The BTL Life

70% impulse purchase - no more.

2012-01-29T04:46:00.000-08:00

70% of the brand decisions are made in the last mile - we have been following this "theory" for years and I have written plenty about it on this blog. Retailers and brands have taken it for granted that attractive presentation and packaging profoundly influence most shoppers’ purchasing decisions.

While Paco Underhill in his bestseller Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, described supermarkets “as places of high impulse buying…. 60% to 70% of purchases there were unplanned, grocery industry studies have shown us.” These prompted retailers to devote ever growing resources to in-store promotion.

However, new(er) research by Wharton marketing professor David R. Bell differs with Underhill, describing the idea that most supermarket purchases are unplanned as something of an urban legend. In a new research paper, “Unplanned Category Purchase Incidence: Who Does It, How Often and Why,” Bell argues that the amount of unplanned buying is closer to 20%.

The above research is extremely significant and while I still believe that the "last mile is the new prime time" (when compared to the traditional TV prime time), there are a number of reasons for Prof. Bell's findings to be relevant today. One of the primary reasons is the emergence of the internet as the Zero Moment of Truth for brands and its impact on the First Moment of Truth in the store.

The shopper today walks into a store with far more per-purchase knowledge, recommendations & peer suggestions than was possible in the times when "Why we buy" was penned about 12 years ago. It is time to dump the 70% theory and focus on multichannel strategies and web-influenced retail sales.

Mobile content development strategy for tablets.

2012-01-21T21:29:00.000-08:00

Forrester Research predicts that tablet sales this year will start to outpace notebooks. While it is clear that marketers cannot ignore the tablet as a channel, the mobile device landscape has become increasingly complex and confusing for brands and consumers alike.

How do you incorporate the tablet as part of your mobile content development strategy?

Doug Heise and Sascha Langfus list some of the best practices for building an optimized, engaging Web presence on the tablet here.

AaramShop has adopted the Web App approach which helps it deliver the best of both worlds, allowing highly interactive mobile apps for the tablet that is optimized from a usability and functionality perspective, but that can also be deployed to a wide range of platforms and devices. However, what really caught my attention was the need to distinguish between the mobile phone app and the tablet app. Clearly a lot of additional work to be done here.

Six Social Media Trends for 2012

2012-01-11T10:39:00.000-08:00

From the guy who gets his trends right - most of the times, here are 6 Social Media Trends for the year ahead:

Convergence Emergence.
The Cult of Influence.
Gamification Nation.
Social Sharing.
Social Television.
The Micro Economy.

To understand the trends in detail read this post by David Armano on HBR

A Framework for Keeping CPG's Relevant Online

2011-12-24T09:40:00.000-08:00

Came across this comprehensive and insightful essay by Jordan Julien. He has arrived at the insights based on examining internal documentation, and conducting ethnographic studies, from four different global CPG's and finding correlations.

The synthesis of this work has culminated into "The Ecosystem of Understanding", a framework for keeping CPG's (and everyone else) relevant online.

Jordan been able to extract 5 insights common (as under) to every CPG he has worked with; even the most innovative.

We don't know who we're talking to, but we like to pretend like we do.
We don't know why we're talking to them, but we know we should be.
We suffer from Shiny Object Syndrome.
We're inconsistent, but we're learning.
We're old, scared, and angry; but its only a matter of time before we're phased out.

Red Herring Global 100 Award for AaramShop

2011-12-08T07:09:00.001-08:00

AaramShop has won the coveted Red Herring Global 100 Award for the year 2011, at the Red Herring Forum in LA.

This was a significant step further to the earlier Red Herring announcement of its Top 100 Asia award in recognition of the leading private companies from Asia, celebrating these startups’ innovations and technologies across their respective industries.

AaramShop had made it to the coveted list of Top 100 in Asia earlier.

We are thrilled to have received the award this early in our journey. AaramShop is the youngest company to have received the award this year.

FDI & the independent retailers.

2011-11-27T03:14:00.001-08:00

Every news paper and show is saturated with the recently approved FDI in retail and its impact on the livelihood of millions of small businesses in India. I am sure everyone has an opinion on it. However, what caught my eye was the recent tweet by US President on his support for the small businesses in the US via the fantastic initiative #smallbusinesssaturday. I am sure this will add more fuel to the fire.

Our views & work at AaramShop is clearly focused at making the small business owner / independent neighborhood retailer competitive and relevant to the changing shopper behavior of the residents of the neighborhood.

We firmly believe that the independent retailers have a number of unmatchable strengths which emerge from his proximity to the customers, willingness to provide delivery at the consumer's doorstep and years of relationship that have developed into a strong bond of trust. These, combined with increased accessibility of the storefront on the web, and the huge change in the way consumers use technology will make the local retailer more relevant to the consumer.

AaramShop is already being used by over 600 retailers across 18 cities in India in the short 4 months of AaramShop's presence.

The Impact Of Technology On Brand Marketing.

2011-11-20T06:50:00.001-08:00

Technology doesn't just give people a new way of doing things; it gives people a new way of thinking. The biggest impact of technology is the change it creates in people's perceptions.

In the absence of digital technologies, it would never occur to someone that marketers could be engaged in dialogue, much less dialogue at the point of contact. But the presumption of dialogue created by digital technologies goes beyond the technologies themselves.

People have learned a new capacity from digital technologies and they want to exercise it everywhere, even in low-tech points of contact.

Digital technologies operate instantaneously, so people are losing patience with anything that operates more slowly. The more liquid an activity becomes, the more people take it for granted, and once a capacity becomes commonplace in one domain, the more people come to expect it in other domains.

Technology doesn't just expand the power people have; it changes their ways of thinking as well.

The increasing importance of video in digital.

2011-11-20T00:26:00.001-08:00

YouTube responsible for 22% of all mobile bandwidth.

Almost a quarter of all global mobile bandwidth is consumed by people watching YouTube videos, according to a new report from network management vendor Allot Communications.

The global bandwidth share of the Google-owned video site was 22 percent in the first half of 2011, compared with just 17 percent in the first half of 2010. YouTube now accounts for 52 percent of all global mobile video streaming.

Overall, video streaming now accounts for 39 percent of all mobile traffic and it grew 93 percent in the first six months of 2011. VoIP and IM traffic grew even faster at 101 percent, but they still only represent a total of 4 percent of all mobile traffic.

This growth and change in media consumption patterns on mobile devices makes it apparent that digital communication should (and can) now have a large component of video content which is tailor made for the smaller screens.

Social Media & CPG / FMCG brands.

2011-11-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

Came across this wonderful post by Martin Bishop, Director, Brand Strategy of Landor and thought it was one of the articles that needs to shared and read widely by all CPG / FMCG brand marketers.

Martin captures the aspirations well when he writes that, though every CPG brand might wish to be loved so intensely, few reach the top of the relationship ladder. When you come right down to it, who wants a relationship with a bar of soap? Or as one commenter put it, responding to a blog post on the death of branding: “They buy something to drink because they’re thirsty. Not because they f****ng LOVE Coke!”

Simply mimicking the behavior of brands that have highly engaged audiences doesn’t work; social media applications have to be aligned with the strength of a brand’s consumer relationships. There are too many examples right now of brands assuming that their customers care about them when the reality is that most customers couldn’t care less.

It’s sad to see brands trying too hard. Of all the social media options, Twitter is perhaps the most difficult to use effectively without a resonant relationship.

There’s got to be an angle.

If you think of social media as being primarily about communication, it’s difficult to see how most CPG brands can use it effectively. But if you view social media as an infrastructure supporting a wide range of activities based on connection, then more opportunities present themselves.

Read the full article here and try share it around (you can also download it for keeps)

Coca Cola face recognition machine integrates with Facebook.

2011-11-06T07:13:00.000-08:00

This is another great social/ offline integration by Coca Cola Israel.

This machine allows users to login to the Coca Cola app in real life using the face recognition feature, a very clever way to extend the offline experience to users’ friends and family through Facebook.

Also look at the previous campaign Coca Cola village.

Kraft Foods. Kay Slaven, Sr. Manager Digital Marketing. QR Seminar.

2011-11-02T23:39:00.000-07:00

AaramShop Selected as a Red Herring Top 100 Asia Tech Startup

2011-11-02T23:27:00.000-07:00

Red Herring announced its Top 100 Asia award in recognition of the leading private companies from Asia, celebrating these startups’ innovations and technologies across their respective industries.

AaramShop made it to the coveted list.

Red Herring’s Top 100 list has become a mark of distinction for identifying promising new companies and entrepreneurs. Red Herring editors were among the first to recognize that companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Skype, Salesforce.com, YouTube, and eBay would change the way we live and work.

Read more on this here and we look forward to taking this further by engaging with all members of the eco-system especially ISVs

Tesco QR Code Subway Store

2011-10-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

AaramShop is a Finalist for the 2011 Red Herring Top 100 Asia Award

2011-10-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

AaramShop has been selected as a Finalist for Red Herring's Top 100 Asia award, a prestigious list honoring the year’s most promising private technology ventures from the Asian business region.

The Red Herring editorial team selected the most innovative companies from a pool of hundreds from across Asia. The nominees are evaluated on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, quality of management, execution of strategy, and integration into their respective industries.

This unique assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the actual track record and standing of a company, which allows Red Herring to see past the “buzz” and make the list an valuable instrument for discovering and advocating the greatest business opportunities in the industry.

"This year was very rewarding," said Alex Vieux, publisher and Chairman of Red Herring. "The global economic situation has abated and there are many great companies producing really innovative and amazing products. We had a very difficult time narrowing the pool and selecting the finalists. AaramShop shows great promise therefore deserves to be among the Finalists. Now we’re faced with the difficult task of selecting the Top 100 winners of Red Herring Asia. We know that the 2011 crop will grow into some amazing companies that are sure to make an impact."

Here is a list of all the finalists and great to see that Indian companies stand tall.

Analysis of online grocery shopping in India.

2011-09-27T09:46:00.000-07:00

As a FMCG / CPG brand marketer, you will love this comprehensive report on the Indian consumers’ online purchase behavior across FMCG categories and its related impact on brand preferences.

In the SOGS Report: India, findings have been presented in terms of four broad parameters:

1. Who is buying groceries online? – SOGS report dives into demographic details of the shoppers including gender & age and it's impact on purchase.

2. Where are the buyers coming from? - the current report restricted to the National Capital Region.

3. When they are shoppers buying the groceries? - time frames and order patterns.

4. What categories and brands are they buying? – Comprehensively explores categories and sub-categories and the top selling brands within them.

Data used on the SOGS report is based on actual purchase data on AaramShop covering 542 shopping bags between 1st of July 2011 to 15th of August 2011.

You can download the free SOGS report from here.
The report is 6.25MB and in a PDF format.

State of Online Grocery Shopping Report: India

2011-09-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

AaramShop PRO: State of Online Grocery Shopping Report: India:

Here is a comprehensive view on the Indian consumers’ behavior and brand preferences when it comes to online grocery buying.

Unlearn e-commerce to win.

2011-09-22T00:03:00.000-07:00

Jon Stine at the CISCO Retail Blog, in his recent post - seems to have hit the nail on the head. He writes:

"When e-commerce entered retail life in the mid-1990s, it was understandably regarded as just another channel of distribution – indeed, as just one more store. With this perspective, the key performance metric was (and generally remains to this day) site revenue. Conversion, another key metric, was defined as site transactions as a percent of site visits.

This still makes sense – but at a narrow, misleading level, because e-commerce no longer defines the connected world for retail.

In this age of Google and Facebook, the primary value today of the Internet to the shopper – and to your brand – is less about transactions, and more about search. On the PC, on the tablet, on the mobile devices, amidst the aisles.

The Internet – and the search function of the ever-mobile Internet – is now the front door of the entire brand."

Review: Google Wallet

2011-09-21T06:31:00.000-07:00

I have seen the future, and it is called Google Wallet.

Note, however, that this future is just that: the future. As in, something not now. I’ve lived with Google Wallet in my life for the past week or so, and have walked away thoroughly impressed — but while Google Wallet may be launching today, don’t expect it to kick your actual wallet out of your pocket any time soon.

→ Read More

Online FMCG / CPG Retailing – it’s challenges and opportunities

2011-08-29T09:45:00.000-07:00

Online retailing of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) / Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) has not been caught up so far, not just in India, but also across the world. It is probably the last big segment / sector that is still largely out of the online commerce ambit and represents the next big challenge.

FMCG’s (grocery / household essentials) share of wallet is not only very high, but it is also very consistent and is rapidly growing over time, and therefore there is a lot of interest in wanting to address this market.

However, there are a number of challenges that traditional e-commerce models face when it comes to FMCG / CPG online retailing. The challenges are not just logistical, but also around the consumers’ buying behavior and service level expectations.

I recently wrote an article on some of the reasons that I believe make the business of FMCG online retailing tough & a few big opportunities that make it exciting.

Read the article here @ iamwire.

And just when we thought we got it.

2011-08-28T10:44:00.000-07:00

Love the rigor and depth - The algorithm is changed as often as everyday and at times twice over.

Ticketmaster & Facebook for next stage of social commerce

2011-08-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

The next stage of social commerce, a mock-up of an arena seat map indicating where a customer's Facebook friends were sitting.

Live events are inherently social, buying tickets should be, too.

Starting today, you can see what the fuss was about. In hopes of spurring word-of-mouth marketing to reduce the estimated 40 percent of live event tickets that go unsold, Ticketmaster is launching this enhanced Facebook connectivity.

The integration of the Moments of Truth.

2011-08-02T04:03:00.000-07:00

The First Moment of Truth (FMOT), coined by P&G, refers to the few seconds that it takes a consumer to choose a product on a retail shelf – from amongst the wide array of products on display.

The logic of FMOT is indisputable and has prompted brands to re-evaluate the traditional marketing funnel approach (AIDA and it’s various versions), and design their marketing plans based on the FMOT.

I understand FMOT works well in the Modern Retail Formats (MRFs), but it is difficult to see it working seamlessly in traditional neighborhood retailers (in India) where space is limited and the shopping environment is not geared up for a DIY format. This is important as 90% or more of the FMCG sales are still via the traditional retailers.

Recently and based on changes in the consumer’s usage of the Internet for shopping, Google came up with the concept that it called “The Zero Moment of Truth” (ZMOT), which refers to the pre-buying online research that the consumers undertake prior to hitting a store.

Data made available by the research undertaken by Google, makes it imperative for the CPG / FMCG brands to have a comprehensive strategy to ensure they have a relevant & prominent positioning in the online space.

Most brands are starting to address the two moments of truths and tend to consider these to two separate silos, which need to be addressed with strategies specific to the silo.

At AaramShop, our belief is that for the brand marketing to be effective and for it to result into sales the two silos need to be intertwined. That’s the AaramShop offer to FMCG / CPG brands.

AaramShop brand listing (along with advanced optimization) enables a brand to be “found” by consumers and also enables the brand to leverage itself on social networks to create relevant buzz. The brand could also use integration tools like Aaram Widgets or customized QR codes to further invigorate its social media presence.

AaramShop also enables the consumers to place an order for the CPG / FMCG product immediately – thus bringing the FMOT seamlessly close to the ZMOT. The order, when placed online is fulfilled by the independent neighborhood retailer (AaramShops as we call them). The product / brand is delivered to the consumers doorstep within hours.

It is this seamless integration of the ZMOT with the FMOT that makes AaramShop a unique platform & interesting enough for the FMCG / CPG brands to engage with.

An accelerator, not a challenger.

2011-07-18T10:27:00.000-07:00

In the various discussions over the last one month of AaramShop presence one question has been a constant. How is AaramShop different from the other e-commerce portals - of which there seem to be quite a few for every need?

The answer is quite simple, AaramShop is not a portal, it is a platform. AaramShop is not designed to complete with the neighborhood retailers - rather it is designed to enable them and enhance their competitiveness.

As a hybrid retail platform, AaramShop integrates the ubiquitousness, vastness and choice of brands of the web-store with the hyper-local capability to deliver of the independent neighborhood retailer.

The services of AaramShop come free to all member of this complex retail eco-system - that includes the consumers, brands that are consumed and retail channel that enables that consumption.

AaramShop Pro: Free Services Available for Brands on AaramShop

2011-07-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

AaramShop Pro: Free Services Available for Brands on AaramShop: "FMCG / CPG brands can now use the various powerful and unique features of the AaramShop platform to ensure an enhanced presence of their brands"

QR code opportunity for CPG / FMCG products.

2011-07-08T06:01:00.000-07:00

QR = Quick Response.

Having said that, the implementation & integration of the QR technology for FMCG / CPG brands in most markets (including India) has been very limited and for good reason. Even if you were to get the consumer to use the QR code on the product pack or shelf - what do you do next? A customer's visit to the website for more product information, usage tips etc are great possibilities and should be exploited, however, sales has not been very high on the agenda.

Now AaramShop adds another dimension to what a brand owner can do with the simple QR code - your consumer can now order your specific product / brand and have it delivered within hours to his / her doorstep; and all this without any escalation in the costs.

Re-ordering of your product, just when your customer is about to run out of it has never been easier.

Try it.

Most smart phone either already have a QR reader or the same can be downloaded free from any of the App centers or download from here;

Also try this;

Official Google CPG Blog: The Zero Moment of Truth

2011-06-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

Official Google CPG Blog: The Zero Moment of Truth: "Posted by Jenny Liu, Industry Marketing Manager, CPG The term ' First Moment of Truth ' (commonly called FMOT) was coined by Procter & Gam..."

Googland: [G] Creating a “Zero Moment of Truth”: Maximizing ...

2011-06-28T11:03:00.000-07:00

Googland: [G] Creating a “Zero Moment of Truth”: Maximizing ...: "Official Google CPG Blog : Creating a “Zero Moment of Truth”: Maximizing Search Opportunity in CPG Posted by Ali Manning, Industry Analyst ..."

We are now LIVE.

2011-06-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

AaramShop is now live.

It is still in it's BETA phase and we are sure there are going to be a few glitches in both the offline and online transactions. If you are in the AaramShop coverage areas in New Delhi, please give it a shot and keep us informed of your experience.

If you are currently out of the coverage area, suggest you browse around and also help us create an AaramShop in your area.

2011-05-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

How to identify online influencers

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2011-05-11T18:18:00.000-07:00

PeopleBrowsr's Brief Cartoon Study Of Social Influencers

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AaramShop - digital marketing solution for CPG.

2011-04-09T04:02:00.000-07:00

Rapid change in technologies and way the consumer interacts with and consumes media using various technologies has had a profound impact on the way brands use communication & marketing tools. However, this is just the start.

Brands will need to re-think their current strategies and would need to augment their current brand marketing strategies with web, social networks, mobile & whatever else comes along the way.

Delivering a seamless and an integrated experience across all consumer touch points represents a tremendous change, challenge and opportunity.

Brands will need to adopt their marketing to being relevant locally. They will have to think more broadly in terms of opportunities for a given brand or store format and more narrowly in terms of consumer needs in different communities or groups of consumers.

The biggest challenge is for brand thinking to become channel agnostic. The transformation of where shoppers are touching your brand – from how they research you, how they buy the brand, whether it is brick and mortar, mobile based commerce, web based commerce, social network commerce – means you need to have the capacity to ship your product from anywhere to anywhere as a true multi channel retailer.

That’s where AaramShop intents to offer a solution rather than advice – as a hybrid retail platform, it will enable FMCG / CPG brands to be present across the consumers path-to-purchase and encourage an effortless purchase at any of the touch-points.

This seamless inter-operatability between channels is what will allow shoppers to purchase brands irrespective of where they are.

Wikiwisdom.

2011-03-30T00:19:00.000-07:00

I am smart because of wikipedia and wikipedia is smart because of me (and people like me) - welcome to the smart world of collective wisdom.

Re-read the Cluetrain Manifesto after ages and realized that it has been bang-on over all these years and now more relevant to marketeers and brand owners than ever before as the networks have got much better organized over time.

Commercializing a disaster - the Youtube & CBS way.

2011-03-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

The earthquake and the tsunami in Japan have thrown up heart retching images and videos of folks caught in the disaster suffering, loosing property, life and hope.

The coverage of the disaster re-enforced two things;

1. Traditional news media is dead. The traditional field reporters are now completely replaced by the common men and women who are the real eyes and ears. In fact almost all the feed that runs on networks like CNN and BBC is from the social networks. And the newsprint – they are really of no use – they are just a dying habit.

2. Commercial interests seems to have taken over the new media as much as the old media owners. It is an unfortunate though everyday practice to have the TV coverage of a disaster like the above interrupted by TVCs. I always found the positioning of these TVCs strange from a “brand positioning” perspective (I have just seen someone’s home being washed away, now let me view a shampoo TVC). While I had come to expect this from the traditional media vehicles, I am very surprised that the new media owners, who otherwise follow all the virtues of social media, are unfortunately following the same strategy.

High on that list is Youtube (read Google) CBS Channel, which is putting up adverts at the start of all uploaded videos – making the viewing experience quite pathetic.

And the viewer reaction has to be noted and of course respected. Following were some of the reactions and you would notice that the highest rated comments are NEGATIVE;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj58NpanX3g&feature=related

The modern trade vs The brands - the saga continues.

2011-02-10T23:00:00.000-08:00

I read with a lot of interest the series of recent articles carried in Economic Times on the ongoing and perpetual battle between the brands at one end and the modern retailers on the other. It started a few days back with the news that Reckitt was keen on reduction of margins for the modern retail outlets (by about 2% or so).

It followed today with the news that Future Group is "cleaning out" Reckitt from it's outlets.

What made it particularly interesting for me was that about 2 years back (thats when modern trade was really modern in India), I had a longish meeting with the then brand custodian of one of the Reckitt brands who was spending majority of her marketing funds on "creating"a category for her product at the modern trade. We discussed issues around eventual private labeling, shrinking margins, cost charged towards display, lack of traditional trade focus etc. however, perceived higher and better quality of consumer engagement ensured that she stuck to her decision of pouring very serious monies in modern trade to create a category - irony was that the largest amount was on the Future Group.

While modern trade currently represents only 5% of the FMCG trade in India, the writing on the wall is very clear - the FMCG brands will need to take a good hard look at their own shopper marketing strategies and step back to embrace the traditional grocer / kirana store.

If the brands don't - they will be constantly on the receiving end - today Reckitt got taken off the shelves, yesterday it was Frito-Lay and Kellogg's. Tomorrow who knows.

Another example of AR

2011-02-10T02:25:00.000-08:00

AR is the "engagement" which has long been missing in the digital marketing space, though, I am still to get conversion data to back the use.

ANDES TELETRANSPORTER

2011-02-08T02:45:00.000-08:00

Part of the Cannes Promo Shortlist.

I thought the creative thinking on this was quite sharp and based on a simple yet universal insight on young men in bars vs their girl friends. Installing a teletransporter in a handful of bars would create enough buzz and engagement even amongst the folks who have not experienced it.

The Cannes Re-look

2011-02-08T02:32:00.000-08:00

Have shared my reactions to the various shortlisted entries at Cannes Promo Category, however, since there have been a number of requests for the entries to be on this blog, I am putting them up here along with my views.

Behavior transformation can be driven by fun activation.

2011-01-12T23:10:00.000-08:00

I know that this is old and it is not really brand centric, however, this is a great example of how good activation can be the tool to transform behavior of the TG - here the TG lets go of the convenience to experience fun.

Little or No Mobile Strategy in Most Companies

2010-12-25T07:16:00.000-08:00

Image via Wikipedia

The above quote is part of the Foster Research, and it is bang on from the experience which I have had with most organizations.

"57 per cent of organisations either do not have, or are in early stage development, of a mobile strategy; 10 per cent have had a fully operational mobile strategy for less than a year; a third of firms have had a mobile strategy for more than a year."

With India turning into the largest cellphone market in the world (or the 2nd largest if you take out the duplicates :-)), it is indeed sad that there have been hardly any significant mobile brand campaigns. The mobile strategy seems all outdated as the pic above.

The report offers a snapshot of where companies are in their mobile evolution. It notes that brands in media, travel, and financial services are the most likely to have the most mature mobile strategy. Mobile is seen as a way to increase customer engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty, not generate direct revenues: 52 per cent of firms see increasing customer engagement as their number one mobile goal.

Please read the full report here.

Wish you all a very happy Christmas!

2010-12-21T23:20:00.000-08:00

Our super social life!!

2010-12-21T11:18:00.000-08:00

Why Big Brands Are Dominating Social Media

2010-12-15T23:41:00.000-08:00

In the pre-web days, unless you had a budget big enough for expensive mainstream ad vehicles, like TV, print or radio, it was hard to reach a significant audience with your message. Big marketers had a built-in advantage, and the big got bigger at the expense of the small. The emergence of the web, and especially social marketing, now means the highway to success now has many more "on ramps" for smaller companies.

So why is it, then, when we look at some of the most effective forms of social marketing, big marketers are vastly out-performing smaller ones?

Read the full report here.

Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

2010-12-04T18:26:00.001-08:00

One of the most inspiring talks I have ever heard.

1. Why, 2. How and then 3.What

2010-12-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

We spend the last two months, covering this aspect of emotional vs rational marketing methods in the new digital scenario - and then I come across this 19 minute talk which covers almost everything that we did in 2 days.

Recommend that all brand marketters listen in to Simon Sinek who has a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership all starting with a golden circle and the question "Why?"

Implementing CRM

2010-11-25T20:52:00.000-08:00

I loved this post and can relate very well to it. On too many occasions have encountered clients / brands in a big hurry to start the "effective use" of CRM without undertaking the rigorous set-up process. Read more about best practices on CRM here.

The future (& Present) of Advertising.

2010-11-24T18:59:00.000-08:00

If you are in the business of Advertising or Marketing, this article is a must read. Danielle Sacks has got the state of the industry and the generic thinking spot on. Read the article here.

"The ad business became an assembly line as predictable as Henry Ford's. The client (whose goal was to get the word out about a product) paid an agency's account executive (whose job was to lure the client and then keep him happy), who briefed the brand planner (whose research uncovered the big consumer insight), who briefed the media planner (who decided which channel -- radio, print, outdoor, direct mail, or TV -- to advertise in). Then the copywriter/art director team would pass on its work (a big idea typically represented by storyboards for a 30-second TV commercial) to the producer (who worked with a director and editors to film and edit the commercial). Thanks to the media buyer (whose job was to wine-and-dine media companies to lower the price of TV spots, print pages, or radio slots), the ad would get funneled, like relatively fresh sausage, into some combination of those five mass media, which were anything but equal. TV ruled the world. After all, it not only reached a mass audience but was also the most expensive medium -- and the more the client spent, the more money the ad agency made."

Social WAVE Report.

2010-11-23T04:33:00.000-08:00

Universal McCann has has released their 5th Social WAVE report with almost 40,000 respondents globally. The report focus on how the growth in social media is opening avenues never seen before by brands, and show insights on how brands can look to use social to it’s maximum potential.

You can read more about it here or on slideshare.

Wave 5 the socialisation of brands - report

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Statistics: The Growth Of Mobile Into 2011 | Digital Buzz Blog

2010-11-23T04:17:00.000-08:00

Statistics: The Growth Of Mobile Into 2011 | Digital Buzz Blog

Very good read.

AR - another interesting example.

2010-10-28T19:09:00.000-07:00

The humble "visiting / business card" can be made to amazing things. Here's a superb example of Augmented Reality, which brings a simple thing like a visiting card alive.

I suggest you visit the site and take a print of the sign and then use it with your webcam on to "EXPERIENCE the introduction with the business card"

AR - Skoda Fabia Rally Driving - experience !!

2010-10-28T01:22:00.000-07:00

Here is another good example of AR being used for an extremely experiential product - a car. Skoda Fabia has used Augmented Reality on this promotion are able to diliver much more than merely awareness. Think about what you (as a consumer) are getting beyond merely visiting a website or seeing and add.

Rather than waiting for foot falls in their showrooms, Skoda has been able to take the fun of a test drive into the houses of it's potential customers and to get them to experience the thrill of driving (almost) without ever leaving their house.

Augmented Reality - will finally take things to the next level of connection.

2010-10-28T00:06:00.000-07:00

Augmented Reality (AR) has always been exciting however, how finally it is being adopted by more and more brands everyday and it could be / would be is the next big (really big) to hit the marketing community. AR enables a live direct or indirect view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are “augmented” by virtual computer-generated sensory input such as sound or graphics.

AR brings the virtual & real world a lot closer and open up a host of opportunities which are being increasingly exploited by brand owners. Here is a simple example used by Burger King to highlight “Value for a 1 USD” – an interesting and effective way to get the point across and ensure the engagement is longer, personal and more sharable.

AR brings the advantage & need of physical engagement to the virtual world. It changes the one way communication to a far more engaging conversation. Each experience is very personal and unique to the consumer - enjoyable enough for him / her to share with friends on the social networks.

AR is integrating well with all other media devices be it mobile, newsprint, internet, last mile / retail etc. Look out for more examples in the next few posts.

Media & the power of social networks.

2010-10-24T22:12:00.000-07:00

The impact of the social media on traditional news media and the societies they serve is enormous. While the traditional media houses claim to be embracing the social media power by of twitter accounts of their star journalists and integrating tools of SM within their programming, they seem to be battling a new age business model in journalism, which moves away from the massive “organization” set-up to a more nibble organizations set-up which takes it’s power from crowdsourcing.

Wikileaks is a shining example of this new age of journalism. Read more about Wikileaks.

A significant number (almost 50% of broadband users world wide) confess that mobile or online is their main source for news. There is opportunities for organizations like Wikileaks to move from only addressing the “long tale content” to even main stream news content and needless to add that they cut across to reach audience across the world.

While there are those who would still think that citizen journalism would not overtake traditional journalism – I differ in my views. I would expect the emergence of a large number of “content” specific platforms – which will aggregate content, which even the traditional media would need to feed on.

Meanwhile the following stats should reinforce the view on the rise of sites like Wikileaks.

While you can read more about Wikileaks here, it is however, what is quite interesting to see how the traditional press is worried about it and how petty can an organization like CNN be – instead of focusing on the serious issue of thousands of deaths of civilians in Iraq, they decide to focus on the irrelevant issues prompting the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange walked out of an interview with CNN in London.

Almost looks as if the CNN is running a government agenda.

Integrating Facebook into your email marketing campaigns

2010-10-16T00:27:00.000-07:00

Integrating Facebook into your email marketing campaigns � SimplyCast: Interactive Marketing Blog

I thought it would be good to share this as a simple yet power tactic to integrate your regular email campaigns (which tend to have a very very low response rates - sub 0.1% in cases) with the powerful ability to create shareable content.

Consumer Involvement Theory - insights for advertising communications

2010-10-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

Consumer Involvement Theory - insights for advertising communications

Here is a good note / post on how to approach brand communication based on the level of consumer involvement in the purchase cycle. Experiential communication methods make a lot of sense in high involvement categories (both B2B & B2c as well as Emotional and Rational). Even in case of impulse purchase it is BTL communication methods which make a difference more by way of effective last mile tactics.

Google Instant..

2010-09-15T09:59:00.000-07:00

I had written an earlier note on the impact that Google Instant would have on the brands and their strategy on SEO and SEM. Found this very relevant article on the same subject on fastcompany.com. Read the article here.

Google Instant - game changer for Brands and their agencies.

2010-09-10T04:36:00.000-07:00

Google Instant – Google’s new, very quick, letter-by-letter search result offering, would have huge impact on brands and their online spend strategies. Almost instantly the user behavior has adopted to “acceptance of suggested search terms”, this was something which was completely missing earlier.

The results seem to be driven by user history and geo-locational logic and therefore a boon and a matter of concern for brands who are vying for attention and click thrus’.

Just typing “a” in India (ND) throws the following brands up.

The Instant would have an impact on the entire logic of SEO. Previously, search-engine optimization for brands was about making sure your web pages rose to the top of Google’s results once someone had typed in the company’s full name. Now, it appears that a brand that wants to remain top in Google Instant also needs to see a critical mass of repeat visits in relevant locations in order to shore up their results. SEO will have to become a more local, retail-oriented endeavor.

While at the onset, the differences seem trivial but they will get critical as soon as one starts to look at consumer search behavior while using a mobile phone, where in keying is is tedious and hence instant suggestions would be taken quicker.

Brands that can ensure constant presence within search results for just one- or two-letter searches can expect to substantially more hits than those that require a full word for relevant results. Add this to the location-aware mobile ads run by Google, and one can visualize the SEO relevance battle turning very geographically driven.

The Promo & Activation Shortlist from Cannes

2010-06-21T06:45:00.001-07:00

Its taken us over 7 days (and on some days late into the evening) to get to the shortlist for the category of Promo & Activation for the Cannes Lion. The list has been churned from over 1200 entries from around the world and represents some of the best work in the category.

You can view the list here.

Over the next few weeks (and after the awards are announced tonight. There is a information embargo on at the moment!!), I look forward to reviewing from of my favorite work from this list. Look forward to discussions then.

Another superb activation by KLM

2010-05-31T02:04:00.000-07:00

I loved this campaign by KLM. It captures attention and is difficult for anyone to ignore. I brings about a bit of smile.

Also good to see that travelers stop, engage and in a number of cases take a picture to share.

Activation + Facebook engagement.

2010-05-31T01:11:00.000-07:00

Diesel created an interactive installation in a Diesel Store in Spain, allowing users to share the moment of buying with their Facebook friends while being in the offline store.
With this the consumers are able to make pictures and publish them directly on to their very own Facebook account.

The promotional campaign ensures that Diesel no longer engages with the single consumer, it is about engaging with the consumer’s entire social network.

Great viral, great browser.

2010-05-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

Superb viral campaign by BBH to highlight the speed of Google Chrome. A compelling reason for downloading and trying it. If you have not see it yet it means you are not part of the 2 million who have see it in the 1st week - then see it here;

Also see the making of the viral.

Understanding the effectiveness of events.

2010-04-23T21:22:00.000-07:00

Most brand promotion initiatives, esp. the once that are done in an “event” format, have a very vague measurement matrix and most of it is anecdotal in nature.

Here is a tool which enables real time measurement of the success of the brand initiative on preset enabled parameters – EventPulse.

Never undertake another brand initiative without building in the required measurability. Watch the screencast above or visit here or visit www.pulsesuite.com for a demo and a conversation with experts.

The next level of b2b marketing strategies.

2010-04-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

Every now and then one gets fascinated by the success of a particular marketing technique. Today was another such day (and there have not been too many of them recently :-))

Lead generation strategies for B2B clients is something that me and my agency has been involved in for the last 16 years, and have done tens of hundreds of end to end initiatives and yet for me to get goose bumps to see yet another lead gen initiative is quite remarkable.

I just witnessed my team undertake a purely online, by invitation, highly interactive, highly technical, yet cost effective session with over 254 (earlier twitted number was wrong) delegates from over 8 countries. While my team members have been doing this for a while, I had to be in the same room to understand and appreciate the success model.

The session had over 450 registrations a day prior and the session host had indicated to me that she would expect 50% attrition.

What was wonderful to see was;

Such a large number of participants / delegates, who were in for the “love” of the subject. They were not there to “network” but to “learn”. A lot of physical seminars turn out to be peer networking events.

The program format gave the option for the delegates to simply drop-off if the session is not of interest – and yet the attendance stayed constant. In the age of “conversational marketing” this session was a great example of a two way dialogue between the panel and the attendees and it was not forced.

The participation was from managers and sr. managers of large and medium enterprises and from major cities as well as the slightly distant locations. The entire rational of bandwidth were really a non-issue. (The experience of my team members has been that India and China have not just the highest delegates, but also the maximum questions come from these locations, although local language has to be used in China, Thailand & Korea)

The session lasted for over an hour and the drop rate was less than 6% from start to finish.

The 45 minutes of tech presentation was followed by 25 minutes of Q&A – better quality questions then most physical interactions. And guess what drop rates was still 6%!

The panel of speakers was the best of breed and from locations far away – they needed to spare only about 3 hours in all to reach out to audiences across 8 countries without ever having to get on a plane.

There were enough “I need to know more” and “get a rep to meet me” notes at the end of the session for me to assume that the ROI would be high on the investments in this session.

The format, bring with it huge advantages of reach, scale & interactivity, is also non-intrusive, the content has a much longer “shelf-life”, is more measurable and track able in terms of delegate interaction (pre, during and post) and at the same time far more cost effective as against other lead generation models for B2B marketing.

I believe the way we undertook / undertake the process is a b2b marketing best practice and I will create a process note and insights over the next few weeks and put it here for all to read / follow – in the meanwhile, if you need to understand more on this do drop in a line.

Marketing is like cricket.

2010-04-19T22:56:00.000-07:00

Business Standard's Strategist is carrying one of my articles today. I had written this note (over two months of the IPL fever) on the similarities on the evolution of the game of cricket and the evolution of the behavior of the consumer.

You can read the article here.

The note is why a smart marketer has to evolve to stay relevant to the changed consumer and that you either play by the rules of the audience or you perish.

Do let me know your views.

Little Red Riding Hood - RETOLD

2010-04-13T20:28:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful project.

""The brief told us to do a classic ad to be printed in the magazine "Filter". The target group was swedes in ages 15–30 years. After some thinking and researching, we realized that a small ad in a small magazine wouldn´t do that much of a difference.""

Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

The video takes you through the most memorable day in the life of Little Red Riding Hood and along the way, you learn all sorts of details. Like the air resistance experienced by a Volkswagen Type 2-61 Minibus at 43 MPH as measured by Volkswagen GmbH in 1955. Or the wildlife density of the Hundred Acre Wood, showing a surge in the rabbit population. Not to mention the nutrition facts of Grandma with a total caloric value of 10,000 kilocalories. :-)

Cost per contact is high. Really?

2010-04-11T19:40:00.000-07:00

When compared to traditional advertising media, experiential is often overlooked and under-rated because of a perceived lack of reach, or high cost per contact. While there is the basic logic of "counting your reach" vs "reaching those who count" and the quality of the "engagement", even in terms of reach experiential engagement scores high.

Another bit from a research undertaken by EMF and IMI International in the US, shows that Experiential Marketing has effective reach well beyond consumers directly impacted. When considering sampling costs “per person impacted”, be sure to account for the amplification benefit.

Experiential Marketing - leads to trials.

2010-04-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

If you are trying to get consumers to try a product / brand that they do not normally buy / use - do not rely on your ad campaign to transform behavior.

Recent results of a research undertaken by EMF and IMI International in the US, where they asked consumers what influences them to purchase brands they don’t normally purchase, and which of the tactic has the greatest impact in that switch gave the following results;

While 52% by way of Experiential Activated and hence more one on one marketing is exciting - what is even more impressive is that this has stayed consistent over the last 15 years - where-in there is so much of a change in the media consumption pattern.

Nice to note, promotion is another 20%.

Awareness driven communication, does drive sales, but only to the extent of 24%.

Twitter integration into Google search results

2010-04-08T19:15:00.000-07:00

Integration of the real time twits into Google search results in my view does three things;

1. gives a new reason for brands to not just be on Twitter but ensure they are monitoring conversation on Twitter, not just of the brand but of the entire eco-system.

2. it brings together the twittering "elite / few" to a searching "majority" and hence cannot be ignored.

3. has an amazing effect on the search engine optimization of any brand / site. In fact majority of 1st page search results seem to be from the social media space, with Twitter leading them all. And it is a lot faster.

Also there is a wonderful way of integrating twitter results specific to your google search into your results for every possible subject. Read here about Realtime Twitter Search Results on Google

Screencast of MarketPulse

2010-04-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

MarketPulse is a superb last mile effectiveness measurement tool. It helps a brand understand how it is performing with respect to various consumer touchpoints - when compared to it's own benchmarks, or when compared to it's competitors.

It also allows a brand to understand the performance across geos and store types.

Check out the screencast of MarketPulse;

If you have problems of screen resolution and are only seeing half a screencast above :-) - please visit this site.

Engagement & reaction.

2010-04-04T05:52:00.000-07:00

Wonderful engagement & it's amplification amongst the general audience. Done for Samsung NX10 World Creative Imaging Competition.

Just loved it for it's effectiveness and simplicity of the idea. Loved the reaction of the audience at the end and their move towards their cameras to record the moment for sharing.

/div>

While on the site, do check out the chopper and the popcorn and of course the wonderful pics.

Digital Gets Physical

2010-04-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

I am a firm believer in that Online marketing and On-ground marketing need to and should go hand in hand. The amplification of "great brand experiences" is best achieved by creating online buzz. Also in this case it is not a chicken & egg situation, it can / should work both ways.

It was therefore a pleasure to read this article in Adweek pointing out how digital mediums are reshaping the way marketers are connecting with their consumers to drive action.

What is really interesting is the absence of typical paid media.

"The Skittles campaign is part of a shift in digital away from users merely sitting in front of computer screens to using new digital tools to affect behavior in the physical world. The growing sophistication of smartphones is driving the creation of these location-based services, which promise to morph the Web from a solitary experience to a ubiquitous connector in the real world.

This evolution has major implications for brands, giving them the possibility of tracking the success of digital campaigns to the store level and changing how they market to consumers. "

What type of ads work best on social media platforms.

2010-03-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

As time spent on social networking sites increases, (and we know that visiting social networks is the 4th most popular thing that folks do online - ahead of checking their personal emails) advertisers are willing to invest higher percentages of their budgets into campaigns targeting users on those platforms.

However, all the traditional theories & knowledge on how consumers react to ads & hence the effectiveness of ads is out of the window.

Psychster Inc.& Allrecipes undertook a study to determine which kinds of ads are most effective and whether the platforms advertisements appear on make a difference.

Download the PDF from here.

Recommended Twitter Accounts to follow for marketing;

2010-03-28T17:32:00.000-07:00

MARKETING & Related ; some of the better once to follow.

twitter.com/adage
twitter.com/SocialMedia411
twitter.com/MarketingProfs
twitter.com/danschawbel
twitter.com/HarvardBiz
twitter.com/PublicityGuru
twitter.com/RickM

twitter.com/VijaySingh
twitter.com/ducttape
twitter.com/eMarketer
twitter.com/JoeTrippi

twitter.com/leeodden
twitter.com/BrandRepublic
twitter.com/iMediaTweet
twitter.com/larrybrauner

twitter.com/ShawnRobinson
twitter.com/ezyhelper
twitter.com/atniz
twitter.com/joshlam
twitter.com/AlexGoodall

twitter.com/copyblogger
twitter.com/TheNextWeb
twitter.com/ryan
twitter.com/socialcitizen

Greenpeace vs. Nestle

2010-03-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

This is a wonderful analysis by Olivier Blanchard on the SM PR war and it's learnings for a brand (in this case Nestle) in his post - How to make sure your Facebook page doesn’t become a PR trojan horse.

Please read the full article here.

Brand ahead of demand? Are you crazy?!

2010-02-25T03:24:00.001-08:00

I share and completely understand the anguish faced by Joel Harrison, the Editor of B2B Marketing. I can empathize with him when he says

""
I was staggered and aghast when chair Richard Perry asked the audience for their view on brand versus demand: what did they think was most important? The response pretty overwhelmingly, was in favour of brand – at least two thirds of the audience voted for it. To be quite honest, I was staggered by this response. ""

Please read his full article here - Brand ahead of demand? Are you crazy?!

What is amazing is that normally there are the two extremes - one set of folks who are focussed on only the brand - what I like to think of as guys focussed on ROE (return on ego), while there are other set of guys who are extremely focussed beyond ROI - they want actual conversions and sales from the agency.

Middle path is the sweet spot. Engagement to drive trails and positive conversations.

Posted using ShareThis

Trends in IT & Tech for 2010

2010-02-18T17:45:00.000-08:00

2010 Tech And It Predictions Trendsspotting

View more presentations from Taly Weiss.

Nice compilation of social media trends.

2010-02-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

TrendsSpotting's 2010 Social Media Influencers - Trend Predictions in 140 Characters

View more presentations from Taly Weiss.

Trends Review - Major trends in 2010 Online Video

2010-02-18T05:51:00.000-08:00

2010 Video Influencers: Trend Predictions in 140 characters, by TrendsSpotting

View more presentations from Taly Weiss.

Online Marketing trends for 2010 - liked the series.

2010-02-17T22:48:00.000-08:00

2010 Online Marketing Influencers: Trend Predictions in 140 characters by Trendsspotting

View more presentations from Taly Weiss.

Consumer trends Influencer 2010 - agree with a number of them.

2010-02-17T17:37:00.000-08:00

TrendsSpotting's 2010 Consumer Trends Influencers: Predictions in 140 Characters

View more presentations from Taly Weiss.

A very comprehensive report on Mobile Trends.

2010-02-17T17:33:00.000-08:00

2010 Mobile Influencers: Trend Predictions in 140 Characters, By TrendsSpotting

View more presentations from Taly Weiss.

Woo Rank - a good tool

2010-02-15T16:26:00.000-08:00

I quite liked this tool. It is awfully simple, quick and gives enough 1st level information on the websites and points out the simple (and in some cases big) mistakes. Check it out.

SM beyond FB

2010-02-15T16:15:00.000-08:00

In almost all my recent discussions with either brands or with management students, there is an increased awareness and interest on using social media to make their marketing initiatives more "conversational", however, for too many folks it gets limited to Facebook and Twitter.

Below is a good representation of what all should be involved;

The larger version is available here.

2010-02-11T07:40:00.000-08:00

www.aaramshop.blogspot.com

www.aaramshoppro.blogspot.com

www.aaramshop.com

Very interesting approach.

2010-02-02T19:22:00.000-08:00

Found this site recently very aptly named which tells us exactly how to use Twitter for marketing and PR http://www.howtousetwitterformarketingandpr.com/

Could not resist sharing this one... and for the record I do not agree :-)

Seth Godin on standing out | Video on TED.com

2010-02-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

Seth Godin on standing out | Video on TED.com

Corporate Connections

2010-02-01T18:52:00.000-08:00

To download please visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/zoharma/97214235/

Should You Be Trying To Create Demand or Desire?

2010-02-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

Nice post by Tom Martin, a must read.

1 Click 1 Tree. Our initiative for planet earth.

2009-12-26T01:18:00.000-08:00

Here is our initiative towards creating a greener earth. We are looking at planting 5000 trees of hope for 5000 citizens of world. Join us on this.

2010 Greetings. 1 Click 1 Tree. Our initiative for planet earth - 141Sercon

The Ass Effect !!

2009-11-30T06:10:00.000-08:00

Subject: Unable to attract even a single girl, frustrated man sues Axe New Delhi.

In what could prove to be a major marketing and legal embarrassment for Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), a 26-year-old man has filed a case against the FMCG company, which owns the Axe brand of men grooming products, for ‘cheating’ and causing him ‘mental suffering’.

The plaintiff has cited his failure to attract any girl at all even though he’s been using Axe products for over seven years now. Axe advertisements suggest that the products help men in instantly attracting women. Vaibhav Bedi, the petitioner, also surrendered all his used, unused and half-used deodorant sprays, perfume sticks and roll-ons, anti-perspirants, aftershaves, body washes, shampoos, and hair gels to the court, and demanded a laboratory test of the products and narcotics test of the brand managers of Axe.

Vaibhav was pushed to take this step when his bai (maid) beat him with a broom when he tried to impress her by appearing naked in front of her after applying all the Axe products.

“Where the f****** is the Axe effect? I’ve been waiting for it for over seven years. Right from my college to now in my office, no girl ever agreed to even go out for a tea or coffee with me, even though I’m sure they could smell my perfumes, deodorants and aftershaves. I always applied them in abundance to make sure the girls get turned on as they show in the television. Finally I thought I’d try to impress my lonely bai who had an ugly fight with her husband and was living alone for over a year. Axe effect my foot!” Vaibhav expressed his unhappiness.

Vaibhav claims that he had been using all the Axe products as per the company’s instructions even since he first bought them. He argued that if he couldn’t experience the Axe effect despite using the products as directed, either the company was making false claims or selling fake products.

“I had always stored them in cool and dry place, and kept them away from direct light or heat. I’d always use a ruler before applying the spray and make sure that the distance between the nozzle and my armpit was at least 15 centimeters. I’d do everything they told. I even beat up my 5-year-old nephew for coming near my closet, as they had instructed it to keep away from children’s reach. And yet, all I get is a broom beating from my ugly bai.” Vaibhav expressed his frustration.

Vaibhav claims that he had to do go a lot of mental suffering and public humiliation due to the lack of Axe effect and wants HUL to compensate him for this agony. An advocate in Karkardooma court, who happened to mistake Vaibhav for some deodorant vendor when he entered the court premises with all the bottles, has now offered to take up his case in the court. HUL has been served a legal notice in this regard.

HUL has officially declined to comment on the case citing the subject to be sub judice, but our sources inform that the company was worried over the possible outcomes of the case. The company might argue that Vaibhav was hopelessly unattractive and unintelligent and didn’t possess the bare minimum requirements for the Axe effect to take place. Officially HUL has not issued any statement, but legal experts believe that HUL could have tough time convincing the court.

“HUL might be tempted to take that line of argument, but it is very risky. There is no data to substantiate the supposition that unattractive and unintelligent men don’t attract women. In fact some of the best looking women have been known to marry and date absolutely ghoulish guys. I’d suggest that the company settles this issue out of court.” noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani said.

SHOP FLOOR; THE NEW PRIME TIME. Trend No 6

2009-11-18T05:33:00.000-08:00

6. BRAND DECISION ARE MADE IN THE LAST MILE;

As many as 70% of brand decisions are made in the “last mile”. 70% and growing.

This research finding was 1st published by POPAI, and has been substantiated over years by a number of other studies including our own research using some of our last mile tools into various product categories. What is interesting is that in a lot of cases the percentage is higher.

What this indicates however is alarming. This percentage effectively indicates spillage (even gross wastage) of media buying costs which are not being successful or effective in generating real sales.

I am sure we have all experienced the magic of the last mile, whenever we have stepped out to pick up something like a washing machine, or a TV or a refrigerator – we leave our homes with a fair understanding of the product category, the top five brands in the category and our intended brand purchase, however, magically most of us come back with a different product – 70% of us do it time and time again.

Reasons why shoppers switch brands are multiple however almost all of them are centered on effective usage of last-mile consumer touch-points by some brand when compared to others.

Last-mile touch points are multiple & diverse ranging from product pricing, POSM quality, share of display, quality of experience, quality of salesmanship to basic issues like brand presence. All these combined create a last-mile experience which ensures brand switches.

On a number of brands our studies show us a significant “intent of purchase” of the brand amongst consumers when they walk in to the store – thereby indicating obvious good work done on the awareness & interest creation front by the advertising, however, significant negative shift in the actual purchase.

The fact that an in-effective last mile can be a bleed on the success is well understood, however, not all brand managers seem to understand how to address the issue in effective and measureable ways.

SHOP FLOOR; THE NEW PRIME TIME. Trend No. 5

2009-11-16T22:13:00.001-08:00

5. “ROBO” IS FOR REAL;

It is well understood that the consumer is spending a lot of time online, in a lot of cases much more time than what he spends in front of the TV set or reading print. And this share of time is increasing at a feverish pace.

When online the consumer does his research on the brand, this research can be a combination of self driven or could be triggered by peers on his social networks.

The more expensive the purchase, the more involved and extensive the research.

This is far more relevant because this is where the consumer spends time engaged in the category, seeking and deciding what alternatives he has options of. This is when is willing to form opinions and is willing to read and listen to referrals.

Most importantly, this is one dialogue process where the consumer is completely in control – he not only chooses the time and level of dialogue, if he does not like what he sees he can merely click it away and move else where.

The consumer is not closed to any brand in this stage – he is in fact in a “SELL TO ME” mindset, which has been well captured by Yahoo and exploited to the fullest by Google by their huge success of Adwords platform. This process is radically different from the one way communication which he gets subjected to in a TVC, print ad or a hoarding.

Putting up the brands’ TVC on Youtube.com is not the answer, ensuring that the brand participates in the “search” journey – by providing access to relevant data & information on brand comparison of features, USPs, costs, etc, and enabling communication with the user community and engaging with the user community - is the answer.

While brand owners have started spending an increased percentage of their budgets online (and is growing) – for a number of brands that spend still is backed by the “awareness creation” thought process, rather than focusing on the consumers search for information journey.

This integration of shopping with technology is real. 87% of US consumers research products online before buying them in person or in a store.

However across categories…the major buying still happens off line.

ROBO = Research Online Buy Offline.

This is not limited to B2B products or big ticket purchases like computers, phones or cars, but extends across all categories.

The consumer spends his research time comparing features, absorbing user experience reviews, understanding costs.

All this before he heads out in the last mile, to check out the physical experience and then buy.

To get into the consumers mindset, presence in the last mile needs to be preceded with relevant presence in the online search process.

SHOP FLOOR; THE NEW PRIME TIME. Trend No 4

2009-11-16T22:03:00.000-08:00

4. SHOPPER CROSSOVER;

For a number of years we have profiled the shoppers, into various categories, e.g. value shoppers, lifestyle shopper, convenience shoppers, family shopper, etc. After this classification, we have decided on how to approach a shopper based on this profile and what is the nature of message which the shopper responds to.

This “shopper type” has meant that we could decide which type would want discounts vs. which type would buy lifestyle vs. which type would want convenience.

This “typification” meant that we could target relevant brand messages to these specific segments of customers and the expectation has been that once a value shopper always a value shopper.

However, new research indicates that the same shopper shops in discount stores, while he also shops in departmental stores and specialty stores… but he/she shops differently.

Consumers are less loyal to any single channel / type of retailer than they were in the past.
Different needs = Different stores.

What this really means is that a brand needs to increasingly target the shopper close to the moment of purchase and hence at the store level and dependent on the store format.

Consider a shopper at a “cash and carry” store – he or she is there to buy in bulk and is seeking out value for money. So if a cola brand has to be relevant to the shopper, it has to offer a bulk deal or maybe a value pack based offer of 2 free bottles with 10 bottles or it might want to push its mega sized bottles at a discount.

Now consider the same shopper hops into the gas station convenience store for a drink while he tops up his fuel tank. For the same brand of cola to be in the consideration set in this format – it has to be in a very handy size, in an easy to grab location, ready for immediate consumption and maybe bundled with a short-eat.

The fact that the same shopper will respond to very different stimulus at the two locations is because his purpose of shopping is different – value vs convenience.

While the brand would have the uniform overall image, however, its last mile messaging, is what gets the brand into the shopper’s basket.

The brands consumer touch-points need to be relevant to where is it placed and which need state does that format address.

One singular overall “awareness” focussed message / campaign does not work on ensuring conversion in the last mile.

SHOP FLOOR; THE NEW PRIME TIME. Trend No. 3

2009-11-16T21:59:00.000-08:00

3. FREQUENT REPLACEMENT;

We are increasingly moving towards or already living in a “disposable product” society. The quest for quality and durability has been replaced by the desire to stay “current”.

The mindset of the consumer is to buy cheaper – replace quicker – stay current on technology. While this is especially true for things which were in the past considered to be indulgent purchases, and which have now become more “every day” and common – say for example a blender or a iron, however, even bigger ticket items are getting disposable.

This is not to say that the consumers are moving away from “luxury” – quite on the contrary, however, that is a different category and has different drivers.

The consumer is keen on staying current rather than investing heavily into something which will last longer – this is also prompted by frequent technology upgrades and fear of investing heavily into something which could become obsolete in a hurry.

While this trend has various levels of adaptation in different geographies, a recent study by NDP Research across North America assigns this as one of the leading reasons why there is growth in private labels beyond the consumer products category.

Take a product category like a blender; the shopper is willing to buy a private label or a basic blender and replace it every couple of years with newer and better blenders rather than buy a machine which will guarantee a 7 year usage life – in which time it is bound to be obsolete.

Now consider this shopping behavior to that of a generation ago when what was purchased was expected to last.

SHOP FLOOR; THE NEW PRIME TIME. Trend No. 2

2009-11-15T22:43:00.000-08:00

2. THE NEW NEEDS AND WANTS;

The numerous product enhancements are designed to make consumers’ lives easier, better, more convenient and more enjoyable – leading to purchase of products which I didn't even know I wanted.
When a consumer walks through an isle or glances at a shop’s well stocked shelf, he notices products which address a need state which did not seem to exist a while back.
This need state and hence the desire to use is enhanced in any of the many “experiential hooks”.
A consumer is far more likely to pick up a pack of skin lotion, if he/she is demonstrated how it works on his/her skin type, rather than purely based on a recall of a print ad with a supermodel.
Products which address specific need states of a specific niche of shoppers tend to create tribes of users and are able to benefit in a big way by creating positive referrals amongst the TG. However, the interesting aspect is that the shoppers evolves and switches between tribes on a fairly regular basis.
These new and enhanced needs and wants lead to a lot more experimentations and hence an increased amount of impulse buying.

The BTL Life

70% impulse purchase - no more.

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