This Week in Marketing: April 2, 2011

I'm taking next week off, but look for the next "This Week in Marketing" on April 16.

This week's highlights (with applicable teaching topics and links to discussion below):

 

Store Brands on the Move

  • The article: Store Brands Expected to Double in Fifteen Years, from BrandChannel.
  • The facts: Store brands continue to grow their market share of supermarket purchases, but national brands retain importance as a reference point for both price and quality.
  • Classroom uses: Some good current statistics to add to a discussion of private label brands in a class on branding or retailing. Also, see some global private label market share data in the March 6 blog post.

How Men Shop

  • The article: How to Connect With the Heart and Mind of the Male Shopper, from Advertising Age (may eventually require a subscription to access).
  • The facts: An article offering five assertions about the way men like to shop.
  • Classroom uses: In class, you could ask students what they think of these assertions--either regarding their own preferences or those of male friends and relatives. This could lead to a discussion of how this information could be used in designing retail stores or training sales personnel.

Social Mac & Cheese

  • The article: Kraft to Turn Mac & Cheese Tweets Into TV Ads Within 24 Hours, from Mashable.
  • The facts: Kraft is running a campaign in which it turns tweets related to mac & cheese into TV ads. Some of the ads are viewable on Kraft's Facebook page.
  • Classroom uses: This is similar in spirit to the Old Spice social media campaign last summer. It's to soon to evaluate success, but it's an example of a way to coordinate a variety of media in a campaign that encourages consumers to interact with the brand. One challenge of such campaigns is spreading the word--how do you let people know your campaign is running?

To Groupon or Not?

  • The article: Why Groupon May Not Make Strategic Sense for Your Business, from Social Media Explorer.
  • The facts: Groupon, the online social coupon site, doesn't make sense for everyone. This article gives an example of the economics of a Groupon campaign, showing (using customer retention estimates) an example of why these campaigns can sometimes be losing propositions, and offering advice on where/when they make sense.
  • Classroom uses: I've posted other articles about Groupon, which has been a hot topic in the social media press for the past several months. Although the past articles have made some of the same points this article does, this article offers an objective, balanced view of where tools like Groupon do and don't make sense. Useful for talking about new approaches to promotion and coupons, and also for showing how the return on investment from a price promotion can be calculated.