Category — Marketing Disciplines
On The Line
Below-the-line agencies are rising to the top. By Paul Kramer. In the past, when asked what their biggest asset was, marketers would invariably reply, “our brand.” In today’s environment, you are just as likely to get the answer, “our customers,” defined as both retailers and their shoppers.
Yet surprisingly, in today’s highly visible world of brand building and mass advertising, the reality is that traditional, above-the-line agencies often lose focus on the most important part of the equation — the customer. The better agencies tend to be adept at growing brands while also building customer relationships. Below-the-line agencies, where the focus is on targeted, direct and measurable customer interactions, are well-positioned to meet today’s challenges, and tomorrow’s … read >>
January 30, 2012 Comments
Future Shock
The new shopper-marketing agency is ready to lead the way. By Ken Barnett. When Advertising Age took its latest look at “What the Media Agency of the Future Will Look Like,” 11 industry leaders shared their visions. Not surprisingly, none mention the words shopper, retailer or path-to-purchase. Instead we got visions such as the following:
“The media agency of the future will understand the power of igniting communities by harnessing people’s collective purpose and voice with human experiences that drive brand results.”
This begs the question: Is it ethereal thinking like this that is best equipped to lead one’s business into the future, or is it the grasp of hard, everyday realities that will best service the needs of marketers whose challenge is to integrate brand with retailer objectives? … read>>
May 11, 2011 Comments
ConAgra Confidential
Jesse Spungin explains how ConAgra nailed shopper marketing. By Chris Hoyt and Tim Manners. In both 2009 and 2010, ConAgra Foods was voted by its peers as one of the top three companies in the Hub’s annual “Top 12” report on shopper-marketing excellence.
What has ConAgra done to earn this? What are the essential building blocks that define ConAgra’s shopper-marketing approach? What can others learn from ConAgra’s experience? To find out, the Hub spoke with Jesse Spungin, ConAgra’s former vice-president of shopper marketing … read >>
September 20, 2010 Comments
Back in Bed
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What must agencies do to feel the love again? A discussion featuring Mark Mears of The Cheesecake Factory, Jim Zambito of Johnson & Johnson, Bill Pearce of Del Monte and Chris Maher of Greenlight. (more) |
November 10, 2008 Comments
Team Unilever
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The ultimate shopper insight is that sales and marketing need to think as one. An exclusive Q&A interview with Lisa Klauser of Unilever by Tim Manners. |
May 5, 2008 Comments
The Hub Top 10
Far be it from us to pass judgment on the many outstanding agencies and brand marketers pioneering the new frontier of Shopper Marketing. It is not our place to do that because, for one thing, we have not walked a mile (or even the final two feet) in their shoes. Nor is it our purpose to declare that one agency or one brand marketer is creating the “best” Shopper Marketing programs. But we did think it would be helpful to try to set some standards for excellence in Shopper Marketing, to benchmark and try to help improve overall industry performance. With Hoyt & Company designing our survey instrument, and the Promotion Marketing Association’s membership supplementing our own subscribers, we reached out to the best and brightest practitioners of Shopper Marketing today. To ensure maximum objectivity, we simply asked agencies to rate brand marketers, and vice versa, against ten key areas critical to success. The result is our first-ever report of The Hub Top 10 of Shopper Marketing Excellence. (results here). Our congratulations to all of the agencies and brand marketers that achieved recognition in the Top 10. Of course, what matters most is that when the principles of Shopper Marketing are fully engaged, everybody is a winner, especially the shopper. ~ Tim Manners, editor |
May 1, 2008 Comments
Tip This
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Was Madonna a fluke and Hush Puppies an accident? By Chip Martella. (more) |
April 21, 2008 Comments
Points of Pain
Last March, we took a survey of Cool News readers, asking the question: As a marketer, what is your greatest point of pain? We received 237 open-ended responses, and HUB senior editor Peter F. Eder categorized them into roughly three groups: 1) You! More than 80 respondents identified someone else as their biggest pain; either not understanding issues, plans, goals, strategies, not buying into programs, subverting or discounting them or abandoning them before completion. 2) Information! More than 60 respondents said they did not have enough sound information to guide them. Number-one pain was not having the tools to evaluate ROI or other results effectively. Also, not having enough information to develop effective messages, to select or assign media, or to create plans; and 3) Resources! The third largest cluster complained about the “pain of not having enough” — e.g., budgets; people; time to get things done; or adequate systems. This Wednesday, June 6th, I will ask our now-famous “point of pain” question of five of marketing’s best and brightest: Donna Sturgess, svp innovation of GlaxoSmithKline; Tom Boyles, svp of CRM of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts; Scott Deaver, CMO of Avis Budget Group; Jeff Glueck, CMO of Travelocity; and Neil Metviner, President of Pitney Bowes Direct. Each will briefly describe his or her greatest challenge, and then we’ll talk about how to solve it. The fun (we promise it won’t be painful |
begins at 9:40 am, at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC, during Henry Stewart XVII’s annual confab (
June 4, 2007 Comments
Pencils & Towels
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Put the marketing into event marketing and help make CMOs brand heroes again. By Charlie Tarzian. (more)
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May 21, 2007 Comments
No Pain, No Gain
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August 14, 2006 Comments
