It’s About Time: From Innovation to Impact in Women’s Health
Leave a CommentWomen’s health is experiencing a surge of innovation, investment, and attention, but progress is not measured by pipelines alone. At S50, we hosted It’s About Time: From Innovation to Impact in Women’s Health, a three-part webinar series in partnership with DTC Perspectives and GW Health PR, to examine a pressing reality. Too often, innovation outpaces impact.
Across three sessions, leaders from biopharma, biotech, healthcare communications, and clinical care came together to explore where the system breaks down and what it will take to move from promising ideas to meaningful change. Below is a high-level recap of the most important themes that emerged and why they matter now.
What We Heard
Innovation Alone Is Not Enough
The series opened with a direct challenge to the industry. Breakthrough science does not automatically translate into better outcomes for women. Progress stalls when trust, access, and experience fail to evolve alongside innovation.
Speakers emphasized that women do not experience healthcare by category or condition. They experience it across life stages, moments of vulnerability, and complex personal contexts. When care feels fragmented, transactional, or unclear, engagement drops, regardless of how advanced the solution may be.
The takeaway was clear. Impact requires intentional design, not just discovery.
Communication Shapes Care
Conversations around brain health and menopause reinforced a critical truth. Communication is not a downstream function. It is often a woman’s first interaction with care.
Symptoms such as anxiety, mood changes, sleep disruption, and brain fog are frequently normalized or dismissed without guidance. As evidence continues to emerge linking hormonal change to long-term health outcomes, the way information is framed matters. Education must empower without alarming and provide context, credibility, and clear next steps.
When communication lacks clarity or humanity, trust erodes. When it is done well, it becomes a catalyst for action.
Experience Is the Differentiator
The discussion on fertility and family planning underscored how deeply personal healthcare decisions truly are. Innovation in this space cannot succeed without acknowledging emotional complexity, stigma, and inconsistent access.
Panelists stressed that early access to information is a form of agency. Learning about options does not force decisions. It gives women control. Just as important was the call to move away from narratives that frame fertility challenges as personal failures rather than multifaceted medical journeys.
Across the session, one theme stood out. Trust is built through experience, not messaging alone. Seamless care, empathetic language, and consistent support are not nice-to-haves. They are foundational.
The S50 Point of View
Across all three sessions, a unifying message emerged. The future of women’s health will be defined not by the volume of innovation, but by the quality of its translation into the real world.
That translation depends on evidence that reflects real lives, access designed intentionally, and communication that treats women as whole people, not endpoints in a funnel. When these elements align, innovation earns trust and trust drives impact.
This is the work S50 believes the industry must prioritize now.
Watch the Full Webinar Series
Explore the full conversations below:
· Day One: Women’s Cancer and the Innovation–Impact Gap
Women’s Cancer Care Has Changed: Has Your Marketing?
· Day Two: Brain Health, Menopause, and Responsible Communication
Brain Health: The Hidden Cost of Decline
· Day Three: Fertility and Family Planning in a New Era
Reproductive Health: The New Era of Fertility & Family Planning
Built to Challenge. Wired to Win.
Leave a CommentS50 wasn’t built to play nice.
We didn’t start this agency because we wanted to be smaller, quieter, or “scrappier” than everyone else. We started it because we believe the best work—the work that drives sales, shifts categories, and creates momentum, doesn’t come from bloated systems, endless process, or Holdco noise.
It comes from focus. Speed. Taste. And an unhealthy obsession with winning.
That’s what it means to be a challenger.
Why We Built S50
We came from the big agencies. We know how they work.
Slow. Political. Expensive. Over-processed. Optimized for revenue, not results. Great decks. Safe ideas. Little appetite for risk.
Somewhere along the way, the work stopped being about impact and started being about approval.
S50 was our response to that.
We wanted to get back to work that moves markets, not meetings. Work that’s built to sell, not just signal. Work that’s designed to perform in the real world, not win internal debates.
So, we built an indie agency with senior talent, modern tools, and zero patience for bullshit.
What “Challenger” Actually Means to Us
Challenger brands aren’t underdogs. They’re fighters.
They don’t wait their turn. They don’t follow category conventions. They don’t play by rules designed to protect incumbents.
They take smart risks. They move faster than the market. They make noise where others play it safe. And when the category zigs, they zag, on purpose.
Our job is to fuel that energy.
That means bold creative with teeth. Strategy that’s grounded in behavior, not category clichés. With a relentless focus on growth, because awareness without action doesn’t pay the bills.
How We Work (And Why It Works)
Speed is a weapon. We use it.
We don’t disappear for weeks to perfect an idea before letting clients see it. We share thinking early. We collaborate in real time. We move ideas forward in days (sometimes hours) because momentum matters.
Structurally, S50 is flat by design. No ivory towers. No egos. No precious swim lanes. Everyone has a voice, and the best idea wins. Multi-disciplinary teams are involved from day one, and healthy debate is part of the process, not something to manage around.
This is how you get sharper work, faster decisions, and better outcomes.
And we’re unapologetic about how we measure success: not by awards on a shelf, but by growth in our clients’ businesses. Sales. Share. Momentum.
Why the Market Needs Indie Energy
The ad industry doesn’t need more noise. It needs more nerve.
It needs agencies willing to take swings. To challenge assumptions. To build work that’s ambitious, commercially aggressive, and impossible to ignore.
That’s what indie energy brings. Less theater. More intent. Less hierarchy. More hunger.
S50 exists for brands who want that edge and for teams who want to build work that matters.
No rules. Best creative. Real results.
That’s the fight we’re here for.
Chris Parker – Founder, Managing Partner
Michael LeBeau – Founder, Managing Partner
Why Women’s Health Needs Better Experiences, Not Just Better Messaging
Leave a CommentWomen’s health is finally getting more attention, more campaigns, more conversation, and more commitment to closing long-standing gaps in care. That progress matters. Awareness matters.
But awareness alone doesn’t create trust. Experience does.
After more than two decades designing customer and patient experiences across healthcare, wellness, and consumer brands, I’ve seen how often strong messaging raises expectations that the actual experience doesn’t fully deliver on. The result is friction at the moments that matter most, confusing pathways, inconsistent language, and experiences that don’t reflect the empathy promised upfront.
In healthcare, and especially women’s healthcare, that disconnect is costly. When messaging and experience aren’t aligned, women disengage. Care is delayed. Trust erodes.
We saw this firsthand in our work with CCRM, a leading fertility network. The website redesign focused on eliminating friction at every touchpoint, making it easier to schedule appointments, providing digestible content that demystifies complex fertility information, and creating warm, thoughtful visuals that acknowledge the emotional weight of the journey. We removed barriers to lead capture and are considering new communication streams designed to meet patients exactly where they are in their process. Instead of overwhelming them with everything at once, we’re supplementing the care team’s guidance with timely, educational content that supports each stage of patient onboarding. During what can be a scary and isolating time, these touchpoints offer connection and clarity when patients need it most.
Consistency across touchpoints isn’t a branding detail; it’s a care issue. From the first interaction to ongoing communication, women need experiences that feel intentional, clear, and human. Strong CX reduces friction, anticipate needs, and signals respect, particularly for audiences that have historically been underserved.
That’s why CX plays such a critical role in building trust. Thoughtful experience design validates concerns, removes unnecessary barriers, and makes it easier for women to move forward with confidence.
The conversations happening in this webinar are critical because women’s health progress requires alignment across innovation, communication, and experience. Bringing together leaders from pharma, technology, clinical care, advocacy, and marketing creates the opportunity to move beyond awareness, and toward real impact.
Annie Pollack, CX Lead
Yes, I Know, Another Cracker Barrel Post. Sorry in Advance.
Leave a CommentBut this one’s ever-so-slightly different!
We’re piling on, but…
The internet has caught fire. Shares in Cracker Barrel stock dropped a hundred million dollars. Like, in a day. Even politicians piled on.
That’s obviously the wrong kind of “incite.”
Of course, brands should want to incite. But not a shareholder panic, or a meme cycle that makes your CMO wish they’d lost their wifi for a month.
The right kind of incite sparks belief, pride, curiosity, appetite. It pulls people toward you.
Burger King did it with their retro refresh: they reimagined nostalgia, not erased it. Taco Bell inverted the QSR playbook by anchoring new experiences in “live más” first—and then figuring out how to scale it. Wendy’s mastered the snark, but backed it with quality cues so it wasn’t just attitude for attitude’s sake.
Here’s the bigger issue: this feels like a rebrand in search of a problem. The “insight” seems to have been our old logo doesn’t scale online. That’s a design task, not a consumer truth. A real insight (the kind that surprises you about the customer problem) would’ve fueled a story people could believe in. Without that, the void gets filled by everyone else. And suddenly your refresh is a culture-war football getting tossed around, with no winners but the meme-makers.
At S50, we believe branding isn’t decoration. It’s a promise. And of course, it can be a provocation—but it needs to have purpose. Inciting people to feel a certain way about your brand is important. The only question is whether it builds your brand… or burns it.
The Kiss-Cam Scandal: A Case Study in Pivoting from Crisis to Opportunity
Leave a CommentThe recent Astronomer situation didn’t just dominate headlines, it demonstrated how a brand can turn a moment of chaos into a masterclass in narrative control and awareness building.
Why Their Response Worked
- Rapid Response = Credibility: They didn’t wait for the story to spiral. By addressing it quickly, they signaled confidence and accountability before speculation could define the narrative.
- Balancing Wit with Substance: While many brands default to humor in moments of virality, Astronomer paired cleverness with clarity. The ad with Gwyneth Paltrow wasn’t just entertaining, it was educational, ensuring the audience walked away understanding the brand better.
- From Scandal to Storytelling: They reframed the controversy into a narrative about their mission and relevance. This shift from reactive to proactive was key.
- Human Over Corporate: The tone avoided jargon and felt like a real person speaking to real people. That created trust and likability in a moment where the brand was most vulnerable.
- The Unintended Upside: Awareness surged organically. People who had never heard of Astronomer now has some understanding of their business. Something that would have cost millions through traditional advertising.
Would This Work for a Large CPG Brand?
Niche or specialized B2B brands have an advantage: curiosity. When people don’t fully understand a company’s offering, they’re more willing to engage positively with educational content.
Well-known CPG brands, on the other hand, face a different dynamic. Scandals hit harder because consumer expectations are already deeply set. Attempts to “educate” the public in the wake of a controversy can come off as defensive, insincere, or even opportunistic.
The key difference lies in positioning:
- B2B brands: Can leverage novelty, expertise, and curiosity to their advantage.
- CPG brands: Must lean on empathy, values, and demonstrable action to regain trust. Education alone rarely works.
The Bigger Lesson
The Astronomer scandal reinforces that speed, authenticity, and narrative ownership are non-negotiable in times of crisis. With the right balance of transparency and humanity, even a misstep can become a branding breakthrough.
Vanessa Fahy
SVP, Account Management
Cannes In Review
Leave a CommentNo Longer The Black Sheep of The Creative Family
It started as a trend. A couple of brilliant campaigns in the health and wellness space. Cannes gasped. These must be outliers. “Oh but it’s a pharma idea, those are easier to win” I once overheard. One offs. There’s no creative in health.
Then a strange thing happened. It grew. Consumer brands started to take notice. Everyone had their “wellness idea”. So much so that a pharma category came into existence. But still, it was an aside. A pat on the head from “real creative consumer”.
If last year wasn’t, this year was a declaration that the best work in the world is coming from health care.
I get it. I was one of the non-believers before I worked in the field. But the evidence is indisputable, beautiful and inspiring. If you have been living for Super Bowl commercials as the hallmark of creative you’re looking in the wrong place. And it’s not just brilliant, life-changing creativity demonstrated through craft and innovation: it’s Effie awarded market shaping for healthcare brands.
TLDR?
Healthcare is the new mecca for creatives and marketers looking to make groundbreaking work.
James Buonatuono
SVP, Head of Creative
Laptop in Paradise: Smart Move or Just Marketing Hype
Leave a CommentZoom Calls & Palm Trees: Are Workcations Worth It?
As flexible work becomes the norm, the “workcation” is no longer just a buzzword—it’s a reimagining of how, where, and why we work. And in 2025, more people are choosing to swap their home offices for new horizons (ideally with ocean views and solid Wi-Fi).
But is it possible to balance productivity and palm trees? I say yes—with boundaries, trust, and a little Bauhaus philosophy.
A Real-Life Workcation: St. Barths, Deadlines, and Discovery
“Having not taken a real vacation in 4 years (do NOT recommend it to anyone—you deserve your time off!), my fiancée and I planned a two-week trip to St. Barths to celebrate her 40th birthday.” Sounds like a dream. But this wasn’t a full unplug. In the middle of TV pre-production, I had to stay dialed in—without burning out.
“To me, a workcation is about clear, honest communication. Not just with your coworkers and clients, but with those you’re spending time with. We outlined a plan before I left: check-in days, summary emails, and designated off-hours. Consistency is key. Hold to your times on, and your times off. It’s all about trust and reliability.”
Exploration Is Part of the Work
The big misconception? That exploration and productivity are in conflict. “It’s funny that we’ve separated exploration from productivity in the first place. They aren’t mutually exclusive. You have to explore to be productive, and productivity allows you to explore.
There’s a study I go back to, by John Cleese and Oxford University: humans have about 2 hours of ‘playfulness’ each day where we’re truly creative. Workcations let us tap into that longer. It’s like the Bauhaus school of thought—we need to nurture every element of our being to give our best to clients, colleagues, and ourselves.”
The Takeaway
Workcations aren’t just a perk—they’re part of a larger shift in how we manage energy, creativity, and connection. Done right, they offer space to recharge and produce your best work.
So, whether you’re deep in a pitch deck or prepping for production, maybe it’s time to take the office somewhere new. Just make sure the Wi-Fi—and your calendar—can keep up.
James Buonatuono
SVP, Head of Creative
Inspired by MM+M: Maybe It’s Time to Rethink What “Patient Engagement” Really Means
Leave a CommentWe agree: A flashy DTC platform means nothing if it’s not solving a real patient problem.
A recent piece in MM+M raised a tough but fair question: Are pharma’s DTC platforms actually engaging patients?
As folks who work on this every day, we think the answer is often no. Not because the ideas are bad, but because they skip a step.
A lot of campaigns start with a launch plan before they’ve nailed the insight. Things like a campaign idea before an emotional truth, or “we need x number of emails” before the we know patient’s unmet need.
We get why it happens. Timelines are short and expectations are high. But when you build before you listen, you end up with something that might look great, just not to the people it’s meant for.
We’d rather start with the problem, not the platform.
And we only move when we’ve found the sharp insight that makes the rest worth building. Sometimes that leads to an ad, sometimes an email, sometimes a support tool patients didn’t know they needed until they had it.
But it always starts with the why.
We’re glad MM+M is asking these questions. We think more of us should.
Carlos X. López
SVP, Director of Strategy
Mid-Size Agency, Max Creativity
Leave a CommentReflections from DTC National say the future of healthcare marketing will depend on mid-size agencies
Better work happens with fewer barriers.
Since joining the Scrum50 Health team last month, I’ve been learning a lot about that imperative. At the 25th DTC National conference in Boston last week, I understood why this strategy will be a winning one. The conference convenes healthcare marketers to refine their direct-to-consumer communications, and one thing became clear: the industry is approaching a significant transformation.
This wasn’t my first time at DTC – I attended the first one in Las Vegas in 2001 and many, many in between. Every time I turned around, I saw someone I knew. It was like my resume came to life and was talking to me. What stood out this year, though, was how the advertising industry has changed over the past 25 years. A conversation with one of the current holding company health leaders about the state of the DTC agency business today really shined a light on this evolution.
Over the last 25 years, consolidation has been the primary agency theme. We are very close to an industry dominated by a few massive holding companies. This would have been almost unthinkable in 2001. With that size comes a slew of headaches: client conflicts everywhere, the constant need to replace people. Senior leaders of these companies become completely detached from the work, even though that’s the reason clients pay us.
Having worked with the biggest agencies and holding companies for decades, I fear they have lost their way. You leave the advertising business and succumb to the business of advertising. You need to hire five people across complaining clients, but the budget says you can hire only two because business is soft in another part of the company. It becomes almost impossible to live up to the promises made in your winning pitch close to a prospective client, including your passionate personal commitment to be “all over the business.” This leads to being totally disengaged from the creative process, the reason most of us got into the business in the first place.
I see a bright DTC future for independent agencies with an incredibly talented team and strong, hands-on leadership. Independence brings excellent synchronicity. The leadership team that pitched the business actually delivers the work. Less corporate bloat, more efficiency. Less bureaucratic distraction, more creative joy. Having been with S50 for a month now, I can see this more clearly every day. S50 is dynamic and nimble and can respond to what clients need without the bureaucracy and red tape.
I see S50 as the perfect solution. The “FLEX” strategy is designed to suit each client – expanding, contracting and adapting to fit their specific needs and budget. The result: the right people at the right time – with the best and boldest ideas. S50 has created powerful and award-winning strategies and creative campaigns for healthcare brands for over 10 years. We’re growing, and ready for more.
DTC National made it clear that this change is coming. Independent agencies are going to be leading the charge. The work will be much better and bolder and less like wallpaper.
Executive Advisor, S50 Health
S50 Agency Builds On Growing Health Practice Adding Powerhouse Industry Marketing Leaders To The Team
Leave a CommentAgency Kickstarts Next Phase of Strategic Growth with Four New Hires
South Norwalk, CT – April 2, 2025 – Scrum50 (S50) is a digital agency that has built its reputation on creating innovative and bold marketing solutions for clients. Those solutions come from a unique, highly adaptive approach that places client needs and budget first – while delivering maximum results.
And today, as the agency experiences unprecedented growth, S50 is announcing the addition of four industry leaders to its expanding health team. Known individually for their impact in big-name health and pharma marketing, Howard Courtemanche, Michael Fox, James Buonantuono, and Laura Bzdek are bringing their deep expertise to an already strong and nimble, client-first team.
Dedicated to the idea that “better work happens with fewer barriers,” the S50 Health team collaborate with clients to create award-winning marketing strategies and content for a wide range of consumer and health brands including AbbVie, Bayer, Myriad Genetics, Amgen, Acadia Pharmaceuticals and more. They are primed to build on recent accolades including an Ad Age Modern Healthcare Marketing Impact Award, and recognition from the OMMA Awards and MM+M Awards.
S50’s team brings a powerful “FLEX” strategy to each client – expanding, contracting and adapting to fit their specific needs and budget. The result: the right people at the right time – with the best and boldest ideas. And after years of perfecting its approach and creating powerful advertising strategies for healthcare brands, S50 Health is ready to expand.
“Over the years, we have perfected and proven our approach with consumer clients, and we find that experience to be a huge strategic benefit as we partner with more health clients,” said Michael LeBeau, Founder and Managing Partner of S50. “Our collective experience gives us more depth and more insight than a typical pharma-only agency. And as we lean into healthcare, we are bringing in great, new, talent to help us innovate and deliver even better results.”
Four highly experienced industry veterans will be joining the S50 Health team:
Howard Courtemanche, Executive Advisor
With decades of experience in the advertising world and within health marketing, Howard has served as a founder and leader for health divisions of WPP agencies as CEO of J. Walter Thompson Health and President of VMLY&R Health. Client accounts Howard has led include Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Astra Zeneca, Bristol Myers, Merck, Bayer, Genentech, Amgen and PhRMA. His experience covers every health agency discipline from consumer to HCP to medical education/affairs, over the counter, health systems, and virtually every therapeutic category in healthcare.
Michael Fox, Senior Vice President, Head of Health Marketing
Michael runs S50’s health portfolio including pharma, health tech, health systems and over-the-counter products and services. He is a purpose-driven media and marketing executive with extensive DTC and HCP experience in the healthcare industry across a diverse range of therapeutic areas including Oncology, MS, Cardiovascular, Primary Care, Specialty Care, Vaccines, Gene Therapy, Infant Nutrition and Patient-Centric Technology Solutions. He has led cross-functional agency teams delivering client solutions that include digital, social, mobile, TV, print, direct mail/email, experiential, radio and sales.
James Buonantuono, Senior Vice President, Head of Creative
With 20 years of advertising experience, James has led award-winning campaigns within the health, pharma, consumer products and tech industries. He has served in key roles at multiple agencies including Area 23, /Prompt, Weber Shandwick, Saatchi&Saatchi and McCann. James helped build the creative department at /Prompt – growing it from a staff of three to 35 in four years.
Laura Bzdek, Senior Vice President, Growth
Laura is a seasoned client relationship and business development leader with deep health experience including wellness, pharmaceutical, omnichannel, digital, social media, experiential, environmental and integrated marketing solutions that drive increased ROI and distinction. She specializes in creating accessible solutions for brands and their consumers.
“I’m thrilled to join an agency that’s redefining what success looks like in this business,” said Howard Courtemanche, S50 Health’s new executive advisor. “There’s no red tape at S50 — just smart, flexible people working to deliver great work. They truly listen, adapt, and bring together the right talent to make an impact. This is the way it should be.”
About S50
S50 is an award-winning, customer-obsessed marketing agency. Our mission is to marry world-class strategic creative with an innovative approach to deliver deeper brand-to-consumer connections. We focus on three competency areas for clients: agency services, eBusiness and digital transformation. The agency is based in South Norwalk, CT with a hybrid team based across the US and Canada.
MORE DIGITAL = MORE HUMAN™
Leave a CommentHow AI, data, and platforms can converge to make brand interactions more human in 2024
“The world is changing faster than ever!”
“Tech is advancing at an exponential rate!”
“Robot overlords!”
We get it. Sure, if it’s mostly true, but what can we as marketers do to survive and grow in this ever-shifting environment? Of course you need to be more digital. You also need to be more human.
Humanity is the warm and fuzzy core of technology’s cold and crunchy shell. It’s what connects us with others, inspires us to create, and drives us to make a difference. It’s what sets us apart from the machines and platforms that are increasingly enmeshed in our lives. But humanity is also fragile. It can be lost, forgotten, or ignored in the pursuit of efficiency, convenience, or algorithms.
Brands that want to survive and thrive beyond the next 3, 5, or 10 years will be the ones that embrace both the gooey and the crunchy; those who use digital to be more human.
In working across a diverse range of industries across healthcare, pharma, tech, CPG, business process outsourcing (BPO), and sports, we at S50 see similarities to customers that others might miss. There’s a lot you can learn from observing a first-time homebuyer and people using genetic screens.
In a series of blog posts, we’ll share with you some of the insights, ideas, and examples of how to be more digital and more human, especially with AI, in 2024. We will explore topics such as:
- How to use AI to enhance (not replace!) human creativity and intelligence. AI can help us generate new ideas, overcome our own cognitive biases, as well as evaluate and refine our concepts — all while shortening the time from concepting to launch and improving performance.
- How to design digital experiences that are personalized, intuitive, and engaging. AI can help us understand and anticipate the desires, preferences, and emotions of our customers so we can tailor our digital products, messaging — creating services to make them feel that the brand really “gets them.”
- How to leverage data and analytics to understand and anticipate customer needs, behaviors, and trends. AI can help us collect, analyze, and visualize large amounts of data, and extract meaningful insights and patterns from them — maybe even helping us skate to where the puck is going.
- How to communicate with authenticity, emotion, and impact. AI can help us craft compelling messages, stories, and content that use data to resonate with our audience — helping them feel seen, heard, and valued.
- How to foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and diversity. AI can help us create a more inclusive, diverse, and innovative work environment, where we can learn from each other, share ideas — and solve problems, big and small, together.
Join us on this journey. We’ll explore how to be more digital and more human in 2024 together. Because the future belongs to those who can balance both.
Stay tuned for our next post, where we will dive into the first topic: How to use AI to enhance, not replace, human creativity and intelligence.
S50
More Digital. More Human.
BGB Group Announces Partnership with Scrum50 to Deliver High-Impact, Consumer-Centric Creative to Healthcare Clients
Leave a CommentScrum50 brings a decade of barrier-free, consumer-connecting expertise to enhance BGB’s expanding capabilities
New York City, NY – February 1, 2024 – BGB Group (BGB), an award-winning healthcare commercialization and communications company headquartered in New York City with offices in Washington DC, Boston, and London, today announced a strategic partnership with Scrum50 (S50), a dynamic, agile-first creative agency based in South Norwalk, CT. This collaboration marks a transformative alliance, the next phase of BGB’s expertise enhancement aimed at remaining ahead of biopharma’s biggest challenges. The teams are set to redefine creativity and impact in the healthcare sector.
S50 will continue to operate independently across all industry sectors.
“We are excited to formalize our partnership with S50,” noted Greg Passaretti, Founding Partner of BGB Group. “We’ve been working together for nearly a year, and we realized that there’s much more that we can accomplish for a marketplace in need of broader creative and engagement solutions.”
BGB Group, known for its deep clinical expertise, has been enhancing its ability to forge valuable connections with healthcare consumers. “S50 is great at breaking down complexities, approaching marketing challenges from new angles and getting great new ideas implemented quicky,” noted Brendon Phalen, Founding Partner of BGB Group. “Their work has captured attention in our sector because of their fresh, authentic approach to creating connections.”
S50 has delivered results for a broad range of consumer and healthcare organizations from Mondelēz, American Express, Subway and Jägermeister to AbbVie, Gilead, and Myriad Genetics. “S50 has a team that is exceptional at creating meaningful customer connections on a personal level,” noted Michael LeBeau, Founder and Managing Partner of S50. “We’ve become the perfect home for free-spirited, risk-taking creative problem solvers.”
Chris Parker, Founder and Managing Partner of S50, notes that pharmaceutical clients have been very receptive to new ways to establish critical customer connections. “We know non-branded search across healthcare continues to climb. Audiences are searching and our job is to align what customers care about with opportunities for brands to provide relevant expertise.”
“Our collaboration has been outstanding,” noted Jen Miller, Executive Creative Director and Managing Partner of S50. “BGB has unmatched expertise in scientific content and that gives us a tremendous advantage as we develop new ways to connect with consumers
to deliver information they can trust. Together we’re bringing a totally new approach in a sector that is known for contrived and overused communication formulas.”
“This partnership enhances our ability to apply the science of consumer marketing to the pharmaceutical space,” said Teresa Day, President of BGB Group, “and opens the door for clients to tap into the expanded and interconnected marketing expertise at BGB.”
The strategic partnership between BGB and S50 is poised to usher in a new era of creativity and impact in healthcare. Together, these leaders are committed to delivering innovative solutions that resonate with consumers.
About S50:
S50 is an award-winning, customer-obsessed marketing agency. Our mission is to marry world-class strategic creative with an innovative approach to deliver deeper brand-to-consumer connections. We focus on three competency areas for clients: Agency services, eBusiness and Digital Transformation. www.s50.agency
About BGB Group:
At BGB Group, the brightest minds in healthcare are merging science and creativity to deliver the best in specialized services including healthcare advertising, medical education, strategic consulting, and payer marketing. BGB seamlessly integrates medical expertise into each piece of business, bringing an unmatched level of insight, perspective, and scientific sophistication to every assignment, for every client. www.bgbgroup.com
Media Contact:
BGB
Amanda Eckel
aeckel@bgbgroup.com
S50
Katie Coleman
katie.coleman@s50agency.com
En español, por favor: Why healthcare marketers should take the lead from SNL and Bad Bunny
Leave a CommentSNL’s recent bilingual episode is yet another sign that your brand should be communicating with Spanish-speaking audiences.
As marketers, part of our job is keeping an eye on trends and shifts. We know that building a winning brand involves seizing opportunities. Many times, that means staying on top of social media trends or advances in technology. Other times, it means getting familiar with a decades-old population shift.
The recent bilingual episode of Saturday Night Live, featuring the multi-award-winning Bad Bunny, is a prime example of how even mainstream American entertainment is acknowledging the growing influence and importance of Spanish-speaking audiences. Featuring bits entirely in Spanish, it’s a testament to the economic and cultural power of Hispanic Americans in the United States.
The Demographic Powerhouse
First and foremost, let’s talk numbers. Hispanic Americans make up nearly 20% of the U.S. population (almost 64 million people). It’s not just the size of this demographic that matters; it’s their characteristics that make them a compelling target for marketers.
The U.S. Hispanic population is young, upwardly mobile, and growing faster than the general population. In addition, this demographic is well-educated, tech-savvy, and has a strong affinity for American culture while retaining a deep connection to their Hispanic roots. This duality creates a unique opportunity for brands to connect with a dynamic and diverse audience.
Economic Empowerment
In 2023, the Latino purchasing power (LPP) in the United States was estimated to be a staggering $3.2 trillion, marking a 14% increase from 2022. This surge in economic power reflects not only the increasing size of the Hispanic population but also their growing affluence. From financial services to consumer goods, the Hispanic market is a force to be reckoned with, and those who engage with them now stand to reap the rewards.
Media Consumption Explosion
And it’s more than numbers and purchasing power. Hispanic audiences are rapidly expanding their media consumption across various channels. They are avid podcast listeners, streaming TV enthusiasts, and active gamers. This diversification of media habits provides ample opportunities for brands to connect through multiple touchpoints. By understanding these habits and preferences, marketers can tailor their messages to resonate with this audience effectively.
Healthcare Marketing’s Awakening
In this landscape of opportunity, healthcare marketing has begun to recognize the value of expanding its reach to Spanish-speaking communities. Brands like Dupixent, Mounjaro, and even the pharmacy chain CVS are leading the way. They’ve realized that addressing the unmet needs of Spanish-speaking communities isn’t just a profit play; it’s an essential step towards elevating the health of the entire nation.
For far too long, language barriers and cultural disconnects have hindered access to healthcare for Hispanic Americans. By actively engaging with this demographic, healthcare providers are not only improving their bottom lines, but also addressing critical healthcare disparities. This shift isn’t merely about marketing; it’s about equitable healthcare access and the well-being of an entire community, 60 million strong and growing.
The Power of Inclusivity
The era of marketing exclusively to English-speaking audiences is long gone. The future belongs to those who recognize the immense potential of engaging with Spanish-speaking Americans. SNL’s Bad Bunny episode is just one more visible indicator of this trend. It’s time for brands, across all industries, to embrace cultural diversity, leverage the economic power of Hispanic consumers, and contribute to the betterment of the entire nation by ensuring equitable access to essential services like healthcare.
Staying ahead in marketing isn’t just about catching trends. It’s about setting them.
S50 Health is here to help you connect with Spanish-speaking American audiences. The opportunities are vast, and the time to seize them is now.
More about the cultural and advertising impact of Bad Bunny on SNL:
- Bad Bunny Shows Advertisers the Power of Spanglish: Equality – Bloomberg
- Bad Bunny, ‘SNL’ and the Normalization of Spanish in American Pop Culture – Billboard
- SNL Didn’t Need Subtitles – The Atlantic
Scrum50 Partners with Salsify to Offer Best in Class eCommerce Solutions
Leave a CommentWe’re thrilled to announce our partnership with Salsify, the world’s leading product experience management (PXM) platform. Our partnership will allow us to expand our services creating best in class strategy, content and syndication across large eTailers and DTC platforms.
As eCommerce trends begin to surge, it’s crucial for brands to optimize their digital shelf with an eye towards conversion. With this partnership, we’re able to provide solutions that align with your brand’s needs efficiently.
“Salsify has long recognized Scrum50 as being an incredibly agile and effective ecommerce marketing firm,” said Morgan McAlenney, director, strategic alliances at Salsify. “We’re very excited to have Scrum50 be part of Salsify’s larger partner ecosystem and are looking forward to working with them to drive and execute impactful strategies for brands looking to win on the Digital Shelf.”
After building successful eBusiness programs for Mondelēz, Luxury Beauty and Fragrance Players, Gerber, Welch’s, Revlon, Elizabeth Arden and more, we’re ready to take on new challenges and bring our content to the next level with this partnership.
About Scrum50
Scrum50 is the first born-agile marketing agency. Our mission is to marry world-class strategic creative with efficiency by embracing agile marketing approaches — employing shorter production sprints managed by uniquely-talented hybrid teams. We focus on three competency areas for clients:Agency Services,eBusiness, and Digital Transformation.
About Salsify
Salsify is the world’s leading Product Experience Management (PXM) platform. We empower brand manufacturers to accelerate digital growth by delivering the product experiences consumers demand anywhere they choose to shop online. Salsify’s platform combines the power of PIM and DAM capabilities, the industry’s broadest commerce ecosystem, and actionable insights to orchestrate compelling product experiences through every digital touchpoint. The world’s biggest brands including Coca-Cola, Bosch, GSK, Rawlings, and Fruit of the Loom use Salsify every day to stand out on the digital shelf. To date, Salsify has raised a total of $98.1 million in funding, led by Greenspring Associates, Underscore VC, Venrock, Matrix Partners and North Bridge.
For more information, please visit: http://www.salsify.com.
Conair Leverages Amazon Prime Day to Launch a Fresh, New Look
Leave a CommentThe heritage brand reinvents itself for savvy eCommerce consumers
STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, 7/1/19— Conair is empowering shoppers to “Be the Pro” with their immersive Amazon brand store and bold new image. Launching in time for Prime Day, the brand built on the zeitgeist of “self-care” and blogger culture to roll out new product lines and reintroduce the diverse offerings under the Conair umbrella.
Conair recognized Prime Day as the ideal opportunity to put a fresh foot forward. The brand worked with its eCommerce AOR (Agency of Record), Scrum50 to develop a strategic platform based on Amazon shopper behaviors in the health, beauty and hair fashion appliance categories. “Our strategic and creative approach to driving product conversions can be vastly different based on retailer, category and brand. It’s not a one size fits all” says Stacy Thomson, VP of eBusiness at Scrum50.
“We’ve always been on trend with our innovations. Now we’ll be ahead of the trend when it comes to how customers like to shop,” said Robin Linsley, VP of Marketing at Conair. “The beauty and style industry changes quickly,” Linsley said. “That’s why it’s so important to develop and go live with great ideas at the speed of life.”
The Conair and Scrum50 teams partnered to quickly develop a creative platform, including the design, photography, development and launch of a premium brand store for more than 300 products in less than 90 days. Now they’re at the ready to make a splash on Prime Day.
About Conair
In 1959, Conair built its business on the first “pistol grip” hair dryer—revolutionizing hair care. Today, it’s a global leader in the manufacturing and distribution of personal care, grooming, health and beauty products; premium kitchen electrics, tools, and even cookware. www.Conair.com
About Scrum50
Scrum50 is the first-born agile marketing agency combining world-class strategic creative with efficiency. In addition to Conair, Scrum50 has built successful eBusiness programs for Mondelēz, Luxury Beauty and Fragrance Players, Gerber, Welch’s, Revlon, Elizabeth Arden and more. www.Scrum50.com
Source: Profitero; 2018 Prime Day sales lift vs average daily sales, Amazon.com
Is Amazon Vendor Central Changing? What You Need to Know
Leave a CommentThe Amazon rumor mill is running at full speed. But more alarming than the usual rumblings of mergers, buy-outs, and robots delivering your orders is one big closer-to-reality story: Amazon is getting ready to eliminate first party sellers.
In early 2019, Amazon sent shockwaves throughout the eCommerce world when it briefly stopped issuing thousands of POs to vendors.[1] The eCommerce giant told those brands to sign up for the brand registry, a move many linked to Amazon’s desire to eliminate vendors that aren’t profitable – especially those that sell low quality of counterfeit goods.[2]
The forecast, reignited by a report from Reuters this week, is that a new One Vendor platform is in the works, combining 1st party and 3rd party capabilities.[3]
But right now, first party sellers and third party sellers on Amazon have completely different platforms for selling and advertising. The core difference? Fulfillment responsibility – who takes on the risks of inventory, pricing, customer service, and shipping – Amazon or Brands. Generally, Amazon absorbs the bulk of the effort for 1P sellers. Naturally, they want all their Vendors to become self-service.
Still struggling with what that means? Let’s lay it out…
| Amazon 1st Party Vendor Central | Amazon 3rd Party Seller Central | Impact | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inventory & Pricing | Amazon sets price and issues Purchase Orders for wholesale items based on sales, demand, and category considerations. Vendors fill purchase orders and must ensure products are available for purchase on Amazon. | Seller manages inventory and sets price. | There is potential for a significant impact on manufacturing, demand planning and inventory management for 1P vendors, which are traditionally not set up for real-time inventory. |
| Pricing & Fees | 4-10% COOP fees for manufacturers | 15% referral fee paid by seller to Amazon | Any fees paid to Amazon eats into revenue. Price point matters, especially with fulfillment costs in the mix. |
| Fulfillment | Amazon houses, packs and ships inventory. Manufacturers receive chargebacks for incorrect labels or packaging | Fulfilled By Amazon brands need to pay fees to store product and fulfill orders. Drop shipping requires brands to stock, pack, and ship themselves, avoiding fees but shouldering the costs themselves. | Most large brands don’t have drop-shipping capabilities due to volume issues. It can cost millions to adapt, but it will be worth it as online shopping adoption rates skyrocket. |
| Customer Service | Amazon is responsible for handling shipping or customer service issues. | All issues managed by individual sellers. They have the opportunity to communicate directly shoppers | The email capabilities on Seller Central are great for promotions and driving loyalty. There are penalties for not responding quickly to customer service issues (including getting removed from Amazon) |
| Advertising | Access to all Amazon Advertising Tools. | Access to Advertising tools is limited to Sponsored Product and Sponsored Brand ads. | Marketing products and brands can be a huge effort. Smart strategy, fluency in the platforms, and a team of content creators is a must-have for selling on Amazon. |
What Brands Can Do Right Now: Get both 1st Party and 3rd Party Access on Amazon
Sometimes brands have both 1st Party and 3rd Party accounts so they can provide customers with options and inventory that Amazon won’t purchase on the 1st Party side. Brands with their own 3rd Party presence can mitigate resellers denigrating their brand with bad customer experiences.
What does this all mean for mid-sized brands on Amazon in 2019?
Here’s the bottom line: Amazon is going to need more from your brand.
The eCommerce platform will increase their expectations for brands to managing fulfillment, marketing, and manufacturing – without help from Amazon. The burden to fulfill customer’s high shipping expectations will fall squarely on the brands – which could seriously eat into profits. If you don’t have help.
[SOURCES]
1Leigh, Andrea, Vendors snubbed by Amazon’s ordering system – it’s not me, it’s you, LinkedIn Blog, 2019 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/vendors-snubbed-amazons-ordering-system-its-me-you-andrea-leigh/
2Milnes, Hilary, Amazon walks back vendor purge as sellers look to reduce dependence on the platform, Digiday Blog, 2019 https://digiday.com/retail/amazon-vendor-purge-sellers-reduce-dependence-platform/
3Soper, Spencer, Amazon Is Poised to Unleash a Long-Feared Purge of Small Suppliers, Bloomberg, 2019 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-28/amazon-is-poised-to-unleash-long-feared-purge-of-small-suppliers?srnd=premium
Know Your Xperience: CX vs. UX, What’s the Difference?
Leave a CommentSteve Jobs once said “Always start with the customer experience, not with the technology.”
Sure…it’s maybe THE mostly commonly quoted quote for CX’ers.
Because it’s true. 73% of all people point to customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions.[1]
Digital marketing and technology leaders often focus heavily on User Experience (or UX). No doubt that is a critical piece of designing a good product. But UX and CX are NOT one-in-the-same.
Customer Experience AND User Experience
It’s important to note – It’s never CX instead of UX. User Experience is a subset of the Customer Experience.
User Experience is about the product and how a consumer interacts with it. How to achieve a task with as little friction as possible. It is considered a piece of the over customer experience.
The Customer Experience encompasses the entire end-to-end brand experience – beyond digital, beyond marketing, beyond purchase. Every touchpoint that the user engages with during their journey. It’s any service, employee, representative, collateral, design, website, app, or that the customer interacts with at any stage in their journey before, after, and during purchase. Holistically, these things come together to create an experience.
CX is observable, measurable, and helps our iteration process. We observe the end-to-end customer experience, then pull meaningful conclusions from customer actions. From there, we can manage the experience according to brand objectives.
Plus it pays to pay attention to CX.
Customers Pay for a Good Experience
There is a value for good experiences. Customers would pay up to a 16% price premium on products and services that offer a quality experience.1 In the U.S., 65% of customers find a positive experience with a brand to be more influential than great advertising.1
Bringing CX and UX Together
Customer Experience and User Experience work together in a shared goal of creating connected, well designed experience. But UX doesn’t live in a bubble…just as good design or content shouldn’t be created without a strategic approach. You could design the hell out of the website and app, but if you don’t consider other CX touchpoints, you will never impact and improve the customer’s overall experience with your brand.
Putting the Customer First
The Scrum50 approach puts the customer at the center of our strategy. It’s a slightly different mindset than traditional marketing and advertising, which starts with the question “what do we want the audience to do?”
Instead, we ask “What does the consumer need?” This critical shift allows us to drive the experience with a consumer-centric based point of view. It lets us create meaningful experiences. That’s how loyalty and brand affinity are built – through connection, emotions and positive experiences along the customer journey.
The CX approach allow us to consider feedback, intent, and overall satisfaction in conjunction with the typical stats and conversion rates as success factors. It helps us test and learn to design better overall experiences.
The CX Difference
Is your brand considering the end-to-end customer experience? Let’s talk about how our Agile Marketing methods have helped major national brands reach and retain their customers through a holistic view of customer experience.
[1]PwC.com Report, Experience is Everything 2018
5 Reasons You Need an Amazon Agency to Win
Leave a CommentThe sales and marketing worlds are colliding online. It’s a tumultuous and exciting time in your organization, but everyone is scrambling to figure out how to win on Amazon. Suddenly, the executive leadership is demanding significant growth in the eCommerce channel, Amazon didn’t send a PO last week and a brand manager is upset that an old logo is on a product page. Not to mention, there’s a random third party selling expired products and winning the Buy Box. What do you do first?
You’re going to need some help. Because going it alone is tough.
Here are just a handful of reasons partnering with an Amazon agency not only alleviates some of your pressure and workload, but makes the most strategic sense in an eCommerce channel that’s a constant moving target.
How to Sell an Amazon Agency in to Executive Leadership
The only constant on Amazon is change. Some agencies have full teams that just submit tickets, resolve issues, and dig through knowledge bases to solve problems that arise on a daily basis. Why isn’t that gallery image appearing? Why aren’t we winning the Buy Box? How do I create variations on Amazon? Why did a third party hijack my ASIN?
You can’t phone Amazon, but you can phone a friend—the next best thing.
By using an Amazon agency, you have access to a team of people who have already experienced and solved 90% of the issues you face on your own. Searching for solutions by Googling and digging through Amazon forums can get very time consuming. If an Amazon agency doesn’t know the answer, they have the manpower and contacts to quickly resolve a problem so you can focus on other things.
Would you bring your PR, Media or Print campaign work in-house? Just like any other channel, there’s an art and science to winning on Amazon. That’s a lot of responsibility (and pressure) to put on a small in house “eCommerce” team (or often, a single person). From logistics, to product setup, to content, keywords, pricing, and fulfillment, it takes a village to rise to the top.
It’s not enough to just get your product on Amazon. Successful brands on Amazon have internal people or teams that lead eCommerce functions, but have realized that adding an Amazon agency gives them the competitive edge. As a bonus, Amazon agencies save you time and money because they’ve mastered the nuances of the self-service model.
For the same reason that you hire a PR agency or a digital agency, an Amazon or eCommerce agency has the expertise, insights and resources to not just “get your products up on Amazon” but create a digital shelf that impacts the brand and drives sales. It’s been proven that the more (quality) imagery and valuable content provided during the shopping experience significantly impacts conversions.[1]
While your brand or digital agency might have the ability to upload images, they most likely don’t have the experience or understanding of unique Amazon shopper needs in your category. The strategies and tactics used offline (or not on eCommerce) are different, and investing in the right Amazon partner to create best-in-class content will pay dividends.
Before you can create and syndicate great eCommerce content, a manufacturer must ensure their assortment and availability is stable. If you’re a mid-to-large-size company, you’re most likely facing supply chain and inventory management challenges, the rectifying of which is required to win on Amazon. While your Amazon agency focuses on the digital experience, you’ll need to collaborate with sales, logistics, demand planning and last-mile delivery solutions to keep up with the new pull strategies required by Amazon. Do you have the right selection? Are people interested in buying? Can you keep it in stock? Can you get it to the consumer in 48 hours without melting or breaking?[2]
Did we mention Amazon changes every day? A great Amazon agency is already poised for coming changes, and will proactively provide solutions to avoid missteps and beat the competition. You can take advantage of what’s new and now on Amazon…and sometimes capabilities that haven’t even been widely released yet…with an Amazon agency that knows how to push the envelope and pull strings with elusive Amazon reps.
They’re experts on the latest Amazon best practices and can help optimize existing assets for Amazon or even create an Amazon testing environment for a brand, product or campaign. They can assess your ASINS, handle reporting, and provide Amazon success metrics. Amazon agencies at the top of their game possess a deep understanding of how different pieces of the Amazon puzzle click together to bolster clients’ efforts without breaking the bank…or a sweat.
A dedicated Amazon agency can also arm you with thought leadership and forward thinking strategy on a rolling basis in an often confusing and cluttered eCommerce space.
About CT Ad Agency Scrum50, an Amazon Agency that uses One-of-a-Kind Amazon Agile Methodology
Scrum50 is the first born agile advertising agency. Their mission is to marry world-class strategic creative with efficiency by embracing agile marketing approaches — employing shorter production sprints managed by uniquely-talented hybrid teams. They focus on three competency areas for clients: (1) Agency Services, (2) eBusiness, and (3) Digital Transformation.
[1]Lisac-Ramirez, Maria, The Sales Impact of Product Content, Salsify Transformers Blog, 2018 https://www.salsify.com/blog/the-sales-impact-of-product-content
[2]Pull Marketing Strategy, CFI https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/knowledge/strategy/pull-marketing-strategy/
Creating Killer Conversion-Driving Visual Content on Amazon
Leave a CommentContent is king, right? Right. So it goes without saying that all your visual content in Amazon should be as professional, educational and impactful as possible. If your product doesn’t look good, people will believe with all their heart and soul that it is NOT a good product. Consider Amazon as your most powerful conversion-driving Content marketing platform and make it work for you.
Amazon Visual Content Rules
Get familiar. The eCommerce giant has well-defined image guidelines, and playing by the rules is always rewarded. After all, it’s in both your brand and Amazon’s best interest for images to follow their best practices. Failure to do so often results in death, well the death of ROI. Death of sales, and death of your product page, A+ content, or Brand store going live because it’s not gonna happen without their approval. But with a little creativity, your Amazon enhanced brand content can really sell your story (and a lot of product).
Think Mobile First
Mobile friendly hero images are a must. When creating and managing visual content, think about how your brand pages are going to stack in mobile and think about what will actually show in your header image when it scales down to size. Amazon’s projected share of holiday sales via mobile app in 2018 was 40%, up from 35% in 2017, including $9.4 billion in incremental sales. That percentage includes sales from Vendor Central (sold by Amazon) and Seller Central (marketplace sales by retailers).[1]
Product Image Photography
What’s in the Box?! No, really, show me what’s in the box. Setting customer expectations of what they get is critical to purchase decision and reducing returns. Unboxing videos and clear, beautiful shots of everything you get with your purchase located in the gallery images help to win on Amazon. And anything that is NEW, like “new packaging” or redesigned products, should definitely be showcased as such to clear up confusion as people compare your products to others selling your products on Amazon.
Refresh That Amazon Content
Constantly evolving content is a must for the Amazon environment. Seasonal content refreshes are key to keeping repeat consumers engaged. Let’s face it, people get bored quick these days in an oversaturated eCommerce landscape. Embrace it and keep them coming back for more with the occasional Amazon Listing Optimization. Beyond boredom, the eCommerce giant is constantly changing. Templates change, image sizes change, formats change, and you may not get notified. So you need to be checking those pages and assume adjustments will need to be made (plan for at least 2-3 times a year). It’s also good to have a test and learn approach. Shift placement of visual content, include lifestyle, remove lifestyle, add more color—the best way to win is to make a hypothesis and test it.
Use Lifestyle Imagery on Amazon
Amazon product photos in lifestyle settings are how people relate to your products. Lifestyle is for the living and the living shop and compare on the site. A gorgeous kitchen inspires culinary genius’ to buy your premium pots and pans. That weekend warrior is convinced he (or she) can do that half marathon seeing a picture of those slick cross trainers pounding the pavement. How could she not? The pictures looked amazing. Time to order on Prime because those items will transform you.
Sprinkle in Some Text
Think outside (the first) box. You can’t add text to the main image, but, it can be added to the additional images for each ASIN if used correctly. A smart keyword strategy will always help supplement the visuals and boost your ranking in the site’s search. Scrum50, a leader in Amazon content creation, cites the COS (Content Optimization Score) as a key indicator of conversion opportunity. Among other factors, visual quality and copy content play a large role in its calculation and potential for the ASIN’s success.
Tricks of the Trade
We can’t give you all of our secrets, but we can put them to good use for your brand as your Amazon Marketing Agency or Amazon consultant. Let’s talk about what we can do to make your brand kick ass on the eCommerce giant, deliver effective agile creative and improve your Amazon Ranking. To get more info, contact us today.
[1] Marvin, Ginny, Report: 2018 holiday sales to grow 15%, driven by Amazon and mobile season, Marketing Land, 2018 https://marketingland.com/report-2018-holiday-sales-to-grow-15-driven-by-amazon-and-mobile-248468
Growing Up on Amazon: The Radically Different Way Gen Z Shops
Leave a CommentIf you think the up and coming generation: Gen Z are basically the same as Millennials…you might want to look up from your Avocado toast.
This new posse of tenacious teens and twentysomethings is already poised to take the eCommerce world by storm.
Members of Gen Z are 13–22 years old. 90% have their own phones, they make half their purchases using said phones and 64% say they’re heavily influenced by imagery online when making shopping decisions.[1] They don’t cozy up to brands. They ARE the brand. They’re not idealistic. They’re pragmatic. And they’re not curators. They’re creators.
Perhaps of most interest: Gen Z represents up to $143 billion in buying power, so understanding how they think, shop and consider the world around them is the next silver bullet.
Gen Z & Amazon: The Mall Effect
For Gen Z, going to Amazon to “hang out” is a thing. It’s a place where emotion trumps practicality, insightful content turns a sale, and the “mall effect” makes the Internet shopping giant the hottest place to see and be seen.
Like most shopping malls, Amazon is designed to facilitate the “Gruen Transfer,” or the moment when consumers enter a store and are intentionally surrounded by a confusing layout, which distracts them from their original intentions…priming them for impulse buys.
- They go to Amazon when they’re bored, just to hang out
- They scroll for days because of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
- They get hooked on color…imagining how everything would look with an outfit or in photos for social media (right down to their candy!)
Gen Z & Amazon: Brand Challenges and Solutions
Like every generation, Gen Z comes with its own set of challenges, many of them to do simply with the challenges of youth:
- Consistency of available funds
- Price Point
- Sorting through all the options on Amazon
- Waiting for delivery (vs. going in person)
- Reliant on parents account or funds
Gen Z Phenomenons & How Brands Can Meet Them Halfway
- Understand Ongoing Cart Curation—purchase may not be at the time of discovery. Gen Z are practical and their money isn’t always their own. They constantly browse, adding to their Amazon carts products they may need, products that catch their eye, or products they want to think about before making a final purchase. They are cash-strapped and are usually curating their Amazon cart while waiting for funds to become available. Making it into the Amazon cart is half the battle…making it into the final purchase is the win.[3]
- Craft an Experience—Gen Z are willing to browse until they find something that compliments or enhances who they are, and that helps promote their own brand.
- Show Them What You Can Do For Their Image—Gen Z have a desire to stand out and to be different, but they also need to be accepted and perceived as cool and unique. They’re searching for something no one else has or something they can “discover” that others will want to emulate. Creating unique experiences that help them visualize how your brand enhances their presentation as a person, will help break through the noise on Amazon.
- Prime It and Price It Right—Gen Z are more frugal than Millennials, so while they may be browsing and experiencing all their options, ultimately, they will filter down by Amazon Prime options and price. They are pragmatic and planners—and they want things fast. So while experiences matter…if they filter you out because of the lack of convenience or price is too high, you won’t even be considered.
- Build a Compelling Narrative—Gen Z view brands as representations of their values, an extension of themselves. If they associate with a brand, what does that say about them? Are they part of something bigger than themselves, something cool and unique? They don’t want you to talk at them, they want you to show them who you are and include them as part of the process. Consider your brand presence on Amazon and how you stand out against competitors in the same space. Authenticity, transparency and having a greater purpose are extremely high attributes valued by Gen Z.
- Break Through the Noise—Generation Z are digital natives. This is all they’ve known. They have incredibly short attention spans and are used to making decisions quickly. Add that to an incredibly noisy space of Amazon and their need to browse through everything, and you’ve got one chaotic blizzard of brands clawing over one another. Imagery, colors, showing people they can relate to, prime availability, and price all weigh heavily into your product being findable on Amazon and making it into the Gen Z consideration set.
- Cast a Wider Net—Millennials and GenX know what they want. They search exactly for that thing and get results served up that give us a selection of that thing, which makes a brand’s search strategy easy. If you’re selling sneakers, the search strategy would naturally include shoe-related keywords. But in a Gen Z world, where browsing is life and impulse buys online are the norm—they think about their purchases emotionally. So that same sneaker brand may need to start to look at keywords like “accessories.”
Reach Gen Z with eCommerce Agile Methodology.
Scrum50 is the first born agile marketing agency. Their mission is to marry world-class strategic creative with efficiency by embracing agile marketing approaches—employing shorter production sprints managed by uniquely-talented hybrid teams. They focus on three competency areas for clients: (1) Agency Services, (2) eBusiness, and (3) Digital Transformation.
[1] Generation Z, New insights into the mobile-first mindset of teens, think with Google, 2016 https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/interactive-report/gen-z-a-look-inside-its-mobile-first-mindset/
[2] Generation Z, The Newest Generation, Response Media,
http://www.responsemedia.com/generation-z-the-newest-generation/
[3] Gen Z Amazon Consumer Journey Group Research, Scrum50, 2018
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