If you're rolling out a new product and you want consumers exposed to it, television commercials are good but nothing beats getting it on store shelves.
According to research conducted in six countries by Nielsen Bases, stores outdid television commercials by 50 percent to 36 percent when it came to making consumers aware of new items. This margin is up from a 52 to 48 percent split just four years ago, according to AdAge.com. U.S. numbers for stores (53 percent) and television (39 percent) were higher than the overall averages.
Consumers identified as heavy buyers were even more likely to cite store shelves as their introduction to new items (55 percent). The findings of research support the overall increase that brand marketers have put into shopper marketing initiatives in recent years.
Mike Twitty, director-shopper insights at Unilever Americas, told Ad Age, "For the longest time, shopping has been pretty habitual. People buy the same 300 [items] over the course of the year, so there was a lot of repeat purchasing, and not a lot of engagement at the shelf. What we saw in the last year contradicted that."
Economic factors drove some of that change, according to Mr. Twitty. "One thing they did was check the prices of things they used to buy routinely without giving it a thought.. So in-store became even more important than it had been in the past for new products or all products."
Interestingly, just putting products on in-line shelves was the most important factor in driving awareness of new items, according to the research. Seventy-one percent said they noticed new products within the standard planogram while secondary displays, retailer circulars, demos and in-store media graded out no higher than 18 percent. In-store media and sampling only achieved scores in the low single-digits, according to the Ad Age report.
Mike Hess, Carat's exec VP-research, marketing science and consumer insights, said the Bases research misses some key points in new product marketing.
"My concern as a media person is that I'm not sure in-store awareness is the same as the awareness you get from TV in terms of strategic attributes and benefits," he told Ad Age. "A 30-second spot gives you that ... the unique selling proposition."
Discussion Questions: Where do you see the biggest opportunities for brands to create awareness and drive sales of new items through shopper marketing initiatives? What does the research cited in this article say to you about the role of television ads in new product launches?