Publicis Groupe Announces Acquisition Agreement of Unilever C.R.M. Program "Pour Tout Vous Dire"

Reuters reports that the French company, Publicis Groupe has announce that it has signed an agreement to acquire the Unilever subsidiary in charge of the customer relationship management program Pour Tout Vous Dire. This acquisition is part of Publicis` digital strategy. The goal here is to build a benchmark e-CRM platform for the Group`s clients that showcases brands and fosters interaction with consumers. Pour Tout Vous Dire will operate on an
open architecture basis so that it can accommodate any and all consumer retail
brands and fast moving consumer goods.

Major household brand names will be able to leverage the platform to engage
consumers in one-on-one communication - highlighting their latest innovations,
demonstrating their value, rewarding loyal customers, and ensuring easy access
to their products.

In conjunction with the transaction, Unilever has signed a five-year service
agreement with Publicis Groupe to keep its brands in the program and thereby
boost the incremental revenue it generates.

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Shopping habits change at the grocery store

In a recent article at MLive, Michael Twitty of Unilever gave us a look at how consumers are changing their shopping habits during this challenging economic period. He stated that the sales of beer and wine have not decreased. This maybe becuase consumers are able to keep some portion of their previous lifestyles the same, and vary from consumer to consumer as the shopping decisions are very personal. For the entire article, read here.

The growing importance of shopper marketing

Earlier this week, we wrote an article about the new Shopper Marketing council formed by the Advertiser Research Foundation. Mike Twitty, the director of shopper marketing at Unilever, sat down with Brand Week and discussed some of the reason she felt the council was a good idea.

Brandweek: Why form the new council?
Mike Twitty: Although there are share groups and even annual conferences on this relatively young subject, practitioners have a need for an impartial, principled voice that makes sense of the facts and lore that swirl within this area. It seems as though this need extends all the way to the most fundamental of issues. For instance, there is not even an accepted definition of what constitutes a shopper, let alone widespread understanding of the practices that are so necessary for success in today's marketing and retail climate.

Read the full article here.