Quite apart from the check-out the real opportunities for business lies in the ingenuity of the technology and the ways it can be adapted to drive word of mouth recommendations and ultimately, product trial. Ahead of the curve start-up MoLo Rewards is a website which allows users to download coupons to their phones to be redeemed in store by scanning the NCF device. Apart from the obvious incentive for customers to purchase, the device allows the brand to extract detailed information about that consumer from their purchase, including date and time of purchase, location and demographics. It is nigh-on perfect data capture. And with over 1 in 4 people in the UK in possession of a smartphone, it offers the perfect opportunity for consumers to share discounts and recommendations with friends across social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus. This technology is likely to completely rewrite the rules for popular discounting websites such as Groupon.

NCF is also set to shake up social ‘check-in’ platforms such as FourSquare and Facebook Places as bars and retail outlets look to introduce NCF hubs allowing consumers to swipe in and swipe out of locations across the country. With many coffee houses, clothing shops and shopping centres already offering incentives for customers to share their location with their friends on Facebook or FourSquare, NCF technology could remove existing barriers to entry and encourage much wider spread adoption of location based networks. This would make it even easier for consumers to work in conjunction with brands to source smarter and better deals, and pass the baton to friends. In an age where the consumer is king, smart brands will look to embrace technology and to enter into a two-way conversation with consumers, delivering information and offers to build loyalty.

On a much lighter note, this technology could be just what brands like Sonar, Match.com and Eharmony are looking for to help bolster membership on dating websites; what’s more it could revolutionise your next networking event. If you can check-in and check out potential suitors in a bar, or cross reference a stranger’s business interests against your own, could NCF be the key to a much bigger social phenomena? Watch this space!

Lindsey Reaney
PR Account Manager & Digital Consultant

Much has changed since then – research today is more than just sales figures and market research reports. It’s about listening and talking to customers, recording and analysing what they’re saying both face to face and online. Most companies haven’t the processes in place to listen to consumers this way, and the few that do often fail to ask the right questions, making effective decision making harder and the time scale to react longer.   

Rather living with information overload, it should be the role of agencies to ensure that clients are aware of the right research approaches to take. For example, they should suggest relevant techniques and guide them through the process of converting the data into actionable insight to drive swift decision making. 

This will require agencies to use the “conviction” and “balls” described by Claire Beale in her recent column. Too often agencies stick by methods they know, remaining in their comfort zones by promoting the type of research they think clients will be happier buying, rather than what best fits with the problem at hand.  

But before becoming this beacon of light, agencies themselves must put actionable insight and swift decision making at the heart of everything they do – rather than leave it to the last minute, for example, after storyboards are drawn up. It should be implemented much earlier in the process to enable it to have an actual impact on creative strategy. 

And it isn’t just about buying in the right research tools and getting specialist information professionals on-board. Agencies need to create a culture where research is a way of life: driven by a clear understanding of their client’s end-user and supported by a desire and enthusiasm for innovative thinking. 

Ad-avoidance is an established concept in our industry. This has forced the sector to up its game, so much so that the majority of advertising aimed at consumers today is of a ‘good’ quality. It is the role of research to lift advertising from ‘good’ to ‘great’ to drive greater cut through – not just benefiting sales but contributing to long term brand strength.  

Chris Lovell, Group CEO

The pitches that come back from various agencies are like job interviews. Creating a brief will mean a company is able to ‘interview’ the shortlisted agencies , allowing them to consider a wide range of results; hopefully finding a potential campaign that can uphold their brand values to retain loyal consumers, and present them effectively to attract new customers. 

In order to make sure a campaign will convey the message that a brand is trying to represent, it is important for the agency to have a clear picture of the brand and its message, so there is no confusion about their role or what you want them to do for you. This is why writing a brief is so important. 

A brief should be clear, concise and well written. It does not necessarily have to be long, but should contain relevant background information about the brand; for example, what the brand currently represents, its competitors and the state of the market in which your product exists.

It is important to include information about your target market too, so an agency can tailor a campaign to the correct social group and the types of media outlets they use. It would be ineffective to send a press release about dentures to a teen magazine as it would not achieve the desired results; it is unlikely that this particular product suits this market!  

Your brief should discuss what you wish to achieve from a campaign. Do you want the image of the brand to change? Are you trying to make sure your brand’s image and values stay constant to retain loyal customers? Or are you looking to draw more attention to your product in the hope of an increase in sales? Once these objectives are clearly defined, it will be easier for an agency to create a solution that is effective in helping you achieve your objectives.

Details should also be given on how long you want a potential campaign to last and whether it should run alongside or avoid any similar campaigns. It is important to provide a budget to ensure that the agency can allocate the appropriate resources and develop a campaign that is affordable while delivering the desired results.  Companies may not provide agencies with a budget because they want to see what the agency “comes up with”.  While this freedom on budget may seem like a good idea, it leaves a great deal of room for disappointment. The agencies will have to draw their conclusions on what you might have to spend and base their creative development on parameters that may be totally wrong.  The company could receive highly creative and broad programmes which are above their budget, or conversely could receive proposals that are based on too small a budget and therefore the campaign is not as far-reaching as it might be.

A well written brief will benefit everyone, so it’s important to put time and effort into writing one. This will avoid mixed-message which can cause confusion and result in lots of questions coming back to you from the agency.  A clear brief will yield significantly better pitches and ultimately lead to a successful campaign.

Lindsay Coates-Ledden – Golley Slater PR Cambridge

Marketing spin or reality, time will tell but one thing is for sure, whether you are the worlds largest corporation, or a new start up, putting your customer at the heart of your business and letting them collaborate with you, your brand and the way in which you do business with them is the only successful path in the future

How agencies and consultancies react and enable this process of collaboration between Brands and consumers is still a big question, one that many agency networks have not even thought of let alone started to solve……coming out of recession it will be interesting to see which agencies revert back to the old way of working and which take the brave new path.

Chris Lovell, Group CEO