At Smith Brothers, our mission is to “Create inspiring ideas for courageous clients.” As students of the advertising business, and marketing in the CPG space in particular, we’re constantly on the lookout for work that not only impresses strategically and shines in execution, but that demonstrates some serious chutzpah on the part of the client who embraced it. We all know that too many clients err on the side of safe, hunkering down in the foxhole, afraid to lift their heads above the horizon line lest they have them blown off by senior management. Courage these days doesn’t come easy.
In this blog series, we will hold up those recent CPG marketers who should be recognized not only for their smarts, but for their bravery. Whether it’s eschewing the norms of a category, diving into uncharted waters in the digital space, committing big budgets to brand new platforms or just doing jaw-dropping creative, we will identify those brands that we think took a little more risk and stood a little taller than the field – those we think deserve a salute.
According to MEI Trade Insight, 87% of CPG brand marketers intend to increase or maintain their spend on trade activities in the year ahead. This stems from a belief that, in these recessionary times, moving more money closer to the shopper is a better way to get more bang for the buck. We have no argument with the “closer-to-the-shopper” philosophy. But in order to make this approach actually work, you have to know what closer to the shopper actually means —and “in the store” ain’t necessarily the whole story.
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