The agency's signature tool is the iKyp, a patented invention that
plugs into a USB port and engages consumer with a brand -- all of
which is, with the user's permission, tracked by analytics that
provide extra value to a marketer.
"It's a simple but devilish little thing," said Kevan Lawton,
the agency's CMO. Response rates for the iKyp are impressive:
Against a direct-marketing-industry average of 1%-3%, the iKyp
delivers response rates as high as 53%, which it achieved in a
project for the British Music Experience, an interactive museum
dedicated to popular music.
The $7.50 BME visitor's guide includes an iKyp webkey, which
customers can use at home to link up to a personalized MyBME web
page. From the web page, they can access free downloads and
exclusive offers, as well as relive their experience at the museum
by, for example, watching a dance they performed there or listening
to a song they recorded during the visit.
Kyp has also developed a digital audio player, with earphones,
that can be produced economically enough to make it work as a
direct-marketing tool. Said Mr. Lawton, "Some clients like the
intimacy of the medium, and some have sensitive messages that they
don't want people to see on a 48-sheet poster." Pharmaceutical
companies are a natural fit, and so far one has used the
device.
But Kyp does not want to be seen as a techie company. "We are
focused in physical engagement and finding ways to move people
between the physical and digital worlds," said Mr. Lawton. "
The agency's clients list includes Verizon, American Express,
Victoria's Secret, Charles Schwab, Hard Rock Hotel, the BBC and
Royal Bank of Scotland. It also has a strategic relationship with
Sony to help it build the market for the eBridge (a customized
interactive digital disc) across Europe.
The name Kyp is a jumbled acronym for "information you keep" and
is, according to Mr. Lawton, meant to be "different and friendly."
The agency was founded in 2005 by Nicholas Miller, who has a
background in promotional merchandise, working with marketers
including McDonald's, Hard Rock Caf? and Planet Hollywood.
The agency is headquartered in London and opened a New York
office in 2007. Since then, San Francisco and Chicago have been
added, partly because of the traction Kyp quickly gained with
pharmaceutical companies. Despite having only 48 full-time
employees, Kyp also has offices in Germany and Turkey, and has
plans to expand across Western Europe and into the Asia/Pacific
region and Canada.
"What we do is address problems of clutter. We are tackling
fundamental marketing issues and I think our offering would work in
any country. World domination is on the cards," Mr. Lawton said,
"but we still have a long way to go."
-- Emma
Hall