Disruptive marketing can challenge conventional thinking in an existing market or develop a new one. Focus on the job, not the consumer segment. Identify unconventional opportunities by looking for data that doesn't make any sense and trying to understand it. With disruptive marketing, you can change culture! And take on your biggest competitor and win. This presentation was delivered at the Innovative Evenings event in Toronto on May 23, 2013. More on this: http://www.alexrascanu.com/disruptive-marketing-in-the-retail-world/

1. DISRUPTIVE MARKETING IN THE
RETAIL WORLD.
Alex Rascanu
Marketing Manager at Powered by Search
[former Global Consumer Insights Analyst at Kraft Foods]
@alexrascanu

2. AGENDA.
1. WHAT IS DISRUPTIVE MARKETING AND
WHY IS IT CRITICAL
2. DISRUPTIVE MARKETING ACTION PLAN
3. DISRUPTIVE MARKETING IN RETAIL:
EXAMPLES AND LEARNINGS
4. TAKE AWAYS AND RESOURCES

3. WHAT IS DISRUPTIVE
MARKETING AND
WHY IS IT CRITICAL.

4. Traditional marketing is aligned with consumer
insights to deliver exactly what the market wants
Disruptive marketing:
a. challenges conventional thinking in an existing
market, or
b. develops a new market

5. CONVENTIONAL
MARKETING.
• targets existing markets
• most resources go into it
DISRUPTIVE
MARKETING.
• creates new markets
• exciting, profitable

6. CONVENTIONAL + DISRUPTIVE =
INNOVATIVE MARKETING COUP
OR
PAINFUL FAILURE

7. BRANDS ARE
MEANT TO GET A
JOB DONE.
The job, not the
customer segment, is
the fundamental unit
of analysis for a
marketer who hopes
to develop a
disruptive campaign.

8. Example.
A fast-food restaurant wanted
improve sales of its milk shakes.
Conventional marketing involved
consumer segmentation,
consumer panels, and product
improvements.
Watching consumers to identify
what job they wanted done lead
to disruptive marketing.
40% of milk shakes were bought
in the early morning. Most often,
these early-morning customers
were alone; they did not buy
anything else; and they consumed
their shakes in their cars.

9. The job:
- facing a long, boring commute and need something
to make the drive more interesting
- not hungry but would be by 10 am
- want to consume something now to stave off hunger
until noon
- facing constraints: in a hurry, wearing work clothes,
and had (at most) one free hand
Competing products: bagels, bananas, doughnuts.

10. Improvements to get the job done:
a. thicker milk shake (to last longer)
b. add tiny chunks of fruit (to generate anticipation and
unpredictability)
c. move dispensing machine in front of the counter
and sell customers a prepaid swipe card so they
could dash in, "gas up," and go without getting
stuck in the drive-through lane
Result: gained share against the real competition -
not just competing chains' milk shakes but bananas,
boredom, and bagels

11. Job-defined
markets >
Product
category-
defined
markets

12. CONVENTIONAL + DISRUPTIVE =
SUSTAINABLE MARKETING.
Usually, the best strategy is to follow
the traditional path of segmenting
consumers, buying TV, print and in
store ads, and watch the profits roll
in.
By finding a new “job” for the
product, the restaurant unlocked a
whole set of new opportunities.
However, it also identified a new
consumer segment (morning
commuters). Once identified,
marketing to that segment becomes
a fairly conventional exercise.

13. UNLOCK NEW VALUE BY CREATING
A NEW PLAYING FIELD

14. Anomaly-driven insights.
How do we identify
unconventional opportunities?
We look for data that doesn’t
make any sense.

15. Be a Diligent Market
Researcher.
We often get data that
contradicts our normal view of
the world. With little effort we
can explain it away. What
takes much more effort is to
chase down the anomaly
and try to understand it.
Disruptive opportunities are
usually hidden in plain sight,
but ignored. Unlocking them
often has more to do with
diligence than brilliance.

16. DISRUPTIVE
MARKETING
ACTION PLAN.

17. Serious about causing market disruption?
Be ready for:
• Fundamentally shifting your business model
• Shifting or completely changing your infrastructure
• Long-term commitment

18. STEP 1
Obtain internal
buy-in from top
to bottom in
anticipation of the
change in brand
perception.

19. STEP 2
Collect all relevant
data about the
target or emerging
market. Unearth its
parameters, profile it,
and determine its
mood before
speaking with it.

20. STEP 3
Develop a
marketing strategy
that leverages both
online and offline
channels.

21. STEP 4
Before launching
the campaign,
executives must
set consistent
brand guidelines
and marketing
messages.

22. STEP 5
Launch the
disruptive marketing
campaign.
As it unfolds, collect
and interpret data
revealing the
effectiveness of the
strategy and adjust
the campaign as
needed.

23. DISRUPTIVE MARKETING
IN RETAIL: EXAMPLES &
LEARNINGS.3

24. Product: Red Bull energy drink
Background: Austria-based, founded
in 1984, 9,000 employees and $6.7
billion in revenue
Insight: consumers seek to associate
themselves with a high adrenaline
lifestyle
Marketing activity: sponsor close to
500 extreme sports athletes
worldwide, host/sponsor athletic
events, and sponsor skydiver Felix
Baumgartner in breaking world record
for the highest altitude jump (128 km) -
watched live on YouTube by over 8
million people
Lessons:
- Use consumer insights
- Push boundaries

25. Product: razor subscription plans
ranging from $1 to $9 a month
Background: USA-based with 25
employees, raised $10.9 million
Insight: there is a current trend
against "industrial strength carpet
bombing" campaigns that blast
every media channel with ads
Marketing activity: 90-second
YouTube ad featuring the founder
cost only $4,500 to make
generated a great deal of media
coverage and over 10,000,000
YouTube views
Lesson:
- Differentiate
- Have a razor-sharp focus
on your target market

26. Product: Samsung Galaxy SIII
Agency: 72andSunny was
founded in 2004, is USA-based,
and has 250 employees
Approach: go straight after the
800-pound gorilla in the
smartphone market – Apple; TV
ads poking fun at die-hard iPhone
fans by showing them as jealous
of Galaxy’s superior features
Result: Samsung surpassed
Apple in global smartphone sales
with more than 215 million units
sold last year.
Lesson:
- Taking on your biggest
competitor can pay great
dividends if you can deliver
quality innovation

27. Products: cocoa, coffee, cotton,
flowers, fruit, gold, grains, spices and
herbs, nuts and oils, sports balls,
sugar, tea and wine
Background: secures better deals for
1.2 million farmers and workers, $6.5
billion spent on Fair Trade products in
2011 in 120 countries, $87 million
were the organization's revenues
Marketing activities include ads on
product packages, community events,
partnerships with schools, churches
Marketing results: most widely
recognized ethical label globally, 6 in
10 people have seen the mark, out of
them 9 in 10 trust it
Lessons:
- You can change culture!
- Appeal to emotions
- Quality matters a lot

28. KEY TAKEAWAYS
AND RESOURCES.4

29. KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Disruptive marketing can challenge conventional
thinking in an existing market or develop a new market.
- The job, not the customer segment, is the fundamental
unit of analysis for a marketer who hopes to develop a
disruptive campaign
- Identify unconventional opportunities by looking for data
that doesn’t make any sense and trying to understand it.
- You can change culture! And take on your biggest
competitor and win.

30. RESOURCES
1.“BLUE OCEAN STRATEGY” BY
W. CHAN KIM AND RENÉE MAUBORGNE
2. “THE INNOVATOR’S DILLEMA” BY CLAY
CHRISTENSEN
3. “PURPLE COW” BY SETH GODIN
4. “ZAG” BY MARTY NEUMEIER

31. THANK YOU!
Alex Rascanu
alex@alexrascanu.com
www.alexrascanu.com
@alexrascanu