So what’s grabbing consumers’ attention and share of wallet?

•    Known Equities – Line extensions and slight variations in products made consumers feel comfortable with their choices, for example, Campbell’s Select Harvest was #1, selling $201.8 million in better-for-you soup.

•    Feeling Good – Self care is on the rise, as consumers seek product solutions that help them avoid doctors and other professionals. And really, just stay happy!  Feel good new products helped meet this need, through healthy, functional foods such as Green Giant Valley Fresh Steamers frozen veggies or Kellogg’s FiberPlus – which are granola bars with high fiber, multiple vitamins, and antioxidants.  Or just feel-good-fun from products like Dreyer’s/Edy’s Fun Flavors ice creams and sorbets like Double Fudge Brownie, Butter Pecan, and Cookie Dough…(yum!) or Bud Light Lime.

•    Better, Easier, Convenient, More Effective brought to you through Technology – Particularly among non-food, top performers, if a consumer could get and do more thanks to technology, they bought it.  From three-ply toilet paper (Quilted Northern Ultra Plush at #1 in non-foods, $134.8 million) to multi-tasking laundry detergent  (Tide TotalCare) to deodorant that releases as you move (Secret Flawless).

•    Value & Brand Experience – A common theme we’ve all heard again and again is how today’s consumers are seeking best values.  Not just in pricing, but as a total picture of what they’re getting for their money.  Successful new products delivered more than just a solution – they offered extras like recyclable packaging, professional grade formulas, in-home sensory experiences, and highly targeted benefits.

IRI’s entire white paper report is free to download and a worthwhile few minutes of your time.   It shares the lists of pacesetters mentioned and others, as well as rising star products, and trends to watch in 2010.

Whether you’re lucky enough to have a brand new product launch, or just need to infuse a little news into your existing brand, tapping into consumers’ hot buttons and what’s grabbing their basket rings are good places for a brief to begin!

Interruption-based mass marketing that simply shouts messages one way to customers is not only one of the most ineffective strategies for today’s landscape, it’s also a red flag when it comes to building your brand’s image, reputation and value. To us, the smartest brands are now listening to the conversations their customers are having, watching where they are taking place and engaging with them on an individual level to add value in real time. Even better, an increasing number of marketers are not only deploying programs specifically created for the social platforms, they’re strategically harnessing insights from the data and using them to help plan and develop stronger brand positioning and marketing programs in the future.

From a marketer’s standpoint (especially those that fall into the challenger brand status), last year was about how to make your business run harder and faster in a bid to stay competitive in a downturn. In 2010, we at Sigma believe it’s going to be about proving value through both your consumer conversation quotient and the product experience. Brand value will be influenced more and more by the consumer, making it more important than ever for brands to deploy programs that are authentic and conversation-worthy. For challenger brands, this is going to aid in brand differentiation and consumer engagement. Differentiation needs to be bigger than just a brand name. True differentiation will come from consumer engagement strategies and a brand’s willingness to involve customers. Visibility and opportunity await the brand that is best at engaging their customer as well as making the product experience richer and better than the rest.

Last year, we worked with clients in footwear, burn care, technology and professional services, helping them embrace new marketing approaches fueled by the changing landscape. Fostering brand advocates and evangelists is not just for brands in the consumer space. It’s everywhere, and it applies to both consumer and B2B brands alike. As the new year kicks off and while writing your marketing game plan, ask yourself: Are you equipped in 2010 for true differentiation?

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]]> http://www.sigmagroup.com/blog/archives/1382/feed 0 http://www.sigmagroup.com/blog/archives/1260 http://www.sigmagroup.com/blog/archives/1260#comments Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:34:07 +0000 jkim http://www.sigmagroup.com/wordpress/?p=1260 What kind of person would think about using a tree as a musical instrument?  I was amazed by what Diego Stocco was able to compose using an ordinary tree in his garden.  Shuffling leaves, tapping bark and strumming and bowing on twigs.  By considering the tree from a different perspective, Diego transformed it into something completely different.

Diego Stocco – Music From A Tree from Diego Stocco on Vimeo.

Discovering new and unique ways to create something different from a common object or idea is a challenge for all creatives. We often set our own boundaries and expectations of what something “should” be, defined either by the project parameters or personal preferences. Overcoming these limitations opens up a world of new experiences and fresh inspiration for our work.

Let’s consider the words of A.A. Milne, best known for his books about Winnie-the-Pooh and for various children’s poems:

“One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.”

What can YOU do with your tree?

Recently comScore reported that in April 09, U.S. Internet users viewed 16.8 billion online videos.  Nearly 152 million folks watched an average of 111 videos, and an average online viewer watched 6.4 hours of video.  The age of online video viewers trends slightly younger, however, viewership by Generation X and older boomers are at no small scale.

That’s a lot of folks watching videos online.  And every minute there’s around 20 hours of new videos being uploaded to YouTube.  However, videos that generate millions of views overnight are few and far between—especially those uploaded to support a marketing agenda (e.g., commercials or promotional videos created by companies to promote their brands).

Here are some basic, yet essential, guidelines for online video success that we use to provide results for our clients.

1. Take a Long-Term Perspective:  While it is true that some online videos became an overnight sensation (e.g., Susan Boyle), the reality for most is that building an audience takes time—weeks, months and perhaps even years.  Keep in mind that unlike running a TV commercial where your ad/message disappears after your schedule runs out, online video has a potential to be active for years, accumulating viewers all along the way.  Therefore, creating content that has long-term relevance is key, which brings us to our second point.
2. Content is King:  Don’t just put a TV ad online (unless you have an incredible, one-of-kind commercial).  Create a short, entertaining message through a good story (e.g., humor, heartfelt tales, did you know, can you believe this, etc.).  People love to be surprised and everyone enjoys a good laugh.  Just as laughter works, so do tears, joy, compassion and a poignant moment.  The key is offering the viewer some quick entertainment that will engage them to respond, further investigate and/or share with their network.
3. Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan:  Just like you would with a TV commercial, incorporate a strategic plan behind your online video. Don’t just count on people stumbling onto it.  Remember that your new video has a shelf life of 48 hours before it’s moved from the Daily Most Viewed list to the Weekly Most Viewed list on most video sharing sites, so it’s important to share and spread the video quickly.  Some basic tactics that should be included into the online video launch include sharing and posting on social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, MySpace), reaching out to bloggers and sending out email invites to your circle of contacts.
4. Engage with Your Viewers: Some of the most successful videos are those that are able to solicit comments and start discussions with their viewers.  According to Tim Street, creator of French Maid TV, in order to get your video to a higher plane, “It needs to interact with the viewer, and allow the viewer to interact with the characters or the creators.” Comments are a great way to hear feedback and receive ideas for future initiatives.  Keep in mind that comments may not always be positive, but they present the opportunity to connect with your audience one-on-one.  Therefore, make sure to properly monitor the social web sphere across all chatters on your video and brand.

Related articles:

No one loves snacking on great videos more than the folks at Sigma (BTW, we call ourselves “Sigmites”).  To us, it’s both an inspiration and a great escape—fresh thoughts to fuel new ideas, and as refreshing as a brisk walk on a spring morning.  So this week, we are rounding-up some of our favorites that we found during the past week.  See more in our Video Snacking lounge.

Death Cab For Cutie’s Little Bribes - We first found this video on Twitter.  @RossChing sent out this tweet and three days later, it’s been picked as Vimeo Staff Favorite and been viewed over 23K times. Good luck @RossChing, no need to “bribe” when you can crank out this kind of awesome work.

Blame it on Ringo - They say there are 4.2 million CCTV cameras in the UK and an average person is caught on camera 300 times per day (so they say…).  For the CCTV camera on Abbey Road, blame it on Ringo.

Obscura Mint Plaza Building – Projections are in 2D but when combined with 7 HD projectors, it’s sensational.

YouTube Mosaic – Made with 1.4 million tiles and thousands of unique YouTube video stills.  It’s definitely a one of a kind, maxing out YouTube’s annotation editor.

San Francisco Zoo’s Critter Quest – What a smart way to re-connect with locals and visitors, perfectly blending traditional media with digital.

Let it Shine – We’ve all seen Honda’s light show videos, but we really like the version on Vimeo. To get the perfect integration experience, view this one on Vimeo.

Thanks for tuning in… now get back to work and have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

The grim destiny of brands/companies we know so well is unavoidable, as their downfall has stemmed from a variety of areas (lack of innovation and reluctance to change applying to many of them).  But while many will fail, many more will survive and come out even stronger.  It all depends on what we do along the way — including some key strategies for surviving and thriving in today’s business.  Starting this week, we will highlight each one.

Part 1:  Adapt to the Changes.
Know your current and emerging customers — their needs may have changed because of the downturn. Your service offerings, messaging and brand experience may also need to change in order to properly connect with them.

A fine example of adapting to change is Home Depot’s current focus on catering more to the everyday homebody/do-it-yourselfer to offset the decrease in the stream of builders and contractors. Here’s a selected list of marketing/sales efforts they are implementing to energize their business, as covered by Mercury News.

1. Power Hours between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday through Friday, when sales associates are placed at the end of each aisle to assist customers who shop during their lunch hour.
2. Ladies Night Out classes geared to women with a common interest. At the store located at The Plant in San Jose, for example, female customers buying expensive tile wanted lessons on installing it themselves.
3. Free Weekend Clinics for Kids on how to build age-appropriate toolboxes, planters, derby cars and other projects, materials included.
4. Do-It-Yourself Workshops where homeowners are taught how to repair screens, paint, install plumbing and other tasks usually done by pros.
5. A Garden Club customers can join for access to master gardeners, project ideas, coupons and a buying guide for anything related to gardening.

So, what are you doing to adapt to the changes?  Share them with us.

1. Social Media Marketing: Getting with the Program – Sigma’s tips on the best ways for an organization to embrace social media
2. Five Phases of Social Media Marketing – Social Computing Journal listed out five distinct phases to successfully leverage a social media program: Discover, Strategy, Skills, Execution, Maintenance.
3. How-To: Search the Social Web – Ultimate Toolkit – Robin Broitman from Interactive Insights Group is best known for her Superlists and this is one of our favorites. She has gathered a wide range of free resources, websites and services that help you find, filter and monitor the social web.
4. AdAge’s Digital A-List 2009 includes a collection of reports on the innovators (marketers, media, products) currently redefining marketing relationships with consumers.
5. The Best Social Media Marketing – Compiled by Zeus Jones, this blog post rounded up some of the best SMM programs currently in the market.

SIGMA IN THE NEWS
A little plug for our agency. We are thrilled to be working with Water-Jel, our newest client and the world leader in emergency burn care treatment.

NEW DATA
Do You Know What Men Do Online? At last, a summary of male Internet users in the U.S. by eMarketer. Highlighted findings – 53% of males spent more than one hour per day on the Internet, compared with just 42% of females. Did you know that 15% of men have never been online?

AROUND TWITTERVILLE
One of the best advantages from Twitter is all the creative applications and tools that allow you to further profile, search and engage with this micro-blogging platform. Below are a couple of new tools we found this week that can be quite useful.

1. Twazzup – An alternative Twitter search engine. It has the basic functionality of search.twitter.com, but is faster, has a better UI and offers additional useful resources.
2. TweetBuzzer – Tracks the top 100 tweeted brands. We especially like the “Track Your Favorite Brand” feature, which summarizes the number of tweets and impressions during the past 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days.
3. In case you missed it last week, Mashable’s article on the 10 Most Extraordinary Twitter Updates is a must-read.

IMAGE OF THE WEEK
This one’s for our Friday Breakfast. Anyone want to serve this? Cooking Egg On a Macbook Pro.

To receive up-to-date Fuel for Thought tweets, follow us @FuelForThought and/or subscribe to our RSS feed.

What lessons and best practices are out there for marketers in this economy?  We’ve gathered few AdAge articles that provide great fuel for thoughts:

1. Philp Geier’s 10 Principles for Bad Times that Work in Good Times – Adapt, Motivate, Focus Efforts, Stay True To Your Vision, Communicate, Innovate, Seize New Opportunities, Integrate Marketing, Retain Credibility and Inspire Customers are 10 principles we should harness right now.
2. Study:  Cutting Spending Hurts Brands Long Term – Based on TNS Media Intelligence data that revealed  brands that cut spending in downturns lost shares to private labels.
3. Don’t Damage Your Brand for Short-Term Gains in a Recession – Reminds us that marketing is a long-term proposition and brands that change strategies to cope with short-term problems can bring on irreplaceable damage.

SIGMA IN THE NEWS

Last week, our humble ad agency in Northern NJ was featured on CNN and this week on ABC.  What’s all the buzz about?  It’s Creativity Saves Jobs and Inspires Empolyees as explained by Shannon Morris (President, Sigma).

NEW MARKETING & ADVERTISING DATA

1. IAB reports Internet advertising grew 10% last year, outpacing TV. Search advertising dominated with 45% of total online advertising market share, followed by display ads, classified and rich media/digital video.
2. Jay Sears from ContextWeb points out at SES-NY that only 5% of consumer’s time is spent searching.  Therefore if you only use search to reach your online audience, you are missing 95% of opportunities.
3. A recent study by McPheters & Company found that in a half hour period, magazines deliver more than twice the number of ad impressions as TV and more than 6 times those delivered online.
4. Borrell Associates reported that last year, local TV station sites surpassed newspapers in 22 of 80 markets in terms of unique visitors.

WEEKLY TIPS

Mashable’s 5 Tips for Optimizing Your Brand’s Facebook Presence offers the right way to create a profile, how to show different content to Fans and non-Fans and much more to maximize your presence on Facebook.

AROUND TWITTERVILLE

1. During the past year, Twitter has grown 1,200% in members.  It seems everyone’s joining the Twitter bandwagon, but is Twitter right for you?  Here is a great article on the Top 10 Reasons Your Company Probably Shouldn’t Tweet (if you have any one of them on your list).
2. The first Twitter scavenger hunt (hosted by HostelBookers.com) is taking place around Europe this week.   Join the hunt or follow the journey.

INTRODUCTION TO…

This week, we introduce just one site – SingleFunction.  This website showcases a variety of sites that have one purpose and one function.  Go check it out.  I found a lot of neat single function websites.

VIDEO SNACKING

The Brilliance of Shepherds by Samsungis the video pick of the week. Additional viral video ad campaigns are posted here and please keep in mind that ‘viral is a result, not a goal/strategy‘.

To receive up-to-date Fuel for Thought tweets, follow us @FuelForThought and/or subscribe to our RSS feed.

With a goal of streamlining overhead without reducing workflow or impacting our creative product, we found eight positions in the company that could benefit from a reduced workweek (4 days) while also helping to shed some weight from our bottom line. As a result we were able to save jobs and in turn we have been encouraged by the new vigor and level of productivity that we’re seeing. The outcome? Inspired employees who thrive in the condensed workweek, an even better and more focused creative product and an improvement to operating expenses that allows us to focus on growth, innovation and further expansion.

Just goes to show what happens when creative minds work together. CNN and Alina Cho – thanks for featuring us today!