Lessons in Customer Insights
Story #1:“I don’t think we know who are customers are anymore.”
This was what the CEO of a famous retail beauty products company told his senior management team. It released a wild flurry of activity within the company’s Insights department and they turned to Cult Marketing to help solve this problem.
Over the course of a few months, Cult teams went to seven different markets across the US and conducted 120 in-home ethnographic visits and shop alongs. The retail company’s management teams in the operations, product development, marketing, and merchandising departments accompanied Cult into the seven markets to learn more about their customers and their shopping behaviors. We dug deep into the customers’ views of the brand, the products, the in-store experience, and the competition to create a profound understanding of the category and the company’s positioning and offerings.
The results were astounding and game-changing. We discovered that the brand had in fact missed the mark on what their core customers wanted from the brand and it led to a massive store redesign and product mix overhaul across over 3,000 stores. Six months after the overhaul, sales were up 15% across the board, delivering billions in increased revenue.
Story #2: “Sales are flat. How do we spice up the brand?”
The CMO of a heritage western footwear brand called Cult with this challenge. Cult hit the trail to find out the answer. Our initial evaluation of the marketing and branding was that it was functional and cognitive in nature, not based on any emotional connection. They were using words like Durable, Comfortable, and Affordable – in other words, really boring language.
Through our ethnography and narrative science methodology, we went into the homes of western boot wearers and had them create collages, respond to various image projectives, and even had them dress up in their favorite outfits. Guess what happened when these consumers slipped on their boots? They stood up taller and puffed out their chests and took on a new persona. When asked how they were feeling, the words they used were “sexy,” “badass," and “ready to party and dance.” This is a far cry from the boring vocabulary the company was using.
Cult created a new target persona of fun, wild, hell-raising partiers based on the brand essence of “Outlaw Fun.” The brand video showed people breaking loose, having fun and getting wild in their western boots. The sales team was psyched and the impact was immediate. Several huge new retailers signed up to carry the brand and within one year, sales were up over 60% and up 100% in two years.
Story #3: Are Jingles back?
“Oh, Oh, Oh! Ozempic!”
Have you noticed the recent resurgence of jingles, especially among pharma ads? Think Ozempic, Jardiance, Skyrizi, and many others. Also known as “ear worms,” jingles have been around for well over 75 years.
Why? Because they work. As proof, Ozempic was the most successful drug launch of all time.
There have been numerous studies about the effectiveness of jingles in advertising. Jingles – like popular songs – can stick with you for decades. The recall of famous jingles is amazingly high, especially when used in TV ads.
One thing about famous jingles, their popularity and recall depends upon what demographic generation you are in. Surprisingly, GenX-ers have the highest recall of jingles overall.
Here are some of the most remembered jingles of all time:
Nationwide (1964, but still active today) “Nationwide is on your side…” is the most recalled of all jingles across all age groups
Oscar Mayer (1963) “Oh, I’d love to be an Oscar Mayer Weiner…” is highly recalled among Baby Boomers.
Folgers (1984) “The best part of waking up, is Folgers in your cup…” is the most recalled ad by GenX-ers at over 90%.
Klondike (1982) “What would you do for a Klondike bar…” and McDonald’s (1983) “I’m lovin’ it…” were recalled extremely well by Millennials.
The conversation of best jingle could go on forever. Our favorites are Alka Selzer’s “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is” and the Schaefer beer classic “The most rewarding flavor…” What are your favorites? Shoot me a message dougm@cultmarketing.com.
