The integration of the Moments of Truth.

The First Moment of Truth (FMOT), coined by P&G, refers to the few seconds that it takes a consumer to choose a product on a retail shelf – from amongst the wide array of products on display.

The logic of FMOT is indisputable and has prompted brands to re-evaluate the traditional marketing funnel approach (AIDA and it’s various versions), and design their marketing plans based on the FMOT.

I understand FMOT works well in the Modern Retail Formats (MRFs), but it is difficult to see it working seamlessly in traditional neighborhood retailers (in India) where space is limited and the shopping environment is not geared up for a DIY format. This is important as 90% or more of the FMCG sales are still via the traditional retailers.

Recently and based on changes in the consumer’s usage of the Internet for shopping, Google came up with the concept that it called “The Zero Moment of Truth” (ZMOT), which refers to the pre-buying online research that the consumers undertake prior to hitting a store. 

Data made available by the research undertaken by Google, makes it imperative for the CPG / FMCG brands to have a comprehensive strategy to ensure they have a relevant & prominent positioning in the online space. 

Most brands are starting to address the two moments of truths and tend to consider these to two separate silos, which need to be addressed with strategies specific to the silo. 

At AaramShop, our belief is that for the brand marketing to be effective and for it to result into sales the two silos need to be intertwined. That’s the AaramShop offer to FMCG / CPG brands. 

AaramShop brand listing (along with advanced optimization) enables a brand to be “found” by consumers and also enables the brand to leverage itself on social networks to create relevant buzz. The brand could also use integration tools like Aaram Widgets or customized QR codes to further invigorate its social media presence.

AaramShop also enables the consumers to place an order for the CPG / FMCG product immediately – thus bringing the FMOT seamlessly close to the ZMOT. The order, when placed online is fulfilled by the independent neighborhood retailer (AaramShops as we call them). The product / brand is delivered to the consumers doorstep within hours.

It is this seamless integration of the ZMOT with the FMOT that makes AaramShop a unique platform & interesting enough for the FMCG / CPG brands to engage with.

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An accelerator, not a challenger.

In the various discussions over the last one month of AaramShop presence one question has been a constant. How is AaramShop different from the other e-commerce portals - of which there seem to be quite a few for every need?

The answer is quite simple, AaramShop is not a portal, it is a platform. AaramShop is not designed to complete with the neighborhood retailers - rather it is designed to enable them and enhance their competitiveness.

As a hybrid retail platform, AaramShop integrates the ubiquitousness, vastness and choice of brands of the web-store with the hyper-local capability to deliver of the independent neighborhood retailer.

The services of AaramShop come free to all member of this complex retail eco-system - that includes the consumers, brands that are consumed and retail channel that enables that consumption.

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AaramShop Pro: Free Services Available for Brands on AaramShop

AaramShop Pro: Free Services Available for Brands on AaramShop: "FMCG / CPG brands can now use the various powerful and unique features of the AaramShop platform to ensure an enhanced presence of their brands"

QR code opportunity for CPG / FMCG products.

QR = Quick Response.

Having said that, the implementation & integration of the QR technology for FMCG / CPG brands in most markets (including India) has been very limited and for good reason. Even if you were to get the consumer to use the QR code on the product pack or shelf - what do you do next? A customer's visit to the website for more product information, usage tips etc are great possibilities and should be exploited, however, sales has not been very high on the agenda.

Now AaramShop adds another dimension to what a brand owner can do with the simple QR code - your consumer can now order your specific product / brand and have it delivered within hours to his / her doorstep; and all this without any escalation in the costs.

Re-ordering of your product, just when your customer is about to run out of it has never been easier.

Try it.

Most smart phone either already have a QR reader or the same can be downloaded free from any of the App centers or download from here;

Also try this;

Official Google CPG Blog: The Zero Moment of Truth

Official Google CPG Blog: The Zero Moment of Truth: "Posted by Jenny Liu, Industry Marketing Manager, CPG The term ' First Moment of Truth ' (commonly called FMOT) was coined by Procter & Gam..."

Googland: [G] Creating a “Zero Moment of Truth”: Maximizing ...

Googland: [G] Creating a “Zero Moment of Truth”: Maximizing ...: "Official Google CPG Blog : Creating a “Zero Moment of Truth”: Maximizing Search Opportunity in CPG Posted by Ali Manning, Industry Analyst ..."

We are now LIVE.

AaramShop is now live.

It is still in it's BETA phase and we are sure there are going to be a few glitches in both the offline and online transactions. If you are in the AaramShop coverage areas in New Delhi, please give it a shot and keep us informed of your experience.

If you are currently out of the coverage area, suggest you browse around and also help us create an AaramShop in your area.

How to identify online influencers

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PeopleBrowsr's Brief Cartoon Study Of Social Influencers

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AaramShop - digital marketing solution for CPG.

Rapid change in technologies and way the consumer interacts with and consumes media using various technologies has had a profound impact on the way brands use communication & marketing tools. However, this is just the start. 

Brands will need to re-think their current strategies and would need to augment their current brand marketing strategies with web, social networks, mobile & whatever else comes along the way. 

Delivering a seamless and an integrated experience across all consumer touch points represents a tremendous change, challenge and opportunity. 

Brands will need to adopt their marketing to being relevant locally. They will have to think more broadly in terms of opportunities for a given brand or store format and more narrowly in terms of consumer needs in different communities or groups of consumers. 

The biggest challenge is for brand thinking to become channel agnostic. The transformation of where shoppers are touching your brand – from how they research you, how they buy the brand, whether it is brick and mortar, mobile based commerce, web based commerce, social network commerce – means you need to have the capacity to ship your product from anywhere to anywhere as a true multi channel retailer. 

That’s where AaramShop intents to offer a solution rather than advice – as a hybrid retail platform, it will enable FMCG / CPG brands to be present across the consumers path-to-purchase and encourage an effortless purchase at any of the touch-points.

This seamless inter-operatability between channels is what will allow shoppers to purchase brands irrespective of where they are.

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Wikiwisdom.

I am smart because of wikipedia and wikipedia is smart because of me (and people like me) - welcome to the smart world of collective wisdom. 

Re-read the Cluetrain Manifesto after ages and realized that it has been bang-on over all these years and now more relevant to marketeers and brand owners than ever before as the networks have got much better organized over time.

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Commercializing a disaster - the Youtube & CBS way.

The earthquake and the tsunami in Japan have thrown up heart retching images and videos of folks caught in the disaster suffering, loosing property, life and hope. 

The coverage of the disaster re-enforced two things;

1. Traditional news media is dead. The traditional field reporters are now completely replaced by the common men and women who are the real eyes and ears. In fact almost all the feed that runs on networks like CNN and BBC is from the social networks. And the newsprint – they are really of no use – they are just a dying habit. 

2. Commercial interests seems to have taken over the new media as much as the old media owners. It is an unfortunate though everyday practice to have the TV coverage of a disaster like the above  interrupted by TVCs. I always found the positioning of these TVCs strange from a “brand positioning” perspective (I have just seen someone’s home being washed away, now let me view a shampoo TVC). While I had come to expect this from the traditional media vehicles, I am very surprised that the new media owners, who otherwise follow all the virtues of social media, are unfortunately following the same strategy.

High on that list is Youtube (read Google) CBS Channel, which is putting up adverts at the start of all uploaded videos – making the viewing experience quite pathetic. 

And the viewer reaction has to be noted and of course respected.  Following were some of the reactions and you would notice that the highest rated comments are NEGATIVE;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj58NpanX3g&feature=related

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The modern trade vs The brands - the saga continues.

I read with a lot of interest the series of recent articles carried in Economic Times on the ongoing and perpetual battle between the brands at one end and the modern retailers on the other. It started a few days back with the news that Reckitt was keen on reduction of margins for the modern retail outlets (by about 2% or so).

It followed today with the news that Future Group is "cleaning out" Reckitt from it's outlets. 

What made it particularly interesting for me was that about 2 years back (thats when modern trade was really modern in India), I had a longish meeting with the then brand custodian of one of the Reckitt brands who was spending majority of her marketing funds on "creating"a category for her product at the modern trade. We discussed issues around eventual private labeling, shrinking margins, cost charged towards display,  lack of traditional trade focus etc. however, perceived higher and better quality of consumer engagement ensured that she stuck to her decision of pouring very serious monies in modern trade to create a category - irony was that the largest amount was on the Future Group. 

While modern trade currently represents only 5% of the FMCG trade in India, the writing on the wall is very clear - the FMCG brands will need to take a good hard look at their own shopper marketing strategies and step back to embrace the traditional grocer / kirana store.

If the brands don't - they will be constantly on the receiving end - today Reckitt got taken off the shelves, yesterday it was Frito-Lay and Kellogg's. Tomorrow who knows. 

Another example of AR

AR is the "engagement" which has long been missing in the digital marketing space, though, I am still to get conversion data to back the use.

ANDES TELETRANSPORTER

Part of the Cannes Promo Shortlist.

I thought the creative thinking on this was quite sharp and based on a simple yet universal insight on young men in bars vs their girl friends. Installing a teletransporter in a handful of bars would create enough buzz and engagement even amongst the folks who have not experienced it. 

The Cannes Re-look

Have shared my reactions to the various shortlisted entries at Cannes Promo Category, however, since there have been a number of requests for the entries to be on this blog, I am putting them up here along with my views.

Behavior transformation can be driven by fun activation.

I know that this is old and it is not really brand centric, however, this is a great example of how good activation can be the tool to transform behavior of the TG - here the TG lets go of the convenience to experience fun. 

Little or No Mobile Strategy in Most Companies

Image via Wikipedia

The above quote is part of the Foster Research, and it is bang on from the experience which I have had with most organizations.

"57 per cent of organisations either do not have, or are in early stage development, of a mobile strategy; 10 per cent have had a fully operational mobile strategy for less than a year; a third of firms have had a mobile strategy for more than a year."

With India turning into the largest cellphone market in the world (or the 2nd largest if you take out the duplicates :-)), it is indeed sad that there have been hardly any significant mobile brand campaigns. The mobile strategy seems all outdated as the pic above. 

The report offers a snapshot of where companies are in their mobile evolution. It notes that brands in media, travel, and financial services are the most likely to have the most mature mobile strategy. Mobile is seen as a way to increase customer engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty, not generate direct revenues: 52 per cent of firms see increasing customer engagement as their number one mobile goal.

Please read the full report here.

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Wish you all a very happy Christmas!