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retailtouchpoints · 5 years ago

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How Grocers Are Using Social To Elevate Digital Circular Experiences

By Adam McGilvray, StitcherAds

Question: Who goes to the newspaper to check for movie times, or waits for a Christmas catalog in the mail to make their wish list? Sad as it may be to some, these institutions have moved on.

The real question is, why do grocers — our most established and entrenched retailers — continue to put their most important advertising on paper?

Almost all grocers think they have a digital circular, but I like to refer to them as “digitized circulars” because they look just like their print counterparts. You can even simulate flipping their pages through your web browser, just in case you miss that experience. While they are technically “digital,” these too have the same deficiencies as print. They are still designed to cater to everyone within a targeted zip code or city. It’s a mass marketing tactic in a world where consumers are craving personalization.

Innovative grocery teams have started adapting their print circulars into personalized, shoppable ads on Facebook, Instagram and other platforms.

Digital circulars on social platforms have enabled grocers to evolve their creative. As a result, they are saving on rising print costs, being more eco-friendly, driving personalization and connecting with new generations of customers. (It’s worth mentioning that Millennials are now outspending other generations in food purchases.)

So, how are they doing it? Here’s the rundown.

1. Using new and existing assets to elevate creative.

Print circulars only contain so much space — meaning there’s limited room on the coveted front and back pages. Using those pages to attract a wide range of customers is a crucial decision grocer teams face weekly.

The equivalent for digital circulars is the visual you present in the social feed. Like the print cover, this is the crucial piece of creative. If you don’t attract shoppers’ attention here, they won’t tap to see your offers.

With print, there’s obviously no opportunity to include animation or video, unless you count when the pages go flying across your floor when you pick up the paper from the wrong end. This is a big problem because consumers say video is the most memorable form of content. When trying to introduce shoppers to new brands and products, static images are hardly ideal.

With digital circulars, grocery marketers can use their existing assets — combining the print and video marketing they are already producing. We’re seeing grocery retailers effectively bring their brand and value directly to customers’ Facebook and Instagram feeds by featuring social-savvy engaging video posts. One grocer the StitcherAds team worked with used this space to draw attention to its loyalty program. Utilizing the style guidelines of their loyalty program, they enriched the look of their member card with light animation for a thumb-stopping effect.

2. Creating tailored-to-user digital circulars.

An IDC and Precima study released this year discovered that 52% of food shoppers want to receive personalized promotions via digital channels.

This tailored-to-user approach would be incredibly complex and costly to execute via print. Some might have the misconception that it’s challenging to achieve on social, too. But, the TL;DR here is that personalizing content to a wider audience doesn’t mean doing more work.

Digital circulars on Facebook and Instagram automate the process and make it cost-effective to produce at scale. Grocers that work with StitcherAds are doing it by leveraging first- and third-party data as well as Facebook’s behavioral insights. Instead of targeting every consumer in a specific region with one flier, some grocers are creating personalized circulars based on gender, location, age, purchase history and other factors.

For example, a 20-year-old who lives in a dorm room and frequently stops at her local supermarket for snacks, school supplies and mascara will see a digital circular with those items at the forefront. With her thumb, she can navigate her feed quicker than I can blink. She won’t spend time sifting through products she has no use for, like facial shaving cream or baby food.

3. Delivering information in real time.

The last thing a shopper wants is to get excited about a great deal that’s been presented to them, only to arrive at a physical store to discover the product is no longer available at that location. In fact, in the age of Amazon it’s almost unfathomable to most of us.

By incorporating product feeds and local inventory information, grocery retailers have the ability to promote localized offers in real time. And they can do this at scale, across thousands of stores.

Creatively, this enables marketers to run last-minute deals using real-time third-party data such as sporting events or weather. For example, if a heatwave hits the Midwest in late fall, retailers can create visuals and messaging to drive people in-store for ice, fans and cool beverages. Take that climate change.

4. Measuring to build stronger campaigns.

Grocers are finding that digital circulars on Facebook and Instagram have another major advantage over print: This format can be measured more accurately and with more detail. By integrating measurement tools like Facebook’s Store Visits Reporting and Offline Conversions, or working with a third-party measurement partner like Applied Predictive Technologies, marketers can attribute in-store sales to online efforts. Omni-ROAS is a metric you should be getting familiar with. This can even be done down to the product level, which gives marketers the ability to unearth best practices for creative and build even stronger campaigns.

The End Is Near

Sadly, with mounting pressure from e-Commerce competitors, many grocers are afraid to innovate — fearing that stagnant or declining sales will accelerate if they do. Sure, any paradigm shift is scary (that’s why there is spelling bee-worthy term for it), but the truth is they can’t afford not to. Those who are first to adapt will reap the benefits of reaching new customers, reconnecting with lost customers and building loyalty.

The end of print (circulars) is just the beginning.

Adam McGilvray is the VP, Creative Services and Technology at StitcherAds. He has over a decade of experience leading creative teams producing world-class online, video and social advertising experiences. A strong promoter of digital over print, he fondly remembers the magic of the arrival of behemoth Sears Christmas catalogue and his first Commodore 64 computer as a child. While this may date him, his childlike enthusiasm for their modern descendants remains as strong as ever. No books were harmed in the writing of this article.

#grocers #digital circular experiences #Adam McGilvray #StitcherAds

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nhlabornews · 8 years ago

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AFT-NH Legislative Bulletin 3-17-17: School Vouchers And Kindergarten Bills

March 27, 2017

After concluding business in a rush back on March 10, the NH House reconvened this past Thursday for a short session. The most notable action of the day concerned HB 647, the so-called voucher bill for children with disabilities. The bill had previously passed the House on policy grounds, but on Thursday, came to the floor with a strong, bi-partisan recommendation of “Inexpedient to Legislate” from the Finance Committee. Nevertheless, in what looks to have been a party-line vote (it was not a roll-call but a division vote, meaning only the totals are recorded, not individual votes) the bill was tabled rather than killed. The motion to table came from Republican leader Dick Hinch, who asked the House to table on grounds that voting to kill the bill would prejudice the fate of SB 193, the broader, full-scale education voucher bill. With a vote of 193-161 (closely resembling party numbers in the House) HB 647 was tabled. The bill itself is essentially dead for 2017 but can be revived in 2018, and may also make an appearance in the 2018-19 budget bill still under construction by the House Finance Committee.

School Voucher Bill As for SB 193, the broad-based education voucher bill, it has been referred to the House Education Committee but no public hearings have as yet been scheduled. As we have stated before, SB 193 is a very dangerous piece of legislation and could have dire consequences for public education in New Hampshire, reducing funding and ultimately raising property taxes in towns and cities across New Hampshire. A fine piece by Mark Fernald, recently published in the Keene Sentinel and Nashua Telegraph, quite clearly makes the case for SB193 as legislation that will increase property taxes AND harm public education. According to Fernald, the immediate impact of SB 193 will be to drain $25 million in funds from public schools, and the eventual costs will range much higher. Nearly all the benefits of the bill will go to families in upper-income brackets, since the amount per student per voucher is merely a fraction of the cost of sending a student to private or charter schools. In other words, the only “choice” to be offered is for those who can already afford it, while the cost will be borne by the rest of us in higher property taxes to support our public schools. (The full piece by Mark Fernald can be accessed at Vouchers for the Wealthy). This is not a good or sensible approach to public education, and the costs must be made clear when the bill comes before the House Education Committee. In the meantime, we must also remain vigilant that this proposal is not dropped into the upcoming budget bill coming from House Finance Committee (a often-utilized method of hiding unpopular or controversial proposals).

Action Needed We are requesting that you reach out to your state representative(s) and ask them to vote no on SB 193. Here’s the link, Protect NH Public Schools, so you can take direct action and have your opinion heard. Please share far and wide! For more resources to help defeat vouchers, please visit our website at Defeat School Vouchers

Kindergarten Speaking of the House Finance Committee and the upcoming budget bill, the Republican majority on the committee voted this past week to remove funding for full-day kindergarten. This was an initiative proposed by Governor Sununu, but it was made clear that in the eyes of House Republicans the governor knows very little regarding education. House Speaker Shawn Jasper, when questioned about the Finance Committee vote, replied that “The capacity of a 6-year-old to be attentive in a classroom for a full day is pretty much non-existent,” hence his opposition to State-funding towards full-day kindergarten. And so, New Hampshire remains adamant in its stance against full-day kindergarten, unless localities or individual parents & families wish to pay for it (as has been proposed by some in places such as Nashua).

The focus this week in the State House will be on the final construction of the House budget bills, which must be reported by March 30. What must be remembered is that the budget bill for 2018-19 can contain or include all sorts of policy initiatives, so long as they have a fiscal impact. Therefore, proposals such as HB 647, tabled by a House vote, are not yet dead, but may surreptiously re-appear in the House budget bill. So stay tuned.

In Memoriam On a final sad note, we mourn the untimely passing of Senator Scott McGilvray. Only 51 years of age, Senator McGilvray had just been elected to the NH Senate in November 2016 after serving for many years as president of NEA-NH, and his passing is a major blow to Democrats in the NH Senate and to the labor movement in NH. Upon learning of the tragic news, I released the following statement on behalf of AFT-NH:

“AFT-NH is shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of State Senator Scott McGilvray. On behalf of AFT-NH members, we express our deepest sympathy and condolences to the family of Scott McGilvray, and to our colleagues at NEA-NH.”

“Scott dedicated his life to advocating for New Hampshire’s children, public education, educators and working families. He was a strong labor leader and his career was marked by public service at its finest culminating with his election to the NH State Senate this past fall.”

“The passing of Senator McGilvray is a great loss to public education, the labor movement and the entire state of New Hampshire. He was taken from us far too soon, and leaves a void that will be difficult to fill.”

I wish you all good health as Spring slowly makes its way to NH, and let’s keep up the good fight!

In Solidarity,

Douglas Ley

AFT-NH, President

AFT-NH Legislative Bulletin 3-17-17: School Vouchers And Kindergarten Bills was originally published on NH LABOR NEWS

#AFT-NH #education #kindergarten #School Vouchers #Scott McGilvray

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