CLC ‘out to tackle any new areas of retail that we can find’ with expanded line of products
Sports Business Journal

New or expanded lines of college products are showing up in places you’d never expect. Boots sporting a school’s logo are being sold in western wear retailers. Licensed sunglasses are in Sunglass Hut stores all over the country. Logo pacifiers can be found in Babies “R” Us.

Even on the computer, virtual goods with college marks are appearing on social networking and gaming sites. These are all new distribution outlets for college merchandise this fall.

“We’re trying to turn over every rock we can,” said Dave Kirkpatrick, vice president of non-apparel marketing for Collegiate Licensing Co. “College is a unique marketplace. It’s sold to all income levels, all ethnic backgrounds and across any retail segment that’s out there. Our goal is to tackle any new areas of retail that we can find.”

CLC, an IMG College company, is the nation’s top college licensing agent, representing close to 200 universities, conferences and bowl games in the $4.3 billion college licensing business. The line of products that CLC is licensing has grown into categories where colleges had little or no presence until recently.

The first college-licensed boots debuted in 2009 with just three Texas schools. There will be more than 40 schools by year’s end. Maui Jim is predicting that more than 60,000 college-licensed sunglasses, priced from $169 to $179, will be sold this year, its first year in the market. Farming and ranch retailers like Tractor Supply represent another new distribution outlet for CLC, which licensed Dri Duck’s line of work and outdoor wear.

“These are exciting new opportunities for us,” said Kirkpatrick, who added that CLC also is targeting grocery stores and home improvement retailers, such as Home Depot and Lowe’s.

And like any product maker or licensor, there’s also a strong push with Wal-Mart. The retail giant has long been a home for college apparel, but the company now appears to be going deeper with its licensed offerings to include more non-apparel items in its more than 1,400 stores. CLC’s goal is to more than double the amount of non-apparel items being sold in Wal-Mart in the next three years.

CPG Loyalty: Sports Drinks Amongst Strongest
Marketing Daily News

Despite the economy and the growth of private label, brand loyalty has increased in 45 of the top 100 CPG categories over the past three years, according to a new report from SymphonyIRI Group. Some—like sports drinks—have seen significant gains. Between 2008 and 2010, the percentage of consumers who reported being loyal to a sports drink brand rose by 6.5 percentage points, to 87.6%.

The definition of brand loyalty: More than 50% of the buyer's total purchasing in the category is of a single brand (not including private label).

Many of the categories showing the largest gains already had high loyalty percentages—demonstrating that "true loyalty can survive even prolonged economic upheaval," says SymphonyIRI Times & Trends editor Susan Viamari.

However, some categories have seen loyalty increases, or relatively small losses, despite double-digit percentage increases in price over the past three years. These include dish detergent (+1.8 points), chocolate candy (+1.3), frozen breakfast meals (+1.2) and razor blades (+0.3).

Conversely, across the 10 categories that showed the largest increases in percentage of dollars sold on deal (price promotions), six saw loyalty decline: toothbrushes, toothpaste, laundry detergents, women's sanitary products, skin care and processed frozen/refrigerated poultry. Categories that gained loyalty despite significant discount activity included eye/contact lens care, diapers, blades and soap.

Consistently competing on price "has significant negative impacts on brand equity," stresses John McIndoe, SVP, marketing for SymphonyIRI. "CPG leaders must harness the power of value ... CPG marketers are clearly getting this message."

Friends with (Digital) Benefits: CMOs Link with CIOs
AdAge

MOS, meet your new BFF, the CIO.

We know you and the tech guys might not have gotten along so well in the past. They chastise your need for speed and the fact that you rely on your "gut" without regard for process. And chances are you think they're a little too steeped in process, governance and security concerns. But now's the time to mend fences and learn to speak the same language, because in today's digital world, it's never been more important for the chief marketing officer and chief information officer to work together.

"The bias is very strong. It's part of the DNA of the two functions, so the stereotyping is there. They like to make fun of each other," said Luca Paderni, an analyst with Forrester Research who has been studying the two roles.

Mr. Paderni said there's been a significant shift in just the last 18 months, instigated by the digital revolution in marketing and fueled by the economic crisis. "Now, both functions are under pressure from the CFO and CEO. The market dynamics are pushing accountability for both functions," he said. "And, at this point, even the marketer that would like to go it alone is realizing the level of complexity and data management is too big to manage alone."

Indeed, Lisa Macpherson, Hallmark's chief marketer, says one of the biggest priorities of CMOs right now should be nurturing a relationship with their CIO. "We've gone through the making marketing credible with the CFO and partnering to do great shopper and trade marketing with the sales officer, and now it really is about the CIO and developing the data networks and connectedness that can let us do great database interactive marketing," she said.

The need for marketing and information execs to team up highlights the shift from creating digital marketing that broadcasts a message to creating online or mobile tools that can foster loyalty, juice sales and require lots of data and targeting. In other words, gone are the days of the one-off web-banner campaign.

Coca-Cola, AT&T, Others Out to Reinvent Web Measurement
AdWeek

Online measurement is broken. That, few would dispute. But how to fix it? Three of the biggest advertising trade organizations are banding together with 40 marketers, agencies and publishers to give it another try.

They're launching a new effort dubbed "3MS," short for "Making Measurement Make Sense," to create new standards for how digital advertising is measured, bought and sold—aiming to have digital ads measured in ways easily comparable to other media, and creating a level playing field that's never existed through 16 years of online advertising.

Among changes to be tested:
• Redefining an online ad impression from any ad served to a screen to counting only impressions where at least half the ad is visible for at least a second.
• Developing a third-party online audience-measurement system that can be used as a currency in media deals, akin to what TV, radio and print long have had.
• Defining a common set of online display and video ad formats to give buyers a better idea of they types of inventory that exist and what value they should command.

"Making Measurement Make Sense" is a project of the Association of National Advertisers, Internet Advertising Bureau and 4A's, along with a an impressive list of backers, including Google, AT&T, Coca-Cola, CBS, Group M, ESPN, Omnicom, Microsoft, Starcom MediaVest Group, New York Times and others. The Newspaper Association of America and Online Publishers Association are also involved.

Why Fans Un-friend Your Brand on Facebook

AdWeek

The top reason worldwide Facebook users stop following a brand is because it is "no longer of interest to me" or "the information available was not interesting." Those are the kind of break-up statements that sting. After all, what brand wants to be boring on the world's most-engaging platform?

Based on a new survey by DDB and OpinionWay, this white paper looks at the changing attitudes and habits of Facebook fans in six countries: United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Turkey and Malaysia. Attitudes toward privacy concerns as well as features such as games, Facebook Places, messaging and shopping are also explored.

First, the bad news: Fans in the U.S., U.K. and France are following fewer brands; are less likely to press like, post on a brand's wall or recommend it to friends; less inclined to participate in brand pages' games, events and competitions; and, truth be told, would like to hear less from marketers altogether. (This goes double for France.) Facebook fatigue may be a myth, but Facebook brand fatigue is looking all too real.

"Engagement on Facebook brands' walls is down 22%," said Michael Scissons, CEO of social-media software and services firm Syncapse. "But declining engagement has less to do with brand fatigue in general than with marketers doing a bad job and shoving boring [content] at consumers."

Marketers may have only themselves to blame. To boost the number of fans, many "went for the lowest common denominator, which was free stuff," said Sarah Hofstetter, senior VP-emerging media and brand strategy at 360i. "And so consumers began expecting the freebies. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy."

Proponents of New Food Marketing Guidelines Win Senate Victory
AdWeek

Proponents of the federal government's proposed new guidelines on marketing food to children scored a symbolic victory Thursday night, as the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to support the guidelines against opposition from the House.
The Food Marketing Workgroup, a coalition of 95 organizations aimed at improving nutrition and ending obesity among the nation's children, is hoping that this support from the Democratic-controlled Senate will counter language inserted in a House appropriations bill that would cut off funding for the program and require further study before the guidelines could be implemented.

"We wanted the agencies of the Interagency Working Group to know that it [the food and advertising lobby] is not the only view on the Hill," says Margo Wootan, who heads up the FMW. "This reaffirms support for the process."

The language approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday—part of its version of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act of 2012—directs the Interagency Working Group that came up with the guidelines to submit its final report on them by December 15, thus moving the process of implementation forward.

The guidelines, which are voluntary, call for food, beverage, and restaurant companies to either modify product formulations or cut out all marketing aimed at children under 18, from TV ads to packaging to sponsorships, for products that don't meet certain nutrition standards.

The food and advertising lobby has been a formidable force on the Hill on this issue. But the final outcome of this fight isn't yet clear. The Republican majority in the House, which generally opposes the guidelines, has tended to get its way on most issues in this Congress, and that bodes well for the anti-guidelines forces. But if Congress doesn't act either way, the guidelines will go into effect by default, and considering the gridlock in Washington this year—only 29 bills have become law so far this year, and a significant number of those dealt with things like renaming post offices and courthouses—that's very good news for the pro-guidelines side.

"After what happened last night, the chance of Congress stopping the IWG from coming out with voluntary standards is very low," Wootan says.