Springing to Mind

Doing the obligatory spring yard work in Connecticut offers plenty of time for "industry introspection." (Scouring your body for deer ticks afterward leads to a different kind of introspection, but you probably didn't need to know that.)

Here are some not-so-random thoughts that kept my mind occupied while digging out tree stumps last weekend:

Skipping to the end: It looks like data from the P.R.I.S.M. project is going to prove what the sales department has said all along: if you want maximum results from a supermarket campaign, negotiate endcap space for your brand. (For more preliminary data from the Pioneering Research for an In-Store Metric initiative, see below.)

It's hip to be square: One winning campaign from the Promotion Marketing Association's 2008 Reggie Awards (see below) was a well-conceived sampling program designed to build awareness and generate trial for a revamped product. While the buzz-worthy (and, probably, award-baiting) components of the plan were sampling activities at innovative locations relevant to the brand's message, almost 90% of the campaign's 2.35 million samples were delivered to shoppers in stores; the buzz might not have been there, but the people were.

Are Brits more downcast?: Floor decals have been criticized, here and elsewhere, in recent years for being largely ineffective (although that doesn't seem to have stopped anyone from using them). But dunnhumby's Graham Thomas thinks that, while they aren't exactly "brand equity material," they can provide a nice incremental sales lift when used creatively. (For more of Thomas's thoughts on in-store marketing, see below.)

Exceptions for every rule: You hear all the talk about retailers taking control of their store environments and severely restricting in-store communication from national brands. If you're the paranoid type, that might make you question the future role of national brands at retail. But then you walk into an A&P or a Stop & Shop and find redesigned pet care aisles that look as if they're owned by Iams and Purina. And you remember that strong, national brands still have some clout in the marketplace.

All the world's a standee: As recently as the late 1990s, the question of whether or not movie stars would allow their likenesses to be used in marketing collateral was still a major issue for brands that were negotiating promotional licenses. But after seeing Harrison Ford's face on displays and product from packaged goods companies tying into this month's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, I realized that the problem seems to have largely disappeared. These days, it's more of a surprise if the film's star is not depicted on the P-O-P.

Who needs friends when you've got displays?: A survey of 1,000 U.K. residents by research agency Next Big Thing found that more people get information about new books and authors from in-store displays (26% of respondents) than from print media (14%), broadcast media (13%) or even word-of-mouth (12%). The survey is part of "Reading the Future," a consumer trends report commissioned to celebrate the 150th anniversary of trade publication The Bookseller. The report will be released next month.

Defining moments: Seeing the news that the Reader's Digest Association is now selling advertising for ShoptoCook, the in-store supplier that operates informational kiosks in supermarkets, I remembered the words of Wal-Mart's Mike Hiatt, director of in-store media networks, who told attendees of the Digital Signage Expo in February that the chain wasn't "trying to build this worldwide [digital] network for advertising's sake.... We must always remember that Wal-Mart sells stuff."

Write it in stone: My favorite Hiatt quote, however, came as he discussed the results of a 2007 research study on the effectiveness of advertising on Wal-Mart TV: "The closer the messaging to the product, the better the sales lift."

Now that's an idea worth a little introspection.

Peter Breen
Managing Director, Content
In-Store Marketing Institute

Members: More information here.

"Analyzing Preliminary P.R.I.S.M. Data" by Mike Hess, OMD, and Stephen Garry, Clorox

With Nielsen In-Store's syndication of data from the Pioneering Research for an In-Store Metric project on the horizon, two members of the consortium guiding its development offered a look at preliminary findings during last month's In-Store Marketing Summit. Mike Hess, director of global research and communication insights at media agency OMD, and Stephen Garry, director of advanced analytics at The Clorox Co., joined for a two-part presentation outlining preliminary insights from, and potential applications for, the ongoing initiative.

Members, view the presentations.

Case Studies: Promotion Marketing Association's Reggie Awards 2008

All roads lead to retail: Whatever their scope or objectives may have been, many of the best integrated marketing campaigns from 2007 worked their way into stores to influence consumers at the point of decision. That's only fitting, since the Promotion Marketing Association named its annual awards program "the Reggies" to denote promotion's ability to make cash registers ring. The Institute presents case studies of 21 award-winning campaigns from PMA's 2008 awards, complete with related articles and images from our own archives.

Members, view the case studies.

Desktop Marketing Conference: "Retail Media: What Works, What Doesn't and Why" by Graham Thomas, dunnhumby

A variety of metrics have been offered to support the use of digital media networks in stores, including increased brand awareness and gross impressions. But to Graham Thomas, head of U.K.-based dunnhumby's communications and media, only one of them matters much: sales lift. In an audio-enabled keynote from the In-Store Marketing Summit, Thomas offers a warts-and-all overview of successful in-store marketing at global giant Tesco.

Members: View the presentation.

Retailer Profile: Ahold USA

The portfolio may be smaller than it was a few years ago, but Ahold USA's supermarket group has made itself stronger by streamlining operations, sharing best practices across chains, and working with product manufacturers to create a shopper-focused marketing strategy. Our updated profile of Ahold USA also includes an overview of erstwhile property Tops Markets, which is looking to return to its glory days as Western New York's leading supermarket.

Members: View the profile.

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.

• Arc Worldwide
• AT&T
• Broan-Nutone
• Cameo Container Corp., a division of Smurfit-Stone Container Corp.
• Central Graphics & Container Group
• Chute Gerdeman
• Consortium Companies Inc.
• Cormark
• Coty US LLC
• CounterPoint
• Display Source Alliance LLC
• E & J Gallo
• Eric Mower & Associates
• GMR Marketing
• Kao Brands
• MarketingLab
• Memorex
• Miller Zell Inc.
• Nielsen In-Store
• OgilvyAction
• Shoppers Drug Mart Inc.
• Source Marketing
• TBWA
• The J.M. Smucker Company
• The Solution Partnership
• Think Retail Solutions
• TLP - TracyLocke Partnership
• Total Image
• Toys "R" Us Inc.
• U.S. Display Group
• Unilever
• Vestcom International Inc.
• VitroRobertson LLC