Nine held an intimate briefing for trade media to announce the launch of its pop-up store for 9Powered, The Big Ideas Store. The space is hidden behind a shopfront located on 17 Oxford Street, Paddington, stocked with different Nine-branded goods such as Love Island and Wide World of Sports drinks.
The aim of the exercise is to take clients behind 9Powered, Nine’s strategic solutions division. Over the next two weeks, The Big Ideas Store will host an estimated 400-500 visitors for a series of events, workshops, research studies and guest speaker sessions.
It’s been eight years since 9Powered launched, so why do something like The Big Ideas Store now?
“We wanted to reintroduce 9Powered as a brand proposition to our advertisers and agency clients,” Nine’s chief sales officer Michael Stephenson said. “What I am really pleased about is how far we have come in the last eight years in how we do things at Nine. We help brands tell their stories deeply in the content that we create, which helps create business outcomes.”
The space is hidden behind a shopfront located on 17 Oxford Street, Paddington.
The Big Ideas Store is the brainchild of Melissa Mullins, Nine’s director of strategy, and Luke Robinson, head of trade marketing and communications.
“What has changed massively in the Nine business is that we have more content than ever before,” Mullins said. “We have our 7:30pm strip with our marquee shows such as Married At First Sight, The Block and Love Island – which in themselves have turned into cultural phenomenons. Then we have news layered onto that where we are attracting 12.2 million Australians every month across our platforms. In sports, we have secured four out of six top sporting properties. With lifestyle, we have the #1 women’s network in 9Honey.
“Our content gives brands huge opportunities to connect with their targeted audience. However, with more choice comes more challenge. Therefore, what we wanted to do is ensure that we have a robust process to ensure that anything we put forward to a client is strategically right and they know that it is backed by insights.”
The Big Ideas Store workspace behind the shop front
At the launch event, Mullins gave an overview of the three tools that support 9Powered. These are:
1. 9Nation: This is Nine’s quantitative and qualitative survey panel. It is made up of over 6,000 Australians. Mullins said: “What this means for us is that we can test and question Australians at any point. We can speak to them and see what’s resonating and engaging to them.”
2. Brand Arc: Mullins explained: “Clients are increasingly asking, ‘What’s the right fit for me? Where does my brand belong in your world of content?’ With Brand Arc we ask consumers to rate brands based on all the traditional archetype values.”
3. 9Tribe: This is Nine’s digital segmentation, which is made up of 30 segments. “That is brought together using 750 million data points across Nine,” Mullins said.
There will be a number of research pieces unveiled by Nine at The Big Ideas Store over the next two weeks, including three new insight studies. These have been conducted in conjunction with The Lab.
• Women in the Driving Seat: This will look at how to engage women at every stage of the car-buying journey. It will explore women’s levels of confidence in purchasing a car, their decision-making process, and where and who they turn to for help and advice. This study will help automotive marketers understand how to engage this market from the TVC to the dealership interaction.
• The Great Australian Dream Reimagined: This study features a range of experts across design, architecture, the connected home and regional living. It delves into what the Australian dream of property ownership means today and what marketers need to do in this category to remain relevant with their customers.
• Love is a (New) Battlefield: This study comes off the back of the success of reality dating TV such as Married and Love Island. It uncovers the changing mindset of Australian singles, how technology has changed the dynamics of a relationship, and why married Australians believe their “happily ever after” is never guaranteed.
“Reality TV relationships are more real than what we see on social media with hashtags like #relationshipgoals,” Mullins remarked.
The Big Ideas Store is running June 18-29. Click here to see the sessions.
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Top photo: Nine’s Michael Stephenson and Melissa Mullins