Marketing the Arts in the South West?

If you work in the marketing department of a museum, theatre or arts centre and you work in the Bristol area there are fellow marketing professionals who would like to meet you. BAM (Bristol Arts Marketers) is a group co-ordinated by Audiences South West, who meet to share advice and co-ordinate specialised training for those working to promote the arts. The group is open to all from freelancers to marketing officers and marketing directors, offering opportunities to network. Some of its members include @Bristol, The Arnolfini and the Wardrobe theatre. There may also be an opportunity to work on Bristol city-wide projects. More information about the group is available on the ‘Bristol Creatives’ website. As well as face to face events, members can go online where ‘toolkits, further advice, plans for meetings, invitations to training, and messages are shared’. See more at http://www.bristolcreatives.co.uk/news/2012/03/22/bristol-arts-marketers-group-invitation-join and http://www.audiencessw.org/page.php?id=196

Marketing strategies of the U.K.’s largest food brand

Managing a brand that has more shops than McDonalds, Costa or Subway involves many different marketing disciplines from concentrating on customer feedback to managing new product and brand launches. In an interview in Marketing Week, CEO of bakery chain Greggs, Ken McMeikan, gives a lot of insight behind the development of the brand. The article describes his first customer feedback initiative when he first started in 2008. ‘He decided to write to the 20,000 customers it had on file to ask what they thought of the brand. He got an impressive 11,000 letters back - not bad for a retailer famous for sausage rolls.” One recent brand strategy is to develop an additional upmarket range of shops called ‘Moment’ with a more sophisticated product range, encouraging customers to sit down and eat. This move allowed access to another growing food sector – coffee sales. Read more about Greggs marketing success at http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/trends/greggs-finds-ingredient-for-growth-on-facebook/4000357.article

Effective design for all

Good design can bring great strategic benefits to all areas of a company. That’s the message that the West of England Design Forum want to get across to businesses that may not have previously put great emphasis on design. A series of talks and workshops, “Five Days of Design’ set in Bristol, hopes to convince them of the need for good design in products and communication to develop and increase sales. The programs for each of the days cover many areas. Day 4 is ‘Why design matters’ looking at design and the electronics industry and takes place at the Bristol and Bath science park. On Day 2, ‘The Value of Design’ is a workshop for those already working as designers on how to communicate better with clients. Whether you work in the design area or you think your role could benefit from a designer’s advice see the full details at the organiser’s website. http://www.wedesignforum.co.uk/events/2012/03

Rolex and the BBC – Superbrands Results 2012

What do the BBC, Royal Doulton and Dulux have in common? In the results just announced of the annual Superbrands survey, they have made the Top Ten of the U.K’s strongest business to consumer brands (5th, 10th and 8th respectively). The survey uses opinions from ‘marketing experts, business professional and thousands of British consumers’ according to its website. The top three were found to be Rolex, Coca-Cola and Google. Google also features in the top three of the other Superbrands survey – B2B Superbrands. It stands at number two below Rolls-Royce and above GlaxoSmithKline. The definition of a Superbrand is said to be a brand that ‘has established the finest reputation in its field. It offers customers significant emotional and/or tangible advantages over its competitors, which customers want and recognise.’ The website also gives an overview of each brand. See if you work for or with any of the total of 500 brands listed. More at http://www.superbrands.uk.com/