...just Don't Call it 'Cardboard'

They're debating semantics over at London's In-Store Magazine. "Please tell me, what is this thing called P-O-P," asked reader Mark Dickens, a director at the British retail design firm Astound, in the November issue. "Our agency works with top UK and international retailers. Without exception, they all call their store communication P-O-S." That's a new one. The display business offers international nuances galore such as tariffs, idioms to avoid, and recycling mandates. But I thought everyone had settled upon the term P-O-P. Most American marketing execs seem accustomed to it, as do the many South Americans who come to industry meetings, the people at EuroShop, the folks running shows in the Middle East -- even our friends in India. Had Mr. Dickens' complaint ended there, it could be written off as just another charming example of Anglo-American etymological divergence. (Avoid, for example, the words "danglers" or "fanny packs" with British clients -- they might call the Bobbies. George Bernard Shaw was right when he said we're "two peoples divided by a common language.") Mr. Dickens, however, kept pulling at the thread: "Why does the POPAI lobby persist in swimming against the tide of common understanding? Perhaps it's the temptation to turn common sense into something far more complex or clever." Sure enough, the next issue brought a wave of responses (well, only three, but that seems like a lot considering that you folks never write to me):"I wondered when the issue of P-O-P or P-O-S would be raised. After 20 years in P-O-S, I suddenly found, in the early '90s, that I was producing P-O-P," said Martin Law, the head of professional policies and standards, POPAI UK and Ireland. He asserted that while some retailers still cling to the term P-O-S, most "now refer to P-O-P."David Williams, a partner with IQ Group and a founding chairman of POPAI UK and Ireland, took a more expansive, slightly metaphysical tack: "The difference between Point of Purchase and Point of Sale, as defined by ICL, is timing. The former relates to the moment where a consumer can be influenced by strategic advertising materials, often when browsing competitive products. Point of Sale occurs moments later, when the decision to purchase has been made and the payment transaction takes place." True enough, although then he got a little fancy: "Today, P-O-P tends to relate more to permanent, often product-carrying displays, while P-O-S embraces more temporary promotional materials." Sorry, Mr. Williams, but I don't think our universe will ever be quite that tidy. Many P-O-P industry executives do call disposable pieces like base wrap, banners and table tents "point of sale." Others refer to them as just "collateral" or "in-store" I've heard a few newbies even use the term "P-O-Ps" (which really is bad form, old chap.) Once a retailer mentions "P-O-S platforms," however, you can rest assured that he's talking about cash register software -- not pallet loaders. The truth is, it's hard to find any industry term that's used consistently and "without exception" -- at least over here in the colonies. Does anyone loudly contradict their clients when they repeatedly misuse the word "cardboard"? Is a fixture always a display -- and vice versa? Can anyone definitively state when and where "impulse purchasing" (the cornerstone of so many marketing plans) actually takes place?Our British friends, of course, aren't the only ones debating semantics. Here at the In-Store Marketing Institute, we favor the phrase "in-store marketing." (What a shocker, eh?) POPAI, on the other hand, likes the phrase "marketing at-retail." Lately, however, they've inverted it into "at-retail marketing," a term that even the most partisan of industry politicians will have to concede is, at the very least, a bit of a tongue-twister. Write if you have a different opinion, a better term to offer, or if I just made you mad. For the moment, Martin Kelly, group managing director at the U.K.'s Marketplace Merchandising Cos., shall have the last word: "The reason the U.S. invests more in P-O-S/P-O-P is that it has the power to influence final purchases. P-O-S goes way beyond paper kits and shelf wobblers. The acronym is fine, as long as it stands for Point of Seduction. But if what we really want is a no-nonsense approach that recognizes the range and value of what we do, surely decision point marketing (DPM) is closer to the mark?"

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