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November 2009 · Vol. 7, No. 6
Good morning,
We hope you enjoy this month's In-Store Marketer. If you are an In-Store Marketing Institute member and have forgotten your user name or password, click here. Non-members can gain temporary access to the Institute website by contacting Lisa Kass at (847) 675-7400, ext. 175, to schedule a brief phone tour.
November 2009 Highlights
Shopper Marketing in Black and White (and Pink and Orange)
October 2009 delivered two major merchandising events that present a clear (if, perhaps, overly simplified) example of the difference between traditional in-store marketing and its smarter, older sibling: shopper marketing.
Halloween, on the one hand, provides a textbook case of historical in-store marketing. Retailers stock a variety of seasonal products, candy and other relevant categories in abundance, and decorate their stores with appropriate graphics of ghosts, witches and pumpkins, along with pun-filled messages about "spooky" savings and "frightfully fun" items. Product marketers do likewise, shipping out packaging and temporary displays in orange and black, maybe with a sweepstakes or other kind of seasonal promotion thrown in for good measure.
The objective is pretty obvious, and based not on research-driven insights but simply on familiarity with a calendar. Within a fairly short window, consumers will buy costumes, candy, party supplies and the other products they'll need on Oct. 31. Retailers and product marketers, therefore, just have to make sure that consumers buy those items from them and not the competition.
October's designation as "National Breast Cancer Awareness Month," on the other hand, in recent years has presented retailers and brands with another merchandising event, but also an opportunity to make an emotional connection with consumers. Although the visual manifestation -- an overwhelming array of pink packaging and P-O-P materials throughout stores -- may be similar to that generated by Halloween, the marketing objective goes deeper: to position the store or brand as a caring resource for the community, and to help shoppers feel that they, too, are doing a greater good rather than simply buying products.
Granted, the insights don't run terribly deep here either, rooted as they are in the near-universal willingness among consumers to help a cause that affects so many people (and probably someone they know personally). The ideal goal of shopper marketing is, after all, to identify the motivating factors of specific consumers in specific retail outlets, thereby making a unique connection that will inspire loyalty. That last part is hard to do when nearly every retailer on the block, and every brand on the shelf, is bedecked in pink (which may be why activity in 2009 seems to have waned a bit. See below).
But it's a step in the right direction, and some marketers have begun to fine-tune their broader strategies to deliver more personal messages. Kroger, for one, has made headway by presenting the breast-cancer stories of its own employees as part of its campaign. Others may ultimately back away from the strategy to find themselves more unique points of differentiation. (L'Oreal, as an example, has made ovarian cancer its cause platform.)
In a similar vein, Walgreens even attempted to give its Halloween merchandising a more "shopper-centric" component by offering decorating and party-planning tips on its seasonal shelf signs -- along with the requisite ghost graphics, of course.
That tactic may or may not have engendered any shopper loyalty, but it certainly differentiated the chain's program from that of other retailers, and represents a slightly smarter way of connecting with shoppers -- maybe enough to call it shopper marketing instead of in-store marketing.
Peter Breen
Managing Director, Content
In-Store Marketing Institute
Members, more information here.
Research: Shopper Marketing 3.0: Unleashing the Next Wave of Value
Long-standing brand preferences have a major influence on product purchases, although in-store stimuli can often alter the ultimate decision, according to a new study from Booz & Co. and the GMA. In an online survey of 3,600 consumers conducted by SheSpeaks, Booz and GMA identified purchase influences both inside and outside the store. They also used interviews with more than 25 industry executives to provide a status report on the current state of shopper marketing. The Institute presents an exclusive preview of the study, which is expected to be released later this week.
Members, view the research.
Seasonal Store Check: Pink Merchandising 2009
Although it didn't quite reach the magnitude of previous years, marketing tie-ins to Breast Cancer Awareness Month were still plentiful in October, as scores of leading retailers and product manufacturers used special packaging and displays to illustrate their support for the cause. The Institute presents a report on last month's activity, with overviews of programs from dozens of companies and nearly 200 accompanying images.
Members, view the store check.
Seasonal Store Check: Halloween 2009
Halloween wasn't exactly forgotten last month as far as merchandising goes. But the holiday arguably didn't receive much marketing attention, as most chains focused exclusively on the price discounts that have driven retailing all year, rather than staging any significant seasonal promotions. Our annual report covers this year's display-driven activity, with images from more than two-dozen leading retailers.
Members, view the store check.
Desktop Marketing Conference: "Digital Shopper Marketing" by Peter Cloutier and Jason Katz, Catapult Marketing
To put it simply: "Digital marketing is changing how we shop in store," according to Catapult Marketing president Peter Cloutier. Marketers now have plenty of new opportunities to connect with shoppers all along the path to purchase -- through retailer websites, mobile coupons, in-store kiosks -- and influence their ultimate purchase decisions. In a presentation from last month's In-Store Marketing Expo, Cloutier joins with director of emerging media Jason Katz to use results from an exclusive consumer survey to present an overview of effective technologies, along with examples from the marketers that already are using them to great advantage.
Members, view the presentation.
Desktop Marketing Conference: "Marketing to Women in an Economic Downturn" by Elizabeth Harris, Rivet
An overwhelming 73% of women say that the recession has made them more cautious -- and more creative -- about the way they spend money, according to a 2009 Performics survey. In this presentation from last month's In-Store Marketing Expo, Elizabeth Harris, Rivet's senior vice president-director of strategic planning, explains how the recession has changed the way women plan shopping trips, research products on the Internet, clip coupons, and look for creative solutions to get more for their money.
Members, view the presentation.
Welcome New Institute Members
The In-Store Marketing Institute is delighted to welcome new and renewing members to the Institute family. Below is a list of the companies that signed up recently. Welcome aboard.
- ActMedia
- American Licorice Co.
- Brigandi & Associates
- Catalina Marketing Corp.
- Centiv Services Inc.
- Commonground Marketing
- Compass Display Group
- The Dannon Co.
- DAS Roadpro
- Daymon Worldwide
- Draftfcb
- Drake Display
- Fleet Laboratories
- Fluke Networks
- The Garvey Group
- Instant Combo Savings
- In-Store Media - Spain
- The Integer Group
- Johnson & Johnson Sales and Logistics Company, LLC
- Marcus Thomas LLC
- One Source Industries LLC
- Parham Santana
- Partners + Napier
- Rand Diversified Companies
- Red Bull North America Inc.
- Rivet Global
- Saatchi & Saatchi X
- Schawk Retail Marketing
- Sonoco CorrFlex
- STi Prepaid LLC
- Temple-Inland Display and Packaging
- Tool Box Store Metrics Brazil
- Velocity Sports & Entertainment
© 2009 In-Store Marketing Institute.
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NEW in the Library...
Holiday 2009 has begun in earnest, with leading retailers such as Walmart, Target, Kroger, Supervalu and The Home Depot already well into their seasonal campaigns.
Plus, Shopper Marketing presents a channel report on marketing and merchandising at convenience stores.
Shopper Marketing's annual "People to Watch" feature recognizes the talents of up-and-coming executives from Frito-Lay, Nike, T-Mobile, Sara Lee, TaylorMade-adidas, Hewlett-Packard and Unilever.
Plus, the magazine's "Don't Forget Men" report looks at strategies for reaching that other consumer gender -- which occasionally does a bit of shopping.
The title of Booz/GMA's "Shopper Marketing 3.0" report refers to a pair of previous studies on the topic produced for GMA by Deloitte. Read them here.
In "How We Shop," Dr. Hugh Phillips of Phillips, Foster and Boucher explains how shoppers spend more time "deselecting" in-store stimuli that they don't want rather than selecting what they need, and the implications that fact has for shopper marketing.
More than 750 new images of marketing and merchandising activity at retail.
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