In recent years, Currys, the prominent electronics retailer, identified the need to revamp its social media strategy in the face of evolving consumer engagement trends. Historically, Currys focused on promoting Black Friday deals, television launches, and other sales-driven content across their social channels. While these efforts were moderately successful, they often lacked sufficient entertainment value, resulting in a failure to deeply engage audiences. Recognizing this shortfall, Currys’ brand and marketing director, Dan Rubel, steered the company toward an engagement-first approach, fundamentally transforming its social media strategy to prioritize entertainment and connection with their audience.
Shifting to an Engagement-First Approach
Currys’ recent success on TikTok is a testament to the efficacy of this new method. The company has reshaped its social content by leveraging employee-led content, posting skits and memes featuring in-store staff. This focus on employee-generated videos serves a dual purpose: it taps into popular social media trends while highlighting Currys’ unique selling proposition – the availability of in-store experts. This approach differentiates Currys from its primary competitors, which include online retail giants like Amazon, eBay, and Argos, by emphasizing the advantages of interacting with real-life experts and personally experiencing products.
Despite the seemingly light-hearted nature of these videos, Currys aims to communicate a substantial message, showcasing the expertise and approachable nature of its staff. For instance, a skit featuring a Currys employee attempting to discuss the specifications of a laptop while emulating the bottle-kicking trend not only entertains but also subtly reinforces the brand’s value proposition. According to Rubel, this strategic pivot is crucial for a company like Currys, where colleagues’ expertise and their role in enhancing customer experiences are central to their brand identity.
Measuring Impact and ROI
Encouraged by the momentum on TikTok, Currys made the pivotal decision in 2024 to measure the impact of organic social media on return on investment (ROI). By employing econometrics and Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM), Currys began to link social engagement directly to sales outcomes. This new model revealed that the ROI from their TikTok content surpassed that from paid advertisements. Although organic social media efforts are less expensive than paid advertising, scaling sales through these channels presents a significant challenge, which makes Currys’ findings particularly noteworthy. Rubel emphasizes that while these social campaigns might appear as mere fun, they are in fact deeply commercial and strategically important within the overall marketing strategy.
Broader Marketing Transformation
While TikTok has played a pivotal role, Currys’ financial success cannot solely be attributed to its social media strategy. The company’s broader marketing transformation encompasses several key initiatives. For instance, updates in above-the-line advertising have seen Currys push the boundaries of conventional marketing. Rubel notes that this often involves taking risks that may initially seem uncomfortable. Such was the case with their 2024 ‘Beyond Techspectations’ campaign created by AMV BBDO. The ‘Beards’ advertisement from this campaign, initially perceived as unusual, underwent rigorous System1 testing and ultimately outperformed expectations, becoming Currys’ top-performing campaign in terms of ROI by significantly boosting brand awareness and sales.
In addition to evolving its marketing tactics, Currys has reinforced its customer relations efforts, invested in employee training, and improved the user experience through initiatives like in-store QR codes for product information. These combined efforts have positively impacted Currys’ brand perceptions. According to YouGov’s BrandIndex data, as of February 2024, Currys’ impression scores, which gauge consumer sentiment towards a brand, more than doubled the sector average, reaching 30.5 compared to the average score of 13.2. Furthermore, Currys’ customer satisfaction scores significantly surpassed industry norms, sitting at 33.6 against an average of 11.0.
Enhancing Customer Experience
In recent years, Currys, a major electronics retailer, recognized the need to revamp its social media strategy to keep up with changing consumer engagement trends. Historically, Currys concentrated on pushing Black Friday deals, television releases, and other sales-oriented content on its social media platforms. Although these efforts achieved moderate success, they often fell short in terms of entertainment value, leading to poor audience engagement. Understanding this gap, Dan Rubel, Currys’ brand and marketing director, redirected the company’s approach. Instead of focusing solely on sales, Rubel led the company toward an engagement-first strategy, emphasizing entertainment and forging a stronger connection with their audience. This shift marked a significant transformation in Currys’ social media approach, aiming to deeply engage followers by offering more compelling and entertaining content rather than just promotional posts. By prioritizing connection and entertainment, Currys hopes to build a more loyal and interactive online community.
