Insight: Spaceandpeople – brand experience trends in venues

Data and Insight into brand experience trends in venues provided by SpaceandPeople. This report first appeared in FMBE Magazine Winter issue, February 2016

There was a sharp rise in experiential promotions in Q3 across all sectors of our business.  This was in part due to a major contract win with Network Rail which represents 17 major stations (including all Central London termini) and which has an annual footfall of over 1 billion. Network Rail is evolving its retail offer at stations and their stations are changing into shopping and eating destinations as well as being major transport hubs. In the quarter we saw multiple brands such as Haribo, Spotify and Lavazza create effective experiential campaigns across much of their portfolio.

In October the automotive sector saw the promotion of the new Ford Vignale in Waterloo Station. Offering free shoe-shine for commuters and the opportunity to interact with the latest model, staff were on-site with iPads to data capture and book test drives. Quarter 3 also saw Tesla promote their new S electric car, taking the car around multiple Shopping Centres throughout the UK to promote awareness of the new model. With no actual showrooms the Tesla brand is focussing on creating awareness and experiences via retail venues.

In other sectors, Moonpig installed a flower garden and “confession shed” at One New Change in October. Visitors were offered free flowers and invited to relax in the garden and privately confess. This experiential activity was well received and successful in promoting Moonpig’s expanding range of flowers for all occasions. BMW created an experiential campaign in the run up to Christmas, which involved inviting commuters to scan images of a BMW with their smartphones to obtain details on each model. Kings Cross station was home to a giant Soap & Glory mascot “Puck the Duck” in mid-November. This campaign involved hashtag marketing, in which commuters were encouraged to take a photograph with Puck, and post on social media using the hashtag #ChristmasQuackers and were offered the chance to win Soap & Glory gifts.

Venue Spotlight: Grand Central

Situated in the heart of Birmingham, Grand Central is a stunning, new, state of the art shopping destination offering a wide range of premium brands all under one roof. Grand Central has undergone a £150 million revamp and is home to a variety of luxury retailers such as anchor store John Lewis, The White Company, Kiehls and Hobbs. Grand Central formed the final piece in the city’s shopping offer as the John Lewis opening makes Birmingham the only city outside London to offer all five of the UK’s major department stores: Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Debenhams, House of Fraser and John Lewis – all within a short walking distance of each other. With an expected footfall of 50 million visitors to Birmingham annually and nearly half a million square feet of shopping and dining, Grand Central is a great location for experiential campaigns.