Shopper Marketing: Millennials, Hispanics & The 60-Second Candy Bar

Shopper marketing is growing fast, and now accounts for something like $60 billion in spending a year. And while leading CPG companies now employ as many as 20 people working in the discipline, and some have as many as 60, reports the Grocery Manufacturers Association, it’s still considered something of a redheaded stepchild. Tim O'Sullivan, recently tapped as managing director for North America for Labstore, Young & Rubicam’s shopper marketing network, fills Marketing Daily in on some of the industry’s important changes.

Q. What are the big trends shaping shopper marketing now?

A. An important trend is that manufacturers are shifting more responsibility and investment dollars away from where it traditionally was, with brand marketers—the ones who work on brand identity and consumer affinity—to people within shopper marketing side. Recently, for example, we had a client come to us after it had a very successful effort to drive incremental consumption, which included TV, and a big success on social media. It got people talking, and exceeded expectations. Then they analyzed it, and realized it had increased incremental sales by  … zero. So there is this growing realization that a brand can have very high consumer awareness, and very high consumer affinity. But when that consumer becomes a shopper and she is in the store, she can still not select that brand. They were losing at conversion. Traditional media is important in brand awareness. But you’ve got to follow that through to make sure that when the target customer is in shopping mode, you’re in the competitive set she is considering.

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