Few people know it, but Nike was founded in 1964. This is quite significant because lots of multi national companies that have been successful for a number of years suffer from their legacy. Nike however has managed to stay relevant to all of its demographics. There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly, Bill Bowerman changed track shoes forever by moulding the grip from a waffle iron. Innovation is a word that lots of companies bandy about but you get the sense that it really is integral to the Nike Culture, whether it be fly knit shoes, dry-fit shirts or Nike Fuel band. The constant stream of innovative products and marketing ensure that Nike never ages in the consumer’s eyes. Secondly, Nike have understood the psychological change of their target market (entertain first, sell secondly). Nike create amazing ads and are happy to end with the brand logo and a motivational quote as opposed to a price tag. In fact that is one of the key reasons that Nike is so successful. I went to a talk by Dr Karen- Nelson Field and she spoke about how the most shareable content is that of personal triumph. Cast your mind back to any Nike ad and it is extremely emotive and usually showcases an individual that has overcome the odds and climbed to the top, inspiring the audience to do the same.

Nike started off by manufacturing shoes and selling dreams. The dream that one day you could be like one of the athletes in Nike’s stables. The Nike fuel band then brought all Nike products together in a meaningful way for the consumer. Essentially, they created a community. A community towards helping each individual overcome their own personal adversity and gain the body/ fitness level that they dreamed of. The Fuel band measures every single form of exercise you do every day and compares this in a constant measure against everyone else that has a Fuel Band. This is the success of the Fuel band. Friends and strangers can compare and contrast their results, driving each other to achieve their goals. When they achieve their fitness goals, they will credit Nike with a lot of the success and become even more brand loyal to Nike and increases purchases with this brand down the line. People that are serious about their results might purchase Nike products such as Fly Knit shoes, or shirts using Dri Fit technology to gain a competitive edge.

The marketing strategy is brilliant, entertain your audience, engage them and then provide the opportunity to buy. Robert Senior argues that marketing should not be evaluated by return on investment but rather, return on engagement.

I couldn’t agree more!

That’s why I love the Ban The Box ad so much. Firstly, the ad is brilliant in its own right. I thought the man was really engaging, I wanted to hear the man’s story. It was only when I scrolled down the page that I realised the true genius of this ad. There are a lot of companies that use re-targeting to follow up a message with the consumer in the hope that the increased reach and frequency will trigger an end action. Jump on to Google search for flowers as an example and then go onto YouTube and the ad will appear. There is a degree of sophistication behind it, but the key thing is that the company hasn’t earned the right to follow up with this consumer. Ban the Box however take a format we all know and subverts it. User’s are accustomed to searching for a video on YouTube and then skipping the pre roll to get to the content if they don’t like it. That’s the genius of this ad! They have placed the Skip this Ad button on the bottom right but deep linked to a stronger, more emotional ad when this is clicked on which surprises the consumer.

By doing this, they have turned marketing into an experience. With some lateral thinking they have created something that user’s are more likely to talk about. London as a city has a huge counter culture scene. You only have to look to Banksy and how he is lauded as a hero, the speak easy scene (Night Jar, Breakfast Club, Cellar Door), the pop up culture (Dalston Street Feast, Whizz Pop, Disappearing Dining Club, Secret Cinema) to see this in action. People want to be entertained, they want something that is worth talking about and if marketers do it right, they will be rewarded.

Kudos to the people behind Ban the Box, I think it’s brilliant and that we need more creativity like this!

I played football as a kid and was taught from an early age, practice makes perfect. Later on in life, I subscribed to the theory that practice doesn’t make perfect, perfect practice makes perfect. Yes, it’s a bit of a cheesy thing to say, but there is a hell of a difference between the two. I am a huge advocate of Macolm Gladwell and his book Outliers which talks about the concept of 10,000 hours. Gladwell reasons that anyone that got to the very top, whether it be sport or other walks of life, spent 10,000 hours honing and perfecting their skills. I honestly believe that. If you are really passionate about something you will put in the countless hours, have a real enthusiasm to excel and perfect your skills and will become an expert in that chosen field as a result. Bill Gates spent 10,000 hours studying mainframes, Michael Jordan spent 10,000 hours perfecting his skills in basketball etc.

The thing that really hit home about the Cristiano Ronaldo article was that he wanted to be the best in the world, was hungry for success and had a work ethic that reflected it but Rene Meulensteen focused this dream. He broke it down into tangible areas and set goals that could be quantified e.g. how many goals would Ronaldo score in a year? In breaking down the specific areas they honed specific skills- scoring ugly by being able to put the ball into the corner at whim. They broke it down even further to areas such as Ronaldo with his back to goal, side to the goal and further out. He had to make decisions on whether he would control it, pass it, dribble and shoot etc. This is the whole perfect practice makes perfect piece as this training was targeted and changed the way Ronaldo thought in certain situations. It’s interesting because in the Jordan to the Max video, Michael Jordan talks about how he would visualise scenarios in training so that he was comfortable during the game. E.g. He would visualise being passed the ball and missing the game winning shot, scoring the gaming winning shot, making an assist for the game winner etc so that when the moment came, he had already experienced the outcome and thus didn’t feel the pressure.

One of the other critical areas that Meulensteen went to work on Ronaldo was his attitude. He helped a mirror up to Ronaldo to show him that his body language came across as arrogant and how other sporting greats acted. He taught Ronaldo that it was ok to be hacked, that the defender couldn’t stop him any other way and to not throw his toys out of the pram when it happened.

I think it’s a brilliant read, with so many parallels for how each of us can improve different aspects of our lives and career.

thanks,

The main reason I question the Return on Investment for these ads, is because when I saw this ad I didn’t even know how it tied into Vicks and at first I didn’t even know it was an ad for Vicks. I honestly thought this was generic Vicks advertising because the ad doesn’t spell out that First Defence is actually a Vicks product. I mainly saw this ad on trains or tubes. Advertising on the tube has its advantages and disadvantages. The main disadvantage of this vehicle is that the tube is an extremely busy place and people usually have the mindset of getting to and from somewhere in a hurry. The attention span of your audience is already limited, and this is shortened further on the tube. This means you need to grab the
target market’s attention quickly and maintain it, whilst calling them to perform an action. After viewing this ad, I assumed that Vicks wanted me to buy some cold and flu medicine, I had no idea of the exact product.

The visual focus of the ad is on the soccer ball and the goalkeepers gloves- which is a sure fire way to get most of England’s attention. The soccer ball and gloves almost appear as part of an equation. This is where I feel that Vicks missed out on a trick. Vicks are not part of the equation in my mind. I feel that they should have placed an image of the First defence bottle at the end of the equation. It brings the story together- showing that Vicks First Defence is the answer to the problem. This
would also enable the consumer to recognise the product and help trigger product recall when they are in the Chemist buying the product.

It’s also worth discussing that considerations for storage on trains must be taken into account when placing advertisements. There is a shelf so to speak to store your bags on above each passengers head. When bags are stored the advertisement could be blocked entirely. However, there is always going to be the storage shelf to contend with. When I saw this Vicks First Defence ad on the train, the storage shelf
space blocked out the writing at the bottom of the ad- which helps to explain
the ad.
At the end of the day, I feel that a quirky ad was created and the message was severely diluted. I think that people will remember the different scenarios; soccer ball and gloves, raindrops and umbrellas and that’s it, people will be left wondering what is going on. I don’t believe that consumers would be left with the feeling of wondering what the ad was about and undertake additional research to understand this due to the product category and the mediums that the advert was placed in. Rather, I feel that people will quickly scan the ad, and then quickly turn their
attention elsewhere.

If this were a football game, I’d place the Vicks First Defence ad on the bench.

Arron Child

So what makes Club Med so special?

Club Med is designed to put any guest at ease immediately, providing you memories and friendships that will last you a lifetime.

One of the secrets to Club Meds success begins before the guest even arrives at the resort. Money and time are two constraints that cause stress in people’s lives, especially when they don’t have enough of either. To eliminate these concerns Club Med cleverly have guests pay for a package that includes unlimited food, drink and activities (on the island) before they set foot on the resort. Guests are able to automatically remove the stress of money from their vacation- alcohol can always help with this! A holiday can be enjoyed without spending a single cent once the guest has reached the island. Most activities on the island are also free- including
relaxing activities such as sailing, golf, circus pursuits etc. However, Club
Med do have a gift shop and massage centre to maximize the sale with the
guests, however, this is purely optional. Any item purchased will instantly
remind the guest of the fantastic holiday they enjoyed and may trigger that
guest to book another holiday with Club Med.

In order to truly relax one must be able to release the burden of time and work.
Clocks are not displayed prominently, if at all. Without the constant reminder
of time, guests are able to fall into a relaxing state quicker- which is
important as some guests only attend Club Med for 5 days. Club Med staff will
always go around and tell guests that there is a game of volleyball etc about
to start so that guests don’t need to fear missing out on anything. Work is
also kept to a bare minimum- due to a convenient geographic isolation. There
are only three spots on the island where a guest can receive mobile reception-
effectively creating an atmosphere of escapism for guests.

Imagine walking around an island and everyone stops and greets you asking how your day is going. Well, that’s the Club Med way. Staff meet new guests at the jetty, waving and smiling to welcome them onto the island, this way guests have familiar and friendly faces from the moment they step onto the island and the moment they leave. Throughout their stay, guests will come to know most staff members and the other guests due to the social atmosphere Club Med create. Club Med understand that the largest family is usually 6 members, so each table has 8 chairs- to enable two staff members to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with the guests. There are only two places to eat food from, a restaurant for private dining or a large restaurant with buffet style food. Guests socialise with staff and guests socialise with guests, everyone gets to know everyone. Staff members are instructed to always socialize with guests rather than each other. Games are always played designed to bring the guests together, shows and nightly entertainment are provided- with the purpose of bringing all the guests together. Guests quickly feel a
sense of belonging, which enables them to relax. The social and relaxed
atmosphere Club Med creates enables guests to make life long friendships with
staff and withh each other.

Of course, some families have children. Often children and parents have different ideas of relaxation. Club Med have countered this by setting up ‘Kid’s Club’ for children of different ages. Kids are able to play with kids of similar ages whilst being supervised by staff. Kids club is flexible- parents can vary how long the children are in the club for so that they can still partake in family activities. Most children have the times of their lives, which enables parents to have the time of their lives.

In order to sell a product, you must first understand all barriers that the potential purchaser will have to the sale and be able to remove them. Club Med have effectively removed all the barriers to a memorable holiday that are within their control.

Enjoy your stay.

Arron Child

It might seem strange that I, a marketer, am telling you to give marketers a taste of their own medicine but Christmas is all about giving, and well I didn’t want to let the festivities pass us all by without me giving you something too. In fact, I’m feeling so generous that I’m going to give you something that money can’t buy.

My dad brought me up with the following philosophy in mind:

‘Give a man a fish and he will live for a day, teach a man to fish and he will live forever.’

* Courtesy of Gordon Wolford

Well ladies and gentlemen, here it is, taste is largely what you expect it to be. That’s right, taste is largely attributable to a series of pre-conceived notions of what the taste should be. Ludicrous? Marketers are able to exploit the fact that the tongue only has 5 known elements of taste perception; salty, sour, bitter, savoury and sweet and that it is hard to differentiate taste when the olfactory sense has been eliminated from the equation.

When was the last time you bought a bottle of water and tell me, why did you buy that bottle? Was it the majestic mountains that this clear liquid drifted down from into the bottle you held? Was it the purifying process of the Amazonian forests that enabled the clear liquid in the bottle in front of you to leave you feeling more refreshed and healthier?

No, it simply wasn’t. Would it shock you, for you to find out that tap water usually outperforms bottled water in taste tests? Well, if you read the fine print on your bottle, you would realise that the bottled water you have purchased can even be supplied from Municipal Water supplies.  (A CNN expose on Bottled Water stated that 25% of all bottled water is actually tap water. What this proves is that taste can be manipulated by marketers conjuring up imagery and tastes in the consumer’s minds)

Bottled water from Municipal Water supplies effectively means that a company has effectively taken tap water, placed it in a bottle, created a nice story about how the water was discovered and sold it to you. The marketing has you convinced that you are drinking a product significantly better than tap water- otherwise why would you pay around 2000 times more for the bottled water than you would for tap water? Penn and Teller set up a great water experiment to provide you with more insight into ‘The Truth about Bottled Water’.

It would be remiss of me to write about marketing to taste and to not mention the Pepsi Challenge. The taste test was a marketing master class. Pepsi were losing the battle against Coca Cola for market share and more importantly the hearts and minds of the consumers. Pepsi realised that the sweetness of Pepsi meant that consumer’s preferred Pepsi to Coca Cola after the initial taste. Pepsi rolled out a global blind taste test pitting Pepsi directly against Coca Cola. This campaign proved to be effective in changing the perception that Coca Cola tasted better than Pepsi. However, there are critics of the ‘taste test’ that point out that Pepsi may be superior in a sip due to the sweetness of the beverage but over the course of a whole can, Pepsi can be too sweet and thus inferior to Coca Cola. Whatever way you look at it, Pepsi demonstrated how to market purely and simply to taste.

Supermarket taste testing’s are an obvious marketing ploy to target the taste sense as the consumer is looking to purchase. By offering free tasting’s the product being tested is able to maximize the net of tasters. The obvious aim is that they locate impulse buyers for a low involvement purchase decision which leads to the satisfied taster buying the product. Often the taste test is hot food such as sausages, which is designed to appeal to the user’s olfactory senses as well as taste. I’ve covered in previous posts on this blog how hungry shoppers are more likely to spend more money in a supermarket which is exactly what the free sample is designed to achieve.

Wine is a more complex purchase for most consumer’s as the quality of the wine can vary greatly between regions, vintages and many other variables. Due to the many variables, there are many different competitors in the wine product group. Coupled with the cost of wine, it is hard for marketers to make their brand stand out. Many of these barriers can be overcome by providing a taste test, in order to satisfy the consumer. E.g. if a certain brand of wine decides it needs to drop the price of the wine to increase sales, it may choose to use taste testing’s to reassure the consumer that they are purchasing a quality wine. This technique is used effectively in alcohol shops but also at the vineyard themselves. Vineyards have an upper hand in the sense that they can produce a wide array of wines to hone into a wine that fits your taste buds. When they find the wine that satisfies your taste buds you feel compelled to purchase the bottle or multiple bottles. Vineyards can also produce foods such as figs, jams and jellies etc to maximize the sale. You could say that after a few samples the consumer’s inhibitions may have been lowered which will also help to maximise the sale.

Taste testing is most successful when the product is on hand to be purchased immediately after. The marketer needs to pique an interest from the consumer and then capitalise on it, if the consumer is given time to walk around and then come back, sales will drop off significantly.

When tasting, it is best to do so blind, blind to the marketing spin and packaging.

Arron Child

* Courtesy of The Rose Lover Blog

Why would marketers target my nostrils?

Marketers are hoping that they are able to change your state of mind or mood and thus affect your buying behavior. It may seem trivial to you, inconsequential marketing and to be honest, the effectiveness of this form of marketing is not guaranteed, but companies are spending large sums of money investing in this area. The second reason is that some companies are intending to become associated with a particular smell and to use it as a signature so to speak. This is unique and quite innovative.

A famous example of the effectiveness of marketing is described by MP Mueller:

‘A study conducted by the Smell & Taste Research Foundation evaluated the effects of odors on product perception. One of the tests consisted of placing Nike sneakers in two different rooms, one with unscented air, the other scented with a mixed floral smell. Most people in the study said they were more likely to buy the shoes, or liked them more, in the scented room. And many said they would pay $10 more for the product in the scented environment.’

You can see why companies are investing in trying to understand this area. People are more likely to purchase an item if a room smells nice, and furthermore, pay more money for the privilege!

Smells can relax a person. As we have discussed previously on this blog, relaxing a person is a technique that shops use to maximize the sale in the hope that the person will shop for a longer period of time and thus purchase more items or be willing to part with money for more expensive items. This is why many casinos are dabbling in scent marketing. Casinos are trying to relax people and/or trigger a memory of happiness in the hope that the person will stay for longer and thus spend more money. Coconut/ Jasmine flavoured scents are rumoured to be the most popular to achieve this. Studies have actually proven that casinos that using scents around slot machines actually increases the revenue earnt by a massive 45%. Coconut is often used as the smell reminds people of an exotic holiday they once had.

When I was at school and worked in the supermarket, I used to be in charge of baking fresh blueberry bagels and bread. Supermarkets now regularly cook rotisserie chicken as well and sell hot food that can be consumed on the spot. The objective is twofold, increase point of sale purchases. The overall objective is really to make the consumer hungry and thus have the consumer buy more food than expected (it’s well documented that consumer’s spend more money when hungry).

Perhaps you have been to an open home and smelt freshly baked cookies and/or coffee? Yes, real estate agents use odour marketing too. Real estate agents are trying to trigger happy memories, such as eating cookies or drinking coffee. However, the real estate agent is inviting you to imagine living in the house and partaking in such activities. Half the battle is won by the real estate agent if they are able to have the viewer imagining themselves living in a house.

It’s interesting as well that some smells can shape your impression of a store. If a company has a very nice aroma that is very strong you are likely to wonder what they are trying to hide with this aroma, which creates a negative impression in your mind. It’s the same with food outlets that smell of grease and oil. Smelling like food and oil reminds the consumer of the unhealthiness of the food and helps create the stigma that fast food is bad for the consumer. Studies have revealed that consumer’s used to associate McDonald’s with the smell of stale oil. McDonald’s needed to eradicate this smell in their quest for being perceived as a restaurant and possessing healthy alternatives- perhaps that is also a key reason that McDonald’s now have café’s that make fresh coffee.

Be alert next time you stop to smell the roses…

Arron Child

We all know the fable of the Pied Piper, depending on what version you subscribe to either children or rats were lured away by the Pied Piper. Well stores are using the Pied Piper technique to lure you in.

* Courtesy of Fan Zone

Supermarkets are able to use music to speed up or slow down your shopping time depending on the store’s need. Supermarket’s will generally play faster music during peak hours, to encourage shoppers to shop faster and thus preventing excessive queuing- which leads to customer dissatisfaction. Outside of peak hour times, supermarkets will generally play slower music. Slower music relaxes the customer’s and encourages them to spend more time in the store. Supermarkets have a multitude of techniques designed to stimulate the senses and impulses of the shopper. Thus, the longer they are able to have a person shopping in their store, the greater the chance the supermarket has of maximising the sale.

If auditory stimulation works for supermarkets, surely this will work in other shopping situations?

Clothing stores also call people into their store like the Pied Piper. Shopping for clothing is generally an image conscious decision as the clothing one wears communicates the brand of the person. Clothing shops are able to appeal to certain images by the music they play but there is also a science behind it. Naturally, people will be more inclined to visit a store that seems relevant to them and music plays a large part in this. Stores can also use music to repel other demographics, e.g. if a store wants to present itself as young and hip, they can play dance music that will appeal to this demographic but will perhaps drive away other demographics from their store.

Music is used to alter the mood of the shopper. Dance music is used to speed up the blood pressure of the shopper and thus increase the adrenalin. The music is generally used by the target demographic on a night out or in a relaxing environment and thus can trigger positive memories for the shopper. The environment that the demographic listen to the music in, a night club for example, is a place associated with freedom and lowering inhibitions. Lowering inhibitions can help to decrease resistance to spending and price. Shopping in these situations can be about lifestyle and thus more clothing may be purchased or clothing that is not necessarily required as the shopper is able to justify the purchase in their mind- enabling the clothing store is able to maximize the sale.

The brand that certain music projects is also a powerful attraction for people that fall outside the immediate target market. Music will attract persons that want to be part of a demographic but aren’t, for example an older demographic. An older customer may wish to appear more youthful and thus the music transports them back to memories of their younger years and alert them to the store that understands the youthful fashion. Thus music is able to extend the lifecycle of the clothing range and broaden the target demographic.

Next time you go shopping, keep one ear out for the Pied Piper but also the other ear closed!

Good luck

Arron Child

* Courtesy of The Old Charm GuestHouse

When it comes to making money, we know that the house always wins. It’s not just the tables that make sure that casinos are able to maximize money collected. Casinos ensure that the carpets are dizzying patterns and that the slot machines have bright colours. Why you ask? Casinos are endeavoring to ensure that you are attracted to the slot machines like a moth to a light, so that you spend the maximum amount of money during your stay. There is no natural sunlight in a casino as this is designed to disorientate the player from understanding how long they have been playing for. Have you ever heard the stories about the person that wins big at the Casino and then receives a complimentary stay in a great hotel suite- well the purpose is obviously so that the Casino can win back their money and it works!

I’ve written on this blog before about the way McDonald’s use the colours to trigger an emotional response designed to create hunger, so I’m not going to delve into colours on this one. I want to explain the reasoning behind ‘What you see is what you get’ from a retailers perspective. The formula in the supermarkets is that ‘eye level = buy level’. All the expensive items in a supermarket are stocked at eye level, with the cheapest products being at the bottom. Most of the special promotions 2 for 1 etc. are also conveniently at eye level. Items in a supermarket are generally a low involvement purchase and thus when an impulse is triggered, a decision is usually made on a product. A low involvement purchase means that consumers won’t spend too much time analyzing alternatives. If you want to save money, look further down the bottom of the shelves. Promotions are usually in bright red so that you can’t miss them. Promotions maximize your expenditure as they entice you to purchase more than you need, people will always reason that they are making a saving by preparing for the future. More often than not, you will actually purchase items you don’t need and never had any intention of purchasing, all in the name of saving money, ironically!

That also brings me to my next point… perception is everything. The most expensive items on the shelf always have the most visually appealing packaging. They need to have a nice package to justify the increased expense right? It represents quality? Well, yes it does but the cost of the pretty little package is always passed on to you. Do a blind taste test on a No Frills product against one in a pretty package and draw your own conclusions.

Perception can also be altered to increase your personal brand. Katie Price released lingerie this year and instead of hiring Victoria’s Secret models she opted to use ‘real women’ as they are the people that will be purchasing the product. This occurred for two reasons;

a)      The use of real models, illustrates that Katie Price understands the needs of her target market, creating the perception that Katie is a real person just like them.

b)      When Katie price stepped out amongst the ‘real women’ modeling her lingerie, she appeared to be the most beautiful lady in the room.

She has covered all bases with this. She has appealed to the masses as understanding them and then she has created an aspirational appeal for the consumer, a ‘purchase this and you can look beautiful like me’ appeal.

Visual stimulation isn’t always what you can see.. it’s about what you can imagine. With high involvement purchases, a successful sales person will ask the purchaser to imagine. Imagine your kids playing in the back yard, imagine cruising down the high way the top down in this convertible on a warm sunny day. Imagine, that you have already bought it. Once the purchaser has imagined purchasing the item, and the great new life they will have with it, it is a stark reality without it. Price has now become secondary. This technique is very similar to the Puppy dog sales technique that I have discussed on this blog.

I’ll leave you in the words of Bob Marley:

‘ Not all that glitters is gold/ half the story has never been told’.

Arron Child 

‘Consumers are quite funny people. They are attracted by a lead-in price, such as £39.99 but when they arrive at the point of sale and see the upmarket model for £49.99, human nature makes them enquire about the better model.’

We are all used to the McDonald’s upsell, ‘Would you like fries with that’ so surely those sales techniques don’t still work do they?

The truth is, all shopping stores are experts at selling, and more importantly, selling more than we expect to buy. Stores are able to pique our interest by appealing to our senses; auditory, visual, olfactory, taste and touch.

Every week I will cover off how stores market to our senses in order to maximize their sales…..

Stay tuned, you might even learn to save money…

Arron Child