A.G. Lafley: Create a consumer-centric culture from the top down
In 2011, we hosted an interactive keynote session at Shopper Insight in Action with A.G. Lafley, CEO, Procter & Gamble, co-author of “The Game Changer,” who answered questions contributed by the audience and three interviewers, Grant McCracken, anthropologist, author of “Chief Culture Officer,” Simon Uwins, CMO, TESCO’S FRESH & EASY and Robert Goodpaster, VP, Global Strategy & Integrated Business Intelligence, THE HERSHEY CO. A.G. Lafley is now returning to lead Procter & Gamble. We documented the Q&A in our 2011 Executive Summary and will be sharing A.G. Lafley’s responses in this web series.
Part IV
A.G. Lafley: Create a consumer-centric culture from the top down
People may listen to what you say, but they really pay attention to what you do.
I started all of my country visits in-store. Whatever country I was traveling to, the night I arrived I usually went to the store and shopped with the shopper. The next morning, I would go in-home. I don’t purport to be a market researcher—I’ve never taken a single course on the subject—but I was trying to set an example. Some leaders followed it; some didn’t.
Then they would come in for a management meeting, and I would give them $50 and send them off to buy a week’s worth of groceries and household necessities. And what did they learn? How many P&G brands can you put in a basket for $50? Not enough. So they would come back and say, ‘How the heck did you expect me to shop on $50?’ Well, that’s the weekly budget for a third of Americans. Can you imagine what that figure is for Indonesians or Nigerians?
It sorts itself out. The businesses that started to get it began to work more collaboratively with our retailers, and started to turn up insights that drove their innovation programs or resurrected big, mature brands that had been stable or declining. Their businesses did better and they moved on and up. The ones that didn’t moved out and we refreshed the gene pool.
You have to turn failure into learning in an innovation culture, because most ideas fail.
To learn more about the upcoming Shopper Insights in Action and the Strategic Selling Summit or to download the 2012 Executive Summary, visit ShopperInsightsevent.com.
Save the Date – The International Shopper Insights in Action Event is Here
For over a decade, the Shopper Insights in Action Conference has helped businesses excel by being 100% focused on 
activating insights at retail. And on that note, we are excited to announce that the wait is over – The 3rd Annual International Shopper Insights in Action Event is here and taking place 5-7, November in Prague.
Uniting the world’s best shopper minds, Shopper Insights in Action is where vision and action are fueled by stakeholder collaboration. Real take-away value lies in aggregating the right mix of people with the right expertise, experience and diversity to interact with ground-breaking, actionable content and with each other through a purposely designed conference experience.
Translating Insights into Opportunities: The International Shopper Insights in Action Event from Shopper Channel on Vimeo.
This year we transform from reactive customer research to predictive intelligent insight. It is more important than ever to truly understand shoppers throughout the decision journey to make smart shopper strategies come to life at retail.
Join the most influential FMCG Suppliers, Retailers and Thought-Leaders.
Key themes for all Stakeholders include:
• Balancing Shopper & Consumer
• Category Vision
• Retail Innovation
• Shopper Activation
• Predictive Intelligence
• Collaboration Strategies
• Omni-Channel Retailing
• Insights in the Store
• Shopper Marketing
• Digital Innovation
• Channel Integration
• Insights Beyond the Store
• Influencing Buyer Behavior
• Being Data-Rich & Insight Poor
• The ROI of Loyalty
• Does Emotion Trump Function
Plus, two NEW Intensives with expanded content focused on Strategic Selling Strategies and Shopper Insights Analytics for Shopper Marketers, Category Leaders, Shopper Analytics and Merchandisers.
See more details about what this year’s event is covering here
And you will hear from industry experts such as:
HENKEL
CAMPOFRIO FOOD GROUP
BACARDI-MARTINI CORP LTD
THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD’S INTERNET INSTITUTE
KANTAR RETAIL
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY
KELLOGG COMPANY
GLAXOSMITHKLINE
ENERGIZER
PHILIPS CONSUMER LIFESTYLE
PEPSICO NETHERLANDS
THNK – THE AMSTERDAM SCHOOL OF CREATIVE LEADERSHIP
AACHEN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS
TNS
FRIESLANDCAMPINA CONSUMER PRODUCTS
KERRY FOODS
COCA-COLA ICECEK
DIAGEO
NOKIA
JOHNSON & JOHNSON
HALFORDS
METRO CASH & CARRY
G2
OGILVY ACTION
SAMSUNG
RED DOT SQUARE
MIGROS
GFK
IMPERIAL TOBACCO
GROSERI MARKET
COOP DANMARK
NESTLE and many more!
Leading Researchers, Category Managers, Shopper Marketers and Merchandisers attend to explore consumer and shopper behavior, the decision journey and how to champion the value of activating intelligence for basket growth.
The wait is over. Registration is OPEN. The ACTION starts now.
Mention your blog VIP code, SIA13BLOG, and save 15% off the standard rate.
Who You’ll Meet at Shopper Insights in Action & The Strategic Selling Summit
Join us next month in Chicago at the Shopper Insights in Action Conference & Strategic Selling Summit, as leading Retail and CPG from across the country and around the world journey on a strategic quest for holistic “human insight”. Understand the true intrinsic drivers that are motivating your customers and influencing their behavior as shoppers and as people and then use this newly found knowledge to drive basket growth.
2013 Keynotes include:
- Andreas Weigend, Former Data Scientist, Amazon.com
- Dough Rauch, Former President, Trader Joe’s
- Don Hamblen, Chief Marketing Officer, Roundy’s Supermarkets
- Jenn Lim, CEO, Delivering Happiness
- Tim Dorgan, VP eMerchandising, Peapod
With 4x more retailers than any other conference and 75% client side attendance, you are venturing on a conference experience like no other. This is your opportunity to collaborate with all the key players from the retail world. The entire shopper facing team (insights, research, category management, marketing, merchandising, analytics, and much more) will unite to tackle the industry challenges, including:
Omni-Channel Retailing/The New Face of Segmentation/The ROI of Customer Loyalty/The Move to Create Industry Standards/Gameful Engagement/The Transition from “Asking” to “Listening” and “Observing”/Does Emotion Trump Function/Customizing and Personalizing Customer Experiences/Trust as the New Social Currency.
Download the brochure for the full program details: http://bit.ly/15ZKOoh
Hundreds of your colleagues have already signed on to attend. 2013 is on track for record breaking attendance. Attending companies to date include:
Ace Hardware
Advantage Group
Advantage Sales & Marketing
Affinnova
Ahold USA
Alex & Ani
Amazon.com
American Heart Association
Anheuser Busch
Arc Worldwide
ATK Federal Cartridge Company
Avon Corporation
Bayer HealthCare
Best Buy
BIMBO SA
Blackstone Group
BP
Burke
California State University
Campbell Soup Company
Capre Group
Cargill
Catalina Marketing
ChatThreads
Chiquita Brands
Citigroup
Claremont Graduate University
Colgate Palmolive
Communispace
ConAgra Foods
CORE4 Research
Corey Moore
Coty Beauty
Coupons.com
Crown Imports
DCI Marketing
DCI-Artform
Decision Analyst
Del Monte Foods
Diageo
Dial Corporation
Directions Research
Dovetail Partner Promotions
Driscolls
dunnhumbyUSA
Edgewood Consulting Group
Elanco Animal Health
Enjoy Life Foods
Epson America
Evocatif@JWT
Fairway Market
Fame
Federal Cartridge Company
Alliant Techsystems
Field Agent
Florida Blue
Flowers Foods
Fresh Intelligence
Futures Company
Gap Inc
General Mills
Georgia Pacific
GfK Custom Research
Golfsmith
Graphic Packaging International
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
Halverson Group
Hamilton Beach Brands
Hanes Brands
Hannaford Bros
Heineken USA
Hemispheres
Hewlett Packard
iControl Systems
Impact Consumer Research
InContext Solutions
Indiana University
InfoScout
Integer Group
Interbrand Design Forum
Ipsos
Jarden Consumer Solutions
JM Smucker Company
Jockey International
Kao Brands
Kellogg Company
Keurig
Kimberly-Clark
Kohls
LB Insights
Lego Systems
Leo Burnett Singapore
Levi Strauss & Company
Locately
Logitech
L’Oreal USA
Lowe’s Companies
Maple Leaf Consumer Foods
MARC Research
Marovino Visual Strategy
Mars Advertising
Mars Chocolate
Mattel
Michaels Stores
Migros
MillerCoors
Moet Hennessy
Molson Coors Canada
Mondelez
MSW.ARS Research
MTD Products
Murphy Research
My Private Brand
National Confectioners Association
Nestle Nutrition/Gerber
Nestle Purina Pet Care
Nestle USA
Nestle Waters North America
NPD Group
Oakley
Ogilvy Action
Pacific World Cosmetics
Paradigm Sample
Passenger
Peapod
PepsiCo
Pernod Ricard
PETCO Animal Supplies
Post Foods
Prestige Brands
Price Chopper
The Golub Corp
Procter & Gamble
Questar
Quividi USA
Real Insight
Red Bull
Red Lobster
Reebok
Research Now
Reynolds Consumer Products
Rich Products Corporation
Rodale
Roll Global
Roundys Supermarkets
RTC
S C Johnson & Son
Sargento Foods
Scotts Company
Sherwin Williams
ShurTech Brands
SmartRevenue
Socratic Technologies
Sony Electronics Retail Stores
SSI
St Joseph’s University
Staples
Starbucks
Stephen-Bradford Research
The Coca Cola Company
The Hershey Company
The Marketing Store
The Wharton School
TimBar Packaging & Display
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Retail
TNS
TPN
Trader Joe’s
True Value Company
Tyson Foods Incorporated
Unilever
Upshot
uSamp
VideoMining Corporation
Vision Critical
Visual Diagnostics
Walgreens
WalMart Stores
Walt Disney Parks & Resorts
Western Canada Lottery
Whirlpool Corporation
Williamson Dickie
Zappos.com
Aima
Bellomy Research
C+R Research
Clavis Technology
Crimson Hexagon
Decision Insight
Envirosell
Integrated Research Associates
Lieberman Research Worldwide
POPAI
Perception Research Services
The Carlson Group
Tobii
Register today to lock in your spot, as the hotel is on track to sell out: http://bit.ly/15ZKOoh
Best,
The Shopper Insights in Action Team
@Shopper360
Related articles
How is the Future of Retail Influencing In-store Strategy?
We recently had a chance to catch up with Bala Mallela, Senior Director, Category and Shopper Insights, at Kimberly-Clark, who will be discussing How to Build a Better Research Laboratory in a keynote panel at the most trusted shopper conference in the world, the 13th annual Shopper Insights in Action in July.
Here’s what Bala shared with us:
What will the retail environment look like 3-5 years from now?
The physical retail environment will revolve more around consumer “experiences” and less about categories. The physical retail experience will be driven by the smart-phone “connected” consumer who directly receives messages and incentives as they shop the store.
The retailers will move to faster and more convenient direct consumer check-out (smart-phone scan applications) to improve the speed, value and shopper loyalty to the “retailer”. Retailers will be able to deliver customized rewards based on shopper profiles, life stage, and shopper history.
Manufacturers will have a more direct voice with the consumer as they shop to engage the consumer based on high affinity products, competitive products and new brand / product developments.
How has the proliferation of channels and touch points affected how you engage your customers?
We focus our recommendations on value propositions that play to the specific retailer strengths in the marketplace with their consumers. K-C value is achieved through business tactics that work towards achieving their long-term strategy to enable clear points of differentiation for the retailer.
According POPAI’s 2012 Shopper Engagement Study, 76% of purchase decisions are made in store. How does this influence your in-store strategy?
Assortment and in-store merchandising are the foundation of the business, particularly important in a limited SKU, small format environment. Nothing else matters if we are not right, so we emphasize getting the in-store foundation right each and every day.
We focus on secondary locations and displays as “points-of-interruption” to engage consumers and stimulate purchase behavior. Merchandising activity centers on products with strong affinity and high traffic to increase basket ring and consumer efficiency.
A.G. Lafley on Retailer Expectations of Manufacturers and Partnering
In 2011, we hosted an interactive keynote session at Shopper Insight in Action with A.G. Lafley, CEO, Procter & Gamble, co-author of “The Game Changer,” who answered questions contributed by the audience and three interviewers, Grant McCracken, anthropologist, author of “Chief Culture Officer,” Simon Uwins, CMO, TESCO’S FRESH & EASY and Robert Goodpaster, VP, Global Strategy & Integrated Business Intelligence, THE HERSHEY CO. A.G. Lafley is now returning to lead Procter & Gamble. We documented the Q&A in our 2011 Executive Summary and will be sharing A.G. Lafley’s responses in this web series.
Part III
A.G. Lafley on retailer expectations of manufacturers and partnering…
I would turn that around and say what does the product or service provider expect of his distribution partner? It used to be the exchange of a branded product for channel distribution. Those days are long gone.
We each have a piece of the puzzle and the puzzle doesn’t come together until we share our pieces. I know the real world is still too often a poker game—‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’—but you’ll never complete the puzzle that way.
We need to do a much better job of sharing intellectual capital on the consumer understanding side.
I tried to knock down the consumer, shopper, marketing and product walls as best I could and create horizontal linkages that extend to the retailer and beyond.
When we really get it right, I think manufacturers and retailers together will be doing a lot more co-creation and co-innovation with consumers and the loop will be a lot tighter.
In our industry, we’ve tried to distinguish between our distribution customers and our end consumer, but at the end of the day, they’re all customers. I originally came from retail. At the end of the day, we want to create an experience, a better value that will engender loyalty.
P&G brands that are successful, in general, have higher trial rates and higher repurchase and loyalty rates. It’s not rocket science. It’s amazingly simple, but to get there you have to have an incredibly deep understanding of the consumer. I think we have to work closer and closer to the customer in the retailer-manufacturer partnership.
To learn more about the upcoming Shopper Insights in Action and the Strategic Selling Summit or to download the 2012 Executive Summary, visit ShopperInsightsevent.com.
Translating Global Shopper Marketing Around the World: Walmart & Coca-Cola
Heath Willis, Director Global Shopper Marketing, Coca-Cola, discuss his experience working to meet the needs of both Walmart & Coca-Cola in this role on the Walmart Global Account Team, with Marc Dresner, senior editor and special communication project lead, at Shopper Insights in Action, IIR USA.
A.G. Lafley on consumers, shoppers and people…
In 2011, we hosted an interactive keynote session at Shopper Insight in Action with A.G. Lafley, CEO, Procter & Gamble, co-author of “The Game Changer,” who answered questions contributed by the audience and three interviewers, Grant McCracken, anthropologist, author of “Chief Culture Officer,” Simon Uwins, CMO, TESCO’S FRESH & EASY and Robert Goodpaster, VP, Global Strategy & Integrated Business Intelligence, THE HERSHEY CO. A.G. Lafley is now returning to lead Procter & Gamble. We documented the Q&A in our 2011 Executive Summary and will be sharing A.G. Lafley’s responses in this web series.
Part II
A.G. Lafley on consumers, shoppers and people…
We could break the consumer down to a pre-shaving occasion, a pre-shaving application occasion, the shave, post-shave…We could focus right in on the pores of a face and not even notice the rest of the face. You don’t want to lose that incredible attention to functional detail, but you’ve also got to go up 30-40 thousand feet and look at him or her in context.
One of the horrible things that happens in companies of any size is that they become inwardly focused. When I returned to Cincinnati in 1998 after five years in Asia, I was struck by the amount of time we spent talking to ourselves in internal meetings or with our faces glued to computer screens…Where does that put our backs? To the consumer. And if we went out and talked to the buyer, they didn’t get out much either. I worked in retail. They spend 12 hours a day buying. The world was turned inside-out and I wanted to turn it back around. So we brought the consumer in.
We run a nursery at the Pampers campus. We run a whole set of kitchens and home environments at our fabrics and homecare center. We have healthcare facilities where we see actual patients. We operate beauty salons. I wanted people touching the consumer. And we had 100,000 employees, all of whom were customers! I wanted their input, too.
We need to get even closer to the customer. The trick today is understanding unarticulated needs. That’s where you get an edge.
Everyone will be racing after what they say, so you need to understand what they mean and know what they don’t say. No consumer to my knowledge ever said they wanted Fabreeze. That’s a business that’s about to pass the billion dollar mark.
To learn more about the upcoming Shopper Insights in Action and the Strategic Selling Summit or to download the 2012 Executive Summary, visit ShopperInsightsevent.com.
Making History: The Future of Retail & The Original Game Changer, A.G. Lafley
In 2011, we hosted an interactive keynote session at Shopper Insight in Action with A.G. Lafley, CEO, Procter & Gamble, co-author of “The Game Changer,” who answered questions contributed by the audience and three interviewers, Grant McCracken, anthropologist, author of “Chief Culture Officer,” Simon Uwins, CMO, TESCO’S FRESH & EASY and Robert Goodpaster, VP, Global Strategy & Integrated Business Intelligence, THE HERSHEY CO. A.G. Lafley is now returning to lead Procter & Gamble. We documented the Q&A in our 2011 Executive Summary and will be sharing A.G. Lafley’s responses in this web series.
To learn more about the upcoming Shopper Insights in Action and the Strategic Selling Summit or to download the 2012 Executive Summary, visit ShopperInsightsevent.com.
Part I
A.G. Lafley on the evolving role of shopper insights…
Human beings—shoppers and consumers—are incredibly complex and difficult to understand. So manufacturers and retailers alike are trying to broaden and deepen their understanding of consumers and shoppers in order to better serve them. The challenge is that this might be different for every consumer depending on what they’re buying, what channel they’re shopping, etc.
We’re all trying to win a consumer value equation that we don’t fully understand.
I believe that by plumbing the riches of technology available today and bringing to bear a lot of different disciplines, we’ll get much closer.
For example, at P&G our R&D personnel were primarily biologists, biochemists and chemical engineers.
I decided that we needed to add anthropologists, psychologists, sociologists and other disciplines to the mix. We started hiring a lot of quantitative expertise because we knew that we were moving from a physical world to a digital world. We don’t test market in the physical world anymore; we do it in the digital world via simulations.
Related articles
Google on Connecting people and the products they love
Every day, millions of people turn to YouTube for advice, from learning how to do the perfect smokey eye to trying out a new recipe for mashed potatoes. People are using YouTube not just for entertainment, but to learn a new skill, find more information, and shop for products. This presents a unique opportunity for consumer goods brands to reach shoppers in the moment and provide them with an easy way to go from watching a video to purchasing the product.
To shorten the path to purchase and translate video views to sales, today we’re introducing a new channel gadget on YouTube that will enable consumer goods brands to connect consumers directly with retailers throughout the entire YouTube experience. This new channel gadget will enable shoppers to seamlessly move from browsing how-to videos and featured products to finding which retailers carry them, check availability, compare prices and make a purchase, all with fewer clicks than today.
Unilever has partnered with Google to highlight TRESemmé as the first brand to use this new YouTube channel gadget to showcase their line of hair care solutions. There is a growing interest for “hair how to” videos on YouTube with millions of users going to YouTube to learn about hairstyles and hair care. By providing hair tutorial videos, tips and tricks, and interviews with trendsetters, TRESemmé has already generated more than 2.7 million views on their channel. Through their newly designed channel, TRESemmé can also now connect these consumers with the products they’re watching in the demo videos in a faster more efficient way, shortening the shopping journey
This new gadget will be available as a premium offering for Google’s consumer goods clients, produced through Gloto. To see if the shopper channel is the right solution for your brand, connect with your Google representative.
Via Danielle Tomassini, The Google Shopper Marketing Team, republished with permission from Google Retail Advertising Blog.
Editor’s Note:
Join Danielle when she presents Online Video to Offline Shopping: Shortening the Path to Purchase, along with Célia Salsi, Home & Personal Care Team Lead, GOOGLE, in the Shopper Marketing Redefined Decision Marketing track, at the 13th annual Shopper Insights in Action taking place July 15-17, 2013.
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Category, Shopper Marketing, Merchandising Leaders Collaborate to Drive Sales & Increase Basket Size
What if there was a conference that provided you with the secrets behind optimizing your path to profit in today’s challenging market? One that provided you with never heard before, real stories of how major retailers and CPGs are putting new strategies into practice and showing you how to drive more sales and increase basket size.
Welcome to the Strategic Selling Summit – 3 days dedicated entirely to best and next practices for Category Management, Shopper Marketing, Merchandising and Shopper Analytics professionals.
Download the Brochure for the full conference program here.
Can’t Miss Sessions Include:
Excellence in Strategic Selling: Retailer & CPG Perspectives
- CONAGRA FOODS, PEPSICO, ROUNDY’S SUPERMARKETS
The Trader Joe’s Story: The Role of Innovation, Creativity and Culture in Business
- TRADER JOE’S
Applying Category Management to Reach the Shopper
- STARBUCKS COFFEE COMPANY
A Re-Merchandising Strategy that Saved a Category
- HAMILTON BEACH BRANDS
Leveraging Shopper Power with Unmatched Social & Digital Marketing Strategies
- ENJOY LIFE NATURAL BRANDS
Categories are Different Yet the Same
- HANESBRANDS
Migrating from Category Management to Shopper Marketing
- CHURCH & DWIGHT
Online Video to Offline Shopping: Shortening the Path to Purchase
- GOOGLE
Transforming Economy: Deep Insights and Tailored Growth Strategies to Address the New Marketplace
- KRAFT FOODS GROUP
Tablets: The Game Changing Shopping Device
- AOL
Applying Big Data to Drive Retail Sales
- THE CLOROX COMPANY
The Future of Shopper: How Digital Changes Everything But Not in the Way You Might Think
- THE FUTURES COMPANY
Plus you get access to Shopper Insights in Action Conference, co-located in Chicago, on July 15-17, 2013, to ensure the entire Shopper team is collaborating and sharing insights to create deeper relationships with your shoppers and consumers.
