As you may have seen in the media, the M&S fourth quarter trading statement came out this week and showed an unexpected drop in clothing sales (I don’t do financial or fashion PR btw, I just obsessively buy M&S clothing, so take an interest in how they’re doing).
What’s interesting about this (if you don’t do financial or fashion PR, or shop there a lot), is what it’s attributed to – a need to improve the co-ordination between the marketing, PR and buying teams. Essentially, part of M&S’ issue seems to be the fact that their marketing and PR teams were doing a great job in getting people interested in buying a particular item – only for them to not be able to then buy it in the shops.
This probably sounds like a bit of a no-brainer as an area to improve, but it’s an interesting reflection of how the consumer has changed, and how the role of those helping to sell the product needs to change as well. According to Marketing Week, M&S CEO Mark Bolland’s explanation included the fact that: “The customer is much more sensitive to trends now, seeing something on TV and going into the store to get it, so we have to be getting trends quicker.”
So, in the past (and I remember those days), you might see something on an ad or in a magazine and be quite happy to wait two months until it came into stock. Which means co-ordination between sales, buying and marketing could be a bit looser. Now, you want to buy it straight away – ideally click on a link, put it in your basket, and have it turn up at your office to wear tomorrow.
However, what this really serves to illustrate is the fact that no PR team is an island. All the coverage in the world is no good if the business doesn’t prosper as a result. And this means fully understanding every aspect of the organization that you’re working for – not just the marketing team – and thinking about how you work with them and help them spot pitfalls.
I’m sure M&S aren’t the first organization to be caught out like this and won’t be the last – but it’s something for us all to think about in terms of making sure we’re generating more for our clients than just column inches.
