DDi - April/May 2011 - (Page 16)

16 | Shopper Insights Communication strategies have evolved M arketing used to be so easy. In the good ole days, all a marketer had to do was allocate a whole pile of money on network TV to connect with the brand’s target consumers. The consumer sat transfixed to the message—no changing channels, no multitasking on a laptop, no tweeting. Over the years, businesses realized that in order to persuade consumers that the brand was relevant to their lives; the brand had to be part of their lives. Social media has changed things again. Now, much of the communication is controlled by the consumer, not the brand. Many marketers have taken to strategically dividing their various consumer touchpoints into segments, including: PAID: The traditional media spending on TV, print, outdoor, etc., but could also include the investment spending on search and social-media advertising. The in-store experience can be influenced by what the customer sees and reads on PAID media. Walmart and Target are both examples of organizations that have done a good job at conveying their brand feel in their communications. Both stores work hard to reflect the brand image in their TV spots, right down to the taglines and predominant colors. OWNED: This segment includes all of the assets that the company has direct ownership in, such as its website, trucks and packaging. For a retailer, this would also include the physical store—the layout and design, the displays, the signage and messaging. Obviously, the store is the most vital communications component, and retailers should be ruthless in their pursuit of a coordinated, holistic communications approach. The look and feel needs to be well coordinated with other OWNED tools, such as the website, the promotions and the store flier, to reinforce the branding. Retailers like Eddie Bauer do a nice job of pulling everything together—putting you in the mood to enjoy the outdoors. SHARED: This would include all of the communications tools that are controlled by your business partners, which—with good collaboration—you can influence. The collaboration of the SHARED environment is where shopper marketing also gets a lot of attention. Unlike the PAID and OWNED environments, which are internally controlled, the SHARED environment is the first toolset that requires working with an outside influence. The big marketers and the big retailers have worked at this for years and continue to raise the bar on how to collaborate to benefit both sides. One example that comes to mind is George Wishart the Kroger/Red Box launch program, which had the two partners team up to offer free Red Box movies with the purchase of specific vendor items. The vendors got volume lift, Red Box got a great trial vehicle and Kroger provided added value to its shoppers. The coordinated messaging enhances the shopping experience, benefiting everyone—especially the consumer. EARNED: This is the trickiest of all tools—it is the world of YouTube, blogging and consumer empowerment. You can influence and contribute, but you don’t control it. While a challenge to manage, the EARNED consumer impressions are critical to the shopping experience. Many times, this is the outlet that consumers use to express frustration and joy with a brand. The exciting aspect of these consumer impressions is that they demonstrate a level of engagement with your brand that is very valuable and should be translated into consumption with the right encouragement. An in-store example of these EARNED impressions is Best Buy introducing QR codes to the price card of each product in the store. QR codes are inexpensive to execute and provide consumers what they really want when shopping: information, incentives and, most importantly, a feeling of consumer empowerment while shopping in the store. But don’t be fooled into thinking that each marketing component must fit into a specific toolset, or assume that these segments are independent silos. This is a very fluid, dynamic environment, and the crossover is extensive— especially in the world of shopper marketing. We are in an era of 24/7 networked communication. Our linked world possesses many challenges, but also comes with many opportunities. To really capitalize on these occasions, take an inventory of all of the assets that you have access to, determine where they fit into your consumer communication mosaic and leverage them all to provide the shopper with a holistic view of your brand. —A pioneer and consultant in the shopper marketing industry, George Wishart is the president and CEO of Edgewood Industries LLC. He shares his shopper marketing insights with DDI in this regularly appearing column. | April/May 2011 www.ddionline.com http://www.ddionline.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of DDi - April/May 2011

Ddi - April/may 2011
Contents
From the Editor
From the Show Director
Newsworthy
Shopper Insights
Greentailing
Editor's Choice
Design Snapshot
Channel Focus: Footwear
Multichannel Retail Section
Digital Engagement
Shopping for Kicks
Mobile Retailing
Right Light
Product Spotlight
Global Shop
Booth Winners
Speaker Sessions
Trends
Products
EuroShop Products
Calendar
Advertisers
Classifieds
Think Tank

DDi - April/May 2011