Approved: Foot Locker and NBA Stars Create a Buzz

It is no surprise that celebrity endorsements wield a powerful influence on the buying decisions of consumers. The Nielsen Company furthered the impact of this when they revealed in this study that “64 percent of adult U.S. Internet users who follow a celebrity also follow a brand – this means the celebrity follower is four times more likely to follow a brand than the average U.S. adult online.”

It is clear that Foot Locker understands this based on the media blitz they launched last week.  Here is a look at what Foot Locker did and how they used multiple channels to drive home their message.

Foot Locker enrolled the talents of NBA stars James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Chris Bosh and Carmelo Anthony to humorously promote their clothing line. See one of the commercials here 

My personal favorite was this commercial featuring Carmelo Anthony and “Melo number 5” 

To engage fans even more and utilize humor in doing so, Foot Locker created a behind-the-scenes look at the commercials. Take a look at the commercials for a closer look.

 

 

Understanding that one marketing channel is not nearly sufficient to promote a product line, Foot Locker further drove home their message with social media via Facebook and Twitter. Note the use of humor in both.  

Foot Locker also utilized Twitter  to promote the product line by utilizing the hashtag,  #approved. Note also how the use of word approved fits nicely into their branding and matches their celebrity endorsement theme.

Foot Locker further drove home their message with tweets from the celebrities themselves to create more of a buzz about the clothing line and even partnered with @sportsnation on Twitter.

Only time will tell in how successful these ads will be in driving online and in-store sales for Foot Locker.  One thing is for sure though: Foot Locker put some serious strategy into the ads. If creating a buzz was their goal, they certainly have been successful: as one of the ads is already being talked about by ESPN as the best spot of the year.

Retailers, this Foot Locker example is just one on how marketers have successfully used celebrity endorsements to create emotion and motivate consumers to buy. More examples can be found here. 

As a retail marketer, have you used celebrities in your marketing efforts?  What was your strategy and thought process in doing this?  Did you utilize multiple marketing channels? Did you, like Foot Locker use a cohesive message and theme in your marketing? Have you ever brought celebrities in-store via celebrity cut-outs or other point-of-purchase marketing for an even more complete marketing effort?

How to Avoid Hitting a Sour Note with Your At-Store Marketing

This week I’ll look at a convenience store chain that really understands how to influence its customers via multiple marketing channels and how these channels crescendo in the at-store environment. Hopefully you’ll take away some ideas on how to better engage your retail customers.

If I asked you to come up with an example of a masterpiece what comes to mind? Usually it is something like a classic painting, opera or symphony. Is it possible for something common to be considered a masterpiece? One only need consider how Apple transformed the common computer to a work of art to answer this question.

Like the common computer, few would consider it possible for a convenience store to be considered a masterpiece. But that is exactly what I found when I visited a Sheetz convenience store (or as Sheetz calls it, a convenience restaurant). Retail marketers, I invite you to continue reading. Do you agree with my conclusions?

As I thought about Sheetz, and prior to my arrival at a store, I thought about what piqued my excitement about their brand - it was a number of factors, or channels, if you will.  I remember how Sheetz fans post fun pictures of their in-store experience on Facebook and how Twitter comments were genuine and full of passion. This was reinforced even further as on my way to a Sheetz as I spotted a billboard reflecting that same emotion on my way to their store.

To put it one way my pre in-store experience thus far had been like listening to a symphony. I had heard the string, horn, acoustic, and keyboard sections all tuning their instruments. They all sounded great by themselves, but what about together? As I approached the store, I studied their building for a moment, I thought about the great colors I saw, the café-style outdoor seating and the “MTO” (Made to Order) signage that made it feel more like a fast-casual restaurant than a c-store. 

As I swung open the door, all of those marketing channels came together, just like a crescendo in a well-orchestrated concert.  Here are some things I noticed that Sheetz did well:

·         Their fun “feel the love” theme was reflected well in-store with bright, visible signage with engaging messages

·         The similarity in their messages was striking. Notice the “2 for 99c” is both on their outdoor advertising and in-store

·         They had opportunities to reconnect with the brand via signage that highlighted social media and online specials

·         The nostalgic look was very consistent in their use of fonts, images, colors and store fixtures

·         Their self-service touch screen menu was easy to use and had POP which explained how to order

After my visit, I came to the conclusion that my experience at Sheetz was worthy of calling it a masterpiece as they executed their marketing efforts well in every channel and didn’t hit a sour note anywhere.  If you'd like other examples of c-stores that do a great job of marketing, see C-Stores: Breaking Bad Habits.

Retail marketers, does your brand connect on multiple channels?  What in-store marketing efforts have you employed that synched all channels together? How has this affected your in-store revenues and bottom line?

At-Store Marketing That Makes the Grade

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of writing about how creatively office supply retailers were going about drawing in back-to-school shoppers.  This week, I've expanded this and looked at a cross-section of retailers and their in-store back to school efforts. See At-Store Marketing That Makes the Grade via www.pointsmith.com

Office Supply Goes Back-to-School

For Retailers, back-to-school season is second only to holiday shopping season.  According to this National Retail Federation Survey, the average person with children in grades K-12 will spend $688.62 on their children, up $84.99 from last year.  Total back-to-school spending is expected to be $30.3 billion. 

This week I've taken a look at how office supply retailers are communicating to BTS shoppers.  How do you think they measured up?  What retail brands are your favorites for BTS?

http://www.pointsmith.com/blog/office-supply-goes-back-to-school/

Transparency in Engagement Marketing, Part 2

Last week, we partially defined engagement marketing and covered some examples of quick service restaurants and a convenience store chain that put it into practice.  This week we’ll look at a few more examples of how this strategy has worked well for others.  To further define engagement marketing Greg Ippolito, Creative Director of the engagement marketing agency; Annodyne, argues that traditional top-down marketing results, largely, in the production and communication of white noise. Whereas engagement marketing assumes a different approach:

“Think of a salesperson who walks up to you in a store. You tell him thanks, you’re okay, you’re just looking.  But he hovers and looms, finds a way to insert himself into your activity, and is a general annoyance. That’s what typical marketing feels like: intrusive and disruptive.  Engagement Marketing is the opposite. It’s a salesperson who hangs back and engages you if/when you need help. Who can sense what you want to do, and help you arrive at that decision.”  “Engagement Marketing done well, means connecting with audiences who want to hear from you, in relevant, meaningful, interesting ways.”

Domino’s used the power of engagement when in 2010 they reinvented themselves as they made public focus group comments about their pizzas. “Worst excuse for pizza I’ve ever had!”, “the sauce tastes like ketchup” and “totally void of flavor” were some of the comments they made public. Domino’s used these comments as a rallying cry when their CEO, Patrick Doyle stated; “You can either use negative comments to get you down or you can use them to excite you and energize your process and make it a better pizza, we chose the latter.” Everybody in this [headquarters] building, our job is to figure out how to best support them so that we reduce the time and energy that it takes to get done what they need to get done." Source 

Another form of practicing transparency in engagement marketing has been used by an industry as a whole.  Last fall the convenience store industry had a segment on the History Channels Modern Marvels series on convenience stores  In this fascinating piece, viewers were shown the behind the scenes of the convenience store industry.  We see not only the “c-store” industry history but also how the floor plan is methodically planned to optimize revenue in several “zones”.  Take a look at this and you’ll see how even handles on coolers are placed on either the left or right side of the cooler to direct traffic through other profitable c-store zones.

Engagement marketing works well for several reasons, these three being among them:

1.     As is highlighted in the Modern Marvels c-store segment, consumers like to think that they have the inside scoop on what really goes on behind the scenes. This satisfies the sense of curiosity that is indwelt in in all of us

2.     It has a tremendous positive effect on store level employees. What store employee doesn’t want to see his boss get his hands dirty and to have him or her show humility on national television?

3.     Third, it gives “the boss” great ideas to take back to corporate which he or she can then implement. This comes full circle when it is brought back to the store level.

Are you practicing engagement marketing with your consumer and store employees?  What best practices have you put in place, which have had a positive impact on sales, perception in the marketplace and on store employees?