Why the lazy summer is a myth. For working parents, BTS means relief from "the summer gap."

We talked with a group of working parents here at SBC Advertising about the upcoming BTS (back-to-school) season and what they shared with us about their summertime reality was eye-opening. To be cliche, it's no picnic.

Do you recall that BTS spot from Staples a few years back? It featured an overly excited parent with equally unexcited children meandering through a Staples school supply aisle. I think Staples was trying to say that parents were glad to get their offspring back to school and out of their hair thus making the season the true "most wonderful time of the year" instead of Christmas.

Yes, the commercial is an exaggeration but Staples is on to something. There's truth in the analogy because the idea of a lazy summer is a myth for the working parents we interviewed. And the return to a structured school year means relief for many of them. Parents told us their lives calm down once school begins because their households revert to a more predictable routine whereas the summertime schedule is, well, kind of crazy.

Are brands missing out on a big opportunity? 
Retailers and marketers are so heavily focused on the BTS season that we think they're missing out on a key opportunity to connect with parents. It's not all backyard barbeques and sleepovers throughout the months of June and July. Working parents have to do more to ensure their kids are safe and keeping productively busy during the hours they would normally be at school. More scheduling. More activities. More expenses. More meal planning. More communication. More. More. More. Oh yeah, and they still have to work too.

We think that brands from food retailers and restaurants to communication providers (smart phones and otherwise) could benefit greatly by addressing the "Summer gap" as we're calling it. Help busy, working parents navigate their crazy summer season and you might earn a loyal advocate the whole school year too.

So, how's your summer going?

[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  

How far have we fallen into the Green Gap?

According to an article in MediaPost, numerous companies are running tie-ins to green causes in honor of Earth Day on April 22nd.

• RadioShack has an electronics trade-in tied to winning an eco-friendly car
• AAA is offering green driving tips
• Nickelodeon is hosting Big Help Earth Day

How many consumers will take advantage of these offers, or take time to heed some of the green advice being given?

OgilvyEarth recently conducted a study regarding consumer intentions vs. consumer actions when it comes to shopping and living sustainably, a phenomenon they have labeled the "Green Gap." In other words, a green gap is the difference between a person's aspirations for living green and a person's reality in living green. A troubling matter not only for environmentalists, but also potentially for marketers.

• 82% of Americans have "good green intentions"
• 16% are dedicated to fulfilling them ("Super Greens")
• 66% are ignored by marketers ("Middle Greens")
• 18% are Green Rejectors

OgilvyEarth says that many of the "world's leading corporations are staking their futures on the bet that sustainability will become a major driver of mainstream consumer purchase behavior."

What's the dilemma? Besides the 70% who claim they would rather cure cancer than fix the environment, OgilvyEarth found that green marketing messages remains a much more niche position rather than mainstream.

"Existing green marketing is either irrelevant or even alienating to most Americans."

Half of Americans equate environmentally friendly products with "Crunchy Granola Hippies" or "Rich Elitist Snobs." What about the Everyday Americans, the Middle Greens? Marketers need to recognize there are a different segments of green consumers who respond differently to messaging.

Another concern? The number one barrier Americans claimed to living and shopping sustainably was cost, not only financially but also emotionally. Middle Greens say they feel shunned by those around them because of the negative judgment associated with going out of their way to purchase green products. They want to feel normal, not different. Until green "feels normal" the Middle probably won't fully embrace green products.

A final piece to this puzzle: the study found that 73% in the survey would prefer to buy an environmentally responsible product from a well-known mainstream company (Clorox's Green Works) instead of from a company who specializes in being green (Seventh Generation).

Not a surprising statistic since the majority group wants to shop and live sustainably, but also wants to feel normal doing so.

How far have we fallen into the Green Gap? Not so far that we can't get out, especially if marketers acknowledge the need for different messaging for the various segments of green consumers. Also, if more mainstream and trusted brands like Clorox produce environmentally sound products, this might help bridge the green gap as well.


Image: Danilo Rizzuti/freedigitalphotos.net  


Sources:
Study: Green Gap Is Bigger Than Ever, mediapost.com, 4/19/11
Mainstream Green: Moving sustainability from niche to normal, Ogilvy and Mather (OgilvyEarth), 2011 

A Tailored Experience: Local Preferences Rule!

In 2008 Macy's instituted a pilot program to test specialized, local merchandising in 20 markets and then rolled out My Macy's - a program which stocks merchandise based on popular items in local stores.

Here are some examples of what stores are carrying. In Memphis, Tennessee this past holiday season Macy's stores stocked up on Elvis Christmas tree ornaments while in San Bernadino, California stores discovered a need for more extra-large men's clothing.

In our own backyard, Parma, Ohio stores found the demand for electric pizzelle presses (used to make a certain type of Italian cookie). Macy's in Sandusky carries high-end lingerie, something they may never have had available before My Macy's.

Not only does My Macy's engage the local consumer, but employees have a chance to take ownership of their stores and have more say in merchandising. Stores in Las Vegas place customer request logs at every register so managers and employees can reference the logs and pass along the information to local merchandising managers.

Is there a downside to local merchandising? How deliberate does a customer need to be to get what she wants? Is there a possibility that retail can get too regionally tailored, thereby excluding certain consumers? (I mean, really - who wants to make pizzelles from scratch?) And what if you aren't a local?

So far, customers seem to enjoy the new experience. We expect other big retailers to follow suit.

Image: freedigitalphotos.net 

Sources:
Retailers on quest to rekindle the personal touch of a bygone era, adage.com, 2/14/11
"My Macy's" Engage Employees, experiencematters.wordpress.com, 11/30/10
My Macy's tailors merchandise to Northeast Ohio tastes, cleveland.com, 11/2/10
"My Macy's" to Keep it Local, pe.com, 10/27/10