eXPD8 Director Peter Bailey talks about the launch of eXPD8 engage – what it is, why it exists and how it can help put a face to your brand.
So what is eXPD8 engage all about?
eXPD8 engage is a promotional and experiential field marketing agency that provides face to face retail support services to retailers, suppliers and manufacturers throughout the UK and Ireland. The services are designed to be high quality and engaging and include the likes of Training & Engagement Support, Product Launches, Exhibition Support, Demonstrations & Sampling, Mystery Shopping, Sales and so on. Really it’s almost any interaction between people in the retail sphere.
Why launch it now?
Simply because we have been increasingly asked by our clients to do this kind of work. Historically, we were reluctant because the fundamentals of the business have been high quality retail execution/measurement not necessarily requiring engagement with other people. Plainly, this is a different service sometimes requiring different skills, but what our clients want is for us to is apply the same rigour and retail disciplines to providing engage services as we do to our core business. This means knowledge of the retail environment, good planning, transparency, the right tools and above all doing what you say you’re going to do on time and to a high standard.
How will engage impact on the other parts of the business?
The core business of Retail Execution, Compliance and Audit work undertaken cost effectively, transparently and to a high standard will not be affected. What engage will do is widen the offering to clients allowing eXPD8 to be their one stop shop.
In what respect is providing the service different?
The fundamentals are the same; Retail environment, planning, transparency, execution, reporting. We are using for example our call management and data collection system. However, what is significantly different is the variety of different tasks and the skills required to do them. Fortunately for us, we are able to call upon the skills and experience gained from MSF who provided these services for many, many years, and to also we have our fabulous online Learning Tool called eDUK8 for aiding the preparation of the field teams.
Do you have a pet?
Yes, a dog. He’s a black and white spotty Setter / Collie cross called Doogle.
Tell me about the Branding itself?
The Brand is called “eXPD8 engage”. We didn’t want to dissociate the new services from eXPD8 as we are very proud of the excellence provided under than banner – for sure eXPD8 engage will reach into new areas, but it isn’t because of any deficiency in eXPD8, it’s simply that it’s designed to do something else. “engage” provides an excellent thumbnail that illuminates what we are trying to do i.e. provide engaging people to engage face to face in retail, or as the strap line says “ . . . putting a face to your brand”. We have also borrowed the “candlesticks” optical illusion to some of marketing collateral that can be seen as faces.
What ambitions to you have for engage?
We are very ambitious for engage. The market is currently incredibly fragmented with numerous participants, but we believe that we can see significant growth both because we have existing relationships with many clients, and because we can apply our somewhat unique “eXPD8” approach to providing the service. Strategically this is an important move too. The Group is intending to add a number of related services to its portfolio that strengthen its market position, open new opportunities and consolidate relationships with clients.
Peter Bailey
Director
Find out more about eXPD8 engage and get in touch to see how we can help put a face to your brand..