| Winning Solutions -
Oliver Duval, Director of Unmissable, talks to Mark
Ludmon about going offline to become a leading incentives
supplier.
It was the height of the dotcom boom and everyone
was going online. Among the plethora of start-ups
was the travel company Unmissable, which was targeting
consumers and companies via the Internet.
Seven years later, the dotcom bubble burst and many
of the high-profile businesses from this time have
disappeared. But Unmissable, which had an offline
presence from the beginning, has moved away from etailing
and become a leading provider of incentives.
The consumer-facing side of the business was closed
in 2001 after it became clear that the bulk of the
activity was business to business. Unmissable was
then relaunched as the specialist supplier of prizes
and other bespoke solutions for consumer promotions
and staff incentives.
Faced with the fall out from 9/11, the SARS scare,
the Asian tsunami and the Iraq war the business has
diversified from its original focus on travel. It
now offers UK experiences, ranging from a bedroom
makeover to turning your garden into a spa, as well
as high value consumer goods, such as ipods. “That
was a natural progression to not being totally reliant
on travel” Duval explains. Duval himself comes
from a travel background, having studied tourism management
at university. He worked across different parts of
the travel trade, including five years at luxury travel
operator Hayes & Jarvis, before joining the start
up team at Unmissable in 1999.
Based in Battersea, South London, the company is
constantly coming up with suggestions for its clients.
“We devote a lot of time to sourcing new products
and ideas, such as experiences in different cities
and hotels with a certain theme,” Duval says.
Suggestions in its latest newsletters include a bar
for your office, a cowboy holiday in Patagonia and
the “ultimate duvet day” featuring options
such as candles, champagne, chocolates, bedding and
a DVD player.
Duval says their clients, who range from agencies
to radio stations, are now bringing Unmissable on
board earlier in the creative process. “We are
trying to get more and more information out of clients
about their end audience as we know what works with
certain products”, he says. “Our clients
are more knowledgeable and more open to ideas about
how budget might be spent. They may start off saying
they want a one-off “Wow” prize but it
may be better with more prize winners at different
levels”.
This is reflected in the high profile campaigns
that Unmissable has worked on such as a promotion
for Mullerlight created by agency Catalyst to tie
in the second Bridget Jones film. As well as the top
prize of luxury holidays to Thailand, there were bouquets
of flowers, champagne, chardonnay, chocolates and
UCI cinema tickets.
“There needs to be a closer correlation between
the brand and what is on offer”, Duval comments.
“Clients are not just taking what is on the
shelf, such as standard trips. They want something
where the brand really talks to the audience”.
Seven years on, the Internet is once again becoming
a key part of the business, although from a different
angle. “Over the last 12 to 18 months, there
has been shift to online promotions”, Duval
explains. The Dotcom bubble may have burst but, with
business doubling on average year on year, Unmissable
finds the thirst for creative incentives – online
or offline – is stronger than ever.
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