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A Final 'Auld Lang Syne' to 2009

By Peter Breen

Driven by what National Retail Federation president Tracy Mullin called "the worst economic environment in nearly a century," 2009 was a year to remember in many ways. Here are a few that I'll remember most vividly:

Story of the Year: Walmart's "Project Impact." By cleaning out Action Alley and whittling down its SKU count, Walmart is forcing a lot of companies to rethink the way they operate in-store. The industry's response to the retailing giant's new business strategy will be the story of 2010.

"Non-Story" of the Year: The P.R.I.S.M. project. Based on the thousands of page views generated by old articles describing what might have been, Nielsen's aborted effort to launch an in-store measurement service could have given "Project Impact" a run for its money had the plan successfully reached syndication.

Marketing Phrase of the Year: "[Put Season Here] Savings." If you want to give this trend a positive spin, let's say that marketers analyzed their customer data and universally reached the same conclusion: that reduced prices were all consumers cared about in 2009. There certainly was more than a modicum of truth to that conceit, although we can't help but think that a lot of great marketing ideas were lost amidst the sea of signs screaming "Value."

Sub-Phrase of the Year: "Compare & Save." Shelf tags encouraging shoppers to examine the price difference between specific national brands and their private-label counterparts became practically as commonplace on store shelves as, well, price labels. The trend turned national brands into little more than props in the retailer's marketing plan, underscoring the need to develop shopper marketing programs that give brands an actual role in the store.

Product Launch of the Year: Novartis Consumer Health's Prevacid. Over-the-counter drug launches have become the merchandising equivalent of a James Cameron film release in recent years, and Novartis didn't disappoint when Prevacid hit shelves in November with activity at 100,000 stores. We also liked the campaign because it again illustrated one of the most basic premises of in-store marketing: nothing makes a product stand out better than unique, ownable colors (at least until the private-label competition arrives).

Advertiser of the Year: Walmart. Did you ever think the day would come when you'd complain about too many Walmart ads on TV? Once almost non-existent in mass media, the retailer did a complete 180 in 2009, running a seemingly endless schedule of spots that -- the onslaught notwithstanding -- did the best job of making "saving money" an emotionally resonant endeavor.

Merchandiser of the Year: Kraft Foods. Try to find a retailer "meal solutions" program that doesn't involve Kraft at some level. The CPG's strategic efforts were greatly enhanced when it became one of the first product marketers to launch an iPhone app, an "iFood Assistant" that serves up recipes and related ingredients to hungry consumers.

Retailer Campaign of the Year: Kroger's "Giving Hope a Hand." The supermarket operator's massive program for Breast Cancer Awareness Month grew even larger last year -- even as activity at some other chains subsided a bit. The effort is a testament to the power that leading chains now command: Hundreds of brands participated, many by devoting a portion of their packaging to the campaign's messaging.

Experiential Campaign of the Year: Walmart's "Bright Ideas" sampling program places fairly rigid restrictions on in-store brand activation, and a lot of product marketers are simply following the template. But Kraft's Jell-O broke the mold (yes, pun intended) by offering Walmart a campaign that addressed its healthy eating platform and its desire to drive traffic to the electronics department. It also created a fun atmosphere for shoppers: With permission from Nintendo, the brand set up Wii Fit stations alongside sampling carts so that shoppers could play the exercise-oriented videogame while experiencing Jell-O as a healthy snacking option.

Display of the Year: The effectiveness of Design Phase's videogame kiosk for MTV Games' Rock Band 2, which won our 2009 "Best of the Times" award, was evident during holiday 2009 when the display was repurposed by Old Navy -- mostly to deliver some in-store entertainment value.

An honorable mention goes to Mechtronics' Custom Fit Orthotics Kiosk for Schering-Plough's Dr. Scholl's, winner of the 2007 "Best of Times" award, which became the subject of an in-store advertising campaign as it rolled out to Walmart stores last year.

"Shopper Marketing in Action" Award: The essence of shopper marketing -- which, truth be told, often contradicts the brand objectives that dominated the last few decades -- was illustrated last April by Rob Colarossi, then Dr Pepper Snapple Group's vp of customer development. Speaking at our In-Store Marketing Summit, the marketer presented a case study in which the category-reset recommendations Dr Pepper gave to a leading supermarket chain eliminated Snapple at the majority of stores.

Why? Because these days, it really is all about the shopper, whether they're looking only for savings or not.

Peter Breen
Managing Director, Content
In-Store Marketing Institute



Published: January 2010

Source: In-Store Marketing Institute

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