Marketers are looking for more ways to measure the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns, especially amid the drastic change in consumer habits during the pandemic. For Pearle Vision, one of the biggest franchised optical retailers in North America, results are measured in the number of patients who visit their stores.
“The expectations right now is that vendors are bringing us opportunities to break through the clutter,” Doug Zarkin, vice president and chief marketing officer of Pearle Vision, said in this interview with Beet.TV. “We are not going to be a brand that outspends the competition. We are a brand that continually out-thinks the competition.”
He said Pearle Vision is seeking marketing partners that understand its business and how they can add value to its marketing infrastructure.
“Frankly, I don’t care if you have a bunch of ex-Google people that work for you,” Zarkin said. “I don’t care if you worked for Procter & Gamble or Johnson & Johnson, and I certainly don’t care if you worked for one of our competitors. What I’m really interested in is a vendor who comes to us with really strong insights driven from their investigation into our business, and very clear reasons to believe they’re a solution we currently don’t have in the portfolio.”
‘Human Truth’ Overrides FOMO
Zarkin said marketers need to recognize qualities of “human truth” that are enduring, such as the need for relationships with others.
“When you finally decide to go out of your home, and enjoy a meal at a restaurant or shop in your favorite brick-and-mortar outlet, there is a sense of joy and a bit of nostalgia for how great it is when there’s somebody there to care for you,” he said. “Personal relationships are something people are longing for as they look for goods and services.”
Brands also should focus on the fundamentals of consumer needs, rather than current trends, he said.
“Fear of missing out is not a marketing strategy,” Zarkin said. “There are so many things that you could do. There are less things that you should do. There are even less things that you need to do, and a much smaller set of things that you must do…We have to make that sure we’re nailing ‘the must.’”
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