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September 2009 · Vol. 7, No. 4
Good morning,
We hope you enjoy this month's In-Store Marketer. If you are an In-Store Marketing Institute member and have forgotten your user name or password, click here. Non-members can gain temporary access to the Institute website by contacting Lisa Kass at (847) 675-7400, ext. 119, to schedule a brief phone tour.
September 2009 Highlights
In-Store Marketing Expo Undercurrents
Product manufacturers that do not place the shopper at the center of their go-to-market strategy are destined to fail at retail. Forget about finding ways to successfully present your brand proposition in the store environment -- your brand will become little more than props for retailers to exploit as they build deeper relationships with their customers.
Is this an exaggerated, alarmist view about the future of in-store marketing? Maybe. But industry professionals need only review our coverage of retail activity over the last year to understand the point. Retailers increasingly are taking control of their environments and calling the shots on how national brands are presented within their stores; brand managers who've historically perceived temporary price reductions as detrimental to brand equity should examine what the recent spate of "Compare & Save" campaigns pitting their products against private label has done.
General Mills just completed another successful back-to-school season by leveraging its "Box Tops for Education" platform to gain enhanced feature and display space at dozens of retail accounts. At Safeway, however, the "Box Tops" message became "Two Great Ways to Earn Cash for Your School," because the supermarket operator has its own program that now takes center stage each year. If a well-known, evergreen promotion like "Box Tops" isn't allowed to stand on its own, what chance do unknown, unproven concepts have?
Little, if any, unless they can truly help retailers better connect with their own shoppers in ways that build the store's equity as much as -- if not more than -- the brand's. To illustrate this idea, Institute executive director Peter Hoyt has borrowed the theme of Gale Sayers' autobiography (I Am Third, in which the former pro-football great explained his life-long deference to God and family): In this new age of in-store marketing, the shopper's needs must be considered first, the retailer's second and the brand's third.
This premise probably won't be discussed directly from the podium next month at the In-Store Marketing Expo (unless some brave attendee asks a pointed question -- just don't tell the speaker I suggested it). But it will provide a subtext to many of the thought-provoking presentations at the event:
- Supervalu's Janet Sparkman and Coca-Cola's Diane Wallace are among the keynote panelists on Oct. 7 who will discuss the ad hoc Retail Commission on Shopper Marketing's efforts to create a blueprint of best practices from the retailer point of view.
- Kim Feil of Walgreens -- the drugstore giant that now has a shopper marketing agency of record and a preferred marketing services supplier to help it build customer-centric stores -- will be on the panel for the Oct. 8 keynote to explain what traits the chain values in its national-brand partners.
- In separate sessions, executives from Walmart will discuss how the world's largest retailer has built proprietary digital media and event programs to provide more relevance for shoppers, and why brand marketers should be utilizing the opportunities.
- Representatives from blue-chip manufacturers Unilever and Kimberly-Clark will share the stage to explain the importance of integrating the shopper "into the DNA of consumer product marketing" and making retailer differentiation a key goal of brand campaigns.
- Executives from private-label manufacturer Daymon & Associates will outline the current state of the private-label industry and how recent trends are affecting national brands.
OK, maybe the premise will be discussed directly in that presentation. But either way, I don't think it will ever be far from the surface of the conversation. I hope to see you there.
Peter Breen
Managing Director, Content
In-Store Marketing Institute
Members, more information here.
Store Check: Más Club
Walmart's first Hispanic-focused warehouse club opened in Houston last month with a merchandising plan that caters to the city's Mexican-dominated Latino population and a store layout that also accommodates local resellers and other business members. Our coverage includes photos of the environment provided by in-store intelligence agency Carroll Media Services.
Members, view the store check.
People: Who's Who in Shopper Marketing
Shopper Marketing presents its first-annual roundup of the visionary retail executives and brand marketers who are helping to define and shape this emerging discipline. Our online coverage includes new or expanded profiles of many of the 150-plus executives on the list, who share their ideas about optimal organization, best practices and what shopper marketing "really means." Members of the list will be feted at a private breakfast on Oct. 8 at the In-Store Marketing Expo.
Members, view the article.
"Design of the Times" Preview Gallery
Get an early glimpse at the hundreds of entries to our annual "Design of the Times" awards competition. Our online coverage includes the full contest declarations for each entry, which will be judged next month at the In-Store Marketing Expo. Winners will be announced during a special Expo reception on Oct. 7 featuring appearances by Target Corp.'s David Plante and The Home Depot's Brad Williams.
Members, view the gallery.
"Capturing Shoppers with Effective In-Store Triggers" by Miller Zell
In-store advertising is an effective means of generating brand awareness and informing consumers about product benefits, according to a new report from shopper marketing agency Miller Zell. Based on a survey of 999 consumers conducted by National Research Network, the report examines the types of marketing vehicles that influence in-store purchase decisions and how those triggers vary based on channel. Miller Zell's Steven Skinner will join with Wrigley's John Richards for a presentation entitled "Forget the Four Ps: The Shopper is Key" on Oct. 7.
Members, view the report.
Desktop Marketing Conference: "Segmentation Strategy: Whose to Use?" by Patrick Fitzmaurice, The Capré Group
As shopper marketing becomes a more sophisticated discipline, both manufacturers and retailers are creating segmentation models to use as the building blocks for their targeted marketing and merchandising strategies. But aligning these often-disparate models across multiple partners is a daunting task. In a presentation from last April's In-Store Marketing Summit, Fitzmaurice discusses the possible implications of such a "segmentation overload" and examines methods the industry can adopt to ensure better collaboration.
Members, view the presentation.
Resources: The Shopper Marketing Glossary
We've updated and expanded the year-old glossary, which has been one of our more popular content features since its July 2008 launch. We send out a special thanks to Southern Imperial for underwriting our efforts this year to keep the glossary evolving along with the industry it defines.
Members, view the glossary.
Welcome New Institute Members
The In-Store Marketing Institute is delighted to welcome new and renewing members to the Institute family. Below is a list of the companies that signed up recently. Welcome aboard.
- Active International
- Adkit
- Alcone Marketing Group
- American Express
- Barrette Outdoor Living
- Campbell Soup/Pepperidge Farm
- Cascade Designs
- Catalyst Marketing Design
- Chiquita
- Church & Dwight
- Crossmark
- CV Studio/Methid
- Display Boys
- Epson America Inc.
- Ferrara & Company Advertising & Marketing LLC
- Hallmark Cards Inc.
- Henkel North America
- Impact Fulfillment Services
- KNOCK Inc.
- MasterTag
- National Research Network
- Perfetti Van Melle USA Inc.
- Procter & Gamble
- Red Leaf Retail Concepts Inc.
- RSM McGladrey
- Safeway/Blackhawk Network
- Smurfit-Stone Container Corp.
- Solutions Group
- The Clorox Co.
- TPN
- Trans World Marketing
- Visy Specialties
© 2009 In-Store Marketing Institute.
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