Displaying benefits in your promotions

Over the last several weeks in television commercials, Kia Motors has shown the benefit of their lower vehicle prices in terms that are both timely for many in their target market and with clear imagery.

You may recall seeing Kia advertsiements for their Sportage and Rio 2008 models that highlight safety, features and warranty but really trumpet how much each is priced less than leading competitors. What makes these ads effective is how the savings are shown... Kia shows how many grocery carts full of food the savings would buy (and several thousand dollars will buy quite a few carts full of food).

In a time when consumers are feeling the pinch of high gas prices (approaching $4 per gallon) on their household budgets, Kia leaves no doubt about what the savings from their vehicle prices can mean for the buyer. A picture is truly worth a thousand words.

The commercials will be added to this post when available.

Looking @ websites from mobile devices... is your site ready?

It's not exactly new but the numbers are increasing quickly and organizations need to consider what impact it has on them.

Accessing web sites from smartphones and PDAs is no longer the exception and businesses need to consider the implications. The ownership of smartphones in the USA alone doubled in 2007 to 14.6 million. Although Web browsers for mobile devices are becoming more technologically advanced, viewing websites from these items still entail making trade-offs such as horizontal scrolling, small screens, and slower download times.

What's happening to new mobile browsers?

There are two improvements that are making web use from phones more congruent with viewing the web from a computer:
(1) the ability to render web sites smaller -- essentially miniaturizing websites for small screens,
(2) the integration of technologies like Java, CCS, Ajax, etc. that allow mobile browsers to better mirror full-scale browsers.

The continuation of these types of advancements -- in mobile browsers as well as smart phones and PDAs -- should eventually minimize the differences between mobile and "regular" web viewing . But the difference is still real so until then...

What can organizations do?

• View your site on a mobile device to see what it looks like, its readability & viewability, and overall user friendliness.
• Minimize the horizontal width of your website.
• Carefully consider the size of images (download time and memory)
• Consider an alternative website designed for mobile access utilizing a .mobi (versus .com) domain.

Don't forget the customers who might come to you by mobile web access. How does your website project your brand to them?

The"TMI" temptation of advertsing

"Too much information" in ads = too much lost










Who doesn't like to get more for their money? It gives us a sense of accomplishment... that we've gotten a bargain.

However, more for our advertsing dollar can actually mean less. More words and images in the ad means that readers might actually see less due to all the clutter.

Look at these two ads from a local newspaper. The layouts of both ads have so much that little can be seen. Words and images get lost in all the information. And lost information mean less effective ads.

Closed for training... differing perspectives on Starbucks

Starbucks decision to close over 7000 company-owned USA locations for several hours on the evening of February 26th in order to implement training in customer service and the making of their varied coffee drinks has caught the eye of new outlets... and understandably so. Starbucks reports that some 135,000 baristas were on the receiving end of the training effort.

Two viewpoints

1) The "How could Starbucks afford to do it?" perspective
.....Those with this point-of-view focus on a range of variables including the:

• lost sales during the closure
• "unproductive wages" (just consider the 400,000+ hours of barista training)
• opportunities for competitors to access Starbucks' customers (for example, Dunkin' Donuts offered heavily discounted lattes, espressos and cappuccinos during this Starbucks evening training)
• attention on negative issues at Starbucks given through media coverage of the training event

2) The "How could Starbucks NOT afford to do it?"
.......perspective
.. ..Those with this viewpoint -- and it seems to be a somewhat lonely place judging from what is currently read or heard -- wonder, even considering the possible negatives listed in #1 above, why wouldn't an organization be willing to take unconventional measures to refocus on its customers, if such methods were deemed productive?

Comparing the two sides
While those in the "how could they" camp focus on short-term negative outcomes that might result from this event, they seem to not consider the longer term negatives if Starbucks does not do something significant to counter some disturbing trends impacting their customers. One question begging to be asked is: "How much would continuing such current practices impact their profits if left unchanged". Two such practices that Starbucks reportedly focused on Tuesday night were in the areas of: (A) coffee drinks that are not prepared up to "Starbucks standards" and (B) not offering the desired consistent customer service that was a hallmark of the chain in earlier years but had been slumping recently.

Lift your cup high
Although Tuesday's closure of their locations surely had some short term negative consequences, let's hope that Starbucks customers lift their venti lattes (or espressos or macchiatos or whatever) high to toast the Starbucks management for their willingness to take a bold (and expensive) step to get the shops back to where they felt they needed to be. It will be interesting if Starbucks' customers taste and experience a difference (and for how long).

McDonald's: Please do coffee right this time!

In an early 2007 Consumer Reports coffee taste test, coffee drinkers preferred McDonald's Premium Roast over blends of Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts and Burger King.

Currently, the local McDonald's are in the midst of reconfiguring their front counters to accommodate the fast food firm's move into expanded coffee shop offerings.

No options
Even though they have had a nice tasting product for over a year, McDonald's chose to maintain their fast food heritage regarding their coffee. Even though promoting their coffee as a premium beverage in a redesigned cup, McDonald's failed to offer customers any choices of creamers. Instead of a selection of milks -- cream, whole, 2%, non-fat, soy, etc. -- and flavorings, McDonald's has limited coffee drinkers to a single type of coffee cream in "mini moos" (the miniature creamer "buckets" topped with foil -- see the picture above).

To be fair, McDonald's coffee drinkers could have a wider selection of creamers (2% or non-fat)... if they bought a small carton of milk with their cup of Premium Roast!

Jump, don't just stick your toes in
McDonald's seems to have the coffee that satisfies the palate. Here's hoping they realize it is more than just the coffee. Since McDonald's is entering the coffee market with more gusto, it would be beneficial to remember that up-market coffee is not viewed as a commodity and that even variables seemingly as small as coffee condiments impact consumer perception.

Generational advertising, mixed messages

Messages can be lost thru dated material

In December 2007, Kia Motors continued using the theme of parody retro music-oriented television commercials to promote their Annual KiaFest Year-End Sales Events. This was done via the takeoff of the song "Maniac" from the 1983 movie Flashdance.



Advertisements for similar sales in previous years featured playful takeoffs of the mid-1980s music scene (Styx and techno-pop).

I like the Maniac Kia commercial. It was fun and funny. Of course, I graduated from college in the early 1980s and have seen Flashdance.

My daughter didn't get it. She thought the commercial was pretty cheesy (and considered the salesman's pelvic trusts toward the car a bit "disgusting"). She has never seen the movie and would have only heard the song on an oldies radio station when I use to chauffeur her around. I don't think "cheesy" or being associated with an oldies station is a business' ideal brand position for their products.

Reading various comments on the web regarding the commercial revealed a wide array of comments about the commercial. Many asked if anyone knew the name of the song. Others wrote how funny they thought the actor was. Two things I did not see... much about the vehicles or the sales event.

Should Kia care?
Perhaps they should if they think younger age customers will be needed to reach their sales goal of 500,000 units a year by 2012 (up from just under 300,000 units in 2006). A look at Kia, from their prices, vehicles and promotions -- including a College Graduate (Sales) Program -- indicates that younger buyers are indeed a key target audience for Kia.

Including generational dependent content in ads is dicey.
If the consumers trying to be reached have a wide age range, building a commercial on a dated event, movie, personality, music, etc. runs the risk that a portion of the audience will not fully understand the intended message. Worse yet, some of that audience will develop negative (if even slightly) associations for the product by not "getting" the intended impact of the material and assigning their own interpretation to it.

Obviously, some dated material is less likely to have such unintended consequences. For example, Beatles music still transcends age groups.

Be careful.
Take care to understand the impact of including generational dependent materials in promotions. If your various customer groups have a significant age range, the promotion runs the risk of sending mixed (and sometimes undesired) messages.

New Year's resolutions, consumers and business

Showing how your product can assist prospective customers achieve a desired state in their lives makes sense. So much sense, in fact, that it is surprising it is not done more often and overtly by incorporating "resolutions" into advertising at a time when many people formulate New Year's resolutions.

In 2007, New Year's resolution promotions included:

• Home Depot with a tv commercial for those wishing to keep their home better organized in 2008 by purchasing storage solutions. This was in conjunction with a webpage (above right) and newspaper inserts for "The Ultimate Storage Event" sale.


• Valerie Bertinelli's video blog (with related tv commercial) as celebrity spokesperson for the Jenny Craig weight loss program. This includes an interesting twist on the New Year's resolution theme.


• A university's adult degree completion program which featured an ad in the local newspaper with the heading "New Year's Resolution No. 1: It's My Time. Time to do something for my career, my future... Time to finish my education"

Does your product or service lend itself to assisting consumers to reach a goal (i.e. helping them reach a desired outcome)? If so, consider how and when to communicate with that audience. Perhaps resolutions brought on by a new year are opportunities to do so.

....................................................................................................................................

It must be remembered that to build and maintain long-term relationships with them, customers must feel like your product actually helped them (or at least provided them with the chance) to reach their goal.

Gift card sales key... think tactics thru carefully

ad #1
(actual size = 2 x 2.5 inches)

ad #2
(actual size = 2.25 x 2.5)

The news accounts that retailers are banking on the combination of heavily discounted prices and purchases made via gift cards to make the holiday retail season successful is not new for 2007. While gift cards have become increasingly important to post-Christmas sales over the last few years, post-holiday discounting to boost profits and reduce inventories have become traditional staples of retailing.

Since gift cards play such an important role, many retailers are attempting to get the word out that their store is where to use the gift card (if it is a generic gift card like those from Visa and MasterCard) or now is the time to use the gift card to a particular store (since sales from gift cards are not put on the books until the cards are redeemed).

Here are two interesting promotional items regarding gift cards – both in today’s (12-28-07) newspaper.

1. Advertisements to promote the purchase of gift cards have been often seen on television, radio, newspapers, etc. during the 2007 holiday shopping season. It is easy to understand why since consumers have bought gift cards in huge (and perhaps record) numbers. However, the ad (see ad #1 above) in a twelve page insert the 12-28-07 newspaper seemed a bit late – and quite small. Promoting gift cards would seem to be more of a pre-holiday item.

2. Businesses also seek to give consumers reason to redeem gift cards soon after Christmas by using the cards at post-holiday sales. An advertisement (see ad #2 above) in an eight-page newspaper insert (on 12-28-07) told shoppers to “make your JCPenney gift card go further” by using it with the bonus coupons in the insert. It was interesting to note that this tiny notice was located on the bottom left corner of the last page of the insert… which gave key information to the consumer very late – if they saw it at all. This might have been page one material.

The upward trend for gift cards shows no indication of slowing. The properly timed implementation of carefully developed tactics related to gift cards can improve a business’ bottom line.

2007 Holiday Marketing Results... Something to Consider for 2008

The pre-Christmas article titled "Stores frustrated as shoppers' holiday procrastination gets worse " is an example that shows many businesses do not readily see the effects of their actions on the behavior of consumers. In the article, retailers bemoan the recent trend of more consumers waiting longer to do or complete their holiday shopping. In response to this, some retailers feel forced to increase the use of pre-Christmas sales and other incentives to attempt to entice shoppers to buy soon (if not now!) and from them. This impacts profit margins but businesses think this is better than fewer purchases.

Businesses blink first
Although external forces (such as consumer confidence, perceptions on the strength or weakness of the economy, etc.) impact spending, businesses need to understand that they have played a significant role in "teaching" holiday shoppers to delay purchases later in the holiday shopping cycle by actually rewarding them for waiting to shop. Consumers have learned that businesses will offer incentives to buy (sales, coupons, free shipping, increased store hours, gifts for purchasing, etc.) and they just need to outwait retailers. Shoppers have learned that the retailers will blink first.

Now that shoppers have learned this, it will be difficult (but not impossible) for businesses to alter consumer expectations.

What can be learned for 2008?
There are two routes businesses can follow: (1) continue the current trend to battle for consumer spending predominately via incentives; or (2) attract buyers by offering truly distinctive products and services that are more immune to price/incentive-based buying.

A downside to shopper incentives is that to be effective they must continually be bigger and bigger. Otherwise, today's incentives are beat by competitors who increased their incentives to increase their sales. It is a ruthless cycle.

The second option is not easy (or even possible for some business models)... but the rewards are significant. Some examples of distinctive brands/products that have weathered the price/incentive onslaught of the 2007 holiday shopping season include Nintendo's Wii and Apple iPods. This was accomplished by having products that were uniquely different from competitive offerings that were not over-inventoried (Wii) and by redefining consumer expectations of design and style (Apple iPods). However, this option is not just for big businesses. A local bookstore minimized the use of incentives by offering superior customer service (in this case an extremely knowledgeable, well-read sales staff) that attracts and retains buyers.

The question to ask is how can your store, product and/or brand start making your offerings more special in the eyes of customers and, therefore, less subject to the mandatory incentives cycle.

It is not easy or quick, but the results are worth it. The time to start for the 2008 holiday shopping season is now.

p.s.
Although this entry focuses on the holiday shopping season, the issue of the over reliance on incentives to stimulate sales is year-round.

Stopping consumers in their tracks

Macy's Union Square
Level 3 window

The Apple Store

Level 2 window

The Levi's Store

Level 1 window

The holiday shopping season was in full swing during a recent trip to San Francisco as retailers vie for the estimated $474.4 billion in 2007 holiday spending.

Walking around the shopping district surrounding Union Square, the levels of use (and non-use) of holiday window displays was plain to see and broke into four distinct groupings:


Level 0 - Window displays as usual... no attempt to "holiday-ize".

Level 1 - A slight bit of "winterization" (giant snow flakes, red & green foil, etc.).

Level 2 - Holiday themed window displays.

Level 3 - Destination windows... windows that not only made people stop but also were places they came to see.


What's the verdict?

• Level 0 and 1 windows did not draw consumer glances nor slow them down.
• Level 2 (themed) window displays drew glances but did not often slow consumers down.
• Level 3 window displays not only drew glances... shoppers actually stopped, looked and paid attention.... giving the store the opportunity to have a prolonged brand interaction with consumers.