,
improving mental and physical wellbeing and contributing
to the overall happiness of your team.
in sleep
So, encourage your workforce to dedicate
20% quality
at least ten minutes of each working day
to practising mindfulness techniques.
Over the Christmas period, you could
even run a Christmas costume yoga
in pain.1
session for extra festivity!
19%
Behavioral Essentials
1
6.4 LinkedIn 6.5 Highly-personalised emails
Sponsored LinkedIn Inmails and posts were used HTML emails, segmented by industry and job function,
to engage the audience and drive prospects to drove readers to dedicated Christmas landing pages,
relevant landing pages, prompting increased which included key benefits, order instructions and
inbound enquiries. Utilising LinkedIn’s audience a brand video. All in all, this increased web form
builder enabled Really B2B to reach a wider submissions by 149%.
audience that weren’t on the email database.
Sent from an M&S Corporate Gifts email mask,
Organic posts were launched from the M&S plain-text emails were launched to create the sense
Corporate Gifts business page to promote of a one-to-one conversation. Utilising pain points
campaign content further. identified in the messaging, and segmented by
propensity to purchase, job function and industry,
these messages had a strong call-to-action to respond
to discuss corporate gifting options.
6.6 Telemarketing
Dedicated M&S telemarketers (through Really B2B’s
telemarketing partner) were appointed to follow up
inbound enquiries and qualify in order to pass over
to M&S’ sales team to close. Really B2B also utilised
outbound dialling hours by prioritising the data based
on propensity analysis and campaign engagement
– meaning all hours were being used in the most
effective way to generate the best result.
9 Section 6 Awards case study: M&S © B2B Marketing
6.7 Key account campaign 100 key prospects were identified from the data analysis and an additional focused approach was used to engage this sought-after audience. Launched via an HTML email, a £10 eCode was delivered to the key prospects as an additional incentive to enquire. Offering this bought to life the joy their employees and customers will feel by receiving this gift. In addition to this, a pre-Christmas direct mail campaign was launched to 10 top prospects from the key list. In order for M&S to ‘be unforgettable’ to their prospects, a clear lockbox, stocked full of M&S goodies, was sent with a combination padlock. Accompanied by a personalised Christmas card urging recipients to ‘unlock the secret of customer loyalty’, the call-to-action was a QR code, linking to a personalised landing page to access their combination code. A second direct mail piece was launched to an additional 10 prospects. To overcome the dreaded ‘Blue Monday’ (3 January 2020), Really B2B sent a lockbox, this time full of M&S’ iconic Percy Pig sweets and invited prospects to ‘Perk up with Percy’. The QR code directed prospects to a tailored landing page, which hosted a campaign video, tying back to the ‘Be Unforgettable’ theme. All of this planning paid off. As Susan said: “As marketers and leaders of marketing in any type of organisation, be it agency or in-house, B2B or B2C, we are eternally bombarded with requests from the business, from our clients, from our stakeholders. In the fast-paced business environments we work in today, we don’t often have the luxury of stepping back and approaching our work as a purposeful endeavour. The ‘Be Unforgettable’ campaign is a timely reminder of just how important planning is to our trade.” 10 Section 6
Section 7
Timescales of the campaign
“Launching in October and
September Data analysis and continuing through till the end
2019 propensity modelling.
of January leveraged the gift
giving season to best effect and
contributed to the overall success
of the campaign”
October Website refresh and
2019 campaign launch. Susan McKay, CMO, TMF Group,
and judge at the B2B Marketing Awards 2020
November
Pre-Christmas direct mail launch.
2019
January
Post-Christmas direct mail launch.
2020
Ongoing communication for future
Present
campaigns.
11 Section 7 Awards case study: M&S © B2B MarketingSection 8
Results
Some results included the following: Susan said: “For a company like M&S, with an
annual group turnover of more than £10 billion, that
may sound like a drop in the bucket. But using the
Almost £2 million confirmed sales revenue. campaign planning framework applied in the ‘Be
Unforgettable’ campaign, and co-ordinating activity
across multiple campaigns, the numbers can quickly
1575% ROI. add up to an impressive marketing programme.”
Susan continued: “What most impressed all the judges
114% increase in orders from 2018. about this campaign was the relatively low investment
that has so far yielded nearly £2 million in revenue, or
a 1575% ROI, and a 33% uplift in sales. Any marketer
81% increase in revenue from 2018. would be proud to boast numbers like that.”
Speaking on the B2B Marketing Podcast, Kristina
55% conversion rate from direct mail. commented: “The main objective of the campaign was
to deliver a high-end impact integrated campaign that
resonated with the audience, and obviously drove the
2.1 million impressions. sales for the M&S team.
“We weren’t given a specific target, but there was an
unofficial target that bounced around throughout the
campaign between us and the client. And it was kind
of a ‘nice to have, but, probably, you won’t achieve it’,
so it turned into a ‘do your best’ type of thing.
“And that target was generating £1.5 million worth of
sales, but we like a challenge at Really B2B, so that’s
definitely what we aimed for. The results were brilliant.
The campaign generated nearly £2 million in revenue,
so we smashed that £1.5 million target.”
No wonder, then, that Really B2B won gold for
‘Most commercially successful campaign’ at the B2B
Marketing Awards 2020.
12 Section 8 Awards case study: M&S © B2B MarketingAbout
B2B Marketing Really B2B
Powered by the community, for the community. At Really B2B, we use our passion for delivering demand
generation and ABM campaigns that combine bold,
Established in 2004, B2B Marketing is now the number creative thinking, qualitative research, and right-fit
one go-to resource for B2B marketers across the globe. technology to generate measurable growth and ROI for
our clients’ businesses.
Right from the start, we had a clear mission that remains
as strong and clear today: to provide marketers at business We are relentless in ensuring the value of marketing is
brands with the tools, insight and inspiration they need to recognised at board-level by delivering marketing plans
grow and succeed – as both individuals and businesses. using accurate campaign forecasting, that have a clear
focus on marketing KPIs and sales revenue.
To do this, we need to continually evolve to make sure
we are delivering what you need. How do we get this right?
This is why Propolis was born. › Campaign planning using benchmarks from real
campaigns we have run.
We’re proud to serve as the focal point for the › Messaging and creativity, driven by qualitative research
and customer insight.
B2B marketing sector, and to be a force for greater › Accurate revenue predictions considering our client’s
connectivity, enabling marketers and leaders to share sales conversions, AOV and sales-cycle.
experiences and learn from one another.
We are the B2B experts.
b2bmarketing.net Really B2B
propolis.b2bmarketing.net Floor M, WeWork
info@b2bmarketing.net 10 York Road
+44 (0)20 7014 4920 London
SE1 7ND
0845 519 8517
info@reallyb2b.com
reallyb2b.com
13 About Awards case study: M&S © B2B MarketingContact us B2B Marketing Clover House 147–149 Farringdon Road London EC1R 3HN Tel: +44 (0)20 7014 4920 info@b2bmarketing.net b2bmarketing.net reallyb2b.com
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