Think Beyond the Transaction

Today’s marketing landscape is dominated by the rise of retail media networks (RMNs). With so many new and innovative ways to engage shoppers, it’s easy to see why 81% of CPG marketers view retail media as a "very" or "extremely" important marketing channel.

As RMNs become more popular, the pressure on marketing teams to create impactful campaigns also ramps up. And while revenue is important, it's essential to avoid becoming too transactional. Here are a few things to consider:

• Authenticity matters. In a digital world saturated with content and now optimized by AI, people’s BS meters are on full alert. In fact, 86% of people say authenticity matters when deciding what brands they like and support.
• Add Depth. If you want consumers to move deeper into your sales funnel, you need to add depth. In other words, what happens after they click? The marketplace is filled with sameness, and it’s hard to get people’s attention. But once you do, an exciting “after-the-click” experience can pay dividends.
• Long term > short term. Performance-based channels like RMNs can be viewed as pay-to-play. Once you pull your ad dollars, your visibility will vanish. Don’t keep throwing money into the machine without a plan to build long-term equity. Remember: acquiring a new customer is five times as expensive as retaining an existing customer.

Moving forward, brands must balance revenue-focused performance with long-term brand building. A recent buzzword defined this philosophy as “creative commerce.” Basically, the seamless integration between your creative (brand) experience and your commerce (shopping) experience. The operative word being "experience."

A fun example is our recent Sunkist Mandarins campaign. As part of an overall brand refresh, we created a gamified brand experience with a shoppable ecosystem, including mobile games, augmented reality and more.

Putting this in context, here’s what made the campaign successful:

• A mobile-first experience. As you might already know, 91% of consumers age 18-49 buy things using their smartphones. Not only did a mobile-first approach cater to our core demographic (on-the-go moms), it also provided a shoppable platform to support a broader omnichannel effort.
• Scalability. Retailers vary by scale, geography, tactics, etc. We prioritized flexibility by using multiple content applications that could push sales across a wide variety of channels. For instance, we offered retailers interactive quarter bins with dynamic QR codes. As needed, we could update the bins to feature different aspects of the mobile experience.
• A unique value-add. There are many ways to create value with consumers: coupons, content, contests. These are all tried and true but offer little differentiation. We took the path less traveled by creating a series of branded mobile games that could be used across multiple years.
• Proprietary Data. Finally, the experience was designed to be “sticky.” The more peopled engaged with the site, the more we could learn about them and create personalized content or offers around their interactions.

In today’s data-driven world, it’s always good to remember that behind the KPIs are people. And while technology may have changed, people, for the most part, have not.

Cheers to your next campaign!

About the Author 
Ryan Cliffe is the owner and manager partner at Cliffedge Marketing, a shopper marketing agency based in St. Louis. He has more than 17 years of shopper and sports marketing experience across the beverage, produce and CPG landscape.