Firefly launches new name in retail technology market

task

Omnico was a relatively new name in the retail tech market, born out of a merger between hardware provider Digipos and business intelligence software company Clarity – backed by Better Capital. Awareness for Omnico amongst media was virtually non-existent before Firefly was hired in March 2013.

Apollo share of voice research highlighted that the space was dominated by IBM, Micros and BT Expedite – but that media coverage was owned by customer-based news and technology releases. Firefly highlighted an opportunity to comment on the market through research-led insight.

Firefly looked to harness the power of research, to help retail technology provider Omnico deliver brand messages through the media and social channels in support of their sales campaign. The aim was to create content to help ‘open doors’ for Omnico, both in terms of media coverage and new business leads.

execution

Firefly developed a research campaign, consisting of both field and omnibus research, around key topic areas such as showrooming, queuing, mobile shopping habits and high street technology.

Developing supporting digital content – vox pops, infographics and social media posts – Firefly timed content to coincide with the business’s lead-generation tactics.

Firefly’s research deliverables included a field study of 91 retailers in the West End, a consumer omnibus survey and vox pop interviews with consumers.

With the research complete, Firefly set about crafting stories that would gain attention in key media outlets. Following these stories, Firefly sold in the results of the full high street research to the national, retail, marketing and technology press. To further support the business, Firefly collated all of the research into a whitepaper; giving Omnico’s new business prospects a single point of reference about the modern high street.

impact

Firefly’s PR campaign around the research resulted in over 60 pieces of coverage and 12 million retail industry or consumer readers reached in three months.

The strong coverage results were mirrored in business results; with Omnico reporting an increase in open rate of electronic direct mail (EDM), compared to previous campaigns and uplift in traffic to Omnico’s dedicated campaign web pages, as measured through Google Analytics.

Firefly also set key messages about Omnico and seeded these in PR stories. The average appearance of these messages in the media was 43%, in addition to brand mentions.

By raising Omnico’s profile in key publications, Firefly helped to increase brand awareness and provided Omnico’s sales team with regular talking points to support their own direct sales activities.

This Firefly campaign was awarded a SABRE Certificate of Excellence and shortlisted for a CIPR Excellence Award and PR Moment Award.