By David Polinchock, Brand Experience Lab

What we see much too often is that in the rush to use the newest tactics and technologies out there, brands frequently lose their own message (and sometime their identity too) in the process.And the proliferation of new technologies haven't helped, with so many cool ways to engage an audience, well why not use them all?
But, the consumer is also being bombarded by messages in every aspect of their lifes (we've even written talking urinals on our blog!) and we're training them to tune out to this clutter.   TV clutter is up; some magazines seem to have more ad pages then editorial pages; companies are looking at how to turn cell phones into an advertising channel. We've even heard about a cell phone company that will give you free calls if you listen to a commercial before your call gets connected.
So how do you use all of these tools and channels to tell a cohesive story in a compelling way to your audience?

Mar 27, 2008 - 4:48:51 PM

By Lily Lev-Glick, Perception Research Services.

 

In the new retail marketplace, where attention has shifted, ostensibly, away from traditional advertising tactics and into the store. Shelves are teeming with a vast array of mainstream and specialty products, aisles are filled with point-of-sale merchandising that blink and talk and there is an unprecedented level of brands calling out to shoppers during the last three feet of the purchase decision process.

Yet with all this new at-retail religion, and despite much investment dedicated to research and development, still more than 2/3rds of new product launches fail in the marketplace. Undaunted, marketers continue to develop new products and rely on compelling concepts to meet a need that consumers don’t even realize they have.

Mar 27, 2008 - 4:36:19 PM

By Matt Baker, AMD

 

I think we’ve all had our share of look alike trends reports–usually very topical and statistic-heavy but generally leaving us with more questions than we had when we started reading. Going forward from the crossroads in this disruptive time in marketing, where we’re seeing a shift to at retail marketing, and a concurrent shift from organizing supply to organizing demand, we need to reexamine the dynamic relationship between three principle stake holders at retail; brands, retailers and consumers. These players are inextricably bound and mutually dependent but never exert equal influence over the direction of the market at any given time. When you consider trends, cause and effect reveals itself in the struggle for control between the players. It is a poker game. At any moment in time a player may be up or down and plays his hand according to his tolerance for risk. Those with the biggest stack of chips in front of them usually call the shots.

Before reading any industry tea leaves, let’s look at how the balance of power between stake holders looks these days.

Mar 27, 2008 - 4:14:39 PM

Creating the Dialogue with the Shopper
By Matt Baker, AMD


There is a strange irony about traditional marketing practice that is becoming more evident as consumers become more autonomous. While products are designed to meet consumer needs, marketing is usually designed to meet the company’s needs for volume and profitability. It’s this inside out instead of outside in view that gives rise to marketing communications techniques like consumer or shopper segmentation. Shopper segmentation is a marketing convenience, useful to an extent, but unable to fully grasp how multifaceted consumers really are. The assumption is that if you know enough about the consumer, you can transform her behavior in ways useful to you in meeting marketing objectives. The problem is, this buyer assessment can be no more than a snapshot in time basically already outdated by the time it is executed on.  Another more basic problem is that consumers don’t care about marketing objectives and yet they should be placed at the epicenter of everything brand marketers do. While marketing’s basic premise of connecting buyers with sellers is still valid, the environment within which this goal is pursued and the means for achieving it have changed fundamentally in the modern marketplace. To remain productive, marketing must rethink its basic purpose and how this should be accomplished.
Jan 17, 2008 - 1:47:17 PM

By: David Sommer, MEC Retail/Mediaedge:cia

Advertising executives used to talk obsessively about “reaching” consumers.  “Who is our target?  How do we reach them as efficiently and effectively as possible with a differentiated and relevant message about our product?”
Technology has now created a world where consumers no longer have targets painted on their foreheads and the usual marketing weapons miss the mark.
Apr 11, 2007 - 8:04:11 PM

Originally seen as a means of controlling backroom inventory, RFID technology is increasingly being enlisted in the front of the store.
Dec 21, 2006 - 5:35:42 PM

Smart point media AG designed a network of screens in German department store AVA AG, linked to a system that tracks shoppers through RFID tags within shopping carts to record shopping habits and measure ad effectiveness.
Dec 21, 2006 - 5:28:42 PM

The Xbox 360 in-store kiosk program, designed and produced by Design Phase, Inc., was one of the most dominant marketing elements in the launch of Microsoft's Xbox 360. More than a display, the kiosk is a hands-on, interactive game machine, designed to demo the product in an elegant package while taking untold abuse in-store.
Dec 21, 2006 - 5:25:44 PM

The New Media Mix. David B. Polinchock, Chief Experience Officer, Brand Experience Lab, looks at industry-changing developments, including the impact of socialization of the retail space and the impact of online shopping on retail. Retail innovators like Starbuck’s and the Apple stores have boomed because they have created a social space rather then a retail space.
Oct 13, 2006 - 4:56:15 PM

Jeff Sheets, Advertising Professor, Brigham Young University, explores Experiential Marketing. Marketing in the retail space has caught on with agencies such as WPP, The Store, MediaEdge CIA Retail Media Division, Omnicom and G2, who are increasingly seeing the retail store as a medium itself, and the opportunity to morph traditional mass media campaigns into brand experiences at-retail.

Oct 13, 2006 - 4:09:09 PM