The Crayons (CMO) and anoraks (CIO) align

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I tripped over a strong piece from Gartner supporting the movement that internal departments in larger companies are waving their white flags and calling a truce. These once heavily drawn battle lines are beginning to blur now that the two disciplines realise that they’re fighting for the same thing: customer centricity. In fact, according to the study “Big Data’s Biggest Role: Aligning the CMO and CIO” by SAS and the CMO Council, 80% of marketers and 88% of IT executives cite joining forces to achieve customer centricity as a main priority. And what’s their secret weapon to achieving this customer-centric union? Big Data. According to the study, 40% of marketers and 51% of IT heads say Big Data is “critical” to delivering customer-centric programs.

However, establishing a customer-centric mind-set can be an uphill battle. According to the study, 33% of marketers and 31% of technologists believe that customer-centric cultural attributes have only been partially implemented within their corporations. What’s more, 52% of marketers and 45% of IT executives list functional silos as a top hindrance to customer-centric endeavors because silos stall customer data development and profile development.

In Dialogues own experience, the CMO’s are now key decision makers in the IT specification for all CRM and data platforms. Marketing has raised its perception at the board room table and it has taken a technology play to get us there. Who would have thought it!

Michael Killeen
Chairman

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This is Beer

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We had the pleasure of attending the This Is Beer multi-sensory beer tasting event in Bar 37, last night. What an amazing experience – our senses are still tingling! Who knew various types of beer are the perfect combination to accompany fish and chips, pâté, spicy food and even apple crumble. And the next time you look at a barman with disdain as he hands you a beer with a large head – think again! Drinking a beer through the head is the best way to properly taste it. Damn Germans – right again.

Gary McLoughlin and Michael Killeen
Managing Director and Chairman

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Tiny Ol’ Town

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Here’s a brilliant video created by Stephen Duffy, Rafal Baran, Afshin Moosavi and Olivia Ricci from the Institute of Technology Blanchardstown, which gives Dublin the look of a miniature village. It’s shot using Tilt-Shift photography which captures movements on small and medium-format cameras, and sometimes specifically refers to the use of tilt for selective focus. Learn more about this project here.

Paul Gibson
Art Director

Dulux: Retailer Loyalty Programme: Trade Advantage League

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our-work-pic-dulux01Dulux Paints Irl approached us with an interesting challenge. They had developed a loyalty programme for trade customers offering incentives and rewards to painters and decorators in an effort to boost trade sales. However, little or no attention had been given to the Dulux retailers in the process. This resulted in very slow recruitment to the loyalty programme.

We developed the ‘Dulux Trade Advantage League’ designed specifically for Dulux retailers and their staff incentivising them to recruit new painter/decorator members to the Dulux Trade Advantage Scheme itself. Each Retailer was supplied with a launch pack which included a brochure introducing them to the retailers League and how it worked as well as a flavour of the prizes they could win. Top prize was a TV Campaign on Setanta Sports plus runner up provincial prizes of local radio campaigns as well as spot prizes for staff to help keep them motivated. The pack also included a variety of impactful in-store POS highlighting the benefits of the Dulux Trade Advantage Scheme for painters and decorators together with a supply of Registration Forms which could be completed in store. Points were awarded for the number of new painter/decorator members recruited to the Scheme as well as prominent display of POS material in store.

our-work-pic-dulux02Participant retailers were able to check their position on the League ladder online and this certainly helped fuel their competitive spirit. The League was an incredible success. The retailers really got behind it and membership of the Dulux Trade Advantage Scheme increased by a staggering 120% in just 6 months. So simply acknowledging and involving the retailers and their staff in a relevant and engaging way – paid huge dividends.

Amdocs: Global Positioning: Embrace Challenge, Experience Success

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our-work-pic-amdocs01Dialogue created the new brand positioning and international advertising for Amdocs the global leader in technology for the Telecommunications sector.

Initially, Dialogue created the brand story and customer promise ‘Embrace challenge, experience success’. This was followed by a series of communications which bought this promise to life in online, tradeshow and offline media.

An Post: Direct Mail: Mad Mankini

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We were challenged to come up with a campaign for An Post that unequivocally proved the relevance of direct mail in the connected world. The hugely successful campaign has won multiple international and domestic awards. Enjoy the video case study.

O2: Trigger Marketing

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our-work-pic-o201Data can be overwhelming. We all know companies who are swimming in it and have no real idea of what to do and where to go. So we were delighted when our client O2 approached us to work with them and their data.

Over the past year we have provided copywriting, design and development support to O2 as they make their data work harder for them. Using their Unica system we are helping them to deliver more relevant content to their customers through their entire lifecycle.

The results speak for themselves with O2 seeing a significant reduction in their churn rates and an increase in retention. So reaching the right person, at the right time with the right message is working.

Philips Russia: CRM: Saeco

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our-work-pic-philips01Phillips Russia launched a luxury end coffee maker into the Russian market. They needed a campaign to create awareness of the brand and to capture prospect inputs for on-going messaging. The messaging would convince them over time of the quality of these unique coffee makers.

We uncovered a key insight that the Italian Coffee Tasters Association had endorsed the Saeco system. This insight drove our creative approach presenting the strong connection between the best of Italian coffee making and its arrival in Russia.

We created intermingling iconic Italian and Russian landmarks in engaging ATL press and online executions. These eye-catching communications drove customers online where we captured their data. Our ongoing messaging uses this data to ensure our messages are super relevant and engaging.

Odlums: Social Media Strategy: Cake Club

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our-work-pic-odlums01Odlums is one of Ireland’s most loved brands. So when Valeo Foods came to us with their Cake Club plans, we knew it was going to be a fun campaign to work on – not least because baking has been rediscovered by thousands as a popular pastime.

Their challenge
Odlums asked us to devise a social media strategy that would engage their audience beyond the ATL campaign.

our-work-pic-odlums02Our answer
In response, we created compelling and engaging content on Facebook to engage the community and encourage them to bake and set up cake clubs.

  • The content positioned Odlums as the community’s friend and supporter on their Cake Club adventure. Odlums supported the community every step of the way.
  • The Facebook page started from scratch and to date over 16,000 people have liked it.
  • Supporting this was a mobile site and Facebook application that allowed people set up their Cake Clubs, invite friends to join them, send out event notifications and upload their own Cake Club recipes, as well as asking Odlums for advice.

The app became the tool for Odlums to track and the level of engagement in the campaign on the ground. To date, over 550 clubs have been set up using the app, and over 750 events have taken place.

Friends First: Broker Loyalty

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our-work-pic-ff01We’re very proud of this and multi award winning campaign we developed for Friends First in 2012…

Brokers are viewed as essential partners by Friends First. Friends First wanted to pay more than lip service to this fact by putting the relationship onto a more formal footing. As a result they created the Friends First Distribution Partnership where they offered a significant level of strategic and marketing support to any broker that signed up.

To give a sense of the unique opportunity that joining the Distribution Partnership would offer, we developed two mailings that were sent to 150 selected brokers. The first was a mysterious request for their signature; the broker was not told why but was simply reassured that they would be very impressed with what followed…

The second mailing revealed all. It contained a high-quality presentation box, with ‘this unique pen already has your signature’ on the cover. Inside was a brochure with ‘this opportunity awaits it’ on its front and details of the proposed ‘Friends First Distribution Partnership’ inside. Accompanying it was a unique metal pen etched with the recipient’s very own signature.

The entire mailing was a clear indication of Friends First’s commitment to brokers and they responded accordingly. In fact, the brokers who were prompted to join the Distribution Partnership programme by this campaign now account for 40% of Friends First total business.

Obviously, this was a massively successively outcome, particularly at a very difficult time for the financial sector. For Friends First, it means they can rely on a profitable and mutually supportive relationship with a network of brokers for a number of years to come.

This campaign has already picked up a Gold and two Silvers at the 2012 An Post Interactive Direct Marketing Awards and another Gold at the 2012 IDN International Awards.