Annual report and financial statements 2011 - Analist.nl

14
Operating review
Our brand
Our marketing activity ensures the M&S brand remains visible and
front of mind with our customers. Throughout the year we tailored our
campaigns to reflect changing customer needs, ensuring our messages
were relevant and provided compelling reasons to visit our stores.
This year we have highlighted our innovation, with the launch of ‘Only at
Your M&S’ reminding our customers of the extraordinary lengths we go to,
to deliver unique products.
The M&S brand
is one of our
strongest assets;
our campaigns
ensure it remains
both relevant
and inspiring.
Steven Sharp Executive Director, Marketing
M&S Money: Customers continue to turn to trusted
brands such as M&S for their financial services. With
more than two million active cardholders, M&S Money
helps foster customer loyalty by offering benefits such
as money-off vouchers. The basket size at this year’s
special Christmas cardholder event was 70% higher
than our average.
Don’t put a foot wrong this Christmas This year’s
dance-themed advertisement starring comedian
Peter Kay alongside our M&S model line-up achieved
excellent customer recognition. It appealed to both
regular and occasional shoppers who depend on
M&S for the most important occasions. M&S also
scooped the top spot in Channel 5’s ‘Greatest
Christmas TV Advertising Ever’, which aired on
Christmas Day.
Our campaigns
As customers remained cautious about
their spending, we worked hard to give
them a reason to keep shopping with us.
Through our clothing advertising we
highlighted the seasons’ key trends,
colours and cuts in an upbeat, fresh and
inspiring way. Our line-up of Twiggy, Dannii
Minogue, Ana Beatriz Barros, VV Brown
and Lisa Snowdon showed the broad
appeal of M&S clothing, demonstrating
how our styles can work for every age
group. An additional 1.8 million customers
were attracted into store by the fashions
showcased in our autumn campaign and
the featured lines were among our best
selling items.
Last year we took M&S Food back into the
heart of family life, with a campaign fronted
by actress Caroline Quentin. Customers
responded well to the warm and inclusive
tone of the advertising and the focus on
great value honest food.
Our spring campaign launched with a
renewed focus on the product itself –
showing the lengths we go to, to produce
our delicious food so customers don’t
have to. As a result, sales of our featured
Bistro range increased by 195%.
Only at Your M&S
Throughout its 127 year history M&S has
taken pride in designing, developing and
delivering its own unique clothing, home
and food products. In November 2010
we set out to encapsulate this exclusivity
through ‘Only at Your M&S’. The message
reflects the efforts put into creating
innovative, quality ‘M&S only’ products.
Coupled with our increased rate of
innovation, we believe ‘Only at Your M&S’
will help differentiate us even more clearly
from the competition.
The new brand message was first featured
in our January campaign for our unique
Simply Fuller Longer range and was
introduced to clothing as part of our spring
campaign. This included our first ever
innovation-led ads, highlighting the unique
technology built into M&S clothing such as
our water repellent Stormwear TM finish.
Customers reacted positively and
recognition of our spring 2011 TV
campaign increased on the previous year.
New channels
We increased our investment in online
advertising this year. Using the momentum
of the major offline activity we created
more integrated campaigns, giving us a
stronger presence across all media, from
mainstream TV through to social media.
New channels have enabled us to engage
more effectively with customers and offer
more targeted promotions. This year we
increased the number of people on our
SMS database by 90% and are now
sending out over four million emails a week
to customers.
Looking ahead
The M&S brand is one of our strongest
assets and we will continue to invest in
creating relevant and engaging
campaigns. We will promote ‘Only at Your
M&S’ across TV, press and online formats,
extending it to include innovations in Home
and Kidswear. In line with the plans set out
in November, we will develop the identities
of our sub-brands – and will for the first
time launch brand advertising.
We will continue to explore new
communication channels and take a more
consistent approach to international
marketing activity, supporting our plans to
make M&S an international, multi-channel
retailer.
Marks and Spencer Group plc Annual report and financial statements 2011