Back to School Begins in June

So soon? Staples has had backpacks and other school supplies prominently displayed in the front of its stores for several weeks--even before school was over!

Other retailers are already promoting back-to-school items, as shown here on Zappos and Dick's today. Visit any website catering to teens and parents (Old Navy, Walmart) and you'll see some school-related items featured.

Rushing the season? Partly...this is a definite trend for all retailers as they try to get a jump on the competition. It's also a function of changing consumer behavior, with parents being price-conscious and interested in bargains, even two months early.

Target has been mounting special college programs for years, and has begun opening smaller stores very close to college campuses, making it convenient for students and parents to browse and buy. "Growth on college campuses and in urban markets is a priority for Target," says a Target VP.

Go into any housewares/home goods store (Bed Bath & Beyond for instance) and dorm room products are the big focus, with helpful checklists and ideas for parents and students. IKEA has its dorm website ready, with body copy that begins: "Ready or not, fall's on its way, and with it, a new school year."

Amazon Prime Day in July may very well be a key turning point in buying for back to school. Not surprisingly, Walmart is battling Amazon on this front for a major piece of the pie. States also recognize the trend toward earlier purchasing and are moving their tax-free weeks earlier to accommodate consumer buying preferences.

Students may roll their eyes when they go into a store and see school-related products. But retailers want to get on the parents' radar and make an impression as the store or website to visit for back-to-school items. So while some people are thinking pool accessories and pickle ball, others are thinking pencils and packs. For savvy marketers, the plan is to present a solid value proposition, polish brand image, and encourage buyers to go ahead and buy--early.

Fortune 500 Issue Reflects B2B Advertising Trends

The 2017 edition of the Fortune 500 is, as in other years, a rough indicator of B2B advertising trends.

Judging by the total number of printed pages and the multiple sponsored advertising sections, ad support is clearly strong. Prestige advertisers like Rolex are represented. Well-known brands like Stihl and General Motors have special ad sections. This issue gets high readership, and advertisers want to be there.

As digital advertising comes to the forefront of many marketers' priorities, seeing a 2017 issue with 340 printed pages (slightly fewer than in 2016) actually represents a strong advertising market.

So many magazines are appearing thinner and thinner, yet this Fortune issue is full of ads. True, the number of pages is down from 2016 and earlier years, yet having 340 pages filled with valuable editorial content and repeat advertisers makes a statement about the health of B2B magazine advertising.

2017: 340
2016: 346
2015: 392
2014: 390
2013: 352
2012: 312
2011: 316
2010: 308
2009: 276
2008: 356
2007: 386
2006: 384
2005: 410
2004: 478
2003: 410
2002: 402
2001: 474
2000: 630 - Peak of dot-com boom!
1999: 510
1998: 506

Ecosystem Brands Rule

The well-known BrandZ ranking of top global brands (by value) is out--and so-called ecosystem brands are leading the way, yet again.

In 2017, the top 10 brands, as ranked by BrandZ in terms of value, are:

10. McDonald's (US-based)
9.   IBM (US)
8.   Tencent, owner of WeChat (Chinese)
7.   Visa (US)
6.   AT&T (US)
5.   Facebook (US)
4.   Amazon (US) - ecosystem brand
3.   Microsoft (US) - ecosystem brand
2.   Apple (US) - ecosystem brand
1.   Google (US) - ecosystem brand

A senior BrandZ exec says: "Ecosystem brands cleverly meet our needs and make our lives easier by offering us all sorts of things that are connected so we gain this traction with them."

In other words, Microsoft and other ecosystem brands encourage repeat purchasing and brand loyalty with multiple offerings that supplement and coordinate with each other. Microsoft and Apple, for instance, offer operating systems . . . software . . . hardware . . . services . . . and so on. The more offerings a customer buys into over time, the higher the lifetime customer value. Ecosystem brands offer value and, in turn, customers value those brands highly.

Brand Purpose Boosts Unilever Brand Growth

https://twitter.com/Unilever

Some Unilever brands have been emphasizing sustainability and social responsibility initiatives--driving much higher revenue growth for those brands.

Unilever says those purpose-driven brands (including Ben & Jerry's, Lifebuoy, and Dove) are increasing revenue more than 50% faster than its other brands...and helping Unilever continue growing in the global marketplace.

Given the highly competitive nature of the product categories involved (such as ice cream and personal care), Unilever's experience indicates that consumers definitely recognize and respond to differentiation on the basis of non-functional benefits. In other words, many consumers will choose brands because of corporate citizenship and purpose, not just features that deliver benefits.

Yet brand purpose must also go hand-in-hand with brand usefulness, meaning the brand provides value in the form of meeting a consumer need.

Shopper Marketing Today

Academic research has shown the importance of point-of-purchase marketing stimuli for influencing in-store buying decisions. (See this classic 1990 study, for instance).

Yet in recent years, the increased availability of information to supplement in-store buying decisions has altered the dynamics of shopper marketing. Consumers frequently research brands and products before entering the store...knowing exactly what they want and what they want to spend as they walk down each aisle.

So what does this mean for shopper marketing in 2017?

• Retailers are personalizing offers via app, email, and snail mail. This strengthens ties with existing customers and allows the stores to present relevant offers to interested buyers, keeping brands top of mind.
• Manufacturers are still paying for in-store displays, but doing more checking to see that the displays actually get set up in visible areas.  
• Manufacturers are seeking ways to differentiate products in the store--such as printing the "time of manufacture" on juice so shoppers can determine how fresh each product really is, compared with competing products.
• Retailers are catering to the showrooming trend by offering actual showrooms, with purchases optional (or not even accommodated). Target's showroom for at-home technology is an opportunity to educate. "These products don’t sell themselves, and we are trying to tell a bigger story. We’re asking Americans to become the technologists of tomorrow," explains a Target innovation exec.

Marketing Red Nose Day USA

Today is Red Nose Day in America, a day of fundraising to support children's charities and combat poverty.

NBC is broadcasting a telethon tonight in support of Red Nose Day, along with special programming featuring celebrities who are involved with the charity efforts. This high-profile media attention is a big part of the fundraising effort.

If you don't already have your Red Nose merchandise, hop on over to the local Walgreens and buy a nose or another item where the purchase supports the charities. Walgreens is the official retail partner and its stores are doing their part with signage, enthusiastic employees, etc.

Charity partners are also marketing Red Nose Day. Save the Children, for instance, has its website and social media sites promoting the event and urging donations.

And Red Nose Day USA is extremely active all over social media. Its Twitter account has 60,000 followers and is posting videos, images, and other content to engage and energize people. Go ahead, put on your red nose and get funny for money (to support serious causes).

Are QR Codes Still a Viable Marketing Element?

Techcrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/31/website-snapcodes/

Remember QR codes? They're sprinkled through the latest edition of my Marketing Plan Handbook and they therefore date the book to a period when QR codes were everywhere. Then apps became ubiquitous and many experts declared QR codes a thing of the past.

Not so fast. In fact, QR codes have new life among social media sites! Snapchat, for instance, invites businesses to create Snapcodes that are QR codes. Updating the QR code for the Snap generation, in other words.

Pinterest is also updating the QR code idea, with its object-recognition lens that can understand a QR code and then open the website associated with that code. No special app, just use Pinterest.

Facebook recently tested a QR code reward program, geared toward retailers and their customers.

Google Allo can also work via QR codes to quickly expand a user's friend base or share chat functions. QR scanning is easy and convenient.

So the answer is YES--QR codes are not only viable, they're trendy. Again. Watch for creative marketing with QR this year.

Customer Satisfaction and Your Marketing Plan

If you're writing a marketing plan, you need to understand customer satisfaction with your products, with your brand, within your industry (and of course, your competitors). Sometimes you can find secondary data that will give you some ideas as you scan the external environment for your situational analysis.

For instance, are airline passengers satisfied with their flying experience? Which airline earns the highest marks from customers?

Click to the American Customer Satisfaction Index and find out. The latest surveys indicate that JetBlue, Southwest Air, Alaska Air, and other budget carriers are ahead of the pack, and price is one reason why. And while you're there, take a look at other industries to see what U.S. consumers think.

Also click to J.D. Power, which ranks brands within industries according to customer satisfactions. Dyson, for instance, is on top in the latest U.S. vacuum satisfaction survey.

Search for customer satisfaction by industry, and you'll find industry-sponsored surveys like the one undertaken for Airlines for America. The most recent survey indicates that more Americans are flying and more are satisfied with flying. Of course, this research was completed well before the highly publicized problems with overbooking and passengers being forcibly removed from jets.

Other groups conduct customer satisfaction surveys to provide consumers with input as they make buying decisions. Insure.com looks at the "best car insurance companies," as an example.

So when you are developing a marketing plan, dig deep to see how consumers view your industry, your competitors, and your company or brand or products.

Marketing, Innovation, and Growth

Chief Innovation Officer & Chief Growth Officer

Coca-Cola just announced the creation of a senior-management post, Chief Innovation Officer. Coke's new CEO wants innovation not tucked away in R&D but visible and reporting to the top, leading the way with brand ideas for future growth beyond the company's current brand/product portfolio.

A current Coke innovation exec says: "We scan the broad spectrum of trends, and get inspiration from -- not trying to solve specific business problems because that is incremental - but where we have to go." So Coke is investing in promising startups that will help it innovate marketing (new products, new processes, new communications) more quickly through partnerships. 

Coke also has a chief growth officer, replacing the chief marketing officer (CMO) with a broader leadership position. The CGO role is to streamline marketing across brands and divisions with a global view and responsive marketing. Coke's president explains: "To keep up with the fast-moving consumer landscape around us, our organization has to be ready and willing to change at a faster pace probably than at any time in our history." That's what the CGO will do for Coke.

In the context of intense competition among beverage marketers, and ongoing changes in consumer attitudes and preferences concerning soft drinks, Coke wants these two new positions to jump-start growth on a global basis.

Blurring the Lines Between Marketing and PR

A new study finds increasing overlap between public relations and marketing. One of the study's co-sponsors, Paul Holmes, says:

PR has the opportunity to move aggressively into paid content, an arena long dominated by advertising but that will require investment and training. The bigger challenge for the profession and for society is what happens when consumers no longer know the source or the nature of the information they receive, and how that impacts the credibility of that information.

And that's both a plus and a minus for marketing in general and society at large. 

The three key developments fueling this trend are (1) social listening, (2) digital storytelling, and (3) real-time marketing.

As a top official of ANA states: "Digital has put PR front and center, as it allows immediate outbound communication and inbound feedback."

PR's traditional function has been to "listen" to the interests and concerns of an organization's publics (consumers, community members, and other stakeholders) and allow for response through programs or other means. PR also explains the organization's position to the publics and helps protect reputation, both reactively and proactively. So in a real sense, PR has been an integral element in the marketing plan from the beginning.

With the rise of product placement and influencer marketing, among other techniques, consumers are increasingly surrounded by content that they can't as easily evaluate in terms of source (paid? spontaneous? stunt?). This is where transparency becomes critical.