People to Watch 2015: Libby Snider, Western Union

Libby Snider began her career in retail management. While the work – especially the hours – can be grueling, she’s grateful for the experience. “It gave me a deeper understanding and appreciation of consumers by working with them in shopping mode,” she says.As an undergrad, Snider studied merchandising processes, management, visual merchandising and retail design. She’s currently pursuing a master’s to more deeply explore “the impact of media arts on the growing economy and cultural and social diversity.”Her studies and career experience inform her work at Western Union. As marketing manager, shopper marketing, she’s part of the company’s North American shopper marketing team, responsible for managing the retail content strategy and ensuring they align with both global and U.S. marketing strategies. She credits her diverse shopper marketing team – “their collective level of knowledge and passion for the company and its consumers” – with helping her develop as a marketer.She joined Western Union in 2012 and the following year co-led the Western Union Brand Experience (WUBE) initiative. “It is a perfect example of how to garner shopper insights and really listen to what consumer needs, pain points and trial barriers are,” Snider explains, “in order to provide relevant and meaningful brand touchpoints across the entire shopper journey.”Research determined that many Western Union shoppers are first-time users and need to know where to begin and what to do, and be made aware of the full product portfolio and desired privacy for their transactions. WUBE featured a freestanding aisle/shopper, a privacy pod and additional merchandising pieces with the main headline “Start Here to Get Your Money Moving” in a bright yellow circle. Agent locations with the complete WUBE system saw up to 2% incremental transaction volumes and 40% of shoppers said information about services was better post-rollout. The system received a bronze award in the 2014 Design of the Times competition.Last year, she managed several projects that have aided in her knowledge of the nuances of the brand’s consumer base, including launching money transfer at Walgreens. Snider supported and developed several components of the overall strategic marketing plan including News America Marketing in-store media and an email campaign promoting a 50% money-transfer holiday offer to drive awareness and usage.A recent digital POS initiative has Snider excited. She says it will step-change how Western Union does business at retail. “It will enable us to cut operating costs while making significant increases in the amount of messaging we can place in our agent locations.”She expects those physical locations to continue to be around but says critical to success will be experiences that are dynamic, relevant, tailored and immediate. “This is especially important to the services industry,” Snider adds, “as the retail space is the tangible element within the path to purchase.”Challenging the industry is the ability to attribute ROI to specific shopper marketing initiatives, but Snider says tools to gauge the strength of marketing messages “and account impression assumptive data can aid in gaining return on objective, measuring consumer and shopper objectives.”Looking ahead, Snider expects that she’ll continue to be obsessed with consumer and shopper behavior and motivations. “I want to be a subject matter expert on creating content strategies to build brand love, especially with need-based products that are not necessarily tangible or physical.”

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