Waitrose, don't you know people are laughing at you?

Yet again, Waitrose is the butt of online jokes and viral posts about their extremely middle to upper class take on an 'Essentials' range. And it's hardly surprising when a basketful of Essential range items in this supermarket could include tinned artichoke hearts, bumper packs of avocadoes and rosemary and sea salt focaccia. It's like every night is dinner at Downton Abbey.

It's hardly the first time the joke has been on Waitrose. The Facebook page 'Overheard in Waitrose' posts amusing quotes such as this one heard in the Harborne branch: "this is disgusting, they've run out of fresh lemongrass and dried lemongrass is just the worse." With 342,693 likes (14/10/2014) and press representation, and probably a high level of shares, this is another example of how the word of mouth buzz about Waitrose is that of amusement.

In 2012, Waitrose's twitter campaign, 'Why I shop at Waitrose...' was hijacked by jokers who instead of talking about the quality of the food wrote quips such as "I shop at Waitrose because Clarissa's pony just will not eat ASDA value straw." Waitrose's management did respond to the tweets with:

Waitrose @waitrose: "Thanks for all the genuine and funny waitrosereasons tweets.We always like to hear what you think and enjoyed reading most of them."

They can take a joke (just about) but who wants to be the brand that is always mocked? And why put yourself in the firing lane repeatedly? Brands need to know who their target market is and how they should be positioning themselves, but sister organisation John Lewis manages to promote itself effectively without its campaigns being hijacked or its product ranges ridiculed.

This is not about whispering in the playground. Social media is accessible to read by customers, competitors and brands themselves. There is no excuse not to know what the buzz is about you. Social media monitoring and environmental scanning is time consuming but an essential part of the marketing planning process. Addictomatic is just one free tool that shows you the buzz about any brand online: http://addictomatic.com/topic/waitrose. You can examine instantly what customers think about you or your competitors and if you're not getting it right, you can adjust the tone or approach to your communications or your use of the marketing mix.

Be proud of what your brand values are Waitrose, and laugh at yourself if you wish - it is a British trait after all, but don't be a running joke if you have no control over the punchline.

Should I do Pilates or Fitness Pilates?!

I’ve been considering signing up for ‘Fitness Pilates’ which I’m utterly convinced will bring me increased health benefits (without any effort) compared to normal bog standard Pilates, in fact I checked the blurb and it says it produces ‘more effective stretching, strengthening and balancing of the body’ and as a marketer anything that says it’s more effective gets my vote! Clearly, it’s all about the words we use which can help convince a customer of the potential benefits over alternative offerings.

Organisations create their value propositions which are a signal to the customer of what they can expect from purchasing the product or service. Every word counts in a value proposition and companies work hard to subtly describe their offering in a snappy strap line. However, it’s not just about the value proposition, the way we describe our products and services is equally important. A friend who is adding some marketing pizzazz to an upmarket golf club was horrified to see the uninspiring menu in the club house which would have been at home in a high street café doing a full English.
It might just be steak and chips but char grilled farm-reared sirloin steak with hand cut chips, dressed watercress and peppercorn sauce sounds a whole lot more descriptive, appetising and let’s face it…. expensive.
An upmarket members-only golf club needs to project its value and price positioning to its diners off the green as well as at the 18^th hole.

The high street café serving the full English need only explain what items are included for the price – no need for any gastro pub pretensions here but descriptions are a useful tool for marketers to help express the features and benefits, the price and value positioning, and how the product or service matches with what the competition is offering. Refresh your product descriptions today and see if it makes a difference!

You may also like this post on Wilko's value proposition.

Who are you targeting M&S?

M&S, the beloved middle England fashion retailer, is posting its 11th consecutive fall in clothing sales this week at the same time as its new campaign "Leading Ladies" is released. Now what follows is a small rant, because of those 8 leading ladies, I only recognised 4 from their photos and of the 4 that I recognised: Emma Thompson, Annie Lennox, singer Rita Ora and model Alek Wek - I would be staggeringly shocked if I spotted them in my local branch of M&S. Not only because Emma and Annie have got the money to buy their staple basics somewhere more expensive but because I can't imagine Rita and Alek stepping through the door at all!

I fear M&S have got it wrong again. The new 'models' they use are unattainable visions of success or the completely wrong age and body shape, whereas M&S shoppers want to see 'women like me'. Twiggy, who appeared in previous campaigns, at least gave the impression that she would wear the clothes and look good in them. My view is that M&S are using the wrong role models and creating the wrong clothes - with too short or too long hem lines and unflattering shapes.

If we apply this to marketing, M&S need to sort out their targeting and positioning. Who are you trying to sell to? And how are you different from your competitors? At the moment, M&S are trying to sell to everyone: young, old, traditional, trend-setter, country solicitor, budding pop-star... and as a consequence, they aren't getting any of it right. Targeting is about focusing in on your core customer base and then getting it right for them. Who are they? What do they want to wear? Do they want sleeves in their garments? Positioning is where you sit in the marketplace and what you are doing for your customers in comparison to other competitors. Are you selling good quality clothes or throwaway fashion? Are you expensive, mid-range or cheap? Are you a trend-setter, a trend-follower or long since giving up caring? The real M&S customer wants a nod to trends but they also want to cover up their knees!

So M&S, stop trying to be everything for everyone and get yourself back on track. Fill your aisles with black trousers, cashmere twin sets and white t-shirts and send Rita to Topshop!