Publix Streamlines Savings

Publix’s new Coupon Savings Helper is an innovative new approach to offer coupons. They have teamed with Smart Source and Red Plum to match promotional ads existing at Publix, Smart Source and Red Plum’s circulars.   Publix’s new Coupon Savings Helper combines promotional offers from multiple sources so users can more easily use multiple coupons or promotional discounts on the same products in the same transaction.  It also provides a Total Savings figure that is usually pretty significant.

But will it work? Consumers have been slow to bridge the gap between print and digital retail promotions.  It often requires a deliberate effort to seek out promotions online, and that barrier of entry stifles a lot of interest. 
Publix may not have set their expectations very high for the Coupon Savings Helper. There is hardly a mention of the it on their main page and it isn’t as esthetic as their other pages.

But regardless of that, it is curious to see their new program.  For those that use it, it will simplify the process for saving, and that’s a good thing.

Image from http://www.publix.com/coupon/CouponHelper.do 5/8/2013.

 

Kmart's New Ad Makes a Splash

Chalk another one up for creativity.  Kmart is causing some conversation with their latest commercial promoting their new free shipping service.  In their commercial “Ship my pants” is a play on words that is causing a mix of emotions ranging from offended, to amused, to love and laughter.  With a risky marketing move, Kmart hit a home run.

 

 

This word cloud was created from over 10,000 tweets between 4/8/2013 – 4/15/2013.

Recurring words like Hilarious, Funny, Great, Brilliant, Genius, Watch, and Seen, suggest this is a viral hit.

 

Use the below link to watch the full commercial.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I03UmJbK0lA&feature=youtu.be

    

 

Walgreens Balance Rewards

Imagine each time you go to the gym or take a walk you get a gift card.  Well with the introduction of the Balance Rewards program, Walgreens is proposing something similar.  Now, loyalty program members can earn 50 points per mile they walk or run, 20 points for a daily weigh in, 500 points for each prescription filled or immunization received at Walgreens.  And these points add up, see below for a list rewards.

5,000 points = $5 Gift Card
10,000 points = $10 Gift Card
18,000 points = $20 Gift Card
30,000 points = $35 Gift Card
40,000 points = $50 Gift Card

I think this program is ground breaking as Walgreens is encouraging their shoppers to lead a healthy lifestyle which lives up to the Walgreen’s slogan “At the corner of happy & healthy.” This loyalty program stands out to me because Walgreens is offering discounts and rewards for behavior that is completely unrelated to shopping.  Ok, it’s obvious the end goal is to get consumers through the door and to buy into their loyalty program but by using physical fitness and healthy living to do so Walgreens is seen in a positive light and makes the consumer feel like they care about each shopper’s wellbeing.

Check out these articles to read more about the Walgreen’s Balance Rewards programs: http://www.drugstorenews.com/article/walgreens-expands-get-fit-incentives-tied-companys-loyalty-program?ad=latest-news

https://www.walgreens.com/balancerewards/balance-rewards.jsp

April Fool’s Day!

Each year we all get pranked somehow from April Fool’s Day!  Some of my favorites this year were:

1.      Google Nose- If you can, watch the video it is great!

 

 

2.      Redbox serving lunchmeat

 

 

3.      Google Treasure Maps

 

 

4.      Google Gmail Blue

 

I think it is safe to assume the folks at Google thoroughly enjoyed their pranks this year.  Click on the below link to check out more of the favorites from April Fool’s Day 2013!

 

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/04/01/april-fools-day-2013-the-10-best-pranks-from-around-the-web/

 

Changes to Facebook’s Timeline

With the influx in smartphone users, staying connected is easier than ever before.  Jumping on Facebook or Twitter doesn’t mean firing up the desktop anymore, rather with a quick swipe of the finger you can see what your friends are up to within second and from virtually anywhere.  But for companies of all kinds Facebook is not just an avenue for staying connected with friends instead it is a way to connect with customers and the events that are happening in their everyday lives.    However, with the introduction of the new timeline format, Facebook could change the game for social media marketing campaigns. 

So how do marketers currently use the social media to promote brands? An article on www.businessweek.com uses P&G as an example.  P&G is taking advantage of Facebook’s marketing opportunities with their Pepto-Bismol fan page.  After analyzing when Pepto-Bismol is mentioned the most on social media sites, P&G noticed Saturday and Sunday made the top of the list.  Such weekend Pepto-Bismol references are due to people looking to sooth their upset stomachs from consuming too many adult beverages the night before.  Armed with this knowledge, P&G began the ‘Celebrate Life’ campaign on Facebook which played an integral role in the 11 percent market share increase that year.  So how does P&G’s ‘Celebrate Life’ encourage Pepto-Bismol use?  It’s simple, P&G identified how they can reach their audience to make them feel that it is ok to have one or two more drinks because Pepto-Bismol will be here in the morning. 

But getting the social media campaigns, like ‘Celebrate Life’ in front of the right audience, or any audience for that matter might become a bit more challenging with the new timeline format.  Facebook introduced several filters that allow users to choose the information they see.  So, for instance, users can filter to only see news media on their timeline, or stories about close friends or only picture posts.  An article on www.hubspot.com explains how the changes will influence Facebook marketing, “After all, if users have the choice of tuning out messages directly from the brands they Like by looking at their All Friends Feed, chances are they'll do it from time to time. The only way content from a brand page will get into a user's All Friends Feed is if a user's friends share content from that brand page.”

Although the latest timeline changes make advertising more difficult, it also challenges marketers to become more creative and innovative to capture the attention of their audience. 

 

Read more about P&G’s ‘Celebrate Life’ campaign and other marketing techniques: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-03-29/social-networking-takes-center-stage-at-p-and-g

Read more about the Facebook timeline changes: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34243/Facebook-Update-Gives-Users-More-Control-Over-News-Feed-What-Marketers-Should-Know.aspx#ixzz2MxK3bwkg

 

 

OfficeMax – Office Depot Merger Announced

A merger between OfficeMax and Office Depot was announced this month, leaving only two major chains within the Office Supply channel, with the other being Staples.  In order to gain some historical perspective on each of the players’ promotional roles within the channel, I examined data from ECRM MarketGate over the past 104 week period.

The above graph displays true ad block counts for each of the three current Office Supply chains, broken out weekly, within circulars only.  There are several important points here.  Staples’s promotional activity saw huge spikes for both Back to School seasons appearing within this timeframe, both during the main summertime season as well as the secondary season after Christmas break.  During these seasons, Staples’s print circular true ad block count was nearly twice that of either OfficeMax or Office Depot.  Additionally, although all of these retailers have weeks where no circular promotions were run, OfficeMax was the only retailer to have one of these drops in the middle of Back to School season in 2011, with a similarly low (but not quite zero) week in 2012.  Office Depot saw slight increases in the same weeks as these massive declines at OfficeMax.

The following chart displays the true ad block count for the top five subcategories promoted in each of these retailers’ circulars:

This demonstrates that retailers are not focusing their promotions on any one category within School & Office.  Printers/Scanners rank first or second at each of these retailers, and the top five categories are identical, although in a different order, across these retailers.

For additional reading, please see:

http://www.retailingtoday.com/article/officemax-office-depot-merger-done-deal

Supermarkets Adopting E-Cigarettes

A recent Supermarket News article examined whether e-cigarettes have a place within Supermarkets.  While e-cigarettes have been around for a few years now, their popularity has skyrocketed only recently, with sales more than doubling since 2010 and forecasted to triple within the next few years.  While advertising of cigarettes is heavily regulated, this new e-cigarette industry is large uncontrolled.  Despite this, there is not much of a circular presence for these new products yet.  I found the following ad images on ECRM MarketGate:



BI-LO – 1/30/13 – Greenville, SC














King Kullen – 1/18/13 – New York, NY      



King Kullen – 1/25/13 – New York, NY

It’s interesting to note that although e-cigarettes are frequently described as smoking cessation aids, these three ads were not run near Health & Personal Care category items, but rather featured near General Merchandise, Dairy, and other Grocery items:

For additional reading please see:

http://supermarketnews.com/photo-gallery/gallery-should-supermarkets-sell-e-cigarettes