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Field Marketing: Headcount records video success
Headcount awarded agency of the year at British Video Association awards
Headcount Worldwide Field Marketing (part of WPP Plc) was awarded the title of agency of the year at last week's British Video Association awards for their work for Warner Home Video (WHV). This recognition follows quickly on the heels of praise from another new client Unilever, for which one of Headcounts assignments was to play a part in the launch of its first completely new brand in the UK for 12 years - AdeZ.
Headcount have worked with WHV since 2005, when they were appointed as their field marketing agency following a review of the company's activities. A new dedicated national field team of 50 sales development executives (SDE's) managed by six team managers have since put their considerable experience in merchandising to work behind such new releases as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Superman and most recently Happy Feet.
Announcing the award, the nominator WHV said, "Headcount just get it! In a very short space of time they have gone from strength to strength rising to every challenge given to them. They have contributed to the success of several title launches by ensuring the product had maximum availability and visibility in stores."
The biggest change for WHV with the appointment of Headcount was the introduction of GPRS enabled, hand-held terminals (HHT). Talking about this innovation Luis Cespedes, VMI manager said, "The creative way in which Headcount has set up the Hand Held Terminals and the way in which the technology has been developed to provide us with timely and accurate data on a daily basis has already made a huge difference to WHV. The ability to change and add tasks quickly has meant that we can operate in a much more flexible manner."
Judging by the results achieved by WHV and Headcount during 2006, it was not just the HHT's that made the difference to the performance. The weekly store visits, made by SDEs (wearing smart WHV branded uniforms) ensured compliance of their chart positions. They also replenished DVDs where necessary and out of stocks were also quickly investigated. Returns were dealt with on a monthly basis and competitor activity was fed back.
The SDEs also ensured that the stores were extremely well prepared for new releases, such as the recent Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which is on target to become the biggest selling DVD in the history of home entertainment. Stores across the country opened their doors to a stampede of Harry Potter fans desperate to get their hands on a copy of the DVD, which sold an extraordinary six copies per second on its first day of release!
Commenting on the award, Lynda Edge, CEO of Headcount said, "I'm so delighted for the team. WHV have been a great client to work for and this award will spur us on to achieve even better results in the future."
05 April 2007