Shopping with All Your Facebook Friends

While I'm waiting for Morgan to get back from Facebook's big advertising event this week in New York, some interesting news has already been released...the addition of a Shopping application which will evolve word of mouth in the online shopping arena. I covered the topic on our company blog shopperculture.com. Read the long version there.

Short Version:
Good - The ability to fire online purchases directly over to your Facebook page may seem weird to non-facebookers. But for those on the site, you understand how much you keep up on peoples' lives via their status and whatever they super-poked you with today. Allowing me to, upon checkout of buying my new Flat screen TV, click a button to instantly show off my new toy to my friends seems really appealing. And as a marketer, I relish the opportunity to have this more authentic way for consumers to brag about their purchase of my brand.

Bad - Challenge could be the online only nature of the app. With a good number of purchases researched online but still bought in the real world, how can this app be expanded to be more inclusive of broader shopping behaviors? Seems like the addition of a "considering" feature could be a useful plus-up. For example, if a user is on bestbuy.com looking at flat screen TVs, maybe they can add categories or specific products to their considerations. For users this could be a useful tool to gather intelligence from a network of friends.

Can't wait to see what else they announce.

Albertsons Surprisingly Digital - Selection '07

Came across this Albertsons program when I was waist deep in Google gadgets trying to see if retailers were using the technology. And apparently one is.
Found a gadget for each of Albertsons "candidates" for a program they are calling "Selection '07" where the different foods are vying for your votes. Cheese, steak, shrimp, pineapple, egg and broccoli are the candidates. And although I don't eat seafood, shrimp is my favorite because he wears a monocle.
Once I voted via the gadget, which also featured recipe ideas for each ingredient, I was whisked off to the Selection 07 site. The site includes a series of funny videos which are housed on Youtube, where Albertsons has its own branded page set up for all the videos in the program. In addition to videos, for each candidate there are more recipes, downloads (the shrimp mask was my favorite, again the monocle kills me), wallpapers, IM icons, etc...
For a retailer to create a program like this says that they are investing in their brand and creating a personality that shoppers/consumers can connect with. As manufacturers and agencies, we need to recognize these personalities and determine how we can create programs to complement those efforts.

Retail, Brand, Media Partnerships can be great...

...when done this well. Halo 3 (Microsoft), 7-11, AOL and Mountain Dew (Pepsico) came together to create a beautiful program. (Can't imagine the logistics for approvals on this one). Further, my favorite part is that I was first exposed at retail. (Pump topper at 7-11)

And yes, while they are hawking Game Fuel Slurpees, they certainly aren't going to start selling $70 video games at 7-11. So for Halo 3, who has the majority of the real estate, this is "c-store as a medium". They are getting millions of brand impressions in a environment appropriate for their target, made even more relevant when tied to the Game Fuel Slurpee product.

According to 2006 MRI data, almost 3 million men 18-34 visit 7-11 at least 4x a month. Another 529,000 male teens do the same.

Even better, is the fact that they're not just hawking slurpees...there's a promotion at Slurpee.com.


There are actually few promotional items.
1. Chance to voice a character in the next release of Halo, Halo Wars.
2. Collect "virtual straws" by doing differnt things on the site (games, tell-a-friend, etc...) which can be redeemed for smaller rewards.
3. Download a BOGO coupon to drive back to retail for Slupees.

Overall, this is just a well rounded promotional partnership between relevant brands, delivering something of value to consumers.

Stouffer's Dinner Club

I read about the Stouffer’s Dinner Club promo in Promo Magazine this weekend. In a nutshell, Stouffer’s is doing a nice twist on the traditional points system promotion by adding an auction aspect to it. Basically get 100 points for registering, 20 points for each code entered off a pack and some additional points for filling out surveys (great way to entice more consumer info out of folks and make them feel good about it).

So I went online, registered and then found myself at the store a day later. And what do you know; Stouffer's were on special, “buy 6 for $12 dollars”. What a deal!!! Plus, that’s another 120 points in the Stouffer’s Dinner Club. So I bought six and upon check out received this!

Not only did the lovely Catalina coupon drive back to the site to enter points, it further rewarded me with an additional $2.00 off next time. Now, whether I will leave it on my desk or actually remember to bring it to the store, I don’t know. But I certainly am feeling pretty good about my friends at Stouffers right now.

Shopper Culture Blog

If you haven't seen it on Craig's Blog or Sean's Blog, you're seeing it here. We have started a Shopper Culture blog which if you read this blog, you should check out immediately. As it says in the logo... its "a global discussion about the impact of shopper culture on brand strategy".

So please go read, bookmark and comment, as our intention is creating discussion.

Thanks!!!

Instant Consumer Segmentation

I’m straying a little outside the store on this one into Morgan's territory, but its still retail related...
So I was on smartsource.com checking out who is utilizing the world of online coupons and ran across something interesting. Instant self-reported segmentation. Instead of the usual "click here" for your coupon, you "clicked here" to reveal your savings, after answering 2 questions.

So I clicked. I was presented with a frequency of purchase question as well as a usage question. As I have never bought Greased Lightning before I answered never for purchase frequency and Kitchen for my “toughest cleaning area”. And POOF, much to my delight, my coupon value was upgraded from 55 cents to $1.25 off.
In a world where not every product needs or gets a big promo site with drives for registration, this is a great approach to be smarter about coupon distribution.

Consumers Sip, Rather than Gulp, Green Kool-Aid

Interesting article found today on Marketing VOX regarding the world of Green and how much consumers actually care. Based on a new Yankelovich study, the article points out that despite a glut of media coverage, a relatively small percentage of consumers are really passionate about being Green.

Yankelovich illustrates the degree to which all consumers - from “Green-less” to “Green-Enthusiasts” - are likely to buy a product based on its green features:

• Green-less (29%) Unmoved by environmental issues and alarms
• Green-bits (19%) Don’t care but doing a few things
• Green-steps (25%) Aware, concerned taking steps
• Green-speaks (15%) Talk the talk more than walk the walk
• Green-thusiasts (13%) Environment is a passionate concern

While the largest percentage of Americans are “unmoved”, those “passionate” can still be a valuable niche. At 30 million strong they are nothing to snicker at, they simply should not be viewed as a mass audience.

Further, this is, to a large degree, a corporation driven movement based on good PR, and the reality is that as “organizations are required to meet strict federal and state environmental regulations - often at huge expense - it makes sense to try and leverage “new and improved” green product to consumers.”

As more marketers are finding Green is not just the color of money anymore, it'll be interesting to see which campaigns hit on the right message for the right audience and which just throw it out to the masses falling mostly on deaf ears?