COMMUNICATION>Should You Create A Buzz Campaign Based On Cash Distribution?

Long ago marketers have been using money based direct-marketing incentives to motivates consumers:

- Discounts or coupons have a virtual money value available for buying a specific good / service at a specific time
- Cash-back is Real money that is credited back on your account for a specific purchase.

The techniques are different but the final price paid for the purchased item and the money you have left in your pocket after all are exactly the same. In February 2009 a web cash back company (www.bailoutbooth.com) has decided to go one step ahead. They asked themselves: should we invest our half a million dollars budget to get one 30 seconds TV commercial during the Super-bowl final to reach our targeted audience and create awareness? 90% of marketers would have said “yes, let’s go”, but Bailoutbooth marketing team came up with a complete other idea that had create one of the bigger buzz of the year: The entire communication budget will be distributed in cash in New York’s streets. “Cash booth” were installed in different part of the city and people will queue to receive 50$ or more. In just 2 days media from all around the world started to spread the word about this cash distribution. Since then, many companies have tried to implement cash distribution techniques to generate the buzz around their brand with more or less success. So is the Cash distribution a good instrument to create awareness and leverage sales or just a fad?

COMMUNICATION>How to Value the Cost of Social Media Marketing Campaign?

I have learned very recently that one of the largest Russian company had signed up for almost 1 million dollars to create and animate an online brand community with an almost unknown local digital agency. The offer included 170.000 dollars for brand blog creation, 5.000 dollars a month for IT maintenance and others un-definite expenses like yearly agency commission of 160.000 dollars.

If you are in digital or social media business, you know that such project can cost a maximum 300.000 dollars for one year the most. Such a case pushed me to ask myself one very relevant question: Do client understand what they pay for, when starting a Social Media campaign? (I will not discuss about the second big question: How much money does the guy(s) in the advertising department of this company has received as a bribe…).

RETAIL> No parking, no business

Mix marketing is like a recipe: you have ingredients (4P: Product, Price, Place, Promotion) and you should mix the right quantities of each to get a sweet cake! If you do not put the right ingredient or not the right quantity, you will certainly alter the result. This leads me to ask myself a question about all those supermarkets growing in Moscow and its suburbs ( Perkerestok, Sedmoi continent, Viktoria..): not so big formats but not so small (from 800 to 1600 square meters), interesting range of products….but no parking place (or so few, often no more than 20,always busy and difficult to access, that it is difficult to call that a parking). First answer, confirmed after observation: most of their customers are “by feet customers”. Great, although I wonder how such formats can live with only “by feet customers” (low average basket as one customer cannot carry more than 2 or 3 bags)… But then I discovered that all those stores are doing outdoor advertising in the closest big avenue, more crossed by cars than by pedestrians…I should have missed something...but I am not the only one. Retailers developing such formats should rethink their positioning and review clients’ area and cars use ( more and more Russians have got a car, growing number of people living in suburbs). I am sure that this type of supermarkets is not only attracting pedestrians. But parking is then one of the key of the business.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT>customer relationship

Just a link:
http://www.stservicemovie.com/

BRANDS>Product launch : гамма d'aucy KIDS

Company d'aucy developed its offer and recently launched in Russia its range of products dedicated to children: d'aucy kids. They are first to present vegetables tins to this market segment in Russia, designed specially for children: healthy products with vitamins, produced in France, with an attracting packaging linked with the target and positionning. Hope to meet them soon in all super- and hypermarkets!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT>And what about “free special offer”?

Last February Carrefour in France launched a new system of special offer, “free special offer”. Customers can choose the products on which they want to have a special offer. But: customer should have Carrefour loyalty card, Carrefour is deciding and changing every week department concerned by this action ( for example this week, 2 departments concerned: yoghurts and desserts/garden furnitures), and customer should buy 3 products to get one (the less expensive) refunded. Food for thought…
http://carrefour.communiqueonline.fr/promolibre/

COMMUNICATION>6 Steps Process For Blog Marketing

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

6 Steps Process For Blog Marketing

View more presentations from Thierry Cellerin.

Retail communication does not mean innovation

“One product, one price” : this seems to be the magic formula among retailers. Today in Moscow all retailers decided to communicate on the same way…and often as well in the same place. A great idea for differentiating and make sure that nobody notice your ad! Take for example Altufiesskoe avenue: quite all retailers are at that moment present there with outdoor communication: Victoria with pineapples, IKEA with storage furnitures, O’KEY with tyres, TexnoSila with juice extractor ,Carroussel with caviar, Baxetle with Mozart Chocolates (wrong choice, this year is Chopin centenary!), MVideo and washing mashine, Decathlon and rollers, Mosmart and tulips…: everything for the Spring customer in one road! But just think that messages can be polluted by too many hoardings. At this step isn’t it time to think more about quality than quantity (better place, more visible, more creative advert…)?

RETAIL>"Free labels"in Russia: thank you Mosmart!

In 1976 French retailer Carrefour disrupted retail sector in France by launching its “free labels” (“produits libres”): basic products like bread, oil, flour..at low prices (16-29% lower than national brands.), without brand name but just the name of the product (bread, oil, flour, coffee…)

A real success, supported by a strong advertising campaign: “Tasty too, but cheaper” . Carrefour wanted to get free from national labels and signed the beginning of private labels in France.

30 years later in Russia retailer Mosmart took the same initiative and attack the lower price segment with the label “Лучшая цена” ("best price"). Nothing to do with “private labels” (Mosmart has got as well its private label “Mosmart” for around 1000 products) like НАШ products or imported Auchan products. «Лучшая цена”, this is more than 300 products (Carrefour started in 1976 with 50 products and went to 100 products when they stopped free labels in 1985) with very simple packaging, just name of the product and low prices.

Почему всё сам?

"Почему я должен сам собирать свою мебель? Почему я должен сам доставлять свою мебель? Почему я должен сам убирать свою посуду?"

Ограничение службы не проблема. IKEA очень хорошо работает в этом направлении и оправдывает отсутствие службы по борьбе за низких цен. Пока ничего ненормального. Вопрос позиционирования. Но мы обязательно должны оправдать всегда это отсутствие услуги ?

« Кто извиняется, обвиняет себя»...