Re: Your Post

March 30, 2009 by Dave Haynes

Dave:

Think your view of the challenges are spot on. A couple of approaches that seem to work in overcoming, or at least mitigating some of the challenges.

Start by aligning the goals of shopper (relevance), retailer (unique experience, increased basket size, or better category sales) and the product/brand (increase sales, share of requirements, etc.). Good way to kick this off is delivering shopper insight to the retailer. Bring something to the party as it were, since we’re like guests at someone else’s home.

In addition to the shopper insight(s), because we or our client, know a category really well, message hierarchies and message mapping are developed (sharing with the retailer what we know about other experiences communicating in-store with shoppers of our category). This may not necessarily get one category captaincy, but it does help get on the retailer’s radar screen.

One of the other things that seems to help is “going to school” on the networks or ecosystems we are trying to work with. As students of the networks it becomes a bit easier to leverage the network when we adapt or accommodate. With subsequent experience and success, it becomes easier to alter how the networks work.

Was wondering if this is the same kind of thing you’ve experienced.

Regards,

Jim Lucas