Lavender news.

South Australian roadside services and insurance brand Royal Automobile Association (RAA) has appointed Lavender as its first direct marketing agency. Lavender will develop its ‘More for Members’ program.

Lavender won the account after a tender process which also involved creative and media. RAA has retained South Australian agency KWP! as its lead creative agency, while the tender for a media partner continues.

RAA general manager sales & marketing Tom Griffiths told AdNews the organisation had decided to work with a direct agency because the discipline was becoming more of a focus in the business.

Griffiths said RAA’s ‘More for Members’ loyalty program will undergo significant development over the next three years, with the brand looking to implement a range of new projects.

“We are investing heavily in our systems and customer data over the next 18 months and were looking for a direct partner that could go on a journey with us,” Griffiths said.

“RAA has a broad range of direct marketing activity. We will be looking to evolve all our current direct marketing activity with Lavender and will also need to implement some more revolutionary projects over the next three years that will be a significant departure from our current direct strategy.”

Lavender business director Louise Rathbone said: “We are pleased to be appointed by the RAA and we are looking forward to working on a truly iconic South Australian brand. Through the pitch process it became clear that the RAA were looking for a real partner to help them reinvigorate their one-to-one member marketing communications.”
 

Happy news! At the annual B&T awards, Lavender picked up Direct Marketing Agency of the Year – pipping BMF, Wunderman and Clemenger Proximity at the post.

In one judge’s words, “we’re an Australian-based agency taking on the world.”

Here's what B&T said:

The Work
Lavender undertook the Ikea business this year fighting against the lack of consumer confidence and the faltering retail sector. The objective was to increase the average transaction value by 25%, increase the number of visits per year by 5% and acquire 353,000 Ikea Family members in 12 months. Ikea Family members now contribute 30% of all transactions and on average spend 48% more per transaction than non-members.

Other notable work this year has been the creation of EB World for EB Games, the reinvented communications for Westpac and the FlyBuys eDMs for Coles.

The Business
Lavender prides itself on behaving more like a technology start-up than a direct marketing agency. Technology is not relegated to a task at the end of the production line, it's smack bang in the heart of what the agency does.

There is no better proof of this technological vision than the creation of Loyalty 3.0 - an integrated loyalty platform developed entirely by Lavender and launched this year. It's a modular platform that makes it easy for clients to engage with their customers in a relevant and engaging way across multiple channels. The platform is currently being used for programs for tech giant Microsoft, Ikea and EB Games. It also drew new clients Coles and FlyBuys to Lavender and it has helped build tremendous momentum for the company with 12 new clients in the last 12 months.

The Judges
Lavender's technological nous and focus on direct marketing impressed the judges. They said the team were smart at bringing the back end systems and creative together and they are "all about the results". "The agency work with data day in, day out to provide creative solutions. All the other presentations focused on executions rather than the systems," said one judge.

Retailer EB Games has launched a loyalty program called EB World in a bid to increase its share of the lucrative and growing gaming market.

The program has been in pilot phase but launched officially this week in Australia and New Zealand and is EB Games' primary marketing push. The retailer has ditched above-the-line advertising in favour of point-of-sale and direct marketing.

EB Games, which has 400 stores, appointed ad agency Lavender in May as its first retained creative partner to develop its loyalty program. It will run on Lavender's Loyalty 3.0 platform, which is also used by IKEA and Coles.

Members will have access to special offers, exclusive sales events, birthday offers and the EB World online portal.

EB Games national brand and marketing manager Debra McGrath said: "We believe that EB World is something completely unique to the Australian market and in that regard should set us apart from the whole Australian retail environment, not just the gaming market.

We believe that the way to consumers' hearts is about understanding their needs and wants, and as such, building a personal relationship."

An IBISWorld report placed EB Games and JB Hi Fi as the two most dominant players in the Australian interactive gaming market, accounting for almost 24% of industry revenue between them.

PricewaterhouseCooper's media outlook projected a compound annual growth rate of 9.5% in Australia to $2.5 billion in 2015 for the interactive gaming sector.

The popularity of 'family friendly' consoles including Nintendo Wii and Xbox Kinect has led to the broadening of the gamer market. Gaming consoles are increasingly used as entertainment hubs in the lounge room, with many of them featuring internet access and Blu-ray technology.

Bond University's Digital Australia 2012 report found 43% of Australian gamers still buy games from bricks and mortar retailers while 14% buy from online stores. Around 22% buy games from a download store such as Microsoft's Xbox LIVE or Sony's PlayStation Network.

For the first time, the University of New South Wales’ solar racing team, Sunswift, gave people the chance to follow, in real time, the progress of their race across the country, during this year’s World Solar Challenge. Cutting-edge satellite technology provided online, real-time updates on the team’s progress, including photos, tweets and detailed technical information, as the car sped from Darwin to Adelaide.

Lavender was proud to provide a sponsorship for the team as well as working with them to produce a graphical interface displaying the data transmitted from the vehicle in the desert.

Sunswift IV, known to the team as the IVy, is a three-wheeled carbon fibre machine which can reach speeds over 100 km/h using just 1,300 watts – the same amount of power it takes to toast two slices of bread.

IVy was one of 42 solar race teams from 21 countries making the 3000km trek from Darwin to Adelaide.
Despite the humble funding of this UNSW entrant compared to other countries such as the U.S., Japan and Europe, Sunswift managed a very respectable 6th place. A result that the team were ecstatic with.

The team sent real-time data back to Sydney via a server hosted by OrionVM, who provided the bandwidth for the Sunswift Live service. The data was transmitted over satellite link provided by Addcom and race-watchers could view the data through a user interface designed by Lavender.

Lavender’s Creative Director, Matt Cumming, travelled with the team on the race, to document the event and provide press images for sponsors.

The battle of the big two supermarkets is to heat up with Coles appointing its first loyalty scheme agency to manage a program that will rival Woolworths Everyday Rewards.

Lavender will handle Coles’ customer relationship management (CRM) program, FlyBuys. It’s unclear if Coles will rebrand the program.

Earlier this year, Coles took full ownership of FlyBuys after buying out National Australia Bank’s 50% stake. FlyBuys was launched in 1994 and claims to be Australia’s oldest loyalty program, with more than 10 million members.

A Coles spokesperson confirmed the appointment to AdNews: “Coles has appointed Lavender to work with us on direct marketing activity for FlyBuys. We felt it made sense to engage a direct marketing agency to support us as we look to reinvigorate the program.”

Woolworths Everyday Rewards has six million members. However, social researcher Neer Korn told AdNews supermarkets find it tricky to engender loyalty from consumers, with most people driven by convenience and weekly specials. He said: “They’re seen by most consumers as undifferentiated. They’re coming from a negative perception with the sense of a duopoly between Woolworths and Coles.”

By Wenlei Ma

Lavender Communication Group is setting up in Melbourne and has appointed Adam Posner as Managing Director to spearhead the operation.

“There has been a good reaction to our Loyalty 3.0 offering particularly amongst retailers in Melbourne, and now seemed the right time to establish a presence to realise these opportunities” said Rebecca James, Lavender’s Managing Partner.

James said "In appointing Adam we set out to find the best direct marketer in Australia. I could not think of a better direct marketer than Adam Posner to head up Lavender Melbourne. Adam’s skills are incredible and he’s an inspiration to work with. Our aim is to build a powerful team in Melbourne.”

Prior to joining Lavender Adam ran his own Melbourne agency, Directivity, for four years. “Adam has nurtured some great clients and we welcome the opportunity to work with them.” said James.

Adam Posner said “I believe there are a number of opportunities in Melbourne for an agency structured like Lavender. It has strength in both communication and technology. Lavender has its heritage in direct marketing but its future focused in digital and social marketing. I believe it possesses an unrivalled offering in Australia.”

Posner said “Re-joining Lavender now is perfect timing. Lavender is investing heavily in its people and its own technology. I’m a big believer in its promise ‘we live the consumer world’. Lavender has the credentials, passion and technology to prove it.”

2011 is shaping up to be a big year for the independent agency with clients wins including AUSTAR, EB Games, Wendy’s and a Federal Government project.

Lavender has appointed Matt Cumming as Executive Creative Director.

Matt's appointment comes on the back of a number of senior hires at Lavender, the result of several recent new business wins, including AUSTAR, EB Games and a Federal Government project.

Matt has been a Creative Director for the last 16 years, with experience spanning mainstream, digital and direct.

After spending 10 years working in traditional above the line roles at agencies such as Saatchi & Saatchi, Matt experimented early on with digital building a new media department at Euro RSCG Partnership Sydney. He was promoted to Executive Creative Director and Partner of Euro RSCG Sydney and established a strong integrated creative agency, well before it became the standard agency model.

In the following 6 years Matt founded a Digital department at M&C Saatchi and was a founding partner of Mark Agency, achieving agency of the year titles with both ventures.

He joins Lavender from marketing consultancy, Bienalto, where he has been building creative services and new business.

"I was very flattered when asked by Will and the managing partners at Lavender if I would be interested in taking the role" says Cumming, "Lavender has been a great brand in my mind for years. I admire their values as an agency and they have some exceptionally good people".

Rebecca James – Managing Partner at Lavender says "We’ve been searching for a great creative talent who will truly embrace the power of our technical capabilities. Someone who understands that marketing is increasingly about relationship. Establishing it and building it. Matt is that person".

Cumming says "A lot of the big agencies complain of the increasing fragmentation of media. An agency like Lavender instead sees the proliferation of rich targeting opportunities. By combining direct discipline with technical and data intelligence, strategic smarts and great creative Lavender is incredibly well placed to succeed well in this new era of marketing. Which is why I'm excited to be on board".

Our Loyalty 3.0 solution will increase your customer spend and frequency. You'll know your customers better: what they buy, what to sell them next and how to keep them returning; and we have some case studies for some of Australia's largest brands to prove it.

Read more here.

Gaming retailer EB Games has appointed direct marketing agency Lavender to its creative account, as the brand readies a “big project” later this year.

Lavender becomes the retailer’s first retained agency, as it previously handled its creative duties in-house.

Lavender, which previously worked on SMS and email marketing projects for EB will commence work on a significant below-the-line project to launch in August.

EB Games national brand and marketing manager Debra McGrath said the retailer has not engaged in heavy above-the-line advertising, preferring to use its 371 Australian and 41 New Zealand storefronts as its main marketing platform. It also has an extensive customer database for DM communications.

Of Lavender’s appointment, McGrath said: “We have some really exciting projects in the works and we could not think of a better agency to engage with to bring these projects to life.”

Lavender managing director Rebecca James added: “This partnership is perfect for Lavender – leveraging our skills in design, messaging and systems development. We’re also incredibly excited to be marketing such a great brand.”

Lavender has also retained the retail and business side of Westpac’s creative account this week, and picked up accounts from ice cream retailer Wendy's and regional pay TV operator Austar earlier this year.

Wenlei Ma

View article on AdNews

Austar has appointed Sydney ad agency Lavender to its direct marketing account as the regional pay-TV operator looks to boost subscriber numbers following increased competition from free-to-air multichannels.

Lavender nabbed the account following a pitch against three other agencies including Austar’s incumbent of nine years, Rapp Sydney. The agency has been tasked with driving growth for Austar, which posted a 3% increase year-on-year in subscriber numbers in 2010 to total 764,219, a net gain of 22,572.

Lavender will be responsible for direct marketing, electronic direct marketing, press ads for Austar’s custom magazine and other collateral.

Austar group director, product, sales and marketing Nikki Warburton, said: “Lavender’s passion, strategic insights and creativity will make them the perfect partner.

“We’ve had a very long and successful relationship with Rapp Sydney and I want to thank them for their commitment and loyalty to the partnership which has lasted for over nine years and resulted in many award-winning and highly effective campaigns for Austar.”

Lavender will assign six people to work on the account, a combination of existing staff and new hires. The first creative work from the agency is expected in April, at the same time the agency officially takes reins on the account.

Lavender managing director Rebecca James said the win came at an interesting time for the TV industry. “We’re looking forward to partnering with Austar in the next phase of its growth.”

The appointment comes as Austar confirmed buyout discussions had taken place between its largest shareholder Liberty Global and pay TV rival Foxtel.

Austar’s lead creative agency is Three Drunk Monkeys while media buying is handled by Foundation.

Wenlei Ma

View article on AdNews