February 2006 Highlights
| Director's Note: In-Store Inferiority Rant XL |
 |
Observing the annual media coverage of Super Bowl
advertising always inspires a jump up on the
soapbox, because it exacerbates the perceptional
disparity between media advertising and in-store
marketing.
This year, that disparity was crystallized with
the coverage of one Super Bowl advertiser in
particular, Gillette. Along with all the other
in-game ads, spots for the company's new Fusion
five-blade razor (six if you count the flip-side
trimmer) were analyzed, critiqued, rated, and ranked
in a variety of media outlets, both trade and
consumer. (Advertising Age's Bob Garfield,
the Blackwell of TV advertising, gave them a snarky
thumbs-down.)
But more than a week before the Super Bowl,
Gillette (assisted by new parent Procter & Gamble)
began the rollout of a couple hundred thousand Fusion
displays and related signage to drugstores,
supermarkets and mass merchants. By the time the
game -- and those spots -- aired on Feb. 5, you
basically couldn't walk into a store that sold
razors without seeing one in a prominent location.
Gillette's hometown Boston Globe ran an
article about the launch that devoted
significant attention to the in-store activity.
Otherwise, what should have been recognized as the
most significant aspect of the launch campaign (as
well as the most complex) received little more than
a few media mentions.
Such is life in the media-obsessed world of
product marketing. Wal-Mart's new "Save More, Smile
More" TV campaign gets heavy scrutiny, but a
corresponding redesign of all in-store
signage is ignored (except
by us). Few cared when news broke of Target's in-store
TV network in late 2005, but everyone is
currently lauding the chain's ingenious guerrilla
marketing effort in Torino (where it slapped
bull's-eye logos on commuter trains).
Thinking about the attention paid to display
marketing reminds me of that old line about
relieving yourself in a dark pair of pants: nobody
notices, but at least it gives you a warm feeling
inside.
So just in case nobody else bothers, we'd like to
give the merchandising and field marketing teams at
Gillette (along with the P-O-P producers and
marketing agencies that helped them) a very, very
big thumbs-up.
By the way, didn't the whole Super Bowl
advertising phenomenon -- the coverage, the
commercials, the Monday-morning buzz -- seem pretty
dull this year? Maybe Super Bowl XLI would be a good
time for everyone to start paying attention to
what's happening in the store.
|
| Desktop Marketing Conference: "Retail Experiences" by Dev Patnaik of Jump Associates |
|
For many retailers, back-to-school season means
backpacks on endcaps and yellow buses on signs. But
at Target, it means 200 customized SKUs targeted to
college freshmen (but cool enough for kids and
adults, too) that produce double-digit, same-store
revenue. In a presentation delivered last December
at TREX, Jump Associates co-founder Dev Patnaik
discusses how Target and other retailers are staging
merchandising "experiences" that not only attract
shoppers but inspire them to come back.
|
| Design Trends: Top Decorative P-O-P Materials of 2005 |
|
Scented plastics, color electronic paper,
powdercoated MDF and several unique lighting systems
topped the list of most-requested products in our
third annual review of the Top Decorative Materials
featured in the pages of P-O-P Design.
Elsewhere on the production scene, check out a
downloadable version of the 2006 P-O-P Buyers
Guide, an invaluable resource with information
on more than 1,000 companies.
|
| Industry Issues: National Brands vs. Private Label |
|
Procter & Gamble this month scored a victory for
national brands when distributor McLane Co. and two
private-label manufacturing affiliates agreed to
stop using packaging that P&G claimed infringed on
the trade dress of four brands. Reading the lawsuit
P&G had filed -- and looking at side-by-side
packaging comparisons -- might explain why McLane's
decision to settle could be considered a no-brainer.
Then, get some perspective on the case from a column
by editorial director Bill Schober.
|
| Channels: ACNielsen C-Store Report |
|
With dollar stores, drugstores and supermarkets --
heck, even The Home Depot -- acting more and more
like convenience stores these days, traditional
operators need to find ways to reach beyond the
beer-buying males that have always been the
channel's lifeblood. Todd Hale, ACNielsen's senior
vice president of consumer insights, discusses the
future of c-stores based on a presentation he
delivered last fall at the National Association of
Convenience Stores annual convention.
|
| 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.
- 7-Eleven
- AAA Publishing
- Abbott-Action, Inc.
- AGI Schutz
- Array
- Arrow Display, A Division of Mannkraft
- BDS Marketing
- Benchmarc Display, Inc.
- BR Zoom
- Chicago Display Marketing Group
- Chicago P-O-P
- Colgate-Palmolive
- Coors Brewing
- Disney Consumer Products
- EnfoTrust Networks
- General Mills
- Henkel Consumer Adhesives
- Hewlett-Packard Co.
- IATCO
- Jim Beam Brands Co.
- LeapFrog Enterprises
- MacNeill Engineering Co.
- MASCO Corp.
- Meredith Corp.
- Nokia
- Patti Group
- Pure Fishing
- Reckitt Benckiser
- Runcit Media SDN. BHD.
- Ryan Partnership
- Sanford
- Sherwin-Williams
- Super Glue Corporation
- William Fox Munroe Inc.
|
|
NEW in the Library... |
|
|
|
Retail Handbook
Updated profiles of Ahold USA, Longs, J.C. Penney,
Supervalu and Toys "R" Us/Babies "R" Us.
Plus, Wal-Mart's new signage program, Target's
limited-time merchandising, and special reports on
the supermarket and drugstore channels from P-O-P
Times.
Research Library
An Arbitron report on Retail Video Displays finds
only 33% awareness for in-store video programming,
but a significant influence on purchase decisions
among the shoppers who've been exposed to the medium.
Case Studies
It's early, but the Gillette Fusion launch could end
up being the best product introduction of 2006.
Plus, recent campaigns from Coca-Cola, Dove,
L'Oreal Paris, Fisher-Price, Korbel and one dozen
other product marketers.
Image Vault
More than 300 new images of displays and signs from
such retailers as Longs, J.C. Penney, AutoZone, Fred
Meyer and Fry's.
Plus, a gallery of more than 25 images from the
Gillette Fusion launch.
Legal Corner
FSI giants Valassis and News America Marketing take
their battle back into court in a lawsuit that
alleges some in-store marketing hanky-panky on the
part of the latter.
Lecture Hall
In a presentation from last fall's In-Store
Marketing Expo, marketing consultant and author
Steve Smith discusses ways for brands to collaborate
with retailers more efficiently and successfully by
using existing marketing assets.
|
|
