»  Digital Shopper Marketing

I had the privilege to be part of the round 2 judging panel in Chicago for the soon to be announced Shopper Marketing Effies. It was a nice opportunity to step away from daily work and not only review some great case studies, but dialog with fellow SM'ers about the work and the industry.

After investing a good amount of time reviewing a diverse group of case studies, I came away from the experience with four thoughts:

1. No one has the corner on the insights.

Insights aren't exclusive to one organization, category or brand. Insights don't have a preference towards organizational size or scale. While these may seems obvious, reviewing cases from both large and small companies was a refreshing reinforcement. I know this first hand, having moved from a large international ad agency in Chicago to a small agency in Charlotte two years ago. And I've loved the change, as I still deal in the currency of actionable insights. In fact, insights are even more valuable and critical here, as our work speaks louder than our brand.

2. A great insight doesn't need explanation.

While there were specific regulations as to what each case study should or shouldn't include, it was amazing how easy it was to pick out the great projects. They had the great insights and told a coherent story that was almost intuitive to arrive at. They didn't need a lot of further explanation or selling - their story wrapped up insights into powerful explanations of shopper behavior. Meanwhile, other cases used statistics, strategy or story to overcome their insight gap. 

3. Relevant Insights + Powerful Activation = Great Shopper Marketing.

SM has expanded beyond the four walls of retail. It is physical, it is digital, and it is experiential. And because of this, the litmus test of a great SM campaign is the combination of insights + activation. Too little of one of these causes the campaign to crumble. The work that ends up delivering the results we promise finds the perfect marriage of a relevant insight and powerful activation. Both have to hit the mark.

4. It is an awesome time to be a Shopper Marketer!

If you are looking for the ability to do the same thing continuously for the same result, a career in shopper marketing is not for you. Shopper Marketing is a career in constant evolution: the retailer pendulum continues to swing back and forth, economic pressures continue to shift shopper behaviors, and evolving technologies continue to change the path to purchase. All of this adds on layers of challenge and opportunity - it is truly a great time to be part of this industry! 

In all the efforts to create stronger, better, bigger Shopper Marketing campaigns, let's not forget the brand building blocks that start at the shelf.

Heaven forbid, if a shopper knows nothing about your product when they arrive at the shelf, what are the cues they will use to determine what kind of product it is? Without any exposure to your brand position, your campaign idea or your marketing executions, what are they left with?

Before you layer on any other shopper engagement tactics, make sure your two P's are building your brand.

The first P is Packaging. 

As retailers continue their efforts to own and control their own space, this is one of the few billboards manufacturers have left in the store. If a shoppers is shopping your category, they will more than likely see your package. So what does your packaging say about your product? How premium is it? What does it do? How is it different than the other packaging staring at them? Why should they spend their money on your product? Are you delivering the information they are looking for?

While we don't believe packaging should or can answer all of these, it can start to inform shoppers about your brand. And since shoppers who read your package at the shelf have the ability to purchase, this is critical.

The second P is Pricing.

Pricing is more than a negotiating tactic with retailers. It is a very visible cue at the shelf as to what your product does and how important your product is. Pricing informs shoppers of how they should view your product in comparison to other products at the shelf. And while packaging can pay off that differentiation, pricing starts it. 

Retailers want to deliver the best price to their shoppers. In fact, most retailers build their brand with shoppers based on price. A fundamental aspect of marketing is what is happening at the point of sale and pricing is a huge part of this. What is your pricing really telling shoppers about your product?

We at bg love being part of improving the shopping experience across a wide variety of retailer outlets. We love leveraging new digital shopper marketing tactics to enhance engagement and connection with shoppers. And yet, at the end of the day, a great shopper marketing campaign cannot overcome what these two P's are telling shoppers at the shelf. While basic, they are critical brand building blocks.

Pew just released

• 50% of US adults used their phones while they were in the store
• 52% used their phone for one of these three reasons charted above
• 33% used their phone to look up product reviews or compare prices
• 20% decided to make their purchase at an online retailer vs. in-store

• Engage users creatively (and consistently) with likeable wall posts to support your f-commerce offering
• Provide exclusivity with promotions, discounts and sales that are exclusive to your Facebook fans
• Attract new fans with added incentives with one-time promo codes, coupons or discounted shipping for those Liking your page
• Solicit input by asking your fans directly how you can improve the f-commerce experience
• Make Facebook a PR tool with wall posts that provide news beyond retail – such as charitable and community service initiatives
• Incorporate Facebook into Customer Service by enabling customer product reviews, a forum to share shopping experiences, and proactively, publicly and transparently addressing customer concerns
• Keep an eye out for new features and tools with new f-commerce tools such as flash sales, group-buy offers, and contests – designed to may the f-commerce experience more fun and social

Digital Life on Today posted an article this week about a very novel use of QR codes for marketing. While it seems that some people wear their passion on their sleeve, Jessica Stuart had hers printed on a silk-and-linen dress.

Described as a "... bigtime-TV-producer-cum-digital-entrepreneur." Stuart started a firm that specializes in "short form, multi-use content," and she provided a demonstration of what that is than at the recent Webby Awards. A winner of two awards for a video she created for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, she wore a dress that was printed with QR codes that played the video when the the codes were scanned by those attending the event, by using their smartphones.

QR codes are mobile bar codes that are just starting to bubble up in mainstream commercial ventures. With QR — which stands for "quick response" — codes, shoppers can use their cellphones to swipe the code to buy items, shop or even watch product videos.

The codes "are popping up not only at hipster events like the annual South by Southwest music and digital conference and festival in Austin, Texas, but also in mainstream corporate marketing," noted Jonathan Blum in a recent Entrepreneur.com article. "TAG Heuer, Macy’s, and the car-maker Mini now sell using QR codes. Some uses seem rather mundane: Retail giant Sears went as far as to place QR codes in a recent mass-market tool catalog.

Interesting insights from PROMO Magazine on trends impacting Shopper Marketing and the world of consumer promotions in 2011 ...

1) Leveraging the power of social media to drive commerce Groupon is setting the bar and we're watching for how its success may fundamentally change distribution, effectiveness, and efficiency of promotional value offers to consumers. For example, Groupon recently launched “Grouponicus,” a holiday dedicated to “filling your loved ones’ gift buckets with experiences, not gift cards.” The daily deal shopping Web site also recently entered into a partnership with eBay to offer incentives to eBay loyalty members who participate in Groupon deals.

2) Integration of mobile (handheld) into shopper marketing programming As marketers and retailers look for new touch-points along the path-to-purchase we're seeing the use of more digital applications such as QR codes.  Interestingly, marketers are trying to get on the leading edge of the trend and capture the early influencers while driving greater awareness and usage for the majority vs. waiting for overall adoption rates to hit critical mass. Canon was one such brand, testing QR codes in September on its printers in a number of retail stores, including Best Buy.

3) Marginalization of "brand.com" promotional websites Virtually all clients are looking to platform their promotions on social networking sites (Facebook), sharing sites (You Tube) or partner with existing content/audience relevant sites (e.g. WebMD) vs. building their own stand alone sites.

4) Localization of promotion We're having a lot more discussions about driving promotion down to the local grass roots level. The Web is certainly enabling this but also indicative of a trend toward greater personalization/customization and a backlash against big high-profile events as the economy continues to teeter. We’re seeing this realized often in cause marketing and at retail.

5) Continued blurring of the line between content and promotion We're looking at, and our clients are asking for, more content integration opportunities across all platforms (TV, print, digital, social, gaming).  Marketers want the promotional message to be almost indistinguishable from the content because of the ability to deliver promotional messages in high-value brand environments. We're working on a host of videogame integration opportunities right now and traditional CPG marketers are seeing that as a new frontier to reach their audience.

Contact birdsong gregory to see how we can help your brand navigate 2011.
 

A recent study of over 1500 consumers by market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies found that if a brand has a social media presence, then 60% of its Facebook fans and 79% of its Twitter followers are more likely to recommend that brand since becoming a fan or follower. Considering Facebook’s over 400 million users, the opportunity is great for social media marketers.

While social media is not the shopper marketing silver bullet that some pundits claim it to be, it is an extremely important and relatively low cost touch point that has a direct impact on sales and positive word of mouth. In fact, companies not actively engaging are missing a huge opportunity and are saying something to consumers – intentionally or unintentionally- about how willing they are to engage on consumers’ terms.

The study also uncovered perceptions among consumers that those brands not engaging in social media are out of touch. Below are some answers to the question “What does it say about a brand if they are not involved with sites like Facebook or Twitter?”

• “It’s EXPECTED that a company have some digital face – whether it’s on FB or Twitter I don’t know – but they need a strong electronic presence or you doubt their relevance in today’s marketplace.” Female 50-54
   
• “Either they are not interested in the demographic that frequents Facebook and Twitter or they are unaware of the opportunity to get more exposure in a more interactive method.” Male 35-39
   
• “It shows they are not really with it or in tune with the new ways to communicate with customers.” Female 18-24.
   
• “If they’re not on Facebook or Twitter, then they aren’t in touch with the “electronic” people.” Female 55-59

Here at birdsong gregory, we're actively trying to develop strategies for our clients that use the power and pervasiveness of the digital media to drive awareness and shopper engagement  levels in advance of the store visit. Obviously today's consumers don't enter a store as blank slates. Rather, they're saturated with commercial messages everywhere they look and enter a retailer's doors with existing product preferences and favorite brands. 

And increasingly, shoppers are looking on the Web before or after they enter bricks and mortar.

As far as we can tell, some of the first online shopper-marketing executions started back in 2001 when leading-edge retailers like HEB.com and Walmart.com began to syndicate branded content (recipes, health tips/tools, seasonal articles, and so forth) – all sponsored by packaged-goods companies – onto their sites.

Retailers liked this strategy because it made their websites stickier and added relevant functionality. And brands liked it because it placed a quality, online brand message, along with related content, in front of consumers at exactly the right time. 

It was powerful stuff, because it gave the packaged-goods brands a leg up in the online shopper marketing space when nobody else was sharing digital content with channel partners. For example, perhaps a consumer might not click a link to a box of cereal, but they certainly would click a link for useful recipes and content about how to be a great parent and give your kids a fast, nutritious breakfast — sponsored by the General Mills’ Box Tops for Education program.

Stay tuned for part 2 . . .