The promotion that kicked the supermarket in the 50pâs

A colleague shared with me this Sainsbury’s internal poster asking staff to encourage customers to spend a further 50p per visit. So what? It’s no different to what any marketing department would consider, ‘how do we increase customer spend?’

What was unfortunate was that the ad meant for a staff room or back office ended up in a prime position in the shop’s front window. With the insatiable thirst of twitter for such mishap snacks, the poster may have only been up for a few seconds, but it’s now public for all eternity.

The only saving grace with social media is that no sooner is it posted, than the feeders move on. That is unless you have a canny, nimble and mischievous competitor who wants to squeeze a bit more fun/pain from it. So by Wednesday the same colleague had sent me this new ad from LiDL who have managed to poke fun and demonstrate their integrity credentials in one execution.

Which are you?

Every touch point reaffirms or destroys brand value that the business has invested in. Whilst LiDL’s ascends, Sainsbury’s declines.

To compete, you have to be quick and make the most of any opportunity. Obviously if you are shackled by regulation, such as the financial services sector, being this light of foot may be a challenge. But it’s a salient lesson to all marketers of how to get it wrong (by not managing the activation all the way through to conclusion) and how to get it wonderfully right (by being alert to what going on around you as well as within the business).

But the question is which of these situations do you associate with? Do you think your own company is more likely to faux pas or to capitalise on someone else’s mistake?

I’m sure we’d all like to think we’d be the LiDL on this one, but are a few of you probably thinking, ‘we are probably more likely to drop a ‘Sainsbury’s’ than activate a LiDL’. Something to ponder on.

If you are not sure, perhaps it’s time to review the effectiveness of your marketing resources and make sure they are all working towards the business objectives, set-up to exploit the potential of where your markets are heading and the experiences your customers will be making purchase and relationship decision based upon.

Should you be interested let me know, we help brands ensure their marketing resources are effectively organised and deployed.

Posted by Christopher Brooks | Director | Lexden | Customer Strategy Agency