Truth, beauty and joy are not concepts you’d normally associate with shopper marketing. But for Brian Ferns, Creative Group Head at Y&R, these three are central to work that resonates with shoppers and persuades them to choose a particular product – the product that your client is promoting. The store is the ultimate destination, and the more your marketing and communication delivers on these basic human needs, the better your sales.

Brian was talking at the most recent Y&R Lunch and Learn session, taking Y&R staff through some of the learnings from his trip to the Shopper Marketing Expo in Chicago late last year.

Shopper marketing has grown massively over the past couple of decades. It’s a relatively new concept in South Africa, but we’re cottoning onto it too, and trend forecasters are starting to look at its growing importance in the marketing mix. There are many variations on the definition of shopper marketing, but essentially it’s this: “a collaborative customer and retailer-targeted programme that leverages shoppers to choose a brand, while building brand equity.”

Several factors are driving the growth in importance of shopper marketing:

·         More decisions are being made in-store (50%, by some measures, although some put this as high as 70%)

·         Fragmented mass media makes it harder to reach consumers

·         More sophisticated, tech savvy retailers

·         Increasing cost of trade support

·         Increasing pressure on profit margins

In addition, we’re seeing a proliferation of sku’s, which is making it harder for shoppers to choose. The average shopper has 4.3 seconds to make a decision, so you have to make a real impact quickly. Communication needs to be clean and simple. It’s not simply repurposed above-the-line consumer communication because, as Brian notes, “The shopper is the consumer in a totally different state of mind”. And shopper marketing is not restricted to in-store marketing: it’s managing the shopper through the process, from realising that they need more toothpaste, to selecting it off the shelf and putting it in their shopping basket, to becoming a brand loyalist who would never consider choosing anything else.

“We help create the demand cycle,” Brian says of agencies. “It’s our role to provide actionable insights that address the real needs of today’s marketers, shoppers and retailers.”

This is where truth, beauty and joy come in. Brian believes that these three concepts should always be kept in mind when developing shopper campaigns.

·         Truth: The minute there’s no truth to a brand, people will buy it once and never again.

·         Beauty: Every aspect of advertising and communication has to have beauty. We love beauty, and retail environments are beautiful places to be in.

·         Joy: Joy will come from the feeling of satisfaction that you’re able to buy something you really wanted.

Even if it is focused on the practicalities of driving sales at the till, a good shopper marketing programme will deliver on all three. If it moves you and excites you, chances are you’ll make one of those purchases that brands and retailers love: the impulse buy. As Brian observes, “You’ll never come out of the store with just the stuff you planned on buying.” 

As for the future of shopper marketing, Brian sees far greater role for technology, integrating it into shopper programmes in ways that are relevant to shoppers. “Your home will be smart,” he says. “The store will be smart. Your car will be smart. Nearly every way you interact will be smart.” Which means that shopper marketing is going to have to get smart too.