I've been traveling for the last few weeks and have come back to our agency with a renewed enthusiasm on the merits of clean, simple Below The Line communications. What I've noticed is the lack of consumer products that actual have a good story. A simple story that consumers can absorb in our less is more current culture. (There's a reason that Twitter limits you to 140 character tweets.)
Coke is a good example of how simple sells. Happiness from the start! It's amazing the effort they go to to make it look simple. As few words as possible but consistently communicated in every major city, all over the world.
At every touch point make it consistent and make sure the brand foundation speaks to their needs. Coke's "Happiness" campaign is right on. Who doesn't want a bottle of happiness. Research, research and research some more to offer your clients insightful communications that delivers to consumer or customer needs.
FSI's - A Recipe For Successful Coupon Promotions
Marketers obviously like couponing. In Supermarket News’ 2005 Survey of Manufacturer Promotional Practices, more than two-thirds of the participants said they feel couponing is an effective promotional tool.
And marketers aren't just saying they have a taste for couponing. It can be seen in what they are doing. NCH’s annual report of coupon trends shows that U.S. CPG coupon distribution hit a 10-year high in 2005 — increasing from the prior year by 3 billion coupons (1.1%) to a total of 278 billion coupons distributed. Competitive couponing is fierce in many categories, with marketers ensuring coupon shoppers have a discount offer available to them for nearly every purchase occasion.
U.K. Grocers in Price Fight, and It's Drawing Customers
BRADFORD, England -- The global recession is spoiling the summer for a lot of industries, but not the U.K.'s supermarkets. They're loving it. With an estimated five million Britons staying home this summer instead of traveling, the country's leading grocers are slugging it out for shoppers' time and money. They're slashing prices, launching new budget brands and taunting the price claims of rivals in advertising.
In Trial at Supermarket, Cellphones Will Be the Medium for Discount Offers
Seeking to marry a ubiquitous device with a time-tested marketing technique in a sour economy, Unilever plans to begin a trial run Sunday of a new technology that lets consumers redeem digital coupons by having a supermarket cashier scan their cellphones.
The test, being conducted at a ShopRite store in Hillsborough, N.J., will include discount offers for some of the Anglo-Dutch packaged-goods company's most popular brands, including Breyers ice cream, Dove soap, Hellmann's mayonnaise and Lipton tea. Samplesaint, a Chicago mobile-technology firm, developed the system.
"This has been a Holy Grail thing that people have been trying to figure out," says Marc Shaw, director of integrated marketing at Unilever, the first major marketer to test such a service in the U.S. "I think this is on target for where consumers' heads are at right now."
Young & Rubicam, looking to snag more revenue in one of the few ad sectors still growing despite the recession, is forming an alliance with Mars Advertising, a specialist in pitching products to consumers while they're busy shopping.
Audience fragmentation and the waning power of TV ads have forced many companies to peddle their products inside stores, where potential buyers are closer to a purchase. Their tools can include jazzy video displays, colorful promotions in the aisles or in-store video screens that serve up ads.
Late last year, Mars designed an in-store program touting new, easier-to-use packaging for Similac, the infant formula from Abbott Laboratories. The program included displays on shelves at food retailer Kroger that let shoppers touch the new package. At drugstore chain CVS, part of CVS Caremark, small screens on shelves played a video featuring Ty Pennington, star of ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," talking up the redesign.
The 75 largest food retailers and wholesalers in the U.S. and Canada combined to produce $893.08 billion in revenues in 2008, up 7.6% over their total in the preceding year. The sales volume includes revenues from both food and nonfood merchandise in North America for the companies' current or recently ended fiscal years. The volume increase reflects both the high levels of food inflation — estimated at about 5%-6% in for the year — combined with traffic growth at the chains on the list. The 10 largest companies on the list accounted for about 68.7% of the total volume on the list, the same proportion they comprised a year ago. Those 10 largest food retailers had combined revenues of $613.2 billion — up 7.5%, or $42.9 billion, over year-ago levels. They accounted for about two-thirds of the increase in volume among the entire Top 75. The top 20 companies on this year's list had revenues of $732.9 billion, up about 7.6% over year-ago volume levels. Those 20 largest operators accounted for 82.1% of the total volume among the Top 75, almost exactly the same as a year ago. For a chart of the 75 largest food retailers and wholesalers, read more.
E-Mail Campaigns Positively Affect CPG Purchases: Study
The receipt of permission-based email from a consumer packaged goods company positively influences consumers' offline purchasing decisions, enhances the company's reputation and generates loyalty to its brands, according to the latest research from Dallas-based marketing services firm Epsilon.
"Consumer packaged goods companies face a challenge when incorporating e-mail communications into their multichannel marketing mix," said Kevin Mabley, SVP, Epsilon Strategic Services. "They need to engage consumers and find a way to allow them to interact with brands and products both online and offline. The research shows that the benefits of e-mail marketing campaigns for consumer packaged goods companies extend far beyond the Internet and into stores and homes."
Washington, March 3, 2009 - This St. Patrick’s Day, Americans are more likely to stash any "pot o’ gold" they find rather than spend it. According to NRF’s St. Patrick’s Day Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, people celebrating the Irish holiday will spend an average of $32.80 on decorations, food and beverage and festive attire, compared to an average of $35.04 in 2008. Total spending is expected to reach $3.29 billion.*
Last Labor Day, there were three times the normal amount of FSI coupons in our local paper. With the decline of the newspaper industry, you would think that FSI's wouldn't be so prevalent. And yet, we see more demand than ever from consumers to use these types of promotional programs.
There are several reasons for this:
1. Consumers are always looking for savings. 2. A tough economic climate. 3. Trade demands on manufacturers.
A report from Nielsen Consumer Insight suggests that by October 2008, one-third of all U.S. consumers in a survey said they didn’t feel secure in their jobs, while half believed they were worse off financially than a year ago. As a result, consumers are taking steps to cut back spending, particularly on major purchases for the:
Home (87%) Carpeting (77%) Automobiles (73%) Major appliances (65%) Vacations (49%)
Halloween Celebrations Rise as Consumers Look to Escape Everyday Realities
--Total Halloween spending to reach $5.77 billion--
Washington, September 30, 2008 – The spookiest holiday of the year may bring a bit of needed relief to consumers and retailers. According to the National Retail Federation’s Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey, conducted by BIGresearch, more consumers plan to celebrate the holiday this year (64.5% vs. 58.7%). This year, the average person plans to spend $66.54 on the holiday, up from $64.82 one year ago. Total Halloween spending for 2008 is estimated to reach $5.77 billion.*
Though the economy is struggling, Halloween sales may be a bright spot for retailers this fall,” said Tracy Mullin, NRF President and CEO. “Consumers--who have been anxious and uncertain for the past several months--may be looking at Halloween as an opportunity to forget the stresses of daily life and just have a little fun.”
Even though 22% of consumers admit they are self-conscious when it comes to redeeming coupons at the grocery store, many are shrugging off the uncomfortable feeling to save money.
57% of those who admitted that clipping coupons was awkward now say they don't care as long as they save money.
26% of consumers under age 35 said the economic downturn has reduced their inhibitions about coupon usage.
Nearly 23% who suffer financially have become less self-conscious about redeeming coupons.
About 40% of people ages 35 to 54 said they used more coupons in the last six months, compared to 36% of consumers ages 55 to 64, and 25% of those ages 65 and older.
Source: ICOM Information & Communications Date: March 2009
Spirits Makers Replace Bartender With Convenience
As More Americans Entertain at Home to Save Money, Liquor Companies Offer New Lines of Pre-Made Cocktails
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, April 2, 2009
Liquor giants are rolling out pre-mixed products to entice recession-weary Americans to serve more cocktails at home.
On Thursday, Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc. is unveiling Sauza Margarita-in-a-Box, 15 servings of pre-made margaritas containing its Sauza tequila. The party-in-a-box, scheduled to hit the market in May, will cost about $18. Brown-Forman Corp., meanwhile, plans to release two ready-to-drink cocktails in bottles this summer, including Southern Comfort Sweet Tea. And Diageo PLC has begun releasing several prepared cocktails, including Captain Morgan Long Island Iced Tea.
Trade. Trade. Trade. (and the agency relationship)
It's just like the old Real Estate mantra. Ask any RE Agent what the most important thing is when buying RE and they'll say, Location. Location. Location.
If you're working with an agency and their asked to come up with winning strategies for Trade programs, make sure they know what the Trade dynamic is all about and how important it is that they understand the process.
Expect to see this in our sales decks for the foreseeable future. If it's not a word yet, it should be. - Dave
-- Every era on Wall Street has its buzzwords, terms that capture a prevailing mood or business theme. In today's era of economic decline, that term is "decremental."... http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123594709091304399.html
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