OMNI-CHANNEL PART 2: A Frictionless Customer Experience

By Kaylyn Bredon, Sr Mgr, Interactive Creative/UX

In Part 1 of this series, we focused on how the marketing realm has evolved and the importance of creating a seamless customer experience. Continuing this discussion, we’ll now focus on how consumers expect retailers to provide more contextually relevant, personalized information that is carefully tuned to a frequency that suits each individual's liking.

Amazing opportunities present themselves when retailers thoroughly align consumer data with an approach that has context, personalization and a manageable frequency. In doing so, they can provide customers with solutions that make everyday tasks easier while making the shopping experience more enjoyable.

Multiple tactics and some example technologies are listed below serving as areas of opportunity. In no way is it a one-size-fits-all prescription — retailers should identify consumer needs and implement accordingly.

OMNI-CHANNEL PART 1: Considering the Customer Experience

  

By Kaylyn Bredon, Sr Mgr, Interactive Creative/UX

One consistent theme throughout every session I attended at SXSW 2013 was the need to create and maintain an “omni-channel” experience. This is a new challenge being introduced to many retailers- often times leaving them with unclear direction on just where to start due to the siloed structure that many businesses and marketing teams have grown to be.

As an interactive designer/ux specialist at a full-service advertising agency, the idea of overcoming the obstacles of working with siloed teams is not foreign to me. After all, that’s why many companies hire agencies like SBC Advertising to help them. We have the advantage of being separated from their business, often avoiding the internal and political bureaucracies, while at the same time having direct access to the decision makers that have the ability to make decisions and get the job done.

In the past, working in silos has allowed us to react quickly and create standalone efforts that were supported by isolated databases and provided separate analytics (i.e. microsites). However, these standalone workarounds no longer serve as viable options.

Today, it is imperative that all channels work together, and in return they provide valuable insight into the numbers, showing what’s working and what’s not. With that being said, data is, and will continue to be, at the very base of creating a successful omni-channel experience, making the relationship between Marketing and IT more important than ever.

Matt Wilson Comments on Controversial Quotes by A&F CEO

SBC’s Matt Wilson was quoted in the Columbus Dispatch discussing the controversial quotes from Abercrombie & Fitch’s CEO, Mike Jeffries. Click Here to read the article.

Matt Wilson on Downfall of JCPenney CEO

On Sunday, SBC's Matt Wilson was quoted in the Columbus Dispatch concerning the downfall of Ron Johnson, former JCPenney CEO.

Read the full article with more great quotes from Matt.

Mobile as the Status Quo and Responsive Web Design

By Jerrold Smith, Senior Front End Developer

Imagine you’re waiting for a bus and you remember a website that interested you from a recent radio ad. Taking advantage of your temporary free time, you pull out your trusty smartphone and diligently enter the web address into your favorite mobile browser and...disappointment. The website isn’t optimized for mobile and is difficult to navigate via the constant zooming and panning necessary to find the content you’re looking for.

The situation above can be repeated by changing a few elements but always arriving at an all too familiar outcome. Maybe you are watching TV while casually using your smartphone, as 86% of us do, say stats. A commercial directs you to a mobile website that helpfully states “This content is not available on our mobile site. Please visit the desktop website on your computer.” Or maybe the website was built solely in Adobe Flash, which isn’t available on mobile devices, or inexplicably the website simply does not load at all, leaving the mobile consumer with a seemingly empty page. Is this what you want your brand experience to be on mobile?

Content Breeds Content

By Kelley Finan, Director of Content Integration, PR

"Think like a publisher." Gurus of content marketing consistently give this advice to companies wondering how to effectively use content as a marketing tool. While content marketing does indeed require the need to think like a publisher, it also requires that companies change their entire approaches to – and attitudes toward – delivering information to customers.

Today, the customer dictates content. Not just the message, but how, when and where it is delivered. Content is publishing with a purpose. It’s a strategic approach to delivering the information your audiences want, when and how they want it. Companies need to have a content strategy that engages customers and potential customers wherever they are – online, digitally and offline -- and during the various stages of the buying process.

Playing to Where the Puck is Going to Be – Staying Ahead of Changing Consumers

By Adam Deardurff, Senior Interactive Strategist

When I signed up to go to SXSW, I knew I was walking into something bigger, more forward thinking than I ever had participated in before. My expectations were high – to have my mind blown with new ways of thinking, new devices, meeting people that thought like me, eating great food and even catching a little live music.

After wading through the thousands of people, thinking past the Korean BBQ, blues and beer, I knew that one question would be asked when I return home.

“What is the one thing that you would take away from the experience?”

A mind-numbing question but inevitable.

To me, it is simply this: Brands are moving too slow and consumers aren’t slowing down.

Supporting Local Business has Never Been Trendier

Are you embracing the buying-local craze? If so, you’re not alone. Central Ohioans are fawning over hand-crafted products and supporting their small businesses like never before. Simply Vague is one of the latest shops to open that exclusively carries locally-made products from over 140 different vendors.

 Click here for the article in the Columbus Dispatch and see what SBC’s Matt Wilson has to say on why business is booming.

Back-to-School is second to holidays in spending, according to working parents. And kick off begins right after July 4th

We talked about that funny Staples ad in our last post. The ad made an analogy on behalf of parents that back-to-school was akin to Christmas as Andy Williams croons "It's the most wonderful time of the year." Interestingly, there are a few other things the back-to-school shopping season has in common with the holiday season: Increased spending and changes in typical shopping patterns.

Our working parents told us that back-to-school is the second most expensive shopping trip of the year next to the holidays. Between new backpacks, clothes, lunchboxes, shoes and replenishing basics like underwear and socks, parents said they have an exhaustive array of items on their shopping list. However, parents aren't just buying for their kids. Our working parents told us that due to slashed teacher budgets, they put items like hand sanitizer, tissue and dry erase markers on the shopping list too.

And the kick off to the back-to-school season begins just as the celebration of our country ends.

Why so early? Parents told us that retailers start advertising their back-to-school sales "All of a sudden Target and Staples and all those start making [back-to-school] the top of their flyer" said one working mom. Parents also said that they do more browsing in the beginning of the season, and will only purchase when the deal is too good to pass up.

Back to school changes normal shopping behavior
Our parents said they peruse store fliers and circulars just as they do during the holidays, but weekly shopping behaviors are expanded while heavier price comparisons begin. They'll visit stores outside of their normal routine, too. "It's when I start comparing and that's when I might actually make the trip to Meijer or Big Lots or somewhere that I don't normally frequent" said a mother of two. This year, we think that lower gas prices will increase the likelihood of parents shopping outside of their normal footprint too.

Fill 'er up, and let the shopping begin!

photo credit: Flickr/emilyonasunday

The Rise of Shopper Marketing, or How I Learned to Pay Attention to the Shopper, Not Just the Consumer

Here at SBC Advertising, we've been doing some thinking about Shopper Marketing, an emerging discipline that is becoming increasingly more important for retailers.


What is Shopper Marketing, you ask?

Essentially, it studies, targets and caters to the shopper, and, more importantly, seeks to understand how individuals act when they're actually in the store or on the website making a purchase. While this may sound like the same thing as traditional consumer research, it is in fact as different as night and day.

For example, when asked during consumer research, an individual may tell you they prefer a certain brand and are loyal to a fault. But when the shopper gets into the store, it can be a different story. That loyal consumer suddenly decides to buy a competing product. What happened?

Shopper Marketing will tell you that the decision was, in fact, not sudden at all. Identifying what influences and drives a sale when a consumer becomes a shopper is what shopper marketing is all about.

Does a shopper just want to get in and get out? Is a shopper looking for the best value? Is a shopper trying to find the lowest price? Understanding these purchasing drivers is the key to driving growth. It's so important, in fact, that many of the world's largest consumer products companies are spending time and money to delve into the issue. InStoreMarketer.org reports that, for the last year a group of leading retail and industry supporters have been working together on the Retail Commission on Shopper Marketing. The commission has tasked itself with the goal of developing a blueprint for Shopper Marketing best practices. Industry-leading retailers Campbell Soup Co., Coca-Cola Co., Giant Eagle, Kellogg Co. and Walmart, among many others, signed on to be a part of this effort.

Meanwhile, according to a study from the Grocery Manufacturers Association, 83% of consumer package goods companies surveyed expect to increase their shopper-marketing investment over the next three years, while 55% of those companies expect their investment in shopper marketing will exceed all other marketing spending, including Internet and social media.

At SBC, we believe that while delving into shopper marketing is valuable, it's important to realize that consumers aren't as easy to influence as they used to be, at the store level or elsewhere. They are much savvier and they have access to instant information about goods and services they purchase because of the indispensable smart phone. As a result, spur-of-the moment purchase decisions have decreased in frequency. That's why it's important to engage shoppers on a regular basis, in places or scenarios where they are progressing down the path from consumer to shopper.

Today a well-crafted marketing plan will not only cover shopper marketing but include mobile as a key component of the plan as cell phones, especially smart phones, and now tablets have increasingly become a source of easily accessible information for consumers and shoppers.

Image: Ambro/freedigitalphotos.net

Sources: 
Shopper Marketing: Racing Along the Path to Purchase, Advertising Age, 2010 
Retail Commission: A "Road Map" to Shopper Marketing, InStoreMarketer.Org, February 2010 (registration required)     

Are you in or are you out? Of the product placement game that is.

That is one of several questions in Morgan Spurlock's new movie Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. Did Spurlock sell out to the advertisers in order to get money to make his movie, or did he make smart business decisions and buy in to brand integration to help fund a movie he wanted to make?

SBC Advertising held an exclusive sneak preview for Spurlock's new movie, a day before it opens city wide in Columbus on Friday, May 20th. The underlying quest in Spurlock's movie is to fund an entire documentary using advertising dollars from brands such as Old Navy, Sheetz Convenience Stores, Ban deodorant, Jet Blue Airways, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and of course the jackpot title sponsor Pom Wonderful.

A number of provocative questions arise throughout the movie and one of the most prominent was:
Is advertising helpful or manipulative?

In the case of Broward County School District in Florida, advertising dollars served as fundraising support for local schools. The schools are required to implement more school-run extracurricular programs, yet their budgets are constantly trimmed. In this case: advertising = good and helpful

On the other side of the debate lies the fast food industry. With an all-time high American childhood obesity rate, parents and health officials are in an uproar that McDonald's is selling Happy Meals with toys to specifically target children. In this case: advertising = bad and manipulative.

Spurlock presents both sides of the advertising discussion while enlisting the opinions of consumer experts (Martin Lindstrom), public figures (The Donald) as well as the average Jane Consumer on the street.

We think the movie was interesting, and offered a nice balance between presenting the benefits and pitfalls of product placement. As advertisers, we weren't sure what to expect and were surprised to find Spurlock had represented our industry fairly. But as far as whether or not Spurlock himself sold out, we're still figuring that one out.

So, what do you think? Did Spurlock simply raise money to buy in to the marriage of brands and entertainment in order to make a movie? Was this really a documentary about the subject of product placement? Or did he sell out to big brand name corporations just for the money?

We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Image: assignmentx.com


Sources:
Pom Wonderful: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
sonyclassics.com 
cdc.gov  

Betty White and Beer - Ad Recap from Super Bowl XLIV

Cool cars, crappy jobs, men, emasculated men, men in underwear, chips, Google, Tim Tebow, Danica Patrick, Charles Barkley, Betty White and of course, beer - lots of beer.

The XLIV Super Bowl brought us all kinds of commercials. Some were outstanding, some...not so much.

Because the past is prelude, warm up for this year's Super Bowl ads by taking a look back at last year's spots. Advertising Age has conveniently archived them here. When you're done, join SBC Advertising on Facebook and Twitter during the game to comment on this year's commercials or compare them to last year's.

Will any live up to Google's Parisian Love? We'll see.  

Image: dailyvsvidz.com 

Sources:
Watch all of the Super Bowl XLIV Ads Here, adage.com, 2/7/10  

Smart, savvy, and saving money: The New Consumer habits.

An interesting thing happened on the way through the Great Recession: Consumers got smarter; a whole lot smarter. Oh, don't get me wrong, they were plenty smart to begin with, but their spending habits became so well-thought and calculated in recent years that not only are consumers receiving a financial benefit to their savvy ways, but an emotional benefit as well. Looks like saving money boosts your self-esteem as well as your bottom line. As a result, these new behaviors are expected to remain. 

The Today Show featured a segment with their resident money guru Jean Chatzky and main man Matt Lauer where the two talked about new behaviors brought about by our country's recent economic struggles. Their learning came from a just-released study called "The New American Pantry Study" released by the Deloitte and Harrison group. 

It looks like folks are being smarter with their spending (vs. just reacting to a bad economy) and these new behaviors are expected to stick around. After all, the last time we went through something like this (i.e., the Great Depression) America's good savings behavior lasted about 40 years. 

So what behaviors are we talking about? Specifically, we are engaging in these 5 ways of saving: 

• Gratification management. This is the act of "waiting it out" to gain a financial savings on an item. For example: If the Gap has skinny jeans that I want, I don't get them right now at full retail price. I wait until they go on sale. Simple enough. There are plenty of deal-watching websites that can help you do this, too. Of course, there is some risk in the item not being available in the options (size, color, etc.) you want once it goes on sale, or sells out completely prior to a price reduction. 

• Private label experimentation. Folks seem more willing to give private label items a try. Where they find comparable quality, they will switch from brand name to private label. Where they see a significant decrease in quality, they will remain with the original brand. I call this reverse behavior the "Oreo-effect." Seriously, can ANY private label sandwich cookie taste as good as the original Oreo cookie? I think not. But I digress.

• Cooking from scratch. This is more than just cooking at home. This is going back to REAL cooking from scratch that mom used to do. Bulk items are the key ingredient (pun-intended). They offer great savings and are long-lasting. 

• Using loyalty cards more often. New? No. But what is new are the people who are finally adopting the behavior in droves -- men and kids. 

• Extreme couponing. As the name suggests, this behavior is the act of aggressively pursuing savings online, in-store, and in paper to receive the maximum savings benefit. These coupons are used in conjunction with store promotions to get the most savings possible.

Bottom line is this: Being smart with money makes people feel good about themselves, and this behavior is expected to stick around for a while. So what can marketers do? Join the bandwagon. Help your consumers be the smart, savvy savers that they want to be by pointing out how your brand helps them save. And then reward them for being loyal. Maybe with some Oreo cookies. 

Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net