Retail Marketing

    T-Mobile Advertising is Working.

    0

    Right now, T-Mobile’s advertising is the best in the category.  The way it integrates print, TV and web is beautiful, the art direction is constant, and spokesperson Carly Foulkes has been managed brilliantly.  Never tarted up, always positive, always girl next door, Ms, Foulkes and agency Publicis Seattle are building a place in our brains for this price shopper 4G mobile brand.

    As ubiquitous as this advertising is, it’s not Geico annoying.  Not AT&T message meandering or Verizon techno mappish. It’s a clean, retail brand imprint and it’s beginning to work.

    Creative advertising dudes (less so dudettes) will snark at this comment saying the work is as creative as chipped nail polish, but from a brand management point of view, in a muddled market, this work is moving phones.  And T-Mobile doesn’t even have an iPhone.    

    Imagine if T-Mobile changed its spokesperson every couple of ads.  Or tried to compete with Verizon by employed a lot of red in its color palette. Or rather than hammer home price it showed all the cool phone innovations (okay, they do a bit of that on TV).

    If the AT&T purchase goes through next year, don’t be surprised to see BBDO morph the campaign Ms. Foulkes way.  They won’t cut over using the Magenta color the way they did using Cingular orange, but they know enough to keep the price work clean. Or we might just see Publicis hold the retail business and cede network and inno to BBDO.

    T-Mobile has organized its brand and kept to the plan. That’s why its numbers are creeping up! Peace.

    Innovation is not a label.

    0

    J.C. Penny has hired Ron Johnson, Apple’s head of retail, as its new CEO. The goal is to capture some or Apple’s retail magic in s bottle and pour it on the top floor of J.C. Penny stores and hope it dribbles down the escalators to the main floor. Past the jewelry counters, bread mixers, faux leather jackets and J.C. Penny house brand jeans. Don’t get me wrong, I am an optimist by nature.  Brand planning is all about positivity and change.  Even heavy Domino’s Pizza type lifting, but this one feels like it will need Microsoft money to accomplish.

    Michael Dell who also practiced his marketing ju-ju in Plano, TX, but has had a hard time of late, would agree.  A J.C. Penny retail makeover is quite a challenge. The articles about Mr. Johnson’s hire talk about innovation…but innovation is not a word that can be slapped on a product label. Apple’s innovation began in R&D, in the labs, in the culture and resulted in some fine-ass products.  Penny’s innovation can’t come from pricing, or salespeople, or the merchandise sets – it has to come from something much deeper.  I suspect Mr. Johnson, as excited and smart as he is, may be the wrong tool for this job.  I hope he proves me wrong, because it would be exciting to watch.

    A while ago I suggested Sears reposition and become El Sears, catering to the Spanish and Latin communities. (They didn’t listen. Give them 7 years.) J.C. Penny needs to focus on innovation it has a stomach for…and its consumers have a stomach for.  This move may actually be “the idea to have an idea,” but not the idea itself.  RIP Dick Kerr. Peace!

    YETI About to Get Cold Shoulder.

    0

    Say it ain’t so Yeti. You are not really opening up more and more retail stores. It sounds as if you’ve been bitten by the success bug and it could be your undoing. Yeti is a very cool brand name, which I first came across on my handlebar grips. It seems there’s a mountain bike company by the name too. Yeti coolers are a gold mine. Now a public company with board members hungry at the trough, Yeti is looking to grow faster than the laws of nature allow. Hence, retail stores.

    The problem is that Yeti is a sales handgrenade for Bass Pro Shops, West Marine, Cabella’s, REI, and Dicks Sporting Goods and an assortment of mom and pop and chain hardware stores across the country. Let’s not even mention Amazon who accounts for 30% of Yeti sales.

    These channel partners built displays around Yeti products. Moved prime store real estate and displays around to help build excitement. These partners were your biggest fans. Now you’re trying to take traffic and sales away from them. Yo lo mistako.

    It reminds me of when Krispy Kreme changed its channel strategy and started flooding the market with product. “Pick up your cold donuts at the gas station,” was the big growth idea. IPO- and CEO-driven initiatives.

    Yeti has a great product but they’ve taken their eyes off the ball. They are going from underdog to over-dog, and their biggest fans will be leading the way.

    Peace.

     

    A Tale of Two Salespeople.

    0

    I go to REI yesterday to exchange a pair of Oboz hiking shoes for a wider pair on what was Day 2 of their retail reopening. I had purchased Oboz because a friend, Skip, told me a wonderful story about his buying experience. If you read my previous two posts you’ll recognize Skip as an Oboz “Advocate.” Skip went to REI having done some research but uncommitted to a brand (he likes researching things). His salesman was of a certain age – not an age you’d associate with lots of rigorous hiking – but Skip’s a mensch and didn’t hold it against him. Good thing.

    The dude tells Skip he’s been in the shoe business his whole life, sharing bits of his resume. Then he goes on to tell the Oboz story, highlighting their special “O Fit Insole” and all the other cool, comfort and durability features. Skip was sold and now swears they are the most comfortable hiking shoes he’s ever owned.

    My shopping experience was different. I had picked up my Oboz the day before, sight unseen due to the Virus, and was returning them to get a wider size. Arriving in the shoe area I was met by a very nice young saleswoman. She knew her brands, models names and sizes. She went back to the store room and returned with my wider shoes. Then she slid the shoes to me across the floor. (Perhaps as instructed.) This saleswomen though simply transacting business had an opportunity to work me a bit. Maybe even turn me into an advocate. But she did not. It was a lost opportunity.

    This is a tale of two sales people. One I’d never met but who had a multiplier effect on a Oboz sale and likely hundreds more. The other was a transactor of business. Friendly and efficient.

    Just as there are two types of sales people there are also two types of marketing: the “slide the product” and the “engage and educate” the consumer. Which makes more sense?

    Peace.

     

    Brand Plan for Today.

    0

    Brand planners love the future. Almost as much as they love the past.  Google is introducing some type of campaign or game or something today at South By whereby it’s mashing up some old school ads form the 60s with new school media.  I’m sure it is going to be lovely and may even sell a little Coke, Alka-Seltzer and few Volvos — participating brands.  Hopefully, the effort will sell some Google thingies.

    Planners — and I’m one of them — love the future.  Do things that have never been done. Build new categories. Break new use-case ground.  Design ideas that are future-proof.  Plan “beyond the dashboard” as I like to call it.

    But what’s wrong with today?  Today is not sexy for most. Today is boring.  Or is it?  Retailers and those focused on retail marketing are all about today.  And they are so amped it’s scary. Zimmerman Advertising is a retail advertising specialist and they’re not too famous, but they could be.  They are all about the now and have had long-term success. Cash registers are their mana.

    The past is gone.  The future never arrives (Remember being a kid in bed on Christmas Eve?  That was some existential shizz, no?)  “Now” is what’s up.  Sell more now.  Today.  Plan for today. Peace!

     

    Marshalls and Recent Grads.

    0

    My daughter, freshly graduated from college and about a month into her first full-time job, loves Marshalls.  Marshalls is a department store chain with a very nice selection and great prices.  Apparently, she and her friend would shop there every day if they could.   They have a little jing in their pocketbooks and for the first time have the flexibility to shop on demand. That’s not to say they buy something every time they’re there but they look around (enjoy the air conditioning) and feel the power of consumerism.

    A club?

    Stores like Marshalls have been advertising and mailing to my daughter for years. Perhaps it has worked, perhaps not, but why not take advantage of recent graduates new found status by create a tailored marketing plan and in-store experience for them; one that might just make lifelong customers of them.  How about taking some of that hundred thousand square feet of retail space and turning it into a college graduate corner. Display clothes, apartment furnishings, some appropriate books, maybe some free coffee and a financial advisor. Put up some PC stations with access to Facebook. Create a Foursquare check in incentive. Cookies? (The kind with raisins.)  Celebrate these young ladies as they enter a scary part of their lives.  Help them cope. Let them commune. Test it out Marshalls!  Peace.

    Services Delivered Through Screens.

    0

    A few years ago I did some contract work at ad agency JWT on the Microsoft business. While there that I met Josh Shabtai. Josh had a digital title but his thing was gaming and coding. You could tell he wasn’t one of those guys you easily could put a label on or fit into a box. He was just Josh and you knew he could invent and solve problems. Fast forward a few years and lo-and-behold he is living in the NC piedmont working at Lowe’s. Didn’t see that coming.

    His title is Sr. Director | Ecosystem, Lowe’s Innovation Labs at Lowe’s Companies, Inc. and yesterday I had a chance to see him online at a PSFK event (thanks Piers Fawkes) entitled Future of Retailing, something/something.

    I shop at Lowes because it is closer, but I’ve always thought of it as Burger King to Home-Depot’s McDonald’s. Well, I’m not so sure anymore.

    Josh and Lowe’s understand that a real opportunity zone for Lowe’s is service — for consumers and professionals. Tool geeks want to geek-out with other tool geeks. Pretenders like me want to learn without embarrassment. Tyros want their hands held. And for all DIYers, YouTube is the go-to platform. Josh sees a future in which “services are delivered through screens” and his job is to make the Lowe’s Innovation Labs ground zero. Why cede the home improvement service to YouTube? So he’s building.

    The journey should be an exciting one. Watch out for it.

    Peace.

     

    The price/convenience trade-off.

    0

    I’m a man. Here’s how I shop: I go to a store, walk around, talk to a salesperson, maybe another shopper and I buy.  If the store doesn’t have what I want, I either go home or visit another store.  More often than not, it’s a one store and buy experience.  Price is important, but usually only when comparing choices in the store.  Convenience.

    As technology wends its way more and more into the shopping process and the best price on a skew (product number) is only a click away, (#bestpricesamsungTV) many of the shopping choices we make will be made for us. And price variation will be minimized.

    There will be Amazon for eshoppers and for those who want instant gratification there will be SuperRetailStoreCo or something.  Variability will be minimized in marketing. All that will be left, variability-wise, will be the brands. But marketers who spend too much on branding, will have reduced margins and will likely fall off.  Will it be a brand new marketing world in 2050?  Oh yeah. Should be exciting. Peace!

    A Tale of Two Cities.

    0

    Demand generation is the key to marketing.  Say what you will about branding, design, user experience, promotion, engagement, flah, flah, flah..if you can consistently create demand for your product or service, you’ve done your job.

    Target created demand for its new Missoni line of low-cost clothing and other things (patio furniture, vases, etc.),getting it right from the get-go.  The products were superb, the promotional mix perfect, the price come hither, but the place – the web – was a disaster.  Like www.pearljam.com during a presale, the Target website went down faster than a Sears radial. Target generated demand but not only didn’t deliver online, they pissed off lots of loyal customers.  They also took a number of first-time Luddite customers and taught them the web is no place for commerce. Black eyes all around. (Nice move letting Amazon hosting services go 3 weeks before sales day.)

    In Anaheim, CA yesterday at the Microsoft Build Conference Windows 8 was unveiled during a live and web broadcasted demo. It is a game-changing new operating system. (The product should be called “Tiles” not Windows because it slides and shimmies across the screen but that’s a story for a different post.) It will have mad impact on sales when released but the demo was only 90% there. As is the case with live demos and Microsoft products in “pre-release,” there were a couple of moments of machine freeze.  With 12 back-up machines for quick cut-overs (good boy scouts) there were no real long pauses.  That said, the demo would have better had there been no hiccups at all.

    The two cities referred to in the headline are marketing (demand creation) and technology (delivery).  It’s a rarity when marketing hits on all cylinders, but when it does, the tech has to be ready. Tis a far, far greater thing I do… Peace! 

    Facial Recognition is Buggin’.

    0

     

    I watch a bit of TV and one of the technologies that pops up from time to time is facial recognition.  A digital recorder scans the face of an unsuspecting villain comparing facial features to a database  generating a “hit” which ties the person to an abundance of data.    

    Does the technology sound expensive?  Sure. Is it?  Probably not.   

    As mobile and GPS technologies become more common and applied commercially – always in an opt-in fashion, of course – do you think facial recognition apps are far behind?  Let’s say they start out as a security thing, confirming that your credit or debit card is really yours.  Not so bad. But how about if you walk into a store and are recognized as a big spender by the software, and an special customer care alert goes out to the sales dept?  Smart from the store’s viewpoint.  If a NYer who spends $10,000 a year at Macy’s visits a branch in Chicago, wouldn’t the store want a heads up before check out?

    It sounds intrusive, yes. But let’s face it.  We’re bugging ourselves in lots of ways. EasyPass records where our cars have driven. ATM’s track us. Credit card transactions track us. Traffic cams record our car license plates. Soon our smart phones will know more about us than we do.  (Mr. Poppe, you are listing to port.)

    I for one, think facial recognition will provide neat commercial possibilities. Time will tell. Peace!