Steve Smith opens the Brand Insider Summit - CPG

1. Most Challenging Change in the Customer
Journey for Your Marketing Plan?
● It’s nothing new, but the continued fragmentation of media
consumption makes it harder to choose where to place
limited budgets. Traditional media planning tools are less
relevant by the day and the measurement of each
channel/platform is different
● The most challenging aspect is that there are now so many
disparate channels that is hard to drive relatively efficient
awareness

2. Most Challenging Change in the Customer
Journey for Your Marketing Plan?
● Historically, we could run a national TV campaign to launch a
brand, product or update and we could deliver awareness
that would eventually lead to efficient conversion. Now, we
have a wide array of awareness tactics and our overall
efficiency has suffered, particularly when we measure long
term conversion
● Mobile…More sessions. Generally crappy experience
(regardless of retailer or platform). Lower conversion. It’s
both dictating and harming business goals all at the same
time

3. Most Challenging Change in the Customer
Journey for Your Marketing Plan?
● Discovering the proper audiences to target and what
platforms are engaging the most
● Attribution and connectivity across all the touch-points
● The continued shift of power (both in terms of choice and
information accessibility) toward the consumer. There are
more potential journeys and opportunities for a brand to add
meaningful value than there is time and $$ to build those
positive experiences.

4. New Marketing Channel That Has Proven Most
Successful for Breaking Through the Brand
Clutter?
● I believe Instagram. Very interested in Pinterest and outside
social.
● I think out of home is very cool
● People that are engaging with our website
● We’re probably not going to be at the bleeding edge of ‘new
channels’, but we’ve seen some decent traction from
YouTube. We’ve seen a few ‘boosts’ of viralness beyond our
spends.

5. New Marketing Channel That Has Proven Most
Successful for Breaking Through the Brand
Clutter?
● Paid Search, particularly Retail Paid Search has been effective
at breaking through the clutter
● Compare online search to shelving in-store, being on the first
page of results is the equivalent to getting placement on
shelf. Being in the first three spots of search would be the
equivalent of premium placement on shelf plus feature and
display like an end cap. Anything outside of that you might as
well be shelved in the back warehouse because no one is
going to see it

6. New Marketing Channel That Has Proven Most
Successful for Breaking Through the Brand
Clutter?
● Influencer Marketing (with many caveats) helps deliver a
message in a more direct and authentic way. However, it is
often the least measurable for CPG
● It isn’t new, but it seems to be turning over a new leaf and
experiencing a resurgence: Affiliates

7. ● Social Advocacy programs may not generate the most data,
but it is perhaps the best quality because the participants are
highly engaged with the brand. While their reach may not be
massive, it makes for an excellent source of lookalike
modeling
● People that are engaging with our website
● Social media and search
Most Successful Effort/Channel for Gathering
1st Party Data on Your Customers?

8. ● Members only sales that force customers to login/sign up to
see the deals (and by default…authenticate their ID)
● A trial program has been pretty successful. There’s quite a
risk in our category to switching, and we’ve been able to find
new customer by offering a classic trial.
● We typically tie it to a coupon or a sale. We have made some
efforts in going after quality 1st party data or quality leads vs.
just any old data set or lead.
Most Successful Effort/Channel for Gathering
1st Party Data on Your Customers?

9. ● All of the above! Our business is growing on Amazon but still
is less profitable than a lot of other retailers. In some aspects
they are a threat with things like private label. They are also a
threat that they are growing faster than some of our more
profitable retailers. They are a frenemy in that they are less
profitable but they are also a great partner for growth, long
term bets and innovation so certainly a necessary evil.
Amazon – Threat? Frenemy? Helpful
Marketing Partner?

10. ● Amazon is a great source of sales growth, but it also creates
an easy opportunity for competitors – especially upstarts – to
erode consumer confidence and market share.
● Helpful marketing partner
● Currently very bad but we believe we know what we need to
do and see the opportunity with Amazon. Amazon must
become a priority
Amazon – Threat? Frenemy? Helpful
Marketing Partner?

11. ● Amazon Advertising is sucking budget away from other
channels due to a need for “defense” rather than confidently
profitable growth. Managing Amazon content is also
important, but consumes time and resources.
● They have been a helpful marketing partner with solid
targeting options, Amazon DSP and a strong retail search
offer (especially when considering their large audience and
large search volumes).
Amazon – Threat? Frenemy? Helpful
Marketing Partner?

12. Most Overhyped or Disappointing Channel or
Platform You Have Tried Recently?
● That’s a toss-up. Without solid measurement, Native
Advertising is hard to declare successful. In many cases it
simply drives cheap, but low quality web traffic.
● I’d also say Shoppable Ads are not delivering much, but that
may be a category thing.

13. Most Overhyped or Disappointing Channel or
Platform You Have Tried Recently?
● I have been disappointed with Walmart Media Group,
particularly in their transition away from Triad. There have
been major hiccups along the road, customer service has
declined, the offer hasn’t improved but the expectations are
significantly higher. All in all not a great combination.

14. Most Overhyped or Disappointing Channel or
Platform You Have Tried Recently?
● Twitter
● Programmatic
● I don’t think this answer has changed in the past 10 year:
Display. I say this thru the DTC lens, but unless you’re a large,
Brand-forward company…it’s just hard to prove that it works.

15. Most Overhyped or Disappointing Channel or
Platform You Have Tried Recently?
● Voice search. As should have probably been expected, suffers
from the same problem as mobile apps. Very hard to get and
sustain adoption.

16. Most Overhyped or Disappointing Channel or
Platform You Have Tried Recently?
● Voice in general has been a bit overhyped. There are limited
advertising opportunities, even less reporting and, in general,
consumers are mainly using the devices to listen to music and
set timers. There has been a lot invested to build skills and
other rich consumer experiences but really, the consumer
hasn’t changed habits (yet). This may change as we have seen
Amazon start to open up advertising through audio on Alexa
devices and this could continue to grow over time.
Particularly as the ads come through music which has been
the most used aspect of the voice enabled devices.