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Revisiting the Great Twinkie Spill of ’67

I went to a small grade school in rural Nebraska (there were 7 in my class) and I can remember vividly the day whispers started to circulate with unusual excitement. It was the day a classmate came back into our combined seventh and eighth grade class one sunny mid-afternoon with the news that most kids […]

Aligning to the Path to Purchase Satisfaction

This article here expanded the notion of path to purchase to “Path to Purchase Satisfaction” (P2PS) because it isn’t just about winning the transaction in-store.  It’s about the complete cycle that builds loyalty to your brand and drives repeat purchase.  The P2PS is the lifeblood of any business.  But isn’t it a little bit disturbing […]

Conferences & Curing The Emotional Vacuity of Brands

We’ve all been around someone who’s socially awkward and doesn’t even know it, but how about brands?  Brands should be more human, but many aren’t.  And why are so few brands developing the emotional connections consumers want?  Given purchase decisions are emotion-driven, not objective rationality, why aren’t brands working harder to make those emotional connections […]

Paths, Moments and Strategies to Satisfy Consumers

“What’s our consumer path to purchase?  Did we win the Moment of Truth?  Oh, wait, which moment was that: first or second?  What about the new Zero Moment of Truth?  Where on the Path did that occur?  Do we have a strategy for winning those moments? By the way, do we need a different strategy […]

Forging a New Ring of Power in Shopper Marketing

Okay, maybe a Lord of the Rings metaphor feels a little out of place here, but stay with me on this.  Over the last few days at Shopper Insights in Action 2011, three “forces” have been presented that are fundamentally changing the shopper marketing landscape: Neuroscience, Technology and Community. A.K. Pradeep did a masterful job […]

Conquering Marketing’s Troublesome Triad

Sure, the challenges of marketing (and business in general for that matter) can be categorized in many ways. But here are three buckets to consider: the Emerging, the Emotion, the Execution. Flexibility for Emerging – Whether it’s technology (ref. Catherine Roe, Head of Consumer Packaged Goods at Google), store formats (ref. Art Sebastian, Director Shopper […]

Campbell’s and Influential Moments

As I’ve mentioned before, if you wait to influence the first moment of truth, you may be too late.  Phil McGee, Director Shopper Insights for Campbell Soup Company, shared their landmark path to purchase study today and clearly they feel the same way. Six principles guided the structure of the study: focus on motivations and […]

Insights for More Growth at Red Bull

Imagine you’re the premium brand in a $4.4B category that’s projected to grow 60-70% over the next 5 years. Private label is only 1% of the category. The premium segment is 40% of the category and commands a 90% price premium over all the rest. So why do you need consumer insights? Shouldn’t you invest […]

The Other Side of Consumer Loyalty

Can consumer products companies afford to view consumer loyalty as a one-way street?  Or are there really two sides to the loyalty equation: consumers showing loyalty to brands but also companies showing loyalty to consumers?  Research shows it has to go both ways. Loyalty programs have been around for several years now. It continues to […]

Thinner Wallets = New Behaviors: Adjust or Lose

First, the bad news which I’ve shared before here.  With waning consumer confidence, house values below mortgage costs, and massive personal debt, don’t expect any significant uptick in consumer spending any time soon.  Tight belts and thinner wallets are the new consumer reality.  Get use to it.  Oh, and in the face of tighter consumer […]

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