CPG/FMCG

Doldrum of COVID Leads to Breakthrough Creative

• Posted: June 20, 2023

In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, PepsiCo embarked on a 21-month research project to find out how the quarantining affected people’s lives. The goal: adapt its brand messaging to the experiences of its core consumers, from both a human and consumption perspective, and then develop new creative. “We know that our primary consumers are really out there,” Kevin Moeller of PepsiCo said, citing data on Pepsi’s core base. “They enjoy letting loose, they don’t like to hold back. They’re people that sing karaoke and cheer at sports events. So how did quarantining impact them?”

Audience Trends for Products With Supply Constraints

• Posted: June 20, 2023

IRI’s Michael Tscherwinski addressed the challenges marketers are facing due to supply-constraints and provided a best-practices playbook for unlocking opportunities. IRI’s 2022 outlook on product availability predicts continued challenges. Inflation, supply chain issues, as well as the war in the Ukraine, impact the operations of CPG companies. Category out-of-stock conditions are widespread, and many CPGs are pausing media. However, Procter & Gamble, one of the largest advertisers in the world, stated that it would continue to invest in marketing.

Growing ROI with YouTube ABCDs Creative Effectiveness Guidelines

• Posted: June 15, 2023

Creative is the dominant ROI driver across all media platforms according to Nielsen Catalina Solutions: creative 49%, media 36%, and brand 15%. However, creative is challenging to measure. The speakers provided an ABCD insights framework for building effective ads on YouTube based on the key creative elements that drive sales as proven by Google’s partner, Nielsen.

• Attention: Hook viewers and sustain attention with an immersive story.
• Branding: Brand early, often, and richly.
• Connection: Help consumers think or feel something.
• Direction: Ask consumers to take action. Call-to-action has a disproportionate impact.

FORECASTING 2022: How Can Scenario Planning Improve Agility in Adjusting to Change?

• Posted: June 14, 2023

On July 12, 2022, forecasting, and product experts shared frameworks and strategies for participants to consider as they plan amid disruptions in the industry. Presenters discussed techniques marketers could use to drive consumer action and advocacy — as well as econometric models for search trends, insights on holistic analytics programs, reflections on gold standard probability methods — and new forecasting techniques in the wake of the pandemic and more.

Evidence-Based Research for Effective Marketing

• Posted: June 7, 2023

What Brands Did in 2020

• Posted: June 6, 2023

In this presentation, Paul Donato, CRO of the ARF, covered findings from the seminal year of the “What Brands Did in 2020” (Brands 2020) project. This project will go on for at least the next two years or until the effects of 2020 are no longer felt. ARF researchers in the Brands 2020 study used IRI and NCS data, Kantar Ad Insights, NCS sales and Nielsen Ad Intel data, between 2017 and 2021. The IRI data was a very deep dive but across three categories: salty snacks, pasta sauce and personal care products. The NCS data was shallower but across 10 broad categories. Using all these data, ARF researchers looked at share of media, media spend and share of market before and after March 2020 (Covid) and before and after March of 2021 (start of inflation).

Latest Trends in the Future of Impulse, Frictionless and Experiential Retail

• Posted: June 5, 2023

In this fireside chat, Rohan Karankal (Mondelēz International) and Jessica Wohl (Ad Age) discussed the dramatic changes and disruptions in grocery shopping over the last few years as well as the opportunities in experiential retail, especially in driving impulse purchases. Mondelēz has an ecosystem of communities, which encourages sharing best practices around experiences through thought leaders both internal and external. Rohan shared examples from Mondelēz’s “Elevated Shopper Experiences,” which delivers curated design and experiential solutions in stores. They are currently evaluating a measurement framework which measures the impact of these experiences on both sales lift and brand perceptions for both the brands and retailers.

The Rise of Retail Media: Latest Trends, Opportunities and Challenges for Retailers and Brands

• Posted: June 2, 2023

In providing an overview of retail media’s latest trends, opportunities and challenges for retailers and brands, Michael Ellgass (Circana) shared results from analyses of over 100 CPG studies that looked at channel performance in retail media networks and the halo impact outside those networks. Finding that the total incremental sales impact is often larger than what the retail media can see in their own outlets and that most shoppers are influenced by a variety of channels, Michael presented the nuanced data that supported a combined approach for maximum impact.

The Modern Grocery Run

• Posted: June 2, 2023

Julianne Hudson of VMYL&R uncovered the results of two rounds of interviews examining the rocket ship of growth that took place in online grocery shopping beginning at the advent of COVID-19. The trend continues presently. The interviews took place eleven months apart, one in 2022 with around 2,000 respondents with a follow-up in January this year with approximately the same number, a sample totaling 4,200. Each respondent had shopped for groceries online in at least some capacity. The study helped show what online grocery shopping expectations are and what does and does not translate from the in-store to the online shopping experience.

Using In-Flight Measurement to Properly Assess Advertising Impact on Sales and Conversion

• Posted: June 1, 2023

Marketers are faced with many challenges such as smaller budgets, targeting decisions and the quantification of media effectiveness, but Harvey Goldhersz of Circana explained that in-flight measurement and optimization provides opportunities to overcome these challenges. Knowledge gained from in-flight measurement can strengthen the optimization of campaign media by enabling maximum impact with lower cost.