McCann Manchester’s Post

Today, I was able to speak with a group of students within the University of South Carolina College of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to give back to a college that has supported so much of my career. Professors who truly care about the wellbeing of every student and their contribution to their field. The focus today was once again on networking and the impact of a Global Supply Chain. As once a student in the college, the importance of networking was not only highlighted but put into action by many networking events with industry leaders and alum. A practice that at its core is about relationships. Businesses don’t just increase profit margin by being robots, they are able to increase sales and margins from the building of relationships. From a supply chain/ purchasing perspective, networking is part of the negotiation process. Understanding the culture of a company that you are going to partner with and having a relationship with them that one can trust and build. As a graduate of the University and an alumni board member for HRSM it reiterates the importance of these conversations. Whether you work in a restaurant or work in a manufacturing facility, the foundation of the business improving is based on the relationships internally and externally. As always, a special thanks to cliff arthur Tina Weeks Weaver Kevin Ayres Mike Watson, Ed.D Who’s in your Network?!

Aldi: Culture and Operations of a Hard Discounter Article URL: https://rfr.bz/l9j27r5 Comments URL: https://rfr.bz/l9j27rg Points: 2 # Comments: 0

Our accelerated growth means ✔️ bringing more value to consumers in the Southeast and nationwide ✔️ more #ALDI stores in more communities✔️ a deliberately different shopping experience with shelves stocked with only the best products so customers can get in and out #Retail #StrategicGrowth 

And we have our winners! 12 categories, eight winning UK grocers. 3 wins: Sainsbury's, Marks and Spencer 1 win each: Tesco, Waitrose & Partners, Morrisons, Asda, Aldi UK, Lidl GB Each is driven by dozens of Uncrowd research visits and tens of thousands of empirical objective observations. NONE of this is biased/subjective opinion, neither ours nor customers’. 🏆Product 🏆Strategy 🏆People 🏆Marketing 🏆Operations 🏆Friction 🏆Premium 🏆Choice 🏆Inspiration 🏆Value 🏆Members 🏆Price Each of these wins is a straight highest-score competition across sets of Uncrowd observed variables. Price, for example is derived from 10 variables, including ones such as ‘Price Friction’ and ‘Price Offers; whereas Product is the sum of 29 variables that include ‘Range - Produce’ and ‘Fresh Presentation’. Scores for each variable are built from observable signals and in all, there are 72,450 individual observations, all made physically in stores, feeding these wins. I’ve listed all the winners in the document below, and included the league tables for each award. Over the next week, I’ll break down each award and give you a glimpse behind the wins and into the data itself. #retail #experienceanalytics #massivetrophies

Do your products have that "something" that will not only delight consumers but also impress experts from the biggest retail and industry chains? This is your chance to find out! Participate in the Gold Medal Competition, where the Jury, consisting of representatives from giants like Netto Polska, Salling Group, Grupa Chorten, Frisco, NTFY - Nice To Fit You, Carrefour, Kuchnie Świata S.A. and the OSSKiC will personally evaluate your products! Why should you participate? 🔸 Direct contact with decision-makers: A jury member will not only see your product but will also feel and taste it. This is a unique opportunity to present yourself to individuals who decide daily what makes it to store shelves. 🔸 Stand out in the market: The Golden Medal is a mark of quality that can attract new customers and strengthen your brand's position. ⏳ Time is running out! Don't miss this opportunity – submit your product by March 29! Every moment counts, and there's not much time left! 👉 Learn more and submit your product today: https://lnkd.in/d9YkBUJ3 #WorldFoodPoland #GoldMedal #competition #retailchain #foodindustry #FMCG

Hat tip 🎩 to great packaging design ⤵ "You can't stand out if you fit in!" Packaging design must be impactful to the consumer. If your packaging doesn't jump off the shelf, our guy's got a redesign that'll knock your socks off. Let us know and we'll set up a chat! (Psst- it's our own Michael Alianello!) #packagingdesign #redesign #design #foodpackaging #brandidentity #branddesign #brandawareness #packaging #packagedesign

KISS... Keep It Simple Silly. It applied with I was the General Manager of a steakhouse, and it applies to selling solutions. If you want your team to be successful, stay focused on the goal and keep it simple. #coffeewithkristal #bettertogether #sellingsolutions #salesleadership

In 2023, Aldi UK launched a unique marketing campaign designed to challenge perceptions about budget #wine by disguising its own products under premium labels. This event took place in London at a private wine-tasting event, where guests were invited to sample what they believed to be expensive, high-quality wines. Attendees were pleasantly surprised by the taste and complexity of the wines, offering compliments and expressing their assumptions about the higher #price points. After revealing that the wines were in fact Aldi’s own brand—available at a fraction of the price of premium wines—the event stunned participants. This clever experiment was a bold move by Aldi to highlight the quality of its wines while tapping into the idea that customer perceptions are often shaped by branding and price tags, rather than the intrinsic quality of a product. What We Can Learn About Customer Behavior Perception vs. Reality This campaign demonstrated that customer perceptions are heavily influenced by external cues like labels and price. Many people equate higher prices with better quality, even though Aldi's wine, despite its lower price, was appreciated for its flavor. Brand Blindness The success of the event suggests that customers can be blind to quality when a product doesn't come with a well-known or prestigious brand label. Aldi tapped into this by removing the branding barrier, allowing the product to speak for itself. Experiential Marketing By making the event interactive and surprising, Aldi leveraged experiential marketing. This type of marketing creates memorable, personal experiences that consumers are more likely to talk about and share, amplifying the campaign's reach. What We Can Learn About #Marketing Breaking Stereotypes Aldi’s strategy was a direct assault on the stigma that budget products are inherently inferior. By having people unknowingly praise its wines, Aldi demonstrated that marketing campaigns can reshape long-standing biases about product categories. #Value-Based Marketing Aldi effectively communicated its core message—that consumers can enjoy premium experiences without paying premium prices. This appeals to consumers’ desire for value, particularly during times of economic uncertainty. #Word-of-Mouth Amplification The shock of discovering that Aldi's budget wine was behind the premium labels created buzz and conversation. People love sharing stories that surprise them, making this campaign a natural fit for word-of-mouth marketing and social media. #consumerbehavior #branding #advertising #premium #valueproposition

Aldi has nailed it. NAILED IT!!! If you're into wine.......and need a laugh on a Monday to start your day/week off right, this is how to start. The 'movement' for #rethinkingwine gets a boost on the topic or rethinking category of 'wine marketing' with this ad setting the new standard for debunking all the snootiness of wine 'intellectualism'. How do we do this? By reviewing every aspect of the wine industry category by category, inch by inch until we see a change in the consumers' rejection of wine in the modern era...(and yes, they find many of our products and methods of introduction as offensive). If there were a 'concerted' effort to rethink wine, might it look like this (and then some...and not necessarily in this order regarding level of importance)?: 1) Categorical review of marketing methodologies that assert intellectualism and/or elitism in the consumption of wine (including the historic view on 'wine education' as a mean of consumer appreciation). 2) The rejection of historical measurement of human proclivity to wine consumption (re: simple demographic age categories while integrating forward-thinking projection technologies [i.e.: A-I and psychographic modeling]); 3) A comprehensive review of consumer messaging and even “best practices” applications regarding positive and balanced consumption patterns; 4) A rebirth of the advertising code of ethics in alcohol (it exists but no one pays attention to it); 5) Simultaneous rejection of a philosophy that suggests legislation of morality (concerning overconsumption and health implications); 6) A Medical research response to and the separation of wine as an alcoholic beverage category not likened to other alcohol categories (specific comprehensive rebuttals concerning modern Prohibitionist ideologies); #winemarketing #rethink #wine #winemakersforum #techtalk4wine Young's Market Company Mark Norman Markus Patz IWA IWS Nicholas Miller Joseph Ciatti

In 2023, shipping has had to rise to the challenge of increasing disruption and complexity. In a fast-changing world, Clarksons is leading positive change. Read more in our Annual Report highlights. https://lnkd.in/eypNu52R #LeadingPositiveChange #AnnualReport23