Retail Advertising Creativity in the Real World: Live from New York

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Retail Advertising Creativity in the Real World
Live from New York

• Are Retail Advertising Campaigns More or Less
  Creative?

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EAERCD 7th Annual Conference on Retailing and
Commercial Distribution Univ of Gloucestershire
Business School, July 10-12, 2002

• Wayne State University, USA
• Authors
• Sheila L. Sasser, Ph.D. Doctoral Candidate
  Senior Lecturer at WSU
• Dr. Scott Koslow, Senior Lecturer, University of
  Waikato, Visiting Professor WSU
• Dr. Edward Riordan - Professor, WSU
• s.sasser_at_sasscomm.com or ad1085_at_wayne.edu
• www.sasscomm.com

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Detroit, Michigan USA sheila.sasser_at_wayne
.edu
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Research Questions

• Creativity is impacted by key factors.
• Strategy, originality artistry
• Budget, client, time issues
• Career Areas within the agency
• Continued quest for What Drives Creativity taking
  us to the far corners of the globe.this
  Creative Safari has
• bagged a few findings

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Retail Research Questions

• R1 Retail advertising campaigns will vary in
  subjective creativity from other advertising
  campaigns.
• R2 Strategy, artistry, and originality will be
  significantly different for retail advertising
  campaigns as compared to all other campaign
  categories.
• R3 Retail ad campaign factor measurements of
  time and budget variables are no different as
  compared to others

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Methodology

• Personally facilitated on site
• Painfully laborious at times
• Food incentive if at meal time
• Pizza most popular, JWT White Castle Sliders,
• Breakfast at BBDO (vs Tiffanys), Cookies
  Bagels
• Most difficult scenario were with ground zero
  agencies
• Printed Electronically Emailed Surveys
• Email, Mailed, Faxed Surveys also
• Stratified Agency Convenience Sample of Desired
  Population (3 Campaigns 5 years)
• Conducted from 1998-2002 in DTW, NYC, (Miami)

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Methodology began with participant observation
analysis from managing consulting with New York
Detroit ad agencies over the last 20 years.
Depth interviews, focus groups, and pilot
questions were conducted as a first step
domestically with global groundwork laid early
on...
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Methodology

• 1000 Total Sample Campaign Observations
• 573 Analyzed for Retail Comparison
• On site Intercept Method at Offices
• Advertising Agency Executives
• New York Detroit Domestic USA
• Ad Agencies included Detroit Top 10 NYC Top 20
• Highest ranking in terms of billings per Crains
  List
• Including BBDO, JWT, YR, Saatchi, DArcy, DDB,
  Doner, Campbell-Ewald, Lowe-Lintas, McCann,
  Gotham, Euro RSCG, Bozell, Meridian...

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Research Findings

• SAS Analysis
• Ongoing compilation of massive data base as
  surveys are completed
• Pakistan global pilot for developing countries
  just delivered 50 surveys
• Zimbabwe in early depth interviews...
• Initiating Paris, London, Hamburg, Stockholm,
  Greece, Ukraine, Asia for 4th Q 2002.

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Do Retailer Advertising Campaigns Differ in Terms
of Creativity?
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Findings

• 47 retail campagins were analyzed out of 573
  campaigns in the data base collected which is
  consistent with overall retail billings on
  average at most major ad agencies. Retail
  campaigns were coded 1, while others were coded 0
  in the Correlation Matrix shown next.

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Statistics

• Retail Freq Cum Freq Cum
• 0 526 91.8 526 91.8
• 1 47 8.2 573 100.0
• Eigenvalues of the Correlation Matrix total
  18, average 1 were analyzed according to the
  NFACTOR criterion, 5 factors were retained
• Strategy, artistry, originality, budget time

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Statistics Factor Pattern 5 factors

• factor 1 factor 2 factor 3 factor 4 factor 5
• Strat 1 0.503 -0.222 .564 .106 .08 on strategy
• Strat 2 0.487 -0.203 0.611 0.156 0.13 a good fit
• Strat 3 0.489 -0.24 0.587 0.185 -0.138 appropriat
  e strat
• Strat 4 0.525 -0.236 0.529 0.039 -0.129 built on
  good strat
• Art 1 0.740 0.256 -0.198 0.132 -0.386 able to
  stand as art
• Art 2 0.723 0.268 -0.244 0.090 -0.423 appreciated
  as art
• Art 3 0.720 0.139 -0.020 -0.046 -0.185 emotionall
  y express
• Art 4 0.764 0.253 -0.152 0.077 -0.175 artisticall
  y sophist
• Orig 1 0.768 0.203 -0.07 -0.088 0.228 original
• Orig 3 0.783 0.203 -0.122 -0.082 0.392 unexpected
  
• Orig 4 0.784 0.165 -0.151 -0.076 0.240 novel
• Orig 5 0.794 0.226 -0.152 -0.112 0.311 different
  
• V2 -0.069 0.476 0.382 -0.465 -0.047 budget 1 run
  over
• V8 0.286 -0.538 -0.270 0.459 0.0276 budget 2
  ample
• V15 -0.212 0.611 0.333 -0.446 -0.115 budget 3
  too small
• V16 -0.343 0.643 0.202 0.387 0.026 time 1 not
  enough time
• V23 -0.316 0.589 0.086 0.494 0.106 time 2 if
  more time

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Findings

• Initial factor method of principle components
  shows the final communality estimates with a
  total of 12.814, the range was from .576 for
  artistic variable of emotionally expressive to
  .842 on the artistic variable of being
  appreciated as art
• All strategy variables were consistently in the
  .631 through .696 range
• Originality ranged from .631 through .696

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Findings

• Using the Varimax rotation method, an orthogonal
  transformation matrix was constructed to achieve
  a rotated factor pattern, using same variables as
  before, this revealed the heaviest loading for
  factor 1 and the least loading for factor 5 with
  a much tighter spread than before, the new range
  with Varimax is 2.005 to 3.339

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Findings

• ANOVAs were compiled on the following dependent
  variables
• subjective creativity as rated by respondent
• strategy
• art
• originality
• time
• budget

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Retail Findings Analysis

• R1 Retail campaigns were not rated as any more
  or less creative by advertising agency
  respondents
• This debunks much popular myth that retailers
  limit creativity in their advertising
• Respondents had worked on numerous retail ad
  campaigns including many of the largest US
  Grocery Retailers, Mass Discount, Dept,
  Specialty, and Category Killers such as
  Kmart,Borders, Circuit City, Pier One Imports,
  Pamida, Kroger, Meijer, Macys, Saks Fifth Avenue
  

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Retail Findings Analysis

• R2 Strategy, artistry and originality
• no evidence indicated that these variables are
  significantly different for retail advertising
  campaigns as compared to all other campaign
  categories.

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Retail Findings Analysis

• R3 Retail advertising campaign factor
  measurements of time and budget variables will
  vary significantly from other campaigns
• They are no different based on rigorous
  statistical analysis than other campaignsno more
  or less brutal than the norm apparently...

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The Quest for Retail Creativity

• In many cases, budget limitations spark greater
  creativity and integration of advertising
  campaignshaving to do more with less may inspire
  greater innovation
• Since retailers are notorious for this type of
  behavior with ad agencies, perhaps it prompts
  positive creativity?
• Retailers and ad agencies may be more alike than
  differentempathy factor!!!
• There may potentially be other affects that were
  not controlled for, a potential limitation, maybe
  retailers who work with large agencies are more
  adept as clients?

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Next Steps Paris, London...
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Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich
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Rome, Cairo, Zimbabwe?...
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Limitations Implications

• Subjective Assessment of Creativity
• Recent Campaigns Recalled
• Ground Zero Effect 9/11
• More Research Needed Longitudinally
• Creativity Remains Elusive
• More Understanding of Retail Ad Behavior

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Thank YOU!