Jan 6th, 2010
by Ben Smith.
THIS IS AN EXCERPT; TO READ FULL ARTICLE, CLICK ON TITLE.
SUMMARY:
MAGICJACK: RETAIL AND DIRECT IN PERFECT HARMONY:
So you might ask yourself wasn’t MagicJack giving up something by tagging retailers, effectively pointing potential customers to stores?
Well they can start dialing back their Direct Response spend, or at least keep it flat. Plus after 2-3 years of hitting the airwaves hard with the same product, there are diminishing margins of return on the number of people who will buy your product direct. Chances are they saw the ad – if they were going to buy it direct they would have done so already.
Retail represents an untapped market. There are people who won’t buy direct, or maybe never even saw it on TV. And there is a good chance the retail margin they’ll pay is probably close to the cost per order to sell direct (media costs + fulfillment.
LESSONS LEARNED:
1A) Infomercials are a great vehicle for telling a story and building demand at retail.
1B) Marketers with a holier than thou attitude towards Direct Response TV (DRTV) are ignoring a viable tactic.
2) Take risk away from the retail buyer. This makes it easier for them to list / support your product. MagicJack wouldn’t be at retail if they didn’t have a success story from their direct experience, as well as ongoing aircover in the form of their DRTV spots they continue to run that in effect are ads for their retail placements.
3) There is less risk in balancing a direct and retail strategy than ever before. The battle lines have been blurred by retail consolidation, and the growth of private label. I don’t think the retail buyer spends much time worrying about where you are selling your product, as long as it is selling well in their stores. We spend way too much time worrying about who we compete against, versus just selling.
Jan 3rd, 2010
by Ben Smith.
Let’s just say that I care enough about the total experience of CES that I would pay to go on my own if I didn’t get to for my job.
How Can You Gain Retail Leverage At CES?
I also believe CES provides a one of a kind opportunity to maintain industry connections, and more importantly, forge new ones.
So this is our invitation if you want to connect with us, talk shop, and discuss Retail Leverage strategies (or play craps – or both at the same time). When we have some downtime at the show, or after hours, the door is open. This invitation is to marketing and sales pros from CE brands, their agencies (PR, marketing, advertising, etc), and pretty much anybody looking to gain Retail Leverage. We hope to see you there!
The best way to contact us is via our twitter account (@retailleverage) or retailleverage@gmail.com .
Dec 14th, 2009
by Ben Smith.
We here at Retail Leverage are big fans of Best Buy, so we were delighted when BusinessWeek took a look at Best Buy in the post-apocalyptic environment after the demise of Circuit City. While Walmart and Amazon are worthy foes, Best Buy is the only large national consumer electronics player left standing. However important Best Buy was before as part of the buying process – regardless of the final point of purchase – Best Buy is now ready to take advantage of its position.
If you are a challenger brand marketer (or an agency working with one) there are lots of takeaways.
To read the full article, click on the Title.
Nov 19th, 2009
by Ben Smith.
Coke and Costco are about to find out, together, who has retail leverage in this relationship. The only question is how long will it take? One party will eventually have to make concessions, or more concessions than the other guy, and for those of us keeping score at home, it should be obvious who the winner is.
Think about other categories. At its most basic form, Retail Leverage comes down to who needs who more.
To read the full article, click on the title link above.
Nov 8th, 2009
by Ben Smith.
What Makes Retail Leverage Tick?
Challenger brand marketers have to be more creative and do more with less. Inspiration can be found anytime, anywhere. We look for ideas in business and trade publications, store walk-thrus, weekly circulars, pop culture. The 3 contributors behind Retail Leverage have lived this daily for a combined 40 years (and with challenger brands, there definitely is a “dog years” multiplier in terms of experience). We hope that by sharing our ideas, inspiration and commentary we can help others – and we think we are.
To read the full article, click on the title.
Oct 6th, 2009
by Ben Smith.
When you start breaking down Powermat’s launch strategy, you’ll realize they are using a hybrid of retail leverage strategies. More importantly, they are doing it on a scale much more relevant to challenger brand marketers used to dealing with 7 figure budgets.
1) Offer Program or Product Exclusivity (sort of)
2) Have Something So Big “They” Can’t Ignore
To read the full article, click on the title link.
Sep 29th, 2009
by Ben Smith.
I found some great material supports our example of how Nikon gained Retail Leverage with “Something So Big It Can’t Be Ignored” (the Ashton Kutcher campaign).
Please click on the the title to read the full post.
Sep 14th, 2009
by Ben Smith.
NIKON GAINED RETAIL LEVERAGE
Nikon is a great and current example of a brand that has gained significant Retail Leverage in the last year thanks to their media campaigns featuring the ever popular Ashton Kutcher. I have nightmares of that guy dancing through my head.
Nikon gained retail leverage with something so big, it couldn’t be ignored. Couldn’t be ignored by consumers. Most definitely couldn’t be ignored by retailers. And unfortunately for the marketing and sales folks at Sony, Canon, Kodak, Fuji, Olympus and Samsung – it probably wasn’t ignored by the boss.
To read the full article click on the title.
Aug 25th, 2009
by Ben Smith.
We’ve come up with 5 strategies / paths / scenarios on how you get Retail Leverage. This will start a series of posts that examine each of those 5 examples.
1. “Have The Hot Product With No Substitutes”:
The Nintendo Wii example advocates channeling all of your resources into one product, especially if you have a product where there are no substitutes.
Aug 12th, 2009
by Ben Smith.
Paul Frank launching kids line at Target is classic example of Rule #4 to Gain Retail Leverage – Bring Pent-Up Demand To Stores.
To read the full article click on the title.
