An Update on Collaborative Shopper Marketing

The business benefits of collaborative shopper marketing begin with the process itself, long before any financial gains might be made at the shelf.That concept may have been the key takeaway from a workshop held last October at the Shopper Marketing Expo, where members of the Retail Commission on Shopper Marketing convened to provide an activity update and a case study on the first pilot program conducted to validate their work. (For a report on the Commission and its conclusions, see "Shopper Marketing Best Practices: A Collaborative Model for Retailers and Manufacturers" in Related Articles.)Led by Brian Harris and John Clutts of The Partnering Group (which steered the Commission's activity), the workshop included a panel discussion covering a broad range of topics and featuring executives from Walgreens, Sara Lee Corp., Hershey Co. and Kimberly-Clark. For highlights, watch the video below.While the pilot program that Walgreens and Hershey Co. conducted last summer using the collaborative model developed by the Commission generated positive financial results (see sidebar, below), the two companies found that simply working through the process delivered its own rewards."The beautiful thing is, we definitely have a stronger partnership," said Phil Stanley, vice president of customer marketing for Hershey. "We've met different people at Walgreens that we didn't have a relationship with before, and it's created more sharing than we've had in the past.""The key thing here is really the collaboration and the willingness to listen. And the idea that no one is exactly right," said Catherine Lindner, vice president-retail marketing for Walgreens. "It's that mutual respect that oftentimes gets left in the lobby. If you walk in with the idea of mutual goals and mutual respect, it really goes a long way."The value of collaboration actually begins internally, said Lindner. Before starting the process with Hershey, "we went through our organization and made sure that our merchants were all aligned, and our operators [were] aligned with marketing. That in and of itself is a very powerful thing," she said. "Hershey did the same thing on their side. Their brand folks were aligned with the sales team, so we were all working together toward a common goal."If we do nothing else but that on a regular basis, it's a win-win," Lindner added."When you think of most [manufacturer-retailer interaction], there's a sales executive that matches up with someone in merchandising," Stanley said. "Where the power comes is when you have multiple touch points across the organization -- with insights, operations, the marketing team. And creating those connections really helped move this project along. That was a great learning for us."The Walgreens-Hershey PilotHershey and Walgreens teamed last summer to develop a back-to-school campaign that would drive store trips and increase basket size while boosting candy sales.Walgreens chose as its target "Efficient Eileen," the chain's most important customer segment (see "Marketing at Walgreens") in terms of pharmacy sales, but a shopper who typically does not buy candy during her trip. Hershey, meanwhile, chose to target "Em," its core consumer segment.The partners then set about finding the points of intersection between "Eileen" and "Em." While a key component of collaborative shopper marketing is to "make sure you create alignment" between the retailer and manufacturer's key targets, "don't get too caught up on being perfect," advises Catherine Lindner, Walgreens' vice president of retail. "It doesn't have to be picture perfect. I think we got the best result ... without a lot of crazy math" and additional spending on the effort.They also devoted time to determining mutually beneficial objectives and the methods through which results would be measured. "We don't sit down [with manufacturers] and align on metrics early enough -- or often enough," Lindner said. "When you don't do that, our idea of success is different from our vendor partner's idea of success."Rather than employing the standard seasonal theme of preparing for the return to school, the partners developed creative that leveraged Hershey insights into the mindset of "Mom," who views the final few weeks of summer as the last chance to have fun with the family, according to Phil Stanley, Hershey's vice president of customer marketing.The "Don't Stop Summer Fun" theme fit well into Walgreens' overall brand position of "inspiring a well life," execution of which largely "resides in the healthcare space," Lindner explained. "But [the Walgreens shopper] doesn't just think about the health aspects. She thinks about the fun and the happiness. And she knows that when she's happier, she's healthier, and vice versa. [So] it was a position that we knew resonated with our consumers."The program ran in a handful of markets (selected for their prospects for success) and employed displays, circular features, local radio spots, coupons and online components. "All of these were existing tools that we already had in our portfolio," said Stanley. "We just brought them together and aligned on the objectives." "Ultimately, we didn't spend more as an organization," added Lindner.Although specific results were not provided, both Stanley and Lindner deemed the program a financial success. But both executives were effusive about the effect the process had on the nature of their business relationship."We know a lot about confection consumers. But Walgreens knows more about its shoppers than we could ever hope to know," said Stanley. "The goal was to see if we could really drive performance. And I think we've proven it here."

An Update on Collaborative Shopper Marketing

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