Marketing is a key driver of the shopping centre industry. It’s how we drive brand loyalty and connect with the passions of our customers; it also contributes heavily to increases in revenue when utilised correctly.
SCN recently spoke with Komo’s CEO and Co-Founder Joel Steel about his business and how digital engagement tools and gamification are shaking up the way brands and shopping centres can engage and connect with their audiences, as well as collect data in a cookie-less world.
What are some of the challenges brands and digital marketers face and how can Komo help?
Marketing to consumers is becoming more and more difficult. With audiences seeing up to 10,000 advertisements per day, the marketing world has become a chaotic blizzard of noise and distraction. As well as this, consumers are becoming increasingly protective of their data, with 46% feeling they can’t effectively protect their information online.
It is out of this harsh marketing landscape that Komo was born: A SaaS Platform that allows brands to easily create a digital destination filled with branded, interactive content, competitions, gamified experiences and rich media. Proven templates can be built out in minutes and the platform requires absolutely zero coding.
A number of shopping centres across Australia are current subscribers to the Komo Platform.
How did Komo come to be what it is today?
Komo began many years ago with me and my best friend, as many great business ideas do, but not many of these great business ideas ever leave the ground, which is just one of many reasons why I am so passionate about Komo.
I had a sales and marketing background, and my Co-Founder Glenn had a portfolio in software development and we’d been in our individual spaces a long time. Our idea was to combine our skills, creating a software platform to better connect brands and consumers, providing a one-stop shop for marketers to engage their audience and collect valuable data.
Since Komo began, we have worked with a number of leading brands, including many in the retail and shopping centre industry, like San Churro, the Cheesecake Shop, Goodman Fielder, BodyScience, McDonald’s, JLL, Charter Hall and other shopping centres.
Co-Founders Glenn Morton and Joel Steel
How do you think shopping centres can innovate to elevate their marketing campaigns?
In a lot of ways, shopping centres are no different to all of the other industries that use the Komo platform. From Broadcasters like Foxtel, or an FMCG brand such as Praise Mayonnaise or Body Science, to McDonald’s or QBE. All of these brands are trying to do the same thing; capture consumer attention, keep that attention, capture information about the consumer along the way and deliver a more personalised experience back to the consumer.
Shopping centres need quick, easy and effective ways to do all of that, as well as drive consumers in-centre and support retailers. It’s not an easy task, but the first step is to cut through all of the noise by creating engaging digital moments that connect with people and their passions. After that, it’s just utilising the data collected (non-intrusively) to continue to personalise the next digital experience and build in personalised rewards that drive consumer foot traffic in-centre.
In short, shopping centres need to be creating engaging digital moments, capturing data non-intrusively and providing personalised content and rewards to their consumers. The trick is, how do you do all of that with the limited time each shopping centre marketing manager has? We have developed the one-stop shop for marketers to do just that.
What do you think is the key to getting the most ROI out of marketing spend?
Personalisation is proving to be the best way forward. 88% of consumers say that this is extremely important to them. The static marketing tactics of the past are definitely not performing like they used to. Consumers are expecting more from brands and organisations and through personalisation, you can deliver more experiences, more often, quicker, easier, and with more value for everyone. Though with a lack of resources and budget, this can be tough. This is why Komo exists: to provide an amazing resource in a cost-effective way that allows brands to maximise the moments where their consumers are paying attention.
How have you worked with shopping centres to transform consumer experience and engagement?
A huge focus for our shopping centre clients is building interactive and rich content, games and competitions quickly, easily and without compromising on the consumer experience. The focus then is to use these experiences to gather zero and first-party data and rewards consumers with personalised prizing that can be redeemed in-centre and through centre retailers.
The Komo Platform has more than 50 games, competitions and integrations built in, along with the option to add coupons or even Digital Mastercards® to any content in order to reward consumers for their engagement. Our shopping centre clients have seen a lot of success in using rewards as a way to personalise their marketing and give consumers a value exchange for their loyalty (and their data).
What features of the Komo Platform do you think pose the most significant advantages for shopping centres?
Definitely how easy it is to create engaging digital experiences for consumers. With Komo, anyone can create a world-class, interactive, gamified competition in a matter of minutes, and for a fraction of the cost you would pay a third-party developer.
I also see our new Vault Payment Solutions Mastercard® integration as something that will be extremely beneficial for shopping centres in order to add even more value to their rewards programs. You can read more about this here.
The Komo family
What do you love most about your role?
As CEO, I enjoy the mix of building an incredible team and the opportunity to work with such incredible brand partners. I am passionate about building a company culture that people just love. They love coming to work, they love their team and they are passionate about the work they do. Most of us will spend more time at work than doing anything else in life, so I want to make sure that my teams enjoy it as much as possible.
Over the past few years, we have significantly grown the Komo family both internally and externally, with our clients. Hiring and working with incredibly talented developers, customer success specialists, sales professionals and our marketing team has allowed us to work with some of the most well-known and loved brands not only just in Australia but also internationally. The team I have built with the help of my Co-Founder and friend, Glenn Morton, has allowed me to do the best work of my life!
What motivates you?
Two things; Family is definitely my biggest “why” in life. I have three beautiful children with another on the way, a beautiful wife and my work family too. These people drive me to do my best work day in and day out.
The second, as mentioned above, is the people. Seeing our people happy, enjoying themselves, and getting excited day in and day out about what we are building at Komo is a huge motivator for me.
Learn more about the Komo Platform via an exclusive Live Platform Demo! RSVP for the 15th of September here.
