Mac and Cheese and Smiles and Strategy

Agency, Content, Digital Signage, My Take, Shopper Marketing, Strategy, Technology 2 Responses »
Aug 192010

My good friend Mike over at 11th screen tweeted about this yesterday. When he tweets, I listen. So I checked this out. This is the amazingly cool “Smiling Noodle” from Kraft, developed by MonsterMedia.

This is a terrific way to get people engaged with a brand. And Kraft and MonsterMedia took the essence of the product – the elbow macaroni – and created a fun and engaging interactive. Very well done.

But here’s the problem. This doesn’t sell Mac and Cheese. That’s the point. Right?

These interactive screens were placed around the country (Chicago, New York, LA) in high traffic areas. And it looks like it got a lot of audience engagement. But did it sell any Mac and Cheese? Here are three reasons why this is a challenge:

Where Can I Buy? One of the most important tenets with digital engagement is the viewer’s ability to act upon what she has just experienced. The takeaway here is not the smile, it’s the brand impression. She needs to move that impression forward on the path to purchase. But if she can’t, the impression is lost as soon as the next bright, shiny object enters her field of view.

There Is No Takeaway. Unlike the Smile Happy Ice Cream campaign that Unilever created, this doesn’t give the viewer any takeaway, like the product, or a coupon, or a QR code for their mobile device to really open the gates of communication. With an immediate return, the customer connects the impression with the result – the product or access to it. This creates an indelible mark on the viewer’s mindset, and provides marketers with real data on the success of the device.

Using a Shotgun When You Need a Sniper Rifle. These were placed in high traffic areas to get viewer engagement, but I’m willing to bet that a large percentage of the people who interacted with it aren’t really Mac and Cheese fans. Sure, you’ll get a massive amount of people who will try it, making the numbers sexy, but if those viewers are not customers of Kraft or Mac and Cheese, it’s an inefficient execution. The value of each impression is much lower because of the high traffic strategy.

In the end, someone has to pay for this (yes, I know it’s the customer, but bear with me). As these devices become more prevalent in our culture, so too will the need to justify the expense on the marketing budget to create and deploy them. This is advertising, and advertising is made to get people to buy. If they don’t buy, these devices are no more than costly wet noodles.

Ba dum dum.

Posted by Paul at 1:00 am

Book Review: The On-Demand Brand

Book Review No Responses »
Aug 172010

Through coincidence, I asked a couple weeks ago about whether you thought that digital signage was an industry. I got several responses and proffered my own thoughts. After writing that post, Rick Mathieson gave me a copy of his new book, The On-Demand Brand.

It’s a must read for anyone who works in digital media, regardless of whether you think this is an industry or not, and it’s vital for anyone that considers marketing part of his or her professional function.

The book provides “10 rules for digital marketing success in an anytime, everywhere world.” Rick calls them rules, but they are more like 10 methods for digital marketing. He doesn’t tell you how to do it, instead he gives you understanding on why multiple channels of engagement are important for marketing in what he (rightfully) calls the “now media” culture – a smart way to approach this since technology makes things invented yesterday obsolete. If these were truly “how-to” rules, the book would be out of date before it hit the shelves. It’s not really a business book, but a series of observations on the various degrees of digital engagement, and how brands can better understand and harness the power of branding in a “pull vs. push” culture.

It’s not enough to just know that the other channels – online and mobile engagement to name a couple – exist, but to know how these channels work and affect one another in the ecosystem of consumer engagement. Each rule is valuable in gaining greater understanding of impact. Right off the bat, he starts with “Insight Comes Before Inspiration,” where he very clearly shows that, like all marketing efforts, you must know the customer, and that you can’t really move forward until you do (something I have been preaching forever). He continues by showing that every channel of engagement deserves its own contextual approach, meaning you can’t re-purpose content for another channel (AMEN).

The book is loaded with current and relevant case studies. I have heard of almost every one of them, and I saw most of them in a new way when reading how they were developed and deployed. The beautiful part is that if you are unaware of any of these, there’s a very good chance you can find them online.

Rule 9, “Always Keep Surprises In-Store,” Focuses heavily on the in-store environment, and brings much of the previous eight rules together as a point of execution. Rick writes about ‘Social Retailing,’ the idea of bringing online experiences into the retail environment to enhance the product shopping experience. And he stresses that this kind of interactive engagement will require a new partnership between brands and retailers (again, something I have been preaching for a long time).

A fabulous feature of the book are the interviews Rick conducts with some industry heavyweights, including Laura Klauberg, Senior Vice President of global media at Unilever (“So it’s really about being in tune with the culture, and then finding the points where there might be a great intersection of a brand and what’s important to customers.”) to Alex Bogusky of Crispin Porter + Bogusky (“…the consumer – whether you embrace it or not – is involved in the creation of your brand.”) to Tom Nicholson, the CEO and founder of LBi IconNicholson and the ‘Father of Social Retailing’ (“The place where individual product brands can play [a role] is in creating experiences tied to the mobile device-services that consumers will want to access when they are in a physical store environment.”).

Klauberg, Bogusky, and Nicholson. The Engagement All-Stars

This book is loaded with practical and comprehensible insight, and belongs on every marketer’s list to read. Reading this before too long will even prepare marketers better for the coming holiday season, when consumers will hit the stores and websites even harder with greater demand on those brands that want to engage them at those levels. My copy of the book is completely dog-eared, post-it marked, and highlighted with several places where I can leverage his insight in teaching clients about digital media in a digital culture.

Rick provides a companion site to the the book: GENWOW, where you can read more about digital marketing and listen to interviews with other industry leaders. I suggest you subscribe to his RSS feed as well.

Go read this. Now. Before everyone else does and beats you to the customer.

You can buy the book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Borders.

Read my other book reviews:

Posted by Paul at 1:00 am

What I Learned at the Retail Customer Experience Executive Summit

Brand, My Take, Shopper Marketing 3 Responses »
Aug 102010

The more I learn about the retailer and the customer, the better experience I can help create. Perspective is indispensable. When James Bickers asked me to be a part of the Retail Customer Excellence Summit Advisory Board, I didn’t even think about it. Yep. I’m in.

The summit took place last week in Chicago, and was terrific. The collection of attendees and speakers was a solid mix of perspective and best practices. At one table I saw a toy retailer with a eyewear retailer. Another table saw a giant mobile retailer sitting with a day spa owner. The eclectic mix allowed for an intimate exchange of ideas.

So, in customary fashion with other conferences I have attended, here are some of the things I learned.

OMG. Can’t Bleev no stores uzn mob tech 2 ngage custs!
A group of us toured the the Woodfield Mall on Sunday afternoon, one of the largest malls in the country. I know that because a) they told me, and b) I sat down in my hotel room and passed out for an hour from walking the entire mall. Retailers continue to jump on the social media bandwagon, but we discovered very little in practice at the mall. I didn’t peek into every single store, but saw only one that was using Twitter prominently: Metropark. They had their Twitter feed on big 36” widescreen TVs hanging in the store and facing the mall. Very effective. James Bickers noticed that out of over 275 stores, only two (TWO!) were using FourSquare. OMG indeed.

My shoes before the store walk, and three hours later.

The Best Perspective Came From Outside Retail
PGA Player Chip Beck, Consultant Mark Levy, Jim Knight from Hard Rock International, and Ed Rensi, former CEO/President of McDonald’s Corporation, gave easily the most spirited talk of the day with plenty of perspective that can be implemented at retail. Mr. Beck provided some of the best insight, saying that it’s his goal to make the people feel more comfortable when playing with him in pro-am tournaments. When he’s with a group, he makes it a point to walk at least one hole with each participant so that he can get to know them better. From a retail perspective, building relationships with customers creates a better buying environment and experience. He ended by saying that he has built a reputation on the tour as a very approachable player, and it has allowed him to participate in pro-ams a lot. (Translation: Building better relationships with your customers means loyalty and return business.)

Knows more about retail than I do. Can golf WAAAAAY better than I do. Well played, sir.

Awareness Is Not Engagement
Just because people know about you doesn’t mean they’re buying. You have to do more than shout from the rooftops. Every message has to ‘leave them wanting more.’ Mike Wittenstein showed how good first impressions have four phases: Attraction, Engagement, Information, and Persuasion, with the goal to get the customer to the next phase of the buying process. He emphasized this by saying that customers don’t care about what you tell them, they care about what they can tell their friends. Can your impressions do that?

Your Culture Creates The Experience
Bill Cusick led a great panel of retailers to talk about how the brand culture is the driver for a great experience. By personifying the brand (think Apple vs. Mac), your brand can come to life at retail. For example, Kari Blankenship from Cabela’s talked about their brand promise – “To inspire others to participate and be passionate about the outdoors” – as their essence for the in-store experience. No one remembers the purchase transaction, but everyone remembers the experience.

But People Are There To Buy Stuff
Bob Phibbs told us why customers visit a store: To buy stuff. While we all talk about a great experience, the goal should be to sell a product. Bob noted that price doesn’t make a difference, people do, and that presentation is everything, but somewhere in there some people have forgotten that you need to engage the customer to get them to actually buy.

Brands That Exceed Expectations Grow
Walter Kurlin, Business Programs Facilitator from The Disney Institute, stressed how exceeding a customer’s expectation is the goal; those are the memories in the customer’s head.

He explained how little Johnny could have a great experience in an otherwise negative situation. If the Disney ride requires Johnny to be 40 inches but he’s just under that, he would be most unhappy. Disney provides a certificate to Johnny, saying that when he reaches 40 inches, he can come back to the park and will be moved up to the front of the line immediately if he presents the ticket. Johnny goes home and puts that on the refrigerator, and has his mom measure him every day. When he hits 40 inches, everyone knows where Johnny will be. We never forget that Disney is for profit, so they get the return visitors, but Disney created a good memory and a lasting impression.

But What Are Those Expectations?
That’s the billion-dollar question to many. What are the expectations of your brand? What are the expectations of your retail experience? Chip Beck mentioned in his talk how golfers learn to accept their limitations and play within their means. I think that’s great advice because it helps brands understand where to set the bar and hopefully always be able to follow the axiom of “under promise, over deliver.” Always make sure those expectations are authentic and achievable. If you set unrealistic expectations, you’ll suffer.

The Most Valuable Guest
Target’s Chris Borek gave tremendous insight into the multi-channel customer. He explained that the most valuable customer (or as Target call them, “Guest”) is one that engages Target through more than one channel, meaning she does research online, then goes into the store, and may even use her mobile Target app while there. Those customers yield higher revenue than single channel customers. Judging by what I saw, most of Woodfield Mall would have benefitted from Chris’s talk alone.

I Won Sumthin!
There was a contest for retweeting (no…not a drinking game…darn) and I was the top retweeter of the day. My prize was the Stores and Retail Spaces 11 book, chock full of imagery of outstanding retail design. My review:

I like it. A lot. Chocolates, plz.

The 2011 Summit will be held on August 8-9, 2011 in Minneapolis, and should be on your calendar to attend. If you can make it, bring your notebook and your walking shoes. I’m sure a trip to Mall of America will be in order.

Me. 37 seconds after walking the MOA.

Posted by Paul at 1:00 am
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