Gett – Reinventing TV advertising
According to the marketing rule of thumb an average customer should see an advertising at least 7 times before he makes a purchase decision. In addition to that, world’s biggest TV advertisers invest huge budgets in product sampling, as they know that trial is the key to purchasing habit. It seems that Gett has made a digital tool that combines both!
Gett – an Israeli based Taxi mobile app is the largest and fastest growing on-demand mobility company in Europe. Operating in more than 80 cities worldwide and serving more than 5000 corporate clients it has been achieving 300% annual growth since inception. In London alone more than half of all Black Cabs are running on Gett. [1]
Gett brings lots of innovations to the booming ride-hailing industry including peer-to-peer delivery service, in app future rides, fixed fare carpooling and corporate taxi services. In 2016 Gett reinvented TV advertising.
Consumer’s Memory is an enemy of TV advertising
There is a significant time lag between watching TV commercial at home and going to the supermarket. It takes a lot of effort for CPG companies to form a purchase intention: ads in magazines, displays in the streets, digital marketing, radio and TV commercials. In-store communication capabilities are very limited, so CPG companies have to build awareness upfront. Recency is the key to customers heart – you need to advertise continuously in a hope to reach the consumer immediately prior his buying decision.
Early in 1885 Thomas Smith, a London business man, in his book “Guide to Successful Advertising” wrote that it takes at least 20 times for one to be exposed to an ad in order to make a decision. Today most advertising experts agree that it should be a mix of advertising and PR together with additional push at the point of sale. According to the “Rule of Seven”, formulated by Dr. Jeffrey Lant, you have to contact the prospect a minimum of seven times within an 18-month period to form a purchase intention. [2]
In a survey of more than 1,000 adult Americans, 53 percent said they often or always end up buying a product that they sampled. Moreover 42 percent said they often or always switch from a brand they normally buy to a new brand as a result of trying a sample. [3] The world’s biggest TV ad spender Procter & Gamble Co. is significantly increasing spending into sampling. Its Chairman-CEO A.G. Lafley calls sampling a “point of market entry”. [4]
Gett merges TV commercials and sampling
But what if instead of brining advertising closer to sales, we bring sales closer to advertising? In addition to taxi services, Gett app enables brands to sell & deliver products in real time, while the consumer is watching TV commercial. The whole process requires just in a couple of steps:
- TV commercial offers you trying a new product via Gett app
- You make an order via Gett app in just one click
- Taxi delivers the product right to you door in just 10 minutes
The idea of connecting a TV commercial and immediate delivery may sound not that cost-efficient. Although if CPD companies provide the products at minimum cost, it can save huge TV budgets by minimizing the funnel required to form a purchase intention.
Gillette – The best a man can Gett
It is Saturday, prime time on Israeli TV, and Gillette introduces for the first time its new blades – Fusion ProShield. The revolution is here – you can get the new blades just in 10 minutes, ordering via Gett. Hundreds of taxies on the road are carrying blades these days and are ready to complete the delivery just as the regular taxi ride. Same as with in taxi, average waiting time is less then 10 minutes.
Gett Coca-Cola – second screen reinvented
With Coca-Cola Gett went even further. “The first TV add that broadcasts picture, sound and taste”- as they called it. While you were watching Coca-Cola commercial, your phone would recognize ultrasonic waves and Gett app would send you a push notification – “Gett Coca-Cola to your home right now”. Again, simply in one click you could order iced Coca-Cola straight to your door.
What’s next?
Gett has already reinvented the traditional sampling. Looking forward Gett has a great touch point with customers and can further optimize the funnel by collecting customer feedback, integrating loyalty campaigns and advertising in its app. Will the model be sustainable? Or is it just a fashionable digital trend that CPG companies are trying to catch? We will know quite soon.
Word count: 758
References
- Gett official web-site, http://gett.com
- Dennis Payne, “How Many Contacts Does It Take Before Someone Buys Your Product?”, Business Insider, July 12, 2011, http://www.businessinsider.com/how-many-contacts-does-it-take-before-someone-buys-your-product-2011-7
- “Consumers love samples and so should brands”, YA consumer research report, Jan 2016, http://www.yaengage.com/ya-survey-reveals-product-sampling-builds-brand-affinity/
- Jack Neff, “World’s Biggest Advertiser P&G Shifts Focus to Sampling”, Nov 13, 2014, http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/p-g-shifts-focus-sampling/295853/?utm_source=daily_email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=adage&ttl=1416528188
Great post. It is very intriguing how Gett is trying to adjust consumer behavior in such a substantial way. Do you think that they will be able to truly change the “Rule of 7” for newer brands by doing these types of commercials? Gillette and Coke are known brands and products so it would make sense that consumers would purchase them. What do you think the success rate would be for a new product? Would the cost of potentially giving free samples through the taxi network lead to future customer purchases?
I was reminded as I read this of our discussion in TOM about Uber envisioning itself as a logistics company competing with FedEx rather than as a taxi company competing with existing medallion owners. It seems like Gett is thinking along similar lines: How can it use its fleet of vehicles constantly driving around a city to do more than just ferry customers around? Gett’s solution is fascinating — especially in the context of the history of advertising that you cite and its rules of thumb regarding the number of impressions needed to create purchasing intention.
I’m curious whether you think an advertising model like this creates any tension with Gett’s existing model as a ride-hailing company. Will drivers want to be both product deliverers and taxi drivers? Will customers complain about getting advertising for specific products through the app they use to get around town? I think you ask the right question when you wonder whether this is just a CPG trend. But the question goes a little further: If this isn’t a CPG trend, and the method catches on and Gett starts doing a lot of business this way, does the business model start to weigh on its taxi business?
Very interesting. Certainly a great example of linking offline-online purchase behavior. I wonder about the Gett’s economics. I assume that brands / companies are paying for Gett’s technologies, such that when Gillette changes its slogan to “The Best a Man can Gett,” Gett itself doesn’t need to pay licensing / branding fees. Furthermore, what is the fee structure to users? Does Gett charge for the “product sample” or is it an offline freemium model – first sample is free but full payment is required for actual purchase?
I’m also wondering about competition. This seems like a Shazam-meets-Uber-meets-Amazon-drone product. Shazam already has a large market share in sound/music-identification and Uber and Amazon both have the operational heft and expertise to handle a wide volume and variety of products. Is Gett at scale such that they can fend off entrants in the “on-demand sampling space”?
I’m worried about Gett’s ability to scale this operation as is currently envisioned. True, adding delivery capability to existing fleet improves utilization, but I question that the demand is consistent and high enough to create scale across CPG goods. It could be in dense urban areas — but then you can buy any number of the products Gett offers in the corner store. The opportunity for CPG commerce in for-hire-vehicles to me feel like practical things that riders may want to solve real-time problems, like a phone charger, gum, mascara, hairbrush, etc. Have you found other companies that are using a portable vending machine approach and do you think that has any greater potential for impact?
Interesting read, VB! Although I am impressed with Gett’s idea of “bring sales closer to advertising,” I am concerned whether Gett would be able to practically commercialize and actually make profit from this business model. I tend to think this business model only works for a small subset of CPG products whose characteristics include immediate consumption, relatively low price point and small purchase quantity. If there is no obvious needs for immediate consumption, the buyer will likely postpone the purchase. If the price point is high, the buyer will want to do more due diligence and thus likely make the purchase through other channels. If the purchase quantity is large, the buyer will like buy the product through other channel like Amazon where per-unit cost is lower.
Awesome post, VB! The coke campaign with the ultrasonic detection seems really intriguing. I imagine it has a potential to be viewed as kind of creepy (e.g. Why is this app listening to my TV?). How do you think Gett should handle such concerns?