Where is the sausage?

Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy

2013-05-23T04:49:00+01:00

If you are interested in understanding the science behind why we buy (which you should be), then I recommend "Decoded" by Phil Barden. There are lots of books on this topic, but Decoded is the first one written for marketers. Its packed with fascinating facts, but also practical recommendations that will force you to re-think your marketing strategy.

Here are a few of my personal highlights from the book.

Flying on auto-pilot

We have two systems that we use for decision making:

- Autopilot (also called System 1): acts quickly and effortlessly using intuition

- Pilot (also called System 2): thinking that is slow and requires effort

The autopilot processes every single bit of information from all our five senses and has huge processing power. In contrast, the poor old pilot has a processing capacity 0.0004% the size of the autopilot.

In the same way most of a long-haul flight is flown on auto-pilot, we fly through most of our daily lives the same way. Only when absolutely neeeded do we engage the pilot.

This is how we can choose 30 items from the 30,000 in a supermarket in only 30 minutes, as I posted on here.

And this is why we spend bugger all time looking at marketing communication, as Phil's data shows:

Magazine advert: 1.7 seconds

Poster: 1.5 seconds

Banner advert: 2.0 seconds

Mailing (1st check): 2.0 seconds

This learning reinforces the need for simple, impactful and distinctive communication.

Action point: most marketing is way to complex to be processed easily by the autopilot. Does your latest poster or magazine ad pass the 2 second test?

Using shortcuts

The autopilot allows us to act without really thinking. And it does this using shortcuts. For example:

Price: pricing is one of the most powerful signifiers of brand positioning. For example, when given two glasses of wine, both with the same wine but one at $80 and one at $10, people thought the more expensive wine tasted much better.

Social proof (I'll do what most people do): telling hotel guests that most people re-used their towels increased this behaviour

Product format: Product formats speak louder than words to communicate a positioning. For example, Unilever used of granules not powder for instant soup to suggest higher quality, as this format reminded people of the granules in premium coffees like Nescafe Gold Blend.

Notice in these examples that there was no overt, explicit message. Rather, cues were used to suggest quality or ethical behaviour to the autopilot.

Action point: are you using pricing, formats and social proof to cue the right brand message to the autopilot, or are you relying too much on explicit messaging

Context counts

Phil shows how context is key to our decision making. We don't view brands or products or services in isolation, but rather compared to other things. Some of the most fascinating examples in the book are about pricing. For example, The Economist magazine two tested different subscription price models.

Version 1

Web only $59

Print only $125

Web & Print $125

Version 2

Web only $59

Web & Print $125

Any guess on what people bought in each case?

In version 1, 84% went for Web & Print and 16% for Web only. In version 2, only 32% of people chose Web & Print. The print only offer acted as an "anchor" which the autopilot used to figure out value for money. And in doing so it significantly increased the total subscription revenue.

In another example, a catalogue company found more people bought a product when shown as reduced from $48 to $40 than they did when it was priced at $39. This is another example of anchoring, with the higher price giving an anchor against which to compare the sale price.

Action point: how can you use anchoring in your pricing strategy to increase sales of premium priced products?

In conclusion, Decoded is a real mind opener, with a strong scientific foundation and loads of pratical marketing suggestions. Highly recommended.

Lessons from Red Bull's billionaire founder

2013-05-21T09:48:00+01:00

Red Bull is one of the most talked about brands in the world, in terms of consumers, but also in terms of marketing folk. There are lessons to learn from Red Bull that could help you become a billionaire, though not the ones you may expect.

We look on in awe at their unique approach to brand building, based on creating, owning and amplifying a myriad collection of "assets", such as the New York Red Bull soccer team, the Red Bull Air Race and the F1 team. We posted on the Red Bull Stratos space jump here. And there's a comprehensive guide to their brand assets here.

Now, trying to emulate Red Bull's marketing might help you in your current job for your current employer. But to learn about becoming a billionaire we need to dig into the story of the Red Bull creator and co-owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, who is worth $7 billion according to Forbes.

1. Be open to opportunities

You don't know where business ideas will come from. And often, they don't come from sitting around trying to brainstorm new ideas. Rather, they come from being open to opportunities. In the case of Mateschitz, he was the international marketing dude for Blendax tootpaste back in 1982. During a visit to Thailand he found that a drink called Krating Daeng helped cure his jet lag, as reported here.

2. Its never too late to start!

Entrepreneurs are often portrayed as young guns in their 20's. However, Mateschitz was in is late 30's when he started Red Bull. He'd got big company experience, saw an opportunity, and grasped it.

3. Copy with pride

You don't have to invent something totally new to be a billionaire. Check out the pack of Krating Daeng below. Looks familiar right? And the name Krating Daeng is Thai for Red Bull. Mateschitz has to adapt the product for Western tastes. But the brand name, identity and basic product were all there already, he didn't event them.

4. Invest early

Mateschitz put in $500,000 of savings in 1984 to create the Red Bull company, for 49% of the business. The Thai owner of Krating Daeng, Chaleo Yoovidhya, also put in $500,000. The last 2% went to Chaleo's son, Chalerm. A pretty good investment, given that the business has an estimated worth of $7.5 billion.

In conclusion, following the steps above won't neccesarily make you a billionaire. But they could help you identify your own business opportunity, and back it early to get a decent share of the business.

Can Slingshot super-power social media for brands?

2013-05-15T05:26:00+01:00

Regular readers will know I've been a bit of a social media sceptic, especially in terms of the role it can play for most fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands. One of my major issues has been the indirect effect on FMCG sales of social media, in contrast to online brands who can more easily drive online sales.

Well, could a new technology called "Slingshot" start to address this problem?

Slingshot is a snazzy service that allows you to link it to the online shopping basket of your preferred retailers, such as Tesco.com or Ocado. Then, when you see a Slingshot button on a brand's webpage you click, and hey presto, the item is in your shopping basket.

See below for an example for Stella Artois Cidre. Brand owner InBev claims sales "rocketed" after adding the Slingshot functionality to their facebook page. They say the conversion rate was double what it got from an Amazon page (c. 3-5%).

Now, we shouldn't get too carried away here, as only c.5% of grocery shopping is done online in the UK according to reports here. And the UK is one of the more developed markets. However, Slingshot could at least be a first step towards social media actually helping SMS (sell more stuff). And some experts forecast that by 2020 online could be 10-12% of the grocery shopping market.

I'm going to have a go with my shopping.

And I'd love to hear from any brands who have tried Slingshot out.

Heineken Ideas Factory: most of us want to consume content, not create it

2013-05-13T12:35:04+01:00

Consumer creativity contests are all the rage these days. One that caught my eye was Heineken's global competition to design a new bottle in their "Remix our Future" contest. This made me smile, as it reminded me of the "Pizzart" contest (UK readers should get the joke) to design a sausage pizza box for the fictional Simpton's brand in my Where's the Sausage book.

But how many entries do you think Heineken got?

The contest was run on the brand's facebook page.

The brand has 13,000,000 Facebook Likes.

What do you reckon?

The answer is 1,700.

This is a participation rate of 0.001%

And what about getting people to look at the designs and vote?

The winning design had 147 views.Which is also 0.001%.

And check out that winning design above. Is it just me, or is that pretty ugly?

Here are my take-outs from this story:

1. Most of us want to consume content, not create it

Give me a break. You're the brand. I want you to be creative, not ask me to do the hard work.

If you do go this route, make it easy for people to join in.

2. Lower your expectations

If you do go down the route of asking people to be creative in a contest, lower your expectations. Heineken is a global brand with a big social media presence. And they got 170 entries.

3. Make it worth my while

If after all this you still decide to go down the creative contest route, at least make it worth while joining in. I posted here on Lays/Walkers "Do us a Flavour" contest. Not only was this easy to enter, the prize was a whopper: £500,000 AND 1% of sales of the new flavour.

The only prize for the Heineken bottle winner I can see is that your design is exhibited in a design exhibition, and then launched.

4. Be careful on creative control

Be careful about what you leave open to consumer creativity. I'm not sure the design of your global pack design is one I'd use this approach on.

In conclusion, the Heineken bottle contest showed that 99.999% of people who bother to Like the brand's Facebook page were not interested in joining in. A brand's job is to be creative for consumers, and not to delegate this job to them.

brandgym at Brand Manage Camp in Vegas, Sep 16th and 17th

2013-05-08T05:15:00+01:00

My favourite email of the year so far was the one inviting me to speak about growing the core at this year's Brand Manage Camp in Las Vegas, on 16th and 17th September. I know, its a tough job eh? I'll be sharing insights, tips and tricks inspired by the Grow the Core book.

This is one of the USA's leading branding conferences, with two days worth of speakers, covering everything from creativity, to "contagious ideas" and innovation. So I'm chuffed to bits to have been invited to speak.

The full agenda for the event is here. And if you click below you can watch a little movie with more about my talk.

So, see you in Vegas!

Ryvita: upgrading packaging to grow the core

2013-05-07T05:49:00+01:00

Thanks to Carol Flint at Ryvita for sharing a great example of how to use packaging to grow the core: new "foil fresh" packs that the brand has just launched.

Here's why I like this bit of packaging innovation:

1. Upgrading the core

The new foil fresh packs upgrade the current crispbread products, by keeping them crispy for longer. This means Ryvita is making what is strong even stronger, rather than trying to grow by adding new products or pack formats.

2. Functional packaging

The new foil fresh packs are delivering a benefit that is relevant to consumer needs. I remember from working on Ryvita that a reason for not buying it was concerns over the crispbreads losing their crunch.

3. Distinctiveness vs. own label

This upgrade is a little step to help Ryvita be distinctive versus own label copy cats. No doubt the copying will happen again, as own label tries to match the brand leader. But for now Ryvita has a window of time when it has a little edge to support the price premium.

4. Simple, effective descriptor

"Foil fresh" is a nice name to use for these new packs. It combines the what ("foil") with the benefit ("fresh"). And the with only 2 syllables, the name is easy to use and remember.

5. Build on other grow the core activity

This pack upgrade is the latest in a series of grow the core initiatives aimed at keeping Ryvita fresher and crunchier for longer, so it tastes great. The brand has already introduced nice tins for your kitchen, and little bags to take your Ryvita to work for lunch.

In conclusion, foil fresh packs might not be as sexy as social media or stretching the brand. But my money is on them being a great way to SMS (sell more stuff) and help grow the core.

The Burberry trench: "How to focus on your core business for brand success"

2013-04-30T05:10:00+01:00

Key to Burberry's doubling of revenue and profit in the last five years has been re-focusing on the iconic, core trenchcoat, according to this HBR interview with CEO Angela Ahrendts. Thanks to Ian Norman of Nexus/H for the tip-off.

When Ahrendts took over as CEO in 2006, the company was growing at only 2% a year. She quickly concluded that Burberry had stretched too far from the core: "It had lost its focus in the process of global expansion. We had 23 licensees around the world. We were selling dog cover-ups and leashes... a whole section of kilts. Together they added up to just a lot of stuff—something for everybody, but not much of it exclusive or compelling."

Here are some of the key insights from her story of transforming Burberry bang in line with the sub-title of the new Grow the Core book: "How to focus on your core business for brand success"

1. Remember what made your famous

Ahrendts did what we always do on projects: she looked back to see what made the brand famous in the first place:

"For more than a century the Burberry trench coat was cool. But when I became CEO, outerwear represented only about 20% of our business. Fashion apparel and check accessories were leading our strategy.

It’s not unusual for a luxury company to be born from a single product and then diversify. Louis Vuitton began with luggage, and Gucci with leather goods. But each continued to earn the majority of its revenue from its original core products. Burberry wasn’t capitalizing on its historical core. We weren’t proud of it. We weren’t innovating around it.

2. Re-focus on the core

Re-focusing on the core was key to the growth strategy, as Ahrendts comments: "We would reinforce our heritage by emphasizing and growing our core luxury products, innovating them and keeping them at the heart of everything we did."

It is interesting to read that this strategy was met with some resistance inside the company: "I have to admit that some managers were cynical. A lot of them had been at Burberry for a really long time. I’m sure they left saying, 'Focusing on trench coats—that’s our strategy?' " Re-focusing on the core isn't as sexy as brand stretching, and can even seem basic and boring. But it can be highly effective if done well.

3. Refresh the core

The key to growing the core is to re-focus creativity and innovation on it. This can be through upgrading the products you have already, but also extending the core range, as Burberry did: "Burberry used to have just a few basic styles of trench coats: Almost all were beige with the signature check lining, and the differences between them were minor. Now we have more than 300 SKUs, including the classic Burberry trench in a range of vibrant colors and styles, with everything from mink collars to studded leather sleeves."

Furthermore, the iconic trench coat was reinstated as the product essence of the whole brand, in the same way that the boot is the essence of the Timberland brand: "Christopher and the designers and marketers all started dreaming up ways to reinforce the idea that everything we did—from our runway shows to our stores—should start with the ethos of the trench."

4. Centralise creativity

Stronger creative leadership was key to re-focus on the core. Back in 2006 there were separate design teams in Hong Kong and the USA. Ahredts could have tried to engage and align these teams to get them on board. Instead, she was much bolder. She closed down these teams and centralised creative leadership in London under Christopher Bailey, acting as a "brand czar.” Ahrendts comments that: “Anything that the consumer sees—anywhere in the world—will go through his office. No exceptions.”

The same centralisation of creativity, with uncompromising brand standards, has also been key to success at Gucci with Tom Ford, and Apple with Steve Jobs.

5. Aligning sales teams

Re-focusing on the core required a lot of effort internally to align the sales teams' efforts, and help them to sell the higher priced trench coats rather than "easier" sales of cheaper items like polo shirts: "We created videos to demonstrate Burberry craftsmanship. We equipped our sales associates with iPads. We knew that beautiful, compelling content would connect customers to the brand and our iconic trench."

6. Product passion starts within

My favourite bit of this brilliant story concerns the wearing of trench coats by leaders inside the business. When Ahrendts arrived she was shocked by what she saw as top managers arrived at her first strategic planning meeting: "They'd flown in to classic British weather, gray and damp, but not one was wearing a Burberry trench coat. If our top people weren’t buying our products, how could we expect customers to pay full price for them?"

Contrast this with how the CEO describes the company today: "If you ask a Burberry senior executive how many trench coats he or she owns, the answer is likely to be eight or nine. As for me, I can safely confess to owning a dozen. They’re not just raincoats anymore. They are the foundation of a great brand and a great company."

In conclusion, this has to be one of the best examples of how to re-focus on the core business for brand success. As Ahrendts beautifully sums up, "Today it’s taken for granted that the trench coat must remain our most exciting, most iconic product. It guides all our decisions. Our sales associates understand it. This product is who we are."

"Distribution-led" brand extension

2013-04-25T04:21:00+01:00

A new format of innocent smoothies I snapped whilst shopping got me thinking about the role of core brand extension. The bottle is slightly smaller than normal, and sold at a lower price point. This allows it to be included in "Meal Deal" promotions, where you can buy a sandwich, snack and drink for £3.

Up to now, I've seen two main reasons for extending your core, through formats or product versions, as I posted on here in an extract from the new Grow the Core book. First, they can drive penetration by widening the brand’s appeal to more people, on more occasions. Second, they can deliver ‘premiumisation’, by charging a higher price for new benefits, driving not only volume share but also value share.

But the new innocent bottle shows an extra possible benefit of core extension, which is driving distribution. It's "distribution-led" brand extension, if you like. Here's a few advantages of this approach.

1. Drive penetration

innocent's new meal deal pack increases shelf presence by securing an extra couple of facings on shelf, in addition to the normal sized pack. By increasing shelf presence, and being part of a meal deal promotion, this should help innocent drive penetration.

2. Solving a consumer problem

The new format solves a consumer problem, by increasing the choice of drinks to have with your meal deal. An innocent smoothie is a healthier option than a soft drink, but until now was too expensive.

3. Solving a retailer problem

The new innocent format also helps the retailer in question, Sainsbury's, by making their meal deal promotion healthier. One of Sainsbury's commitments is to make shopping baskets healthier, and this little innocent bottle is a little step in the right direction. The innocent team have been smart by also doing shelf-ready packaging that flags up the meal deal format.

4. Growing the core

I posted last week on how core extension can distract attention from the core, in a story about Carr's water biscuits taking shelf-space from the original version to offer new flavours. The nice thing here is that innocent's meal deal pack is a new format of their "anchor" strawberry and banana smoothie.

In conclusion, the next time you work on extending your core range, perhaps think about how to use this to drive distribution not just add variety.

Tesco's £billion brand ego trip to America

2013-04-22T04:05:00+01:00

Tesco has just confirmed its its exit from the US market, with Fresh & Easy's failure costing a hefty billion pounds according to reports here. This led to the first drop in Tesco's full year profits for 20 years.

I first posted on Tesco's problems with Fresh & Easy back in Sep 11, and again here last December. I thought it was worth re-posting some of the lessons from the failed US launch, an example of what I call a "brand ego trip", when a brand gets too big for its boots, over-stretches and pays the price. In this case the stretch was from its core market in the UK to the notoriously difficult US market.

1. Over-relying on research

Tesco spent a fortune on pre-launch consumer research, including doing extensive in-home studies and famously building a fully mocked up store, disguised as a film studio. However, nothing beats actually in-market prototyping, as I posted on here. It was only after launching and expanding the chain that problems with Fresh & Easy really came to light. US customers didn't like having slef-checkouts and having to pack their own bags, and the smaller store format didn't fit well with the habit of doing big shops. Also, Fresh & Easy failed to pick up on the importance of discount coupons as part of the core offer.

2. Under-estimating the competition

It seems that Tesco didn't fully respect the competitive retailers who already had a foothold in the US cities where Fresh & Easy launched, and failed to add enough value versus the existing offer in the market. These included the Trader Joe's chain, owned by Aldi. Reports here suggest that "The Fresh & Easy stores were far more downmarket. Even the buildings disappointed – cold and antiseptic, they more like aircraft hangars than cheery, pleasant places to shop."

These established competitors also meant that Tesco didn't always have the best locations for stores. Bryan Roberts, a Kantar Retail analyst said here: "Half of the stores are in less than ideal locations.”

3. Diverting attention from the core

One of the problems with brand ego trips is that they divert time and talent from the core business, in this case Tesco's UK supermarket business. This core is suffering badly, as I posted on here. Fresh & Easy was headed up by one of Tesco's most talented marketers, Tim Mason, who played a leading role in Tesco's earlier success in the 90's and 00's. For the last five years he's been running the US business, not helping sort out the core UK business. And now he's paying the price for the failure of Fresh & Easy with his job.

In conclusion, Tesco's US troubles are a stark reminder of how hard it is to stretch from the core into a new market, with a need to add genuine value versus established competition. Research will only get you so far, with a better approach to test, learn and refine in market.

In store is key to grow the core

2013-04-17T15:56:32+01:00

To grow your core you need to get things right in store. But the Carr's water biscuit brand has failed to take this on board, based on the story shared with me by Sue Allchurch, global brand VP on Lipton and a good mate of mine.

Carr's was born with an original core product, a light, thin and crispy biscuit great to have with cheese. Over time, the brand's extended the original "anchor" version to also offer garlic, black pepper and sesame versions. The brand has also stretched to have melts and cheese triangles.

Now I'd bet a biscuit or two that the original version still makes up the bulk of sales. I'd guess 50%? And yet look below at the shelf Sue found when she went to buy some of these original Carr's biscuits. As she said, "It's the 3rd weekend in a row, Saturday at 11am and they are out of stock of plain Carrs. I DON'T WANT peppercorns or sesame seeds!!!!".

Not a happy lady. And I guess she's not the only one.

What can we learn from this?

1. The basics still matter

Even today's high-tech world, you can still get caught out by something as basic as out-of-stocks. Back in the days when Sue and I were brand assistants at P&G, we were trained to sniff out like bloodhounds reasons for every 0.1% of share loss. And often the reason was out-of-stocks. Wind forward, and it's still an issue.

2. Focus on the core, in-store

Why do Carr's original water biscuits have the same shelf space as garlic, pepper and sesame? They clearly they sell much faster, as there's none left by 11am. And why does the core water biscuits range only have the same space as melts and cheese triangles, when they probably make up more than half the sales?

It's OK to offer new flavour versions of your core range, but the risk, as shown here, is that you neglect the original anchor version.

3. Get close to your in-store team

This story shows how important it is for marketing folk to get close to their in-store team and spend time with customers. First, ensure your core has a much presence as possible. Second, ensure that the basics such as out-of-stocks are being fixed.

In conclusion, do all the sexy stuff you want in marketing. But to grow the core, you need to get it right in store.

Samsung show how to "TURN ON TOMORROW"

2013-04-15T11:09:02+01:00

Post from Prasad Narasimhan, our Managing Partner for Asia, based in Bangalore, India.

Every marketer knows that great insights fuel brands & their success in market. Insights inspire action and create growth opportunities for our brands.

But we also know that it is not easy coming up with great insights. It involves hard work, passion and a tenaciousness of purpose that paves the way for serendipity.

So when we see a marketer creating win after win in the market, and that too in a category that is under tremendous pressure, it merits our attention.

A category under siege

Photography has seen dramatic change over just the last two decades. The film roll is dead, and with it, great big names like Kodak, which filed for bankruptcy last year. Digital cameras conquered swiftly & mercilessly, giving consumers unprecedented flexibility & freedom to take great pictures.

If that was quick, the attack on digital cameras has been even quicker. Must-have gadgets like smart-phones & tablets have become a rage with consumers globally, and their camera functionalities have been upgraded at a mind boggling pace; witness a 41MP camera with digital stabilization on some of the latest smart-phones! Why would anyone need to carry a separate digital camera anymore?

But digital cameras have been fighting back, and led, ironically by the same company that is killing the category with smart-phones. Samsung.

Insight-led innovation

Samsung has created a range of stunning new-to-the world cameras, and that too in a very short time.

First was the 2-view camera. And the insight behind it was breathtakingly simple. Today’s social-media tribe (now called "selfies") is increasingly obsessed with self-portraits to feed their FB profiles, but struggle to get good shots with either a conventional DSLR or their phones. Presto - the 2-view camera that allows you to see yourself as you click!

Then Samsung quickly killed this themselves. They realized early that while they had a winning concept & product, things were not yet perfect. The self-screen was small, as it had to compete for space with a viewfinder and a host of camera buttons.

A new insight was uncovered – selfies don’t often get a good view of themselves when they try & take self-portraits. Samsung now created the Multiview camera: with a rotating panel that allows you to see yourself on a full-screen in any angle.

Samsung was now on a roll. They realized that these self-obsessed users want to post or send their latest photos to their friends circle right then, right there. This is a generation of kids who live in the moment. This insight gave birth to the Smart Camera that allowed users to share their photos instantaneously by mail or on social media sites of their choice. Their tag line of “Shoot Wow, Share Now” captures the promise as imaginatively as they designed the camera itself. And of course, it was another world-first.

Before long, marketers at Samsung unearthed yet another consumer pain point. People that take group photos don’t get to be part of the photo! Wouldn’t it be perfect if they could be in the picture with their friends? Can picture taking itself not be part of the fun? Samsung then create their next little gem – the world’s first timer camera with dual LCD screens.

Turn on Tomorrow

This tagline captures the essence of Samsung; to be consumer leading every time. They are obsessed with leading the category experience each time & striking gold with each launch. For this they realize the need to constantly mine deeper into the world of their consumers.

So what will tomorrow be like? Can it be a camera that allows you to juxtapose your self-portrait with the scene you are shooting? Can it allow Photoshop-like enhancements & spot editing? Can the camera become a canvas for youth to express their creativity? Can it come with a remote that allows you to operate the self-portrait mode with a lot more flexibility? Can it come with an intelligent stylus like the Note2? Can it come with a slew of apps that make photography that much more rewarding? Can it help create a new generation of photo-bloggers?

The brand is on fire because the insights are on ‘FIRE’

At the brandgym, we believe that great insights need to meet the FIRE test. They should be FRESH (new to the category), INSPIRING (lead to action), RELEVANT (to consumers & your product) and ENDURING (will remain relevant for years).

By obsessing on consumers, their pain points & their unarticulated needs, Samsung is generating insight after insight – thereby creating hit after hit in the market.

"Unilever in-store promotion ROI is 50% higher than social media"

2013-04-11T03:21:00+01:00

For the last couple of years it feels like I've been trying to make myself heard at a Justin Bieber concert full of fans screaming "SOCIAL MEDIA, WE LOVE YOU!" I have pleaded for a rational, business focused look at the limitations of social media, but the media-fuelled hysteria has been hard to compete with.

Well, now Unilever has added its much louder voice to help amplify the voice of reason. "Unilever marketing teams are questioning the logic of shifting big budgets to social media, when the equivalent spent on in-store promotions can deliver an ROI up to 50% higher", according to this article in Marketing. The article goes on to say "Unilever is likely to skew marketing spend toward in-store promotions on brands such as Timotei, Radox and Marmite at the expense of social-media campaigns."

Why is this the case?

1. Be close to the point of purchase.

First, in-store activation works better than social media for most brands because it happens close to the point of purchase. You can raise awareness for your brand, and people who see it can by it straight away. In contrast, social media is much more in-direct. It's different if you're an online brand, such as Expedia. Here, you can read a post on Facebook, for example, and click to buy straight away.

Now the trick here is create activation ideas that increase presence and also build the brand, as I posted on here, not just do price promotions.

2. Attract light and non-users

Boosting in-store presence can make your brand visible to the light and non-buyers that are key to driving penetration. In contrast, our social media research showed that 80%+ brand likers on a Facebook page were already using the brand before they hit "Like". In other words, you are preaching to the converted. And no, this won't help make them more loyal, as loyalty rates are flat across brands in a given category.

3. Fit with the brand

According to the article, "Unilever will continue to back brands with social activity where it is a 'good fit', such as grooming-product brand Lynx/Axe." Back last year I proposed a simple checklist to help you asses the how much of your budget to allocate to social media: see below. The three key questions to help assess the fit for your brand are:

i) How social is your brand: is it one people would talk about down the pub?

ii) How online is your brand: is online a key sales channel

iii) How young is your brand: younger users are much heavier users of social media

In conclusion, I recommend following Unilever's lead and taking a long, hard look at how much of your time and money is allocated to social media by brand. But first, buy some earplugs so you can't hear the social media fans screaming hysterically.

How to have workshops that work

2013-04-09T10:14:00+01:00

Helen Edwards suggests marketing workshops are a total waste of time in her latest Marketing column: "Industrial workshops' outputs were always hard, useful and specific", she says. "Sloppy marketing sessions are where the outputs are normally anything but."

Now as someone who uses workshops a lot, I am of course biased. But I think if, and its a big if, a workshop is well designed, planned and facilitated it can be very effective.

Below I look at her criticisms of workshops, and how to make them better.

1. "Long wearying sessions"...

Poorly designed workshops can indeed drain energy. But if well designed and run, they can inspire and energize. This requires: i) careful design of different exercises, including fresh insight "fuel" ii) reviewing every single input and presentation helps ensure you avoid "death by powerpoint", iii) constructing the right team, of c. 8-10 people, ensures the workshop can move at a pace.

Here's a quote from someone who came out of a workshop I ran yesterday: "I’ve had lots of positive comments following yesterday, and everyone is really engaged and excited as result of the workshop."

More hard data comes from the survey we do before and after every project, to measure the team's clarity and engagement regarding the brand strategy and vision. As you can see below, these positive results from almost 500 people shows workshops can work well.

2. ... "in airless hotel meeting rooms..."

The right venue is key to success. And it needs time, expertise and money to get it right. We spend time to get the right space functionally (big, natural light, lots of space). Also, where possible, we use a venue that brings to life the brand. For example, to work on the Carling Black Label Cup, we held the workshop not in an airless hotel room, but in a South African soccer stadium, including a tour for attendees.

3. "... where ideas rarely happen..."

Ideas rarely happen in workshops where you have the same group of people, in the same place, with no fresh insight to inspire you. However, with the right people and some fresh insight "fuel" you can create good ideas. Solero Shots came from a session looking at insight into how teens consumed soft drinks. The vision to refresh Covent Garden soup came from sharing videos of people in their kitchens talking about the brand. And a new strategy for Kenco business-to-business coffee came from ethnographic trips to coffee shops with people.

Also, you should never expect a single workshop to create all your ideas. That's why we use a "pre-load" of ideas from multiple sources to feed into any workshop.

4. "... and no one should ever criticise..."

Helens suggest that workshops have their "own mini-lexicon of verbal dishonesty: 'challenge' ('I disagree') and 'build' ('I disagree and here's my better idea')". I must say from 100's of workshops that using 'builds' is a good way of creating and deveopling ideas. It encourages people to share 1/2 formed ideas that can be improved, and creates a positive, "can-do" attitude.

In addition, workshops need to be different at different stages of a project. At the beginning, I suggest you should be open, encouraging and, yes, building. However, in the later phase of a project, we take an approach a bit like the Dragons' Den TV show, where there is a lot of constructive critiscism.

5. "... rarely obilge straining, consciuous minds"

Helen says that workshops don't tend to engage and stretch bright people, especially creatives. With the right process and techniques, this doen't have to be the case. Indeed, I often have creative people saying something like, "I came to this workshop expecting a lot of hot air, but it was actually really practical and useful".

In conclusion, workshops that are well designed, planned and faciliated can be highly productive and effective. But for this to happen, a rough guidline is 4 days of preparation for every day of workshop. So for a 2 day session, that's 8 days of preparation.

And to the person who provoked Helen's rant by asking "'I need to align my team behind some key drivers, so I wondered if you could workshop that through in an ideation session.", we'd be happy to help with a workshop that really works ;-)

Will putting Giraffes in Tesco help grow their core?

2013-04-04T10:06:00+01:00

Will Tesco's purchase of the Giraffe chain of family restaurants for £48.6 million take focus away from the core supermarket business, or help grow it? Let's look at the arguments for and against this move.

For: growing the core?

"Tesco hope that the acquisition will help revitalise its UK business", according to this report. The idea is that opening Giraffe branches in or near Tesco stores will create "retail destinations" for customers. These restaurants could also use up retail space once devoted CDs and movies that are now sold online. Buying Giraffes follows on from Tesco taking a 49% stake in the Harris and Hoole coffee shop chain.

But hang on a minute, is a Tesco really going to become a retail destination, just because it has a Giraffe in it? I'm really not sure.

And anyway, how many stores are really going to have Giraffes in the next 2-3 years?

Tesco has 700 superstores and Tesco Extras.

In 15 years Giraffe has opened 46 stores.

So, even if the same number of Giraffes arrive in Tesco in the next 3 years, that's only 7% of Tesco stores. Not enough to really make a big impact is it?

For: new revenue streams?

Neil Saunders, managing director of Conlumino told BBC News here, "Traditional retailing is seeing much more sluggish growth. Wider areas of spending including leisure and dining out exposes Tesco to much more lucrative growth."

But hang on Neil. Giraffe's turnover = £40million.

Tesco turnover = £64 billion.

So, if Tesco doubled the number of Giraffes, the extra £40million would be only 0.06% growth.

Against: distracting focus from the core?

Tesco's troubles with their core business were covered in an ealier post here. Key to success is a long over-due rejuvenation of the core offer, in terms of product offer and customer experience.

The risk with the Giraffe acquisition is that this "new toy" could distract attention away from the core business to run the newly acquired chain of restaurants. In addition, Tesco's capabilities come from operating a cost conscious supermarket, not running a restaurant chain. The Giraffe management say they will stay, but for how long?

And all the effort put into Giraffe is growing this brand, rather than directly rejuvenating the core Tesco brand.

In conclusion, I have to say Tesco's Giraffe buying looks to me like a distraction from their core. I wouldn't be surprised if in a couple of years they have sold the chain.

But, what do you think?

The risks of brand complacency

2013-04-02T06:30:00+01:00

Another bit of genius from marketoonist Tom Fishburne, this one about the potentially fatal effects of "brand complacency". This is especially relevant to brand leaders, who need to constantly work on renovating their core brand and business to stay ahead of the competition.

Below are a few tips on how to avoid becoming complacent and paying the price, as happened to brand leaders like Blockbuster and Kodak.

1. Define your market in benefit terms

To identify possible threats to your business, ensure you are defining your market in benefits terms, not product terms. So, Kodak's market was not photo film, it was really "capturing memories". Defining the market this way could have helped draw more attention to the threat of digital cameras.

2. Respect the upstarts, don't dismiss them

Brand leaders can become arrogant and dismissive of start-up "challenger brands", or "poacher brands" as I call them. This is a risky and mis-guided reaction that reeks of brand ego tripping. And it can be costly, as Blockbuster found out, losing business to Netflix's DVD delivery service, and then online streaming. Brand arrogance can also happen in consumer goods markets. Ski was once UK brand leader in yoghurts, but lost out to Muller who came in with a superior product and distinctive "split-pot" packaging.

A better approach is to look at what new start-up brands are doing, and find ways to combat them. For example, you learn from what they are doing well and re-apply their ideas to your business, as Walkers did with Red Sky premium potato chips, that I posted on here.

3. Have an ongoing renovation pipeline

Most brand teams I meet have an innovation pipeline full of sexy new product development (NPD) projects. Far fewer have a renovation pipeline, with a 2-3 year plan on how to reinvigorate and refresh the core brand and business. In a recent post I used the example of James Bond as a brand who had refreshed and renovated itself with the movie Skyfall.

In conclusion, brand complacency is easy to creep in on a leader brand, but its a dangerous thing. To avoid it, you should follow Tom's advice, which is a phrase I've also used many times, including this post back in 2008: "To stay number 1, train like number 2".