Steve McGowan’s Post

I recently judged the Shop! SA. Last week’s ceremony was a wonderful celebration of the retail and shopper industry. Being in that room surrounded by people who are incredibly talented was a powerful reminder of how much talent we have in SA and how sophisticated our marketing truly is, from strategy to creative through to execution, there are world class ideas making their way into the market… Some takeouts from my judging experience: ✔️A deep understanding of your shopper is critical - the work has to be driven by an insight around the shopper (we can debate whether all advertising work needs an insight later). ✔️Ideally the work we do should solve a problem for our client, customer or category. ✔️The best shopper campaigns engage shoppers, making them active participants in the path to purchase. ✔️ Shopper marketing starts long before a consumer gets into store. Brand and shopper are intrinsically linked. We aren’t just slapping artwork on FSUs. ✔️ Sustainability has to be at the heart of everything we are doing going forward. We work in an industry where we produce a lot of waste. But sustainability has to be sustainable. What do I mean by that? It has to be viable. The process has to be right. The price has to be right. The material has to be right. We’re competing against the non-sustainable options, and innovation is going to separate the good from the great in this space. ✔️ Data—backed sustainability that answers real challenges and delivers end-to-end transparency of the total cost of a product lifecycle is critical. ✔️ The intersection of design, technology and sustainability is where the future of shopper marketing will win. ✔️ Smart design that answers real questions, using technology that enables faster, more effective delivery of content in ways that don’t have hidden technology costs (see the high cost of electricity in SA) using sustainable materials and production. ✔️ Great work doesn’t always mean big budgets - some of the best work we judged was incredibly simple, but used smart thinking, that innovated using the environment, smart materials and interesting creative. ✔️ Innovation in POS is sometimes just simple, good design - some of the best work we saw was so simple it annoyed me I hadn’t thought of it. Great work doesn’t always mean complicated over-wrung concepts - a simple idea can be turned into multiple, useful wonderful assets. ✔️ Is the idea replicable? This was a big one. Is this just a show off concept or can you repeat this in many spaces and places. ✔️ The current media innovation in retail in SA is fantastic. ✔️Real Results are critical. Don’t fudge the numbers. Or worse, don’t submit campaigns that haven’t even thought about what success looks like. We dismissed quite a few submissions that had no meaty results behind them. To top the night off, we also took home silver and gold for Point. Your Marketing Investment Partner.

Every retail segment finds itself squeezed from all sides. Whether it's smaller curated specialist retailers, larger generalists, or even e-commerce sites, they all have to either live by their identity and compete in a crowded field or the case of Sporting Life, try to find an untapped market. Team Town Sports is that attempt as Sporting Life seeks once more to find the magic that it found with Golf Town and dominate the team sports market before any other larger generalists, like itself, come in and compete. Sport Life Locations - 14 Golf Town Locations - 47 2022 Sales - $2.2B Reference: 2022 Financial Report 2022 Sales Growth (est.) 9% Reference: 2022 Financial Report

How to Benefit from Fan-Based Marketing in Sports. Step 1. Collect First-Party Data Step 2. Earn Partnership Revenue Step 3. Sell More Tickets & Merch Feel free to reach out to me directly to learn more about these 3 key steps. #fanengagement #partnershipsuccess #ticketsales #merchandise

Events are one of the ways that retailers can differentiate their brand and grow revenue. Read Aptos' latest iPaper for tips on successful store events - and how modern POS solutions can help.

Events are one of the ways that retailers can differentiate their brand and grow revenue. Read Aptos' latest iPaper for tips on successful store events - and how modern POS solutions can help.

Events are one of the ways that retailers can differentiate their brand and grow revenue. Read Aptos' latest iPaper for tips on successful store events - and how modern POS solutions can help.

In Aptos' new iPaper, we examine how in-store and pop-up events are helping retailers bring their brands to life. With examples from Athleta, Warby Parker, John Lewis, New Balance, Boot Barn and others, use this as inspiration for your own retail events strategy. ✨ Take a look ✨ ➡️ https://bit.ly/3OLKV4z

Events are one of the ways that retailers can differentiate their brand and grow revenue. Read Aptos' latest iPaper for tips on successful store events - and how modern POS solutions can help.

Say goodbye to the days of tedious price ticketing! With Ticket-IT, creating and managing retail price tickets is as easy as a few clicks. 💻✨ Learn More! #RetailTech #TicketingEase #shelfedgelabel #retailticketingsystem #retailer #marketer #pricetagmaker #electronicshelfedge #labelmaker #digitalshelftags #fmcg #newzealandretailers #australiaretailers #TicketIT #InStoreTicketing

Check out this #casestudy I got to put together for our favorite clients at RSM (Retail Sports Marketing) & Kroger. One of the largest (and most successful) shopper loyalty programs ever! FULL PDF: https://lnkd.in/ebWVCi4v #shoppermarketing #retailactivation #loyaltyprogram #gamification