Most CPG Brands Struggle To Engage Online Audiences With Few Shining Exceptions

Among all sectors, CPG brands have had the most trouble engaging online audiences over the past two years, new research shows.
 
Typifying the category’s digital failings, beer brand Michelob Ultra fared the worst with a net traffic loss of 94%, according to a report slated for release on Thursday by social media software provider Livefyre, in partnership with organizers of the Pivot Conference.
 
A spokesperson for Michelob Ultra parent Anheuser-Busch was not available for comment by press time.
 
Standing apart from its poorly performing CPG peers, Oreo saw a staggering increase in Web traffic of 7,244% this past year, according to Livefyre, which relied on Compete.com for its unique visitor data.
 
Thanks in large part to 360i -- Oreo’s digital agency since 2010 -- the cookie brand has recently experienced tremendous traction across online and mobile channels. The “dunk in the dark” tweet that the Oreo brand sent out during the third quarter of Super Bowl XLVII ranks among the most innovative and successful ad executions of 2013.

Livefyre CEO Jordan Kretchmer cited social media as key to improving a brand’s digital popularity. “The study shows that those industries which successfully integrated social experiences into their Web sites have seen the greatest return in traffic,” Kretchmer said Wednesday.
 
“The key takeaway here is that consumer behavior is evolving faster than it ever has before and in order to sustain growth, brands need to evolve their communication strategies just as quickly,” Kretchmer added.
 
Earning Livefyre’s “rookie of the year” award, Pop Chips also stood apart from other CPG brands with a 279% jump in Web traffic over the past year -- albeit on a relatively small base.
 
Cosmetic companies like Estee Lauder, L’Oreal, Revlon, Maybelline, and CoverGirl all lost Web traffic in 2012 and 2013, according to Livefyre. As for other beauty brands, one-time digital darlings like Dove and Axe both suffered losses in Web traffic over the past year, by Livefyre’s measure. Standouts included Gillette Venus and Burt’s Bees, the latter of which saw a 280% increase in Web traffic from 2012 through 2013.
 
In the household product aisle, eco-friendly brand Seventh Generation stood out by growing from a 65% loss in Web traffic from 2011-to-2012 to a 488% gain from 2012-to-2013.
 
The study analyzed 500 global mainstream brands across 16 different industries, looking at the growth and loss patterns of unique visitors from 2011 through 2013.
 
Unique visitor data was pulled from Compete.com’s Web analytics platform, which was then compiled into lists of average unique change over each annual period covered. The data was then used to benchmark the change in growth of branded sites across the Web in order to give a broader view of Web traffic trends.
 
Social measures for Facebook and Twitter were gleaned using Unmetric and other social measurement services, and then compared to Web traffic patters in an effort to unearth relevant correlations.

Authored by: by Gavin O'Malley, Yesterday, 7:00 AM

Read original article at: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/211933/cpg-brands-struggle-to-engage-online-audiences.html#axzz2ikT8Yom9

Oreo's "Dunk in the Dark" Spurs Grocers to Expand Digital Connections to Expand Sales

Supermarkets may yield higher sales if they invest in digital connections with consumers, according to a new report.

Published by Barrington, Ill.-based Brick Meets Click, “Six Degrees of Digital Connection: Growing Grocery Sales in an Omnichannel World” . looks at the business case for investment in digital connections with shoppers.

In the past, newspaper delivery of store circulars could reach 70%, 80% or even 90% of a supermarket’s customer base, but shrinking circulation has diminished the effectiveness of mass media, according to a news release.

“The question many food retailers are asking is this: If I invest in digital connections with shoppers, will that increase shopper engagement and spending in the store?” Bill Bishop, chief architect of Brick Meets Click, said in the release. “We found strong evidence that the answer is yes.”

Steve Bishop, managing director of Brick Meets Click, said in the release that more than 22,000 shoppers from six U.S. retail banners participated in the study.

An analysis of shopper surveys show a strong relationship between the number of digital connections and whether a customer is likely to be a primary shopper (who does a majority of grocery spending with that retailer). Digital connections include e-mail, websites, texting, social networks, mobile and online shopping.

The research found that 61% of shoppers with one digital connection were primary shoppers, while 80% of shoppers with six digital connections were primary shoppers.

What’s more, the study found that consumers with more digital connections generally had more satisfaction shopping.

Shoppers with six digital connections were more than three times as likely to recommend the store to others compared to those with only one digital connection, according to the release.

“While the results don’t establish direct cause and effect yet,” Bishop said in the release, “the relationships are striking enough to suggest that building digital connections can help grow primary shoppers, and that increasing digital connections can drive up satisfaction with shopping the store.”

Among the findings in the study:

• Print supermarket circulars are used regularly by 70% of shoppers, but 37% regularly look at the digital circular;
• 71% of shoppers received e-mails from retailers. The best performing banner reached 92% while the lowest performer reached only 33% of their shoppers;
• 27% of shoppers have “liked” their store’s Facebook page;
• 79% of shoppers found text messages from their food retailer relevant;
• 11% of shoppers regularly buy some grocery products online; and
• online grocery shopping could claim as much as 17% of total grocery spending by 2023.

See more at: http://www.thepacker.com/fruit-vegetable-news/Reports-makes-case-for-digital-connections-with-consumers-227430811.html#sthash.GYwMpTcE.dpuf

Procter and Gamble Boss declares "'Digital marketing' is dead."

Digital marketing – advertising brands to consumers through mobile electronic devices such as smartphones and computer tablets – has evolved to the point where the term has become outdated, Procter & Gamble’s global brand building officer has declared.

Now, such efforts are so common that digital marketing could simply be called “brand building,” Marc Pritchard said during Wednesday’s closing keynote address at the Digital Marketing Exposition & Conference (Dmexco) in Cologne, Germany.

“The era of digital marketing is over,” Pritchard said. “It’s almost dead. Now, it’s just brand building.”
Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) is the world’s largest advertiser, and the company now spends more than one-third of its U.S. marketing budget on digital media. Research indicates that the average amount of time consumers spend with digital media every day could surpass television viewing this year.

Pritchard said P&G is focused on launching some ad campaigns in the digital sphere rather than following up traditional marketing with a digital component almost as an afterthought.

“This is a mindset that we are trying to infuse in our company, and it’s creating a tremendous shift,” Pritchard said. “It’s freeing up our minds on building creative ideas that come to life through the mediums that we engage with every single day – search, social, mobile, PR, and yes, even TV.”

He cited as an example an ad campaign for a Braun shaver, one of P&G’s brands, that initially ran only online.


“It wasn’t the digital component,” Pritchard said. “It was the campaign. … Start in the digital world, and build your way back to the rest of the marketing mix. It’s an approach that is building our brand equities, our sales and our profits.”

Advances in digital technology have made it easier for companies to reach consumers almost anywhere, but capturing their attention still depends on coming up with the right message.

“We can only do that if we have this one component that has been a constant since the beginning of brand building – an idea,” Pritchard said. “Fresh, creative ideas that are powered by insights – that are powered by the way people think and feel, and are inspired by creativity – always have and always will create great campaigns.

“Digital tools just give us a new way to spread those ideas in ways that we’ve never imagined before,” Pritchard said. “Great ideas matter more now than they ever have before – because with these digital tools at our disposal, we have the chance to be successful widely beyond whatever we had imagined.”

He advised marketers to “try and resist thinking about digital in terms of the tools, the platforms, the QR codes and all of the technology coming next.” Those at P&G, he said “try and see it for what it is, which is a tool for engaging people with fresh, creative campaigns” that make consumers think and feel and laugh.


“So let’s celebrate the end — the death — of digital marketing, and let’s focus on celebrating the great idea of these brands,” Pritchard said.