Our grocery client Bloom is at it again with another scented billboard - this time using peach to promote the fresh offerings at its new store location in the Dilworth neighborhood of Charlotte. If you're in the Southend area of Charlotte roll down your windows near the Chik-fil-A and soak in the peach. The chain achieved international attention earlier this year by erecting the nation's first scented billboard to promote its Sheffield & Sons beef brand. That charcoal and BBQ scented board drew the ire of PETA, but was generally praised on the internet for its innovative approach. Learn more about our Shopper Marketing agency by visiting www.birdsonggregory.com
Shopper Marketing tends to focus on using shopper insights to enable selection at the point of sale. However, in categories that are complex, overwhelming or otherwise hard to navigate, enabling deselection is just as important. You have to enable your shoppers to deselect what they don't want before they are able to select what they want. I learned this lesson while working on Millstone, at the time a P&G premium coffee brand. In an intimidating category like premium coffee, we found that organizing the shelf based on shopper insights gained from research brought about more clarity and ultimately, more sales.
The above picture is a fun way to approach another category that can be intimidating - wine. Press in Charlotte, NC chose not to take the typical approach to categorizing wines by regions or varietals, instead creating fun categories based on what the shopper will experience. Deselection ultimately should enable better and faster selection and in this example, narrow down a large wine list into a smaller set of relevant options.
All words pointing to the same thing – I am passionate about shoppers. I love the discipline it takes to find the issue or barrier keeping shoppers from purchasing a product. I love the vision it takes to find shopper insights and then bring it to life in a relevant way. I love the curiosity it takes to stay on top of the technology and trends that are changing how shoppers approach retail environments, whether brick or click (traditional stores or online).
10 years of shopper marketing experience has brought along some awesome opportunities. I have worked on some of the largest retailer and manufacture brands around, from Walmart to USPS, Walgreens to P&G and have lived in some great cities along the way, from Fayetteville, AR to Cincinnati, OH to Chicago, IL. And this experience has led me here, to birdsong gregory in Charlotte, NC. Why? The answer is based on how I view the future.
I believe the best way to predict the future is to create it. And I believe the role of future creators will belong to smart, strategic, neutral and nimble companies, those who choose to approach problems as conversations. A conversation requires approaching challenges engaged in actively listening, watching and focusing on what factors are influencing the situation before responding. birdsong gregory has taken a purposefully conversational approach to their 10 years of growth, building their business on the idea that facilitating a conversation requires low overhead and high access. The fact that Charlotte ranks 8th in the US for Fortune 500 companies has provided a perfect regional and national proving ground for this philosophy.
Have a passion for shoppers? Have a shopper challenge you need help solving? Let’s start the conversation.
That's right. birdsong gregory is beefing up its shopper marketing capabilities to help retailers and manufactures spend their marketing dollars in a more effective fashion, i.e., where it counts – at the store level.
We have a couple of new hires that will be starting this month who have worked for big, global retail branding agencies – and small retailer brands you may not have heard of - like WalMart. ;)
Together with our existing team of designers, writers, and brand strategists, we have some robust expectations for what lies ahead. We'll keep you posted…
Here at birdsong gregory, a Charlotte-based shopper marketing agency, we've known for years that in-store advertising is a great way to reach people in that critical "moment of truth" where decisions are made on which brand of charcoal or cat food to buy.
And now Bloom, one of our retail grocery clients, is making a bet that broadcast ads delivered between the aisles will be an effective way to reach the kind of purchase-focused, motivated audience in a way that top-of-the-funnel living room broadcasts cannot.
Automated Media Services plans to test its system, 3GTV, this summer in Maryland and Virginia at nine Bloom stores. Known as A.M.S., the company has been working for years on a system that would deliver television in retail environments; and one that would enable ad agencies to plan and buy commercial time in stores just as they do on the networks, channels and stations shoppers watch at home.
We'll keep you posted on what Bloom's shoppers think
One of our favorite advertising clients is Bloom, a different kind of grocery store. On March 17th they will open a new flagship store in Charlotte's Dilworth neighborhood. There is a lot of excitement around this opening because Bloom is introducing novel shopping conveniences that are new to the brand. This store will have one of the largest selections of Gluten free products anywhere, a convenient drive through pharmacy and eventually "pick and click" online shopping. Bloom is all about providing Guests a convenient shopping experience, and we play a significant role in communicating these features to shoppers in the store environment through point of sale materials and consumer promotions. As you can see from the picture above, with less than 5 days to opening, there's a lot of work to be done. Stay tuned....
Bob Noorda died last week. As the designer known the world over for giving the New Your City subway system its iconic modernist design, Noorda introduced simplicity to what (to me) still appears to be a confusing welter of express trains, dank passageways, and garbled announcements. At least the signage is friendly.
Here's an excerpt from his New York Times obituary:
"Mr. Noorda had helped found Unimark in 1965, teaming up with a group of American and European designers, including Mr. Vignelli, who initially set up shop in Chicago and Milan. Theirs was among the first international design firms to base their work on the Modernist principle that a good design could have a positive effect on all aspects of life, not just on business. An early proponent of unified branding -- the consistent use of distinctive type and imagery to identify a company -- Unimark has been credited with awakening the corporate world to Modernist design thinking."
Here at our Charlotte branding agency, we're following in Mr. Noorda's footsteps and trying to help our clients adopt and successfully use unified branding systems. Not always easy, but the payoff can be huge.
There's a funny article in the most recent issue of AdAge Magazine suggesting that advertising agencies are willing to do just about anything to promote their client's brands. It seems that the Dallas Cowboys can't find a naming-rights sponsor for the team's gleaming new stadium -- but the city of Irving, Texas, found one to blow up the old facility.
Kraft Foods is marketing the demolition of Texas Stadium later this spring in a promotion it intends to call the "Cheddar Explosion," tied in with its Kraft Macaroni & Cheese product. The company entered into negotiations with the Irving City Council last month, and the council last week agreed to a $150,000 deal to have Kraft sponsor the implosion. The money will be evenly split -- Kraft will pay the city $75,000 in cash to be distributed by charities selected by the city, and the company will also provide $75,000 worth of its products for other local charities.
With all the historic buildings that Charlotte seems to bulldoze these days, you'd think birdsong gregory should be able to attach one of our clients to an event. Maybe a Bloom Boom?
Popup shops used to be the domain of seasonal stores selling cheap costumes or tacky holiday gifts but the ever changing world of retail and shopper marketing has turned that on it’s head. Popup shops (where a company takes over an unused space for only a few weeks or months and then closes) have now been used by companies all over the world. Cheap chic retail king Target opened up popup shops for their collaborations with both Steve McQueen and Anna Sui. Likewise, eBay opened it's own popup shop showing off some of the things you could find on the site.
These shops are great for testing a new area or launching a new product but their real strength lies in creating buzz around a brand. Giving a consumer an amazing shoppping experience along with a smart product is the ultimate way to earn loyalty and trust. So if you think your brand or product could benefit from a well designed and executed pop up shop, I know a Charlotte Advertising Agency that would be a perfect fit!
Brought to you by birdsong gregory's favorite computer/application/smartfone/digital lifestyle company – delivered in their own fun, clever, rapacious flavor of brand personality.
And from all of us here at our shopper-centric Charlotte agency, have a safe, peaceful, meaningful end of the year and a bitchin' Yuletide.
Hey. They're not exactly British. And they certainly don't sound like us bacon-eating, gun-toting Yanks. Yet shoppers in New Zealand have a lot in common with shoppers in Charlotte, NC – birdsong gregory's traditional stomping grounds.
NZ or USA: we can spot similar retail channels, the same consumption patterns, and a good trend marker of how today's shoppers are generally integrating their online brand experiences with the traditional trip to a bricks n' mortar touchpoint.
As any good graphic designer knows, the look of a typeface can determine how readers perceive a word or phrase, a brand, or a company. And to fully understand how type works to communicate a marketing message, it helps to know the history of printed characters.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, American and European type foundries – where type was designed and cast for commercial and industrial use – churned out thousands of eccentrically decorative typefaces and typographic ornaments, most of it bought by printers.
Back then advertising was a burgeoning industry, and the more outlandish display styles were conceived in equal measure to attract the public’s eye and to distinguish one merchant from the next.
TYPE: A Visual History of Typefaces and Graphic Styles, Volume I, 1628-1900 is a new TASCHEN collection of exquisitely reproduced pages from an array of lusciously printed vintage foundry specimen books that were used to promote type fonts to commercial printers. Many quirky specimens in this compilation predate the mid-1800s, but most were produced in the second half of the 19th century, when fierce competition among foundries fostered an abundance of smartly designed and ludicrously gaudy faces.
From this week's Advertising Age: In an effort to build buzz in select urban markets this holiday season, Target plans to unveil three pop-up stores modeled after a fast-food joint.
Target to Go stores will be open in New York, Washington and San Francisco (hmmm no Charlotte, NC?) from Dec. 11-13 and will stock 50 popular gift items that shoppers will order by number.
"The design is reflective of where guests are at now," said Shawn Gensch, VP-marketing at Target. "They're time starved, so this is a quick experience that gives them great products at great, wallet-friendly prices."
The shops are meant to attract attention in urban markets where Target doesn't have a significant presence, said Mr. Gensch, adding that the success of the stores will be measured based on traffic levels, sales and buzz.
Stay abreast of the latest trends in advertising and marketing by subscribing to our blog. And to learn more about how birdsong gregory can help you with social media, branding, advertising and marketing, visit our web site.
There was a great article on page 1 of the NY Times business section last Sunday that explored the wild success of Apple's App Store. Featuring tens of thousands of applications that run on an Apple's iPhone and generating increasingly large amounts of both popularity and opportunity, the App Store, as this article points out, is compelling for several reasons. It generates as much as a billion dollars a year for Apple and the legion of third-party developers who create, code, and market apps. And the wide range of available applications means there is a potential market for anything, from a silly game to a sophisticated brand touchpoint for a company looking for a fun new viral marketing channel, a potential new revenue stream. Or both!
Here at birdsong gregory, our Charlotte marketing agency has both programming resources and a couple of good ideas about how help the right company extend it's online persona into the rapidly developing smart phone ecosystem.
Designers are color obsessed by nature and our birdsong gregory team knows how important color is to a successful brand. Thanks to the extensive line of Pantone accessories Charlotte graphic design professionals can now color code not just their professional works, but also their personal lives. Luggage tags, wallets, messenger bags, coffee mugs, pepper mills, key chains, cufflinks and iPhone cases are just a few of the ways you can define your own personal color brand.
Some of the luckier folks here at birdsong gregory, a Charlotte branding agency, scored coveted tickets to the Neko Case show at the new Knight Theater – which adjoins the still unopened Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. The theater is on the left, museum on the right, but from the second floor of the Knight lobby a wall of glass lets the Warhols and the Giacomettis join the party.
Designed by Thompson, Ventulet, Stainback, and Associates, the Knight Theater is a 1,150 seats theater that will be the primary venue for the North Carolina Dance Theatre, and will also feature performances by Opera Carolina and the Charlotte Symphony, as well as plays, lectures, films, and epic performances by bands like the notorious Deer Tick (who opened for Neko).
Advertisers watch out ... at least if your products are sold in San Francisco. A recent story from the Examiner details how San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera sent a scathing letter to Kellogg Co. for claiming that Cocoa Krispies and other of its “sugar-laden” breakfast cereals will help boost children’s immunity to illnesses.
In the letter sent to the company’s president and CEO, Herrera expressed “serious concerns” about the large font printed on the Cocoa Krispies cereal box that reads, “Now Helps Support Your Child’s Immunity.”
The city attorney says that is likely false advertising, a potential violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law. He has asked Kellogg’s to prove its child immunity claims within 30 days. If the company fails to respond within that time, the City Attorney will “seek an immediate termination or modification of the advertising claim,” the letter said.
The claim is also printed on the Rice Krispies, Frosted Krispies and Jumbo Krispies cereal boxes. The products began appearing on shelves in San Francisco stores in recent months, Herrera noted.
I'm not sure how many parents are scooping up Cocoa Krispies for their health benefits, but this case does highlight the scrutiny that all advertising agencies and their clients can expect when making controversial claims for their products.
Stay in tune with the latest headlines from the worlds of advertising and design by subscribing to our blog feed. birdsong gregory is an innovative Charlotte advertising agency providing creative branding and marketing services to clients throughout North Carolina.
Timed with Microsoft's new Windows software launch, Apple has begun to air a series of pretty creative videos poking fun at the failures of Windows past. This advertising strategy seems to be working. Mac sales are well ahead of the pace of PCs and from a branding perspective, the Apple logo has become synonymous with innovation. At birdsong gregory our clients may not include Apple (yet) but our advertising strategies and branding initiatives are helping Charlotte and North Carolina companies prosper.
Although technically still in the food business, supermarkets now find themselves increasingly looking at their operations from the perspective of a media company. Why? Because sixty percent of all in-store purchases are unplanned, according to James Maskulka, associate professor of marketing at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. This means our snacky impulse purchases can be influenced by a variety of in-store marketing communications: everything from coupons and end-of-aisle displays to digital cart screens and networked kiosks. Even better, a grocer's in-store marketing efforts can be accurately measured for ROI and efficacy, unlike traditional print advertising or TV spots.
To find out more about how our Charlotte, NC branding agency can help your company bring harmony and results to today's increasingly competitive retail environment, please call Jim Cusson at 704.332.2299.
For a Charlotte, NC branding agency, we like think we're wide open when it comes to using viral craziness to promote a product, service, or good cause.
Remember the guy who said he’d get a tattoo if 25,000 people joined his Facebook group? Or the lady Well at least that was entertaining (and novel) for the time. Now, however, people are starting to plumb the depths of bad taste and internet-fueled excess. Yes, a man is offering to name his son Batman if he can get 500,000 people make him their Facebook friend.
There are currently about 486,000 fans, so chances are he’ll have reached his goal by now. This questionable parent is also encouraging fans to give him their e-mail addresses so that he can e-mail him the birth certificate once his son is born.
Sounds to me like the “media” company behind the whole thing just wants 500,000 e-mail addresses.
All words pointing to the same thing – I am passionate about shoppers. I love the discipline it takes to find the issue or barrier keeping shoppers from purchasing a product. I love the vision it takes to find shopper insights and then bring it to life in a relevant way. I love the curiosity it takes to stay on top of the technology and trends that are changing how shoppers approach retail environments, whether brick or click (traditional stores or online).
From this week's Advertising Age: In an effort to build buzz in select urban markets this holiday season, Target plans to unveil three pop-up stores modeled after a fast-food joint. 
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