Apteco Live 2019 – the highlights

Another packed day of speeches, presenters, workshops, and of course the Best Use of the Apteco Marketing Suite Award winner announcement.

On 22 November 2019 it was that time again: our annual user group conference took place at the Royal Institute of British Architects near Regent’s Park in central London.

After a short opening by company founder James Alty, Mark Hunter made an energetic start to the day. Equipped with colourful cleaning gloves, the participants clapped catchy rhythms with him – a spectacle for eyes and ears.

This was followed by a keynote on personalisation by Ross Sleight. An expert on consumer behaviour, he demonstrated with a small but powerful experiment what ‘personal’ really means. He asked the participants to give their unlocked mobile phone to the person next to them for a moment – a queasy feeling because there is hardly anything more personal than an individual’s mobile phone.

The impressive keynote showed the complexity of personalisation in marketing. To be successful in this sphere, organisations not only need to have the respective data culture and skill-set but must also be able to create real customer value and respect the data accordingly.

Apteco updates

In the subsequent development update, James Alty gave an overview of the software developments during the past year. Among the highlights were the introduction of new functions for campaign optimisation and the release of delta updates that enable a faster process for loading data.

James also presented the new Orbit Dashboard, which will be available later this year, for the first time. The browser-based platform can not only be used to share campaign results and reports, but also to create target audiences and perform visual data selections.

Another highlight on the agenda was the presentation of the ‘Customer Story of the Year’ by Apteco partner Planning Inc. and their client, retailer New Look. The case study showed how New Look found the ideal balance between customer- and trade-centricity using a customer data platform powered by Apteco FastStats. By optimising personalised offers across multiple channels, New Look was able to significantly improve the results of its marketing activities.

Before and after the lunch break, participants had the opportunity to participate in two of the six break-out sessions offered. From modelling to campaign optimisation and pattern-matching, the workshops around the building provided participants with the opportunity to gain detailed insights and have their questions addressed.

Further excitement was waiting towards the end of the day: the five finalists nominated for the Best Use of the Apteco Marketing Suite Award presented their case studies. Now it was up to the participants to help decide which finalists achieved the best results. The Apteco judges, whose points equally influenced the final decision, had provided their votes in advance. With the voting of the participants, the result was now certain.

The campaign run by tyre retailer ProTyre had convinced the audience. Together with their Apteco partner, Purple Agency, ProTyre has developed a process that optimises the marketing of available MOT appointments based on demand, resulting in a decisive improvement in capacity utilisation in ProTyre's MOT test centres. Second and third place went to charity English Heritage and catering supplies provider Nisbets.

This marked the end of a successful day and the conclusion of the 13th Apteco User Group Conference. We are already looking forward to the next one!