On 8th February 1998, Tiger Woods teed off at the Buick Invitational golf tournament.
He went on to make the cut.
A quick explainer for the non-golfers… the “cut” happens after the first 2 rounds of a tournament. Only players who meet or exceed a certain score, play the final two rounds. Those who fall short are eliminated.
Woods went on to make 142 consecutive cuts on the PGA tour.
He smashed the existing records and set a record that is unlikely to ever be beaten.
Scottie Scheffler, the No 1 golfer in the world, is on a run of 64. Not even halfway to the record. Rory McIlroy, the No 2 golfer in the world, has only ever managed to make it to 31.
Woods won 37 of the 142 tournaments. Meaning he won 1 in every 4 of them. He also won the “Tiger Slam” holding all 4 major golf titles at the same time.
It’s a level of excellence and consistency that has never been matched.
Why are we talking about this? Winning in FMCG means winning with shoppers. To win with shoppers, categories and brands need a few big strengths.
We call them Shopper SUPERPOWERS.
There are 5 of them. We talked about the fourth one – clarity – last week.
The fifth and final one is CONSISTENCY. Being uncomfortably consistent.
In the FMCG world we get excited about the new and different. The new product launch. The new marketing campaign. The new pack design.
The industry is set up to focus on the new and different. People move roles. The new person comes in and wants to make a splash. They do something different. There is an annual planning process. You want to accelerate growth. You do something different.
We’re all really close to our categories and brands. We know everything there is to know about them. We assume shoppers do too. So we get bored. Then we do something different. But shoppers don’t know what we know. They are not bored. They don’t need to hear something different. .
Consistency is a GOOD thing for shoppers. Which means that consistency is a good thing for a brand. Which means that you need to be consistent. Uncomfortably consistent.
This means consistency over time. It could be in your messaging. Actimel never get bored of talking about “immune support.” Well, they probably do, but they carry on anyway. They know it’s the most important thing they can say. That they can keep saying.
Innocent is still doing the “Big Knit” activation campaign each year. They found something that works. That is different. That only they can do. That they can keep doing.
This means consistency across touchpoints. There is a temptation to be clever. Do the big path to purchase study. Map all the steps along the shopper journey. Then come up with different messages at each step. Different messages in different channels. A nice communication matrix. It looks great on the PPT slide. Not so great for a shopper trying to make a choice.
By all means tailor your communication. But tailor it from the same common base. A common base that shoppers will recognise. Inconsistency dilutes. Consistency reinforces.
This means consistency across your portfolio. Let’s talk about Actimel again. Core brand communication = “immune support.” Kids range = “immune support for kids.” Dairy Free = “immune support. Now dairy free.” Different parts of the portfolio. Same core message.
Gillette have been doing something similar. Communication focused on the same value framing theme “x months or years of shaving.” Don’t fight lots of individual battles when you can use your portfolio to fight the big battle.
To win with shoppers you need to be CONSISTENT. Uncomfortably consistent.
Consistency breeds success.
When you tire of winning, you stop winning.
Feel free to forward. Have a great weekend. Speak to you next week.