McDonald's, KFC and Burger King are among six well-known fast-food brands that have pledged to make changes to their UK menu ranges to make them less unhealthy.
The other three chains are Nando's, Subway and Wimpy. All have promised to work towards reducing salt and saturated fat levels in their best-selling products, swap sauces, dressings and oils for alternatives that are lower in saturated fat, and add more healthy options to their menus.
Restaurants will also make it easier to find nutritional information.
The aim of the commitment is to help the Food Standards Agency's activity to get people to eat more healthily when they're not dining at home.
It follows moves by supermarkets to cut the amount of salt, sugar and saturated fats in the ready meals that they sell.
Rosemary Hignett, head of nutrition at the FSA, said: "Eating out should be fun and we don't want to change that, but we believe restaurants can help make it easier for us to take healthier choices when dining out.
"These companies' commitments, together with the positive work that many have been doing for a number of years, show just how much is possible.
"We hope that other restaurant chains will be able to emulate this exciting work."
The FSA is also working closely with the largest pub, family restaurant and coffee shop chains, to develop similar commitments.
It is reacting to concerns that more people are becoming obese and fears that this will put a huge strain on the National Health Service.
Toilet tissue brand Velvet is focusing a new £5m campaign on the message that three trees are replanted for each one it uses.
The activity includes a new Fallon-created TV ad featuring the brand's baby managing director character, who talks about how important trees are and is shown directing his workers in the boardroom and a forest.
To reinforce the 'three trees' message brand owner SCA has also had the Triple Velvet and Quilted Velvet packs redesigned by Tynan D'Arcy to feature Baby MD and the new Three Trees logo and the Forestry Stewardship Council logo.
The campaign will extend online with a new-look website designed by Chemistry and educate children about the environment through a national roadshow, also designed by Chemistry.
SCA's PR agency Haygarth is running a consumer PR campaign, covering the Velvet Young Nature Photographer of the Year competition, which will be repeated this year, and a continuing partnership with the Trees for Cities charity.
Chris Bartlett, UK marketing director at SCA, said: "During a time of economic uncertainty, we understand that consumers are driven by product value and quality. Even in tough times however, research shows that consumers are still highly motivated by a brand that is environmentally conscious.
"We believe that our Three Trees initiative offers a key point of difference from our competitors and will play a fundamental role in driving loyalty for our Triple Velvet and Quilted Velvet brands."
SCA is Europe's largest private forest owner with 2.6m hectares of forests, marshes, lakes and mountain terrain in northern Sweden.
A major marketing push is underway by the World Halal Forum (WHF) in the lead up to its May conference in Kuala Lumpur aimed at dispelling some popular myths.
The forum, which promotes the halal food industry - in the lead up campaign is reaching out to consumers to enhance their understanding of halal as a food preparation built around hygenic principals.
Boutique communications and consulting firm KasehDia, which is organising the event, has been spreading the word in different countries through industry dialogues, meetings, media briefings and an above the line marketing campaign.
Nordin Abdullah, executive director, KasehDia says the campaign to for the forum will cost RM6 million and includes TVCs on networks in the invited countries, including those in the Middle East and Arabian countries.
Digital promotion and outdoor are other avenues that are being used where news about the WHF is spread via email blasts and billboards and buntings are “planted” around the capital city of Kuala Lumpur to create awareness amongst Malaysians themselves.
Held for the past three years, the forum will open its doors to 2,500 delegates from as close by as Southeast Asia, to as far as Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Uruguay and Russia on May 8 and 9.
“Despite the economic downturn, the halal food industry will continue to manifest to standardisation with a logo of IHI (International Halal Integrity) and the national authority logo,” he added.
Nestle is set to hand out 100,000 packs of Polos as part of a marketing drive to invigorate the brand.
The sampling initiative is part of a £750,000 campaign to encourage purchases among both current and lapsed consumers. It is set to launch on 26 January.
Advertising support includes a bus shelter poster campaign across 3,600 sites. There are three creative executions featuring lines such as ‘Perfect refreshmint’ and ‘Entertainmint for your mouth’.
Additionally Nestle has also created the Polo Pod, a new piece of point of sale for newsagents in which the product can be displayed, as part of a trade campaign.
Walt Disney has tied up with Amazon.co.uk to offer an interactive CD Rom as a free gift with a purchase of the latest High School Musical DVD.
The offer, which was created by Haygarth, aims to drive sales of High School Musical 3: Senior Year. It is the first time Disney has used bespoke software to support a DVD release.
The interactive CD-Rom comes in the form of a high school yearbook. It allows consumers to upload their own pictures, add captions and choose themes and colours.
7 to 15-year-olds are being targeted with the offer, which is only available through Amazon, from mid-February. It is available on around 20,000 DVDs.
Disney customer marketing manager Dan Scrase said the offer was one of a number the studio is planning to run around its DVD releases this year.
Peta, the animal rights charity that campaigns to get people to turn vegetarian, has hit back at the news that Burger King has launched a meat-scented fragrance with its own parody.
Burger King hit the headlines last week when it launched a meat-scented cologne called 'Flame', which is being sold in New York and online, and is touted as "the scent of seduction, with a hint of flame-broiled meat".
Peta's version of the scent, which it's dubbed 'eau de mort', is called Gore by Murder King. The charity boasts the scent will "awaken the senses, including the conscience".
It has created mock packaging for Gore that shows a cow's intestines, and claims that the fragrance evokes the aroma of rotting flesh. To complete the imagery, it says that every bottle contains a floating maggot to remind users of what else is attracted to a dead body.
Tracy Reiman, executive vice-president of Peta, said: "Peta's Gore perfume is so intense that it might open people's eyes to the suffering of animals -- and even bring a tear to them.
"If the picture of a dead cow on the packaging doesn't jolt someone into remembering what dead meat is all about, maybe the stench of guts will."
Peta campaigns against meat-purveying fast food chains including McDonald's, KFC and Burger King, critical of their records on animal welfare.
It also campaigns against the use of fur in fashion, but has a wider agenda of promoting vegetarian and vegan lifestyles.
In a bid to reduce its annual rubbish output by 1,400 tones, KFC is ditching its cardboard box packaging in favor of environmentally friendly paper wrappers.
Starting this month, KFC in the UK and Ireland will switch its burger packaging from cardboard "clamshells" to paper wrappers, and its individual-portion meals from cardboard boxes to paper bags.
The new packaging is made from 100% renewable sources from European forests, which are 100% recyclable and biodegradable.
The changes follow an initial measure taken to reduce cardboard waste in 2008, when the business stopped packing boxed meals for eat-in customers, saving approximately 554 tones in waste.
Jennelle Tilling, vice president of marketing for KFC UK and Ireland, said: "It is important when making these kinds of changes to make sure that the new designs are still attractive and faithful to the brand.
"The new packaging highlights the environmental benefits of the change while maintaining KFC's recognizable look and feel."
Nike is aiming to inspire Asian women to be stronger and more confident through sports with a full-scale integrated campaign exclusively for Asia-Pacific.
Created by digital marketing agency AKQA, the ‘Be transformed’ initiative focuses on the Nike Zoom Sister One+ footwear line, which incorporates Nike’s Diamond FLX and Flywire technologies. It consists of six live and animated videos, print work and a prominent 110-metre building wrap launching in Beijing’s InternationalPlaza.
The campaign focuses on six women athletes in various disciplines from countries in the region, and shows how their training builds them up physically and personally. The campaign features Sonia Kong (beach volleyball) and Flora Hon (hip hop dance) from Hong Kong, Mel Lozano (ultimate Frisbee) from the Philippines and Hannah Lo (kick-boxing) from Malaysia, among others.
The campaign is also taken online where visitors can access the series of video spots and blogs. They can also look at the personal training plans of the featured athletes.
Diet Coke has dusted off its old favorite tagline "Just for the taste of it." The slogan, which debuted with the brand's launch in 1982, has made its initial return as part of the diet cola's partnership with the Heart Truth.
Diet Coke and Heidi Klum are taking on women's heart disease in an extensive ad campaign that debuted last night during American Idol. The tagline, which also made a comeback in 1995, will continue to adorn future TV spots starring other celebrities and taste makers.
For its latest debut, the slogan is linked with the Heart Truth and its red dress logo via TV, print and online ads. Messaging says: "Good taste is about making a statement" and "Where there is a red dress, there's a way." The ads direct consumers to dietcoke.com to learn more about heart health. Wieden+Kennedy, Portland, Ore., is the agency.
"The tagline still has a lot of equity, not just in that it's great tasting, but also that it's tasteful and sophisticated," said Coke rep Susan Stribling. She said future ads will star other arbiters of style and good taste like Klum.
Diet Coke will place the Heart Truth's red dress logo on six billion packages. It will also sponsor "The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection" fashion show on Feb. 13 during Fashion Week. The collection will continue to be featured as part of a traveling roadshow hitting six cities through April.
Klum has also designed a red dress charm, encrusted in rubies and diamonds, that she will be wearing to the Academy Awards. Consumers can enter to win a limited-edition charm at dietcoke.com. This is the second year that Coke has partnered with the Heart Truth.
"With Heidi's help, we hope to continue to keep the spotlight on this critical issue, reaching even more women and their families with information and resources for healthier hearts," said Caren Pasquale Seckler, group director of low-calorie colas at Coca-Cola North America in a statement.
Diet Coke spent $26 million on media (excluding online) for the first 11 months of 2008, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus and $51 million in 2007.
Ford Motor Co., despite losing more than $26 billion over the last two years, still has no intention of asking for government assistance but will instead draw down $10.1 billion in existing credit lines.
"It's a very volatile market," says Ford Chairman Alan Mulally. "It's not in our plan at all to access federal funds," he said even though "business conditions have deteriorated around the world more rapidly than expected."
Ford reported it lost $5.9 billion, or $2.46 per share, in the fourth quarter of 2007 due to declining domestic demand, restructuring charges and losses at its overseas subsidiaries. For the full year Ford lost $14.6 billion as it revenues shrank by 36 percent.
The latest losses, Ford's already steep mountain of debt — some $26 billion — and the industry's shaky financial condition are all stirring anxiety among investors, lenders, and potential car buyers. Yet Mulally stresses that Ford is in a better strategic position than its struggling rivals.
GM and Chrysler are expected to present preliminary plans to the Treasury by Feb. 17 demonstrating their viability, and final plans in March. If either of those plans fails to convince the federal government, a bankruptcy filing could follow. Such a huge negative event might prompt Ford to reconsider its position, says Mulally, but otherwise it expects to avoid asking for emergency federal aid.
Even without the government's help, Ford has gotten the United Auto Workers to abolish the jobs bank just as the UAW agreed to do at GM and Chrysler. The automaker is moving aggressively to contain costs — it expects still more concessions from the UAW — and actually reduced the losses at its critical North American unit despite a 36 percent drop in revenue. In addition, Ford gained market share in the U.S. for three consecutive months December 31st for the first time in 12 years.
"There clearly is a restructuring of the automobile industry," Mulally says. "The government wants to see a viable industry in the United States. We're talking to all the stake holders." Mulally expects Ford's outflow of cash to ease in the second half of the year as the stimulus package begins to take hold and consumer demand picks up.
Ford is also counting on new technology and new products, such as the 2010 Mustang, to help anchor its comeback; it expects to invest $14 billion in research and development over the next couple of years. At least $5 billion of that will come from the money doled out by the U.S. Department of Energy to finance the development of new fuel efficient technology under the 2007 Energy Act. "We don't know the exact timing [for the low-interest loans] but we think its going to be relatively soon," said Mulally.
Call it a reaction to years of austerity, but China is the world's third largest consumer of luxury goods, accounting for 12% of global sales, according to a December 2004 Goldman Sachs report. If this trend continues, China could surpass the U.S. to become, along with Japan, the world's largest purchaser of luxury items by 2015. Chinese yuppies are driving the demand, buying everything from expensive watches to imported cars. And luxury purveyors are responding: Armani plans to open 24 stores in China in 2008.
Most often mentioned luxury brands: In this society of sudden economic freedom, newly rich capitalists are eager to clarify their social standing, so they turn to the obvious luxury must-haves: traditional French labels and expensive watches. That explains why Chanel, Lacoste and Dior rank in the top five brands with the highest level of recognition.
Watch Out
22% of affluent consumers in China own a Rolex. 66% of affluent Chinese men have bought at least one watch in the past six months and have paid an average of $2,253 per watch.
Top Five Watch Brands: 1. Rolex 2. Omega 3. Cartier 4. Vacheron Constantin 5. Breitling
Conspicuous Consumption
Chinese consumers who buy luxury goods do so to show off or to help define their identity. The Asian concept of face—or pride and dignity—is a key reason they invest in expensive brands. In a fast-growing economy, status symbols are the easiest way to demonstrate wealth and power.
Top luxury beauty brands: The three most popular foreign beauty brands in China are Estée Lauder, Lancôme and Guerlain. More than 50% of affluent Chinese consumers own either a Lancôme or an Estée Lauder product.
On average, affluent Chinese consumers will spend up to $280 on a single skin-care product
Saving face Skin care is almost three times as popular in China as makeup. Imported foreign products dominate the high end of the market because beauty products tend to cost less than luxury fashion items, so women are willing to splurge on them. Skin-care sales in different regions of China account for 26% to 35% of total cosmetics sales.
The U.S car market does not need more companies competing for a shrinking pie. Ideally, it should have less. Ford (F) may inadvertently be letting China into the American race for market share. But, Ford needs the money.
By most estimates, the No.2 U.S. car corporation is burning through more than $1 billion a month. As total American vehicle sales drop as low as ten million this year, Ford's financial situation will get worse, even if it gets concessions from the UAW and suppliers.
To help raise capital, Ford has been shopping Volvo. There has been some hope that Sweden, where Volvo was founded, might buy the brand. So far, there is no indication that will happen.
In the meantime, Ford may be getting interest from several Chinese car companies. For them to afford Volvo would probably require government assistance, but industries in the world's most populous country are used to being helped in what is not an entirely free market economy. Why should the automotive sector be any different?
According to The Wall Street Journal, as it has become clear that Volvo will be sold soon, "Companies expected to express interest include Chinese auto makers Geely Holding Group, SAIC Motor Corp. and Chongqing Changan Automobile Co."
Chinese car companies have been showing up an international auto shows for years, hoping to prove that they should be able to market their products outside their home market. Most experts who have seen their products do not believe that their quality is good enough to compete in the U.S. and E.U. markets. Buying Volvo would take that barrier away.
So, China's desire to move into the world's largest auto market may not have to be put off by years while it develops models that would be attractive to U.S. consumers. A government-supported initiative to sell vehicles in America would allow one or more of the car firms on the mainland to play on the same field that helped Toyota (TM) and Honda (HMC) build themselves into two of the largest companies in the world.
The Big Three do not need any more competition, but Ford may let another player into the game
NEW YORK Turner is revving up another branded microseries initiative, signing General Motors as the sponsor of a five-part strip bowing Jan. 28.
Each two-minute GM installment will run within a standalone pod during premiere episodes of TBS’ original comedy series, House of Payne (Weds., 8 p.m.).
The deal, which was hashed out in last year’s upfront, presents GM with an opportunity to give viewers a closer look at the 2009 Chevy Traverse, a four-door crossover SUV that starts at $31,255.
Designed to appeal to House of Payne’s core African-American audience, the My Manny microseries stars ER’s Sharif Atkins and Elise Neal (Hustle & Flow).
TBS will drive awareness through custom on-air tune-ins, in-show graphics and billboards. GM creative will run adjacent to each new episode of My Manny, adding the element of pod exclusivity to the mix.
Developed by the Turner Commercialization Task Force, an unofficial think tank led by Linda Yaccarino, evp and chief operating officer of Turner Entertainment ad sales/marketing and acquisitions, the microseries concept has gone a long way toward increasing audience retention and brand impact. For example, in a recent integration with another automaker, 46 percent of House of Payne's viewers demonstrated brand recall, up from the 16 percent rate generated by a standard 30-second spot.
Moreover, TBS’ earlier House of Payne integration boosted brand likeability to 36 percent, versus the 9 percent norm, per Nielsen IAG.
Through the first three quarters of 2008, GM retained its lead as one of the biggest investors in measured media, spending $1.7 billion, a drop of 4 percent versus the prior-year period, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus.
By comparison, Ford reduced its ad spending by 23 percent in the first nine months of '08, laying out $1.1 billion overall.
Chrysler slashed its ad outlay by 26 percent in the same period, spending $694 million on measured media.
According to TNS Media Intelligence data, GM is also one of cable's most stalwart backers, plunking down just shy of $104 million for national cable inventory in the first half of last year.
NEW YORK Foster’s has once again signed on as the exclusive sponsor of a pair of original series on the irreverent young-male-oriented Heavy.com.
The Australian beer vendor will receive the branded entertainment treatment in four episodes of series Heavy Hit List, the first two episodes of which are live on Heavy.com. Foster’s is running a large, full-page takeover ad just prior to each episode, as well as a “video skin” banner placement, which surrounds Heavy’s video player and is persistently present as viewers watch the show.
In addition, Foster’s ad segments will be interspersed within episodes of the sports-loving-guy-aimed Burly Sports Show.
2009 marks the second straight year the two companies have collaborated on branded content opportunities. “Heavy is a great partner for Foster’s,” said Foster’s brand director Doug Kooyman. “They deliver unique content with a masculine, irreverent sense of humor that hits dead center on our target consumer.”
NEW YORK Among the hundreds of journalists at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week there are five people producing reams of copy, photos and video about the show, new product demos and press conferences. Unlike the reporters, though, they are popular bloggers in Las Vegas courtesy of Panasonic.
The Panasonic program is one of several undertaken by brands carving out a new take on the old notion of advertorial. Rather than relying on magazines, they are contracting with influential bloggers who bring with them their own powerful distribution networks. Rather than a long-form narrative, content is fit for the Web via blog posts, Twitter updates and YouTube videos. And the key differentiator: instead of dictating the content to lead to a sale, brands typically keep their distance to maintain credibility.
Panasonic wanted to build cachet among Internet influencers for its array of tech products. As part of its "Living in High Definition" push, Panasonic new media consultancy Crayon recruited five bloggers to travel to CES on Panasonic's dime. Panasonic footed the bill for their travel and passes to the event while also loaning them digital video and still cameras. The bloggers, which include popular Internet figures Chris Brogan and Steve Garfield, will also meet with Panasonic executives and preview products. The catch: Panasonic has no say on what their guests post, according to Greg Verdino, chief strategy officer at Crayon.
"There's not a direct quid pro quo," said Verdino, who also blogged and Twittered about CES for Panasonic. "When you give people equipment and they love it, just like any other consumer they'll evangelize it. We're not looking for them to hit message points and in effect shill."
The program points to one of the many conundrums for traditional media outlets online: how do they compete with bloggers who have built up sizeable audiences of their own and are free of ethical constraints placed on traditional journalists.
While such "influencer programs" have raised howls of protest in the past, they are now becoming much more accepted as a way for advertisers to gain access to coveted audiences with content integrations that go beyond typical ad placements relegated to the sidelines.
"When you engage these individuals, you're getting customized ad units," said Ted Murphy, CEO of Izea, a company that marries advertisers with independent content creators. "It's part of the content."
Izea has a controversial past. It started its life as PayPerPost with the idea that advertisers would pay bloggers to write about their products. Its early iterations did not require disclosure by bloggers, which made the company a black sheep for many. Since then, Izea has changed its name and disclosure requirements. It now boasts 25,000 advertisers use its platform, including heavyweights like Microsoft.
The promise of creating influencer buzz lured Kmart to strike a deal with Izea last month. It targeted a half-dozen bloggers, and provided them with $500 Kmart gift certificates. Kmart required the bloggers write about their experiences at the store on their sites. They were not told what to write, according to Murphy, and each post was labeled as a Kmart sponsorship.
While such programs might give journalism traditionalists the willies, they offer advertisers the chance to tap into the groundswell of Internet buzz. Kmart's program, for instance, allowed each blogger to give away a $500 store gift card to readers. In order to enter, they had to promote the contest (and Kmart) to their Twitter followers or leave a blog comment with the item they most wanted from Kmart. This was done 3,000 times, yielding 600,000 network connections, according to Izea. It also generated considerable discussion.
"Brands are realizing this stuff is happening with them or without them," said Murphy. "They can be a catalyst for the conversation they want to have or only react to what others are saying."
Chas Edwards, chief revenue officer at Federated Media Publishing, believes the reality of digital media means advertisers will need to become publishers. While they can create their own content, they are more likely to both aggregate content from professionals and pay for exclusive content.
FMP, which represents several popular Internet writers, has matched up advertisers like Dell and Microsoft with bloggers.
"American Express's competitors are not just MasterCard and Visa," Edwards said. "It's anybody who might have content that might show up in a Google result for a small-business search."
For that reason, AmEx hooked up with FMP to have Internet notables like author Guy Kawasaki contribute content to an AmEx site to promote its OPEN small business service. Thanks to the popularity of Kawasaki's personal network-he has over 45,000 Twitter followers -- his posts gain lots of readers.
For it to work, however, brands need to give up on the notion of control since the old model of advertorial won't work well online, according to Edwards. Kawasaki was only instructed to write something that would appeal to small business owners.
"We're looking to engage the brand in topics that are important to the brand," said Jordan Bitterman, svp of media, marketing and content at Digitas, which works with AmEx. "They're blogging about topics important to them. They happen to be doing it in places we'd like them to do it."
It's a fine line. FMP ran into trouble in 2007 when it conducted a Microsoft campaign that enlisted top bloggers Om Malik, Fred Wilson and Paul Kedrosky to write for a Microsoft site what being "People Ready" meant for their businesses. The program came under fire online with the bloggers accused of parroting an ad slogan and Microsoft for trying to "buy influence." Malik and Kedrosky apologized for their participation.
NEW YORK There is a major disconnect between the way most organizations collect customer feedback and then utilize it, according to a new CMO Council study.
Of the 500 marketing chiefs surveyed, only 16 percent regularly monitor online message boards for complaints and feedback. This despite the fact that 58 percent of them believe the Internet and social media have changed the level of influence and expectations of their customers.
Apparently they recognize their deficiencies. Only 33 percent of the respondents to the survey sponsored by Net Promoter and Satmetrix think their companies are very good at resolving complaints. Just 31 percent highly rate their organization's commitment to customer listening.
Donovan Neale-May, the CMO Council's executive director, said part of the problem is most CMOs don't have the authority to influence customer-centric practices within their organizations. "You've got to own it. You have to impact customer experience, not just branding. It's all the touch points: call services, service counter reps, warranties, returns. You can spend a lot of money creating demand, but if you have that customer disconnect, you're wasting your marketing dollars," he said.
Among the other findings: Some 60 percent said their companies don't tie compensation to achieving customer satisfaction and loyalty. Just 23 percent said their companies track or measure customer feedback e-mails and only 37 percent said they gather insights from customer engagement situations.
Neale-May said marketers also still rely too heavily on surveys that tend to skew toward customers who are happy enough with the firm to respond. More than half (56 percent) said they have no programs tracking or propagating positive word of mouth among customers.
If you want to see one of the reasons why shopper marketing has been carving off an ever-bigger slice of the marketing pie, just compare the number of weekly shoppers at major retail chains with the number of Americans who tune in to top TV shows. Take Dancing with the Stars and American Idol, for example.
While 21 million people waltzed over to their sets to watch an average episode of Dancing last year, and Idol cast its spell on still more (35 million for the season finale), those audiences pale when compared to the crowds that pack the aisles of the big-box retailers. Costco, Walgreens, Safeway and Kroger boast weekly shopper counts of 20 million, 30 million, 44 million and 68 million, respectively. Passing through the revolving doors of Wal-Mart locations across America each week are 150 million people.
Now consider this: While TV's audiences have been fragmented by the addition of hundreds of new channels, retail has been concentrating its consumer base via consolidation. Ten to 15 years ago, the top 10 retail accounts of the typical packaged-goods manufacturer represented 20 percent of sales. No more, says Peter Hoyt, executive director for the In-Store Marketing Institute. "Due to consolidation and the rise of megachains," he says, "those top 10 customers now represent as much as 80 percent of sales-more, in many cases."
It's the confluence of these economic forces over the past decade or more, says MEC Retail partner David Sommer, that has allowed shopper marketing to truly come into its own. "The dynamics have changed, and now the one place you can still aggregate a mass audience is in-store," he says. "That's a big media buy, and if you hit shoppers with an ad message, 'This is relevant,' you'll get a response that can be measured via a sales lift."
No wonder, then, that shopper marketing (the in-store appeals that take the form of shelf talkers, end-aisle displays and the newest: in-store video networks) is getting more attention than ever from retailers, manufacturers and ad agencies alike. According to a study by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and Deloitte Consulting, the number of manufacturers and retailers that have significant shopper marketing organizations of more than 20 people has jumped from 29 percent in 2007 to 60 percent in 2008. The study also found that over the next three years, in-store marketing activity will grow at a higher rate than any other marketing tactic. A Booz & Co. survey of consumer packaged-goods marketing executives found that 95 percent plan to either maintain or increase investments in retail store media.
"Companies know the battle will be [won] or lost in-store," explains Tonya Collins, head of customer planning for OgilvyAction. "The amount of resources companies are putting into shopper insights is increasing. They are making internal commitments, shifting funds and talent."
Formerly the domain of promotional agencies before the term "shopper marketing" supplanted older monikers like point-of-purchase marketing, media agencies are now creating specific units devoted to the specialty. "Our role is to develop best practices across the shopper continuum, connecting what is in-store with what is out-of-store and to make sure all the media comes back to the shopper," says Danielle Bottari, svp and director of shopper marketing for MediaVest's new shopper marketing unit.
One of the first shops to devote significant resources to shopper marketing was Mediaedge:cia, which in 2006 purchased marketing consultancy Retail MediaLink and created MEC Retail, which today works with both consumer packaged-goods clients (Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Colgate-Palmolive, Campbell, Energizer, Mars) and retail/QSR clients (Citibank, AT&T, Pizza Hut) to integrate in-store digital signage into the communications planning process. In 2008, MEC doubled its revenue and projects 50 percent growth for 2009.
Others have since followed. Ogilvy Group consolidated several practices, including shopper and trade marketing, experiential marketing, digital activation and retail design, to create OgilvyAction in 2007, focused on what it calls "The Last Mile," to help brands connect with consumers close to the sale.
Among OgilvyAction's clients are consumer packaged-goods companies SC Johnson and Unilever.
As recently as last fall, MediaVest, which worked with Wal-Mart to roll out the retailer's next-generation in-store network called Walmart Smart Network, formalized a dedicated unit to shopper marketing. In addition to Walmart, Mediavest works with Procter & Gamble, which was doing shopper marketing years before the rest of the industry, as well as clients such as Coca-Cola and several Kraft brands.
Wal-Mart's move to roll out the industry's next-generation in-store digital network could signal a growing trend in shopper marketing towards in-store media -- specifically, video networks. Though such networks currently are only a $500 million business, that's likely to change now that the world's largest retailer has sunk $10 million into it. According to Richard Fisher, president of Wal-Mart's video-network provider, PRN, "Wal-Mart was a true inflection point in the industry."
Powered by Internet Protocol Television, the Wal-Mart Smart Network represents a new paradigm by offering a precise level of targeting not before available. Instead of relying on older, analog tools like prerecorded callouts and projecting displays that merely barked product details at passing shoppers, the optimal placement of WSN screens creates an interactive and dynamic dialogue among the shopper, the store and the merchandise.
Programmers can control content, advertising and merchandising down to a single screen to provide a calculated mix of product information and marketing messaging when and where the shopper will be most receptive to them. Ironically, the new technology figuratively returns shopping to the old days when fresh-faced clerks -- who knew every item in the store -- helped customers make their choices.
In the past, most in-store networks didn't have the precise targeting capability afforded by IPTV. Many networks simply ran repurposed TV ads on indiscriminately placed screens. But now, says Clint McClain, senior director of emerging media for Wal-Mart, "We've built a network tailored to the way consumers shop our stores, delivering helpful, custom content closest to the point of decision. This isn't a simple push medium; it's a radically different approach that is singularly focused on what the shopper needs. Up and running in 300 stores, Wal-Mart is aiming for chain-wide deployment in 2,700 stores by early 2010.
"With Wal-Mart committing to its network and putting money and time into it, other retailers are saying this must be real. They are newly intrigued by it," adds Virginia Cargill, president for CBS Outernet, which operates networks for 10 grocery retailers plus GameStop and Foot Locker. "Retailers realize it's a way to communicate with the shopper right there."
While shopper marketing may look a lot like TV, looks are as far as it goes. The key difference is that while TV spots target consumers, in-store video targets shoppers. The content's primary purpose is not to build brands, but to create a more attractive shopping experience and close the sale, right there on the aisle.
"Wal-Mart realized you have to take the word 'TV' out of it," Hoyt explains. "In-store there are other priorities and the level of engagement is different. The proper use of the medium is as dynamic signage. It's there to distribute and sell product."
Although there is a lot of buzz surrounding these latest in-store shopper marketing strategies, there's still an ailing economy driving decisions. That could cause companies to pause before jumping into the newer in-store networks and rely on the tried-and-true shopper marketing tactics.
"Companies know what they did last year and what results they got. They aren't radically shifting; they're dipping their toe in the water, because at the end of the day, they're holding dollars that are accountable to sales," says OgilvyAction's Collins, who predicts there will be "another rise in coupons. Companies know America is making hard decisions."
