Supermarket Marketing Trends Highlighted in New Christmas Scorecard [Benchmark Report]

Retail marketers all over the world are reflecting on the successes of their festive campaigns. As the busiest period in the calendar year, this peak season is make or break for many retailers, so being at the cutting edge of email design and cross-channel strategy is especially important.

More retailers are engaging customers with impressive digital tactics, but which elements take campaigns from good to great?

It was this question that inspired Oracle Marketing Cloud to launch our first Christmas Scorecard, an analysis focused on reflecting how effectively UK supermarkets delivered their cross-channel seasonal marketing campaigns during November - December 2014.

We picked supermarkets for our analysis, as these retailers operate in one of the most competitive fields for consumer spend. Our team of expert modern marketers have “wrapped up” a selection of curated festive communications from supermarkets including Tesco’s, Waitrose, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, and Aldi, benchmarking them against the highest standards of creative marketing excellence.

The pages of our Christmas Scorecard contain examples of digital marketing achievements that extend beyond the email channel, highlighting distinctive work across mobile and social. With a focus on innovative execution, smart content, and mobile awareness, our informal analysis highlights which retailers have achieved the highest level of marketing accomplishment and provides a glimpse into the future of retail marketing.

Looking at the highs and lows of digital marketing in Christmas 2014, we have identified four key areas supermarkets will need to prioritise this year in order to captivate customers:

• Personalisation – vital to connecting with subscribers one-to-one
• Triggered email and social notifications – critical in reaching customers when they’re most receptive
• Responsive mobile design – a must as more consumers read email on smartphones
• Cross-channel integration – now expected by even unsophisticated shoppers

Follow this link to read our full report. We hope that it inspires you to take a look at your current programme and find an opportunity to try something new. Our panel of marketing experts is excited to see what next year has in store as retailers develop their campaigns and display truly integrated marketing communications in 2015.​

What Rand Fishkin Wants You to Know About Content Creation and SEO

Rand Fishkin is the co-founder of Moz and one of the leading voices in the SEO world. Along with his work at Moz, he’s co-founded Inbound.org and co-wrote The Art of SEO. At Moz, his current position is the “Wizard of Moz”, where he contributes to individual teams within Moz. A sought after speaker, he’s […]

Slash Your Energy Costs By Using Solar

Lately, solar energy has become extremely popular for homeowners and businesses alike. If you’re not this source of energy, ask yourself why. If it’s because you aren’t sure how to utilize it right, then this article can definitely help. Continue reading this article to gain a better understanding of solar energy utilization. Avoid technology which ...

Can You Grow Your Organic Traffic Without Generating Content?

Did you know that the average web page that ranks on page 1 of Google has at least 2,000 words of text? That means if you want more organic traffic, you have to create tons of content, right? What if you don’t have a content bone in your body—does that mean that you’re out of  [click to continue...]

Consumer Marketing: 4 communication tips for online salespeople from a customer perspective

B2B marketing isn’t the only business model that needs lead nurturing. High-involvement purchases like cars and insurance policies need the help of a salesperson to close the deal. Read on for four tips for online salespeople when communicating with new leads.

Learn How Solar Energy Can Benefit You

There is no question that installing solar panels in your home is a great way to help the environment. However, it is important to remember that this is an investment. You have to understand if it will fit into your budget. In this article, we will cover the basics of financial considerations when going solar. ...

Marketers, Huddle Up With Two Super Bowl Winning Champs

Unlike any event in the entire world, the Super Bowl is of course the culmination and coronation of another NFL season and crowning of a new champion, respectfully. Being a Philadelphia Eagles fan I am not familiar of course with what winning a Super Bowl actually feels like.

Not that I’m bitter or anything.

Greatest Combination In NFL History
Over the past 12 months I have had the pleasure and honor in speaking with the quarterback and wide receiver who compromise the greatest QB/WR combination in the history of the NFL: Joe Montana and Jerry Rice.

Each man has gone to successful careers in the business world and as such I wanted to pick their brains about how they’ve applied what they learned on the gridiron to their lives off it.

You can read the entire interview with Joe Montana here and with Jerry Rice here.

Today, I want to share some excerpts from each and illustrate why marketers need to listen to a Super Bowl winning quarterback and wide receiver.

First up Joe Montana, followed by Jerry Rice.

Steve Olenski: How would you say being an NFL QB is like running a company?

Joe Montana: You are in charge of a group of diverse talented people attempting to get them to play, execute and win at whatever that business is. For example, getting people to believe in each other and trust in each, knowing mistakes will be made, yet helping people thru those mistakes instead of pointing fingers. I used to say when people would ask me ‘What do you say out on the field when someone makes a mistake?’

Well, I tried to find out what happened, why it happened and how can I help them not to repeat the same mistake. I would say… ‘we all are going to get yelled at when we get to the sideline so let’s work together and stay together.’ Believe and help each other cause we will all have our turns at making mistakes. We can’t get better by pointing a finger.

Olenski: How a company/brand handles a crisis is very telling. You faced many crisis in many games during your career. How were you able to seemingly stay so cool in the heat of the moment and what advice would you give to a CEO/CMO etc. as to how to best handle a crisis?

Montana: Staying cool is just a phrase. What really happens is you tend to concentrate and focus more in crisis situations. What I was taught by Bill Walsh was the crisis may not always be as bad as you believe. Hail Mary fixes are not always the answer. Take a look at your business fundamentals. They have probably slipped and going backwards to get back on track may be your best decision. It was in our case in many games where we came back from behind simply by going back and running our offense from the base plays we put in day one.

Olenski: What are some of the lessons you learned playing football that you applied to life after the game re: the business world?

Jerry Rice: I apply so many of the same principles from football to the business world every day. Some of the most important things are the values of professionalism, being on time, teamwork and work ethic.

Olenski: How can those same lessons be applied to CMOs, CEOs, etc; the people in charge of running brands both large and small?

Rice: It starts at the top. You have to set the example and outline expectations. At the 49ers, we had that with our owner – Eddie DeBartolo – whom I consider the greatest owner in professional sports. He set the standard, but he made sure to hire the best people and let them do their jobs. He treated the stars on the team the same way he treated the ball boy. These same principals apply throughout business. The keys to success, in whatever role you have are the same. Be professional, dress to impress, show up early, stay late and respect the members of your team regardless of their role. Everyone is working towards the same goal, so each person’s contribution is important to succeed.

To read the full interview with each multiple-winning Super Bowl hall of famer click here and here.