The brands you work so hard to grow are missing theopportunity to have meaningful interactions with consumers.

What follows are 4 QUESTIONS you should be asking yourself.

#1: Have you left the race before you’ve crossed the finish line?

You conceptualised and implemented a great competition, you generated interest, and maybe even saw a spike in sales.

But how did your winners feel beyond winning? Did the prize fulfillment processes meet their expectations?

Winners were excited when they won, but did all the interactions between then, and actually receiving their prize, encourage positive social dialogue?

#2: Is a consumer’s loyalty and interest being undermined… without you even knowing it?

Have you blindly trusted third parties, like courier company call centres, to be speaking on behalf of your brand?

What are those experiences like? Or are you only involved if a consumer reaches out to complain?

Or not even then, perhaps?

Are you sure you’re being given the full picture with absolute transparency, and

comprehensive feedback on all interactions?

#3: Does a member of your team resent the tasks they’re assigned?

Is someone dedicated solely to the management of your consumer engagement activities, or is this in addition to

their regular workload, and consequently an overwhelmingintrusion on their day, rather than the primary reason for it?

If so, do these tasks strain them to breaking point because of the irregular spikes in their workloads?

Is the person assigned to engaging with consumers on behalf of the brands you represent excited by the

task, and equipped to handle any eventualities, or are these tasks assigned to someone junior, like an intern?

#4: Activations and events speak for themselves, don’t they?

Making a dentist appointment is as simple as making a call or sending an email, right? So if that’s all you’re doing when inviting

people to events or activations, where’s the excitement coming from?

If any of those made you go “Hold on a minute” or feel a little anxious, you’re not alone.

We partner with many major agencies that have recognized these same risks and rely on us to not only mitigate them, but to maximize the

opportunities for greater brand perception through excellent engagement.

And how do we do that?

We bring together tools from various specialisations and rejig them into project processes that protect the interests of your clients, and champion

the dynamics that turn individuals into great brand ambassadors.

In its simplest form, we manage Prize Fulfillment for competitions, and Invite and RSVP Management for events and activations.

But that’s really just a broad description covering a myriad of tools and activities which we apply to engaging with consumers in those environments. The magic lies in how we apply them to specific campaigns - it’s essentially the translation of known tools, into known environments, to generate previously unrealised outcomes.

But don’t take our word for it, here’s what our clients have to say:

“All the services they have provided have exceeded our expectations. They are incredibly reliable, solution focused and are genuine partners for our business” Eric D’Oliveira – Managing Director, FCB Cape Town “We have consistently experienced unsurpassed quality in VPAS’s outputs which has, in turn, made our role in delivering a supreme service that much easier, they’re an invaluable part of the process for us.”Paul Grater – Client Service Director, JWT Cape Town Add to that that our clients assign us the moniker of ‘legends’, that we apparently ‘rock’ and are ‘nothing short of amazing’ and you can understand why we’re excited to bring that same level of client satisfaction to your business.

Our business is typified by the following 5 traits:

TRANSPARENT: We have a spotless audit and compliance record

ADAPTIVE: We integrate daily with different company cultures and sensitivities

AGILE: We deliver solutions and initiate projects within tight turnaround times

INSTINCTIVE: Our thought patterns are influenced by years of specialising in this field, we pre-empt what others miss

PASSIONATE: We are driven by an undiminished desire to exceed expectations

But the heart of our business is the people - from reformed vegetarians to weight loss heroes, from IT geeks to detail obsessed compulsives, all led by a MD who is on a crusade to have beer and coffee declared food groups in their own right – each one employed because they bring something special to the table and are consummate professionals. Combine that with the perfect synchronicity of our varied talents and intelligence scopes, and you realise how we are able to adapt to specific band identities and operate as consumer engagement specialists.

So when it comes to Prize Fulfilment and Invite and RSVP Management, let the specialists show you how to distinguish your brand from the rest of the herd.

Or of course you can continue with the status quo and let an unknown call centre agent, or harangued intern continue to be the voice of your brand…

But come on, even as you read that, you know you owe it to yourself, and your brand, to be better than that.

LET’S TALK.

Laren Foord - Mobile: 0786 013 8064 - Email: laren@vpasideamerchants.com

www.vpasideamerchants.com