KImberly-Clark has been slow to increase its marketing spending in recent years, but that’s changing. The CPG giant, whose brands include Cottonelle, Huggies and Kleenex, recently reported its Q1 2024 earnings. During prepared remarks at the beginning of the call, Kimberly-Clark Chief Financial Officer Nelson Urdaneta noted that its spending on advertising had increased 50 basis points (0.5%) year-over-year, which he characterized as “largely in line” with such spending for Q4 of last year. “As our innovation pipeline builds up, and that's starting in Q2, we will further step up investments as the year progresses,” he added, “and we expect it to be at around another 50 basis points for the balance of the year.” By comparison, competitor P&G reported in its recent earnings call that it had increased marketing spending 14% YOY. Responding to a question from an analyst about the company’s slow return to such investments in its brands, Urdaneta said, “it's been about investing to get the capabilities to be able to do these things going forward.” Chairman and CEO Mike Hsu elaborated further on the process. “We feel great about our investments in advertising,” Hsu said, “We've made significant progress. I think we're up 200 basis points to 300 basis points since I [became CEO at the start of 2019]. However, I'd say we've probably still underspent relative to our peer set. “I don't know that we have to match them, right? But I would like to continue to increase our investment….There's two factors that caused us to phase our investment,” he added. Hsu explained that one factor was that the CEO “did not feel like we had all the capability we needed to spend that significantly,” early into his tenure. “At that point, I wasn't confident in what the advertising was going to do,” he said, “So, in the last five years, I think we've really built what I would characterize as a world-class capability on the commercial fronts through the help of [Chief Growth Officer Alison Lewis].” The comments followed recent changes to the company’s agency partnerships. Last autumn, Kimberly-Clark concluded a media review by appointing Publicisas its U.S. media agency of record, with the holding company putting together a dedicated K-C One unit for the account. At the time, agency research company COMvergence projected that $200 million of an estimated $340 million media budget in the U.S, for the year was devoted to digital. The other factor Hsu mentioned was less within the company’s control: “two years of a super inflation cycle. We had offset more than a full year of operating profit in that cycle,” he added. “So, we were busy trying to recover margins as well.” The company anticipates a better climate for 2024. “We have a lot of activities still coming our way, including a very strong innovation pipeline for which we're going to be putting back money into the business,” Urdaneta added. “We're going to be stepping up investments at least 50 basis points for the balance of the year. And if we see opportunities to invest more in the business, and more in our transformation to accelerate it, we will.”
Ahead of Mother's and Father's Day, Stellantis is highlighting parents in an effort that celebrates the Chrysler Pacifica. "Thanking Our Parents,” the campaign created in partnership with Doner, spans television, digital and social media, including Chrysler brand's Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram channels. The campaign recognizes all the different types of parents who have inspired the Chrysler brand to create the minivan, says Chris Feuell, Chrysler brand CEO – Stellantis. The minivan has more than 175 honors and industry accolades, making it the most awarded minivan for seven years in a row. “We owe this achievement to the many parents out there who have been the inspiration for us as a brand to create and deliver innovative designs, features and technology that provide our customers with the ultimate family vehicle," Feuell says in a release. “This campaign is our ‘thank you’ to the parents and drivers and to let them know that without them, we wouldn’t be the awarded minivan we are today.” The cross-channel campaign includes three 30-seconds spots that span across broadcast, social media channels and online video. “Boy Mom” highlights the chaos that comes with being a mother to multiple boys under age 10, while “Empty Nesters” stars parents who are dropping their last child off at college and acknowledge that a new kind of freedom is on the horizon. Finally, “Dog Mom” highlights pet parents, especially those with big, fluffy dogs. The Chrysler Pacifica Plug-in Hybrid symbolizes the brand’s electrification evolution, representing the first electrified minivan in the segment and achieving 82 MPGe, an all-electric range of 32 miles and a total range of 520 miles, according to the automaker.
Lulus, the online fashion brand, knows who its friends are and thinks its shoppers know, too. With a new campaign called “Friends For Life,” the company hopes to use its first out-of-home push to turn around a steep decline in sales. The effort, created entirely in-house, also includes plenty of social media, influencer activations, and experiential marketing, and follows a group of women through a pivotal year in their lives. Patrick Buchanan, Lulus senior vice president of brand marketing, tells Marketing Daily more about the effort. Marketing Daily: Tell us what inspired this campaign. Patrick Buchanan: I came to Lulu about six months ago from Good American, the denim brand that represents size diversity, and I’ve got a lot of experience with brand storytelling. Lulus is 30 years old and started as a small vintage boutique in Chico, up in Northern California. We reach millions of customers worldwide, but our mission has always been that curated experience. We still like to consider ourselves your favorite little boutique. We want to make women feel beautiful and celebrated for their life's occasions, like their friends do. Friends are there for us in all our big and small moments -- sometimes even more so than family. Marketing Daily: Does the campaign follow this one group? Buchanan: Yes, similar to “Sex in the City.” They go through some ups and downs, going through all their life's moments. They’re getting married, moving to a new city, and taking on new jobs. They are a solid support system with a lot of love. Marketing Daily: Who is your core customer? Buchanan: We like to describe our girl as someone with a sparkle in her eye. She loves to be seen. She has a busy calendar, with weddings, birthday parties and celebrations. Our girl can be a little flirty sometimes, and sexy. But she is always pulled together. Marketing Daily: Why do you call her a girl? Are you aiming for teens? Buchanan: No. We’re targeting millennial women. Marketing Daily: Do millennial women like to think of themselves as girls? Buchanan: She is a woman, I guess I should say. And that’s a very crowded marketplace. We want to find new and exciting ways to tell the brand story and engage new customers. Last year, we opened a flagship in Los Angeles, on Melrose. It’s been a great way to learn about customers and see what they respond to. This year, we opened our bridal boutique. On Valentine's Day, we gave away 100 free wedding dresses and had lines around the block. Marketing Daily: What are the outdoor ads like? Buchanan: They’ll be hard to miss. We're taking over one of the big buildings on Sunset, for example. And it’s all part of this 360 approach. The campaign starts this week and will run through the summer. And we’ll make a big deal about it on June 8, which is National Best Friends Day. Marketing Daily: Using out-of-home is a first for Lulus. What do you hope to accomplish? Buchanan: A big part of the campaign is finding new ways to connect, so this is our first around cities. Whether you're in Chicago, Nashville or Los Angeles, you'll be able to spot our billboards and our wild postings. In bringing the brand from the URL to IRL, we're looking to evolve our tactics. We’ve always done a lot of digital advertising, and it's becoming harder to reach that customer online. We’ll do digital ads with partnerships on various platforms, including Meta, and fun Snapchat filters. We’re also working with influencers. Marketing Daily: What do influencers add? Buchanan: Our customers want us to include them in the clothes. Influencers aren’t just to build awareness and get the brand’s name out there. We also see influencers as a great way to provide another look at how women from all different backgrounds, shapes, and sizes can wear our clothes. Marketing Daily: How do the events fit in? Buchanan: It’s a chance to get offline and give her a new way to see our clothes. We are starting with a “Besties that Brunch” experience in Nashville. We’ll also do it in New York, in the Meatpacking District and Williamsburg, then West Hollywood. Marketing Daily: I know falling sales are a problem, down 19% to $355.2 million in the most recent quarter. What metrics are you watching beyond conversion? Buchanan: Brand sentiment. We want to drive engagement in every channel, whether it's TikTok, Instagram or Pinterest. We’re always looking to increase overall awareness.
For years, Hellman’s has leaned on a message of combating food waste. The Unilever mayo brand has centered its Super Bowl ads around its “Make Taste, Not Waste” platform of transforming food waste into dishes making inventive use of leftovers with mayo. For Earth Day on April 22, the brand collaborated with Italy-based eco-friendly sneaker brand ID.Eight to find a different use for waste: sneakers. The 1352: Refreshed Sneakers, conceptualized and designed in collaboration with ID.Eight, were made from common food waste items including corn, mushrooms, apples, and grapes, according to the brand, along with recycled materials. Its name, meanwhile, also reflects the shoe’s astronomical price: $1,352. So why is a shoe made from waste and recycled material so expensive? Hellman’s priced the item to reflect the cost of food waste annually to the average household in Canada, where the campaign kicked off. According to a 2022 survey conducted by Hellman’s and the British organization Waste and Resources Action Programme, which reported the figure, around one in three consumers reported wasting the equivalent of a shopping bag of food per week (some of which, apparently, could be used to make sneakers). To promote the 1352 sneaker, Hellman’s partnered with sneaker/streetwear influencer Romulus, emphasizing the prohibitive cost of the mayo brand’s “designer sneaker,” before revealing the message behind the number for Earth Day. It’s also giving fans a chance to snag the sneakers without the prohibitive price tag, launching a promotional sweepstakes with a charitable bent that runs through May 3. For every entry, Hellman’s has committed to donating an amount equivalent to 10 meals to Second Harvest, in support of the organization’s mission to reduce waste and rescue food otherwise thrown away. “Hellmann’s has a longstanding history of taking the necessary steps to address, raise awareness, and reduce food waste,” Hellman’s Canada senior brand manager Harsh Pant, Sr. said in a statement. “With 1352: Refreshed Sneakers we’ve created a visual representation of Canadians’ food waste, aimed at sparking conversation and challenging consumers to take small steps to reducing that $1,352 amount of food that’s wasted each year.”
It’s safe to say avocados have been having a moment for the last decade. From avocado toast to smoothies, the creamy green fruit is everywhere. And now Shake Shack is getting in on the avo-action by teaming up with Avocados From Mexico to promote the popular add-on. The chain, which touts avocados that are “freshly hand-sliced in-Shack every day, [with] no prepacked spreads in sight” will give away free avocado add-ons from April 25 through 28 for any sandwich or burger ordered in-Shack, via the Shack App or on shakeshack.com. “Fresh avocado was one of the most-requested items from guests before we added it to our menu in 2021,” Shake Shack CMO Jay Livingston told Marketing Daily. And some Shake Shack patrons will be in for a more educational avocado experience. The chain is also introducing Avocado Experts, who will assist customers in selecting their add-on and provide a tableside slicing demonstration -- at select locations in Brooklyn, New York; Philadelphia, Miami, Dallas and Santa Clara and Long Beach, California. “The core of Shake Shack has always been premium ingredients. We’re teaming up with Avocados from Mexico to show guests how seriously we take our ingredients and why we’re hand-slicing avocados in our Shacks daily,” added Livingston. “The experience we’re offering shows our dedication to bringing elevated experiences to our guests.” Those not near one of the aforementioned locations can still get in on the avocado goodness by entering to win a trip to New York City and visit to the Shake Shack Innovation Kitchen, where they will "enjoy an exclusive avocado menu courtesy of Avocados From Mexico.” Customers can log on to ShakeShackAvocadoSweeps.com to enter.
Everyone loves a cookie -- especially when the purchase of that cookie helps the customer’s local community. Tim Hortons has brought back its annual Smile Cookie campaign from April 29 through May 5. One hundred percent of the profits ($1.50 per cookie) from the sale of the Smile Cookie -- a Tim Hortons Chocolate Chunk Cookie hand-decorated with a blue and pink icing smile -- will be donated. The recipients, over 25 charity and community groups across the U.S., are selected by local store owners and include children-focused organizations, hospitals and community care organizations "Every year, we look forward to this impactful charitable campaign that empowers guests to support important causes close to home while also enjoying delicious and adorably decorated Smile Cookies," said Katerina Glyptis, president of Tim Hortons U.S., in the release. "Last year, our guests' engagement led to a new record, raising over $400,000 for local youth and community organizations — and we're looking forward to even more impact this year." Guests can also purchase a Smile Cookie Plushie or a Smile Cookie Personality Pins, with profits also benefiting the selected organizations. Customers are encouraged to use the hashtag #SmileCookie on social media, posting pics with their cookies or organization. Launched in 1996 in Canada, Tim Horton’s Smile Cookie campaign originally only raised funds for the Hamilton Children's Hospital in Ontario. Since its beginnings, the charitable effort has raised more than $80 million across Canada and the United States for charities. Organizations can apply to become a recipient of the Smile Campaign by submitting their application on the website by the December before the annual spring event. The North American coffee chain celebrated its 60th anniversary this year. Tim Hortons currently operated more than 5,700 stores in Canada, the United States and globally.
Vera Bradley is shopping around for a reset. Revenue slipped 6% to $470.8 million in the most recent quarter, and the company has lost some favor with the crowd who once clamored for those colorful bags. The brand has drifted away from its original personality in small increments, says chief marketing officer Alison Hiatt. She’s spearheading a major rebranding effort for later this year. She tells Retail Insider how the Fort Wayne, Indiana-based company aims to recapture some sizzle. Retail Insider: What’s behind the sales decline? Alison Hiatt: Consumers are keeping us guessing. With the current macroeconomic challenges, it’s hard to sort out the different influences. Retail always keeps you guessing. But we are looking forward to turning a new page. Retail Insider: How will rebranding help? Hiatt: We're operating in two worlds. Right now, we are very much ourselves. Over time, brands sometimes move in a slightly different direction, maybe just an inch a year. All of a sudden, you pick your head up, and you're like, "Wait a minute. We’ve drifted too far." So, we are in this shift back to where the brand started. We are uniquely multigenerational, which means we’ve got to keep that scope wide. We need to be relevant, modern and fresh to maintain that multigenerational love. Retail Insider: Can you give us some hints about the rebranding? Hiatt: I’ve been playing around with the word “reintroduction” because that may be more accurate. It’s more than just a new logo. It's an entirely different product line. It is a new in-store experience. It will be a new web experience that we hope will be felt across all channels and departments. It’s all-new, from beginning to end. Retail Insider: Founded in the early 1980s, Vera Bradley’s first fans were boomers. Who is your biggest customer segment now? Hiatt: Women in that 35-to-55-year-old group, which is a broad range. They are people in the thick of things. They’re busy. They may be establishing a career or a family or changing any of that. And it’s this bigger bucket of people because they influence the younger generation, perhaps because they buy things for them. But they also affect older generations, because they are so involved in their prime-of-life activities. Retail Insider: How is your marketing approach changing? Hiatt: We have done a great job forming relationships with our existing customers. I'm overwhelmed with the love that people have for this brand. We need to open up the lens a little and introduce the brand to newer audiences. Retail Insider: What’s your marketing mix right now? Hiatt: Digital, in all forms and fashions, is critical. Email is very important to maintaining relationships, as is social media. I look forward to putting us out there with bigger branding moments. We have a celebrity brand ambassador we're working with, with a unique sense of style similar to Vera Bradley. She’s known for being both fresh and very much herself. Retail Insider: You’ve got a special challenge. On one hand, there’s a need to make Vera Bradley buzzy, hot and fashionable again. To keep growing, you also need to nurture your image as a staple. And you’ve got to do that in your 130 stores, your ecommerce site, and the thousands of wholesale doors. Hiatt: Yes, and our outlet stores, as well. At its height, Vera Bradley spoke to a broad group. Not too high, not too low, but very stable. We were a constant companion to a woman's life, and she knew she could count on us for her day-to-day accessories and travel needs. So how do we get back to being that tried and true? I've been studying that a lot, looking at what makes some brands endure over time. I keep coming up with a word that is so overused, I know, but it’s authenticity. Being true to themselves helps brands ride out any storm. For Vera, that has always been letting women be who they want to be at that moment. This is their style, celebrating whatever moments she is having in life. That means our mission is to help her take it up a notch, like "Here’s a really fun bag for your weekend trip," something new for date night or a new crossbody bag. You have to evolve with fashion and tastes, but remember what keeps people coming back. Retail Insider: What are some of those brands you admire? Hiatt: I look at luxury brands because they are enduring. We are not saying that we're a luxury brand, but we aspire to bring something fresh and new. We tilt things ever so slightly. There are a lot of beautiful bags out there that people can choose from. And so, how do we stand out in that sea of sameness? In terms of traditional competitors, though, we’re up against every company that sells bags, from hard-sided luggage to purses and wallets. It spans a lot of players.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” started streaming as a TV series on Hulu in 2017. It was based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian novel about a patriarchal future in which the government has been overthrown. Women are classified hierarchically according to their reproductive organs, and fertile women are a tightly controlled commodity, who in effect become prisoners of the state. At the Hulu debut, it still seemed farfetched. But with the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, just mentioning that title cuts straight to the fundamentalist and misogynist extremes that many states are beginning to embrace via punishing anti-abortion laws, which are clearly politicized. Post-Roe, at least seven states have put into place near-total abortion bans. Yesterday, the Supreme Court heard Moyle v. United States, a case about overruling the Idaho law that bans nearly all abortions unless they prevent a mother’s death. As a result, Idaho doctors face a Sophie’s Choice of sorts in the emergency room: health risk or death risk? Seeing a pregnant patient in the E.R., doctors must instantly determine whether she is very sick, or near death. If they make the wrong call (there’s little time to convene with attorneys, and sometimes things go downhill quickly), physicians who violate the law can be punished with two to five years in prison and loss of their medical licenses. Thus, a wave of OB/gyns are fleeing or have already fled the state of Idaho and reopened their practices in states like Colorado. The Court’s decision will probably come down in June. Meanwhile, both Florida and Arizona have passed draconian bills. The one in Arizona dates to 1864, long before women even had the right to vote. It was supposed to go into effect June 8, but yesterday, the state house stepped in and voted to repeal it. Now, the state senate must approve that repeal before it can go into effect. So it’s safe to say that the issue of abortion is becoming its own not-so-civil war in this country, and will be a passionate issue in the 2024 elections. Biden has already run a hard-hitting ad telling the heartbreaking story of a woman who couldn’t get properly treated in a hospital, lost the baby at 18 weeks, and then developed sepsis and nearly died. The incident also caused injury to her reproductive organs. Now, California Governor Gavin Newsom’s political action committee, the Campaign for Democracy, is targeting a proposed bill in Alabama, a state that already has one of the toughest abortion bans in the country. The new law would make it illegal to help a minor seek an out-of-state abortion. “Not enough attention has been placed on the fact that we’re not just criminalizing women’s access to reproductive care in certain states. Now we’re criminalizing their travel,” Newsom said in an MSNBC interview. His PAC recently released “Fugitive,” a spot now running in its final week in Alabama. It captures the stress and despair of two young women, determined to drive across the Alabama border, who are almost there when a police cruiser appears behind them, sirens blazing. They stop. An officer approaches. “Miss? I’m gonna need you to step out of the vehicle -- and take a pregnancy test,” the officer says to the young driver, while holding the unsheathed test in his hand. The final shot is of the driver getting handcuffed, her body bent over the front of the car. The horror is way heightened, of course. But is it preposterous, including the pregnancy test? Not tremendously. Republicans often respond to outrage at the severity of these bans with “Just go to another state.” That’s not so easy -- and getting worse. In the case of the ad, these girls had a car to travel in. A minor who has been raped by her stepfather would rarely be able to muster the support and funds required to travel to another state. In “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the fertile women who lost all autonomy and were pressed into reproductive service for the state were called “handmaids.” Let’s hope their tale remains a distant, fictional notion.
Consumers demand ease of purchase above all else, judging by The Science of Loyalty, a study from Intuit Mailchimp. Among repeat purchasers, 97% say their preferred brand makes it quick and easy to buy. This would include removing obstacles and streamlining product suggestions to help consumers avoid decision-making fatigue That’s not all it takes to create loyalty, of course. “Moving up the spectrum, other loyalty categories include habitual loyalty, where loyalty emerges from routine rather than emotional ties, followed by dedicated loyalty, where consumers form an emotional connection to the brand's vision and purpose,” the study found. The highest level — fandom — denotes a strong emotional bond and shared values within the brand’s community, the study finds. Of all consumers, 25% are classified as insert, 23%, 40% as dedicated and 13% in fandom. Of those belonging to the fandom category, 84% have a very favorable opinion of the brand, versus 52% of insert customers and 51% of habituals. The second biggest loyalty driver is when a brand makes a person feel good — 87% say this is their motivation. Almost 25% of Gen Z consumers favor brands that reflect their personal values. Only 18% of Gen Xers and 14% of baby boomers do so. And a third of young adults would switch brands because of the environmental impact of unethical manufacturing. In contrast, 24% of GenXers and 19% of baby boomers would do the same. Strangely, 18-24 year-old consumers are more likely to recommend a brand to family and friends, versus 37% of all shoppers. And 30% of the younger set have given products from their preferred brand as a gift, compared to 22% in general. As for contact, 57% of shoppers favor email, followed by SMS (17%) and social media (17%). A fourth of consumers will consider switching if a brand cannot offer quality service across channels. Email is a top channel for reaching out: 47% of subscribers discover new product through brand emails, and 39% make a purchase. Intuit Mailchimp surveyed 4,000 consumers across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia.