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Chatter around microdramas has felt unavoidable of late. If you're an Albertsons shopper, the scripted shows are about to become literally unavoidable, as Procter & Gamble prepares to play 15-second teasers of a new show it has developed throughout the chain's supermarkets.
“Rico’s Tacos” was developed in collaboration with Albertsons Media Collective, the supermarket chain’s ad sales and data division, the WSJ Leadership Institute’s Patrick Coffee reports.
Albertsons plans to air the trailers on digital screens placed in locations like its stores’ entrance areas, meat and seafood counters, and outdoor refueling stations. The screens will feature QR codes leading back to the Albertsons app, where shoppers can watch full episodes and check out the chain’s latest loyalty program offers.
The show, whose one- to two-minute episodes feature P&G products, represents a collision of sorts between two of the hottest trends in marketing: branded content and retail media.
P&G for decades has attempted to merge advertising with entertainment. I asked Patrick how this new format might go down with shoppers.
A few years ago we reported on how Walgreens’ experiments with interactive cooler screens annoyed consumers. How much have Albertsons and P&G thought about the customer experience with this endeavor?
Patrick: As a P&G executive told me, no one expects consumers to come across a teaser for this show while they’re picking up produce and then drop everything to watch it, no matter how short the episodes are.
The hope is that the clips might just catch somebody’s eye, and that person might remember to check out the show while they’re getting ready for bed that night, and then they might remember that there are a few things they need to pick up next time they go to the store. And look at the app, there’s a sale on P&G beauty products!
So the idea is not so much that they want to improve the customer experience as they want to promote themselves in a less direct way without actively interrupting the experience. That’s one reason they opted to keep the videos silent (to the all-but-certain relief of Albertsons employees).
In the story, I referenced a recent study from a company that sells in-store ad screens. Consumers said they felt most negatively about ads on the cooler doors and on the aisles, meaning those vertical display ads that jut out from the side of the aisle, and especially the “shelf talkers” or promos that hang right below or beside the product. It’s like, OK, cold medicine, I know you’re there. Stop trying to force me to look at you!
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