Welcome to the fourth annual Hub Top 12 report on shopper-marketing excellence! Thanks goes out to all those who participated in this year’s survey, and especially those who took the time to add insightful comments. As you may have noted, The University of Tennessee assumed responsibility for modifying the survey and compiling the data this year, at the recommendation of Hoyt & Company, which launched this annual report with the Hub in 2008. As part of this transition, we expanded this year’s evaluation criteria from 10 to 13, based on feedback provided by participants in previous surveys.

Specifically, we added evaluation categories of digital and global capabilities, and retailer relationships. These three categories added interesting dimensions to our results.

This year, we had 766 usable surveys — 305 more than the 461 we had in 2010, or a 66 percent increase. Brand marketers named 145 different agencies while agencies named 126 different brand marketers. These numbers are up from 123 and 84 respectively, reflecting the continued growth of the shopper-marketing discipline.

Performance Criteria

Regarding the performance areas used to rank agencies, the spread has widened significantly when looking at the entire list, but tightened up at the top. The spread from the highest (concept understanding) to the lowest performance area (research capabilities) was a whopping 49 points; 117–68! The spread was 20 points last year.

Given that “research capabilities” has been ranked rather highly in previous years, (e.g., third or fourth), this drop is quite surprising. We are not quite sure what to make of this, but the comments suggest that many brand marketers are not looking to agencies for primary research as much, or are disappointed in their performance here.

As can be seen in the indexed scores, the spread between the top two areas is only seven points and there is essentially no difference between the second (programming relevancy) and third (key account knowledge) performance areas. Of the three new performance areas, “retailer relationships” seems to be the strongest, coming in at #8.

Regarding the performance areas used to rank brand marketers, the four leading areas remained the same: vision, integration, understanding shopper motivations and clearest strategy & objectives. The spread between the highest and lowest performance areas tightened up slightly once again to 21 points; 113 for vision to 92 for global capabilities (the spread was 24 points in 2010). Both planning and budgeting moved up in rank. Retailer relationships entered the survey ranked at #7.

Global capabilities were a weak point for both brand marketers and agencies. Whether this is because global capabilities are seen as less relevant when shopper-marketing initiatives are regionally or locally focused, or due to a lack of interest or participation by those completing the survey, we do not know. Either way, we expect the importance of this category, as well as digital, to grow.

Screening Process

As in previous years, we screened and recorded every response to assure integrity, eliminate duplicates and prevent ballot-box stuffing. This year, we culled 2,489 total responses down to 766. We closely examined each and every response as well as participant (name, company, position, email address verifications) to ensure that meaningful input was being offered by qualified individuals. 

Within this detailed process, we looked for any anomalies, such as an inordinate number of votes coming from a single company, and reduced them to an equitable level as compared to other firms placing more than a few votes.

We made no judgments of our own that would affect the rankings, except to: a) verify respondents’ qualifications (i.e., that they currently work for an agency or manufacturer in a position that qualifies them to answer the survey’s questions); and b) screen all responses as described above. This means that, as in past years, each and every company that won a place in this year’s Hub Top 12 earned this based solely on the judgment of their peers.

The Hub Top 12 survey is not designed to determine which firms create the best or most effective shopper-marketing initiatives. It is designed to let agencies evaluate brand marketers with which they have productive working relationships and vice versa. We are interested in identifying those firms that have taken a long-term, strategic view of shopper marketing and, as such, have invested in capabilities the industry feels are essential to solid, collaborative shopper-marketing success.

The ranking results are quite interesting. On the agency side, four agencies dropped off the list, as Arc Worldwide, Acosta Sales & Marketing, Catapult Marketing and Draft FCB found their way on (JWT/Ogilvy Action represents what was Malone Advertising in 2010). On the brand marketer side, S.C. Johnson made it onto the list for the first time.

Regarding the breadth of recognized expertise, Procter & Gamble received votes from the most number of different agencies. Unilever and ConAgra also had many agencies voting for them. Similarly, Mars Advertising had votes from the highest number of different brand marketers. This further indicates the broad support for excellence demonstrated by the top firms being ranked. Well done!

Agency Performance

We received between 20 and 25 comments for each performance area on the survey this year. It is great to see how many people want to share their points-of-view on either the performance area or specific agencies. Some of the comments on “overall shopper-marketing conceptualization” set the tone:

• At the heart of the JWT/Action model is understanding the intersection between consumer, shopper and retailer.

• Mars mastered the difference between shopper and consumer long before it was commonplace.

Most of the open-ended comments on agencies were in the area of key account knowledge:

• MatchPoint Marketing has a belief in getting embedded with the client to understand what their full objectives are.

• Arc makes significant strategic contributions to our overall agency team and often brings great insights to the table that influence other executions — television, print, digital, etc. They are extremely collaborative.

Many comments centered on vision, research and execution. However, there were a few comments reflecting a lack of agency research expertise:

• There really is no one out there that gets it — agencies often get it but they have to bid out the actual research, which removes me even further from the project. Smart Revenue is the only research company that understands shopper and research. And, they have the capabilities to do all of their data collection (both qual and quant) in-house. And, they understand when to go in-store and when you don’t have to go in-store.

The majority of the comments were positive and focused on how specific agencies had helped their clients significantly by leveraging what they knew or learned about shoppers in the programs they recommended.

• The RPM/Nsight Connect team has been able to act with the kind of speed needed to adjust for shopper changes in this evolving marketplace. Their ability to then apply that insight into a comprehensive action plan has helped us hit the mark on the effectiveness of our shopper-marketing events.

Agency execution comments were sometimes quite brief but powerful, such as:

• Great management of budgets, timing is flawless and very thorough on concepts. [Ryan Partnership]

Others were more specific, naming key individuals within agencies or providing examples:

• [Our account managers] at Marketing Drive are two of the best client-service individuals I’ve worked with at an agency. Both know the brands and the customers backwards and forwards. They know our internal policies and procedures. They do what needs to get done to be compliant with all rules and regs while staying within our budgets and our timelines. They feel more like our team members than an agency.

In the three new areas we added to this year’s survey, many comments reflected little experience. However, one comment about global capabilities and shopper marketing reflected how important it is to be connected locally for effective shopper marketing:

• Global capabilities are good to build scale, but in terms of shopper marketing and retail understanding, local relevancy is the key to crack all the thinking behind it. Most of the global capabilities may work well in some markets but not for all markets. Hence, I would not believe any agency is relying on just global capabilities in this area.

So, once again, for the fourth year in a row, Mars Advertising took the top spot in our agency rankings. Across the board, Mars was consistently ranked first by many brand marketers. Their mastery of shopper marketing in the US, as well as growing expertise in Europe, keeps paying off in their reputation. Congratulations for a well-oiled machine.

RPM Connect and JWT/OgilvyAction, the second- and third-place agencies, also received many first- and second-place votes across the board from many brand manufacturers. Many of the open-ended positive comments were in support of these three agencies as well as Arc Worldwide, which finished fourth.

Brand Marketer Performance

Agencies seemed similarly impressed with some brand marketers. Some of these comments reflect how quickly some firms are moving, as well as how important it is to agencies that they see commitment from the top of the organization on down.

• At Colgate-Palmolive, there is a clear vision and support of shopper marketing from the c-suite on down. In only two years, their investment in terms of dollars and resources has been impressive to drive strategic partnerships and solutions.

Some of these positive and strong comments are associated with companies not in this year’s list of Top 12. We suspect that this list — and the agency list for that matter — may exhibit more turnover in rank and membership as the years go on and more firms invest more resources in shopper-marketing excellence. It will soon be more difficult to hold one’s position on the list.

Although every performance area received comments, “uniformity of shopper-marketing vision,” “integration/coordination among departments” and “understanding shopper motivations” — the top three point-receivers — received the most comments.

We received many great comments on integration:

• ConAgra’s organizational structure allows for their shopper-marketing initiatives to be developed in the right way for their respective retailers, as well as leveraging their national or corporate initiatives in the most meaningful way for their retailers, shoppers and consumers.

• Kimberly-Clark again gets it far beyond anyone else. They make sure their cross-functional teams are in line with everything they do for the shopper journey.

• Sometimes it feels like Unilever “invented” shopper marketing because they’re so proficient.

On insights:

• I have met few organizations with as in-depth understanding of shopper behavior and insights. Within Purina, carefully crafted and well thought-out insights drive every single decision that is made and every program executed. A clear strategy for reaching shoppers throughout their path-to-purchase has been identified for each retail account, driven solely by research and insights into shopper motivations and behaviors.

On retailer relationships:

• P&G’s ongoing commitment to retailers continues to be evident across channels. Their singular Brandsaver equity provides a great platform for consumer education and value. Their extension to digital provides a great avenue for retailers to incorporate into an ongoing consumer relationship, benefitting both organizations.

Firms mentioned often in the open-ended comments include ConAgra, Unilever, Kimberly-Clark, Campbell’s Soup, and Nestle/Purina.

So, which brand marketers were ranked the highest across the collective performance areas? Unilever once again takes the top spot. And while ConAgra Foods and Procter & Gamble are second and third again, they switched places this year from 2010. Well done to these three top firms’ teams as well as the other nine on the list!

This is an exciting time for shopper marketing. Many managers are moving beyond questioning whether shopper marketing is tactical or strategic and have begun to address the complex and core challenges involved.

Where shopper insights are clearly still critical, so are inter-departmental integration, senior leadership vision, relevant programming, and execution. All parties involved will continue to be pressed to demonstrate actionable results over the long-term that impact finances as well as brand equity.