When it comes to launching a new product, service or line extension, it’s routine for any PR company to write and develop media releases, devise media ‘stunts’, create and send creative gift packs to news and magazine editors, ‘work’ social media opportunities, and develop ideas for competitions where readers and listeners can win our clients’ product or service.
What makes Convergence that little bit different is that we’re not just communications / PR specialists – we’re also marketers, and two of our company’s senior partners are tertiary qualified in marketing. From developing an innovative and creative plan to implementing the tactics, we can help you with all aspects of your marketing strategy.
Convergence has diverse experience promoting consumer brands. Most recently we’ve worked with AirAsia X, Sodastream, Goldwell, KMS California and Goldair. Our Auckland office manager, Suzanne McNamara, was previously New Zealand Manager of Airwalk, one of the country’s biggest youth culture brands during the 1990s. She then worked for TVNZ’s licensing division where she managed the licensing and merchandising of brands such as Team New Zealand and Silver Ferns, and coordinated retail launches and ongoing merchandise programmes for US television studio entertainment brands including Yu-gi-oh!, Clifford and Hi-5. Meanwhile Erin Jamieson spent five years working as Australian Public Relations Manager for Swift & Moore, a leading marketing and distributor of leading alcohol brands. In this role she managed major projects including the Smirnoff International Fashion Awards, Moet & Chandon Australian Art Exhibition, Kahula ‘Music for your Mouth’ and Jack Daniels’ sponsorship of a Harley nitro bike team. She also worked closely with the brand management team on brand extensions and launching new products into the Australian market.
A growing new area now being offered to clients is experiential marketing – this involves assisting brands to interact directly with consumers outside the mass-media landscape by creating opportunities for them to literally ‘touch and feel’ the brand. Through live events or in the new interactive media world, experiential marketing is an holistic approach to creating environments that engage consumers’ senses and emotions, opening up personal dialogue and leaving them with a truly immersive brand experience. The end goal is to stimulate the most powerful promotional mechanism available – word of mouth. Convergence Communications can manage and drive your experiential activity, from creative concept and design through to execution and evaluation.
The strongest trend in product promotion is clearly maximising use of social media – from text-based campaigns to Facebook-based promotions – there is a rapidly growing array of techniques to reach your audiences and promote your event, product launch or line extension. We help manage several companies’ social media platforms, but they don’t want it broadcast that it’s us doing it on their behalf...
To promote events effectively you need an eye for detail, creative flair and a level head, requiring specific event marketing skills, accurate timing and a dogged determination to hit the front page and screens of the entertainment and general news sections of the media. We recently completed a project for Splore City and are currently working on PR plans for new two significant South Island wine and beer festivals.
Don’t just take our word for it, Convergence’s event promotions expertise is highly regarded – as marketing communications, publicity & sponsorship manager of last year’s biennial, three-day Splore music event, Suzanne McNamara won the hotly contested Special Project or Event category of the 2010 NZ Public Relations Institute Awards. The event was also runner up to the Best Marketing of an Event at last year’s New Zealand Association of Event Professional's Award. Suzanne not only managed the traditional media buying and communicating to the potential audience through new media (such as viral campaigns, Youtube and increasingly important opportunities available through Facebook), Convergence also developed the sponsorship portfolio, successfully managing the sale process so that sufficient sponsorship was secured for the festival to proceed.
Convergence has both advisory and client-side sponsorship leveraging expertise due to Leigh Harris and Erin Jamieson who, as former in-house corporate communications managers, have been responsible for large budget sponsorships. For the last three years, the Christchurch office has managed all sponsorship leverage of the Mercury Energy brand in the South Island including Mercury’s high profile naming rights sponsorship of the Tactix netball team. We fully concur with the best practice recommendation that, to gain the most from your sponsorships, 50 per cent of the dollar value should be dedicated to leveraging activities.
Erin Jamieson has a keen personal interest in events having previously managed the marketing and sponsorship of the John Britten Memorial Superbike Event, revamped the Lincoln University Foundation South Island Farmer of the Year Awards, and developed and hands-on directed HarbourFest – Lyttelton Port of Christchurch’s open day – for eight years. This annual event attracted over 8,000 people and provided the port and its small local community with excellent promotion. HarbourFest was an opportunity for the general public to see what happens behind the scenes of a busy port and required co-ordination of a variety of stakeholders, from the port itself to community organisations and businesses, entertainers, food providers, health and safety officials, and security.