Another #%@#ing Trends Report

There are so few certainties in life that I, for one, prefer to cling to as many as I possibly can. For example, it's January, and for as long as anyone at P-O-P Times can remember, that means one thing: Another installment of our annual survey of in-store marketing trends. I've been helping out with these staff projects for a dozen years now, and there are a few things you can always count on:#1: A certain number of respondents (this year we surveyed CPG middle marketing managers, agency execs and P-O-P producer personnel) will fill out the questionnaire by holding their pens in their left feet. That's the only possible explanation for the indescribably indecipherable penmanship we so frequently encounter. When we just need a check mark in a box, we'll get a slash across the entire page. There are random squiggles that might (or might not) represent cross-outs. And then there are the comments that are scribbled in ALL! CAPITAL! LETTERS!#2: When you find a comment scribbled in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS on a questionnaire, the scribbler is almost always annoyed or aggravated or angry or adamant. Yet he remains altogether anonymous. And that pretty much rules out any kind of individualized response.So please allow me a brief moment of digression to answer to some of the more heated communiques received this year:to Mr. X: I disagree. That question was not 'STUPID'. But thanks for the feedback. to Mr. Y: We are aware that some business models, like yours, transcend the 'IDIOTIC' limitations of our 'IDIOTIC' categories, but we need them to make cross-tabulations. to Mr. Z: Oh yeah? Well #%@# you too, fella. #3: Another certainty is that certain well-known companies have certain well-known policies that they will not bend, fold or mutilate. For example, we send out our questionnaires with a "crisp $1 bill" attached as a token of our gratitude. (Actually, it is a well-established survey methodology that raises response rates.) However, when you send a survey with a $1 bill attached to a company, oh, say... hmmm... like Wal-Mart*, you can bet the kids' entire college fund that that buck will come flying back along with a cordial, but firm, form letter reiterating the company's policy* against accepting pretty much anything from pretty much anyone. (Had certain people, who were in much closer proximity to Bentonville than this poor editor, more fully appreciated the true fierceness with which this policy seems to be maintained, they might have avoided some messy publicity, career disruptions and relocation expenses over the winter. But again, I digress.) The industry trends survey gives our editors a chance to test-drive various concepts that we'll be exploring in the magazines and via www.instoremarketer.org in the coming year. Whether it is RFID chips or smart carts, global sourcing or ad networks, we try to get a little bit ahead of the pack. For example, as you peruse the various charts and graphs you'll find some of the first-blush reactions to the P.R.I.S.M. (Pioneering Research for an In-Store Metric) Project, conducted last year by a consortium of retailers and manufacturers led by the In-Store Marketing Institute. When our survey data was being collected in the late fall, the P.R.I.S.M. Project was so novel that people were still just trying to wrap their heads around the idea. Since that time, however, VNU has announced that it will launch a global measurement service, to be developed through a new unit known as Nielsen In-Store, to measure consumer exposure to an array of in-store marketing vehicles including television and radio, shelf talkers, digital signage, and other point-of-purchase displays. Nielsen In-Store is part of NielsenConnect, a recently established division that will integrate the company's consumer and media intelligence from dozens of business units.Another hot button term right now is sustainability, a business concept that's being passionately advocated by the aforementioned Bentonvillians. Our data indicates that the project is still viewed as being in the ramp-up phase and, perhaps more importantly, that most marketers are approaching it from a "recycled materials" perspective. Having seen any number of presentations on the topic by now, however, my guess is that designing packaging and displays with less waste (thus saving on shipping costs and fuel) is going to be where a bigger part of the game is going to be played.Think you've got that whole PDQ thing totally figured out? Sorry -- it's back to the old drawing board. * WAL-MART STORES, INC. STATEMENT OF ETHICS (Number PD-10) As revised on January 1, 2005Gifts and Gratuities: You may not request, encourage or accept a gift or gratuity from a supplier, potential supplier or any person who you believe may seek to influence any business decision or transaction involving Wal-Mart.... Any gift or gratuity received from a supplier must be returned with an explanation of this policy.

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