Highjacking Brand Images
I’m pretty excited to do this post about brand images being repurposed because the subject of semiology (the science of signs) can be so enlightening and yet so obvious. Here’s the basic interpretation of images – you’ve got a “signifier” (the image you see) and a “signified” (the mental image associated with the visual). While [...]
Read MoreDriving Loyalty Programs
While Canadians are the biggest users of loyalty programs anywhere in the world, that doesn’t mean all Canadian retailers have embraced their use at an equal pace. Sure, gas, grocery, department store and pharmacy retailers (high frequency retailers) have lead the way, but one important category in particular has been rather late to the party [...]
Read MoreSmart Shoppers See It All
If you’ve ever been a student living away from home, you know what it’s like to make due with the few resources at your disposal (dryer sheet + ceiling fan = scent diffuser). No? Okay maybe that was just me. However, the repurposing of products for non-advertised activities (toothbrushes as silver polishers? Now I know [...]
Read MoreIs It Local?
For obvious reasons, rural businesses are not easily maintained. However, according to Small Business Trends, the overall outlook for these small companies is good. There are several opportunities out there for local entrepreneurs, and best of all, buying local is a trend that’s stood the test of time. In other words, resourcing from the neighbourhood [...]
Read MoreI Only Date Guys Who Drink Snapple
Soap Operas. These were one of the first examples where brands created a product placement vehicle that both entertained audiences and not-so-subtly introduced them to new products. Nowadays, brands much smaller than Proctor & Gamble can promote in front of millions of viewers with branded content, and for a much smaller budget too. It doesn’t [...]
Read MoreDon’t Hate the Player
Remember when you were a kid and your parents only let you have dessert if you ate all your vegetables? That idea of using a game-like incentive to facilitate non-game activities (eating your vegetables, driving to work safely, walking up stairs even) is essentially the logic of gamification. Applied to marketing, gamification rewrites the rules [...]
Read MoreThe Rise of Smart Buildings
We’ve got a client, EllisDon, who is making smart buildings. The term “smart” has been thrown around a lot, but in this context it means the degree to which a building is equipped with special devices that that allow occupants to control the state of the building remotely. As one of Canada’s largest construction companies, [...]
Read MoreMoms Know Best
A lot of what we do at Philter Retail is marketing to moms. Moms are the most sought after in North America, contributing over $2.1 trillion a year to the US marketplace. According to Girlpower Marketing, moms control 85% of the household income, and are very vocal online about their shopping preferences. With moms making [...]
Read MoreTarget Coming to Canada
Philter Retail is a retail and shopper marketing agency. Sure we work on product launches and new retail concepts. And we’ve had some fun launching new brands. But as far as retail advertising goes – we often look to the south to Target to see how much the envelope can really be pushed. Having seen [...]
Read MoreQuick Like a Label-Loving Bunny
Have you ever been watching a live auction on TV or in a movie and become a bit anxious just as a viewer? People are yelling, words are spit out so fast they’re barely English, paddles spring up and down, cell phones stick to and fall off people’s faces, pamphlets get shuffled through like a [...]
Read MoreSustainability is the Spice of Life
I recently watched this video on PSFK where a panel of fashion industry professionals discussed the role of sustainability in fashion. I was surprised to learn that while sustainability is an important issue, it’s still considered more of an old theme than an ongoing part of retail marketing. Still, what was most inspiring about the [...]
Read MoreDesigned for Shelf Life
I hate to admit it, but I am a complete slave to cool packaging. I’m generally impressed with innovative ways people can present mundane objects, like penguin-waddling juice boxes and chocolate infused syringes. According to Packaging Digest (there’s a magazine for everything it seems), trends in packaging for 2010 revolve around four issues. First, sustainability. [...]
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