Around the World in 80 (or so) Pages

The Path to Purchase Institute’s website currently boasts roughly 10,500 articles and nearly 75,000 images.That latter figure includes 213 photos of displays and signs for the Oreo cookie brand dating back to 1995 (when parent Nabisco was still its own “bisquit” company). The total includes 84 freestanding displays, 33 pallets, 28 endcaps, 23 spectaculars, two inflatables and a coupon dispenser. So anyone who wants a deep dive into Oreo’s merchandising strategy over the last 18 years knows where to come.Conversely, our image vault has only three images of bird feeder displays. I am well aware of this fact because, several years ago, we had a (now-former) member who indignantly pointed out, “You only have three images of bird feeder displays.” As a merchandiser of bird feeders, you see, this particular person felt he was being cheated out of his membership fee since the site contained such a paucity of content relevant to his business.However, I only checked into our inventory of Oreo images after hearing Procter & Gamble’s Nick Patterson speak at the Shopper Marketing Expo last month. During a presentation entitled “Breaking the Rules the Right Way,” Patterson described how the marketers behind ZzzQuil – P&G’s year-old OTC sleep aid – developed an effective merchandising program for Walmart after examining the product spectaculars that Nabisco had secured at the retailer to celebrate Oreo’s 100th birthday in 2012.In a nutshell, Patterson’s message was that marketers should be looking well beyond their own categories to find innovation and inspiration.That viewpoint was exemplified to a far greater degree two days earlier during an Expo symposium on “Best-in-Class Shopper Marketing from Around the World,” at which five executives from three companies (Coca-Cola, Unilever and Geometry Global) and two countries (the U.S. and U.K.) presented eight case studies from seven countries.Can a supermarket merchandising program in Turkey or a vending-machine pricing initiative in Spain really inspire marketers in the U.S.? P&G’s Patterson would likely say yes. And the 150-odd marketers who attended the symposium would probably agree.We definitely feel that way, which is why the Institute joined with Coke, Unilever and Geometry to publish “Global Perspectives on Shopper Marketing,” a first-of-its-kind collection of case studies from around the world designed to inform and inspire retail marketing professionals.The 31 cases presented in the book were collected from 18 different countries across six continents. (We’re only missing Antarctica.) And they reflect an even greater diversity of objectives and success measures, strategies and tactics.Beginning this month and continuing through next May, Shopper Marketing will feature seven case studies from the book. (Our first example describes how a home improvement retailer in Germany turned cardboard moving boxes into shopper behavior-changing marketing vehicles.) If you like what you read in these pages, you’ll be able to buy the book in January. (Details to follow.)The Institute has enough international members to know that marketers in other countries often look to the U.S. to find inspiration. We’re not quite as sure that U.S. marketers regularly cast their nets as widely because the globally focused content we’ve posted on the website over the years (like two different retail travelogues from China) has never been utilized to any great extent.People in general, and U.S. marketers in particular, have a tendency to develop tunnel vision. That’s not a criticism, just an unfortunate fact caused primarily by the increasingly complex and hectic demands of the profession.When they are even able to find the time to do so, marketers looking for best practices and fresh ideas can too easily get mired in their own product category, retail channel and/or geographic region. On the other side of the table, retailers can become so focused on price that they stop considering the other shopper needs that, if addressed effectively, are far better at driving loyalty than discounts.Either of these less-than-advisable tendencies can be a grave mistake because oftentimes the purchase decision isn’t all about price. And, in many cases, a much better solution can be an aisle, a store or maybe even a whole world away – even if you’re merchandising bird feeders. Peter Breen is managing director - content for P2pi.org. He can be reached at (773) 992-4431 or pbreen@p2pi.org.

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