Happy customers buy less!
Spinn is assigned to develop Systembolaget’s in store communication. A really intriguing challenge and somewhat of the world turned upside-down for us at Spinn.
Systembolaget has a monopoly on sales of alcoholic beverages in Sweden. The government has decided that one of the best ways to minimize alcohol related problems is by selling alcoholic beverages in separate stores and without interest of profit. However, to maintain this the customers must be satisfied with service and assortment. And still buy less. In other words, a very complicated communication task, with an obvious risk of sending double messages.
We have started out by defining a clear strategy for the instore communication with the objective to balance messages about the products and how to enjoy them responsibly.
433 stores
120000000 store visits per year
From our client, we received a lot of shopper insights on attitudes, how consumers act in store and we also conducted our own surveys to support the given facts. The result, the strategy, came out surprisingly straight forward. Messages about the product must be inside the stores, and close to the products. Messages about Systembolaget’s mission must be on the way in, and out, of the shop.
The strategy gave us the tool we needed to manage the campaigns Systembolaget conducted to build brand and inform people of the mission and still be relevant to seasons and products.
But a strategy is nothing if it’s not filled with communication. Systembolaget has over the years always kept a very high standard in their ATL communication, a heritage we are happy to maintain and develop. Another fact is that the retail chain with +430 stores nationwide is in a process of changing their store concepts. This started out 2015 with the first store in Uppsala. This store was also a testing ground for the new design and instore communication. As well as the new graphic identity. This gave us a unique opportunity to try new way of grabbing the customer’s attention. But not to increase sales, mind you.
Successful solutions could then be applied in all of Systembolaget’s stores throughout the country.
A nationwide campaign about alcohol and training were produced by the agency Forsman & Bodenfors. Great campaign. Challenging though, was that it was to be produced after our printing deadlines. So, without being able adapt actual content from the campaign, we had to interpret the idea. Our solution was a graphic design alluding to the gym-based scenario in the campaign. And put in on the exit wall on the way out of the store.
Systembolaget’s customers demand for more ecological products. For strategic reasons, it’s vital to meet that demand, even if it’s not defined in the government assignment to Systembolaget. But for Systembolaget to sustain, it must have a strong public support. Or as we prefer to rephrase it: Keep the customers satisfied. And still not buy excessively.
