Premiumisation

Just when you think you've seen it all, you walk into a garden centre and are confronted with this...

... clearly Weber feel post recession Britain is ready for a £20 bag of charcoal.

Good stuff

Its been a poor effort recently, three months without a post. To break my longest drought to date, here's a mixed bag of good stuff that I've come across lately... while i finalise a future rant about coffee chains.

1. The rise and rise of Hailo - a genuinely useful app and i don't even live in London anymore. The app that lets you hail that elusive black cab from the other side of town and track it all the way to your curbside seems to be everywhere. It saves the cabbie driving around looking for fares too - the kind of win-win that's likely to make it a huge success, and means they can offer trial driving promotions like this...

2. All year round decoration - Liberation day in Guernsey marks the end of the German occupation in the second world war, you can find out more about that here and maybe even plan a trip for next time round (9th May). Houses all over the island are decorated with bunting. That's been partly responsible for a new obsession i have over the stuff - if you want to get in on the bunting action you could do a lot worse than starting with a Dutch offering here.

3. Local craft classes - It's not just bunting, here's the latest edition to my the kitchen from Iris & Dora Designs they don't just sell you locally inspired homewares, they'll teach you how to make it too.

4. 'Destination' train stations - I travelled through Kings Cross last week for the first time since its redevelopment. A beautiful mix of old and new in the mould of St Pancras next door. If only we'd mastered the flying lark a little earlier... that way Gatwick South Terminal would have been built by the Victorians and it might have been next in line for a face lift.

5. 'Magic' mints - Good to see Peppersmith getting some High St distribution for their mints. They contain xylitol which makes them good for your teeth... well, for the few real ones I have left.

(stud) farm to fork

It’s been a while since the last post - a busy few weeks at this end, but not as busy as it’s been for supermarket PR departments across the country.

Over the past fortnight, ‘horsemeat’ has been on everyone’s lips, if not their palate. And as of yesterday, it became something more than a couple of rogue suppliers when facilities in the UK also became implicated.

Who will suffer? I’m not sure retailers will, almost all of them are affected by the controversy thanks to their supply chain which makes switching stores difficult, not only that, retailers still stand to benefit from changing shopping habits as a result. The problem could be more serious for brands such as Findus if the category suffers. Every year the likes of Hugh, Gordon, Jamie et al highlight the reality of what processed meat actually contains and it’s not pretty. While slightly different, this particular scandal has achieved far more reach and could do irreparable damage to some processed food categories.

Government regulation both domestic and European is inevitable, but will that be enough to encourage shoppers back to the products? What will be interesting is how those brands and retailers affected begin to adjust their approach to quality and provenance after the horsemeat fiasco.

This episode highlights the gap between the marketing promise and the supply chain reality. At the moment brands are in damage limitation mode with apologetic letters, emails and adverts bombarding us on a daily basis. But once the dust has settled, how will retailers and manufacturers win back trust in the category? Will ‘home grown’, ‘animal welfare’ or ‘farm to fork’ promises be enough? I think consumers will begin to demand more than a smiling farmer and an authentic stamp on the box. Which in turn means that brands and retailers alike, will need to deliver more ‘proof’... and make it more appetising than a DNA certification.

This reminds me of a great feature length ad from last year that was produced by Chipotle, a US based Mexican (fast) food franchise. They weren’t sneaking horses into their burritos, but their business had moved to a much more ethical supply chain including naturally grown beef, pork and chicken produced without antibiotics. Despite that, the vast majority of their 800,000 daily customers came for the taste, value and convenience of the food, and knew little of where that food came from. What Mark Crumpacker (Chipotle’s chief marketing officer) did next was to tell an important story “in a more approachable way... making the message interesting and entertaining”. You can watch the film below, and read a longer article from The New York Times about it here, and maybe this time next year, we’ll be watching the Findus version....

 

Happy ormering

Who needs the glorious 12th when you can have the soggy 11th? If you happen to find yourself on Guernsey in the Channel Islands today, you could be taking part in the first official day of ormering this year.

A good day for ormering (once the tide goes out that is)

The green ormer (Haliotis tuberculata) is a species of sea snail and belongs to the abalone family. The flesh of the green ormer is prized as a delicacy on the island so as a result, you can't just don your waders and go searching under rocks on any given day of the year - there is a strict code of conduct in place...

"... persons are permitted to collect ormers on the days of the full moon, new moon and the two days following between January 1st and April 30th, 2013 (inclusive)."

 

If you've overlooked the soggy 11th and double booked yourself today, fear not, there's a full list of future dates here but leave the scuba gear at home....

"A person may not take or gain possession of any ormer whilst totally or partially submerged and either breathing with the aid of submarine breathing apparatus (including a snorkel and any other diving device whatsoever), or wearing a diving suit, face visor, mask or goggles: and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly."

Ormers shells (sadly empty when i found them on the beach)

An ormer will take around 4 years to grow to 9cm in length, they can reach as much as 15cm in length and can live for over a decade. After a successful forage, all that's left is to cook it up for tea tonight. Traditionally, they are used in a casserole recipe that dates back to the 17th century, here's a modern day equivalent recipe from esteemed local chef Tony Leck.

Good luck finding one (and managing to eat it all).

Grocery shopping Guernsey style

Fed up of buying fruit and veg wrapped in plastic and stored at sub zero temperatures in your local supermarket? Longing for the days of a proper green grocer experience, with wonky veg that tastes great and travelled less than 5 miles from soil to plate? Maybe you should be booking a weekend break in Guernsey next Spring.

Yes, this is a shameless tourism plug for the island, but it's also a great reason to play this short film produced by Spike Productions all about the Guernsey institution that is Hedge Veg.



It also means i can post my favourite hedge veg stall just up the road, clearly this grower recognises the importance of roadside presentation.

Now all you have to do is book your flights and find somewhere to stay on the brand new Visit Guernsey website. Enjoy.

Could travel agents learn from Heston?

Someone sent me a link to this film at the weekend, it's all about a project Heston Blumenthal commissioned earlier this year to build the excitement of a trip to The Fat Duck for his diners.



Like A Kid In A Sweet Shop. from The Neighbourhood on Vimeo.


I thought it was an interesting way of turning the negative of a two month wait from booking to eating into something much more positive, something that can heighten the experience itself when it arrives.

There are a few other similar purchases that you could equate this to; waiting for your new car to be delivered, ordering a made to order piece of furniture, or booking a holiday.

When you consider the increasing pressure on High Street travel agents and operators as booking behaviour evolves to a DIY model, it feels like an opportunity to add much more value to the agent experience. Why stop at a brochure when - like Heston - you could be building anticipation from the moment the deposit is paid until the morning of the trip itself?

It could improve the experience for the customer, and it may even get them into the habit of conversing with the helpful agent (or operator) on a much more regular basis, which in turn makes a post trip review, recommendation and subsequent re-booking more likely to happen.

Some pro-active cruise companies and hoteliers are already taking advantage, instigating and maintaining a conversation that builds anticiptaion and improves the overall experience. The payback for them coming in the form of a stronger customer relationship, a higher chance of a positive customer review and benefical word of mouth occurring pre trip, as well as post.



Encouraging WOM post trip: Hotel reception card prompting a review on Trip Advisor

Would you like a bill with that?

Nice touch from Giraffe on their menus at Gatwick airport. Good example of thinking about how the shopper (or diner) is feeling and what matters most - in this case an enjoyable & short dining experience.

How to really change shopper behaviour: start in the kitchen

Bridging the gap from a nudge in perception to a shift in behaviour isn't easy- it's what 'shopper marketing' is (or ought to be) founded upon. But for FMCG brands in particular, trying to do it at point of purchase, in the store, is often unrealistic for a number of reasons; a repetitive entrenched routine isn't conducive to trialing something new, the environment is often heavily regulated by the retailer, and the price discounting mindset of both retailer and shopper can often undermine any attempt to add (or even retain) value for a brand. Of course there's a role for retail based commuications, but too often it's a default reaction from brands that stands little chance of being effective without broader support.

It makes much more sense (particularly in these straitened times) to address the shopper's predisposition, to change their behaviour upstream.

Take the weekly grocery shop. It doesn't start in the shop, or in the car park outside the shop, it starts in the kitchen where people write their list for their next visit to the store. In fact recent IGD research suggests that over 61% of us now shop from a list, with 44% buying less food as a result of this planning.

The kitchen sits at the heart of the household, it's where you'll be when you realise you've run out of cereal or olive oil, or baby belles. It's a place for triggering ideas as well, thanks to the rise of tablets and smart phones, the kitchen is no longer detached from the inspiring thoughts and ideas of the web. And from a brand's point of view, it could be argued that the kitchen is also a better place to communicate; you have a more captive audience, you can add value, you don't need to pay the retailer tens of thousands of pounds to be there, and you don't need to look yellow and red and discounted all over.

By setting the communications challenge in the context of the shopper's wider life - brand teams (together with product innovation depts and agencies) are much more likely to generate innovative media neutral ideas that do more than just nudge perception. For example, asking your agency to 'connect with mum in her own kitchen to get on her shopping list' could lead to all sorts of communication opportunities, be that through packaging, partnerships, DM or mobile. Even the humble banner ad could have a crucial role to play as this example from Fairy illustrates -communicating in context, to the target audience, for the entire weekend - and helping to bridge that gap to purchase as a result.

A Fairy Banner ad takes pride of place in the kitchen

Encouraging adoption of contactless payment

Nice bit of trial driving activity between HSBC & EAT encouraging use of contactless payment. Only cards that were used with a decent amount of frequency arrived with this EAT offer at the bottom of the letter supplying your new card. Contrast that with Barclays that recently sent me an uninspiring 6 page pamphlet with their new 'contactless' card with no incentive to do anything more than bin the material and carry on using chip & pin.

HSBC encouraging adoption of contactless payment
through EAT trial driving offer

The offer made me try the technology, go out of my way to visit an EAT outlet and also recognise just how quick and simple the payment mechanism is. That said, the terminal i used (below) had a malfunctioning LED display. When you're introducing new payment technology such as this and people are highly sceptical of fraud and overpayment, you need to be able to reassure and build trust, so it's vital the displays tell you exactly what you've paid - otherwise customers hang around for another 15 seconds waiting for a receipt which kind of defeats the object of the technology in the first place. 

Malfunctioning display does nothing to
build confidence in new payment mechanism

Choose your wine via ipad

It's never easy picking wine in a restaurant. Under pressure, complicated format, unfamiliar regions, well now you can worry not, if you're dining at Le Petit Bistro at least, because choosing that all important bottle just got a whole lot easier. Their ipad wine list allows your to sort by region, appellation, vintage, grape or price.

If you're still at a loss, tapping any bottle listed gives you all the info you could need from food pairing to exact location of the vines themselves. A nice bit of restaurant theatre that's actually useful for a lot of diners and helps break down the sometimes awkward British barrier of choosing one's wine.

Bridging the gap from consumption to repurchase

Ever enjoyed a great bottle of wine and thought to yourself - i must buy that again?

A week later, having recovered from the hangover, you find yourself in the supermarket aisle looking in vain for that very same bottle.

It seems simple enough, but this is the first time I've seen the 'remember me' tab on the rear label of a bottle, in this case from a New Zealand producer.

It's a great example of bridging the gap from consumption to repurchase for the shopper, though I'm not sure how long it will be before i see it on a bottle of claret.

Helpful reminder for the next shop

Gin, from Scotland?

Caorunn Gin seems to be everywhere at the moment. As a bonafide Gin addict i thought i had a good grasp of the botanical spirit landscape but over the last 2 months this Scottish Gin seems to have appeared in every independent off licence i walk into, most supermarkets and pretty much every duty free airport shop.

Great packaging, an interesting story and a different taste seem to put it squarely in the Hendrick's court - not sure about the red apple garnish though, is that asking a bit too much of the fruit bowl at home and staff in the bars?

Is this the best supermarket in Britain?

It's been a while since the last post due to a bit of travelling. On those travels i came across Booths. I'd read about it before in the odd Sunday supplement but never had the good fortune to walk into one. What i experienced is how i think everyone wants a supermarket to be, quality products, value for money and old fashioned values in a comfortable, contemporary setting.

Unassuming from the outside

Clearly something was amiss the moment i walked through the door - not only was i confronted by a wheelbarrow extolling the virtues of the locally sourced veg, the veg in question, new potatoes, had mud on. Mud?! on veg? in a supermarket?

Stop Press - dirt on supermarket veg

Unnerved, i ventured down a few 'tinned' aisles - no bus stops, no 'great value' messages, just well signposted products, clearly priced. That had the inverse effect of making deals standout even more.

Clean, well lit shelving

I've never walked through the freezer section of a supermarket and thought 'what a pleasant place to shop, i must hang around here a bit longer', but that hanging around is usually inevitable given it's the hardest part of the store to navigate with everything behind glass doors or stowed away in chests. the picture below is the freezer section at Booths, though it could be easily mistaken for Carluccios, if that place had a freezer section.

A freezer area you don't mind hanging about in

This really pleasant ambiance and fresh food cues continued through the bakery and fresh food areas, with nice little touches like 'proper' scales, information on suppliers and a mushroom section that resembled something more like continental Europe than North West England.

Fresh Bakery section - ovens to the right

The Wine & Spirits area used curved shelving to create a bit of an oasis of calm (not that it were needed), again, the feel was more like a specialist wine seller than that of a supermarket, the friendly staff and 'tasting' events reinforced that further.

But it was two areas of the store in particular that resulted in me needing a double take. Everyone knows fresh orange juice from supermarkets is rarely that, fresh. So why not take a leaf out of the food market book - and squeeze it there and then, straight into the bottle. High quality, as fresh as you will ever get it and because of the theatre and transparency over what's in the bottle - the higher price point is justifiable for the shopper.

Freshness has a big impact on another product, ground coffee, so at Booths, they take a leaf out of the coffee shop book and sell the beans allowing you to grind them there and then to your desired taste before sealing and enjoying at home only hours later. Similar to the Orange Juice experience, you can tangibly see the quality of ingredients and the added value which again makes the price premium more justifiable.

I walked out through the suitably pleasant check outs wondering whether we'll see the big 4 looking more like this in a few years time. I hope so.

Recipe friendly products

Simple way to encourage more real cooking from The Co-op, package the fresh herbs up around the dish your cooking. Less waste, less cost, and hopefully less ready meals as a result.





Herbs on sale 'by the recipe' in Coop



Talking of which, here's the latest campaign from Jamie Oliver, food revolution day (19th May), encouraging schools, workplaces and everyone else to prepare and eat better food.

School trip to...

You're on a school trip in the capital. It's an early start, well 9am, on Shaftesbury Avenue. Where to first? McDonalds of course for a hearty breakfast. What would Jamie say....

A school party queue for McDonalds at 9am on Friday morning

Street food on Berwick St.

Coffee shops built on to the back of auto rickshaws are a pretty common occurrence but this was a genuine first for me - a Piaggio APE converted into a pizza oven by pizza pilgrims.

The pizza looked great, the queue didn't so I'll need to plan in an early lunch to give them a proper road test, though the general feedback on twitter is pretty positive. The only trouble is, there's so much other kelter required you can't fit it all in the van, which sort of defeats the object doesn't it? That said, a pizza oven in the back of a transit wouldn't have quite the same authentic Italian feel...

Return of the Tiger bread story

I received a few tweets last week that lead here. Bitter Wallet had picked up on a particularly friendly bit of customer service from Sainsbury’s who had received a letter from Lily (aged 3 and a half) who thought tiger bread ought to be renamed giraffe bread.

What’s interesting is that despite loads of coverage on Twitter and FB, the article and the whole incident, took place last June.  Only this January have we seen a second spike of activity which has been larger than the original viral effect last year.

This chap has looked at what made it spike again and it seems we can base the phenomenon on 4 factors.

Two obvious ones:

1. A great response from Sainsbury’s to spark the ‘story’

2. A key influencer posting the image on FB to a large number of active fans

And then more importantly:

3. Media blogs and key (media) individuals amplifying through their own personal networks

4. The ability to better share images on face book now (versus last summer)

All of that has culminated in a bigger second spike, resulting in national media coverage and Sainsbury’s changing the name of their bread yesterday.

Which they’re now promoting on Twitter…

A few things to think about:

1.   Images are less of a turn off, they are quicker, easier and  stand more chance of being shared than copy – even though this was an image of two letters!

2.   Old news isn’t necessarily old news, interesting content endures and doesn’t serve as a barrier if people have never seen the content before and trust the source

3.   The importance of connectors, in this case media industry individuals and a few ‘trend threads’ such as contagious, purely because of how interconnected and active (professionally and personally) most employees are on social networks, compared to the norm. This provided a tipping point in Jan that didn’t appear to materialise last year, and this increased noise has since propelled the story into mainstream media including The Sun and The Telegraph.

4.  Finally, nothing beats a good bit of customer service. It’s a mark of how thin on the ground it is when acts such as this garner such widespread interest. Many brands spend months discussing ideas that could ‘go viral’, when in truth, to get talked about all you really have to do is please your customer and they’ll do the rest.

Hidden London - Brentford

London may have a Starbucks opposite a McDonalds on every corner, but you can still find a bit of old London hiding behind the High Street, in this case hiding behind the Beehive pub on Brentford High st. Who needs the Meatwagon when you've got Langley's winkles & cockles?

The discerning young food shopper

They’re supposed to have less money and less time than their older ‘empty nester’ counterparts, but recent findings from an IGD tracker study suggest that under 35s that have grown up with the Jamie Oliver inspired food revolution are much more likely to invest time and money in food than their older counterparts.

The study showed that:

30% of under 35s are prepared to spend more on quality goods compared to 16% of older 35s

51% of under 35s are regularly cooking meals from scratch compared with 30% of the older generation

26% of younger buyers expect to buy organic next year compared to 13% of their older counterparts