Continuing our relationship with TaylorMade Golf, we were asked to create and deliver a ‘secret’ campaign for their new Stealth Driver product. The brief was to deliver a branded FSDU that showcased the features of Stealth, delivered in a visually impactful aesthetic helping elevate the TaylorMade brand ahead of competitors.

We wanted this unit to be bold and engaging, showcasing Stealth Carbonwood at the point of purchase with impact. Sustainability was at the forefront in the design process, we created a metal frame fixture which can be reused for future campaigns, whilst ensuring 100% recycled materials were used throughout all disposable elements. To ensure maximum standout we implemented a motion triggered lighting scheme to create a vivid red glow as the customer approached the unit. The campaign was successfully delivered across multiple European locations: France; Germany; Spain & Sweden, not only did this require expert planning from a logistics perspective, all POS collateral had to be translated into 4 additional languages. At all times, we had to keep the design under-wraps, to ensure that the innovative Carbon Wood technology wasn’t leaked in any capacity.

The campaign was disruptive in the marketplace and delivered results. No other golf brand presents their products in the way that TaylorMade allowed us to so we wanted to do something different. The result, a fantastic campaign delivered successfully across Europe winning Gold at POPAI!

Paul Hitchenor, Brand Director – TaylorMade Golf Europe said “Our objectives at launch was to make the Stealth driver unavoidable and create intrigue and interest in the revolutionary new driver face technology. The illuminated Stealth impact totem has achieved those aims, both in terms of the impact created and its flexibility of being effective across a wide variety of retail environments where so often space is at a real premium.”

At the show Rolls Royce presented their first EV concept, an incredible piece of engineering, but did you know that in every Rolls Royce is a Valley logo. Valley has been partnering with this iconic luxury brand for over 50 years. Check out our video below!

This activation was far from ordinary. A premium and immersive space, disruptively positioned in a key position in store. Promoting the William Grants product ranges as ‘Gifting’ products. This activation was placed in Sainsbury’s biggest and highest footfall stores. The data we immediately obtained through Tapscan, was instant proof of consumer interaction and product selection. Sales we up +130% on some products, exceeding the customers expectation.

This project required much more consideration, for materials and aesthetics than the usual ‘paper and card’ shopper FSDU. We were required to use existing steel unitary in store, usually used for paper and card gifts and homeware and transform these units into a highly effective themed area. A high level of testing was required when it came to fixing methods, as we knew everything needed to ‘work’ without fail. Our installation team visited each location to set-up the spaces.

In the background we created bespoke landing pages for each product, discoverable via the scannable QR codes. Our Tapscan service created an opportunity for us to obtain data immediately. This allowed WG&S to see which products the consumer was interacting with. This data also helped the Sainsburys team understand how effective the activation was from a consumer interaction perspective – not just sales.

A significant branded space for WG&S, in one of the top 4 grocers. The prominence of the space ensured that consumers ‘couldn’t miss’ their brand and range of products. We created a unique, disruptive, and engaging space to showcase the WG&S range of spirits. This activation was highly innovative in its use of space, creative assets, messaging, and interactive touchpoints.

Also, we LOVE getting feedback like this!

“This is such an engaging piece of activation! We asked William Grant to create a one-stop-shop to cater for 3 key spirits trends – at home cocktails, gifting and trade up – and this has exceeded our expectation. We’re thrilled with the outcome.” Natasha Marroni, BWS Category Planner

“A wonderful activation to cap off the year, you’ve set the bar for all other suppliers” Will Case, BWS Buying Manager

The value of Valentine’s has increased hugely in recent years, as retailers find new ways to help happy couples (or mysterious admirers) acknowledge the big day. Are consumers continuing to be easily led when it comes to major retail events such as Valentines? Is there a feeling that ‘they have to celebrate’ rather than ‘want to’? In a recent YouGov survey, 9% of respondents said they felt compelled to do something through social or commercial pressure rather then because they really believe in the day as a ‘proper’ special occasion. Perhaps surprisingly, of all occasions featured in the survey, the opinions of men and women are actually closest when it comes to Valentine’s Day – 78 percent of men and 80 percent of women said they think the day is celebrated due to outside pressures.

In 2020, Valentin’s sales totalled £1.45 billion in the UK with an average spend per person of £40, spent on a wide range of products and services. Of that £1.45 Billion, £261 million was spent on flowers by loved up couples. Incidentally, this was the same sum spent on flowers in the run-up to mother’s day. If your sweetheart also has a sweet tooth, in 2019 £85 Million was spent on sweets and treats. You can’t celebrate valentine’s day without sending a card, in 2020, card sales reached £145 million! If these cards were all posted 1^st class, that would total £1.2 million in stamp sales alone…

A recent analysis of Valentine’s Day expenditure and age reveals that younger generations, Millennials, in particular, are the biggest spenders. More specifically, statistics on Valentine’s day spending report the following:

Nearly half of Brits aged 25 to 34, or 46.2%, plan to spend over £60 on their significant other. The same is true for 35.5% of Baby Boomers.

8.3% of Millennials are willing to pay at least £200 for Valentine’s Day as opposed to just 2.4% of Boomers.

Only 5.3% of 25 to 34-year-olds will not spend any money on Valentine’s Day. On the other hand, 12.35% of respondents aged 65 years and older don’t plan to spend anything on Valentine’s Day.

From a shopper marketing perspective, retailers have a captive audience and invest in bold, quirky, and fun POS to promote the retail event. This week, we visited Edinburgh St James and were pleased to see many retailers, showcasing Valentines. Our favourite by far was SWATCH ‘IN CASE OF LOVE, BREAK GLASS’ a fun, smart and connected window, with a quick link QR code, taking you to a web page dedicated to their Valentine’s range.

Quick facts

A person in the UK spends an average of £35 for Valentine’s Day.

Around 145 million cards are sold around Valentine’s Day in the UK.

British Millennials spend the most on Valentine’s gifts.

More than 25% of Brits are shopping online for Valentine’s gifts.

Over 50% of couples in the UK are not planning on celebrating Valentine’s Day.

10% of all marriage proposals happen on February 14th, Valentine Day facts and stats show.

Brits spend £27 million on Valentine’s gifts for their pets!

This year’s winter sales got off to a strong start. With many retailers starting their offers early, pre-Christmas and with many offers ‘switched-on’ in the weeks leading up to Christmas, post black-Friday. Uniquely, footfall increased by 5% in the week between Christmas and New Year, an uncommon event. Dial back to 2019 (pre-pandemic) and footfall declined by -9% for the same period, so why the change? Were consumers cautious (due to omicron) before Christmas, but were motivated by ‘up to 70% discounts’ to visit physical retail post Christmas? On New Years Eve in London, retail footfall experts Springboard, reported that High-street footfall surged by +54.8% versus Christmas Eve? Had consumers shopped early for Christmas and didn’t need to make last minute purchases and stayed home to start the festivities?

In some cases the footfall was driven by consumers returning or exchanging Christmas gifts, though on the whole consumers enjoy the social aspect of shopping and hunting for a bargain.

However, the initial positive footfall growth was followed by a -6% decline in the first week up to the 8^th January, and compared to 2019 it was down -21.8% for the same period. Clearly, continuing consumer caution of the omicron variant and the continuing ‘work from home’ guidance is degrading the volume and quality of footfall.

During this challenging time, the fortunes of many retailers are shaped by two things, footfall and profit margin – not to mention an important requirement to clear through stock without further reductions damaging profit margins, to make way for full price, high margin, seasonal newness.

Will poor, or low quality footfall have a damaging effect on some retailers this year? In recent years many retailers have announced profit warnings, or worse gone into administration, due to a weaker than expected Golden Quarter. Will any of our much-loved high street retailers be affected this year? Last year, one notable casualty post 2021 Winter sales was TOPSHOP – although the challenges that contributed to their demise can be charted back many years.

At a time when consumers are becoming more cautious with their shopping decisions, they are in turn becoming more efficient with the stores they choose to shop with and how they shop. Following a strong Christmas period for the ‘big grocers’ in food and non-food categories, and the continuing growth of online sales. The consumer is able to get their essential and non-essential shopping needs with ease. However this continuing trend takes them away from physical retail.

At the moment the odds seem pretty stacked against retailers being able to trade through the final weeks of the golden quarter with commercial efficiency. Weekly footfall reports will inform a judgement that retailers must be struggling due to weaker than hoped footfall, which will manifest itself in further margin hitting reductions.

2022 must be a transformative ‘recovery’ year for physical retail, with many established brands and retailers evolving their retail proposition to focus on and deliver experience and new retailers starting to take important space on the high street.

After a bargain? Invested in the future of physical retail? Make sure you head onto the high street and make a purchase or two!

Following a speedy briefing and design phase in November, we ‘zoomed-in’ and ‘focused’ on delivering a branded space that lands the NIKON brand with impact at the point of purchase.

A key objective was to create a branded space that encouraged the shopper to engage with the full range of NIKON products and inform their product selection, helping them choose a camera that meets their needs. To do this, we introduced TAPSCAN to the scheme, encouraging the consumer to interact and learn more about each product type. This created valuable data, helping the brand track web traffic and identify most popular models and price points.

From a brand design perspective, we were able to play with NIKON’s iconic brand colours of yellow and black, creating instant standout amongst competitors. We finished off the branded space with high-bright NIKON brand signage, to cement brand awareness and shopper recall.

The unitary shown here is placed focally within the John Lewis Technology department on Oxford Street. A further 5 more will be rolled out in their regional flagships in the new year and in key locations with other retailers.

From brief to delivery in 3 weeks! Quick as a flash!

In physical retail, it’s obvious that retail footfall and consumer demand has been lower than expected this year. Judging by the high volume of continuing offer messaging and ‘red tickets’ on display, should this be a concerning sight? Is it ok for a retailer to extend Black Friday offers to prompt consumer urgency and secure much needed sales?

Managing Black Friday Offers at store and head office level is a challenging objective. Aside from the legalities of price establishing a product to be able to quote an official saving, which is a complicated and highly regulated process. The biggest challenge is trying to estimate retail footfall on a store by store basis and match the volume of promotional stock to an approximate level of consumer demand. Get it right and you achieve 100% sell-out of planned promotions, get it wrong and you are left with a high volume of unsold stock in your stores.

Two of the UK’s biggest retailers decided to ‘opt-out’ of Black Friday offers this year (Next & M&S) due to the cost and complexity of sourcing and serving the offers – not to mention the hit on margin. This year, PWC projected an increase in Black Friday spending, with sales expected to hit £8.7 billion +11% on last year.

In reality. The results have been poor. It’s been reported that retail footfall in the month of November dropped 14.5% versus comparable 2019 levels – 15.8% in high streets, 22% in shopping centres and 3.6% in retail parks. Most concerningly, total retail footfall this year during Black Friday week, despite being up versus LY (86%) was actually down week on week (-11.9% to -19.3%), a concerning trend.

What’s caused the consumer switch off? Have they become jaded by Black Friday offers? Have recent concerns about the Omicron Covid variant quelled consumer appetite for physical retail? The next 3 weeks are crucial for the health and prosperity of physical retail stores. We predict further aggressive price offers, as retailers attempt to counteract a decline in footfall, by creating offers in store to clear stock, increase basket size and drive ATV.

What will retail learn from the Golden Quarter of 2021 and how will it influence plans for 2022? Could we see more retailers move away from Black Friday offers next year and instead deliver a more measured response, protecting margin in the run-up to Christmas. Will the importance of Black Friday in the retail calendar fade away and we see the traditional ‘big’ Boxing Day sales make a return? Consumers are in control of retail in many ways, how they shop and where they shop – will retailers take back control for the benefit of their bottom line?

Read our thoughts on the topic of The Golden Quarter 2021 in the link below.

1: The Golden Quarter

With major retailers ‘pressing the Christmas button’ on their campaigns much earlier than in previous years.  It’s clear that retailers want to capitalise on consumer sentiment ‘to start the Christmas shopping early’ with a raising concern that supply chain issues will challenge stock availability. The consumer also has a need to experience a more ‘typical’ consumer centric Christmas, which was significantly cut back due to the national lockdown and social distancing measures last year.

Despite the obvious challenges, Christmas 2020 was as positive as it could be. The average consumer spend in preparation for the ‘big day’ was an average spend of £395 per consumer. Unsurprisingly families and young adults spent on average more than this (and the previous year as well). Online sales in 2020 had to shoulder a heavy burden due to high demand from consumers wanting to avoid the ‘socially distanced crowds.

Has physical footfall actually increased this year? How did high street footfall fare in October? For an accurate view the BRC have tracked footfall versus 2019, and whilst the UK is performing well versus other European nations, total footfall is down 13.7% which is a 3% improvement on the previous 3-month average. Compare this to Spain (-19.8%), Germany (-26.1%), Italy (-34.6%) and France (-34.9%). Is the UK retail economy recovering quicker than the rest of Europe?

To confirm this, you’d have to understand the level of turnover and profitability that’s been achieved on a nation-by-nation (and retailer) perspective. KPMG have recently reported that total UK retail sales increased by 1.3% in October versus last year.

For those of you that have been on major high streets, or regional mega-malls recently, it certainly ‘feels’ busier than ever in the last week. As the online sales share of total retail sales, falls to approximately 42% this means physical retail is growing. Will November retail sales get close to pre-pandemic levels?

Do retailers need to be worried? What can we expect from a stock availability or promotions perspective? With Black Friday sales coming up will retailers sacrifice margin for cash sales?

With 6 weeks to go before we’ll know if Christmas 2021 has been a great success. Will The Golden Quarter of 2021 save the year? How much do retailers have riding on the riches it may bring?

To answer that we’ll find out in 2022.

To read more about our thoughts on ‘The Golden Quarter’ of 2021, make sure you sign-up to receive VIEWPOINT our retail and shopper marketing publication, which is launching soon.

Just send an e-mail with you name and address to viewpoint@thevalleygroup.spectra-media.com to receive a printed copy. Also, stay tuned to LinkedIn and our Website for the digital versions!

Last year’s restrictions effected total Halloween sales in the UK. In recent years the value of Halloween as a seasonal sales event had been increasing year on year. From £230 Million in 2013 to £310 Million in 2016, that’s an increase of 34%. The following year then saw a big spike in spending, which rose by almost another 29% to £400 million. In 2019, spending rose again and reach £474 million +18% on the previous year.

And then came the pandemic in 2020, damaging the sales growth that Halloween had been building. Will 2021 be the year that sees Halloween break £500 Million in total sales? Halloween is the third most valuable seasonal event after Christmas and Easter, and retailers and suppliers know that this Halloween must be big from a sell through perspective, putting extra scrutiny on the supply chain. Consumers who are already mindful of this have been making their Halloween purchases a lot sooner. The big grocers have created bold seasonal product aisles, supported with brand supplied mid-floor FSDU’s from the big confectionary brands to create excitement and maximise sell through at the point of purchase.

With families deprived of a ‘proper’ Halloween last year will we see them go all out in celebrating the ‘spooky season’? General merchandise and value retailers such as B&M, Wilko and Aldi, know that they must deliver and exceed their sales projections for Halloween, this will ensure that their ‘golden quarter’ stays on track. In many ways, if Halloween falls below expectations, will this raise alarm bells for Christmas trade?

So, The consumer is going to spend big on Halloween this year, with sweets and costumes making up the majority of spend. What about pumpkins? In 2020, apx 25% of Brits said they would buy a pumpkin for Halloween, a total of 17 million pumpkins were sold. The total cost of this in 2020 was £29.7 million. This year, demand is higher, but supply has been challenged, meaning that supply to supermarkets has been affected, but ‘pick your own’ has become prevalent – that’s one way to get around a labour shortage!

What do you do at Halloween? Do you get involved? An amusing statistic from 2017 illustrates the UK consumers attitude to Halloween. 50% said they won’t be opening the door to trick or treaters! Imagine if this year they did open the door and handed out sweets? That would definitely drive sales beyond the £500 Million mark!