M & S Simply Food store launch

The issue: We are retained by our client, SSP to provide all the marketing and PR support for the launch of M&S Simply Food Stores across the UK rail network. SSP, the food service giant, operate these stores on behalf of M&S.

The launch of a new store at Chelmsford Railway Station is a good example of how we provide essential activity to ensure that the new store gets off to a cracking start.

Typically, there may already an M&S Simply Food store in the locality of the new store so we have to be smart and innovative to create a buzz, especially to encourage media attendance. We will always carry out site visits before a launch to assess the media opportunities.

Objectives and audience: The objective with this store launch was:
· To create awareness of the new store and when it will be open
· To drive the target audience to the store to sample and then to become regular shoppers

The target audiences were:
· Daily commuters using the station in the morning and evening
· Business travellers using the station at different times of the day
· Leisure travellers using the station at different times of the day
· Office workers using the store for lunch
· Local residents

Activity: We carried out a variety of complementary marketing and PR tactics to achieve the above objectives. This included advertising, both outdoor in the station and in the press, event activity and promotional offers and competitions. We produced all the design and artwork for the marketing materials, working closely with M&S brand guidelines, and booked all the relevant media.

ADVERTISING
6 and 4 Sheet posters: Chelmsford has a relatively small station and therefore media opportunities are in high demand.

We secured illuminated 6 sheet and 4 sheet poster sites for a total of four weeks, in the booking hall and main corridors in prominent positions to capture the busy commuter traffic.

Glass panel vinyls: We always look for impactive use of advertising in the station environment and in this case were able to secure the use of the glass panels on the stairways and platform to fix 24 vinyl advertising panels. This, along with the posters sites gave us station domination for maximum impact.

Newspaper: The local newspaper for the Chelmsford area is the Chelmsford Weekly News. This paper is distributed to 48,000 homes in the greater Chelmsford area each Thursday and has a readership of 71,000.

We booked a four page outer advertising wrap on this paper which gave the M&S Simply Food store massive exposure. The message directed people to the new store and highlighted a competition which gave customers the chance to win free lunch for a year.

COMPETITIONS AND OFFERS
We used a free lunch for a year competition on printed materials (leaflets etc) plus a promotion which gave customers a free bottle of flavoured water on purchasing a sandwich. These promotions were designed to draw people into the store.

SAMPLING ACTIVITY
Free juices: We organised sampling activity on the day of the launch, giving out 6,000 free bottles of fresh juice to the morning and evening commuter traffic near to the store, outside the railway station, and in the nearby bus station adjacent to a Tesco Metro store. We arranged for a promotional team of six people branded in M&S uniform to carry out this exercise.

Each bottle carried a promotional band which advertised the store opening, the 'win lunch for a year prize draw' and containing a redeemable voucher for the complimentary flavoured water redeemable against a future purchase.

Leaflets: We also provided some leaflets for handing out to commuters which also advertised the store opening, the 'win lunch for a year prize draw' and with the redeemable voucher for the complimentary flavoured water.

Promotional drops: As the store is situated in a dense office area; and so we delivered M&S Simply Food Sandwich platters to local businesses near to the station. A total of 30 platters were used to ensure good penetration of the area.

As an additional promotional opportunity we also targeted taxi drivers at the station rank. We gave out sandwich packs to drivers the day before the store opening. The giveaway was supported with leaflets and the objective was to encourage drivers to tell customers about the new M&S store and to give the leaflets to passengers in the taxi.

MEDIA RELATIONS AND PR
Pre-opening: Three weeks before the store opening, we issued a 'coming soon' announcement to all local press. This helped to generate consumer interest, raise awareness and was used to support wider messages such as the number of jobs created.

Opening day: To mark the actual store opening, we issued a press release which launched the store, including fast facts with regards to passenger footfall and explaining why M&S Simply Food chose the location.

As Chelmsford has a Roman heritage, to celebrate this and to create a photo call for the local press, we arranged for several people to get dressed as Romans and parade around the station handing out the juice cartons.

This idea worked well and attracted the attention of the three major newspapers in the area.

Press promotions: We ran a promotion within the local newspaper, Chelmsford Weekly News, offering the free lunch for a year for one lucky winner.

This gave us an opportunity to talk about the shop's location and product offering.

Results: The activity gave an immediate response with an increase in lunchtime traffic over and above the expected forecasts to the satisfaction of our client. Evening trade was also at high levels for a new store. Also the business community embraced the new store with immediate purchases of food platters for business meetings.