Matthew Diamond is senior vice-president at AMG Canada.
What’s in a word anyway? Sales, marketing, shopper marketing, social media, scientists who love data, smartphones – how many of these words have we heard over the past few years being earmarked as the “next big thing”?
It’s been like, pick any word, on any given Sunday, and I give you the trend du jour! So, as I tried to take a bit time over the holidays to reflect back on 2014 — and more importantly the year ahead — it suddenly came to me. I better explain:
I give you “Smarketing.” I see Smarketing as the activation of smart solutions whether they come from sales, marketing, or shopper marketing. Smarketing has us blurring the lines between disciplines to look at our business needs as a whole. I’m confident this approach will lead to smarter ideas for anyone competing to win the almighty shopper dollar – and by this I mean marketers, retailers and agencies.
So, let’s look at what Smarketing will mean to each group in 2015.
Traditional Manufacturers/Marketers
The Canadian dollar is weak right now. For multinationals, that’s bad news. Buying goods in another currency (especially the one south of the border), then selling your product in Canada, is just a bad formula. Ask anyone from Target about how that math works. No doubt, this group will have tough choices to make, and they’ll need to be skillful about where they place their bucks, including human resources — cuts to which, are the all too easy way of showing profit. Smarketing to marketers and manufacturers will mean using greater intelligence, better insights and focused bets to deliver on plan. Necessity is the mother of invention and I think we’ll see some innovative approaches on the scene this year.
Retailers
It’s tough out there, and Target isn’t the only casualty. Mexx and Sony have their own stories to tell. The competition is fierce too, with online juggernauts like Amazon and Walmart steadily diverting more and more dollars away from traditional brick and mortar. For retailers, Smarketing will mean captivating shoppers with unique experiences they’ll love. Concepts like pop-up stores, showrooming and unique store openings will yield results. Also, poor exchange rates will give deal-seeking shoppers a chance to shop in Canada, so retailers should be ready. It’s a golden opportunity for them to surprise and delight — all the while earning valuable shopper loyalty. You can bet Smarketing that maximizes the thrust of loyalty programs and their drivers will be well worth the effort.
Agencies
It isn’t getting any easier for these guys, with clients asking for more, but giving you less. Agencies have to consistently pump out great ideas as the price tag for creating long-standing partnerships with both clients and retailers (who are constantly rethinking and evolving their businesses). The war will be on for top-notch talent, data, insights, and above all, flawless execution. Clients and retailers will be low on patience as the currency keeps forcing steady pressure to deliver more. And, as always, agencies will be the heroes or the goats. Smarketing for agencies is going to be about staying two steps ahead of clients and tightening-up to deliver superior “everything” — oh, and make it bleeding edge please.
So what does it all boil down to for 2015? A word that speaks volumes with bigger, better and smarter ideas. That’s Smarketing!
Good luck in 2015.
