Heard at the Shopper Insights Conference (Part 1)


One of the many excellent speakers at IIR's Shopper Insights conference was Bob Thacker, SVP of Marketing and Advertising at Office Max. While his presentation wasn't very insights centric, he did make a number of excellent points. Some of the highlights:


  • “People relate to companies like people”

  • “Look before you leap, but leap!”

  • Office Max is trying to make news not ads.

  • “You have to learn from the mistakes of others, can’t afford to make them all yourself”

  • They need to get $5 of value for every dollar they spend

  • “If you don’t have big bucks, have big ideas”

  • Office Max is trying to transform the lousy state of the American workplace and add some personalization - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC0Nsba1fWQ

  • The OMX brand itself had no personality until the rubber band ball and now their involvement in reality tv and cause marketing (see below)

http://officemax.mediaroom.com/index.php/adaymadebetter
http://www.worldslargestthings.com/press/newbigball.htm
http://officemax.mediaroom.com/index.php/press_releases/377



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is market research recession proof?

Bob Skolnick , North American CEO of Synovate seems to think so in this month's Marketing News... This heightened need to understand competitors and consumers may well prove a boon to the market research industry, despite the struggles of the economy at large. Bob Skolnick , North American CEO of Chicago-based market research firm Synovate , predicts "was abobe average growth" in the overall demand for data. Because of the demand for data, Skolnick notes, Synovate has been under greater pressure to yield applicable results. "Client companies need to see smart research done to make sure they are satisfying their best customers and developing new business where they can," he says. "The market research business, while not recession-proof, is much less susceptible to budgets being cut."
Keep reading

2009 Market Research Predictions, Forrester Style

Forrester's 2009 Market Research Predictions are out and if you're not a subscriber, you can at least read the executive summary here... One prediction of note: "Traditional qualitative research will see erosion as market research online communities (MROCs) and fusions of quantitative and qualitative research from firms such as Invoke Solutions gain steam. In short, everyone will be looking for ways to gain insights to succeed in a troubling market in as cost-effective a manner as possible. This means that newer research modes will gain traction and grab more share of stable or declining market research budgets — even among research buyers who have been more traditional in the past."
Keep reading

McCafe? Its Not Possible

Image
Over the weekend I noticed and more and more McCafe's popping up within my local McDonald's and am curious (cough, skeptical, cough) whether or not this can possibly work. Starbucks has done such a good job over the last few years of teaching the public that a latte requires the love and care that only Starbucks' Baristas or local coffee houses can provide in making a high end coffee that I barely trust Dunkin Donuts to make a latte correctly (and I love Dunkin in a not so healthy way!). What I certainly don't trust is that the 14 year olds who currently make a breakfast sandwich an iffy proposition care enough to even attempt to make my drink correctly. Maybe I have become a coffee snob, but I see the McCafe winding up in a room somewhere with salad McShakers and McPizzas.
Keep reading