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Last week we saw the federal government (temporarily) abandon its pursuit of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) House anti-piracy bill and its Senate sibling, the Protect IP Act (PIPA). While this bill would have allowed lawmakers in Washington to block areas of the internet, similar to how China and North Korea currently do, it was obvious from the get-go that this sort of legislation was going to require far more research and public approval before it was implimented. And while companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft all publicly opposed the bill mainly due to the financial havoc it could possibly reak on the fragile system, at the heart of the conversation is the battle over copyright infringement by foreign entities. The push from the movie, entertainment and music industries to combat the bootlegging of it's content for profit is justified. While money is at the heart of this conversation, even those of us in advertising / marketing disciplines can sympathise with the need to safeguard your work. The ownership of intellectual capital, be it a song, or a script, or even a well thought-out marketing campaign, often represents countless hours of hard work and personal investments. To allow such artifacts to be traded and given away by third parties who had little or nothing to do with their creation is a travesty. Hopefully those in power can come up with a more targeted / level handed approach to squashing such activities without placing such broad restrictions on the public and those with legitimate e-commerce goals. One thing is for certain, our new digital way of life has only begun to challenge the way our democracy is govern on and off the grid.

                 

Iconic brands, such as Hostess and Little Debbie bring back memories of happier childhood days when things were easy and care-free. The advertising campaigns and packaging design were targeted at children and boded well with their target audience. As these kids grew older and the Twinkie (& Hostess brand all together) remainded unchanged buyer behavior adjusted. Those kids became parents and food trends evolved. Parents became more concerned with eating and feeding their family healthy, quality options, rather than fast, cheap ones. 

In the Wall Street Journal, Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst for a consumer markerting research firm confirms that "Consumption of healthy snacks is growing, too. About 32% of Americans ate yogurt at least once in two weeks in 2011, for instance, up from 18 % in 2000. "We're less likely to be snacking on items that we shouldn't be snacking on." Instead of adjusting to the trends of more healthy snacking, Twinkie stood by their old memorable brand model, so it's no surprise that this company is now filing for bankruptcy for the second time. In order to maintain sales with your target audience, companies need to adjust to developing trends. 

However among rumors of the company going bankrupt, customers are coming to the rescue. Even though most Americans have changed their shopper behavior to fit a more healthy lifestyle, they still cannot stand the thought of losing the Hostess brand and all the childhood memories and emotions that came with eating those delicious and mal-nutritious Twinkies. Will this quick attempt to save the company work? My guess is no, since people may not be willing to change their healthy lifestyle to make up for Hostess' loses.

Today's Wall Street Journal tells us that Target "... is tired of being used." In an article discussing a concept called "showrooming," where shoppers come into a store to see a product in person only to buy it from an online rival - typically at a lower price, Target is asking its vendor partners to create special products for the banner that shield it from price comparisons.

Online sites like Amazon.com pose a significant risk to retailers like Best Buy to Barnes & Noble. The article reports that this years holiday season saw an average 4.1% jump for brick and mortar stores while on line sales jumped 15%. Target's sales were particularly disappointing in electronics, books and movies – all categories that have made a significant shift to online sales.

It appears that Target's vendors may have little choice but to play along because of the second largest discount chain's clout. For a shopper marketing agency like birdsong gregory, this just highlights more opportunities to mine the path to purchase for consumer insights that may benefit our online and B&M clients.

Are QR (Quick Response) codes / 2D bar codes a mandatory for print in today's digitized society? Some feel that it's made trade publications relevant again while other think "how relevant can the technology be if such a small percentage of shoppers actually use it?" Perhaps they're just the crude precursor to augmented reality. Any way you slice it, these bar codes created in 1994 for the automotive industry for their ability to be scanned at high speeds have changed the way people interact with all sorts of printed media. If used strategically, and with viable content or compensation at the end of the line, it can extend the user experience and provide marketers with data. If you simply want to "take them to your home page" you're probably better off spelling it out for the audience. We've helped a number of clients"link" their traditional advertising with not so traditional means. If interested in hearing more call birdsong gregory at (704) 332-2299 and ask to speak to Jared. He loves to talk. No really.

What's this video got to do with shopper marketing or advertising? Absolutely nothing. But man what a skilled job this guy does at parallel parking his car.

Recently there has been a lot of buzz around location-based marketing initiatives, such as Foursquare. These consumer-popular applications allows users to "check-in" at venues or retailers and share their current location with their social networks. In return, these apps give retailers insight into who is visiting their location and when. Marketers also gain access to communicate directly to consumers at their point of purchase.

An article in the October edition of Shopper Marketing Magazine highlights this recent shopper technology trend and its evolution into a new service called geo-fencing. According to the article, "a geo-fence is a virtual perimeter around a real-world area. When people enter that area, their mobile device alerts an app or a service that triggers the delivery of a message" to those who have opted-in. 
 
The outdoor outfitter company, The North Face, has been one of the first companies to test out the budding technology. The North Face used geo-fencing to send tailored messages to consumers when they enter into targeted areas such as hiking trails, sporting events and local retailers. The North Face is using the technology to alert subscribers to local offers, closest retail locations and suggestions for useful gear when they are in the ideal shopper mindset.

Geo-fencing is still a developing technology with a great deal of potential for future customizations that can fit the needs of any brand. Geo-fencing seems to be a great new addition to the ever-growing list of ways marketers are able to influence the shopping experience by reaching their target audiences with the right message, at the right time and in the right place.

We are officially in the middle of shopping season. Terms like Black Friday and Cyber Monday are not only part of our vocabulary, but are increasingly how we search for deals. According to a recent MediaPost article, the search term "Cyber Monday" led all google.com search terms, jumping 120% from last year. "Black Friday" rose 60%. 

While it is not news that consumers shop more and spend more during this time of the year than any other, what is news is how we are shopping. This year, more than any other in history, consumers shopped differently.

Consider these statistics from this week:

• PayPal saw a 511% increase in mobile payment volume on Cyber Monday vs. last year.
• 17% used a mobile device to visit a retailer's site.
• 10% used a mobile device to make a purchase.
• 5% of mobile traffic came from the iPad. 

Year to date, online retail purchases are up 16%. All of this points to a healthy start to the holiday buying season and more, illuminates the continued adoption of mobile as a critical shopping tool. 

Shoppers are multi-channel creatures of purchase and smart phones are their multi-functional swiss army tool of choice. Shopper behavior has forced retailers to stretch their offerings across channels in order to enhance shopper engagement. Retailers have started to focus on creating a seamless and similar shopping experience regardless of which channel shoppers are engaged.   

What does all this mean?

• Shopper technology, that is, technology that enhances the shopping experience, has to be a focus for marketers. 
• Digital Shopper Marketing strategies and insights are increasingly critical for retailers and manufacturers.
• Organizational silos that separate online and in-store need to be unified under a renewed focus on shopper experience.
• Mobile executions need to consider context. Reapplying traditional or web programs is cutting your effectiveness short.

The brave new world of the integrated, informed consumers is here. How have you adjusted your engagement with them? 

As brands go global, translating the name of, say, Coca-Cola or Marriot, into another language can be a confusing minefield. Without a high degree of cultural literacy, you can unwittingly adopt an inappropriate connotation, especially in a marketplace like China, where names hold deep significance and the phonetic Chinese alphabet makes literal translations of western names very, very complicated.

For example, the phonetic Chinese character for Bing, Microsoft's new search engine, means, "disease," "defect," and "virus." Probably not exactly what the boys and girls in Redmond had in mind. Or Peugeot, the French auto manufacturer, which means "prostitute."

Increasingly, big consumer brands are faced with two options when entering the Chinese consumer goods market (which is growing 13% annually): literally translate your brand's name or come up with a Chinese brand name.

Coca-Cola, in Chinese, still sounds a bit like what you hear in the West (kekoukele), but other big consumer brands have opted to find a genuine Chinese name that can say more about their product than a few homonyms ever could. 

After a hard day's work, do you like to slip on a pair of Enduring and Persevering, start up your Precious Horse, and head down to the bar at the 10,000 Wealthy Elites for a tall, frosty glass of Happiness Power?

(after all, who doesn't like to wear Nikes, drive a BMW, and drink Heinekens at the Marriot bar)

 

 One of America's iconic consumer brands, Ivory Soap, is getting a new packaging design and a supporting ad campaign, thanks to the sharp minds out at Wieden and the decision by the shot-callers at Proctor & Gamble to spend a few marketing bucks on one of the oldest brands in their stable.

The new Ivory packaging, which features bright colors chosen to contrast with the soap’s pure white, replaces the old, more subdued packaging.

The overall campaign is intended to promote the Ivory brand’s “value and simplicity,” Procter & Gamble said in a statement, while “focusing on giving busy moms and families a product that delivers what they are looking for.” Along with Olay, Gillette, Old Spice, Safeguard and Camay, Ivory is one of six soap brands sold by P.& G.

Obviously, competition in the soap category has changed radically since Ivory was introduced in 1879, with the biggest trend in recent years being the genderization of the category from a shopper marketing perspective, which has seen soaps specifically for men or women. Ivory, on the other hand, bridges this genital divide by appealing to both men and women, with half the brand’s users male and half female.

Directed at mothers ages 25 to 49, the ads, which run through December, include humorous 15- and 30-second TV spots that show how complicated soap use has become. One depicts a group of unusually shaped soaps, including a soap that resembles waffles with syrup and powdered sugar, and asks, “At what point does soap stop being soap?” 

If you've never heard of Martin Lindstrom, then you probably don't work in shopper marketing (like the folks here at birdsong gregory). He's the author of six highly insightful and well written books about consumer behavior and retail branding, including one of my personal favorites, Buyology - Truth and Lies About What We Buy. He also recently made Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People" list. 

He wrote a great shopper marketing article recently for Time based on one of his invaluable blog posts. The big premise?

The next time you go grocery shopping, take a look at the signs, the type of flooring, and even the carts. Everything has been designed with an eye towards getting you to grab those three cans of something that was not on your list. 

Martin spent some time at a huge "shopper research" facility outside of Chicago (run by a big consumer goods company), where test shoppers spend hours pushing carts through what, to the untrained eye, looks just like a real grocery store. Of course, to the shopper marketers, consumer anthropologists, and other pointy headed brand geeks back in the control room hovering over a bank of glowing video monitors, every detail is carefully analyzed and tweaked. From the type of flooring (people move more slowly over parquet than linoleum) to how special deals are formulated on in-store price signs (using an actual dollar sign decreases the probability of purchase), it's a fascinating look at what goes on behind the shelf.

Here's the link.

Quantifying and capitalizing on digital behaviors is a focus of many marketers, as a lot of traditional shopper behavior has migrated online. Based on this, I thought the below infographics from Nielsen on the most valuable digital consumers presented some compelling information.

Based on reaching the tipping point of 50% smart phone penetration, understanding your target market's needs, behaviors and opportunities is going to become even more important.   

The Windy City certainly lived up to its name during the annual Shopper Marketing Expo this month in Chicago. We were buffeted by winds up to 55 miles per hour. Fortunately most of my time was spent indoors at the historic Navy Pier. The Expo brings together the brightest minds in the shopper marketing space and serves as an opportunity to share best-in-class examples of practical applications at retail. During one of the dinners I was seated next to a senior brand manager from Kimberly-Clark and we toasted each other for being fellow Gold Hub Prize winners. His team won for work related to Kotex and Poise feminine care products.  It was gratifying to realize that our young, agile studio in Charlotte is competing at the level of national and international brands like Kimberly-Clark and their agency partner JWT/OgilvyAction. As we like to say, sometimes the biggest ideas can come from the smallest agencies. Learn more at www.birdsonggregory.com

The technology tipping point is here. More phones are sold than computers, becoming the preferred way to connect and compute in the twenty first century. Nielsen estimates that smartphone penetration will be over 50% by the end of 2011. With the increased adoption there is enhanced integration of technology into everyday life. And more strikingly, in shopper behavior.

55% of smartphone users believe the shopping experience is more enjoyable thanks to smartphones (Internet Retailer).

73% of shoppers would rather use their phone than talk to a sales associate (Internet Retailer).

41% of iPhone owners have made a purchase from their smartphone

These are not just shifts in behavior. They are step changes in beliefs. This is not just about digital shopper marketing. The conversation is no longer about adoption. It is about adapting marketing strategies and tactics to harness the power of this technology for your business.

So how should you adapt? Your customer should be your starting point, not technology. Watch how they are and are not using technology today. Look at trends that will continue to evolve their behavior tomorrow. Find opportunities to provide value beyond the realm of just your products. Just like shoppers have integrated technology into their experience, so should you look for ways to holistically integrate technology into your plans. Not just as the strategy, but as a way to better connect your strategy to your audience. Want to learn more? Visit www.birdsonggregory.com

This is a quick peek inside the refreshed Bloom Grocery store. This showcases just a part of the work that earned shopper marketing agency birdsong gregory a Gold Prize for excellence in the retail environment from Hub Magazine.We introduced new graphics and merchandising efforts in key departments to amplify the new product offering and improve the shopping experience. See more of this work at www.birdsonggregory.com

Retail associate are a personification of your brand. They are front line brand builders or brand breakers. They have a direct impact on your store's shopping experience. 

This is a reality that spans retail channels - how associates choose to interact with your customers will form an impression of your brand. Whether shoppers are looking for a product recommendation, need help navigating the store or seeking information, when your associate doesn't take the time or have the answer, you are missing a critical shopper engagement opportunity.

Sadly, we all have examples of bad retail associate experiences. It is an unfortunate retail reality these days. But think about your recent positive associate interactions. What was common about these experiences? I would argue good retail associates are like bartenders. A good bartender engages you and seeks to understand what you want. They are ready to make a product recommendation if you aren't sure what you are having - based on understanding inventory and market trends. They know their tip is directly related to the level of service they provide and as such, they put service before product. They have the background knowledge to make what you need and the empowerment to deviate from a specific menu item to make you happy. There is follow up to make sure you have what you need.   

For all the focus put on marketing, don't forget the most important contact point you have with your shoppers. How are you empowering them to build your brand with customers? Maybe it is time to start viewing your associates more like bartenders. 

We are in the midst of designing new promotional materials for several communities developed by our client, Crescent Resources. In a clear demonstration of "doing what it takes" to please the client, we offered up members of our own team as models (I use that term loosely) for several photo shoots scheduled over the past week. Above is yours truly and my wife Heidi enjoying some time by the fire. Keep an eye out for our shopper marketing agency's favorite dog, Pete, who's making his model debut soon.

Think the shopper behavior of finding ways to save money is going away anytime soon? Not according to a recent Mintel report. 

Shoppers continue to look for discounts. While this is not a total surprise based on the sluggish economy, what is surprising is how this behavior has seemingly shifted away from doing this out of need and into doing this out of enjoyment. According to the report, 64% of US Moms say they are spending more of their time looking for details, sales, etc.

In other words, they are spending more of their personal, pre-purchase and pre-store time seeking these deals. This is no longer just about saving money, but about finding enjoyment in the “hunt” for these deals. It is about the process as well as the outcome.

With the boom of shopper technologies, the challege for marketers is not creating and helping shoppers find deals. Instead, the important consideration is how we are shifting shopper engagement strategies to talk to customers pre-store and at the point of sale to effectively drive brand preference.

There is no doubt that this focus on price and finding deals presents significant shopper marketing challenges. However, given this reality, how you adjust and directly impact your shopper's choice to put your brand in their cart?  Perhaps birdsong gregory can help?

We've often said that at birdsong gregory we're more interested in delivering results for our clients than winning awards, but every once in a while the two come together nicely. We were just informed that the collection of work we developed to relaunch the Bloom Grocery Brand has been awarded a Gold Prize from the annual Hub Magazine competition honoring excellence in the retail experience. Our peers in the Gold category include international brands like Disney, Coca-Cola and Proctor & Gamble. And their agencies partners are some of the biggest names in the Shopper Marketing space. It just goes to show you that you don't need a big shop for big ideas. The top Gold winners are competing for the best-of-the-best Hub Cup via on line voting through September 14th. Click here to vote for Bloom.