The Sauce - 05/03/2024

By Ashleigh Morris, our Content and Comms Lead.

Welcome to ‘The Sauce’ – your dollop of marketing news from the past week.

This week we take a look at YSL Beauty’s bold social strategy, the cost of Halfords’ price promotions, and B&Q’s latest iteration of their classic ‘You Can Do It’ campaign.

YSL Beauty’s Bold Statement

Yves Saint Lauren Beauty made a bold statement recently by deleting all its Instagram content. The iconic beauty brand caught the attention of the press and its 11.3 million followers when it wiped its Insta content and had a 5-day social media blackout, before returning with a simple reel showcasing its bold new vision: ‘Ready or not. Sharper. Intense. Elevated. YSL Beauty is about to go over the edge.’

And the stunt seems to have paid off – the brand’s latest post announcing Dua Lipa as its new ambassador achieved over 600,000 likes in the first day.

The Instagram stunt coincided with the brand joining Threads where it plans to enable fans to get closer to the brand. The account gained 545,000 followers in its first day.

Our Social Media expert Sapna said, “This is a bold statement from YSL. As a brand you have to be supremely confident in your new brand identity to delete years of hard work – there’s no going back from this.

“By relaunching their Instagram and joining Threads, YSL Beauty are clearly adapting their social media strategy which is so important. The social media landscape changes rapidly, with new platforms and formats, changing consumer behaviour and even changes to the algorithms affecting performance. We’re seeing many brands revisit their strategy to identify how to use social media to deliver ROI for their business.”

Ready to take a bold step forward with your business’s social media? Contact [email protected] to find out how she can help.?

Promotions Push Hits Halfords Hard

Halfords has warned of the impact of promotions to its profitability, in an update to investors. The motoring and cycling retailer said it was adapting its profit expectations due to market volatility and the impact of price promotions on its profit margins.

The business said promotional participation across cycling products had increased, and announced an increase in purchases made on credit. With promotional sales less profitable than full price purchases, Halfords claimed the promotions had resulted in “weaker gross margins than previously anticipated”.

We’ve seen many B2C businesses slashing prices recently, particularly supermarkets, as consumer confidence remains low. The pricing strategies deployed include special offers, price matching and volume deals. While these strategies can provide a much-needed boost in sales and turnover, the long-term impact can be a drop in profit margin, as seen by Halfords. Extreme price drops can also have a negative impact on how consumers view your brand.

Our co-founder Mark says: “We often run price-led campaigns for clients that are great at improving short-term sales. However, we’re also regularly talking to them about how they can drive longer term, sustainable growth too.?

“We’ve seen other businesses use strategies to target retention and loyalty which can be more cost-effective than price-led comms alone. This also protects the brand and helps you stay true to your brand values.”

Confused where to start with your marketing strategy? Contact Mark on [email protected].

You Can Do It

B&Q has launched its latest ad, with a renewed focus on its ‘You can do it… when you B&Q it’ slogan. The ‘You Can Do It’ campaign, created with London creative studio Uncommon, will feature on TV and video on demand, as well as across social media and out of home.

The emotive ad shows a diverse cast of individuals waiting to start their DIY project. A strong narrative throughout unites the individual stories – you can’t, you don’t have the strength, the time, patience, the know-how. It then flips the narrative ‘The voice is loud. But guess what – a sledgehammer is louder.’ The tempo speeds up as the cast start their hammering, painting, sawing and drilling, before ending with the famous ‘You Can Do It’ line.

The inspiring ad works so well because it’s relatable – it taps into that negative internal voice we all have that can tell us why we can’t or shouldn’t do something. The strong voiceover pulls the narrative together and flips the negative into a positive.

It’s also powerful as it doesn’t focus on product. This is something we talk about a lot – focusing on your business’s purpose and what makes you different from the competition, rather than solely on the products you sell.

B&Q’s famous slogan has been around for nearly 40 years now and it’s interesting to see them give it a new lease of life rather than start a brand-new campaign. Sometimes, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it!

We’ve seen a few examples recently of brands relaunching or continuing long-standing campaigns – such as Jaffa Cakes who relaunched their ‘Total Eclipse’ campaign with the legendary Bonnie Tyler.??

What does this mean for B2B companies? While we always advocate for timely, relevant communications and innovation, there’s a lot to be said for creating a slogan or campaign that works for your business and its values, has longevity, and that audiences quickly identify with your brand, so it’s definitely something to keep in mind when defining your comms plans.

Need help defining your comms strategy, brand strapline or a new campaign? Drop me a message on [email protected] to find out how Awesomesauce Marketing could support you.?

Same time next week? In the meantime, you can check out previous editions of ‘The Sauce’ here.?

Brought to you by Awesomesauce Marketing - a full-service marketing agency serving UK and international clients. Contact us on [email protected] to find out how we can support your business.