Jumping Jack Flash
Monday, 14 March 2005 - Montreal, Canada
Presentation Summary
An address to the Retail Council of Quebec Annual Convention: Shopping is everywhere. It’s pervasive, restless, and a paradox. It’s a gas! Gas! Gas! Mystery, Sensuality and Intimacy have the power to take you past this – to make you Irresistible. Canadian retailers get shown how to activate the drama of the brand where it matters – to turn shoppers into buyers.
Mesdames, Messieurs, bonjour ça me fait grand plaisir d’avoir été invité à participer au congrès du commerce de détail.
Je tenais à vous dire combien je suis heureux de me trouver parmi vous à Montréal aujourd’hui.
J’ai toujours eu un attachement particulier pour le Canada – pour 3 raisons :
La première, c’est parce que j’y ai travaillé à la fin des années quatre vingt en tant que Président de PepsiCo et que je garde de cette époque des souvenirs merveilleux
La deuxième raison c’est que Saatchi & Saatchi appartient à Publicis qui est comme vous le savez un groupe de communication français et cela fait de nous des cousins.
Enfin la troisième raison, c’est mon goût immodéré du bon vin, de la gastronomie et les jolies choses qui se trouvent dans vos magasins!
This morning I’m not here to talk about le vin ou la gastromonie, but about the challenges retail faces everywhere today.
People love to shop. People want to buy. And you want to sell. Perfect.
Retail throughout the world is a nine trillion US dollar industry.
Billions of shoppers browsing, choosing and buying every hour of every single day and the intimacy of one woman, in one store, looking for that perfect lip-stick.
In the past decade retailers been very focused. How to survive in a tough competitive industry that has gone global with.
Some retailers haven’t made it.
The famous toy store FAO Schwartz went broke trying to beat Toys “R” Us on price. Now Toys “R” Us is struggling against the No.1 toy retailer Wal-Mart.
Before Wal-Mart and after Wal-Mart are two different planets.
Competing on price is an end-game. Wal-Mart understands there is a new game in play. The reinvention of Wal-Mart TV. The launch of the women’s magazine All You. A new enthusiasm for design and style.
Retail innovation has stepped up, but it’s still in pockets and usually in luxury or specialty stores.
Quebec is fantastically placed to lead a widespread transformation of shopping. Across all formats and experiences.
- You have the expertise.
When RILA [Retail Industry Leaders Association] announced its 2004 most innovative retailers around the world, Alimentation Couche-Tard was on the list.
- You have the heritage.
- You have the responsiveness .
Where else but Quebec would a company allow its very English name to be pronounced in French-friendly fashion? Lo-be-law.
- You have the sophisticated shoppers eager for new experience.
- You have the style .
No one does better than Les Touilleurs for “les passiones to la cuisine” [specialist chef shop in Montreal with wonderful selection and displays.]
- You have the heart – the joie de vivre, the delight in the best things of life.
THE NEW REALITY OF SHOPPING
1: Shopping is Everywhere
The art and science of retail is reaching through the plate glass window and out into the world.
Entertainment, travel, education, sport. Whatever you do, there is a shopping experience to match.
Joan Rivers is into it: “Thank God I’m living in a country where the sky’s the limit, the stores are open late and, thanks to television, you can shop in bed.”
Shoppers are looking for inspired experiences in supermarkets and street markets, Department stores and Discount stores, Speciality stores and Convenience stores, upscale retailers and boutiques, online and in kiosk, on TV and in catalogs and specialist shopping magazines. And out on the road in the middle of nowhere.
2: Shopping Marks the First Moment of Truth
Business has just discovered a profound truth: the consumer is in control.
People in retail have always known it – but have often refused to face it. There’s nowhere to hide Instore. It’s one shopper in front of one item making her choice.
P&G call it the First Moment of Truth. That moment when shoppers become buyers.
3. Shoppers are Restless
Consumers are being offered the best bargains in history, but are they grateful? No. They expect nothing less.
In their world the fries are always crisp, cars start first time and all beer tastes good, which ever one they choose.
Psychologist Aric Sigman: “Humans now have to make more decisions in a single day than a caveman did in a lifetime.”
- Around 6,500 songs on the average iPod.
- Up to 50,000 items in the average supermarket.
- About 100,000 titles in the typical Barnes & Noble superstore/ or about 70,000 titles in Renaud-Bray.
- In one supermarket, Dr Sigman counted 83 different shampoos, 68 shower-gels, 42 deodorants, 77 washing powders and 87 breakfast cereals.
They are restless because they aren’t engaged. They aren’t connected. They don’t want to listen to the voices.
4. Shoppers are Paradoxical
Most of them are women who don’t want either/or shopping.
- She wants the prices at Wal-Mart and the authenticity of le Pied de vent and Perron. [local artisan cheeses]
- She wants familiarity and she demands variety.
- She wants the fastest route to the checkout and to have fun in her few spare minutes.
- She wants to purchase on impulse and insist on value.
- She wants efficient service and empathy with her moods.
A recent study by the American Affluence Research Center based in Florida (why isn’t that a surprise!) turned some familiar truths on their heads.
Individuals who made at least $359,000 a year were asked to choose their favorite stores.
61% of the women chose Target. 60% of the men chose Home Depot. And CostCo was second choice for men and women.
These shoppers have no passion for shopping. They are still stuck on price and range. Time to pump in some excitement and passion. Time for Lovemarks.
CONNECTING WITH LOVEMARKS
Five years ago Saatchi & Saatchi set out to find what came after brands.
The result was my book: “Lovemarks: The Future Beyond Brands.”
Everywhere in the world, people get it. “Lovemarks” has been published in five languages with eleven more to come. The Chinese and Spanish editions come out next month.
Lovemarks transform how to connect with consumers.
- Lovemarks are built on Love and Respect.
- Lovemarks inspire loyalty beyond reason. Business faces a loyalty crisis inside and out. Only 40.6% of global respondents felt their own company deserved customer’s loyalty. Down from 55.5% in 2003. [source: Strativity Group March 2005]
- Lovemarks are owned by the people who love them and choose them and use them.
- Lovemarks can be everything that people care deeply about. Almost 2,000 nominations on www.lovemarks.com show what they do care about – flags, shoes, magazines, breakfast cereals.
Lovemarks are the charismatic brands that people get emotional about. You know them instantly whether you are in Quebec , Munich , Shanghai or Rio.
- Harley Davidson, definitely. Suzuki? I don’t think so.
- iMac; or Thinkpad? Sorry IBM.
- Cirque de Soleil? Absolutely, with 3,000 employees putting on shows in 100 cities worldwide. Your local Cineplex? Too bland. Too boring. And the carpet’s sticky.
Some rare places have an instinctive understanding of Lovemarks. Quebec is of course one. Lovemarks thinking simply puts those instincts into a framework for action.
Lovemarks are infused with Mystery, Sensuality and Intimacy.
Mystery – The beguiling power of the unknown. Familiarity makes it fast and easy to shop, but shoppers also love to be surprised.
- By brilliant product selection like Moss in Soho . By Kid Robot’s bizarre and extreme urban vinyl.
- By spectacular architecture like the new Chanel building in Tokyo .
Most products or experiences don’t surprise or intrigue us.
Sensuality – The five senses of sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. Sensuality is rewriting the rules of retail.
In 85% of purchases only the chosen product is handled. That’s what I call a touch-point!
Montreal en Lumiere is a fabulous expression of sensuality. World-famous chefs, amazing specialties, tricks of the trade, and a feast for all.
Intimacy – Knowing the consumer better than she knows herself. The small touch, the perfect gesture.
The exquisite packaging in the famous blue box at Tiffany’s.
The wonderful promise of Jean Coutu: “At Jean Coutu you will find it all – even a friend.”
Mystery, Sensuality and Intimacy take you past Irreplaceable to Irresistible.
- Harrods’s in London is Irreplaceable. Apple stores everywhere are Irresistible.
- The classic T-shirt is Irreplaceable. In black – Irresistible.
- Brahma beer is Irreplaceable. Their Turtle – Irresistible.
A crunch question: “Is it best to be respected, or loved and respected?” No contest. Everyone wants both. This is the Age of And/And.
Irresistible brands consumers love and an environment they enjoy and a price they can believe in.
We can map how Love and Respect relate on this Axis.
Low Respect. Low Love. Commodities and utilities. Basic convenience. Generic range. “Park, pay and on your way.”
High Love. Low Respect. Fads and infatuations. Promotions and competitions. Many retail experiences belong here. From Fcuk to pop-up stores. London ‘s The White Company could head down here. [image of stores in London where all the home-wares are white]
High Respect. Low love. Where the “er” words rule: faster, bigger, cheaper. Supermarket world where convenience and price rule.
High Love and High Respect. Lovemarks. Fantastic experience. Irresistible appeal. Collette in Paris . Sunka in Catalonia . eBay everywhere
LOVEMARKS IN STORE
Consumers play the shopper more and more. They are making more purchasing decisions in the store. And manufacturers are taking notice.
One large company we work with is famous for its TV work. They estimate they make nearly 10 billion shopper impressions each year.
What marketer wouldn’t take that seriously?
Last year we launched Saatchi & Saatchi X. The challenge? To create Lovemarks in-store. To activate the drama of the brand where it matters. To turn shoppers into buyers.
To pull big creative ideas across the screen, into the cart, through the aisle and into the hearts of shoppers.
Saatchi & Saatchi X is already working in Canada and plans to set up a Saatchi & Saatchi X office here.
The store is now a major strategic focus for Saatchi & Saatchi. Our ambition is to transform the store into a Theater of Dreams.
Creatively this is a huge opportunity.
THREE IDEAS TO GET STARTED:
1: Get Serious About Love
Change the name of your Council. “Le Conseil quebecois du commerce de detail” can expect Respect, but it won’t win Love.
How about “Le Collectif des Inspirateurs du magasinage”.
2: Unleash Emotion
Humans are powered by emotion, not by reason.
Emotion, intuition, long-term memories and unconscious motivations. They control as much as 85% of our decision-making process. That leaves just 15% for logic to battle over!
Donald Calne: “The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action, while reason leads to conclusions”. More emotion, more action.
Reason has very little to do with it! Shopping is an action attraction.
3: Live for Big Transforming Ideas
The store is the ultimate area for great ideas to play and make a real difference. What she doesn’t notice in sixty days is gone in ninety days. We need ideas.
Ideas with stopping power and talking power to touch shoppers.
Ideas driven by Sight, Sound and Motion. Nothing makes emotional connections faster and deeper than this magic mix.
Sight, Sound and Motion is how you think with your heart and feel with your brain.
Wind-Up
With Lovemarks, shopping can be transformed by shoppers themselves. They want to do good and to feel good – and they insist you join them.
Shoppers who want to know where products can from and how they were made.
Shoppers who make their choices with understanding and skill.
Shoppers who want to deal with stores and products they respect, and may grow to love.
Stores who stay In Touch.