Around the World: How the king’s coronation and other major events will impact retail and marketing

Audio by Bill Fisher, Paul Briggs, Matteo Ceurvels, and Carina Perkins | Apr 21, 2023

Episode Transcript:

Bill Fisher:

Hello everyone. Welcome to Behind the Numbers Around the World, an eMarketer podcast made possible by Cint. It's Monday, April the 24th, and I'm your host, Bill Fisher. It's my absolute pleasure to welcome you all to Around The World, with the king's coronation, other major events and their impacts on retail and marketing.

Welcome, folks, to a Behind the Numbers show that takes you around the world, looking at what various countries are doing in the worlds of commerce, media and advertising. Each month, I give you a global news recap, then I speak with a few of our regional experts to get their take on the main theme for today's show, which this time, has a royal flavor as we consider how major events like the upcoming coronation of King Charles can affect retail and marketing.

For those of you that don't know, the UK is set to crown a new King following the death of Elizabeth II last year. The crowning, or coronation, is happening on May 6. We will be asking, will the coronation provide a much needed retail uplift in the UK?

Carina Perkins:

That was quite a significant uplift to retail sales, but it did coincide with really good weather. And also consumer confidence at that time, although it was in the negatives, it was much higher than it is at the moment.

Bill Fisher:

How does a major sporting event like the Stanley Cup in Canada compare?

Paul Briggs:

It could be the spring thing, it could be the Stanley Cup Playoffs where audiences, in TV and other digital channels, are increased. But it's the time when a lot of national brands and national advertisers in Canada refresh creative.

Bill Fisher:

And what do Eurovision Song Contest parties mean for retailers and marketers?

Matteo Ceurvels:

These events do bring with it a nice boost to the local economy, and given all the cost of living crisis in the UK, it's, I think, a nice welcome reprieve to a little economic boost from the tourism.

Bill Fisher:

Right. I'm going to kick things off today with our three in three segment. I have three minutes to cover three interesting and related news stories we've seen in Around the World towers this month.

The timer is set, let's go. Our first story is all about the upcoming coronation and the king's desire for financial prudence. In a couple of weeks' time, the UK will officially have a newly-crowned monarch, as King Charles III completes his accession to the throne. And the king is already thinking about the royal purse and the impact of the cost of living crisis. The Telegraph reports about a much smaller procession than that of his mother's, 70 years ago.

Speaker 6:

For example, the procession back to Buckingham Palace that the king will take is expected to be just one third of the size of the one 70 years ago. This is reflective of his desire to be the people's King, but also of the COVID financial fallout and the cost of living crisis.

Bill Fisher:

He isn't stopping there though. The king recently denied his brother, Prince Andrew, an expense claim for an Indian healing guru. According to Metro News, the king is keen, the report said, to be much more thrifty about spending the palace's £24 million annual income, which he believes reflects poorly on the royals in an age of austerity. King-sized cuts could be afoot.

For our second story, we're in the European city of Liverpool where TikTok is extending its link with the Eurovision Song Contest. For the second year running, TikTok has been announced as the official entertainment partner for the competition, which this year will be held in Liverpool, England instead of Ukraine, which won last year's version, so it should have been held there, but can't be for obvious reasons. Here's my favorite Eurovision song, for no particular reason.

That was Think About Things by Iceland's entry in 2020, Daði Freyr. It never got to win, though; the event was canceled that year. A travesty, I tell you. Last year, TikTok's Eurovision live streams attracted 5.8 million viewers, but that was small fry compared with the television audience of 161 million. Let's see what TikTok thinks about things this year.

And for our final story, we're in Canada for the Stanley Cup and some country-specific ad options. It's been a while since the Canadian team won the Stanley Cup, ice hockey's premier competition, but as the playoff finals kick into gear, the country has significant representation this year, with the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs among the favorites to lift the famous trophy.

Don't just take my word for it, though. Here's data scientist and co-founder of hockey analytics firm, Stathletes, Meghan Chayka, talking to Global News.

Meghan Chayka:

The Playoffs. Let's start with the Oilers, who many consider to be the Canadian front-runner for the Cup. Do you agree?

Speaker 8:

Absolutely. They actually have the second-best chances in some of my models to win the Cup this season. And the main reason is ...

Bill Fisher:

And Canadian marketers can get excited too. According to Sports Business Journal, thanks to the League's newly-enhanced dasherboard technology, which allows for the seamless insertion of virtual ads during live broadcasts, the NHL can finally target Canadian fans with Canadian ads during the post-season. That's one home win for the Canada team already. And that's my three in three this month.

Now, before I introduce the next three, that's my three guests for today, I'm going to give you this month's culture shock. This is where I take you to various countries around the world and introduce you to some culturally-specific norms.

And today, we've got to go royal, right? Let's look at a few mealtime formalities at the Royal Table. When you are eating with the king, for example, once he's had his last bite, I'm afraid you're done. You're not permitted to continue eating once he's finished. So, you'd better be a fast eater.

That said, you might have plenty of time, because at a formal dinner, the king is required to speak to the guest on his right. That is, until the second course arrives, at which point he will switch and speak to the person on his left.

And it won't surprise you to hear that seating is carefully planned at these events. In fact, there's an entire office dedicated to the organization of guests, and it's called the Office of the Marshal of the Court.

And with that, let's introduce the guests at my table today. It only took a couple of people to organize this one. First, we have our Senior Retail Analyst covering the UK, Carina Perkins. Hello, Carina.

Carina Perkins:

Morning, Bill. Thanks for having me on.

Bill Fisher:

Next is our Senior Retail Analyst covering Latin America, Matteo Ceurvels. Hello, Matteo.

Matteo Ceurvels:

Hello, Bill. Great to be back on the show.

Bill Fisher:

Great to have you. And finally, we have our Principal Analyst for Canada, Paul Briggs. Hi there, Paul.

Paul Briggs:

Hey, Bill. It's great to be back on the podcast.

Bill Fisher:

Well, we're going to kick off with the Coronation, which is fast approaching, it's coming up next week. I'm going to start with you, Carina, because you've recently written a piece about this. I wonder if you can give us some insights upfront about the impacts that the Coronation might have on retail in the UK.

Carina Perkins:

Sure. So, I will start by giving a bit of background for anyone who's not familiar with the UK and our royal celebrations, just to really understand how significant this is for the country.

So, the last time we had a coronation in the UK, it was 70 years ago, that was our late queen. So, for lots of people in the UK, this is going to be the first time in their lifetime that they've had the opportunity to celebrate a coronation, so it's really quite a significant day in British history. And it might give retail sales a boost, for three reasons.

The first is celebrations specifically for the coronation. So, there are going to be street parties up and down the country. And we've found out from our research that some people are planning to hold viewing parties with friends and families. It's a bit of a split, really, in whether people are interested in it or not in the UK, but there's definitely quite a lot of people in the UK who are wanting to celebrate and welcome in the new Monarch. So, we expect there to be a bit of extra celebrations going on. That tends to boost food and drink sales. Things like barbecue food, picnic foods, alcohol will all sell pretty well for that.

Secondly, you've got a bank holiday; there's an extra day off in the UK on the Monday after the coronation. And traditionally, bank holidays tend to boost retail sales. Again, that's partly down to socializing, so about half of the people that we surveyed said that they plan to socialize over that weekend, even if they weren't specifically planning coronation-based events. So again, we expect to see an uplift in grocery sales, there might be a boost to hospitality, and you'll also get some people who'll use that extra day off to visit the shops.

And finally, you have all of the patriotic memorabilia and souvenirs for the coronation. Again, it's not everyone's bag, not everyone will buy that kind of memorabilia. But we did see, for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, there was a big rush on things like Union Jack flags, bunting, tea towels, crockery. There's an awful lot of coronation-based souvenir memorabilia that's come out, so we expect that that might also give a bit of an uplift to retail sales.

Bill Fisher:

It's all about the merch.

Carina Perkins:

All about the merch.

Bill Fisher:

So, you alluded to the Platinum Jubilee there; we've had a couple of royal weddings as well. Can we look back at what happened there, and will that give us a clue as to what's going to happen this coming weekend?

Carina Perkins:

Sure. So, we saw retail sales uplift for both royal weddings, so that was Harry and Meghan's wedding and Prince William and Kate Middleton's wedding. And both of those we saw quite a decent retail sales uplift. There was also a very small uplift during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. So, grocery sales got quite a good boost, but it was in the middle of the cost of living crisis, so it wasn't really enough to give a huge uplift to retail sales at that time. But it did definitely give it a lift.

What's really interesting is that the weather seems to be quite a big factor for how successful these events are. That's probably not a huge surprise. If it's sunny, everyone's a bit more excited about getting together in gardens and having street parties and so on. So, we've really seen that that actually sometimes has a bigger impact than having the extra day off.

The biggest uplift we saw in retail sales was during Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding in May 2018. That was quite a significant uplift to retail sales, but it did coincide with really good weather.

Bill Fisher:

Yeah. In May.

Carina Perkins:

And also, consumer confidence at that time, although it was in the negatives, it was much higher than it is at the moment. So, if we see really good weather, that will definitely be a good omen for what might happen with the retail sales.

Bill Fisher:

Fingers crossed. Well, what do they make of it over the water there? What about in the Commonwealth, Canada? Are they into the coronation pool?

Paul Briggs:

Yeah. A certain segment of the population is certainly committed to the monarchy and will be watching, as it's on TV, the wall-to-wall coverage of the coronation. However, I think, much like it is in the UK, there is a split in the population in terms of people who are royalists and people who don't think that it's applicable to a lot of modern governing.

So, in Canada, some recent polls show that, in terms of favor for the monarchy or the king, it's a minority of people who believe Canada's attachment to the Commonwealth is important. Having said that, there still is a segment of the population that will tune in, and I'm sure British pubs will open early that day in Canada to serve beverages and daily coverage on the telly, as you say in the UK. But in terms of retail sales and the impact on retail sales, I think it's pretty minimal.

Bill Fisher:

Yeah. What about in the US, Matteo, any interest over there?

Matteo Ceurvels:

I would say there is definitely, like Canada, a subsegment of society that does have an interest in the royal family. The Crown is a very popular series and people are always very interested in the lives and the fairytale presented by the British monarchy on this side of the Atlantic.

So, I do think viewing parties will happen here in the US. To what extent is to be determined, given that King Charles III isn't exactly as popular as his late mother was, that we do see a big gap in popularity between him and the late Queen, as well as other members of the royal family, like the late Lady Diana Spencer, Prince William as well. So, I think it may be a bit subdued given his lack of popularity. But overall, I still think that, given that this hasn't happened in decades, that people will tune in just to see it.

Bill Fisher:

Yeah. I mean, according to some YouGov data from last year, amongst Americans, the Queen was held in much higher regard than her son Charles. But as you mentioned, Lady Diana Spencer was actually the most popular royal in the US.

Right, I want to move away from the royal family for a moment. Paul, as I mentioned in the news piece there, we're into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. When we were prepping for this call, we were sort of talking about what equivalent events could we talk about in Canada and other regions around the world, and quite timely that we're now into playoff season for the Stanley Cup. It's a huge event.

Talk to me a little bit about how big it is in Canada and what sort of things we see around retail and marketing, any uplifts that we see there.

Paul Briggs:

Sure, yeah. I think a lot of people would want to compare it to something like the Super Bowl or the World Cup. It's more akin to the World Cup, in the sense that the Stanley Cup Playoffs extend over seven, eight, nine weeks. So, depending on if there is a Canadian story in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which unfortunately, a Canadian team, as you mentioned, hasn't won the Stanley Cup in 30 years.

Bill Fisher:

But they stand a chance this year, right? Edmonton seemed quite ...

Paul Briggs:

Yeah, exactly. There's a couple of really good teams and a couple of amazing players on those teams that can bring the Cup back to Canada.

But for advertisers, what you see is a real refresh of their creative. So, on TV ads, video ads that you see in multiple formats, what you get at this time of year, it could be the spring thing, it could be the Stanley Cup Playoffs where audiences, in TV and other digital channels, are increased. But it's the time when a lot of national brands and national advertisers in Canada refresh creative, create new ads that really compel the audience.

So, I think what you see is a real ... It's sort of like the Super Bowl in a way, where you see all these ads that are very entertaining. You get something like that for the Stanley Cup Playoffs as well, a lot of high quality creative and a lot of investment in messaging to reach that market. So, it's an interesting time, and the commercials on TV and in other formats are very entertaining.

Bill Fisher:

What about watch-alongs? Do you get people coming together in big groups to watch games, particularly if Canada do progress deep into the competition?

Paul Briggs:

Certainly, for certain markets. Som unlike the Super Bowl where it's a single-day affair, it really is dynamic, and it could be a course of a seven-game series or it could be a total ... For a team to win the Cup, they need to win 16 games, over the course of these two months. It's an extended duration, so it's not quite like a single event like the World Cup Final or the Super Bowl. If it's game seven of the Stanley Cup Final, then you would certainly see gathering parties. But yes, depending on the market, be it Toronto, Edmonton, Winnipeg this year, I'm sure there's tons of gathering parties to cheer on the home team.

Bill Fisher:

Sorry, I failed to mention Winnipeg, apologies for any Winnipeg listeners. One event where there are watch-along parties is the Eurovision Song Contest. And on the call today we have an avid fan of the Eurovision Song Contest, Matteo, you will be attending in Liverpool this year. Do you know much about these watch-along parties? Do you have them in the US?

Matteo Ceurvels:

We do, actually. There's actually, in New York as a group, it's a Eurovision group that have watch parties, and even every month at different venues, there is a Eurovision night at the club. So, there's all Eurovision playlists. So, there is a segment of us that do listen to it all year long.

Bill Fisher:

What do they look like? So over here, and I'm sure Carina has been to loads of these, but these watch-along parties we have for the Eurovision Song Contest, we have all different food stuffs from all the different nations, and we select beers and things like that. It's just an excuse to have a bit of a party, to be honest. Is it similar over there?

Matteo Ceurvels:

Very similar. Usually it's at a bar, or some bar will host it and then you have all the TVs. And then, when that contest begins, when voting begins, it's like a pin-drop quiet. But then everyone sings along while the songs are on. Yeah, it's a fun time.

Bill Fisher:

So, what impact does something like this have around retail, and/or marketing?

Matteo Ceurvels:

I think in terms of the marketing aspect, it does have a big impact, because I don't think people really realize the massive size that the competition, or the massive viewer audience, that the competition attracts.

You mentioned at the top of the show, last year, it brought in about 161 million live views, and this year it is expected to bring i around a similar amount, more than 160 million. But, if we look at even just taking last year's figures into consideration, that was 161 million people just for the final show itself, and over 75 million unique viewers on YouTube, across 232 different territories, around the world. That's a massive scope.

So then you think, "Okay, how does this compare, really, to other sporting events?" It may not be something like the World Cup, where FIFA says it brought in about 1.5 billion viewers, according to their estimates. But if we look at other sporting events, such as the UEFA Euro 2020, each live match averaged about 100 million viewers. The Super Bowl in the US, this recent one in 2023, had about 113 million viewers.

So, we're looking at a massive event that does bring in sizable audiences, both on linear television and on digital streaming platforms like YouTube, like TikTok, both of which are growing and have relatively good penetration within Europe and are growing around the world.

Now in terms of the retail impact, so retail data is always a bit harder to parse through, but there are some tangential benefits to cities and countries that host the event. So when, actually, Ukraine hosted the event back in May 2017, there was reporting that retail sales jumped about 7.3% in the month of May due to hosting the event.

Bill Fisher:

In the country?

Matteo Ceurvels:

In the country, yes, in the country. And even for this year, according to the Liverpool City Council, they expect the economic impact to be anywhere between €15 million to €30 million for the local economy, and a publicity value of over €100 million with a multi impact.

And even in Italy too, when they hosted it last year, it was about an economic impact of around €23 million. So, these events do bring with it a nice boost to the local economy, and given all the cost of living crisis in the UK, it's, I think, a nice welcome reprieve to a little economic boost from the tourism.

Bill Fisher:

Indeed. And do you have a favorite song?

Matteo Ceurvels:

I mean, I think everyone knows, I'm going to be partial to Spain. I don't think it'll win, but I do think I'm going to be with my Spanish flag in the audience, even though I am Italian. But, we'll let that slide for a minute.

Bill Fisher:

Awesome, okay. Great insight. But now, it's time for the recap stats quiz. This is where we recap today's theme with a few related stats questions for my guests. There's no prize, it's all about bragging rights, and we only have three questions, so let's get to it.

Our first question. So, food and drink is the category that UK adults are most likely to buy during the coronation bank holiday weekend. This is according to a Toluna survey for Insider Intelligence. 68%, in fact, plan to do so. But what proportion of respondents said they'd celebrate by buying a home appliance, strangely enough? A, 21%; B, 3%; or C, 39%? Who's going to buy a kettle, or a vacuum cleaner, to celebrate King Charles II's succession to the throne?

What do we think? Paul, let's go to you first.

Paul Briggs:

Well, maybe they might buy an ice box to keep all those beverages nice and cool. But I do think it's probably at the low end, so was it 3%? And that was the ...

Bill Fisher:

3%. Yeah.

Paul Briggs:

Yeah.

Bill Fisher:

Okay, sure. Carina?

Carina Perkins:

I'm going to go with 21%.

Bill Fisher:

21%. Matteo?

Matteo Ceurvels:

I'm going to go with the 3%. I don't know, I highly doubt people are going to be boiling tea.

Bill Fisher:

Well, you might be surprised. Carina, you were involved in this survey, so I would've been very disappointed if you got this wrong, but you are absolutely right. 21%, if you can believe it. 21% of people.

Carina Perkins:

I'd hasten to add that these are things that people might buy over the weekend, it's not necessarily in celebration of the coronation.

Bill Fisher:

Yes, good point. Okay, next up. It's been a while, as you mentioned earlier, Carina, since we've been able to watch a royal coronation. In the UK, in 1953, TV was still a relative luxury. But how many people were there estimated to be watching the event live on TV that year in the UK? A, 11 million; B, 27 million; or C, 36 million? Carina, I'll start with you this time.

Carina Perkins:

I'm going to go with 36. That might be a bit high, but I think lots of people would've tuned in.

Bill Fisher:

Okay. Matteo?

Matteo Ceurvels:

I'm going to go with 27. It seems like a nice middle ground.

Bill Fisher:

Yep. Paul?

Paul Briggs:

I'll take the low number. We are talking about 1953, right?

Carina Perkins:

Yeah, that's true.

Bill Fisher:

Yeah. You all make compelling arguments, actually. 11 million, that was how many listened on the radio. 36 million, that was the population of the UK at the time. It's grown a lot since then. So, 27 million, that was the number that watched the coronation that year.

Matteo Ceurvels:

Oh, wow.

Bill Fisher:

A very big proportion of the population. And someone mentioned it, lots of people watched at neighbor's houses, because not everyone had a TV at the time, or in public spaces. But 27 million. Okay.

And for the final question, let's talk about Eurovision. So, the UK has a bit of a strange relationship with the Eurovision Song Contest. Even though the current edition is being hosted here, YouGov recently surveyed 1,700 Brits and asked, if there was a Brexit style referendum on the UK's Eurovision membership, how would you vote?

What do you think the result of that vote was? Leave, remain, or would not vote, don't know. And we'll start with ... Who hasn't been first yet? Is it you, Matteo?

Matteo Ceurvels:

I'm going to say remain.

Bill Fisher:

You're going with remain. Paul?

Paul Briggs:

I will take the leave option.

Bill Fisher:

Leave. And Carina?

Carina Perkins:

I would've gone leave, but I'm happy to take will not vote.

Bill Fisher:

You can vote for the same. You don't have to use all three options.

Carina Perkins:

I think leave.

Bill Fisher:

You're going to go leave.

Carina Perkins:

There's been too many, "nul points".

Bill Fisher:

I feel guilty now, because you were going to take would not vote, and that was actually the winner. 54% said that.

Carina Perkins:

[inaudible 00:24:17].

Paul Briggs:

Oh, really? Wow.

Bill Fisher:

However, if we take that out, leave beat remain by 2%, which sounds familiar, right? But yeah, not that many people seem particularly bothered, or not as bothered as Brexit, anyway. The reason I talked you out of that, Carina, was now we get to have a tiebreak question, which is what I wanted.

So, you and Matteo both got the same amount of questions correct. So, it gives me a chance to wheel out my tiebreak question. Now, Matteo, you might be able to tell us why Australia enters Eurovision. Do you know?

Matteo Ceurvels:

Yeah, I was thinking about that the other day. So, I'm going to scratch my head about that a little bit more.

Bill Fisher:

Well, let me help you out.

Matteo Ceurvels:

All right.

Bill Fisher:

'Cause I had to look it up. It was to commemorate the 60th edition of Eurovision, whenever that was, a few years ago. I think it's very popular in Australia, it may be because of the large expat community. Anyway, they were allowed to enter and they've been allowed to enter ever since.

Anyway, for the tiebreak, just how far away is Australia from Europe? And this is based on a straight-line flight from Athens in Greece, sort of southeast Europe, to Perth, on the western edge of Australia, and it's based on a number of estimates. So, I'm just looking to the nearest 100 kilometers. This isn't multiple choice, you've just got to give me your best guess.

Matteo Ceurvels:

Wait, hold on here.

Bill Fisher:

So, have a little think.

Matteo Ceurvels:

Oh, and let me convert from miles. Give me a second.

Carina Perkins:

Are we doing kilometers?

Bill Fisher:

I've gone for kilometers.

Carina Perkins:

Thanks.

Matteo Ceurvels:

All right, give me a minute, let me think.

Carina Perkins:

I want to go 10,000?

Bill Fisher:

10,000. I'll give you a clue. That's quite a good guess.

Matteo Ceurvels:

I was going to go with, like 8,500 miles. Let me see what that is in kilometers, hold on. 8,500 x 1.6. It's around 13,500 kilometers. All right, nearest thousand, you said? So, 13,000.

Bill Fisher:

13,000. Okay, both really good guesses. Matteo's was slightly better. The answer is 12,300 kilometers, so well done, Matteo.

Matteo Ceurvels:

Wow. Okay.

Bill Fisher:

Your first try at this and you've won.

Matteo Ceurvels:

Shocking.

Bill Fisher:

He just rolls up and beats you guys, how annoying. Anyway, this is what I like about this show, we end with a winner, because it is time to call an end to today's show.

Paul, thanks for speaking with us today.

Paul Briggs:

Thanks, Bill.

Bill Fisher:

Carina, thanks for lending your expertise.

Carina Perkins:

Thanks, Bill.

Bill Fisher:

And Matteo, great to have you back on the show, and congratulations on your win.

Matteo Ceurvels:

Thank you, Bill. Always a pleasure to be here.

Bill Fisher:

And thanks to all of you for listening in today to Around the World, an eMarketer podcast made possible by Cint. Tune in tomorrow for our Behind the Numbers Daily Show, hosted by Marcus, where our Head of Digital Advertising and Media Desk, Paul Verna, will be speaking with Stephanie Gall, Cint's Senior Manager of Measurement Products.

If you want to ask us any questions, you don't have to wait until the second course arrives before formally engaging us in conversation. You can simply email us at podcast@emarketer.com. I hope to see all of you next month for another edition of Behind the Numbers Around the World. Bye for now.