It was not an easy task and it would be tempting to list far more brands. All our Marketing Hall of Fame Brands have won coveted Marketing Society Awards many times over. In some instances, they were chosen because they have disrupted markets and changed industries, other brands made the cut because they have consistently changed and adapted with the times, when needed, and fought back when times were tough. It's hard to get to the top, but the hardest thing of all is staying there. All were selected to celebrate 30 years of marketing excellence.
Asos
Asos, the online fashion retailer is a smart, sassy business that is conquering the fashion world with a brand new marketing model. Asos is democratising fashion and teaching seasoned fashion brands how to have deep, meaningful relationships with 71 million 20-something shoppers. CEO and founder, Nick Robertson, told The Annual Conference 2013 that, 'the asset used to be a high street store, now it can be - are you distributed on Asos?' Nearly 860 fashion brands from Zara to Topshop stand side by side next to Asos's own-label range and are displayed through content from an online magazine to filmed footage from Asos's catwalk. The Duchess of Cambridge, PM's wife Samantha Cameron and First Lady Michelle Obama have all worn Asos’s own-label designs, helping the company to achieve annual sales of £770 million.
Asos has won a number of Marketing Society Awards for Excellence due to its commercial creativity. In 2012, its Christmas campaign, #bestnightever used the insight that getting ready to go out was as important as the party itself. The campaign led to 5.6 million acts of engagement and a 12 per cent increase in the social audience over eight weeks. Similarly, its award-winning live Twitter games campaign in 2014 increased hourly sales by 774 per cent during gaming. Here's a brand that understands what makes Millenials tick. Although the brand has hit some bumps with its global expansion - operating in 200 countries has huge logistical challenges - not helped by the strong pound; Robertson has told investors to keep their eyes on 'the very big prize' as he strives for annual sales of £2.5 billion.
British Airways
When you're a brand, flying the distance requires stamina. British Airways, the 'world's favourite airline' has had its ups and downs, but even now, nearly 100 years since its launch it is creating moments of magic for its customers. In 2014, a ground-breaking outdoor campaign, 'The Magic of Flying' used live data from aircraft flying above London billboards to create 'a moment of magic' as one of their planes flew overhead. BA has always been an innovative brand. In 1988, Club World, its pioneering long-haul premium business-class service, saw it win a Marketing Society Award. This was swiftly followed by the airline's iconic ad campaign featuring a moving face made up from people all over the world, emphasising that BA was a worldwide airline. In the late 1990s, BA responded to increased competition from the new budget airlines, with Go, a modern, stylish, professional brand that stood out in a sector where some rivals were perceived as inconvenient and unreliable. However, there comes a moment in a brand's life when it can rest on its laurels no longer. This happened to British Airways in 2010, when the 'world's favourite airline' was losing its mojo. Low-cost airlines like easyJet (which had since acquired Go) were challenging its short-haul routes while the British brand was playing second fiddle to its nimble competitor, Virgin Atlantic. BA staff were losing pride and commitment and customer satisfaction was declining. This led to a new strategy - To Fly. To Serve and yet another Marketing Society Award for Excellence.
British Gas
British Gas has been powering Britain for almost 200 years, evolving from the ‘Gas, Light and Coke Company’ in 1812 to become a leading provider of energy and home services in Britain today. 1986 was a defining year in the company’s history, when the gas industry was privatised and British Gas plc was formed. The iconic ‘Tell Sid’ campaign, with its strapline: ‘lf you see Sid, tell him’, aimed to persuade the British public to invest in its shares. British Gas was one of the highest spenders on advertising that year and the campaign one of the most successful of all time. The initial public offering (IPO) of 135p per share valued British Gas at £9 billion. The offer was four times oversubscribed and The Marketing Society recognised British Gas as the ‘Brand of Britain’ in 1986.
Twenty years later it was just another energy company, losing 40,000 accounts every month. In the years that followed, British Gas's reputation fell as the company lost sight of its customers and focused on competition instead. In 2008, under new leadership, British Gas began a journey to return to its former glory. A high profile sponsorship of British swimming, a promise that British Gas engineers would call ahead to let you know they were on their way and a new communications idea 'looking after your world' helped reduce customer churn from a staggering 2.6 million a year to 1.7 million. The hard part continues, as British Gas well knows, for the biggest challenge lies with staying great.
BT
Remember Maureen Lipman's star turn as Beattie, the Jewish grandmother? 'An ology! He gets an ology and he says he’s failed!! You get an ology — you’re a scientist!!' From Buzby to Beattie, Bob Hoskins and beyond, it's difficult to imagine a time before BT was part of the British landscape. Here is a telecoms company that understands the importance of evolving with the times. From its roots in the General Post Office to becoming a privatised company in 1984 encouraging customers to spend longer on the phone.
Initially part of the General Post Office, British Telecom was privatised in 1984. Six years later it was restructured and relaunched as BT with new branding and a new logo. In May 1994, BT launched the 'It's good to talk' campaign. There were 16 separate ads featuring Bob Hoskins providing independent advice on how people can benefit from using the phone more often. In the mid-90s this strategy was helping BT maintain its share of the market despite tough competition from mobile phone brands. Since then, BT has grown into a broadband provider, and more recently a broadcaster, with the launch of BT Sport and its bold decision to give free Premier League football to its 7.4m broadband customers. It was a gamble that paid off. By giving free Premier League football to its 7.4m broadband customers, BT attracted 580,000 new subscriptions in the 12 months to June alongside Marketing Society Excellence Awards for Brand Extension and Brand Revitalisation.
Innocent
The Innocent founding story is a master class in brand storytelling. Three Cambridge graduates sold their smoothies at a music festival, beneath a big sign asking people if they should give up their job with a 'Yes' bin and a 'No' bin in front of the stall. At the end of the weekend, the 'Yes' bin was full, and Innocent was born. Fast forward 15 years and the three entrepreneurs sold the rest of their stake of the brand, now worth £500 million to Coca-Cola. Innocent showed brands how to use verbal identity and tone of voice to stand out from competition. It showed brands how to make packaging copy imaginative and different. From replacing the 'use by date' with an 'enjoy by date' to funny packaging copy that encouraged customers to call the 'Banana phone' or said 'We’re not saying that there’s anything wrong with going for a gym workout, it’s just, you know, all a bit of an effort really, isn’t it? If I were you, I’d just have an Innocent smoothie instead.' Innocent understood from the beginning how to make customers really care about their products. Smoothies delivered by vans that looked like Fresian cows and mooed when you pressed the horn, free music festivals, donating 10% of profits to charity, producing the first 100% recycled bottles, a long-term partnership with Help the Aged that involved knitting. Innocent understood how to build a brand for its time.
M&S
M&S is one of the great British brands. Under the bold leadership of Sir Stuart Rose, the British retailer put sustainability at the heart of its business and stayed strong to its promise of quality despite tricky economic times. In 2006, M&S began to change every part of its business to become a sustainable business. From Looking Behind the Label to Plan A (because there was no Plan B) which persuaded customers that it needed to charge 5p for a carrier bag (raising £1.2m for environmental charity, Groundwork) to Doing the Right Thing which encouraged customers to donate their old M&S clothes to Oxfam in return for a £5 voucher raising over £2 million for the charity. For M&S going green was not also about changing the attitudes and behaviour of its 25m customers. Meanwhile, under the dark cloud of the recession in 2009, it was getting tough on the British high street. Unlike other retailers who were fast to cut prices M&S managed to stay strong to its roots and persuade the British public that it was a premium brand worth paying for. The overarching communications strategy was that M&S provides quality worth paying more for. The perfectly pitched 'Dine in for £10' became a promotion copied by other retailers - compared to going out to a restaurant, £10 for three courses plus wine was fantastic value for money. It took time and it took nerve for this strategy to pay off, but M&S began to turn its fortunes around. The trick is staying good...
McDonald's
This is the story of a brand that lost its way and found it again. A story of a brand that learned to accept the fact that it would always be polarising to some people. It is 40 years since McDonald's opened its first British branch in south-east London. Today, three million Brits eat under the golden arches every day, while 80% of families and 70% of adults eat McDonald's at least once a year. The company paid £42m in corporation tax in 2012, while Starbucks paid just £8.6m between 1998 and 2012. In the same year, McDonald's won a well-deserved Marketing Society Award for instilling a renewed sense of pride among its 72,000 British workers in an attempt to rewrite the negative perception of 'McJob.' Training is a big part of that: over 55,000 qualifications have been earned by McDonald's UK employees since 2006, 36% of those equivalent to GCSE English and maths and 30% to level two apprenticeships. Following the campaign, by the end of 2008 almost 80% of employees were proud to work at McDonald’s, while staff turnover had decreased significantly.
Meanwhile, in the mid-2000s, a combination of the McLibel case, Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation and general disquiet around fast food and the obesity crisis, had left the fast food retailer on the back foot. Refurbishing the restaurants, introducing free wi-fi, offering more choice to customers from fresh ethical coffee to porridge for breakfast, to tweaking old favourites. Today, McDonald's Happy Meals have 50% less salt and a third less sugar than in 2000.
O2
In 2002, when BT Cellnet was relaunched as O2, the mobile phone market was dominated by Orange and Vodafone and poised for new competition with the impending launch of T-Mobile and 3. It was a mature market with high churn among customers and marketing was the only way to differentiate yourself from competition. O2 built a strong brand through a strongly integrated visual and branding strategy. It recognised from the beginning that customer experience and putting customers first was the only way to differentiate yourself from competition. Since then, the mobile operator's determination to put customers first has generated a stream of innovative marketing ideas. Its campaign a few years after launch to keep customers loyal set it apart from competitors suffering from increasing churn. Its sponsorship of what is the world’s most popular entertainment venue—The O2 arena—has given the brand global recognition. It's easy to forget how the Millenium Dome was viewed by the British public in 2007, it was the white elephant of the government and regarded as an embarrassing waste of money. It has taken sponsorship to a new level. O2 customers are able to book Priority tickets 48 hours before general release. Over 2.6 million customers had been added since the launch of The O2, nearly double that of the nearest competitor Orange. On 10-11 July 2012 when O2's network went down, the quick, clear and honest communication from O2's Twitter team is now regarded as a textbook approach for brands responding to customers in a human way. During the outage, O2's fans on Twitter and Facebook increased by almost 30%.
Sainsbury's
Sainsbury's took a brave, bold decision when it decided to throw its weight behind the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Consumers in research panels had questioned the partnership, they didn't see Paralympics as real sport and the awareness was low. Sarah Warby, marketing director, Sainsbury's revealed, 'It was risky, but we had our eyes wide open and it felt right for us.' The important decision has been vindicated tenfold, as Sainsbury's, alongside its broadcast partner, Channel 4, changed the perception of a nation and showed us what extraordinary sportsmanship looked like. Advice? 'Do work that you know is right.' But Sainsbury's star was already in the ascendant. The retailer's focus on Live well for less with campaigns like 'Feed your family for a fiver' was a resounding success, delivering £540 million in incremental sales revenues by the end of 2009 and demonstrated Sainsbury's was paying attention to its customers' changing needs in tough economic times. Times have changed dramatically since John James Sainsbury and his wife Mary Ann Sainsbury opened the first shop on Dury Lane, London in 1869. As shopping habits change, and customers flock to German discounters like Lidl and Aldi, Sainsbury's must hope that its emphasis on sustainability, its instinct on 'doing work that you know is right' (Sainsbury's has partnered Comic Relief since 1999) will protect the retailer in a tough market.
The John Lewis Partnership
As the British high street faltered, with well-loved retailers from Woolworths to Habitat closing their doors, John Lewis grew from strength to strength. Beyond its well-documented partnership model that ensures John Lewis 'employees' are engaged and motivated in the success of the business, the retailer has created a number of ground-breaking campaigns that have dominated the airwaves over Christmas - becoming the topic of 7000 school assemblies and the subject for Radio 4's Thought for the Day. In 2013, 12 million people watched the TV ad for The Bear and the Hare, the merchandise sold out within days, the campaign made the front page of Private Eye and put a single to the top of the charts for three weeks. And this year's campaign, Monty the Penguin, is set to achieve the same results. For Christmas is the 'marketing Superbowl' for retailers - this is the time when John Lewis makes 40% of its annual profits.
John Lewis has also stayed ahead of competition by investing heavily in its e-commerce bringing the retailing brand into a multi-channel world. On the busiest day in 2011/2012, johnlewis.com took an order on the website every 1.9 seconds Its 'click and collect' initiative, enabling customer to buy online and collect from their local Waitrose or John Lewis store is the perfect example of the seamless integration of online and high street. The trick to the brand's success? Charlie Mayfield, the chairman of The John Lewis Partnership said it best at our Annual Lecture 2013. 'Most retailers are obsessed with sales not customers.'
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(Feature image courtesy of Roman Boed.)
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To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of The Marketing Society's Awards for Excellence we've been digging deep into the archives to select 10 brands that shone the most brightly over the last 30 years.
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