Capturing shoppers at point of purchase

Kristina Couzyn, director of Ogilvy Shopper Marketing

At a presentation this morning, Friday, 15 June 2007, at Ogilvy HQ in Johannesburg, the new division Ogilvy Shopper Marketing was launched. In her presentation, director of Shopper Marketing Kristina Couzyn said in the past marketers and advertisers often focused exclusively on building consumer brand relationships, on changing perceptions about brands and creating desire for those brands. “Marketers may have considered their jobs well done when they are successfully disseminating the message and established brand synergy throughout all media channels.”

But, consumers often go into the store to purchase Brand A and change their minds, walking out with Brand B instead. This is where Shopper Marketing comes into the picture – the science of understanding shopper behavior and influencing that behavior at point of sale.

Brand promises

Couzyn explained that Ogilvy has always tried to have a 360 degree strategy and have driven shoppers to shop, but then left it up to someone else. “We create the desire, but then the sale may be lost in the retail space: the retail space is where your brands promise and desire is fulfilled or broken.”

Research by Ogilvy's global partners and research companies in SA has shown that 70% of brand decisions are made in store.

The key is that there is a difference between consumers and shoppers – they are often not the same animal.

Ogilvy's new Shopper Marketing division, Couzyn explained, looks at the “science” to understanding the difference between consumers and shoppers, drawing on the group's global and local advertising and branding experience.

‘The last mile'

The new agency division has looked at the shopper's journey in a 360 degree context, from the journey to the store, outside the store, inside the store, to the shelf, at product, including packaging, to the till point decision at point of sale.

To grow a brand, Ogilvy identified the need to inform clients on this shopper behaviour: “Why are shoppers behaving this way?” was the key question considered.

Certain marketers have called the point of sale ‘a key moment of truth', explains Couzyn. “But we believe that there are several moments of truth leading up to the purchase decision. We call it the last mile and are trying to get consumers to action from the idea of the purchase.”

To get to the point of this “last mile” strategy, the team at Shopper Marketing had to do their homework, learning a whole new language to understand the psychology of shoppers. They have conducted ‘insight to activation' last mile workshops with clients, bringing in the sales guys, not just the marketing partners, to get to the right shopper touch points with the right strategies to turn consumers into shoppers.

Engages

The new thinking includes looking at sales strategies, the impact of packaging, on shelf marketing, at point of sale, in store promotions and anything in fact, that engages with a consumer at point of purchase, turning them into a shopper. This could be outside of the store in malls, entertainment venues and other brand opportunities.

Ogilvy SA CEO Nunu Ntshingila said the launch of Shopper Marketing was important to Ogilvy as it extended the overall offering the agency delivered to its clients. “Working with Ogilvy, Brand Activation, Go and Zoom, Ogilvy Shopper Marketing provides clients with deep insight into shopper behaviour, which leads to creative ideas that drive tangible results at the checkout.”

Added Couzyn: “With more and more brand decisions being made in store we can't afford to ignore the retail environment as a communication channel any longer. Regular brand communication doesn't make the best use of this environment/channel.”

There are many ways to bring the brand message to life and Shopper Marketing aims to provide the solution to turn attitude into action.