Getting an agency brief right is a challenge across all of marketing. While 78% of marketers thing that their briefs provide clear strategic direction, only 5% of agencies agree. 80% of marketers think they are good at writing briefs. Only 10% of agencies agree. And from my experience, the situation is worse in the world of shopper marketing. We work with both agencies and clients, and when they show us example marketing briefs, too often our hearts sink. No wonder so much of what we see out there in stores is so generic, uninteresting, and often ineffective. So how can shopper marketers, and their agencies, improve the quality of their agency briefs that will ultimately lead to better execution and better results?
Don’t make the shopper marketing brief an after-thought
The biggest sin when it comes to briefing shopper marketing work is to make the shopper bit an afterthought or a tag on to a consumer marketing brief. I’ve spoken to countless shopper folks at agencies who tell of being called up by their consumer creative/suits the day before the client presentation and being asked to ‘give us a couple of charts on shopper’. All that consumer creative is worth nothing – nothing – unless someone buys the product. And that someone is the shopper. Shopper marketing and the briefing thereof shouldn’t be an afterthought. It needs to be integrated into the entire campaign at a strategic level. Put it this way, if consumer and shopper aren’t strategically integrated, it is extremely unlikely that it will be tactically connected either.
Identify the target shopper in your shopper marketing brief
A shopper brief that declares the target shopper to be ‘the consumer’ hasn’t been thought through. Ditto something that says ‘housewives’ or, ‘the shopper’. Great shopper marketing will come from a deep understanding of who the target shopper is, what they do now, and what we want them to do. Which brings me on to
Have a clear behavioral objective
Yes there is value in shifting attitudes, and that might be necessary to achieve our goals. But when it comes to shopper marketing, 99 times out of 100 we want someone to buy something that they weren’t going to buy otherwise. That means we want to change behavior. Selling more product is not a good objective. We all know how to sell more product. Discount and display will move product. But we want to be a little more strategic, surely? So. Who do you want to behave differently? What do they do now? What do you want them to do in the future? That’s what we call a Shopper Behavioral Objective. If your brief doesn’t call this out in specific detail, you’ll more than likely get a generic or wildly off-brief response.
Ask the Most Powerful Question in Marketing™
OK – I haven’t trademarked it, but maybe I should! Many of you will know about the 5Ws of marketing (Who, When, Where, Why, What) – well that misses the most powerful W. The 6W. Why not? And this is even more important in shopper marketing. We’ve got a great brand, a great product. It meets the consumers needs. Its perfect. So why are shoppers not buying it? The 6th W unlocks the power of your creative team, believe me.
Learn how to create powerful shopper communication that really works – Now
Don’t do tactics
Most marketers think that they are quite good at creative. The same is true for shopper marketers. Leave it to the pros. That’s why you have an agency. Let the agency plan how to make it work. As the marketer, focus on the strategy. Which brings me to my next point
Have a strategy first
If you don’t have a clear shopper strategy that integrates with the consumer strategy, please don’t blame the agency for not being ‘strategic enough’ in their response. Strategic is the client’s job. If you need help creating an integrated consumer and shopper strategy – get in touch and we can show you how (or help you do it, or both!)
Include brand mandatories, but only things that are REALLY mandatory
If certain things need to be included, by all means detail it out for the agency. Don’t leave them guessing. But please don’t tie the agency down with too many rules and regulations, especially things that aren’t appropriate for shopper communication. Things that are important in consumer communication aren’t always important when it comes to the shopper. Yes, you might have splurged a squillion dollars on the sexy tagline for the TV ad – but that might not mean anything to the shopper. Don’t include mandatories that don’t add value.
Include retail mandatories in your shopper marketing brief
Many shopper agencies don’t really understand retail (many of their clients don’t either!). Explaining what the retail rules are is key, but explaining why can also be useful. Helping your agency understand why the retailer insists on certain things can both reduce frustration, and lead to creative executions that might still work for the retailer. Want to know how to get retailers to say yes more often? Check this out!
More is actually sometimes more
One agency we worked with told us that their client briefed them by SMS. That’s extreme, but I guess it makes the point (see earlier point on shopper marketing being a campaign afterthought). Remember that you live and breathe your brand/channel/customer. The agency might not. Often, we don’t hold our shopper marketing agencies as close as our consumer creative teams. Take time. Build relationships (with the good ones). Tell them more that you think they need. A good agency is like a sponge – they’ll soak it up!
Make sure you tell the agency everything you know about the target consumer AND the target shopper. Go deep on shopper missions (they are way more complicated than most shopper marketing briefs suggest)
Write a brief
Make sure you write a brief (and more than an SMS!). It makes sure you and the agency are on the same page. Actually writing a brief also forces you to check that you really have all of the information and requirements for a quality brief. If you attend our shopper communication training, we give you a brilliant briefing template for free!
Don’t just write a brief
But don’t just email that brief over. Meet. Verbally. Face to face if at all possible. Briefing is about communication, and communication is about using as many senses as possible. You will get better feedback, more questions, more challenge, more collaboration and therefore much better results if you brief face to face than if you send an email.
Make it clear that the agency can and should push back
This one is probably the toughest. It takes time. But allow agencies to push back. Allow them to complain if the brief isn’t adequate. Reward them when they ask questions, even if those questions seem stupid. Tell them what they can expect from you in a brief and ask them to hold you to account when you don’t brief properly. I know. Humble pie is tough sometimes, but it is key if you are going to improve the briefing process.
Evaluate agency responses objectively and consistently
“I don’t like it” isn’t feedback. Or at least it isn’t useful feedback. Evaluate creative work and proposals based on objective criteria. And explain these criteria in advance. Make sure your shopper agency team understand how to effectively communicate with shoppers (I know they should, but let’s not assume). We sometimes run joint training sessions with clients and agencies to make sure that everyone is on the same page.
Improve the shopper marketing briefing process to improve the results you get from shopper marketing
The consumer goods industry spends a fortune on shopper marketing activation, and so much of it could be better. If you are interested in improving your shopper marketing and shopper communication, check out our training programs now to access all of the knowledge, tools and templates to improve the shopper marketing agency briefing process immediately. Get in touch if you need help developing your shopper strategy, or just want us to facilitate a briefing session between you and your agency. Whatever you do, don’t keep on doing the same thing as before. Its time to step up and deliver better results from your shopper marketing. And that requires better shopper marketing briefs!
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