“Activation integral to marketing mix,” Bates 141’s Mapleston

Craig Mapleston, General Manager, Bates 141 Singapore was in India recently as a speaker for Future Media’s seminar on in-store media titled ‘Gone in 30 seconds- An Evening of Defining Trends.’ Speaking on the sidelines of the conference, Mapleston shared his thoughts on in-store media, brand activation and why the marketing services segment will continue to see acquisitions in the Indian market.

To begin with, Mapleston is clear that a compelling brand idea is still the bedrock of the communication process and the communication channels are secondary. He adds, “Among the challenges that I see in the retail space is ensuring that the client and the agency understands the role of the modern retail environment. What we and other agencies are increasingly looking at doing is creating integrated campaigns. So we develop a brand idea first and then look at the challenges of communicating that idea secondarily. A brand idea may necessarily lend itself to TV execution or it may not. It is about finding that compelling brand idea and looking at the channels to express it, secondly.”

With volume growth in the marketing services segment in India, agencies have, of late, moved in to protect their turf with a number of acquisitions. Bates Asia recently acquired Sercon and merged it with its own below the line agency 141 India to form 141 Sercon. JWT India bought into Encompass while Grey bought into Chateux Hospitality to integrate its marketing services offering.

On what he makes of this trend, Mapleston says, “As more and more agencies are trying to offer holistic 360 type of offerings, acquisitions are a logical place to start and I fully expect to see more of this in a country like India, where there are more acquisitions so agencies can really offer that full spectrum of marketing services and communications.”
Mapleston endorses the idea of creating specific communication for in-store media, and not just translating a brand’s mass media communication into other channels. He adds, “Increasingly, rather than just an aesthetic piece of communication, we are seeing more interactive pieces of communication. It’s more than just taking the same television commercial and putting it in-store.”

Mapleston feels that the shift towards recognizing below the line activities such as brand activations, events and promotions as an integral part of the marketing mix is rapidly taking place. He adds, “Increasingly marketers and brands are seeing the power of activation, not just at the tactical or promotional level, but at the branding level as well. They are seeing it as an integral part of the marketing mix, be that at the in-store level, retail activation or out of store.”

Among some of the examples of exceptionally good instances of successful brand activations, Mapleston relates the example of a premium beer brand in Asia which chose to promote itself through activation with the bar staff. They realized that their consumers were not being driven by sales promotions. In order to drive incremental volumes, they decided to activate the brand with the bar staff and incentivize them instead, to promote the brand.

There is a school of thought which sees activities like brand activation as a highly overrated element of the marketing mix. Mapleston counters, “A lot of people see activation as a sampling exercise or as events. How do you define brand activation? It is anything that can provide a brand engagement opportunity for the consumer but ultimately it drives towards a sale. Is it overrated? Like any communication, it can be done poorly. If it’s overrated, perhaps it’s not done well enough.”

Mapleston says the mandate for Bates 141 at the moment is to be the change agency in understanding the fundamental changes in which consumer and retailers interact with brands. He adds, “Identifying those changes and harnessing them for the benefit of the clients is our primary task. It’s really to look at what are the changes in society, be it in media consumption, the way consumers shop or in the way they access information and try to harness those changes to drive volumes.”

Mapleston’s portfolio of work includes brands like Nokia, Heineken, BAT, Pfizer, Shell, Johnson & Johnson and Unilever and his work has been acknowledged at local, regional and global levels through awards such as The Globes, The Promotional Marketing Awards of Asia, The Asian Marketing Effectiveness Awards and DM Asia.