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Fortune cookies Get Real
Frequent Staples shoppers Speak Easy to build brand awareness
What's that smell? The aroma of scent marketing
Call it creating a scents of place. These days, more and more marketers are sniffing out the ultimate nose experience. Yes, that smell wafting from your favorite shop or during your favorite flick has a keen sense of scent marketing. You know it when you smell it. The scent of sweet nostalgia, comfort and branded aromas is everywhere: Westin hotels use a blend of green tea, geranium and black tea to make customers feel at home; Sheraton hotels opt for jasmine, clove and fig; Cadillac has eschewed the new-car smell for a custom scent called Nuance. You don't have to be at hip stores to get a whiff of this olfactory craze. Multisensory artists brought back the beloved Smell-o-Vision for a screening of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory at the Boston Children's Museum, wafting scents of blueberry pie and banana taffy during the film. ISM recognizes that scent is the strongest sense tied to memory and the nose may be the quickest way to the heart. One whiff of a familiar or comforting smell can trigger visions, emotions and immediate zeal. That’s why we’re working with our clients to attach this extra dimension to their brand.
Pop-up events: Grand Opening reopens every three months
Imagine a storefront switching from a table tennis club to a drive-in movie theater and you've got the idea behind Grand Opening. The experimental space reinvents itself every three months with a new concept that has New Yorkers stopping by to see what's next. Currently, the space houses DRV-IN, a “drive-in” movie theater that lets patrons sit in a '65 Ford Falcon to watch their favorite flicks. With a full concession stand and (potted) tree branches overhead, DRV-IN lets a group of six enjoy a night out—make that in—for about $75. Previously, the space housed PONG, an ongoing ping-pong tournament. No announcement has been made about the next “grand opening,” but it should happen around mid-December 2007. Fickle consumer tastes mean that this concept could be a lasting high—unless people really take to one of the iterations and don’t want it to go. Fun and whimsical, Grand Opening knows when enough is enough and changes immediately, if not sooner. ISM believes that this could be the face of retail and entertainment of the future—always changing, never stagnant, forever providing new and fresh experiences. Companies should take note, as consumers already have.
ISM news: bringing Zagat to Barbados
Steering customers to the best a destination has to offer is key to visitor satisfaction, but no matter how loud a tourism board shouts, there’s always a bit of skepticism among consumers that the message is purely hype and totally self serving. To deal with this reality, ISM worked with the Barbados Tourism Authority to introduce a highly respected third party to help play the role of arbiter to point travelers toward the best places on the island. So was born the Zagat Best of Barbados guidebook. The first ever Zagat guide devoted to a Caribbean destination. Using Zagat’s time-tested survey methodology, Bajan residents, island visitors and past guests all contributed their ratings and perceptions of restaurants, night life, attractions and recreation. The resulting publication has helped to further position the destination as a market leader, effectively showcasing the island’s wealth of five-star restaurants and acclaimed chefs and providing the added benefit of delivering customer feedback to local businesses and a benchmark from which to measure their performance. It’s just one of the reasons that Barbados has seen growth in visitors from North America this year, amidst steady declines across most other Caribbean nations.
Fortune cookies Get Real
“There may be a crisis looming.” “Time to get some professional help.” That's the way the Chinese fortune cookie crumbles these days, with straight talk instead of bromides. Wonton Food, the country's largest fortune cookie maker, started adding more downbeat messages to its catalog of 10,000 fortunes when customers asked for more actual predictions and fewer vague Chinese sayings. Fans find the new Get Real fortunes humorously thought-provoking. But some diners prefer rose-colored glasses and successfully lobbied Wonton Food to remove two of its darkest messages, including “Today is a disastrous day.” In an uncertain world, ISM finds many consumers crave straight talk about their lives, whether it's from politicians or fortune cookies; however, companies must walk a fine line between telling it like it is and telling customers what they want to hear.
Frequent Staples shoppers Speak Easy to build brand awareness
Big red buttons aside, Staples is making it easy for consumers to get freebies—and a word in edgewise. The retailer already had Staples Rewards, which earned shoppers points for every Staples purchase. Now, Staples invites super shoppers from that program to participate in Speak Easy, a word-of-mouth marketing experiment.
Speak Easy members receive new products for free, view test commercials and participate in “easy conversations.”
The hope is that they will not only provide valuable focus-group-style insight but also talk up the program with their friends. The program currently has a waiting list—who knew office supplies were so coveted? Applying does not ensure entry; Staples has a pretty long list of thought-provoking questions it uses to identify ideal participants.
ISM encourages companies to leverage its customers—preferably influencers—to get their social networks involved in a dialogue where shoppers feel involved and empowered to make a difference in a company's direction.
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3.4 million Americans spend more than 90 minutes each way getting to and from work.
-- Daily-Journal.com (Kankakee, IL) 10.2.07
According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, about 19% of 17-year-olds reported never or hardly ever reading for fun, that’s a ten percent increase since 1984. The percentage of 17-year-olds who read daily is around 22%, a drop from a rate of 31% 23 years ago.
-- Tuscaloosa News 10.20.07
Newspaper ads are seen as the most trustworthy advertisements, according to a Nielsen survey, with 63% of consumers saying they put strong mental stock in those print ads. TV came next, with votes of confidence from 56% of respondents. Thirty-four percent say they trust search ads; banner ads received a 26% share; and, mobile advertising earned 18% of the public trust.
-- MarketingVOX.com 10.3.07
Europeans are 50% more likely than Americans to buy “green“ products—from solar panels to hybrid cars to natural/organic foods, personal care and home products. Europeans are 25% more likely to recycle and 30% more likely to influence their friends and family about the environment than Americans.
-- CNNMoney.com 10.29.07
Sixty-two percent of Web users read product reviews posted by others, a Deloitte Consumer Product Group-sponsored study reveals.
-- eMarketer.com 10.12.07
Thirty-nine percent of adults who use the internet make online purchases at least monthly, a jump from 30% two years ago, a recent iCrossing survey found. Forty-nine percent of respondents reported that they seek out customer product reviews and evaluations, up from 40% two years ago.
-- Arizona Republic 9.24.07
Pet industry sales are expected to swell to almost $41 billion in the United States in 2007, making it the second-fastest-growing retail category, after electronics.
-- Los Angeles Times 9.14.07
Eleven percent of Americans skip breakfast, according to RBC Financial Group. Three fourths say they eat their first meal of the day at home and the rest head to McDonald’s.
-- Star Tribune 9.25.07
More than half, or 50.7%, of internet users will do at least some of their holiday shopping online this year, up from 37.6% in 2006, Burst Media says in a new report.
-- Internet Retailer 10.9.07
Seventy-two percent of Americans are more concerned about identity theft today than two years ago, 52% are unsure they are doing enough to protect their identities and 43% wish they had more information on how to protect themselves. Only 51% of Americans are shredding junk mail such as credit card offers.
-- BusinessWire.com 10.9.07
Shopper marketing, which encompasses everything from corrugated displays to video-enhanced shopping carts, is growing faster than internet advertising—doubling since 2004 and on pace for a compound annual growth rate of 21% through 2010, according to a study by Deloitte from the Grocery Manufacturers Association.
-- Ad Age 10.1.07
Livestock is responsible for 18% of greenhouse-gas emissions worldwide—more than all the planes, trains and automobiles on the planet. It will get worse as living standards rise in the developing world. Annual per-capita meat consumption in developing countries doubled from 31 lbs. in 1980 to 62 lbs. in 2002.
-- LATimes.com 10.15.07
Avis is offering chauffeurs in ten top business markets, including New York and L.A. A driver costs about $35 an hour with a three-hour minimum. Its appeal lies in the fact that the driver picks up the car and the renter’s luggage, and it’s cheaper than hiring a limo service.
-- Newsweek 10.1.07
Stereotypes suggest that video gaming is primarily for adolescents, but the Entertainment Software Association says the market is much broader. According to the organization, 69% of American heads of household played video games in 2005. The average age of gamers was 33 years and 25% of players were older than 50.
-- GaTech.edu 10.6.07
Nearly one in four American couples sleep apart, either in the same room or in different ones, a recent telephone survey of adults by the National Sleep Foundation says. Some sleep experts will tell you it's probably even more than that, maybe as much as 33%.
-- Philadelphia Inquirer 10.23.07
Young people drink less coffee than their parents and, when they do, it's usually on the go. Only 37% of young adults between 18 and 24 drink coffee, compared with 60% of those between 40 and 59 and 74% of Americans over 60, according to the National Coffee Association.
-- BusinessWeek 10.8.07
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