Moonpig Is Opening a Manchester Tech Hub and Revitalising Its Marketing

Some companies are synonymous with ecommerce and have built their entire reputations on providing exceptional and unique digitally-based services to consumers. However, there's always room to improve and add new innovations to your offerings.

Ecommerce gift brand Moonpig is one such company. Moonpig caused massive disruption to the greeting card industry when it began offering personalised cards for a reasonable price with guaranteed delivery on the appropriate day. Competitors such as Funky Pigeon have sprung up since, but Moonpig is synonymous with the concept.

Moonpig has expanded its offerings to include flowers and other gifts alongside its main greeting card service, but it's not looking to stop there.

Moonpig

The Guernsey-based company is now looking to expand its presence and invest in the tech talent of England's northern regions with the opening of a brand-new technology hub in the city of Manchester.

"Moonpig produces over 15 million completely one-off items for customers every year, each one uniquely personal to the sender and receiver, and powered by our 'emotionally intelligent' technology," said Chief Technology Officer at Moonpig, Peter Donlon. "We are seeking the best engineering talent out there to turbocharge the Moonpig business going forward."

The new hub will work in tandem with the company's recently-opened London headquarters and will be dedicated to coming up with new technology-based solutions to soothe Moonpig customers' gift-buying woes. This could potentially include new mobile app-based ways of interacting with the brand, incorporating such technology as augmented reality (AR). Imagine being able to send your nearest and dearest a digital birthday card featuring moving images or AR-based games.

Of course, the exact nature of the innovations which will come out of the new Manchester-based hub is still pure speculation - but when it comes to a forward-thinking and disruptive brand such as Moonpig, you can all but guarantee it will be game-changing. All we know for sure at this point is that the hub is getting excited about the ways data can be used to offer new levels of personalisation.

The hub is creating 50 jobs and offering a great career opportunity for Manchester's pool of talented engineering population.

Emotional Marketing

Not content with revitalising its technology infrastructure, Moonpig is also taking this opportunity to give its digital marketing efforts a new facelift. Emotional marketing is a powerful tool in the promotional kitbag of digital brands, and Moonpig wants to focus on the way receiving a greeting card makes us feel.

"Research shows people love getting a card, so we felt we were in a place where we could move from a needs state to a joy state by celebrating the emotion behind it," said Chief Marketing Officer, Andre Rickerby. "Giving or receiving a card is really heartfelt and warm and as a brand we didn't fully realise we are actually intermediary in that journey, which gives us permission to move into this space."

The new marketing campaign is still in the design stages, but Moonpig wants to stay true to its quirky nature. A recent rebrand saw the loss of the company's pig logo as it was thought to be too gimmicky, though it retained its iconic "Moonpig.com" jingle. Now the brand wants to keep that familiar feeling but draw more of a focus to unleashing the caring instinct which exists in people when it comes to those they love.

"When we looked in the mirror, we asked whether we were connecting in the ways we should have been," continued Rickerby. "Though we weren't doing anything wrong, and in some ways we are the same business we were before. We are still the leader of the category. We're not looking over our shoulder worried about competition, but let's not get complacent or rest on our laurels - let's challenge that and disrupt ourselves. Our new positioning gives us a clearer focus. We need to be crystal clear about where we want to be in the future. Our brand purpose should be able to run forever."

Final Thoughts

Even a brand as established and synonymous with its market as Moonpig should be constantly looking for new ways to innovate. It's a fast-moving world, and those companies which can't keep pace are likely to be left behind.

You can hear Moonpig's Chief Marketing Officer, Andre Rickerby, speak at eTail Europe 2019, taking place in June at the QEII Centre, Westminster, London.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.