We Are Such Easy Marks

Effie Award-winning in-store marketing campaigns that probably would have worked on me, had I been exposed to them:

Campaign: “IKEA. The Life Improvement Store”
Company: IKEA
Agencies: Ogilvy & Mather; MEC North America
Award: Gold, Retailer: Re-Staging
IKEA learned that many of the customers who bought room sets and furniture in their younger years had matured into shoppers who primarily bought décor accessories and other smaller items. The retailer’s goal was to increase sales in a stagnant channel by getting those shoppers into stores to buy bigger-ticket items.
The “Life Improvement Store” creative concept was designed to assist women in their nesting phase by showing them how IKEA could help them make their house a home. Featuring everything from TV advertising to new merchandising concepts, the effort grew sales and receipt sizes by opening shopper eyes to the whole rooms that were available.

This campaign possibly would have made me feel better about the fact that I already buy everything at Ikea.

Campaign: “Every Day is Different” Regimen-Driving Platform
Company: Procter & Gamble
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi X
Awards: Gold, Manufacturer: Loyalty, Awareness, Sales, Trial Gold, Manufacturer: Single-Retailer Rollout
The college-age female is typically unaware that tampon and pad leaks during menstruation are often caused by a failure to switch to an appropriately absorbent product as flow varies. P&G and Saatchi set out to alert target consumers to this fact while also improving sales at Walmart.

The objective was to grow sales by at least one point for Tampax and Always at the retailer and reverse what had been a share-loss trend for both brands. The campaign, which included digital activity, print ads and displays explaining to shoppers that “Every Day Is Different,” achieved all its goals during an eight-week event.

Okay, they wouldn’t have gotten me on this one. I’ve been around the menstrual block a few times, and know how to be prepared. You can’t fool me with your “Lite Days” tampons, Tampax. Just use a regular and leave it in longer. NEXT.

Campaign: Swiffer “Project Jack” Co-Marketing Campaign
Company: Procter & Gamble
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi X
Awards: Gold, Manufacturer: Loyalty, Awareness, Sales, Trial Silver, Manufacturer, Single-Retailer Rollout
Swiffer enjoyed high brand awareness, but serious cleaners ignored the product because they didn’t perceive it as any better than their reliable mops, brooms and dusters.
The “Project Jack” campaign took Swiffer out of the box and displayed it on-shelf and fully assembled, so that shoppers who never considered the product before could see and feel the quality and innovation. Insights into the Walmart shopper helped P&G and Saatchi & Saatchi X craft a holistic path-to-purchase campaign that directed shoppers to the cleaning aisle to experience Swiffer. The program drove an unprecedented sales lift at Walmart that surpassed the brand’s goals.

Even I know that once you touch something — especially when touching leads to “[feeling] the quality and innovation” — you’re a goner. (I’d touch the hell out of that Swiffer.)

Campaign: “Power of Knowing”
Company: LifeScan Canada (Johnson & Johnson)
Agency: The Integer Group Award: Silver, Manufacturer: Multi-Retailer Rollout
OneTouch Canada had been backed into a corner by competing blood glucose meters, whose tactics had eroded the brand’s market share and shut it out entirely from its largest retail client. But with 66% of all meters placed within pharmacies, winning at retail was the brand’s only option.
OneTouch generated record-breaking results through a lifestyle-themed campaign that broke new ground for the category and customized elements for multiple retailers. The brand tapped into the specific shopper profiles and diabetes programs of each account, leading to a huge number of meters being placed and subsequent sales of test strips that let OneTouch maintain its category-leading status.

No one puts OneTouch in a corner. (I like to go for the underdog.) (But I don’t have diabetes.) (Yet.)

Campaign: “Your Other Address”
Company: United States Postal Service
Agencies: Draftfcb; Campbell-Ewald; AKQA
Award: Silver, Retailer: Re-Staging
Revenues generated by P.O. Box rentals had experienced three consecutive years of declines, and 34% of the Post Office’s inventory was vacant. It was time to relaunch a 200-year-old brand.
The “Your Other Address” campaign positioned the P.O. Box as a way to protect privacy, helping to elevate it from a grudge purchase to an aspirational one in the minds of consumers. The effort launched in four key markets and 1,100 post offices for 20 weeks. Each activation element sought to reframe consumer perception in a disruptive manner. Downward test trends were reversed as test markets outperformed control markets for 16 straight weeks.

I really love the term “grudge purchase.” “This is my P.O. Box. It was a grudge purchase.” Sold.

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