ThoughtTech - On The Horizon

Halfway To Black Friday Is Lame Marketing

Rick Rusch — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:04:02 +0000

In today’s omni-channel world advertising is served up in many ways and places. Big screen, small screen, no screen…advertising exists everywhere.

With so much advertising it’s not hard to imagine how easy it is to find ads that are just plain crappy. Or dumb.

Today is no exception.

Imagine how delighted I am to receive this email from OfficeMax – “It’s Halfway To Black Friday” sale. Whaaat? Has Black Friday now morphed to an annual event? If you recall Black Friday used to be a day, actually THE day that most retailers went from operating in the red (loss) to the black (profit). And that day was the day after Thanksgiving.

Retailers began to promote Black Friday as an event unto itself – as opposed to the day after Thanksgiving sale. Uncreative retailers sought to leverage Black Friday with pre-Black Friday sales online and store openings at midnight of Black Friday. Last year more retailers, like Target, just blew up Black Friday by being open on Thanksgiving.

For OfficeMax, not the most creative retail or marketing entity in the world, it has come to this. Halfway to Black Friday. Totally lame and totally ineffective. It makes me want to stay away from OfficeMax until way after the REAL Black Friday. When I’m done with this article I’m opting out of the “Max Perks” program.

Facebook Has Smartphone Revenue Dilemma

Rick Rusch — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:00:45 +0000

As the use of social media continues to grow and become more prevalent, it becomes increasingly important to look at social media usage statistics to help predict future trends. Businesses of all types and sizes are trying their hand at social media…but one question is still nagging most of us.

How do I make money with social media?

Facebook users are increasingly accessing the online social network via their mobile devices, a trend the company has not been able to capitalize on. In March, the average Facebook mobile user engaged with the social network for more than 7 hours, according to comScore.

Specifically the average time spent accessing Facebook via smartphone in the United States was 441 minutes in March, compared with 391 minutes via computer, also according to comScore, underscoring the increasingly high-profile role of mobile in social networking.

That’s a lot of head-down time to which Facebook has to respond.

In filing documents for its initial public offering, Facebook highlighted the importance of mobile while noting it does not generate meaningful revenue from mobile users.

“If users increasingly access mobile products as a substitute for access through personal computers and if we are unable to successfully implement monetization strategies for our mobile users,” the company writes in its filing documents, “our financial performance and ability to grow revenue would be negatively affected.”

Facebook users have not responded to advertising – especially on smartphones. In part because smartphones have really small screens and users are grabbing small sips of information while multitasking with their smartphone. This appears to hold true for Twitter as well. LinkedIn, due in large part by its “business” use, is the most likely to be able to leverage advertising as a revenue generator.

If the wheels fall completely off the Facebook bus watch for a tsunami of speculation about the long-term of social media as a marketing channel. This could get ugly.

Gay Pride T-shirts Now Available At Target

Rick Rusch — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:05:57 +0000

This Is NOT One Of The T-shirts For Sale

Purveyor of all that is cheap, yet chic, Target is the nation’s #2 discount chain (behind Wal-Mart). And Target is just about to step in “it”.

Target has announced an online charitable partnership with the Family Equity Council, a gay pride organization. The company is selling the T-shirts, including two designed by singer Gwen Stefani, for $12.99.

The product debut comes in time for “gay pride season” next month, which includes the 40th annual Pride festival on June 23 & 24. Gay pride season? I must be living under a rock as I’ve never heard of gay pride season. I’m familiar with football season, deer hunting season and the mother of all seasons observed in rural Minnesota – mud season…but gay pride season. C’mon, Target!

The debut of these T-shirts comes two years after Target was slammed by backlash for financial support for a conservative group backing a Republican gubernatorial candidate, Tom Emmer. Even more bizarre is that Emmer lost to Mark Dayton, whose family started Target as a discount alternative to the Dayton Department Stores in the 1960′s.

A retailer like Target, whose customers represent a broad spectrum of political and social views should steer clear of political and social issues. Business is tough enough without stepping into the fray of social issues that are top of mind right now. Why involve a brand like Target in a polarizing topic like LGBT. It just seems self-destructive.

Is Kellogg’s Brand Refresh Necessary?

Rick Rusch — Tue, 22 May 2012 12:01:47 +0000

Kellogg’s, the venerable leader of breakfast cereals is undergoing a brand reset.

This may be a good idea but it is probably not necessary. The update is showcased the brand’s completely redesigned website, which has launched in the United States and Canada, and will soon roll out worldwide. Other elements of the brand refresh, which will be seen across Kellogg’s portfolio and throughout its websites, packaging, advertising and other marketing materials include a new tagline, “Let’s Make Today Great”.

YIKES! Let’s Make Today Great…that is about as generic as they come.

In the cereal and snack business consumers identify with the product brands. In fact most consumers care very little if Frosted Flakes is a Kellogg’s or General Mills brand. Consumers want quality, consistency and fair prices in their cereals. Very few if any give a tiger’s tail about corporate brand refreshes.

Kellogg’s might be better served by focusing on product brands in their portfolio like Crunchmania, Fruit Harvest or Muselix. Branding in the grocery aisles is where Kellogg’s will get traction…corporate brand resets are largely for internal consumption.

And, by the way, isn’t this the company that just recently nearly put one of their few really iconic brand mascots, Tony the Tiger, into retirement? That’s right, last October I wrote “Tony The Tiger Gets A Reprieve” which exposed the pressure companies like Kellogg’s were under to discontinue marketing to children. Pressure came as a result of a study that found that childhood obesity was caused by mascots like Tony hawking sugary cereals. There’s no argument in my mind that a kid eating 3,000 calories at breakfast will get fat. But blaming Tony is just plain wrong. Work on Mom and Dad before you go after Tony.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Weekend Is IPO And Wedding

Rick Rusch — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:00:07 +0000

Mark Zuckerberg’s “to do” list for last week was simple. Girlfriends med school graduation + my birthday – Monday. Check. Facebook IPO – Friday. Check. Get Married – Saturday. Check. OK, done with that.

Zuckerberg, the 28 year-old founder of Facebook, updated his status to “married” on Saturday afternoon. About 100 guests were invited to a backyard event – most thought it was to celebrate Priscilla Chen’s graduation from the University of California medical school.

Turns out it was a wedding.

Not a bad week for Zuckerberg! After the Facebook IPO on Friday, Zuckerberg had paper wealth of $19.1 billion dollars after Facebook Inc. sold 421.2 million shares valued for $38 each on Thursday.

I wonder what Zuckerberg has to do today? Buy an island…better yet, buy St. Lucia from the British Commonwealth.

Consumers Want A Better Multi-Channel Experience

Rick Rusch — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:14:01 +0000

There’s new research suggesting that more than 80 percent of U.S consumers more likely to become loyal customers to retailers that provide an integrated experience across channels.

The Multichannel Shopping Survey found that the importance of online and mobile strategies continue to increase, with more than a third of consumers (39 percent) reporting that they make more purchases online than in-store. Looking ahead, 46 percent of consumers plan to increase their online shopping during the 2012 holiday season.

Even while shopping in a brick-and-mortar store, consumers turn to digital channels with 19 percent reporting that they browse their mobile device while in-store. Two thirds use mobile to compare prices, with others using mobile to compare product choices (27 percent) and read online recommendations (7 percent).

Most retailers have barely put their toes in the mobile channel. The presence of a website and a Facebook page is the basis of many retail online strategies – which is really no strategy.

Grocers, for example, would be well served by ramping up their mobile presence as nearly half of their customers make unplanned purchases while shopping as a result of in-store or online marketing. Seems like an obvious way to increase the dollars per shopping cart.

Nearly half of all consumers indicated in-store pickup options for online purchases were most important. Retailers should take note of this. Outdoor retailer REI found that consumers who came in to their stores to pick up purchases made on the REI website (and shipped free to the store) spent an additional $90+ during that visit. That’s some serious ROI on the expense of shipping.

What consumers want is really pretty simple. Consumers want retailers to conform to their lifestyles. Time, access and flexibility are important measures of a retailers “multi-channelness”. This is not impossible stuff but it will require retailers to think outside the box…which has not proven to be very easy when you look at brands like Best Buy or Borders.

JCPenney Marketing Must Focus On Product

Rick Rusch — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:14:33 +0000

As JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson announced 1Q results this week it was easy pickings for the “I told you so” crowd of pundits. Sales in the first quarter missed plan by 15%.

As a result shares plunged nearly 20 percent on Wednesday, their worst decline ever, wiping away $1.43 billion in market value a day after the retailer shocked Wall Street with a much worse-than-expected drop in sales and by scrapping its dividend.

Coupon cutting shoppers have been turned off by the company’s new pricing strategy which is fair-priced based.

Oddly enough many consumers prefer the perception of saving to actual saving. Products at competitors like Kohl’s or Macy’s are marked up an additional 20% to 50% to support discounts of 20% to 50%. JCPenney is attempting to wean it customers from the “coupon drug” as Johnson called it.

A clear path to winning back its coupon-cutting customers and boosting sales is to shift the emphasis of the marketing strategy from positioning the brand to selling the product. Sounds simple and it can be – but it may be difficult if the Targetesque marketing strategy continues to drive the bus.

Even the Mother’s Day newspaper insert which featured women with their Mom’s and sometimes children while interesting completely missed the mark. There was even one spread featuring a lesbian couple (see image above) that caused some flap but I don’t think that’s why this didn’t work. Here’s why:

Too Much Space That’s Not Productive - full 2-page spreads showing non-model women is a waste of space. Those exact same images and stories could have just as effectively occupied 1/3 of a single page, leaving ample room to sell the product the women were modeling.
Understated Product Identification and Pricing - tucked away in tiny font in colors that made the font even harder to see was the product identification and price. Yikes! If you’re trying to sell product that’s a great value it’s best not to hide the price at the bottom of the page.
The Stories Were Lost On Shoppers - granted this is a survey of one, but when I showed my wife the Mother’s Day insert I asked if she like the idea of the stories about women and their mothers. The answer? “What stories?”. When scanning inserts consumers look for the style the like and the price.

JCPenney does not need to scrap its pricing strategy. Instead it should be communicating product attributes, benefits and virtues…even going so far as to create the perception that JCPenney’s products exist at the intersection of quality and value. Highlight the construction of a dress, the craftsmanship of a handbag or performance of a swimsuit – then connect a great price to that product. Feature the merchants who are charged with globe-trotting sourcing and negotiating the best price on every product JCPenney sells.

This is not rocket-science…but JCPenney cannot continue its current marketing tact.

BullionVault.com Takes The Mystery Out Of Owning Gold

Rick Rusch — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:00:28 +0000

Ever since the stock market tanked in 2008 there’s been a new kind of gold rush – advertising gold. Companies advertising gold sales are deeply penetrated in the Fox family of TV and radio channels. Brands like Goldline and Merit Financial are among the heavy-duty omni-channel advertisers.

Economic conditions have made gold attractive as an investment. At the end of October 2008 gold sold for just over $737 an ounce. Today it’s running at $1,550. Very few stocks have performed well over that period with the exception of Apple ($107 in 2008 to $560 now).

So when I began to look into purchasing gold to begin a college fund for a soon-to-be-born grandchild I realized how little I knew about gold.

For example I didn’t realize that you can get into gold for a few hundred dollars by purchasing gold coins. I thought I had to have enough to buy a standard gold bar – which runs approximately 400 ounces. Yikes! That’d be $620K for a bar. A bit rich for me.

Fortunately I found a site that makes gold understandable - BullionVault.com. The home page features 12 icons with pop-ups that delve into the logistics and benefits of using BullionVault.com to buy, store and sell your gold. I was relieved to find that some BullionVault customers start with accounts as low as $100. That’s a far cry from $620,000!

As a marketer I am more readily engaged by great visual presentations. I responded to the BullionVault.com because the home page is essentially an infographic about gold. In short order I was conversant on prices, ways to own gold, storage pros and cons, and perhaps what I knew least about – how the world gold market works. As a result I can now buy gold from an informed point of view…something I didn’t have prior to learning about BullionVault.com.

Why Are They Called “Adult Superstores”?

Rick Rusch — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:18:16 +0000

Driving a 250 mile expanse in Wisconsin last night got me thinking about retail along the interstate.

In this particular neck of the woods commercial enterprises can be lumped into three categories; services (fuel, food and lodging), fireworks and adult superstores.

What is odd to me is why the adult stores are always “superstores”. Do customers need a vast array adult products just as they do in a Walmart?

Why wouldn’t an “adult” merchant position their store as adult convenience store, or adult boutique or even adult express? If one is hauling down the interstate wouldn’t it be preferable to shop at a market rather than a cavernous superstore?

As I was driving through fly over country last night it was too late for me to stop and research the concept of the adult superstore. But I can’t help but wonder if business wouldn’t be booming if an enterprising “adult” merchant in Wisconsin labeled his/her store as “Wisconsin’s Adult Pop Up Store”?

Whole Foods “Green” App Is A Misnomer

Rick Rusch — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:00:07 +0000

Whole Foods is rewarding customer that live a green lifestyle through its new app it created with Whole Planet Foundation and BlueAvocado.

The “Make Change. Not Waste.” mobile iPhone application allows users to earn badges and coupons for a number of green behaviors including recycling, using a reusable bag and biking to work. After completing 10 green actions, customers can unlock one coupon from leading green brands including: Nature’s Path, Alexia Foods, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, Stonyfield, Frontier Co-op and Organic Valley. Shoppers can also donate a percentage of the coupon value back to Whole Planet Foundation. The app is available to download from the Apple Store.

Am I the only one that sees the irony of using a smartphone to promote one’s “green-ness”?

Even if you make every effort to minimize your carbon footprint, chances are your smartphone is harming the environment.

The battery, for example, is likely made of lithium, a potentially toxic substance that shouldn’t be thrown out in the garbage, but often is. Almost every landfill is loaded with lithium batteries. And speaking of batteries, if yours is typical of most smartphones, it probably needs to be recharged daily, cumulatively consuming a massive amount of coal-generated electricity. Additionally, some of the most basic parts of a smartphone — such as the circuit board — are likely made with any number of hazardous substances.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a utopian who thinks we should be running around in the garden wearing fig leaves. I’m addicted to my iPhone like most smartphone owners are addicted to theirs. Perhaps I’m just a cynic.

Whole Foods has done a phenomenal job marketing on social media so this concept makes sense for their brand and their target audience. There’s a side of me that can’t help but smirk when I see that Whole Foods is rewarding people for being green via smartphone that costs $100 – $400 with $80 a month calling/data plan, powered by a lithium battery and requiring a ton of charging during the course of the year.

Once I get done with my smirking I’ll download the app myself. Who doesn’t want to save a few bucks at Whole Foods by being “green”