Archive for the ‘Mktg – Marketing Mix’ Category

It’s your brand that determines your advertising, not the other way around

May 6, 2010

Key Takeaway: Flashy ads. Pretty packaging. Bright colors. For those who have not taken the Homa Trilogy, this may be what comes to mind when marketing is brought up in conversation.

For the well informed marketer, however, it is crucial to understand that these tactics all need to work together in order to add value to your brand (and ultimately increase profitability).

As you think about creating your next advertisement, be sure that it allows viewers to develop (or reinforce) a single, overarching, and consistent brand identity.

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Excerpted from Businessweek, “How to Create Better Advertising” by Steve McKee, April 16, 2010

Conventional wisdom says the secret to great advertising is developing a big idea for a campaign. In reality, the trick is developing a campaign for a big idea.

As a young company takes root and expands, it begins to establish its brand. With each passing day, the things it does enhance (or detract from) the value of that brand.

The world’s best marketers understand that as valuable as their products and services are, products and services come and go. Brands, however, live on indefinitely.

Apple’s (AAPL) animating idea is innovation. Whether it’s the design of the iPhone, the functionality of iTunes, the customer experience in the Apple Store, or the light humor of the “Mac vs. PC” ads, the company is all about providing pleasant surprises to its customers. As a result, Apple has a legion of loyal followers and is able to command premium prices for its offerings.

Foundation for Lasting Success

For Wal-Mart (WMT), the idea is savings—a concept the company has so effectively owned over the past 48 years that it became the world’s largest retailer. Occasionally it loses sight of its originating idea, but it always returns to the core.

What these and other dominant companies know is that sustainable success is built on the foundation of a singular idea, around which everything they do is oriented. Advertising is just one of those things.

It’s hard to argue with happiness. It’s hard to be against happiness. And it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t like happiness. Coke has decided to equate its brand with happiness, and orients its product, packaging, and promotion in that direction. (Ever see a “Happiness Machine”?). In a fast-paced, pressure-filled world, anyone can take a moment to “Have a Coke and a smile.” (If that old slogan sounds familiar, it only proves the point.)

Happiness. Motivation. Innovation. Performance. Imagination. Savings. These aren’t advertising ideas; they’re business ideas that have advertising implications. If you want your advertising to be more effective, ensure that it’s rooted in the idea that animates your company. If you’re not sure what that idea is, it’s probably related to why you got into business in the first place. Rediscover your animating idea, make sure it’s still sound (see “How Solid Is Your Brand?”), and orient everything you do around it—including (but not limited to) your advertising.

Edit by JMZ

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Full Article:
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/apr2010/sb20100416_222501.htm?chan=innovation_branding_top+stories

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Who’s to blame for the lack of integrated marketing mixes these days?

January 14, 2010

TakeAway:  It’s unclear whether CPG manufacturers should blame themselves or the retailers, but the CPGs better blame something for their lack of adhering to a key marketing success pillar – integrate your marketing mix.

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Excerpted from Marketing Daily, “GMA Study: Shopper Marketing Still Siloed,” By Karlene Lukovitz, November 3, 2009

Shopper marketing continues to grow in importance for CPGs and retailers, but its effectiveness is being limited by insufficient integration with out-of-store marketing and media channels …

Overall investment in shopper marketing ( … in-store advertising, promotion and design initiatives intended to extend brand equity and provide the retailer with differentiation) is estimated to be growing at 21% annually …

Study concludes that CPG manufacturers have yet to align shopper marketing initiatives with the advertising and promotions that reach consumers at home and on the go. That results in disconnected marketing messages, wasted spending and missed opportunities to drive purchases …

Integrating and quantifying results from shopper marketing is becoming even more critical. Retailers increasingly seek to tap into CPGs’ budgets beyond trade promotions, pushing manufacturers to shift spending into ads on retailer Web sites and in-store video networks, as well as participate in retailer database marketing programs …

Study found brand preference to be the most important out-of-store factor influencing which products go on a shopping list …

The study also found that nearly half of food and beverage shoppers and nearly 60% of health/beauty and household goods shoppers purchase their preferred brands even when a less expensive alternative is available. And, 48% of food and beverage shoppers, 58% of household product shoppers and 59% of health and beauty shoppers — use coupons or price promotions to “justify buying the brands they want” rather than as the key factor driving their decision making …

Shoppers choose 59% of the brands they buy in the store, and 41% before they enter the store. This points to opportunities, even in the current down economy, to influence their brand choices before they go shopping.

For the 59% of items for which brands are selected in-store, 85% of shoppers perceive in-store factors as more influential than out-of-store marketing. After price, communicating benefits on packaging is most influential, whether for reinforcing existing brand preferences, driving competitive switching, capturing purchase when there is no strong brand preference, or creating impulse sales.

While confirming that most shoppers (81%) do research before shopping … 77% of shoppers do not take detailed shopping lists into the store. Instead, most shoppers have “mental lists” that include “brand consideration sets,” but evolve as they are exposed to more marketing at home, in transit and in the store.

Edit by TJS

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Full Article
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=116719

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