The FMBE awards – my personal top100 (36 -31)
Posted by
35 RT Marketing, Neff (2007, new agency)
RT Marketing beat Cosine (see number 36) to the gold in this category, a result that probably surprised everyone in the room as RT’s successes, on a financial par with Cosine’s were much less well known. That in itself was a surprise as RT was a go-getting business, taken over by entrepreneur Nigel Wray and with CPM maestro Tony Stratton as a non-executive.
The agencies were from different spheres of FMBE. RT was a corporate hospitality business that realised that brand experience was the way forward.
It took until 2010 for most brand experience agencies to launch Corporate divisions. RT added an experiential arm to its Corporate business back in 2005. It was far ahead of the game and delivering results for Motorola, Investec and Neff. Neff was the stand out. The kitchens firm has since figured in the immersive event category with RT (in 2009).
34 CJ Services, Orange (2005, Installation)
10 years of shop in shop experience led to a new solution in merchandise units, an interchangeable modular unit with illuminated graphics.
CJ Services billed this as “shopfitting at a fraction of the cost”.
This category has since given way to the broader remit ‘Logistics’ but there was plenty to learn from this entry in terms of delivering merchandising units that sell with style whilst being quick and efficient for skilled installation teams to fit.
33 MSF, Morrisons (2009, Sampling)
The retailer and agency have been on a seemingly constant improvement cycle. In turn that has been pushing along the standard in our sampling category. Everyone in it surely knows that MSF is the standard to try and beat. In 2009 they ended up on top of the pile with a meticulous analysis of a 2008 seasonal marketing alongside cohesive ATL. There were great stats that undid any judging cynicism – comparison with the same seasons in 2007 and long term sales uplifts.
Few entries come across as such as joint effort between agency and brand – a seamless front that is very convincing.
32 FDS, Danone Waters (2009, Brand Store Relationship)
FDS and Danone also won the Field Marketing award at the Direct Marketing Association later in the year – one of the rare occasions when their judges have been persuaded of the merits of a traditional field marketing campaign for their award.
It was a really tightly controlled campaign that pounced on opportunities to sell into Multi Site Operator stores.
It was a data-driven stock to sales service that showed up new scope for field marketing teams.
31 Line Up, Volvo (2009, Immersive Event, invited guests)
A 9 week global dealer launch of the Volvo XC60 in a disused customs house in Gothenburg raised the bar in terms of B2B experiential launches. Dealers were immersed in consumer lifestyles before trying the car in various conditions and given an honest appraisal of competitor products.
The event was thoroughly evaluated to gauge its success – partially with one eye on the next launch so that an existing legacy between agency and brand could continue to build. This campaign was also the winner of an Ex award in Chicago, a set of awards that have seen many more B2B experiential events than we had.