Pitch Day!

Project 2... The BIG Pitch
It’s Saturday afternoon, yesterday was the end of project 2 where we had to pitch our big idea to a panel which included Paul Ridsdale (Head of Marketing at ITV), Helen Lawrence (Marketing Manager for New Platforms at ASOS) and our industry mentor for the project, Jesper Astrom. (I introduced this project two posts earlier and explained our big idea which led on from our consumer insight so please read that post before reading this one).

Team HEDGE after we smashed our pitch :)

So after detailed research into the target audience and into where the client wanted to position their product in the hair colouring market, we discovered that there was in fact a better opportunity which would increase their potential audience. As a premium priced home hair colouring product, the client wanted to compete with salons and try to take customers away from them. However, we came to the conclusion that women who could afford to go to the salon were unlikely to switch to a home colouring product that was half the price; they’re not worried about money and they enjoy the luxury of going to the salon and having a professional colour their hair.

We carried out primary research and used secondary research to identify that there are actually a considerable amount of women out there who are dissatisfied with their current hair colouring experiences; both who go to salons and who colour their hair at home. 25% of women feel that stylists in salons often impose their opinions too forcefully and 27% of women find it hard to get the right colour at home; leaving them dissatisfied with unwanted results. With this in mind, we wanted to propose to the client that we target these dissatisfied women (salon goers AND home dyers), rather than try to convert those that are happy with their current hair colouring experiences. Without jumping ahead too much, the client loved this idea, their feedback was really positive and they liked that we had challenged the brief and identified a core consumer insight that actually provided a better opportunity for them.

After presenting our research and insights, we introduced our brand solution: to empower women to take control. This is about firstly ensuring that these women are no longer dis-satisfied and actually get the results they expect (by using L’Ireel Tint), and secondly it’s about empowering these women (who we identified as being socially aware and who are prepared to pay a premium for socially responsible products) to give entrepreneurial women in developing countries the opportunity to start their own businesses. As I mentioned in my earlier post, we want L’Ireel to partner with a microfinance organisation, which we later decided on KIVA, whom provides small loans to women in developing countries, allowing them to start their own businesses and become self sufficient. In essence, it empowers them to take control of their lives. Our suggestion was that for every Tint purchased, £1 is donated to this organisation (and because of the nature of the loan structure, it wouldn’t have to affect revenue long term, it is just a loan).

This initiative would help to differentiate the brand, create a conversation (addressing earlier advice that brands should curate, not create), create advocacy (one of the objectives in the brief) and be engaging for our audience.

Now the main point that I haven't really talked about yet is the role for digital. So one of the key objectives of this project was to convince the client that they needed to invest in digital advertising; they are very sceptical of digital media, don’t know much about it and have always relied on TV and print. During the pitch we explained to the client that their audience are active digital users (18.1m million women are online which is just under ½ of the british population that are online, 58% of products researched online by women are beauty products, 72% of women use social networks). So they are in this space, and L’Ireel can be there too. We talked about the fact there are numerous forums and reviews online where women are venting their anger about their hair colouring disasters but no brands are currently in this space offering advice or help. L’Ireel can be there to answer these problems and make these women aware of their product, which with its USPs would generate great results and subsequently satisfied customers.

We proposed the following media split:

50% Digital:

VOD ( YouTube, VOD, ITV Play pre roll), FB homepage/ ASU/sponsored stories, KIVA focused advertorials on guardian online and Daily Mail Femail, mobile app for after sales support, Search (desktop and mobile - keywords focused around competitor brand names, generic hair/colouring terms, hair complaints terms, ethical terms), Display (GDN, Specific Primo Network)

45% TV:

C4, E4, More 4, ITV channels, Sky Living

5% Print:

KIVA focused advertorials in OK!, Glamour, Grazia, Marie Claire

We wanted to keep TV and Print on the plan because they play the vital role of raising awareness using the right programming and titles, but we emphasised that these media channels can be restrictive in that they provide one way communication. We sold digital in by suggesting that it complements traditional channels and offers the opportunity to create two-way communication with consumers e.g. responding to dissatisfied consumers on forums.

These were some of our digital initiatives (a few were mentioned in my earlier post):

- giving customers the option to choose who they wanted to donate their £1 to (through the KIVA partnership); they could then follow their progress online, via YouTube video diaries

- developing a mobile app which provided the user with a step by step guide of how to get the best results using the product

- live Q&A sessions on Twitter

- facebook updates showing that you have supported women in developing countries (similar to the option to share when you have sponsored someone via justgiving on facebook etc)

- after sale services on youtube e.g. videos on how to create the perfect hairstyle for an interview, or how to create the perfect ‘up do’ for your friends wedding


We closed the pitch with a nice cheesy line..... we’ve now empowered you with the knowledge necessary to justify this split to your business and illustrated the ways in which digital platforms are now taking over women’s lives. Now the control is in your hands...

Our pitch went down really well with the panel, they said that we presented really confidently and as I mentioned earlier they loved our consumer insight and the opportunity we spotted for the brand. I was really proud of this because it was my job to introduce our pitch and take them through our research and insight, which obviously I did well :)

They really liked the idea of partnering with KIVA and said that brands find it really difficult to execute socially responsible initiatives well, which really align with the brand. I felt like I had improved considerably from our first pitch in project 1, I was so much more confident in presenting and really tried to engage with the panel when I was speaking, which I clearly did well. Our project mentor was smiling and nodding all the way through which gave us all that extra bit of confidence and after the pitch he said that he was really proud of us. He said that he was slightly concerned about we were going to piece all of our work together, but he said the final result was great!

Post pitch - Gatecrashing Mindshare's roof terrace

So happy post pitch!

I’ve got the weekend to recharge the batteries then it’s onto the 3rd and final project on Monday..... ‘Increase value for a client’