‘There’s nothing wrong with stealing as long as you do it creatively.’ So says Alan Middleton on the practice of borrowing marketing schemes from other categories, a technique he believes has become more prevalent.
‘What blocked this happening more in the past were executives who’d grown up in one industry and tended to believe it was too unique to learn from others,’ explains Middleton, a professor of marketing at York University’s Schulich School of Business in Toronto.
But, in the last few years, corporations have come to realize that a number of processes are exactly the same, he says; in part this belief stems from a movement of marketers between sectors. ‘For instance, there has been a huge movement of executives from packaged goods to the financial services industry. What they bring with them is a whole bunch of different disciplines.’
Following this trend, earlier this month former Labatt Brewing honcho Fred Jaques became the first outsider to take the helm at family-owned Dare Foods, which makes crackers and cookies out of its base in Kitchener, Ont. Similarly, Camden, N.J.-based Campbell Soup poached Jay Gould from his post as the head of global innovation and portfolio development at Coca-Cola in Atlanta. According to The Wall Street Journal, as CMO of Campbell’s Pepperidge Farm division, Gould’s duties will include product extensions and ‘innovative marketing.’
Middleton points out that any industry that excels in a particular aspect of marketing, or any brand that is a leader in its category, will attract examination. For instance, ‘Coke is known for promotions and advertising,’ he explains. ‘And I’d bet that McDonald’s is looking at Tim Hortons like crazy – they’ve taught us how to manage a varied menu in different outlets.’
Susan Murray, director of brand strategy at Toronto-based Spencer Francey Peters, says the tendency to utilize benchmarking in marketing circles has increased because ‘in the environment of leaner companies trying to make their mark in an expanding marketplace, [firms] want to avoid recreating the wheel,’ as well as redundant work and poor decision-making. ‘It’s like building software versus buying and tailoring it.’
The out-of-the-box gleanings that go hand-in-hand with pilfering processes from another category are what led to the hiring of Stuart Pollock, who now handles strategic partnerships for Xbox Canada, based in Toronto. Pollock joined the video game firm in July, after spending 12 years at the Famous Players movie chain. ‘The vision that they had was to be able to get out of the box of video games and into the box of entertainment,’ he explains.
Pollock says Xbox has been peddling ‘a wonderful piece of entertainment in a packaged goods world.’ One of the challenges it faces is that, unlike viewing movies, people still define gaming as a ‘guilty pleasure’; therefore, the objective, says Pollock, is to take the pastime to the next level by encouraging it to become more accepted as a mainstream activity.
There are certain marketing aspects that the movie business has excelled at and Xbox can try its hand at those, he says. One example is its skill at building a buzz, ‘a gotta-see-that-now type of attitude’ through PR efforts. While video games might instil such a reaction among their hardcore users, the plan is to facilitate that hype among a greater group of people, and help video games ‘become a discussion point,’ as in the ‘did you see 8 Mile yet?’ vein.
Pollock suggests that Xbox can mimic the film sector’s ability to ‘build campaigns months ahead on the Web with teaser spots.’ Certainly, the video game firm has become more active online lately; in fall it launched its own site, featuring info about games, as well as forums and contests. ‘People go to the Web for answers, and to do research,’ says Pollock. ‘You have to make sure the house is in order. Xbox.com/ca has done a good job of keeping the consumer educated and finding out what they like and don’t like.’ So far, the site has performed well, with 75,000 registered Canadian users and two million page views a day in Canada. It is also the third most visited Xbox country site, after the U.S. and the U.K., out of a total of 27.
Like the video game industry, sports firms are battling for consumer leisure time. But sports as a category isn’t very sophisticated when it comes to marketing, points out Tom Anselmi, SVP of business and CMO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment in Toronto. ‘It’s not as mature and developed as a lot of others.’
Anselmi says this has impelled the parent company of both the Maple Leafs and the Raptors to search outside its field for marketing insight, which it has done for the past several years. ‘Most business principles apply to any industry, so why limit yourself by just looking at your own? Whether it’s the greeter at Wal-Mart or the button on a flight attendant, any of those [marketing techniques] can work in virtually any industry.’
There are a slew of companies that Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment taps into for knowledge. Anselmi explains that once a corporation secures a partnership deal with the firm, Maple Leaf’s senior management team has access to its business strategies, from marketing to packaging concepts, to customer service and employee programs. In the past, the company has sat down with the likes of Bacardi, American Express, Nike and Home Depot. Anselmi adds that some of the research techniques used by Maple Leaf Sports to measure on-site service levels and set new targets for staff have been copied from some of these players.
The organization has also followed Air Canada’s lead in creating packaging for its mailings to season ticket holders. For 65 years, Maple Leaf fans received season tickets in a plain envelope. ‘All of a sudden we went through the process of thinking about the product we are selling, the brand and what it means and we linked that with the importance of packaging,’ explains Anselmi. ‘Air Canada’s frequent flyer mail gives you information on how to use the product and makes you feel like you’re a member of something special. We thought that made a lot of sense for season ticket holders.’ For instance, the Raptors 2002-03 season ticket package, designed by Toronto-based firm Art & Soul, features a sleek tin container enclosing a basketball adorned with the Raptors’ ‘One Team’ branding.
Similarly, Canada Post has also borrowed marketing concepts from its corporate partner, Amazon. The Ottawa-based organization started a co-marketing effort with the online retailer last June, through which Canada Post picked up pointers for its Web site. ‘We’re taking a lot of [Amazon’s] customer focus and applying it to our Web site,’ explains Sandra Sanderson, GM of brand marketing at Canada Post. ‘We’re ensuring that we are diligent about making that user experience as useful as it could possibly be.’
In fact, in repositioning its brand over the last two years, Canada Post has appropriated marketing models from both the retail and packaged goods sectors. Sanderson, formerly VP of marketing at Minute Maid Canada, points out that Canada Post wants to be identified as a retailer, not just a post office.
Specifically, Canada Post added a gift ideas page to its Web site during last year’s holiday season; the initiative was promoted by a direct mail piece distributed to 750,000 homes. It contained a list of Canadian e-tailers, which partnered with Canada Post on the effort. In all, it garnered a response rate of 5.4%, and drove 96,338 visitors to the site. This year the program is being repeated with online shops like Ikea and Just White Shirts onboard.
Also, a new holiday catalogue was born last year, showcasing 30 different products, in an attempt to drive consumers to online and store venues. Coupons were added to track results, 52,000 of which were redeemed online and 251,000 in-store. In fact, the entire holiday effort for 2001, including e-mail, catalogue, truck-side advertising and P-O-P, achieved over 70% awareness.
This year, mall posters are also being utilized for the first time with the message ‘Canada Post delivers for the holidays’ says Sanderson. ‘This particular group has a very active lifestyle, and they love to connect with family and friends, but are extremely time starved. They love being extravagant and love to impulse buy.’
This research into the consumer segment was a packaged goods learning, points out Sanderson, as it reflects a move away from a demographic toward an attitudinal analysis. ‘Before we didn’t have a competitive business, so we didn’t need marketing. Now we operate in e-commerce. It has become important and packaged goods is a pioneer in brand marketing.’
To that end, last year Canada Post also ran its first contest, a marketing staple of the packaged goods industry. The organization gave away holiday gifts worth $50,000, resulting in 350,000 entries. This year’s version offers the chance to win a family reunion, and is being promoted through radio creative, on P-O-P and online. So far, 40,000 submissions have come through the Web site.
In its entirety, the repositioning represents a shift from product to corporate branding, following the likes of General Electric and Bombardier, says Sanderson. ‘We’ve traditionally been a house of brands versus a branded house. Now we’re focusing on the master brand. We do a corporate campaign and integrate our products into it.’
These tactics have obviously paid off for Canada Post, and by and large, stealing marketing practices is a smart option, admits Spencer Francey Peters’ Murray. ‘If leveraged properly, the results include increased productivity, increased morale and a winning solution.’
But there is a caveat: she warns a company needs to take note of how the program was utilized, as well as the audience target and goals, before adapting it to its own environment. ‘There are always specific needs and tailored requirements that will have to be thought out to make sure the solution is appropriate,’ says Murray. ‘You can borrow, but you have to edit. Otherwise, it won’t be a fit.’
