Overall investment in shopper marketing — defined by the Marketing Leadership Council as in-store advertising, promotion and design initiatives intended to extend brand equity and provide the retailer with differentiation — is estimated to be growing at 21% annually. In other words, it’s a rising force.
Here’s why: Shoppers choose 59% of the brands they buy in the store.
Yet, consumer packaged goods manufacturers have yet to align shopper marketing initiatives with the advertising and promotions that reach consumers at home and on the go, according to a Media Post’s Marketing Daily.
Here’s why: Silos suck.
For as long as anyone can remember, it’s been important to be a specialist, in marcom circles, as elsewhere. But it’s bullshit. What we need are generalists. People capable, and more importantly, willing, to draft and then implement a soup-to-nuts communications strategy.
Brands can not turn to their brand advertising agency for this thoroughness. The real interest in those shops is TV, print and grudgingly digital. Silos suck.
For all the talk about integrated marketing, dissolving “the line,” media neutrality and so on, there’s no equal amount of action. Silos suck.
So much of this comes down to how an agency or a freelancer is hired. We’re hired by specialty. Not just in a particular media sphere, but also by product or service category. If the new business opportunity is in chicken wings, you need experience in chicken wings. Which is beyond short-sighted. The experience a prospective client needs to look for is the agent’s ability to connect with people. That’s our business.
