How to make shopper marketing more effective

Ksenia Khalina and Amy Brown

Source: WARC Exclusive, October 2019
Downloaded from WARC

Explores five of the most important barriers that marketers face when connecting with today’s shoppers
and provides advice on how to cut through.

Time – the more time consumers spend on your platform or in your store, the more likely they are
to buy so design a trigger that makes the time spent with the brand meaningful and rewarding for
consumers.
Convenience – understand and anticipate friction moments in the main touchpoints of the journey
and provide the right information and right solution at the right time on the right platform.
Relevancy – consumers want brands to treat them like a person, not a number, so the creation of
occasion-based triggers rooted in specific moment of consumers’ lives can help to overcome the
relevancy barrier, meet individual demands of consumers and shoppers and hopefully build a
habit.
Trust – expectations of today’s shoppers about transparency, authenticity and the quality of brand
and product information is high so use social proofing to serve as a commitment trigger that is
very important for overcoming a trust barrier and helping consumers make a final purchasing
decision.
Emotional connection – organisations that optimise emotional connections outperform rivals by
26% in terms of gross margin and 85% in terms of sales growth – they cultivate emotionally
engaged customers who are less price sensitive, less likely to buy from competitors, and three
times more likely to recommend and repurchase.

At a glance
Many brands are failing to monetise at the shelf, with poor shopper marketing strategy. The success of shopper
marketing lies in creating an integrated idea with a clear, memorable engagement mechanic that is, at its heart,
linked to purchase.
Why it matters
Usually brands understand the importance of investing in awareness but often they forget to create a trigger
rooted in related behavioural patterns, without which conversion doesn’t happen. This behavioural trigger is the
lacking element. Without this, a brand is just another choice in a sea of increasingly interchangeable options.

Takeaways
The five most important barriers to purchase are: Time, Convenience, Relevancy, Trust, Emotional
Connection.
Latent brand equity in the ether does not guarantee brands are bought, or even in the consideration set
once people are in front of the shelf where 70% of purchase decisions are made. Dealing with these new
dynamics requires an urgent elimination of a sizable disconnect between brand marketing and sales.
There are different triggers, from physical to associative, but most often they are formed around an existing
behaviour, linked to a specific event or moment and have a physical and/or emotional benefit. The other
key is that the product (including its package and price) has to make sense for the moment (time and
place).

The recent situation with Kraft Heinz brands highlights a problem that many brands are facing today – failing to
monetise powerful brands at the shelf. CEO of Kraft Heinz, Miguel Patricio told reporters and analysts after the
recent quarterly reporting that the Kraft Heinz brands are icons. He just wished they would stay “living
icons”.

The dynamics have changed: latent brand equity in the ether does not guarantee you’re bought, or even in the
consideration set, once people are in front of the shelf where 70% of purchase decisions are made.

Dealing with these new dynamics requires an urgent elimination of a sizable disconnect between brand
marketing and sales, which many Marketing Leaders (86%) of different industries mentioned already some time
ago as absolutely critical or very important.

If you know Byron Sharp, you know the drill: establish mental availability of the brand by constantly building and
reinforcing memory structures, then ensure physical availability. But it is not enough. Brands must keep doing
those things, but they can't stop there.

Missing element
Usually brands understand the importance of investing in awareness – aspirational brand videos or engaging
social media content (now more and more data-driven and hyper-individualised), but unfortunately often they
forget to create a trigger rooted in related behavioural patterns, without which conversion doesn’t happen. This
behavioural trigger is the lacking element – the missing ‘bridge’ between brand and shopper. It establishes the
role brand plays in people’s lives and makes it relevant for them. Without this, a brand is just another choice in a
sea of increasingly interchangeable options.
Why are behavioural triggers so important today?
Brand and shopper moments are no longer separate. Today, each of us recognises that we are in a ‘shopping
mode’ almost every moment of our lives, especially each time we touch our devices.

Since the internet has become one huge shopping mall, we have got thousands of doors to different stores in
our pockets, 24/7, and a sea of distraction.

It’s critical to break through.

So which campaigns work? The success of shopper marketing lies in creating an integrated idea with a clear,
memorable engagement mechanic that is, at its heart, linked to purchase. Classic examples of this are Share a
Coke, McDonald’s Monopoly, Milka’s Cookie Jar series, Cadbury’s Hunting Season, and Marmite’s Love It or
Hate It.

But what is common to all of these that made them so successful? They are all about using different kinds of
behaviour triggers to create habits. Retail (off-line or on-line) is about creating habits. And no habit is formed
without a trigger.

There are different triggers, from physical to associative, but most often they are formed around an existing
behaviour, linked to a specific event or moment and have a physical and/or emotional benefit. The other key is
that the product (including its package and price) has to make sense for the moment (time and place). A classic
example is Kit Kat owning “breaks” as a moment because it’s inherent in the product form itself.

How do you create a trigger and build the missing bridge?

First, brands should identify the main barriers of todays’ shoppers connected to the ever-changing behavioural
patterns and then come up with the related triggers as part of their activations. Here are the 5 most important
barriers:

Time
Convenience
Relevancy
Trust
Emotional connection

1. Time barrier and personalisation trigger

Time is precious for customers and more than ever they value every minute of it. Even so, multiple researches,
as well as the one conducted by Retail Sensing, show that how much shoppers buy directly correlates with how
long they spend in a store. A longer average-shopping-time pushes up retail sales.
The same applies for online sites or selling apps – the longer shoppers remain there (high session duration, low
bounce rate) – the higher the probability that their visit finishes with purchase. Therefore, the challenge is to
design a trigger that makes the time spent with brand (in real life or on-line) – the most meaningful and
rewarding for consumers. Here the innovation and personalisation triggers can play a role.

Champagne Veuve Clicquot, for example, created a limited edition Clicq'Call Brut Rosé wrapped in a gift box
on which you can record your own voicemail message. The recipient will be able to use this box again to record
a new personal message!

The team at Bon Bon Bon, an artisan chocolate company, created such personalisation trigger on their site:
Build a Box Box Box. This feature makes customers stay longer on the site when selecting their favourite
confections, putting them into the cardboard box and adding a personal note and address. Launching in
November before the holiday season, Bon Bon

Bon saw an astounding 415% increase in sales through the entire season.
The searching, check-out and delivering processes are the opposite though – they must be short and
convenient.

2. Convenience barrier and physical trigger

Creation of physical triggers can help to address the convenience challenges of today’s shopping experience
across the entire ‘omnichannel’ journey (for instance, ‘Researching On-line Buying Off-line’). The task will be
to understand and anticipate friction moments in the main touchpoints of the journey (e.g. search, access, self-
service, subscription, payment, delivery, etc.) and provide the right information, right solution at the right time on
the right platform.

Heineken China, for example, incorporated such physical triggers in the activation, which was part of the global
Heineken More than a Race campaign promoting the Formula1 sponsorship. Heineken invited its consumers via
OOH billboards and WeChat application to create their own digital ‘Heineken track’ in the shape of a consumer’s
name hieroglyph.

This hieroglyph-track conveniently ‘drove’ consumers along the funnel bringing them either to the e-commerce
platform (Tmall) for buying Heineken, or to the physical Heineken ‘track’ that was built in stores, bars and clubs
to get a fully immersive and unique Heineken and F1 experience with a possibility to win the main prize – a ticket
to the F1 race. The engagement rate of this activation online reached 63% leading to a 15% increase in online
beer orders.
An interesting example of the physical trigger in modern shopping is an automated shopping list. Think about the
shopping list which is built with the help of AI, voice assistant, app, etc. Brands should find a possibility to get on
AI recommendation list to become part of this new standard of convenience.

3. Relevancy barrier and occasion-based trigger

As confirmed in the recent Salesforce’s “State of Marketing” report, customers look for offers that are relevant
for them: 84% of customers want to feel that the companies or brands they engage with, treat them “like a
person, not a number” and truly understand their individual needs in any particular moments of their lives.

Creation of occasion-based triggers rooted in specific moment of consumers’ lives can help to overcome the
relevancy barrier, meet individual demands of consumers and shoppers and hopefully build a habit.

Heineken decided to better understand the behaviours and needs of consumers in the core beer occasions and
found a way to ‘elevate’ these occasions through the relevant Heineken offers (right product, right pack for the
right price) and experiences communicating with customers via smart messages, standout brand visibility and
relevant added value rewarding mechanisms. In Germany for example, Heineken offered to upgrade consumers’
BBQ experiences to prove BBQ expertise and win premium grill. This simple, clear and very relevant
activation led to more than 80% sales increase of Heineken.

Diageo in its famous Pimm’s O’Clock activation in the UK aimed “to win that vital first drink of the evening”
occasion during the warm summer days. Pimm’s Live digital weather-activated posters directed consumers
to the best pub with a space in the local area to enjoy a Pimm’s, every time when the temperature was rising
higher than 16 degrees Celsius.

In the Smirnoff ‘Instagram your fridge’ activation, the brand rightfully claimed a ‘cocktail at home’ occasion,
inviting its consumers to post on Instagram pictures of their fridge ingredients. Smirnoff showed them how to
make a cocktail from the contents, sending back a special recipe video.

Fridge pictures were uploaded; recipes were created, viewed and shared over 1m times (involving nearly 20% of
the adult population of New Zealand). The campaign grew Smirnoff’s sales by more than 58%. The brand
became the most socially engaged liquor brand for the campaign period in NZ, and the third-most engaged
brand overall.

4. Trust barrier and commitment trigger

The trust barrier is definitely not a new one. But what is new, is the level of expectations of today’s shoppers
about transparency, authenticity and the quality of brand and product information.

Social proofing (as old as time) can serve as a commitment trigger that is very important for overcoming a trust
barrier and helping consumers make a final (purchasing) decision. This trigger can be delivered via:

recommendations and reviews from consumers, which have increased in importance as today 92% of
consumers say they trust recommendations from their peers above all other advertising;
employee advocacy that has a strong influential power and is still not fully leveraged by brands;
 influencer reviews and advice (micro-influencers are considered more authentic and knowledgeable by
consumers and shoppers today);
celebrity endorsements and testimonials that are still valid and important if done genuinely and creatively.

An excellent example of such endorsements was a series of creative short films made by Heineken featuring
former legendary F1 driver David Coulthard. Placed in social media and on other digital platforms including
e-commerce, the films played a role of a commitment trigger for consumers to buy Heineken and explore the
More than a Race activation experiences.

5. Emotional connection barrier and association trigger

The role of emotions in brand communication has been praised many times already. However, it appeared that
the payoff for attending to customer’s emotions can be really big in the shopping situations as well. A
report from Gallup suggests that “organisations that optimise emotional connections outperform rivals by 26%
in terms of gross margin and 85% in terms of sales growth. They cultivate emotionally engaged customers who
are less price sensitive, less likely to buy from competitors, and three times more likely to recommend and
repurchase”.

In the Desperados Playable Bottles activation the brand suggested consumers remix parties and casual
gatherings alike using the Desperados’ Playable Bottle app, which proved to be a great association trigger
turning mates into musicians. By scanning the bottle’s QR code, consumers were led to an upbeat Facebook
Messenger chatbot that guided them to the Desperados web app. Users were assigned one of five instruments
and could either knock some notes solo or join a band to make a full-blown mix. Fellow band members could sit
anywhere in the world as each jam synced in real-time.

In case of the Heineken More than a Race activation the association trigger was built on such emotions like
surprise and FOMO (fear of missing out) providing consumers a unique opportunity to feel closer to the exciting
world of Formula 1. This was via Heineken limited edition propositions and rewards with the help of creative,
fresh and clear messages, standout design and visibility. Altogether, this activation being part of the integrated
marketing campaign has delivered strong results in both sales and brand image: 36% sales volume growth (vs
LY) on average in key activation markets (such as Italy, the UK, Mexico, Australia, China, Russia).

But this is not all...

Identifying the main barriers as well as understanding the relevant behavioural triggers, and building the ‘missing
bridges’ to shopper hearts, is critical for many brands today.

But the questions of how to effectively incorporate these triggers into brand activations overcoming some
significant internal hindrances on the retailer and brand manufacturer sides, are still there and must be
addressed urgently.

About the authors

Ksenia Khalina
Global Lead in Brand and Shopper Marketing, Heineken

Ksenia was formerly head of global Heineken trade and shopper marketing.

Amy Brown
Global Brand, Marketing and Growth Strategist, Phoenix Brand Strategy

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