Going for Brokerage
J. Brown/LMC Group and food broker Crossmark were already hard at work when they merged in January.
The firms — now operating together as The J. Brown Agency — were getting Slim-Fast’s ambitious 2004 Slim-Fast Challenge up in 3,500 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores. The agency sent reps into each store twice in one week to make sure P-O-P and samples were ready for the Jan. 10 weigh-in. On the first visit, only three-quarters of stores were ready. By the second trip, compliance was up around 97% — impressive for the biggest-ever account-specific promotion in Wal-Mart.
“We knew this was a particularly ambitious program,” says Tom Turner, international brand manager for Slim-Fast, a division of Unilever. “Wal-Mart wants events in all its locations, and to do that in one day you’ve got to have feet on the street.” Slim-Fast tapped J. Brown, which brought in Crosscut. Slim-Fast was pleased with compliance, but still measuring sales results before declaring the campaign a success.
J. Brown merged with Crossmark’s four-year-old marketing division, Crosscut, through a joint venture between Dallas-based Crossmark and J. Brown parent Grey Global Group.
The new shop, based in Stamford, CT, under CEO Jon Kramer, combines J. Brown’s promotion and account-specific marketing expertise with Crosscut’s in-store merchandising and retail research expertise. Crosscut’s Plano, TX, headquarters becomes The J. Brown Agency’s Dallas office with Crosscut veteran Jim Norred as J. Brown president; he had been Crosscut president. This is the first merger between a food broker and promotions agency in the U.S.
The merger gives J. Brown access to Crosscut’s 6,400 merchandisers in the U.S. (10,000 globally) and in-depth sales data. Crossmark’s separate joint venture with ACNielsen parent VNU provides daily, store-specific data to track stock and merchandising, and fix problems right away. “We’re taking micro-marketing to a new level,” Norred says. “We’ve gone from account-specific to store-specific.”
Crossmark’s data — and ongoing conversations with retailers — help J. Brown plan account-specific campaigns. “Now we know before any promotional planning what has to be done for each retailer to ensure in-store execution,” Kramer says. Brokers are a reality check for promos that look good on paper but may fail in-store.
“Every agency understands consumers, but we also have the luxury of talking with the [sales] people who call on retailers every day and know the nuances of each store and chain,” Norred says.
The merger gives Crossmark more resources (including Grey’s specialty shops) and a national presence: Its Dallas base made it tough to do business with Midwest and East Coast marketers, Norred says.
Competition between food brokers intensified as packaged goods companies consolidated. Many CPGs use their own sales forces to serve top retailers directly, leaving brokers to serve lower-tier retailers. Brokers have been building their marketing chops since the late 90s to better compete; top firms have grown internal marketing departments. Crossmark formed its Crosscut division in 2000, with 17 staffers serving eight clients — mostly CPG, mostly Crossmark clients, but also Marie’s Salad Dressings and Texas Instruments. Brands with their own sales force get “surge support” on projects so the direct sales force isn’t distracted from ongoing brand support. Plus, J. Brown Agency can use Crossmark data to develop campaigns for direct-sales clients such as Kraft Foods.
Kramer is especially keen on using shopper data for pre-planning. “Now we know the consumer and shopper components — and shoppers are in a different mindset than when they are consumers,” he says.
J. Brown and Crossmark courted for six months, collaborating on a handful of projects before merging. J. Brown/LMC Group ranked No. 35 in the 2003 PROMO 100 with estimated 2002 revenues of $29.5 million, down 5% from 2000. Clients include Kraft Foods, Hewlett-Packard, Dannon, Guinness, Slim-Fast and Del Monte.
