SEOUL, Korea, Oct 22 (Korea Bizwire) – Today’s is the world in which ideas rule the roost. The same product or service can improve its value significantly if an interesting idea can be added to it. This is more so in the area of marketing. At a time when so many companies are languishing in years of recession, let’s think about ways to boost the sales of your company by learning from the following success cases.
E-Mart Flying Store
E-Mart has installed balloons named the “Flying Store,” are not just there for good looks but for Wi-Fi connectivity for those walking below as they come equipped with wireless access points. (image: emart)
Large retail stores are indeed the spaces in which marketers can show off all kinds of tricks up their sleeves. But these stores no longer wait passively for customers to come; instead they go out and grab customers to visit theirs, so to speak. In some high foot-traffic areas such as Youngdeungpo Time Square and Gangnam Station, E-Mart has installed balloons named the “Flying Store.” These blimps are not just there for good looks but for Wi-Fi connectivity for those walking below as they come equipped with wireless access points. Any pedestrian can log on and get free coupons and discount offers by E-Mart.
The E-Mart Flying Store encourages busy people with little time to shop to use its mobile store. Given attachment to smartphones by average Koreans, this promotional campaign was considered highly appropriate. The Flying Store’s effort paid off handsomely in the form of higher sales. During the month of January this year when the Flying Store campaign was in full swing, E-Mart’s brick-and-mortar store sales rose 9.5 percent while its online shopping mall sales saw a rise of 157 percent. The average monthly number of downloads for the E-Mart mobile shopping app is not 50,000. A E-Mart Flying Store marketer said, “If you can’t come to use, we will fly to you.”
S-Oil’s Campaign to Shift Gear to Neutral on Traffic Light
S-Oil is encouraging motorists to shift their transmission gear to neutral on traffic lights, thereby saving gas and contributing to protection of the environment.
(image: S-Oil)
The paradigm of consumer marketing has changed fundamentally. Putting on celebrities on commercials doesn’t guarantee you higher sales. Instead, it is much better to donate the same money to charities and promote it in subdued tones for the company’s bottom line. That is the power of public service messages that create good impressions on the company.
Korea’s major oil company S-Oil has reaped good results from an ongoing campaign encouraging motorists to shift their transmission gear to neutral on traffic lights, thereby saving gas and contributing to protection of the environment. According to the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, the average number of stops on traffic lights for a car a day is 60. For about 60 seconds the car waits for the green light, it can save 4.8 cubic centimeters (0.162 U.S. fluid ounces) of gas if the gear is shifted to neutral from drive for a mid-sized car.
The company didn’t just tell the motorists to do that; instead it gave out small stickers at its gas stations. The sticker attached on the windshield is not visible while driving but it shows clearly a message “Please shift your gear at neutral” with a big N sign on it. As a plus to the company, the sticker can help it improve its brand image as it shows the company logo.
For a motorist, the change of driving habit can save up to 18,000 won a month assuming the per-liter gas price at 2,000 won, which is equivalent to planting 89.2 million pine trees a year in terms of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It was Cheil Communications that suggested the idea and in September this year the ad agency won a silver prize in Spikes Asia, a festival of advertisers in the Asia-Pacific region.
Dunkin’ Donuts’ “Morning Startup”
Dunkin’ Donuts has come up with ways to bring up sales from breakfast menus with mobile application. (image: Dunkin’Donuts)
Koreans are not used to eating out for breakfast meals. Some of them just skip meals in the morning. For this reason, the market for breakfast food has not been developed well. Dunkin’ Donuts, an American donut purveyor, has introduced several healthy breakfast menus with no avail. The marketers within the company spent days and nights to come up with ways to bring up sales from breakfast menus.
The winning idea was the “Morning Startup” alarm app for smartphones. The app allows the user to get up in the morning and choose what she wants to have for breakfast for the day. The next day the user can stop by at a nearest Dunkin’ Donuts location within three years after waking up and get up to 50 percent discount. If the user opens the app inside the store, the data will be automatically sent to the store system to issue coupons.
The user can also share these data with her friends on Facebook and other social networking sites while competing with friends in terms of average wake-up time, favorite breakfast menus, and total discount sum.
As the users have to arrive at a Dunkin’ Donuts store within three hours after getting up, it makes them feel like they are playing a game. The Morning Startup campaign has been attempted in five Dunkin’ Donuts stores in Seoul on an experimental basis. The company will expand the program to all participating locations throughout the country.
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