Viners Safety Knives Marketing Update July 2019

SAFETY KNIVES MARKETING UPDATE

MARKE T RESEARCH

METHODOLOGY

We have created a survey about knife safety which includes drawings of the two proposed designs to find out the public's opinions on the topic and gauge interest in the two new designs.

We sent the survey out on Friday 19th July to almost 10,000 Viners newsletter subscribers and promoted it across social media and through bloggers.

MAILER STATISTICS The email has achieved some great results with 3 x normal industry click rates and a 25% better open rate. Open rate: 17.2% (industry average is 13.8%) Click rate: 5.7% (industry average is 1.9%) Number of people who opened: 1,659 (total opens 2,553 - showing some people went back and reopened it) Number of clicks: 547 (total clicks 606 - some people clicked through more than once)

DEMOGRAPHICS

79% female 21% male

Countries: 81.8% UK 16.1% USA 0.3% Spain 0.2% Canada 0.2% Austria

Under 34 = 20% 35 - 54 = 54.2% 55+ = 25.6%

SOC IAL MED IA PROMOT I ON We are promoting the survey on our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages, to encourage a wider audience to take part and we have seen a number of influencers retweet and share the link across their pages, which in turn increases the reach and engagement figures. VINERS TWITTER 10.3k VINERS FACEBOOK 22.2K LIKES

Post stats: Impressions (no of times tweet shows in timeline): 1,755 Engagements (likes & retweets): 33 Link clicks: 58

Grid post stats Reach: 1,426 Engagements: 40 Link clicks: 31

SOC IAL MED IA PROMOT I ON

VINERS INSTAGRAM 3.7K FOLLOWERS

Post stats: Reach to date: 131 Engagements to date: 8 Profile visits to date (to view the link): 2

SOC IAL MED IA PROMOT I ON

Retweeted by Niven Rennie (2.6k). Former police officer, Director of Scottish Violence Reduction Unit Retweeted by Dr Kate Lovett (12.5k). Consultant Psychiatrist and Dean of Royal College of Psychiatrists. Retweeted by Wendy Burn (12.2k). President of Royal College of Psychiatrists. Follow up tweet by John INFLUENCER TWITTER REACH OVER 30K:

TWITTER - JOHN CRICHTON (Forensic Psychiatrist) with 2,373 followers

SOC IAL MED IA PROMOT I ON

Niven Rennie (Retired Police Officer) retweet 2.6k followers

Dr Kate Lovett (Consultant Psychiatrist) retweet 12.5k followers

Wendy Burn (President Royal College of Psychiatrists)12.2k followers

BLOGGER PROMOT I ON

THE STARIES - Instagram followers 7,836

Promoted the knife survey on Instagram Stories 27th July. Promoted the survey on her static Instagram grid post. Has included a link to the survey in her Instagram bio at the top of the page.

Grid post stats: Likes - 300 Comments: 27 Saves: 5

Instagram story stats: Reach - 322 Likes - 295

BLOGGER PROMOT I ON

COMMENTS ON THE STARIES POST - Instagram followers 7,836

@LorenAndTheBabes (7.5k): Yes to this! Well done @vinerscutlery  @RainbowMama (17.6k): Fabulous, knife safety is so important @AllAboutAubree&Avaya (7.1k): Oh this scares me so much you know, especially with Rai off playing out and stuff now xx @Grace’s Mummy (9.1k): Gosh those statistics are heart breaking! @TheMellanieParry (15.5k): Goodness this is just crazy! What a mad world we are living in @Amelia & Freddie (4.2k): So so sad isn’t it hun! Xx @TheNewcastleMum (6.3k): This is scary; such a horrible world sometimes x @EmWox (5k): It’s so sad isn’t it. If only we lived in a better world @cassie & Rio (39.7k): It hurts my heart reading and hearing all these horrific statistics @Clarissa & Me (2.6k): It’s a scary world we live in. You should be proud of this post mama! ❤

BLOGGER PROMOT I ON

RENOVATION44 - Instagram followers 74.9K

Promoted the knife survey on Instagram Stories 26th July. The Instagram story posts included a direct link to the survey to encourage people to enter and tagged @vinerscultery in the post.

Instagram story stats: Reach - 2,362

Interactions: 70 Link clicks - 56 Sticker taps @vinerscutlery - 5

ADD I T I ONAL BLOGGERS CONTACT ED

The following bloggers have been contacted to see if they would promote the survey:

The Staries – 7.8k Instagram followers – have shared the survey on their channels Sandhya's Kitchen – 12.1k Instagram followers We Love Food – 4.2k UMV, 2.7k Instagram followers Feating on Fruit – 154k Instagram followers Alla's Yummy Food – 18.2k Instagram followers My Fussy Eater – 104.6k Instagram followers Renovation 44 – 73.8k Instagram – have shared the survey on their channels

We will continue to contact these bloggers and others for additional promotional opportunities.

MED IA LANDSCAP E

When it comes to the topic of knives, the media is split into two defined areas:

Publications focused on food preparation, cooking, interiors, women’s lifestyle across nationals, monthly glossies, weeklies and online. 1.

2. News / trade titles focused on the topic of knife safety.

These two areas of the media have quite different concerns and information needs.

The food press is all about knife performance, longevity, ease of use, comfort and style.

The news / trade media is concerned about growing knife crime, the sale of lethal knives act and the impact on retailers.

MED IA F E EDBACK

It was clear from those spoken to that the knives act and sale of knives isn’t an area they would cover in their magazines - they are still all about performance and that none of their readers are raising this as an issue yet. Readers still want to know about the various knife options on offer through tried & tested features and reviews. The food editor at Delicious mentioned she hasn't tried out a knife with a rounded edge, so not sure how it would affect the feel when chopping. If it gives the same feel as knives with a sharper edge she would be happy to recommend to her readers. Your Home recently did a 'tried and tested' on kitchen knives, so the journalist mentioned the law doesn't seem to have affected consumers wanting to read and know about the various options on offer. Many of the journalists think a rounder shape would be a good move, not only helping retailers but providing an interesting press story. A few people mentioned the rounder shape may put consumers off, as they may think the performance has been affected. To combat this, we'd need to get in as many 'tried and tested' knife features as possible to prove that it's a good alternative to use. Every journalist said if you were to create this type of knife, they'd love to test it out. Magazine readers aren't really talking about the knife safety issue at present so they wouldn't cover this. New law doesn't seem to have affected consumers interest in reading about knives. Journalists think a rounder shape will create an interesting press story. Some think the rounder shape may put consumers off if they think it affects performance. Need to get as many 'tried and tested' features as possible to combat that. All journalists were positive and would like to test the knives. DETAILED MEDIA COMMENTS: SUMMARY OF COMMENTS: Our agency Unify PR approached a number of their media contacts from the food (BBC Good Food, Delicious, Olive) and homes sector (Good Housekeeping, Essential Kitchen Bedroom Bathroom (EKBB), Kitchen Bedrooms & Bathrooms (KBB) and Your Home) to find out if consumers are talking about the changes to the sales of lethal weapons act, and what these particular journalists think of a new shape knife:

MED IA APPROACH - PRE LAUNCH

Our agency Unify PR have suggested sending samples of the new knife design when it is ready to the top 20 media for product reviews. We would ask them to sign NDA's before anything is shared with them to be sure that the designs are kept confidential until we are ready to share.

We would suggest testing the new knives confidentially with top-tier media in the food, homes and lifestyle sectors.

A selection of questions will be sent with the samples to gather as much detail as possible from each journalist.

This will help to highlight any performance issues and inform the messaging to ensure the consumer launch is a success.

Publications to be targeted include: Which? T3, Trusted Reviews, The Independent, The Times, Good Housekeeping, Telegraph, BBC Good Food (print and online), iNews, Wired, Veggie, Olive, Delicious, Great British Food, Huff Post, Ideal Home, GoodToKnow, Your Home, My Weekly

MED IA APPROACH - AT LAUNCH

PART ONE

Unify PR suggest utilising the Knife Safety Survey to launch the knives with the UK consumer press but we need to be careful we are not seen to be using knife crime as a way to sell more knives, but that we are responding to a national issue. A news focused press release will be drafted for news, trade and food media showcasing the main findings from the Viners survey, looking at the nation’s opinions on this key issue (Unify suggest that a minimum sample size of 1000-1500 is needed and that no mention is made of the new knives at this stage).

PART TWO

We would then launch the knives separately to all media, and proactively target asking media to review the knives, including those initial 20 who previewed the new collection, as well as news pages in key food, homes, national and lifestyle publications. Other brands have linked with the Police for example, but Unify PR wouldn’t advocate this approach. Instead, Viners has listened to customers who love to cook and addressed a key national issue, creating a safe, functional knife collection that performs.

MESSAG I NG

The way we communicate the message to media, consumers and retailers is very important and should be handled sensitively as this is an emotive topic for many.

DO's

Use positive messaging. Be straightforward and transparent - there is an issue and we are trying to tackle this, we shouldn't shy away from the topic but keep it relevant for Viners. Use plain language that is easy to understand. Use the statistics we have gathered from the Viners Knife Safety Survey to substantiate our proposition (i.e. design style, cost, whether to have a knife block or not, knife storage etc.). Issue a press release to media detailing the survey results main findings and adapt for different types of media. Explain the differences in our new knife concept in simple terms. Reassure the consumer that the knife performs in exactly the same way, with just a different tip, which doesn't negatively impact usage. Reassure retailers that the consumer is looking for something different and is interested in our designs and willing to try something different (stats from our survey will back this up). Focus on safety, not crime. Keep the story around cooking and food, but state clearly how the knives are different, yet functional.

Avoid the term "anti-stab" as this has a negative connotation. Avoid scaremongering and using overly dramatic statistics. Do not look like we are jumping into a debate to sell more knives. DONT's

SUGGEST ED MESSAG I NG

It’s important that the messaging around the launch is positive, understated and reassuring.

With Viners being a cutlery expert for over 110 years, it is now launching a new generation of knives for the modern consumer . Viners know customers love to cook and prepare food themselves and these new knives will help them do just that, while making sure they are in safe hands. These safety enhanced knives are functional and perform well every time , using high quality stainless steel, but have been modified to eliminate sharp points making them safer to use while giving retailers and consumers peace of mind.