Saatchi X Top-Shelf In Retailing, In-Store Marketing

Andy Murray had an awakening while sitting at the kitchen table of his Fayetteville home.

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“My dream is to start a great company,” he scribbled on a nearby index card. For him it was a Jerry Maguire-meets-mission-statement moment, the type that can change retailing history.

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Of course, experiences of this sort rarely translate in the real world. Except Murray’s did – and exactly into what he once imagined.

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Murray, 47, is humble about those early days. He and his wife, Mary, sold “everything but the kids” to kick-start his vision. Now the global CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi X, Murray recently spoke about his epiphany from a boardroom that offers a handsome view of Lake Fayetteville and beyond.

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Saatchi X, as it’s known, is part of international advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, a division of the Paris-based Publicis Groupe, one of the largest communications holding companies in the world.

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With 120 local employees, the company’s redbrick headquarters is the largest in the Saatchi & Saatchi X empire, which stretches from South America to Europe to Asia.

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The “X” designation means the Northwest Arkansas-based group targets a retailer’s customers at the point of decision-making. It counts Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Procter & Gamble among its clients. Based in Springdale, the pioneering agency has 16 offices worldwide.

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The Wow Factor
On a recent tour of the firm’s headquarters a crisp British accent mixed with Ozark twang. Youthful faces were prevalent. A creative type strode by wearing a T-shirt, shorts and socks – sans shoes. Some workspaces looked like a cross between law practice and dorm room. Computers hummed with activity.

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And then there’s the “display room.” Entering is like passing through the smallest front door any Wal-Mart ever had. From the floors to the lighting to the shelves, you can forget you’re in an office building. Stare closely enough at the products straight ahead, and it’s possible to imagine you’re shopping for detergent.

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Smiles upstairs and down embodied an unmistakable buzz in the air. Maybe that’s because some team members had just completed an industrious session of “tribing,” which involves tapping top Saatchi talents from around the world to brainstorm on a particular challenge. Or it could’ve been that employees are aware they’re working for a growing firm in the midst of a debilitating recession. 

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Rich Lundvall, senior vice president and managing director at Saatchi X’s world headquarters, explains the business this way: “As you walk through a retail establishment, you’re bombarded with all kinds of opportunities, choices, and just a cacophony of noise. Our job is to keep the shopper at the center of everything we do. What we really want to do is make it simple for them to make choices.”

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Saatchi & Saatchi X serves a handful of clients out of its Springdale office, the largest being the Wal-Mart Global Customer Team for Procter & Gamble. A new initiative can take two to three months to get up and running once all the research, creative approvals and actual production is complete. Major initiatives can take up to six months.

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“We are primarily responsible for helping P&G craft that communication and in-store presence. There is a constant change and evolution in terms of how brands and manufacturers communicate in-store,” Lundvall said.

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He notes that the average amount of time spent in a Wal-Mart is 20-25 minutes, but only seven minutes of that is spent shopping, which makes Saatchi’s relevance that much more apparent.

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By keeping the shopper at the center of everything they do, Lundvall explained, Saatchi X asks countless questions about the shopper. What does he/she need during this shopping journey? What are the barriers to purchasing this product? Are there packaging issues? Aisle navigation issues? Competitive pricing issues?

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“All we have at the end of the day is what the shopper is exposed to,” said Lundvall. “We’re trying to make shopping easier, and present something in a compelling way.”

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Saatchi DNA?
Cheryl Hatfield, an executive vice president, oversees the firm’s global human resources. Like many at Saatchi, travel is a part of the job. On July 30 she returned home from a business trip to Guangzhou, China.

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“It’s important for me to stay connected with people and see what’s going on,” Hatfield said of Saatchi X’s 350 or so worldwide employees.

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“This year we’re targeting 17 percent growth. And with that comes a lot of opportunity for people. Certainly we’re out there wanting to get our fair share because we want to be known for having the best in the business.”

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With job openings around the world, Saatchi X is constantly looking for talented professionals who come equipped with the Saatchi X “DNA.” According to Hatfield, that means people who have a knack for innovation, inspirational thinking and action. “You can teach the technical stuff,” she said. “You can’t teach character.”

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Hatfield said she loves her job – not only for the bright minds she works with daily, but because the agency gives its employees opportunities to have a voice and help shape the agency.

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“We’ve certainly built on the foundation of values and principles that ThompsonMurray started with,” Hatfield said. “That spirit of passion and unity and being a team and family and striving for excellence – I think all that has stayed consistent over the years.”

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A former Procter & Gamble employee, Murray moved to Northwest Arkansas while on assignment in 1992. Five years later he formed BrandWorks Consulting, ultimately joining forces with Thompson Earnhart & Associates to create ThompsonMurray. It was acquired by Saatchi & Saatchi in 2004.

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Mike Thompson – Murray’s former business partner at ThompsonMurray -remembers those early days well.

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“There was an opportunity from P&G to come together,” Thompson said. “They needed someone who understood the Wal-Mart world and understood P&G and how they could maximize their in-store marketing efforts, not so much focusing on the buyer but on the shopper. It’s been a significant benefit to P&G.”

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Before the two firms merged, Thompson said he and Murray were acquaintances.

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“I think we both brought about 10 people to the table,” he said. “We started with about 20 and grew from there.”

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Thompson left the firm in the early 2000s, creating the talent development company SVI in 2004. When he left Saatchi X had grown to about 85 employees.

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“We weren’t the first firm to do in-store marketing, but we probably were the first firm to really focus on marketing to the shopper,” Thompson said. “It wasn’t just a matter of price promotions; it also concerned how to build the brand inside the store. No other firms were doing that to the degree we were. I think ThompsonMurray was definitely a pioneer in that realm.”

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X Praise
Jack Neff, editor-at-large for Advertising Age, believes the shopper-marketing field that Saatchi & Saatchi X helped create is right on target.

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“It’s been one of the fastest growth areas in marketing over the last five years,” he said, “and probably one of the areas people are going to invest in the most.”

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Among the first shopper marketing agencies to develop a global presence, Neff notes that Saatchi & Saatchi X has a strong reputation, and ranks among the top shopper marketing firms in the industry.

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“They’re in the business of closing the deal,” Neff said.

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Although the firm declined to discuss its finances, Advertising Age estimates that Saatchi & Saatchi X had U.S. revenues of $30 million in 2009 and revenues outside the United States of $11 million.

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Saatchi & Saatchi X can use its resources to help a firm like P&G in a number of ways – including shopper research, studying what shoppers think, and influencing packaging design.

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“I think Saatchi & Saatchi X is just a tremendous partner in innovating in this whole area of shopper marketing,” said P&G’s Kip Olmstead, marketing director for its Wal-Mart Global Customer Team. “I think their decision to base here was critical to making them the largest shopper marketing agency in the world. We look at Saatchi X as one of the founders of shopper marketing.”

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Looking forward, Olmstead expects Saatchi & Saatchi X and Procter & Gamble to continue putting forth innovative work.

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“That’s what got us here and I think that’s what will keep us here,” he said.

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“I couldn’t be more proud that Saatchi & Saatchi X has become a world leader in this hot segment and continues to grow exponentially,” Kevin Roberts, worldwide CEO of the larger Saatchi & Saatchi umbrella, wrote in an e-mail. “Andy’s led a transformation, creating a unified shopper marketing network across the world. This has enabled us to better share resources, service clients globally and explore global innovations.”

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Future Focus

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“I think digital is playing a much more important role than it even did 24 months ago,” Lundvall said. “I really feel we’re at the forefront of incorporating digital and social media into the overall shopping experience.”

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For his part, Murray’s firm won’t be making many waves in the future, unless focusing on what made it successful in the first place counts.

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“We are going to stay very focused on shopper marketing. We’re not going to be branching into other stuff,” Murray said. “We will constantly stay focused on shopper marketing as the core for the next five years. Our growth will be to continue to expand into markets that are ready.” According to him, that includes Asia, Latin America, South Africa and Turkey.

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Back home, Murray means it when he says he wants to see his organization giving back to the community.

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Alex Patterson, an account supervisor who helps manage the firm’s P&G account, is also board president of the C.A.R.E. Initiative, which Andy and Mary Murray founded in 1993 on behalf of underprivileged children’s charities in Northwest Arkansas.

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Formerly known as the ThompsonMurray Children’s Foundation, the nonprofit has raised over $600,000 for several area groups.

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“I think we have a great partnership with all the agencies, and we’re absolutely thrilled to help make a difference,” Patterson said.

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The C.A.R.E. Initiative model has expanded to the firm’s New York and Chicago offices, and Patterson’s goal is to take it’s effort global. Via a variety of fundraisers Patterson hopes to raise $87,000 in 2010.

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From the international influence Saatchi & Saatchi X pedals around the globe to it’s increasingly successful nonprofit work, Murray and Co. are making a difference in Northwest Arkansas. And he definitely keeps busy: in fact, Murray has already traveled around the world twice this year on business.

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Just so, Murray admits that he would like to accomplish much more.

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“I’ve got a hundred ideas still to go work on,” Murray said. “I don’t even understand the concept of retirement.

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“I still have a whole basket full of dreams, and horizons to go get,” he said. “I think the world is waiting for people with big ideas. We just have not had enough of them.”