While few marketers would argue that happy customers are the meat-and-potatoes of brand love, a new report from Forrester says that many companies are still getting it wrong. Sure, there may be plenty of buzz about Net Promoter Scores, journey maps or customer obsession, but most companies are still inept at using customer insights to drive profits. “While a small minority of organizations has been at the customer experience game for years, the vast majority is still dabbling,” write Forrester analysts Kerry Bodine and Ron Rogowski. “That means organizations’ customer experience adoption and maturity levels will continue to vary wildly for the next decade.” The pair predict that while early adopters in customer experience -- specifically, the companies that are already investing in order to join the likes of Apple, Disney, Starbucks, or Zappos in the experience pantheon -- will make big breakthroughs in the year ahead, they anticipate some predictable (and expensive) gaffes for those who are coming late to the customer experience party. Some fall into the realm of too little research, with many late-adopters skating on the surface of customer experience measures. “Persona and journey map groupies will skip foundational qualitative research…imitating their form while forgetting that the end goal isn’t a set of artifacts but the insights they encompass.” Others will err on the other end, with big data trumping big insights. The report speculates that “quant geeks” will lead companies to be “absolutely mesmerized by aggregated customer insights. They’ll spend enormous amounts of time and money amassing new data sources -- and less effort figuring out what to do with it all.” In addition, it predicts that many marketers will “mistake messaging for experience improvements.” As an example, it cites a major investment firm that “spent $40 million on a media buy to make its unhappy advisors feel better about their jobs. This is, quite frankly, flushing money down the toilet.” While “advertising agencies will reap the short-term financial benefits of whitewashing campaigns created to cover up experience blunders…. When their empty promises fail, marketers will be forced to shift their ad budgets to experience initiatives in 2014 and beyond.” But for the brands that are already elbows-deep in customer experience, the pair sees more positive changes, including a big shift to emotional insights. “The idea that happy customers are more likely to remain loyal, try new products and services, and spread good news about their experiences has started to catch on,” they write. “Over the past several months, we’ve seen a rise in the number of companies pondering the connection between enjoyment and metrics like satisfaction and Net Promoter Score (NPS).” Another change is that “ecosystem maps will be the new journey maps ... journey maps only show the tip of the experience iceberg. In 2013, companies will need tools that connect customer journeys to the people, processes, and technologies that lay beneath the surface.” And finally, Forrester says the year ahead will see a major swing toward employee engagement, “as customer experience professionals dissect the inner workings of their companies, they’ll soon realize that all of their efforts ultimately hinge on corporate culture -- and its close cousin, employee engagement. Based on the sheer number of inquiries we’ve received about employee engagement over the past few months, we expect this topic to be white hot in 2013 and beyond.”
Sponsorships are on the rise this year, according to GroupM sports sponsorship consulting and research firm IEG, in its 28th annual year-end industry review and forecast. The firm sees a 5.5% increase in sponsorship spending by North American companies this year over 2012, when companies spent $18.91 billion. Globally, IEG forecasts 4.2% growth. The study says companies see sponsorship as the route to building awareness, attention, support and loyalty. And the firm finds that sponsorship is no longer the stepchild to advertising, but shares the podium in integrated marketing. Such programs are also more likely now to be a leg of multiplatform, cross-channel programs, notes the firm. The firm predicts that spending against sports this year will be $13.79 billion -- a 6% increase versus last year; entertainment will be $2.03 billion, up 5.1%; and cause-marketing programs will be $1.78 billion, a 4.8% improvement versus last year. The firm predicts arts will be $920 million, a 3.3% improvement over 2012; and festivals, fairs and annual events will grab $849 million, up 2.9%. Jim Andrews, SVP of IEG, tells Marketing Daily that new sponsorship experiments both by major brands and smaller brands seeking a niche are driven partly by participation saturation. "We have reached a point where there is a lot of clutter," he says. "So brands are looking to make these programs unique in terms of how and where they are activating." And sports properties are obliging by extending their seasons and offering sponsorship opportunities around such events as player drafts, beginning of the season and playoffs. "And there are promotional windows around all of them." Extensions are also vertical with sponsorship opportunities around platforms like social media, and "gamification." "They are taking it beyond the stadium and beyond broadcast," says Andrews. And while category exclusivity is the gold standard for a level of sponsorship, a lot of brands aren't going there because of costs, notes Andrews -- including major players like soft drinks and beer, which are highly competitive. "When you look at pro sports, you will see Anheuser-Busch and MIllerCoors. We are seeing in some categories they are saying 'We want to be in this sport but it's cost-prohibitive to buy exclusivity.'" Instead of being the exclusive sponsor of a sport, marketers are finding exclusive opportunities in different promotional territories: retail, tailgating, stadium activation. "We are seeing more of a carving out of those opportunities; brands see they don't need to be an all-encompassing partner as long as they have a little area they can own." He also sees more brands creating their own sponsorship programs, à la Red Bull Stratus.
Starbucks has launched a new cross-channel sampling and sharing campaign to accelerate growth of its Blonde Roast offerings, introduced a year ago in its cafes and in grocery stores. Starbucks is also introducing a Vanilla Blonde variety of the lighter roast, sweetened with vanilla syrup, as an option in its cafes. The company says that it’s seen “significant success” with the lighter roast since its launch, reporting that 79% of its Blonde Roast sales at retail and 70% of its sales in Starbucks stores have been incremental. Blonde Roast was launched to attract the approximately 40% of U.S. consumers who prefer lighter-roast coffees. Elements of the sampling and sharing campaign, launched today: *Blonde Roast samples will be dispensed in more than 8,000 food, drug, and mass grocery retailers -- Starbucks’ biggest in-store sampling campaign to date. *Customers who share a Starbucks card e-gift with a friend through a new desktop and mobile-enabled Facebook app receive a free tall (12-ounce) cup of Blonde coffee for themselves. The app includes humorous cards to accompany the gift cards. *Starbucks mobile cafes will appear (for three weeks each) in Boston, New York, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago and Dallas. The mobile cafes will offer free samples of Blonde Roast and Vanilla Blonde, along with vouchers for a free tall cup of either flavor and $1 off offers for Starbucks packaged coffee and K-Cup packs. *In addition, a dozen ambassadors will don coffee-filled jet packs to dispense samples and vouchers in areas of these cities not visited by the mobile cafes.
Marketers of consumer electronics (and virtually every other product) may want to watch consumer reviews of their products more closely than they have been in the past. According to a newly released study from Weber Shandwick, a majority of consumer electronics purchasers (65%) said that a consumer review inspired them to select a brand that had not been in their original consideration. Consumer electronics buyers also pay more attention to consumer-generated reviews than professional reviews (by a three-to-one margin), and 80% of consumers are concerned about the authenticity of those reviews. The result: the average buyer consults 11 consumer reviews on their path to purchase. “It’s part of the broader fragmentation of media,” Bradford Williams, president of Weber Shandwick’s North American Technology Practice, tells Marketing Daily. “User-generated content has shifted the influence from a relatively small number of influential critics to a much more distributed model. What we found in our study is that consumers are still using editorial reviewers, but they’re using them in tandem with and more of consumer reviews.” The growing influence of consumer reviews, particularly in the consumer electronics arena, means marketers have to understand how to manage (although they can’t control, Williams notes) consumer-generated reviews. For instance, the most influential consumer reviews share certain qualities such as being well-written, measured and balanced, Williams says. Consumers also trust the reviews they find on popular Web sites. “The top three things that matter in a consumer review is that it’s fair and reasonable, the extent to which it is well-written, and the inclusion of the specs an technical data,” Williams says. “On the professional reviewer side, readers are most interested in a review that has use cases that are relevant to them.” Accordingly, Williams offered five tips for marketers in the world of understanding and utilizing consumer reviews for their business. First, companies should make it easy for consumers to find reviews of their products, incorporating a sampling of reviews on their product Web site (remembering, of course, to showcase a representative sampling of positive and negative reviews). The site should also include a publicly announced policy of restricting employees from commenting or contributing to consumer reviews. “Consumers will find [negative reviews] anyway, and the brand will get credit for sharing it,” Williams says. Second, product marketing pages should adopt the format of reviews sites, presenting the information consumers seek clearly and plainly. Third, marketers should engage an online community manager that encourages people to review their products while disseminating positive consumer and professional reviews through the brand’s social channels and working with customer service to respond to customer feedback quickly. “When people are sharing their gripes they need to be responded to, and when they’re sharing raves, a community manager can help amplify that,” Williams says. Along those same lines, the fourth recommendation is that marketers, while unable to directly influence consumer reviews, should be prepared to identify those reviews with the most potential impact, and promote and amplify them. Finally, marketers need to understand that consumers visit online shopping sites for reviews and insights and various points in their purchase process, not just when they’re ready to buy. Therefore, the information on online shopping sites should be as helpful and engaging as possible. “They don’t just visit a retailer’s site when they’re going to buy,” Williams says. “If that were true, Amazon wouldn’t be the most popular reviews site.” Williams also notes that while the research conduct was specific to the consumer electronics world, many of the same lessons can be applied across all consumer products, since virtually all of them are reviewed somewhere on the Web. “These are really best practice for consumer brands of all kinds,” he says. “Consumer opinion has become currency, and it’s really being used online.”
Farmers Insurance is shifting its creative strategy from less silly to helping consumers avoid problems in the first place. Each spot in the campaign aims to feature helpful nuggets of information. The effort, themed “It’s Smarter to Have a Plan,” debuted Jan. 1 during the Rose Bowl and continued to run during other college football bowl games. Designed to help consumers become smarter about insurance by showing a number of important and practical insurance tips, the campaign also reinforces Farmers Insurance's position as an experienced company with knowledgeable and industry-leading agents. The company hopes to make customers smarter about insurance, said Mike Linton, head of enterprise marketing for Farmers Insurance. “We believe that knowledge is power and that we can help make consumers more confident about their insurance decisions,” he said in a release. “Our new campaign continues to place Farmers Insurance agents as the best-trained agents in the industry, ready and able to provide expert insight to consumers.” The campaign, developed by the insurer’s agency of record, RPA, is an evolution of its current “University of Farmers” campaign, which features well-known actor J.K. Simmons as the quirky Professor Nathaniel Burke. In the new campaign, Professor Burke acts as a proxy for actual Farmers agents, helping consumers get smart about insurance, everyday risks and offering practical solutions. The creative has Burke leaving the confines of the University of Farmers campus to the real world where insurance meets the customer. He will walk with customers through a number of settings and will point out risks that a consumer might not have previously considered. Farmers believes the ad is a departure from much of the industry’s current advertising, with the focus on helping consumers avoid problems. Rather than focusing on price of coverage explanations, the campaign will feature helpful tips to empower consumers. The TV spot that launched the campaign is called “Dog Bites.” Professor Burke reminds consumers about the significant impact that everyday events, like dog bites, can have on their lives -- and the need to be adequately insured. For example, industry data shows that dog bites account for one-third of all paid homeowners insurance claims, while leaving empty boxes by the curb may be a sign to would-be thieves that there are new and expensive targets for them to burglarize inside one's home. As the campaign continues, additional spots will share relevant facts and preventative tips that demonstrate in a witty and approachable manner that Farmers Insurance and their University of Farmers-trained agents are committed to making consumers smarter about insurance.
Is it risky to promote products for that time of the month to teenagers by speaking frankly -- instead of, well, showing summer dresses, flowers and fields of green? Kimberly-Clark's Kotex sub-brand for younger girls, U by Kotex, thinks not. A new campaign that focuses on digital elements is an effort to build on the brand's straight-ahead approach to the product, which launched as a designer-packaged item in 2011 with the tagline "Break the Cycle." The campaign also aligns with the company's broad approach about avoiding cliches when it comes to a range of products dealing with physiological issues nobody really wants to talk about, at least in public. Specifically, the new effort, "Generation Know," is aimed at dissolving myths and misinformation around vaginal health and wellness. The campaign begins with TV ads that launched Monday, and a redesigned Web site (www.GenerationKnow.com) where girls can get the facts, pass along knowledge and take part in projects intended to -- in the company's words -- "Create social change." There are also online documentaries featuring real girls who are active in talking about the issue, an extension of a partnership with "Girls For A Change." Lauren Kren, U by K brand manager, tells Marketing Daily that the essential message of the brand hasn't changed since it launched. "It's been about giving girls a voice. This campaign is in line with the essence of the brand." The campaign is via Ogilvy & Mather New York, Organic, Marina Maher Communications, Mindshare and Ogilvy Action. She explains that the campaign comprises a TV spot in 15-, 30- and 60-second formats. The ad shows real girls debunking myths about menstruation and other vaginal-health issues. Kren says there are point-of-sale elements to the campaign, including a retail sweepstakes program, and there are various partnerships. The company did research last year that helped shape the campaign, per Kren. "We got a lot of insights around girls' awareness and understanding. We found that about 50% of girls have a hard time separating myth from fact." She adds that a lot of girls believe one can lose one's virginity by using a tampon; PMS is entirely psychological; you can't get pregnant when you are menstruating, and even that during that period of the month, you shouldn't go camping where bears roam. The media focuses on youth-skewing programming like MTV, Entertainment, and digital properties like WebMD and BuzzMedia. There will also be "Girls for Change" events in 10 cities -- eight in the U.S. and two in Canada.
Recently we heard news of a letter-writing protest to Nickelodeon about the food commercials the network airs. The issue is the same as it has been lately: the food being advertised does not meet the arbitrary nutritional standards advocated by some organizations that presume to tell everyone (especially children) exactly what to eat. These letters also presume to tell Nickelodeon not to accept the ads, and have zero concern for what that means to the network’s business. Such groups believe that childhood obesity will be reduced by removing parental responsibility from the family and placing it in the hands of others (TV networks and government mandates, for example). Can it be that parents no longer accept the responsibility for approving kids’ food choices and welcome outside influences? That is a premise that is hard to accept, but seems to be prevalent. Like any other business, children’s television needs revenue in order to fund its content. If marketers cannot produce commercials that sell their products on kids TV -- or must change the products to be permitted to air the commercials -- they will eventually move marketing dollars elsewhere. That means considerably reduced income for the networks, which means considerably reduced availability of TV programming for kids. If some parents are happy to abrogate their responsibility for setting rules for their children’s eating habits, they are not going to be happy when there is little or no television programming to be a babysitter. They might have to play games, read with the kids, or otherwise pay attention to them -- unless, of course, they allow the children to become even more obsessed with video games on Wii, XBox or other devices. By the way, some of those electronic games are embedded with commercials. Do they have to adhere to some yet-to-surface group’s arbitrary nutrition standards, too? Is anyone watching a kid playing an electronic game in which a character has his heart torn out on the screen? If a commercial for a QSR follows that scene, should it be subject to nutritional requirements? Ratings for children’s television programs have declined recently. Yes -- kids are becoming more sophisticated all the time, and a lot of the content is no longer interesting to them, especially as they get older. Some kids have become concerned about nutrition, learned about healthier choices, and they have begun to make those choices, even if they don’t like the food. (Has anyone seen any evidence that children are actually eating the alternate choices?) Most kids would still like to enjoy a tasty burger or a bowl of sweet cereal sometimes. The children’s food police would take that choice from the kids by simply not reminding them that it’s still available. If that happens, parents will no longer have to be concerned -- it will have become someone else’s responsibility. But what if the entertaining yet harmless shows that kids like best go off the air, and the cry, “Hey Mom, there’s nothing good on TV” is often heard? Will any of the outside groups or letter-writers or parents remember that forcing certain requirements on commercials was the reason for “nothing good on TV?” It will be blamed on the networks that dropped programming on which they were losing money. Those who would take the responsibility for child discipline from parents think they are performing noble acts. They would force the replacement of menu options from food that kids like to items that they may or may not want to eat. Now they would censor communications about the kids’ favorites to the point where the existence of the entertainment that kids like is threatened. That is not noble. It’s frightening.
Graduating from college is taking on a new meaning as many of today’s grads are going back to where they came from -- their parents' home. Whether it's due to the issue of finding a job or just smart saving, the home is once again full of life. This boomerang of young adults may just be stirring up the demand for home furnishings and home décor.According to a recent Pew Research Center analysis, 41 percent of adults between the ages of 25 and 29 said they are currently living with -- or have in the past few years moved back in with -- their parents. More so, 61 percent of study participants ages 25-34 know of friends or family members who have moved back home.Compared to last year, home furnishing sales -- everything from furniture to décor to even home improvement products -- were just over eight percent for the entire year. According to IBM’s 2012 holiday retail forecast, the trend is still going strong, with the "Home" category expected to have posted a 7.5 percent increase during the months of November and December alone, and nearly 9 percent for the entire year. I often say that economic and social factors act as trigger events in retail -- and I said it again this holiday season. Retailers would do well to emphasize items for the home -- especially since some categories that we typically see perform well during the season are likely to lag this year. Consumer electronics were predicted to decrease 2.6 percent over the holidays, with children’s clothing predicted to have increased only 1.3 percent. What about retailers who only carry a limited number of home goods, or none at all? How can they increase sales? Recently, I have seen a number of merchants leveraging new tactics to help combat slow growth in other categories. Layaway isn’t a new idea, but more brick-and-mortar retailers are offering this service to not only appeal to the wallet-strapped customer, but to also bring people back into the physical store.For the first time, Toys “R” Us is offering a layaway program, with extremely competitive interest rates. This is compelling similar retailers to reactivate their own layaway programs -- with lower interest rates, and in some cases, zero interest rates. During the past few months, the phrase “Home for the Holidays” has been the trigger to get shoppers to spend on updating their home. Not only is it a great time to decorate, it’s also time to throw out that dorm room comforter and get something more appropriate for home. I don’t know about you, but I can’t see keeping bedding from college -- it needs to be tossed! As more and more young adults move back to the nest, parents will have to invest in items to fill it again. Updating furniture and stocking up on bedding and linens will help parents welcome their kids back home. When we think “holiday,” we think of home. These days, home may be unexpectedly full as grown children return to the roost. Retailers should keep that in mind. It’s a powerful trend that is likely to persist well into this New Year.