FMBE Awards 2023: Team of the Year (Brand Experience/ Sampling)
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Presented by: Frank’s Big TOE and ONWRD. Frank’s Big Tour Of England is an extraordinary running amd storytelling tour of England for Summer 2024. The Tour covers 2000 miles on foot supported by a van. The van will be supplied by flexible transport supplier to the FMBE sector, ONWRD.
GOLD Hel’s – StoryTrails
Sometimes Team of the Year is won by a team that has year round budget, strategic support from brand HQ and is part of an ongoing cohesive build, getting stronger with each new turn, each new investment. That was definitely the case with Weetabix, the field sales team winner this year.
That wasn’t the case here, where the StoryTrails team had to emerge as a fresh force – though they did so by building on a strong existing history between agency Produce UK and the staff and logistical support partner, the entrant, Hel’s.
In this case the skill was in constructing a team from scratch who had to deliver a campaign that would be extremely reliant on seamless cohesion at multiple locations nationwide.
Commissioned as part of Unboxed Creativity in the UK and facilitated by The Reading Agency working in partnership with a network of public libraries across the UK, StoryFutures and Produce UK created an immersive storytelling experience to bring local history to life.
The StoryTrails experience travelled throughout the country inviting local residents to step into a virtual world and experience the history of their towns and cities. The experience included local augmented reality trails, library installations, and VR experiences.
The campaign traversed 15 locations across 1,750 miles, delivered 58,000 consumer interactions over 372 staffing days, and helped to drive library attendance beyond pre-pandemic levels in most destinations.
The entry showed our judges, not just the process for delivering the campaign but also how the strongly principled management, training and employment practices that are enshrined at Hel’s enabled the team to quickly become the right one to meet the technological and engagement challenges of this roadshow.
Whilst StoryTrails used AR and VR to immerse users, this was ultimately a story about using connected people to reconnect people with the many fascinations of their local area.
SILVER Elevate Global – Waitrose
The challenge here was to put together a team that would make an impression from the off as Elevate started out providing tasting staff across 50 Waitrose stores.
The Waitrose contract would also need a level of staff retention and continuity that is above brand experience industry norms with 47 different brands being sampled to shoppers by the team in the first 12 months. 621447 samples were delivered in that time by the team.
Judges found that the clarity of the team purpose was carried over into the clarity of the reporting in the shape of a very clearly presented entry paper.
The paper showed how the team achievements concluded with its expansion to covering 70 stores, a success that left judges intrigued to see how the success levels would escalate in 2023-24.
BRONZE Fizz Experience – Costco
The most dependable team in the FMBE sector? The Fizz team, called WDS, has grown step by step with wholesaler Costco, combining forces across 29 depots. Each Costco expansion tallies with WDS expansion.
Superb team member retention stats underpin this cohesive strategic relationship. The team’s steady addition of value through passing years saw its best opportunity to be fully appreciated as gold winners of our special award, with further insight available in that category write up.
