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
Through our work with Britax, our shopper marketing agency in Charlotte has gained experience and expertise in the "mom/baby" space. So lately we've been making contact with prospective clients who go to the market through the same channels and have similar target audiences. One such company is Boon Inc. They are commit ed to "... creating nothing but the most innovative gear—and keeping it affordable." And I must say, their design sensibilities are top notch. Every product they produce looks museum quality. The video above shows me feeding my daughter Charlie with a traditional spoon (what a mess!) and then using Boon's Squirt spoon - what a difference. I suspect Boon designed the spoon after hearing from Moms how much of a pain it was to feed kids on the go. So the food itself is contained within a squeezable reservoir in the spoon. For a Dad like me though, it's just means a whole lot less food on my kids face.
Our family hosts a party each year for the Superbowl so I rarely get a chance to watch the game - much less the commercials - until about the second half. So the morning after I usually catch up on the advertising and marketing highs and lows. Advertising Age posted the commercials here . I didn't see much to rave about this year. How about you? Perhaps the economy is still at an awkward phase and marketers are reluctant to really let loose.
This blog post is from birdsong gregory a Shopper Marketing and advertising agency in Charlotte NC.
Just on the other side of the mountains from Charlotte, a group of top executives from some of the world's leading companies — including PepsiCo Americas Foods, Wal-Mart, Nestlé, Kimberly-Clark and The Walt Disney Co. — gathered in Knoxville late last year to help the UT College of Business Administration launch its inaugural Shopper Marketing Forum.
UT has two other forums: the Supply Chain Strategy and Management Forum and the Forecasting and Demand Management Forum, both under the umbrella of the Demand Supply Integration Forums. The forums are research-based think tanks that bring UT faculty together with company executives to address key industry issues. Member companies pay a fee to belong to the forums and attend the twice-yearly meetings.
Some of the issues explored at the shopper marketing forum included collaboration among supply chain partners in retail; improved metrics and return on investment (ROI) for marketing initiatives; gaining deeper insights into shopper thinking, behavior and value perceptions; and enhancing shopper experiences through state-of-the-art technology such as social networking and virtual simulations and displays.
For Charlotte advertising agencies, marketing gurus, and designers wanting to brush up on their graphic design knowledge, look no further than Graphic Design, Referenced by Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit. This visual and informational guide covers the most commonly referenced terms, historical moments, landmark projects, and influential practitioners in the field of graphic design. With more than 2,000 design projects illustrating more than 400 entries, it provides an intense overview of the varied elements that make up the graphic design profession.
Not a book nerd? You can get the design scoop and further inspiration from one of the authors himself! Armin Vit is coming to Charlotte on January 28th as part of AIGA Charlotte's Talk About Lecture Series to share with our members his process, learnings, experiences and latest work. The event is open to the public and the design team from birdsong gregory will be in attendance. Hope to see you there!
Add this item to the "are you serious" folder of consumer promotions. This week's Advertising Age highlights how White Castle is offering a reservations-only romantic rendezvous for Valentine's Day.
The chain is marketing a "steamy," "candlelit dinner" of 10 sliders, two 21-ounce sodas and French fries for $10.49, "leaving plenty of room in the budget for flowers, candy and entertainment." Staff will also upload a photo of your "romantic rendezvous" to the White Castle website. The restaurants will also be decked out in "theme" décor
In a statement, Jamie Richardson, White Castle VP-corporate relations, said the Valentine's program has been a "huge hit because a lot of our loyal customers -- fondly known as 'Cravers' -- either met in a White Castle Restaurant or have other enjoyable memories they like to celebrate here.
Indeed last year, White Castle hosted nearly 4,000 couples at 157 locations (the chain has 419). The Louisville, Ky., market even played host to a wedding. Their cake was in the shape of a slider. As a market, Louisville led the pack. Participating restaurants hosted 423 couples and had 110 groups on the waiting list.
The Silver Carp has become a big issue here in the US. These fish were originally brought over to the United States to help control algae growth in wastewater treatment facilities but escaped into the wild pretty quickly. These fish grow and reproduce rapidly and have taken over many bodies of water and they frequently starve other species by eating all of the plankton in the water. Not only that, they tend to jump out of the water when disturbed presently a pretty nasty safety issue for people travelling in open boats or on tubes. While I've never experienced it, I can't imagine anything much worse than a high velocity fish to the face.
How does this have anything to do with Shopper Marketing, POS Design or anything else we do here? Well instead of trying to poison the fish or block their movement- they're going to eat them! Described as a taste combining Scallops and Crab Meat, the goal is to get people to like, and subsequently eat more of, this fish. That means there will be naming (Silver fin is what they are calling it), point of sale displays, advertising and all the other good stuff that comes along with selling a new product. When the fate of a body of water is resting on how well a product is recieved, the message and the method become even more important.
We applaud the novel (private) approach to a big problem. Speaking of which- anyone in Charlotte want to start selling those pesky Cankerworms as snacks? Anyone?
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!
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.
Every ad agency in town has a different way of coming up with big ideas. Conversely, not every process works as well, and some shops will deliver creative based on little more than what you see below. So if you're a company looking for a reliable, efficacious marketing partner, make sure you look under the hood.
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.
Nixon, the über-trendy surf and skate clothing company has a flair for west-coast flavored euro-styling. I'd love to find this watch in my stocking, and the company's use of a super skinny version of Chalet on their website and in their ads is refreshing. Here at birdsong gregory, the design team always keeps an eye on the underground fashion world to help our Charlotte marketing agency stay inspired and informed.
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.
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).
Our family hosts a party each year for the Superbowl so I rarely get a chance to watch the game - much less the commercials - until about the second half. So the morning after I usually catch up on the advertising and marketing highs and lows. Advertising Age posted the commercials 
Eat the one you're with! That’s the plan for the 
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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