Download Minutes - French Chamber of Commerce

SMEs & Entrepreneurs Club – 14th Session
Marketing and Communications
nd
Wednesday 22 June 2011
Keynote Speaker:
Thomas Delabriere, Marketing Director of Innocent Drinks
Guest Speakers:
Vincent Berry, Marketing Director, Groupe SEB UK and Catherine Berasategui, Sales and Communications
Manager, The Connaught Hotel
Co-Chairmen:
Nathalie Zimmermann-Nénon, NZ Consulting
Cédric Filet, Aldelia Ltd (excused)
Attendees:
Kate Barkworth
Emmanuel Bisi
Guy H.R. Bondonneau
Lauren Cole
Chris Cox
Michelle Davenport
Nathalie Deguen
Fabien Depond
Kady Doumbia
Jean-Christophe Fonfreyde
Domitille Fourcade
Philippe Fraser
James Halle
Hynde Hamdani
Joseph Hammond-Hagan
Bérangère Hassenforder
Anastasia Hovanessian
Mike Humphries
Sharokh Koussari
Raymond Leprêtre
Guy L'Etang
Laurence Parry
Salèha Pinhorn
Sarah Plans
Karine Pommat
Frédéric Sancho
Caroline Sivilia
Jean-Philippe Verdier
London & Partners
Expandys
Bondonneau eSolutions
Ruddle Merz Ltd
Codra Software Limited
Piper Smith Watton LLP
ISIS Contracting ltd
FFA Professional Services Ltd
King Stage London by H. Dimension
Papillon Consulting Ltd
Skin Soft
Les Petites Etoiles Ltd
Corporate FX Ltd
Nomos Tax
Joseph Hammond-Hagan Photography
Anthony & Co UK Ltd
ViaHumanis
Barclays Commercial Bank
Howard Kennedy LLP
Leprêtre Insurance Services
Political Consultant
French Resources
Crimson Events
AMJ UK
Kuwahara Limited
Ascenda Management Consulting Ltd
London Macadam ltd
CCFGB:
Nadia A. Ziani, Head of Membership/ Patron Account Manager
Jonathan Rosen, Project Coordinator
1
1. Introduction by Nathalie Zimmerman
After welcoming participants, Nathalie Zimmerman introduces the session, along with the guest speakers
and briefly assesses the importance of marketing input and relates it to a successful output . She then
introduces each speaker and then opens the floor for the keynote speaker, Thomas Delabriere.
2. Presentations by Speakers
2.1
Thomas Delabriere, Marketing Director of Innocent Drinks
The Brand
Thomas introduces his company as a smoothie company based in London, selling small and big juice and
smoothie cartons aimed at families. They have recently launched a ‘vegetable pot’ which promotes 3 of
ones ‘5 a day’ and is marketed for the lunch market . The have recently launched a new juice range for
children: spring water and pure juice. As a company they are all about taste and health. Their product has
to remain as pure as possible.
Launching the Company
Thomas explains how the company was founded in 1999: the three founders met at Cambridge as friends,
and after working for large companies, they decided to set up a company making life a bit simpler and
opted for the smoothie business.
After seeting up a business they struggled for the first five years and remained highly entrepreneurial. They
were allocated a £250m dollar loan from the USA as they found it difficult to get a loan from UK .
Their marketing helped in those first few years as they did everything they possibly could to engage with
the consumer.
The started with packaging and used jokes and stories wherever possible. They covered their cars and vans
with grass to engage and become talked about. They effectively used everything they had to communicate
on brand. Instead of a hotline they have a ‘banana phone’ and insists that consumers can pop into head
offices where they will have a tour and a smoothie. The banana phone will sometime be answered by
anyone so eall staff has to be ready to engage correctly with consumers.
Key success factor in this phase was essentially a great product and great marketing.
Growth
After five years, sales sky- rocketed, the business was now worth £130m. The product was spot on and the
health agenda became high, people had money so expenditure was good on the product, journalists loved
them new exciting product hence they received a nice dose of good PR. It became evident that consumers
were liking the product and they became firmly placed in the leading Supermarkets. They shifted their
demographic slightly and became more appealing to families.
Thomas states that challenges during this time were recruitment and getting high quality staff to maintain
the product and the vision. They had two options to develop the product: to expand within the UK and
offer different products, or to expand to foreign territories. They opted for the latter and have since
expanded abroad.
Marketing played a strong role in the ‘growth’ period. They started a ‘Big knit’ campaign with wooly hats
knitted by people in UK to put on small bottles in Sainsbury and Boots. From each bottle purchased , 50p
would go to Charities for the elderly. They received 600 000 hats in 2010 for this charity , a good moment
for the companies CSR.
2
Sales Decline
Within 6 months of everything looking positive, the company lost 40% of consumers ,they had to make
redundancies, costs rose , prices had to remain the same. ‘Pepsico’ launched their smoothie which had an
impact on them, sales became much tougher. They had a dose of bad PR as sugar in fruits where given bad
press. Suppliers went bankrupt and ultimately people who used to have money for the product stopped
spending.
With the benefit of hindsight Thomas notes that intense marketing was the only thing that could have
buffered this decline.
It was this decline that made partners sells 18% of the business to Coca Cola. 30m of this revenue went to
fuel growth in terms of sales and marketing. New products were launched and a refresh of senior
management was instigated- more communication to consumers was engaged. Thomas insists that his
challenge as Marketing Director in this period was to make the procduct more ‘mainstream’ whilst keeping
the brand true to its DNA.
Growth Again
Consumer relationships are now back on track and as a brand they are now in double digit growth. Thomas
insists that as a company they are definitely heading in right direction. The best example of this their AGM
which they like to dub an ‘Almost Grownup Meeting’ where they invite consumers to come to Fruit towers
(HQ) for the day. They have people from all over the UK to spend the day at Innocent HQm they share their
results and encourage feedback. He concludes by stating that it is initiatives such as this which keep the
brand fresh, quirky dynamic and successful.
2.2
Vincent Berry, Marketing Director, Groupe SEB UK
Vincent introduces himself as the Marketing Director for SEB, a world leader in small domestic appliances.
They are big players globally and have India as the next global corner to conquer. They operate and succeed
by acquiring new companies and excelling their performance.
He explains that they operate 20% in France, 20% in Western Europe, 20% Eastern Europe, 20% USA
20 Asia/ Pacific
He continues by adding that they offer strong innovation and strong advertising support mostly done in
France. They remain a family group- and that the original family still own 57% share of the group. They
market Tefal in the UK ranging across products right up to the ‘Jamie Oliver’ range. They work with Krups,
Nespresso and Nescafe to market their products to the maximum effect.
He shares that 2009 was a tough year for UK business, particularly as they were experiencing a -10% sales
decline . They changed their management and were receptive to any new exciting marketing campaigns.
They became results driven.
Vincent explains that for a successful marketing campaign one needs to understand the brand and the
market. He has found from his experience that local competition have different approaches and can be
quite aggressive with their marketing. It is also imperative to inspire staff to plan the vision of where the
company is headed within the next 5 years. This can then be addressed to staff and trade, ensuring a clear
way to progress.
As a company, he insists that his main Ambition was to get the company back to profit. He established in
which fields they wanted to play and in which fields they did not. Research was imperative to this
outcome.
He explains that the core business is injected with the financial growth through positive results.
3
They have a Blockbuster products in place which aim to be number 1 in the industry. ‘Actifry’ has
experienced a 20% growth – a product which fries 1kg of chips with 2 tablespoons of oil. The marketing for
these ‘Blockbuster’ products follows a sampling system : trying and sampling through direct consumer
experience with consumer shows and TV shopping.
Vincent insists that managing online reputation is crucial particularly as today 40-60% of consumers who
buy in store have done their research online. It is necessary to address negative feedback and increase
positive feedback to make sure they are performing well compared to the competition .
He insists that his strategies have paid off as today they experience a ‘10 point profit’.
They as a brand witnessed a 2.5% sales increase in 2010 which is a big turnaround. Similar to Innocent, he
continues, everything happened at the same time. Customers were buying at the right time.
Vincent summarises with his ‘top tips’ for a successful marketing strategy.
-
2.2
Choose your playground . It can often prove challenging to say no to the wrong to a party who
doesn’t fit in with your vision.
Managing Cultural Change
Retain Ownership and Pro activity
Deal with mistakes. He encourages new initiatives but tries to keep them small and speedy. If
they succeed, they can be rolled out quickly, if they fail they do not make too strong an impact.
Success, however big or small needs to be celebrated internally and through marketing
Catherine Berasategui, Sales and Communications Manager, The Connaught Hotel
Catherine begins her talk by explaining that she has worked with big companies and experienced
everything explained in the previous two talks. She explains . She explains that she was asked to launch a
brand by a private family in the West Indies with no budget and no team. This proved a big challenge and
insists that she can share her experiences for the benefit of the participants.
Catherine remains convinced that the SMEs can perform as well as top brands even without tools of big
companies. All companies striving for success have the same questions within the business market – all
have to create a difference and make the final product more attractive than out competitors.
She then shares with the group 7 most efficient tools to best market an SME:
iPad
The iPad, she insists, is top for creating brochures : for promoting the product, and saving a lot of money,
One can make amendments quickly and at no cost. One can also target customers directly in front of you.
When you have nothing to show, particularly in the Hotel industry, this can prove crucial. Once can also
adapt speeches and presentations quickly.
Databases
It is important to know who is buying the product, and how to target promotional events. Create an ‘email
footer’-at bottom of signature: this has proven a beneficial tool with constant marketing through normal
communications. At the moment she uses this throughout all email communication within the Hotel to
market afternoon tea at the Connaught which is seeing results.
Testing
The SME owner deals will all aspects of company, there is a passion link between the product and the
creator. The creator doesn’t always know what the client wants. From past experience the CEO can love an
aspect of a product yet when tested with consumers it can be disliked. One needs to appreciate the
distance between SME and the consumer.
4
Benchmarking
She insists that it is necessary to know your product- clients are exposed regularly to competitors . Check
packaging of competitors, their website and so on, this costs nothing and the rewards can be good.
Social Networks
Social networks are useful free marketing tools. She has worked with a Social Media Agency to find 12
bloggers and to invite them for a martini at the hotel bar. Word spreads through bloggers and increases
sales.
Freelancers
She states that it is easy to work with a freelance designer or writer for a short time and can prove a great
saving compared to annual contracts with agencies. Comparisons with large companies with large budgets.
Client wants to buy products – can work with good designers and writers. Those at the helm of an SME
must be aware that they cannot do everything! Similarly it is vital to understand that one cannot lead
testing interviews. Clients are not going to tell you what you have in mind.
Media Mentions
SMEs can, depending on market and country, promote brand on TV or Radio for a fraction of the pre
conceived big budget, eg for 3 minutes on TF1 would prove extortionate, yet a special mention before and
after a well regarded show can yield great results.
Catherine concluded by stating that it is possible to have a good and successful marketing strategy even
on a low budget. The SME needs to use what it has to its advantage as it has more proximity to the product
and can think more precisely on where to invest money.
3. Roundtable session/ Questions and Answers
How does the Charitable aspect benefit the company and what does it bring to the Consumers?
(Nathalie Zimmerman to Thomas Delabriere)
Thomas answers by stating that 10% of their profits go to the ‘Innocent Foundation’ . As a company
they make sure they are committing to projects on 3-4 year basis. Even if profits are not directly
coming in. He believes that charitable practices engage everyone from the consumer to the
employees. It makes working for Innocent. Values within the company excel. Consumers know that
when they buy a product they are indirectly donating to charity. For core consumers this is
important. Thweir current challenge is that only 30% know this at the moment and he often
wonders how to market their involvement, discreetly or loud.
It was collectively felt amongst members that companies have to keep an open mind, Charity will
find its own way, and that it is often better to not communicate too much on the subject.
How do you manage to compete with global markets when competition is coming from said
climates? (Sharokh Koussari to Vincent Berry)
Vincent answers by stating that their key mission is to try and acquire a company with the best
potential and wide knowledge. He insists that China for example are not only good at
manufacturing but also are innovating and protect innovations. The challengeis to be able to sell 2
or 3 times higher than market price as this emphasizes outstanding product solutions.
5
What are your ‘Top Marketing Tips’ to perform in Digital Media? (Nathalie Zimmerman to
Vincent berry)
Vincent answers with the following bullet points:
-
Managing customer reviews is vital- Companies like Amazon have products tested and
reviewed.
Online reputation is vital. It makes the success of the product – blogs and sites need to be
tracked and kept positive.
Targeting the right people is crucial
Conclusion
Nathalie thanks the speakers once again for their thought provoking and engaging presentations.
She also uses this moment to thank Jonathan Rosen, on behalf of the Club, as he is leaving the
Chamber. She thanks him for coordinating the Clubs and for ensuring their success.
Next Session: September
6