The Road to Omni Channel: PepsiCo vs Dr Pepper Snapple Group

The 2016 NectarOM Road to Omni Channel Tournament kicked off with two titans of refreshment squaring off to show which shopper marketing heavyweight was best positioned to win in the fast approaching world of ecommerce, omni channel, and data-driven marketing. Unfortunately for Texas stalwart, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, NY-based PepsiCo beat them so badly it will go down as one of the worst blow outs this year with a final score of 102 – 68.

The Play-By-Play

Both institutions are at a distinct disadvantage compared to the more established “conferences” like retail that have transactional data, but they’ve both invested heavily in their digital channels and are beginning to resemble the more established competitors. That said, it’s clear Dr Pepper Snapple Group is closer to cardboard and end-caps than omni channel and personalization. It looked like Dr Pepper was going to have a bright spot in the game when they used the Batman v Superman movie promotion introduce image recognition and can packaging to access extended comic content. Unfortunately, it was very similar to the program Frito Lay did with DC Comics for the Green Lantern movie back in 2011 so they saw the play coming a mile away.  Aside from that, the only other player Dr Pepper had involved in the scoring was Email and it’s numbers were very pedestrian showing off nothing more than a batch and blast style.

PepsiCo, however, quieted a lot of critics with their performance. They played with a chip on their shoulder showing a Consumer Packaged Goods company could hang with any team. The PepsiCo enterprise website made some fans right from the start with a little known program that allowed people to sign up for the “Brands You Love.” While there were a few missed assist opportunities in how they could use that self-reported data, we were impressed with the attempt. That start put Dr Pepper Snapple Group on their heels for the rest of the game.

Once you moved beyond the enterprise site you couldn’t help but be impressed by the other starters on Pepsico’s roster. There was the “Find Your Match” function on the PepsiCo Beverage Facts site which offered some pretty cool functionality and exposed us to their potential. Room for improvement, but extreme potential was a reoccurring theme when compared the Beverage Facts site with Frito Lay’s loyalty program equivalent, Snack Perks. While they didn’t work well together you could see how they will eventually click and when they do it will make a big impact. PepsiCo’s recent ecommerce tests and hires, their recently launched Hello Goodness vending strategy and past innovations like Social Vending have also contributed to the company’s omni channel future by giving the enterprise direct access to the purchase process.

You would expect both organization’s promotions to provide some bench support. From an omni channel perspective it was consistent, but surprisingly average. Social channels were heavily employed by both companies and the content was available in multiple channels, but there was no sense of personalization or recognition of the participants beyond operational tracking like how many times you entered. At the end of the game it was clear the real stars of the game were PepsiCo’s evergreen programs which are destined for the pros.

Key Stats

Examining how the teams did at applying omni channel strategies and personalization techniques we realize this was really a difference of players over play. For the most part, PepsiCo just brought better athletes, but there were some great areas where the play was elevated …

  • Cross Channel Experiences – If you look at how both teams passed visitors between channels it was fundamentally strong in promotions, but there were way too many turnovers in the evergreen efforts where they could have connected the consumer to the entire portfolio.
  • Operations – Just like free throws in a basketball game, missing basic messaging and channel follow through can ruin an experience. Neither team performed well in this fundamental area and for up-and-coming conferences like Shopper Marketing it’s a requirement.
  • Recognition – Both teams did a good job finding ways to recognize visitors, but PepsiCo definitely took it to a new level with understanding the visitor’s preferences.
  • Consumer Journey – Looking to the future, it’s clear PepsiCo’s made a commitment to understanding the consumer’s journey. Using location-based retargeting, personal preference programs and portfolio solutions over brand promotions were all areas where they excelled.
  • Recommendations – If you were going to pick one statistics category that put PepsiCo in a different league than Dr Pepper Snapple Group it would be in this category. Their focus is on bringing a flavor or product solution to their customers based on whatever they are doing and it really paid off in this game.  

Conclusion

If Dr Pepper Snapple Group ever hopes to make a run in this tournament in future years they will have to focus on the basics – great channel execution, namely mobile, and commit to an omni channel approach. Their promotional approach has been done for years and it limits their ability to create a real connection with their fans. Today they look a little like the mid-major competitors Vanderbilt or Monmouth in that other tournament – a solid program, but always on the bubble and running the risk of being left out of the tournament.

PepsiCo, on the other hand, looks reminiscent of those programs on the cusp of something special like a University of Texas or an Iowa State University. They’ve assembled great talent, they’re well coached, they work together as a team, but consistency will be their undoing. Getting to that consistency is easier said than done considering the brands in the portfolio are used to playing by their own rules.

Changes in Pepsico’s Digital and Shopper Marketing has helped everyone understand they’re “better together,” but will it sustain them against the powerhouse conferences like Retail or Telco? We’ll have to see, but they are certainly off to a good start after this first game.

Tune in here for Game Two: //nectarom.com/telecom-conference/ 

SELECTION MONDAY – Let the “Madness” Begin

By Bryon Morrison, Commissioner of The 2016 NectarOM Road to Omni Channel

Every year March always brings a little “madness” into the office. This year is no exception. Marketers across the nation are setting their brackets, but not necessarily for the “teams” you’d expect. This year at the the NectarOM Headquarters the NectarOM selection committee was hard at work finalizing the 2016 Road to Omni Channel Tournament bracket.

Over the last month, each member of the NectarOM selection committee evaluated a vast amount of data and industry information for each industry category or “conference” during the selection process. A review and discussion of the brands performance based on product sector, fiscal performance, e-commerce endeavors, innovation, and their use of digital – determined selections, seeding, and bracketing.

Selection Methodology
After examining a wide field of competitors the NectarOM selection committee determined the 2016 Road to Omni Channel Tournament bracket would be divided into 4 conferences: Consumer Electronics, Shopper Marketing, Telecom and Department Store Retail.

Qualification and seeding for the tournament was based on the following criteria:

  • Digital and Brick and Mortar Retailer
  • Fortune 500 Company
  • The team communicates with customers in at least three channels
  • They have established domain authority
  • They have been recognized as innovators in other studies
  • They have been recognized in other third party evaluations as leaders in their respective categories

The Teams
After a grueling deliberation the NectarOM selection committee has finalized its brand bracket and is proud to announce the companies included in the 2016 Road to Omni Channel Tournament.

The Road to Omnichannel Brand Bracket

Department Store Conference
Nordstrom
JCPenney

Telecom Conference
AT&T
Verizon

Consumer Electronics Conference
Best Buy
GameStop

Shopper Marketing Conference
PepsiCo
Dr Pepper Snapple Group

Game Scoring
Over the course of the next two weeks these eight institutions will go head-to-head in the hopes of being named The 2016 Road to Omni Channel Champion. To have a better understanding of what these companies are doing in Omni Channel Marketing, each brand will undergo the NectarOM Customer Journey Audit. This audit evaluates eleven communication channels, 6 degrees of personalization, and each brand’s adaptability to customer knowledge. Covering more than 150 review points, this audit provides valuable insight into customer lifecycle, consistency, marketing gaps and opportunities through the view of the consumer and results in a final score illustrating their prowess in Omni Channel Marketing.

Tournament Schedule
The Road to Omni Channel Tournament will start Tuesday, March 15, with a highly anticipated match up of Consumer Package Goods titans, PepsiCo and Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, from the Shopper Marketing conference.

Tune in here for Game One: //nectarom.com/shopper-marketing-conference/

Tell us in the comments below which brand you think has what it takes to win it all.

The NectarOM Road to Omni Channel

By Bryon Morrison, Commissioner of The 2016 NectarOM Road to Omni Channel Tournament  

Every year March introduces a special kind of “madness” for basketball fans, but this year ushers in a new kind of competition for advanced marketers. 2016 is the inaugural year of The NectarOM Road to Omni Channel Tournament where some of America’s most recognized traditional brick and mortar marketers will be competing against each other to show their prowess in Omni Channel Marketing and how they are evolving in a digital world.
This tournament will have many similarities with that other tournament. A wide field of brands from more than 30 industry categories, also known as their “conferences” (i.e., Specialty Retail, Telco, Electronics Retailers, CPG, etc.) will be evaluated. The eight most qualified companies will compete in their respective industry categories, as well as in cross-category match ups. Each team’s professional audit score for how they respond to prospects and customers online, in mobile and in outbound messaging channels will dictate their “score” and ability to move up in the brackets.

The Need For Omnichannel
A company’s ability to serve their customers in all possible channels has become table stakes thanks to “digital brands” like Amazon, Netflix, Apple and Google. Those companies created in the last 15-20 years were built on the assumption that customers and data are of paramount value. They already know they can make a greater business impact by offering a seamless, holistic experience across all channels. Anyone that’s bought something on Amazon will attest to the superior experience associated with their understanding of your needs and preemptively introducing solutions that just seem to fit every situation.
So what about the predecessors to those digital brands – those large companies that are the foundation of American commerce? Those industry icons have spent years investing in brick and mortar locations or spent endless time and resources driving consumers to a physical location. Most of these companies deal with batched data or backward looking analytics for insights so their foundation is infinitely different than their more digital contemporaries. As a result, the pace of change has been much more difficult for them to manage. Case in point, the internet and ecommerce required a game of catch up and before they perfected things their reality shifted again with the introduction of mobile and social.

The New Reality
The evolution of brick and mortar oriented companies is a requirement and they know it. While store sales dominate those of e-commerce that is changing. As an example, ecommerce outpaced physical store sales 5-to-1 last year. In addition, the companies struggling with surrounding a prospect or customer and serving them in their preferred channel are watching $41 billion in sales move to a competitor due to poor customer service. And sales don’t necessarily get them back in the door since 64% of consumers choose their favorite brands based on experience over price.
The future for companies that cannot embrace this change is bleak. Smart companies are committing resources to make their customer experience seamless online and off. Unfortunately, the reality is more companies are talking omnichannel rather than providing it. Digital competitors, unencumbered by expensive physical infrastructures, are prone to rapidly test and execute against omnichannel strategies while traditional marketers often use it as a soundbite for stockholder meetings.

The Competition and the Brackets
The NectarOM Road to Omnichannel Tournament will show which companies are truly investing in and delivering a superior experience across all channels for existing and potential customers. We will see who has put together the best channels (i.e., “players”) and who is achieving a high level of execution in each channel (i.e., “player stats”).
The competitors included in the tournament this year will be introduced on Selection Monday, March 14. To follow the team selection process, the games updates and stats you can…

  • Click here and watch for updates on our blog
  • Follow the tournament on Twitter with #TR2O and #MarchMadness
  • Sign up for email alerts by signing up here

See which brands made the cut:  //nectarom.com/selection-monday-let-madness-begin/ 

Improving Valentine’s Day with Omnichannel Personalization

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Improving Valentine’s Day with Omnichannel Personalization

By Bryon Morrison

Whether you think Valentine’s Day is a trumped up Hallmark Holiday, a childhood memory of tiny cards and chalky confections or a special day to celebrate your soulmate, you have to admit it was a lot easier this year than it used to be. The days leading up to February 14th usually meant a crowd of desperate dudes in a CVS aisle contemplating a battle royale over the last box of chocolates. Sure, love was in the air but, the hassle factor meant your Valentine was probably going to smell the same old roses again.

This time it was actually fun, because of technology – specifically, omnichannel personalization. I know that’s not a popular perspective, because we love to blame tech for the world moving too quickly and making us feel more isolated than ever. It’s also difficult to associate words like omnichannel, hyperpersonalization and big data with the most romantic holiday of the year. Not exactly pillow talk for consumers, but time-constrained romantics like me were happy companies were talking about it.

Making OmniChannel Personalization Work

Behind the scenes, brands were truly saving us by serving up infinite choice, inspiration and convenience. It took on many forms like targeted ads, ideal discount codes, a helpful nudge in an email or a message from that app you forgot you downloaded the year before.

And it wasn’t just the myriad of channels they were using that made things better. It was also the personalized experience. Average marketers tell you what you looked at or bought last time, but this year the good ones were giving out-of-the-box ideas. They helped us avoid the digital equivalent of yesterday’s long lines…the endless online form. We didn’t have to provide our first-born and a blood sample to create a relationship with a brand. They recognized us when we returned and we picked up where we left off. These technologies were the difference between Valentine’s bliss or a night in the dog house.

My Personalized Valentines Experience 

What did all this mean for this hopeless romantic this year? It went something like this…

I finally responded to the Nordstrom email I’d been ignoring for weeks with a subject line I interpreted to say, “You’re not seriously going to push this to the last minute again, are you, moron?!” Their app had a perfect gift idea based on previous purchases I’ve made for my wife so I was literally checked out in a minute or two. I was feeling pretty good about myself.

A week later an app push from Open Table with a suggested reservation at our favorite restaurant took seconds to set up. The restaurant knew me from their loyalty program and reached out via a call to offer sprinkled rose peddles on the table and chilled champagne. Brilliant – I almost felt like I was showing off!

I thought I was done, but that last second banner ad and offer code from Shari’s Berries couldn’t be skipped. Besides, I had to be the only one that got such a sweet offer, right? I went online to pick my specially designed chocolate covered strawberries and before I knew it they slid a dozen roses in the order, too. You know how they got me to do that trite retread of a gift? They reminded me my Wife loves multiple small gifts over one big one and they could send them on consecutive days! I could already hear her telling me I was the greatest Husband in the world as I hit “Complete Purchase.”

By the way, if you’re you saying “hopeless romantic must mean sucker” you may be right, but in less than five minutes of effort I was way ahead of all those other suckers staring at an empty card shelf and sweating profusely.

The impact of personalization didn’t end with shopping or dinner. My house racked up points, too. The “romance setting” for the blinds and lights in the home automation app set the mood along with the personalized Spotify channel in Sonos. Of course, the DVR remembered my preferences so I didn’t even think about the game I was missing (I may be a Romantic, but I have other interests).

Yes, the perfect Valentine’s Day was out there for all of us if we were willing to embrace omnichannel personalization…as well as our valentine’s.
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How Big Data is Changing Valentine’s Day

I get a bit nostalgic around Valentine’s Day. During the era of my childhood years, thirty-some years ago, Valentine’s Days was simple. Classmates exchanged tiny cards and, if you were lucky, the envelope was stuffed with a few heart-shaped, chalky confections. We’d get our fill of chocolate hearts and sugared gummies. On the way home from school, the sidewalks were crowded downtown by the florist and candy shop. Love was in the air. So was the blissful scent of roses and homemade chocolates.

Fast forward thirty years later to the here and now. For a most of us, handwritten cards and waiting in line at the local florist, where the owner knows your name, is a thing of the past. We’re too busy. Rush. Rush. Rush. We’re pressed for time. Yet, February 14th sneaks up on us. It’s around the corner, looming over our heads like a dark cloud. What to do. Where to shop. What to buy. Somewhere amid this mental fiasco, the sentimentality fades. Valentine’s Day. What happened?

Times have changed. Valentine’s Day has blown through the roof. It’s a massive marketing holiday and companies ranging from 1800 Flowers to Doritos have jumped on board. Many of them are also using Omnichannel Personalization and Big Data to improve their results. They’ve fine-tuned the process of segmenting email lists and running targeted ads to personalize how people shop for their Valentine and the overall customer experience. This includes gathering data about relationship status, life changes, identifying the customers’ needs and continuously updating customer profiles in real time.

From a customer’s standpoint, it’s difficult to associate words like Omnichannel, Hyperpersonalization, and Big Data with Valentine’s Day. It’s not exactly something you want to talk about over champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. However, keep in mind, what’s going on behind the scenes, is what gives you an infinite amount of convenient ways to find inspiration, get creative, browse, make purchases, and avoid landing yourself in the proverbial doghouse.

Without those personalized emails giving you the “hint, wink, nudge”, Valentine’s Day can easily spiral into something complicated and messy for the absent minded. Lucky for you, the hand of digital marketing eases its way into your daily routine. Tapping its fingers on your desk. Waving its hand in front of your face. Brushing the crumbs from the front of your suit. “Hello! Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. You need to start thinking about it now!”

There is no doubt; Valentine’s Day is the most romantic holiday of the year. There’s a lot of pressure all the way around. Whether it’s choosing the right gift that’ll make your loved one swoon or deciding where to dine and making reservations on time, the process of planning and shopping is much easier than it was 10 years ago.

Technology gives you an endless stream of choices to ease the pressure and stress. For the clueless romantic, you can easily get lost in the virtual world of gifts. Let’s face it; most of us are beyond wanting chocolates and flowers. We crave out-of-the-box. Something unique with a touch of whimsy. From custom whisky stones or a Big Bang Theory Plush Soft Kitty Bouquet, nothing wins our affections more than something that says, “I know you. I get you.”

However you choose to celebrate Valentine’s Day, the age of all-things-digital and Omnichannel is making it easier all the way around. You can exhale. The doghouse is all but a thing of the past. Planning the perfect evening is no longer tedious or tiresome. You can stroll to the quaint corner Italian Restaurant with ease. Reservations are made. Nestled in your pocket is the box, neatly wrapped with a red bow on top, to surprise your Valentine with. Delivered on time. And later, after a boozy nightcap of sweet merlot, there are apps to enhance the much anticipated evening rendezvous. We’ll leave that for you to explore.

5 Omnichannel Truths for 2016

Facing 2016, we decided to take stock of what we’ve experienced and learned as marketers. It’s more important than ever to truly understand your target audience, to focus on improving the customer experience, and to provide value with your advertising by way of personalization. The only difference that comes with operating in a digital environment is the speed at which we must adapt to our customers’ continuously changing habits and preferences across all channels. Thankfully, there are some tools and strategies that have helped us out greatly along the way.

A seamless customer experience is priority #1 in your omnichannel marketing strategy

We should be happy to live in a time where our products and services can reach a global audience. That said, each one of our hundreds of thousands of customers has a unique set of preferences when it comes to communicating with your brand.

Data Management Platforms can organize your customer information and prime it for action. Marketers can use this kind of software to reach customers and deliver relevant content across multiple touchpoints, including web, mobile apps, social media, email, and text. The actions that a potential buyer makes on one channel should be remembered in a unified customer profile that carries over across all channels.

Given the endless amount of options that your customers have access to online, it’s important for remove as many barriers to communications as possible. Making your customer experience seamless across all channels will make them happy and absolutely drive your revenue. Speaking of which…

Mobile marketing matters.

While it’s important to deliver a strong customer experience on every channel, marketers should understand that no other channel has risen so sharply in growth, use, and importance than mobile. Mobile = Money, and nowhere this year was that more obvious than the record-breaking Thanksgiving sales weekend that spanned from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, where mobile hits accounted for a whopping 49% of all shopping visits across eCommerce sites.

Not only was more money spent in eCommerce than ever before, but the amount of mobile browsing and purchases increased so much that the crowds at brick-and-mortar stores looked noticeably thinner on Black Friday.

Marketing automation boosts efficiency and effectiveness.

It’s important for today’s omnichannel brand to be able to provide content with impeccable timing. It’s possible to automate this process using data from your digital marketing hub, meaning that you’ll put your customer information to work to generate real-time advertisements and messages that are personally relevant to each one of your buyers.

Why wait? A Data Management Platform never sleeps, and it’s available to message your customers instantly based on preset triggers that adapt your marketing efforts on the turn of a dime. Don’t make your customers wait to be engaged: automate your marketing to improve each campaign’s efficiency and effectiveness.

Your content must be useful and shareable.

One of the great marketing challenges of 2015 was learning to adapt to the AdBlocking software that became a standard in web browsers on both PC and mobile channels. We as an industry came to terms with the fact that the traditional ad died a long time ago: the new standard for engaging with customers is based around providing them with relevant, personalized content that adds value to their lives.

We saw countless examples of this as Facebook adapted its Newsfeed to embrace video, reaching an average view count of 8 billion per day and going toe-to-toe with YouTube. The key to this incredible growth? Promoting high-quality content that can be shared within social circles. When your content is just that good, people will advertise for you and sing your praises without any added prompting.

In other words, you get what you give. That’s a lesson that NectarOM learned when working with Avocados From Mexico to double their Facebook likes to over 1,000,000 in total over the span of just three months. NectarOM and Avocados From Mexico enticed its users with shareable, quality content such as recipes, giveaways, and eBooks that were passed on to friends and family and grew their social media presence in a very organic way.

Marketing personalization increases customer loyalty and engagement.

As much as marketers would love it if all of their customers were found in one place, the fact is that we live in an age where our products are connecting with more people than ever before. Each one of your customers has their individual preference for communicating with your brand, whether it’s over your website, your Facebook page, your mobile app, through emails, your brick-and-mortar store or some combination of all of the above.

Personalization has become much, much more than just a “first name” tag at the beginning of a mass email. It’s about understanding your customer based on their interactions with your brand, their shopping history, and the critical life events they choose to share on social media. Learn it, embrace it, and make it a part of your marketing toolkit moving forward.

Omnichannel Today: Week of December 14

Omnichannel Today

Christmas is just around the corner – even if the weather doesn’t quite feel like it. Here are the latest news articles we’ve been reading:

Cyber Monday 2015 Was a Smash Hit. Here’s Why We Need Personalization.

American spent over $3.07 billion on eCommerce purchases this past Cyber Monday, which has gone in the record books as the biggest online shopping day ever. This massive success showcased the growth of eCommerce and particularly the increasing popularity of mobile purchases. But this isn’t the end of the story, and there are a few key trends will highlight the potential of omnichannel marketing personalization to maximize retailers’ marketing dollars through the rest of the holiday season and beyond.

Barnes & Noble has been destroyed by Amazon

Barnes & Noble shares have dropped 20% percent following the bookstore’s reported decline in sales, increase in long-term debts, and sluggish store attendance. Despite finding moderate success on Cyber Monday, their buggy eCommerce site may not be enough to compete with the prices, selection, and comprehensive eCommerce experience offered by Amazon.

How In-Store Experience and Omnichannel Retailing Could Be Key for Bed Bath & Beyond

A retail study reveals that consumers that shop across multiple channels tend to spend far more than average buyers, which means that eCommerce should be a major focus for companies looking to maximize their marketing dollars. An interesting shift noted in the article is the tendency for customers to go to the store to browse, but make purchases online.

10 Disruptive Digital Trends Retailers Need To Know

A new article from the Financial Times discusses how modern shoppers expect brands to develop a relationship with them over social media and other digital platforms. The thought leaders interviewed point to the success of apps like Instagram, Etsy, and Olapic, who offer businesses the ability to showcase their “human side” to potential customers by using memes, shareable posts, and conversation starters to promote fan engagement over social media.

Other stuff we read this week:

Our work with Avocados From Mexico made it into the latest edition of Ad Age.
All Amazon Wants for Christmas is its Own Trucking Fleet.
Marketing on Reddit Is Scary, But These Success Stories Show Big Potential.
Pros and Cons: How Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook and Apple Are Battling for Breaking News
From AI and data science to cryptography: Microsoft researchers offer 16 predictions for ’16

Check back next time for the latest developments in omnichannel! We’ll bring you news, facts, opinions, and infographics that will help you gain a broad perspective of the industry. Drop in, stick around, and subscribe to our newsletter – and who knows? You just might learn something.

Black Friday 2015 showed us a massive surge in eCommerce sales

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone, and this year’s Black Friday saw more shoppers make purchases online than ever. According to the National Marketing Federation, $4.45 billion dollars worth of revenue was generated in online purchases this weekend, an overall 14.5% increase since last year.

The NRF’s latest survey estimates that 103 million Americans did at least some of their shopping online from Thanksgiving Thursday to this past Sunday, which probably had a role in the decreased foot traffic that we saw in shopping malls and retail stores. The inevitable Cyber Monday statistics should confirm the overall trend that more people are opting out of shopping in person in favor of eCommerce, and the shoppers that still do enjoy visiting stores in person are increasingly going for the whole omnichannel experience via digitally-assisted purchases.

This shift could also be the result of an extended “holiday” shopping season that now starts just after Halloween, which means that shoppers who would have braved malls and Wal-Marts nationwide are now choosing to do their gift-buying earlier and online. Either way, we can see that more than ever shoppers have the luxury of making purchases based on price (always) and the convenience of the overall shopping experience year-round, instead of waiting participating in the Black Friday mosh pit for a couple of deals.

It’s not difficult to see a future where Americans start doing the bulk of their holiday shopping online as discounts on the goods they want start popping up in early November, perhaps even right after Halloween. Through eCommerce, shoppers have a wider variety of product choice, research tools, and access to a wider inventory than might be available in-store. And with the overall trend of extending the availability of holiday discounts, it’s likely that we’ll see a continued growth in online and mobile commerce while the Thanksgiving spike in brick-and-mortar stores continues to level off for everyone else but tactile shoppers that insist on seeing products in person and for whatever reason, enjoy the strange, contemporary American tradition of Black Friday.