Yesterday I entered Sainsbury’s with the motivation of nothing more than the mundane “I’m going to eat 5 a day” NYresolution weekly shop and the purchase of a new frying pan (having charred mine with an experimental dinner that didn’t quite work out).
Little did I know in one foul swoop this consumer machine would shunt me from Christmas comedown to Easter menu planning in 20 paces.
Located in the doorway was a tasting station, not just a sample of one baked delight but instead offering me a mincepie titbit(reduced to 50p per 6 box) and a hot cross bun slice (new into store!)
Just like that forced to decide.
Am I hanging onto Christmas or ready for the springing lambs, bird song and daffodil fields that make springtime.
Well Mr Sainsbury I for one am neither (and with some willpower resisted either trial). I will not be catapulted through life at such an alarming speed that in one guilty bite you transport me past Valentines day, My first wedding anniversary, 2 family birthdays, Mothers day and most importantly MY birthday. Consumerism races us through one occasion to the next – each year seeming to up the ante and need for consumers to invest (and yes as a marketer I too admit I look at opportunities to do this) but seriously. Hot cross buns. In January? To taste?
What happened to the craze of moment marketing – transporting consumers to make the most of now?
Google search trends (Jan – April 2014) Easter date 2014: Apr 20th.
And what bright-eyed merchandiser thought this could work – that Easter can be dragged out for 3 MONTHS!!
A simple search on Google enlightens you that Easter is in fact a one month occasion (on mass level). Trends don’t build to a lovely crescendo they hover and slightly over-index in advance of the occasion but BAM hit when the kids holidays do and isn’t one we’re actively trying to seek out to get ahead of the game,
Stop trying to flog me hot cross buns – they’re tea-cakes till March, and instead focus on passing off mini-eggs as a perfectly acceptable all round treat. That I buy into.
Amy Naughton 