The Journey
It is paramount to understand a shopper’s life context, how they relate to a particular category and the ways they connect with that category and specific brands in order to deliver intuitive shopper marketing along the path to purchase. Out-of-store marketing should fit naturally into the way shoppers search, research and connect—delivering emotional resonance, simplifying the path and offering relevant information and content that is ultimately paid off in the store.

The Retail Experience
An intuitive retail environment meets the expectations a person has created in their everyday life, not just what they experience in the store. The environment builds on positive associations when a category or brand has them, and borrows from more high-involvement or high-emotion categories when it doesn’t. Stopping power is necessary to get noticed in-store, but shoppers often dismiss messaging and visual stimuli that are not relevant to them. Success in intuitive environments means delivering both recognizable relevance and unexpected difference to create disruption. Balancing these opposing forces requires making strategic and orchestrated choices. Clarity in in-store communications means going beyond simple. Ultimately, intuitive retail effectively distills a brand and brand message into a split-second communication so shoppers can instantly connect the dots of the messaging hierarchy.

Breaking Through the In-Store Clutter
Engaging shoppers through retail orchestration that communicates different elements of the brand proposition (on point-of-sale and displays) allows your brand to stand out in-store—from ten feet away to standing right in front of messaging.

Stop & Pull (Within Ten Feet). Capture the shopper’s attention, create split-second interest and initiate movement towards the shelf.

Enroll (Within Three Feet). Communicate a reason for shoppers to care and visualize the benefit.

Interact & Close (At Display). Encourage shopper/product interaction and aid in selection and purchase.

But, what is a brand? We use the word all the time, but what do we mean by “brand”? How do we define a brand when thinking of brand promotions?

At Upshot, we define a brand as a promise. What’s great about thinking this way is that it puts it in a context of human terms—it’s easy to understand get your consumers to invest in. And the deeper you get into this notion, the more it brings out the emotion, the human connection inherent in consumers’ relationship with brands, which is vital as social media becomes more and more central to people’s lives.

Go deeper and a brand is not only a promise, but a promise from seller to buyer, built on understanding and rooted in emotion and trust.

A brand is a promise from a seller to a buyer
The brand is the “mark” a seller gives of this promise to the buyer. It’s an interaction with a mutual benefit—yes, the buyer has a need the seller is fulfilling, but the buyer isn’t expecting it to be met with altruism and recognizes the seller also gets something of equal value.

A brand is built on understanding
Branding begins with engaging with people constantly blurring their life experiences. From workplace to home, with friends and with family, people are continually shifting their perspectives and expectations. Essentially, people are ever-changing. Understanding these ever-changing people is the first building block of branding. You’d never be able to make a meaningful promise to someone unless you really knew that person and the different perspectives they enact throughout their day.

A brand is rooted in emotion and trust
Great brands appeal both to the head and to the heart. Emotion is another critical piece of branding.  People must feel comfortable about your brand, that it delivers what you are promising. That it reflects you and your personality it the best way possible. And that takes trust—a quality that takes time to win and can be lost in a second. Let’s keep it personal. A promise from someone you don’t trust is worthless.

So, why care about the brand now?
Three powerful business trends in today’s marketplace are making brands and brand marketing a priority.

Product differentiation. Any aisle in any store contains a mind-numbing array of choices, regardless of what you’re looking for.  Every major brand offers every permutation of a given product so consumers are left with little to no product differentiation. That leaves only brand differentiation to base decisions on—something a well thought out brand articulation and/or promotion can bring to life.  Without it, which brand to purchase could be boiled down to whether blue or red goes better in the kitchen. Or worse, which is cheaper.

Shorter product life cycles. The time between category adoption and brand preference has collapsed. The obvious example is the electronics category, where new technology drives life cycles, but this happens across virtually all consumer categories. You need to get your brand entrenched in consumer minds before you’re outnumbered and surrounded.

Growth of private label. The combination of better quality, consumer acceptance, and economic climate has set up private label to grow, and grow impressively, at the expense of accepted brands. They span basics to premium, and more and more consumers not only purchasing them but embracing them as their “go-to” choice. With space at such a premium, both at the literal shelf and in consumers’ minds, having a brand grounded in emotion, understanding and trust is more important than ever to ensure consumer preference over overtly rational private label products.

Brands and branding are central to the entire marketing spectrum
In an Integrated Marketing world, it’s important to keep in mind that brands and branding are central to all the work done across the entire spectrum of marketing—that’s above, below, through and all around the line. In fact, the “line” gets more and more irrelevant every day. And consumers don’t distinguish between the marketing they see that’s above or below this “line”. Keep the brand at the center of all their efforts to not only ensure its integration, but also consumer acceptance, receptivity to the message and overall engagement beyond mere purchase.

Remember that any brand-based efforts require both rational and emotional motivators. Relevant consumer insights must be tapped to ensure an emotional connection to the brand. Simple ideas need to be expertly executed across all tactics and touch points. Finally, all constituents (manufacturer, retailers, agency partners) need to collaborate as one.

Fashion houses have been especially quick to jump on board the Instagram bandwagon, such as the Art of the Trench project from Burberry. The brand encouraged fans to don their trench coats and submit photos via Instagram, which were featured at artofthetrench.com alongside professional “trench coat portraits” by The Sartorialist’s Scott Schuman. Those promiscuous folks at Sartorialist also teamed up with Tiffany & Co. to encourage fashionable couples in New York and Paris to document their True Love In Pictures via Instagram, as shown in the image to the right. But to really pull the whole thing together, the pair offered a special Instagram photo filter that users could apply to their lovely images.

Instagram’s aforementioned Seamlessness also makes it an ideal platform for promotions and sweepstakes, as entering can involve little more than a photo and a quick tag. Levi’s is using the service to find new faces for their 2012 brand campaign by asking folks to tag images of themselves with #iamlevis. The early results seem to be attracting quite the spectrum of participants, ranging from American Apparel-y hipsters to shirtless muscle-bound jocks. Oh, and this guy. We hope he wins.

GE is similarly tapping Instagrammers to find a “social media photographer,” a position that would require the winner to take behind-the-scenes photos at GE’s jet engine facility for sharing on sites like Instagram and Tumblr. Entrants are tasked with bringing one of GE’s four foci to life (Moving, Curing, Powering and Building) and tagging their images with #GEInspiredMe. (You can see some of the selections below). Regardless of who wins the contest, we find it particularly interesting that a brand as complicated and amorphous as GE could use this promotion to clearly and simply communicate their core areas of expertise. Moreover, like the Levi’s campaign mentioned earlier, the brand is leveraging the Collective Curation of their fans to compile a large collection of compelling images of their products and processes. These assets can subsequently be used in all kinds of smart ways in the future, even if the respective marketers don’t know exactly what that’ll be just yet. But along the way, these Instagramming brands have already developed (pun intended) a deeper engagement with their most expressive consumers.

The photo-sharing app Instagram is perhaps the most intriguing example of a platform built for Collective Curation. (Actually, it’s also a damn fine tool for establishing your brand as a Guru, but we’ll get to that later.) The app is popular among users because of its simple photo filters and incredibly easy sharing functions, but also because it implements a Twitter-like tagging system that lets the images do the talking in these conversations. For instance, The Washington Post has asked readers to document the local impacts of the recession via Instagram by tagging their photos with the #econdebate tag (a couple are shown above). The collected images spark a multifaceted and compelling debate far more effectively than a vitriolic comment section ever would. (We’ve used a similar strategy on Upshot’s own homepage to showcase what’s inspiring us – look for the filmstrip at the bottom of the window.)

But the app isn’t just simple for users. An ideal example of Seamless Tech, Instagram’s flexible platform makes it easy for marketers to compile (and curate) photo galleries into their websites, Facebook pages, or other digital properties. For instance, the band The Vaccines managed to crowdsource a music video by asking attendees at their shows to tag their Instagram pictures with #vaccinesvideo. The band selected their favorite shots and incorporated them into the video shown below. And if an indie rock outfit can pull this off, just imagine what big-time brands like GE, Starbucks, and Levi’s could do. We’ll show you in part two of this post, coming tomorrow.

1. Sympathize with shoppers
Reaching shoppers today requires an understanding of their world, life and shopping experience. Start by seeing the retail environment through their eyes—they have a reason for being at a specific retailer, a budget and a time limit; they know what they want and need to have; and they typically give themselves 20 minutes to get it, pay for it and pack it in the car.
Great shopper marketing creative requires a keen understanding of shopper needs, the retail environment, marketing vehicles and messaging.

2. Understand purchase barriers
Identifying barriers is a critical step in shopper marketing. Creative development should address both consideration and conversion barriers in a specific channel, category and on a specific brand. Messaging outside of the store often times must address a poor shopping experience or selection perceptions at a retailer to even be considered for a shopping trip. Enabling de-selection is a common solution to aid conversion of brands in cluttered categories and education helps when a product has usage uncertainty or poor value perception.
Great shopper marketing creative acknowledges and overcomes consideration and conversion barriers.

3. Match the message to the vehicle based on shopper expectations
Communications priorities should be based on the most relevant consumer communication for a particular marketing vehicle. But remember that shoppers have pre-determined expectations, so choose messages accordingly and let the vehicle dictate the lead. For example, shoppers expect circulars to feature items on sale this week, so lead messaging should focus on price to drive them to a specific retailer. They look at displays (endcaps or floor stands) for what’s new, what’s on sale and reminders to buy, so focus lead messaging on the product benefits to drive incremental (planned or unplanned) purchases.
Great shopper marketing creative leverages expectations to increase acceptance.

4. Create an intuitive retail experience
Stopping power is necessary to get noticed in-store, but shoppers often dismiss messaging and visual stimuli that are not relevant to them. Creating an intuitive environment means delivering both recognizable relevance and unexpected difference to create disruption. Balancing these opposing forces requires making strategic and orchestrated choices. Clarity in in-store communications means going beyond simple to compelling. When done correctly, intuitive retail instantly connects the dots of the messaging hierarchy in a split second.
Great shopper marketing creative should act as retail shorthand.

5. Collaborate with retailers
The retailer owns the environment and has final approval, so establish expectations for the balance between a brand’s equity and the retailer’s from the get go. Include the retailer in your planning and shopper research (e.g., focus groups, shopalongs, competitive store audits, etc.). Create multifunctional teams (from the beginning) to ensure seamless execution that is transparent to the shopper. When appropriate, present a couple of creative options (for larger scale events vs. smaller programs).
Great shopper marketing creative aligns mutual business goals through execution.

6. Inspire Shoppers to Act
Finally, shopper marketing needs to inspire shoppers to act. The creative product should fan the flames of inspiration. It’s too simplistic to think that people will only find something valuable if it is presented in a rational and tangible way. Intangibles are part of life and should be embraced. People don’t walk through life calculating its benefits. They experience life. To deliver real value to people, shopper marketing needs to connect with them emotionally. And give them a reason to act—using value PLUS emotion, education, entertainment and engagement.
Great shopper marketing creative engages shoppers emotionally.

If you’re into music. Check out the 40 free holiday tracks from Paste Magazine. You can stream the playlist download the entire compilation featuring tracks from Deer Tick, She & Him, The Polyphonic Spree, Damien Jurado, Nicole Atkins and more.  Sourced from our friend (and Upshot alumni) over at Popservations.

If you’re into television. Check out the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast via their website or iTunes. Led by Monkey See blogger, Linda Holmes the podcast covers art, culture, media and fun. We dig it for the best coverage of television (both good and bad) out there!

If you’re into fashion. And celebrities, go browse the Go Fug Yourself blog. The writers—Heather and Jessica—are full of wit, sarcasm and diet coke. It’s just plain pure fun. And great to kill time while waiting for your delayed flight in the airport.

If you’re into trends. Of the consumer and marketing kind, that is. Check out Upshot’s 2012 Trends Report. It provides ten relevant, actionable marketing trends to inspire consumers, shoppers, and business people to act in 2012.

Tell us a few of your favorite things!

According to their website, Benetton’s Unhate Foundation “Seeks to contribute to the creation of a new culture of tolerance, to combat hatred, building on Benetton’s underpinning values”.  The foundation’s website boasts future plans of a Global Unhate Day, and a giant “Unhate Dove” fabricated entirely out of recycled war bullets.

While taking on all of the hatred in the world could certainly do us all a little good and the campaign is sparking conversation around the globe, Benetton’s commitment to making a legitimate impact is a steep goal. Sure, they’re doing an excellent job of creating (both positive and negative) buzz about their brand and potentially even enticing consumers to purchase their exceedingly pricey clothing, but it is safe to say that a bunch of unorthodox ads will likely fall short of creating world peace. Consumers are looking for causes where their contributions may have a real effect on a final outcome. Knowing the amount of press and simple word of mouth viral activity the ads have created in a matter of weeks, it will be interesting to see how Benetton’s campaign to change the world plays out over the next several months.

Click the image below for the full-size infographic!

In January, 2011, Starbucks launched its Mobile Card payment program available on most smartphones. SMART. No doubt you’re already on your phone at 8:30 in the morning while ordering a Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte, so it’s easy to flash your “Touch to Pay” barcode and be on your way. The app replaces your reloadable Starbucks card (while keeping your rewards intact), and you can preload it from your bank account within the same screen.

With the release of Google Wallet, users can now pay with a simple tap at Mastercard paypass terminals. For now, this is advancement only for those with Google phones…and a Citi Mastercard. But, with this technological groundbreaking device, users are also able to receive offers and store loyalty points via the app.  We’re attached to our phones, so what better way to reach us directly when we’re making a transaction.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Shopkick offers rewards for simply stepping inside a store and scoping out merchandise. It displays deals and discounts close in proximity to your location. The more you peruse, the more points are earned for redemptions ranging from clothes to electronics.

While cashless-ness becomes the norm, we can only assume that consumers will rely less on the benjamins, but let’s not forget about Future Fear. A lot of emphasis is placed on convenience and practicality when we look at technological enhancements. It’s our job to find the perfect balance between convenience and trust.

What we can gather from our own shopping habits is that we rely heavily on the convenience factor, no doubt about it. We’ve become increasingly comfortable with everything being accessible through our phones. We can purchase a Groupon, find our way to Alaska and back, and even count the steps we take around the office with our smartphones.

“What? I can’t just show you the e-mail, I have to print it out?!”

As marketers, we should reach our consumers as soon as they walk into the store, making it harder not to refuse a great deal on the very same phone used to swipe and pay. It has been reported that 20% of smartphone users have compared prices while shopping in brick-and-mortar stores. Additionally, 15% of smartphone users have redeemed a mobile coupon (ladies more so than gentlemen). Let’s take advantage of these time-saving, less paper-wasting social platforms that deliver instantaneous results without hassle. Smartphones aren’t going anywhere, so creating more convenient methods of in-store redemption and offers will put us ahead of the game—and the checkout line.

What will it take for YOU to go CASH-LESS?

With many brands taking a back seat to creative product launching, Nike went full-force with innovation to—quite literally—launch the Jordan Melo M8, the latest in the collection designed exclusively with New York Knicks forward Camelo Anthony. Using special effects and an 85-foot 3D projector, 2,500 spectators were treated to a lights and water showcase over Pier 54 at Hudson River Park with a three story tall Carmelo Anthony sporting his new shoes and dunking on the water. For the rest of us not at the event, Nike also provided a live feed through a microsite dedicated specifically to the Melo shoe.

Nike has long been a brand patronage pro teaming up with athletes to develop products with an automatic fan base for decades. With more than half a dozen shoe designs already in the Jordan Melo line, the collaboration with Anthony has been an undeniable way for both to make a splash.