Ventureweek

Study: Sampling Results In Long-Term Sales Boost, Halo Effect
Adweek
In-store sampling not only boosts day-of-event sales, it can also drive long-term sales and cast a halo over the entire brand portfolio, Kenneth Hein reports. The “Report on In-store Sampling Effectiveness” conducted by Knowledge Networks-PDI on behalf of PromoWorks finds that sampling programs result in a 475% sales increase on the day of the event compared to non-sampled households. And those who sample an item are 11% more likely to purchase it again within 20 weeks and 6% more likely to buy another item from the brand franchise.

“It’s always been understood to a certain degree that there is a lift during the event,” says Neal Heffernan, svp, gm at Knowledge Networks-PDI. “The big ‘a-ha’ is the long-term impact and the effect a sampling event has on the franchise overall.” - Read the whole story…

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Marketers Navigate The Rocky Road of Entrepreneurship
Wall Street Journal
“You’ve got to take the good with the bad,” a camp counselor of mine used to say, and that seems to be what ex-marketing execs turned entrepreneurs are learning, if two separate stories in the Journal this morning be our guide.

In the first, Dawn Fallik introduces us to Jim Barbour, a marketing and drama major at the University of North Carolina who had careers in sales and marketing at Sony Music, GlaxoSmithKline and some friends’ furniture store before his inner chef grabbed him by the gullet. FunniBonz, a sweet and tangy barbeque sauce, was the result. Using his thespian skills, Barbour sold $10,000 worth of the product in six weeks at in-store demos at his hometown supermarket. Now, thanks to persistence, FunniBonz is stocked in 21 Whole Foods stores in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions.

But Sarah E. Needleman’s story makes it clear that running your own show is not exactly a day, or more, at the beach. Richard Abels, a recently self-employed marketing and communications consultant, finds that he no longer has the luxury of taking time off. “I can’t report losses the way big companies do,” he says. He and other freelancers quoted in the story find that if they don’t reply to job leads imme

Karri McKenzie

BBQ sauce maker Jim Barbour

diately, they dry up.   - Read the whole story…

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Burwick’s Resignation Could Signal Bigger Changes At Pepsi
Forbes CMO Network
Pepsi followers are wondering if there’s a larger message in the resignation of Dave Burwick — a widely respected, two-decade veteran of the company — as CMO of the North American division, Laurie Burkitt reports. Some say he’s taking a hit for his boss, PepsiCo Americas Beverages CEO Massimo d’Amore, who reportedly has designs on the PepsiCo CEO job but thus far has seen mixed results from the drastic rebuilding efforts taken on behalf of brands such as Pepsi, Gatorade, Tropicana and Mountain Dew.

Former Victoria’s Secret CMO Jill Beraud replaced Burwick. D’Amore has to be hoping that she will bring some of the “sizzle” of that brand to the beverage division, Burkitt writes.

“You can expect the company will start looking a lot more like Nestlé,” says consultant Tom Pirko, meaning that it is shifting, albeit slowly, toward more profitable snack foods. Burkitt says that would imply changes for the “humongous” marketing budget. But spokeswoman Julie Hamp denies there are any radical changes in the works, period.

Bloomberg’s Zachary Mider, meanwhile, reports Pepsi is close to buying out its two biggest bottlers and is offering more than it originally did in April.   - Read the whole story…

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