AI is going to change our lives – it’s going to remove so much of the mundane analysis. What’s more, it’s going to be able to predict things that previously we’d have had to figure out for ourselves. Wonderful stuff, machine learning. But don’t be fooled. There is one question AI will never answer. It
I am generally loath to dumb down anything into oversimplified bullet points, but I am going to make an exception today because I think this matter is so important but so ignored - it needs a little bit of extra focus! Most shopper insights are driven by suppliers seeking to "influence" retailers. We all know
Remember Step 2 of the Eight Step Process anyone? Define the Role of the Category. Well, how did that work out for you? It was an important consideration. Pointless to propose strategies that were a mismatch for what a retailer sought to achieve “top-down” with that category. In a limited space environment, tough choices need
Back in the day, most larger CPG firms had massive human resources, and budgets for data to match. There was the capability to strive for the optimum within insights and data solutions. Things have changed. CPG is under pressure as never before, as growth slows and retail competition heats up. Companies react by slimming down
Data is the currency of modern business. Getting the right conclusions and taking action driven by data is critical to personal and collective success. But I reckon the canary has just keeled over in the coal mine. I have probably sat through or presented at over hundreds, maybe even a thousand data presentations in my
We talk to CPG companies about shopper insights day in day out. We are used to rooms filled with “category” people, and indeed salespeople. But it's amazing how rarely brand managers come along. I think the shorthand or even subliminal implication to marketing departments is that talking shopper is about retailers, selling, more about execution,
Coaching has come on a long way in recent years. Gone are the days where only gut feel and experience counted. Now a top coach has a huge range of diagnostic data at their fingertips to make better recommendations and come up with more effective plans. What do I mean by diagnostic data? This is
It's an amazing story. The startup of a single tiny side street burger bar that became a $3 billion international company. I listened to the story told by Jerry Murrell, the founder, about the cornerstone of their success. Deceptively simple – they gave customers the best possible product. Early on he allowed his sons (who
Your first job with your buyer is to build a relationship as a trusted advisor. Only then will your ideas and proposals be credible. In a recent Advantage Survey of USA retail buyers in CPG, references to “objective information and advice” came only second to “good communication” in what behaviours make a best practice supplier.
We may not like to think about it, but as humans, we are all subject to a range of unconscious biases. These get in the way of our rational decision making so that we often end up with worse outcomes than we should. Clear, unambiguous, quantitative data, well explained can overcome these “gut feel” problems.
