The big idea is not enough – it's the execution that counts
It takes a lot of guts to banish Santa from Christmas. But as the seasonal retail battle continues and the British Retail Consortium and KPMG shout about encouraging pre-Christmas sales, that’s exactly what John Lewis has done.
The bare and the hare: A 'carefully calculated' campaign
To get customers opening their wallets and win entrusted brand preference in this, the biggest sales period of the year, the idea of Christmas isn’t enough. It’s execution that counts.
Design, execution and user experience are now, more than ever before, an intrinsic part of a successful marketing strategy, or idea.
As such, Santa has been replaced by a bear, with a hare side-kick. Via social I’m engaging with them throughout the day, before the TV ad broke I met the #sleepingbear hibernating via a projection on London’s Southbank, and then there was that first-ever takeover of an X Factor ad break for the TV ad’s launch. It’s a carefully calculated, all encompassing, expertly delivered campaign.
In today’s tough ad market, the three golden pillars of design, execution and UX not only make an idea memorable, they help clients maximise their investment and cross-platform impact.
Here at Metro my team have delivered more than 250 campaigns this year. But despite this large figure, it’s not a case of quick turnarounds and simply implementing a brief. Clients want more and consumers expect more as the bar is continually raised. Media owners are now working more collaboratively with media agencies and clients to discuss, dissect and produce innovative cross-platform solutions that deliver cut through and most importantly get consumers talking with the end goal of driving some form of response or action.
From our first ever tactile Metro glitter glossy wrap, helping Marks and Spencer bring their ‘Magic and Sparkle’ campaign to life, to earlier in the year re-shaping our newspaper into a circular Aero bubble edition, we’re doing away with constraints and looking to help clients add that little extra which will make that big difference.
However, without great execution the idea simply would not work. A mammoth distribution on top of our daily 1.4m circulation requires bravery. The execution – the content, the look and feel, the front cover – had to be innovative and interesting enough to make consumers pick it up when this isn’t part of their established everyday routine. Execution and creativity are not print only territory for traditional media brands.
An idea without great execution is just that, an idea…
Alison Mifsud is head of commercial projects at Metro