How we helped an amazing brand treble sales in four years

Background

The Pauline Quirke Academy for Performing Arts is a small business with big ambitions. Their success to date has been driven by their entrepreneurial team. With no professional in-house marketing competence PQA also relied on management judgement and design agencies to grow. Concerned about becoming stale they wanted to make sure they had effective plans to drive growth.

Marketing challenge

To double turnover and the number of academies from 50 to 100 in 3 years.

Approach

One of PQA’s promotion flyers

• Research-led; secondary research and analysis of media costs and impacts, customer leads and sign-ups by drive-time. This clarified the geo-demographic target market for new Academy openings. It also inspired more cost-effective media strategies and plans.
• Primary research among Academy principals, students and parents (both new, current and lapsed, also new, high and weaker performing academies). This helped understand product and promotion strengths and weaknesses, and also performance drivers/barriers.
• Created mini advertisements and leaflets to help understand student and parent needs and also define the most compelling brand messages.
• Recruited in-house marketing team to improve marketing capabilities, and also foster a culture of continuous improvement.

Results

Identified the most motivating ideas to position and promote the brand and deliver a distinctive brand experience. As a result, we launched a new performing arts marketing campaign and student numbers increased c. 20% after the Autumn opening season. Since the first marketing hire, the team has grown to 7 executives over four years. All are highly motivated, and also focused on delivering an amazing brand experience. In addition, overall student numbers, and sales have more than trebled.

Read more about The Pauline Quirke Academy online.

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Challenge

To create an engaging event for the local community, boost interest and trial of new sports, and local clubs. Also to raise the profile of Marlow Sports Club, and raise funds to pay back the land purchase cost

Approach

It all started with an idea from a tennis club member who is a qualified pyrotechnician. Thereafter, we set out to fill a gap in the local market. Also to create a distinctive experience to inspire kids and adults alike. Nearly 9 months of planning goes into staging the show. It is an organisational challenge led by members of Marlow Tennis Club, and also involving help from all other sporting sections.
Marketing promotion aims to reach over 90% of the community half a dozen times in the 2 weeks before the show.
The offer itself is also designed to involve local sports clubs, great music, as well as purveyors of fine local beers, wine and food.

Results

The Marlow Monster Fireworks Show is now in its 5th year. From a standing start, attendance has grown every year, and visitors now include over 10% of the local community.  As a result, it has raised over £30,000 to pay back Marlow Sports Club’s land purchase cost. Thus also helping to provide a lasting legacy for the local community.

The 2020 show is on Saturday 7th November (social distancing guidelines permitting); for advance tickets, visit the Marlow Monster Fireworks Show ticketing website after October 1st.  Thankyou for supporting the cause.

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How we researched and helped develop a new magazine

Background

Match of the Day is the BBC’s flagship football programme. A earlier attempt to expand the brand was unsuccessful and a new opportunity foreseen in the teenage publishing and online market.

Challenge

To understand the market for football news and gossip, and also identify gaps in the market for a new multi-media football offer.

BBC Match of the Day Magazine

Magazine Market Research Approach: Three stage process:

• Research planning session to decide issues and opportunities to explore and also create/compile new ‘offer’ stimuli.
• Group and depth insight programme. Methods included paired depths with pairs tasked as investigative journalists, and groups with respondents asked to complete football and football media diaries. In addition, paired father and son depth interviews and individual football enthusiast interviews. These respondents were also asked to buy and review magazines.
• Working session to debrief findings, conclusions and recommendations.

Results

Identified opportunities and created blue-print for new Match of the Day magazine and website targeted at tweens.
The magazine launched in 2008. In year 1, sales amassed c. £8.5m thus enabling it to vye for category leadership.

Read BBC Match of the Day magazine

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How we helped increase visitor loyalty

Challenge

The Merlin Annual Pass – a year’s worth of fun!

Approach

• Customer depths and workshops with families of children aged 2-18 years. The sample included both new, long standing and also lapsed Merlin Annual Pass holders. In addition the sample covered customers of both the standard and premium pass and a mix of ages, gender and family composition.

Results

Find a Merlin Annual Pass that’s right for you.

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How we revitalised a world famous brand

Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five on the Case

Challenge

To revitalise the Famous Five and to accelerate brand growth. Also called the Le Club Cinq in France and Fünf Freunde in Germany.

Approach

• Initial marketing workshop to consider where the brand was now and where it could go in the future.
• Extended creativity to express stories, settings, characters, and also communications. This inspired a range of innovative research stimuli.
• Creative workshops with children and adults in UK, France and Germany. All were pretasked to read one of the books. The aim was to understand brand reactions, and also use consumers as co-creators to define where the brand should go in the future.
• Research analysis and finally a debrief to share brand development findings, conclusions and recommendations.

Results

‘Suspense’ identified as key insight for developing the Famous Five as a brand. We also recommended a blue-print to inform tv programme, new product and brand development covering positioning, story, characters, style and tone, and also settings. Our media marketing work resulted in a new animated (CGI) tv series which aired on Disney Channels globally.

Watch episode 1 of The Famous Five on the Case.

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