BIMA Member: SPF 15 Ltd

Company Overview:

SPF 15’s success is founded on its ownership of ‘Mindset Marketing,’ a radical new approach to consumer marketing created by its founder, Tamara Gillan. Every business to have tried Mindset Marketing has found it so powerful that it has become a ‘repeat’ client.

The concept is simple. Mindset Marketing surrounds the consumer though key moments with the right message, at the right time. A variety of channels is used, with digital media at the core. The SPF 15 team has a strong digital heritage, from taking BA online to developing online presences for the likes of Sony and Orange. It has particular expertise in marketing to women via digital channels, an area which is otherwise under-served in the market.

A key SPF 15 strength is in delivering campaigns which offer unprecedented levels of integration. Each discrete element is tightly linked to every other, feeding from and to every activity. This requires an uncommon mixture of skillsets, ranging from top-level strategic expertise to specific ‘sharp end’ technological capabilities. Carefully managed partners and affiliates always have a crucial contribution to make.

This was the background to the successful, award-winning ‘Superdrug Summer’ campaign, which involved lastminute.com, Procter & Gamble, Cosmopolitan and others in ways which went well beyond traditional co-operative relationships.

With an integrated programme which embraced advertising, SMS, point-of-sale materials, email, direct mail, giveaways, special offers and more, each direct communication was precisely tailored and timed to an individual’s mindset. The campaign delivered in excess of 200,000 ‘yummy mummy’ and ‘Bridget Jones’ type women as online-registered customers, with an average spend-per-visit of three times the norm. The campaign target had been 140,000 registrations.

Women booking their summer holidays were invited to register; those who did each received six individually tailored and timed communications. A snapshot: each received, the day before setting off, a text message informing her of tomorrow’s weather forecast for her destination — and a final reminder of relevant products available from Superdrug. This is emphatically not just a communication to the right sort of person, or something merely sent during the right week; this is an individually-addressed message to a specific person, arriving at their most receptive moment during a specific day. Without a true implementation of Mindset Marketing, such powerful marketing communications just could not happen.

Similar results are enjoyed by every SPF 15 client, which includes such brands as Anna Sui, Red Bull, Setanta and Charles Worthington.

Marketers have long known about personalising communications... timing promotions... tailoring messages... using the right media... exploiting sampling... co-operative ventures. Many believe that they run ‘integrated’ campaigns. SPF 15 has broken new ground because nobody had previously realised both the significance of mindsets and how tying everything into individually customised, precision tim

Future Activity

Tamara Gillan has a clear vision of where SPF 15 is going, which greatly exceeds merely keeping clients very happy through delivering outstanding results. The objective is to become a staple, integral part of every company’s marketing mix. This is not unrealistic. Although Mindset Marketing is a simply-explained concept, it only becomes reality with the application of a great deal of wide-ranging expertise. In addition, many companies might find it hard to see how they could use Mindset Marketing in their particular sectors. So, getting Mindset Marketing into every company might not be easy and there might not be, in any case, a demand for it.

SPF 15 believes that, one day, anybody marketing to consumers will need and want to use Mindset Marketing.

In the meantime, some sectors are more advanced than others in their marketing sophistication and SPF 15 will specialise. Already renowned for its expertise in marketing to women and youth marketing, it will develop its specialisations in those areas. The creation of an ‘insight tool’ and the building of specialist research panels have already begun.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Tamara Gillan is determined to challenge traditional norms, by creating more innovative strategies to connect with consumers. SPF 15 will continue to break down the ‘silo mentality’ endemic in marketing, by going beyond normal marketing expectations. This can only come from deep segment insights, with detailed understanding derived from bespoke research. Delivery will mean even greater integration of campaign activities and the use of partnerships taken to new levels of sophistication.

If Mindset Marketing is to become a key marketing tool, it will be one step at a time. Initially, there will be concentration not just on specific demographics, but in sectors where SPF 15 has proven the ability to deliver unprecedented results: retail, drinks, beauty, fashion and fragrance, telecommunications, travel and leisure, lifestyle and sports.

There will be focus both on sub-groups within the general population and on certain product and service types, with scant regard to apparent geographical limitations. Work is under way to spread the message beyond the UK. With our nearest European neighbours representing obvious destinations, spreading westwards across the Atlantic is not unfeasible and SPF 15 is looking as far eastwards as Australasia.

Internally, Tamara Gillan will continue to encourage and develop the talents within her growing team. It speaks volumes for her abilities in this area that nobody has ever wanted to leave SPF 15. Much of this is due to her emphasis on straight talking. Team members, clients, the media and others have learned to expect a degree of honesty unusual in marketing.

SPF 15 is already achieving remarkable success by first thinking the unthinkable and then making it happen. It will continue to do so.

Member Contacts

• Miss  Tamara Gillan
  Job: Managing Director
  Telephone: 02077497530
  Fax: 02077492779
  Email: tamara@spf15.co.uk