What's the Occasion?

Rosemont, IL — To lead shoppers down the path to purchase effectively, brands and retailers must first determine what factors motivate shopping trips in the first place.Coca-Cola Co. has focused heavily on occasion-based marketing to try to build “triple-win” solutions that benefit the product category, the retailer and the shopper, said Andrew McMillin, vice president, shopper marketing, during a session at the 2012 Shopper Marketing Summit. “That triple-win is important. If there’s not a win in it for the retailer, you’re wasting your time.”Studies show that the average American family spent 2½ hours making dinner in 1965; today that time has plummeted to 12 minutes, said Jeff Fechalos, director of shopper insights at Coca-Cola. “People are looking for efficiency in their lives. They’re more likely to plan trips to save time rather than money.”Coca-Cola identifies four primary missions for shopping trips:Time: A speedy fill-in trip or the purchase of a particular, urgent item.Money: Bargain-hunting (cherry picking certain items) or the search for everyday savings.Family: A full household stock-up or a just-in-time meal.Self: “Just browsing” for immediate consumption.The path to purchase varies by trip mission, Fechalos said. For example, during stock-up trips people are more relaxed because they’ve blocked out time for the trip, but they tend to get antsy toward the end. So they’re more open to messaging early in the trip or in the center store. This contrasts with fill-in trips, where shoppers are more anxious and task-oriented from the get-go, requiring perimeter activation, he said.Through proprietary studies, Coca-Cola has classified sales of its products by types of shoppers, what and when they purchased, where the products are consumed, and why they made the purchases, Fechalos said. They have learned, for example, that carbonated beverages are purchased disproportionately with prepared and other unplanned meals.Coca-Cola looks at sections of the store that might provide synergies — for example, when and why people shop in the deli section and whether they already have beverages in their carts. The company also examines the data for common pairings of items, such as orange juice and waffles, Fechalos said. “If people see the occasion — if you bring it to life for them — you activate their desires.”Coca-Cola has built a “solution matrix” that aligns shopper marketing with certain occasions, accounting for different permutations of cross-merchandising, McMillin said. “We build out what those look like, which ones have the most revenue potential, and we build solutions,” he said. For Coca-Cola’s flagship soft drink, for example, that’s been pizza, sandwiches and rotisserie chicken.To call attention to those synergies, Coke makes sure to message appropriately, McMillin said. For example, he showed a slide of frozen pizzas and bottles of Coke adjacent to one another but with nothing beyond placement to prompt consumers to combine them into a meal solution.“When we don’t message, we sub-optimize that occasion every time,” he said. But when messaging is in place, “We see good lift for us. We see really good lift for partner brands,” averaging 2.3% and 11.2%, respectively.“Any time people come together, there’s the opportunity for a beverage,” McMillin said. “Mission and occasion come together to drive purchase.”Fechalos recalled a recent Friday evening when his wife gave him the go-ahead to purchase food for dinner, and he spotted an instant meal solution when he came upon a grilling display in front of the beer aisle. Experiencing "temporary amnesia" about his wife being a vegetarian, he purchased some meat items for grilling. Needless to say, she wasn’t happy. “The stuff works, even on people in the business,” he said with a laugh.But McMillin drew a self-deprecating gender distinction in how such “meal solutions” are processed intellectually. “Women are interested in seeing solutions brought to life,” he said. “Men are suckers.”

What's the Occasion?

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