Dr. Nick Gerlich

Nick Gerlich is Hickman Professor of Marketing at West Texas A&M University in Canyon TX. If he's not banging away at his keyboard you can find him: a) hiking b) shooting photos c) looking for America d) enjoying craft beer e) all of the above

[nickgerlich]

Road Ends

It’s here. It’s the end of the road, at least as far as writing The Daily Blog goes. Tomorrow morning will find me with an extra hour or so to put into other things. And you won’t have to read and respond. It’s a lot like the feeling you get after training diligently for an event, all the build-up and anticipation that goes with it, but after the event, you have that empty feeling of “Now what?”

Because you don’t have to train anymore. Well, at least not until the next crazy adventure pops on your radar.

Actually, I hope that my method has caused you to rethink how you live your professional lives. I hope that you continue to look for the things that are going to affect your company, impact you personally, and influence society. In other words, I hope that you keep going, even though there aren’t grades at stake. Then again, there is much at stake, and it is worth far more than a letter grade.

I always use the occasion of the last blog to look back to when we started this madness. The date was 19th January, and I wrote about stores using facial recognition so that the moment you crossed their threshold, they knew you were there. Think about all of the digital marketing that could go on just between you and your phone! You had no idea back then, but here we are exactly three months later, and I bet you now see that we’re on a crazy train, and this digital stuff is far bigger than you previously thought.

Among the many other topics we covered, we learned about Amazon still trying to break into BAM retail with a new big box store in Chicagoland. We saw how Amazon has gone ahead of Walmart in total sales, but if you look strictly in retail, Walmart still leads. More importantly, Walmart not only has the BAM part down pat, they are also making inroads in e-commerce. Amazon, the darling of every digital marketing fan, is in desperate need of a plan for fighting a foe that is quickly becoming adept at both platforms.

We were entertained by all of the Super Bowl ads, as always. There were hits, there were misses, and there was a massive amount of money spent. We saw AI-generated ads. And we learned that, just because this was on linear television, the digital component in most cases was huge. Companies have learned to integrate their campaigns across multiple platforms, from old school to new school.

Supermarketing provided us with a wealth of material, perhaps because I happen to be a long-time student of the industry, but also because that same industry has plunged into the deep end of digital marketing and AI. It is a great industry to study, because it will never go away. We have to eat.

Engagement also provided a lot of insights. In the old days, consumers could not interact with marketers, because communication was one-way. Social media has changed all of that, and now we can carry on conversations with companies. We can like, share, comment, and save social media posts. While this is great for the marketers, it also means they have great responsibilities to stay on top of those conversations. If you truly want to engage with people, you can’t just post and run.

As you all know, AI was the star of the semester. Usually it is one or two companies that steal the thunder, but this time around it was a thing…a thing that everyone is using, trying to figure out, and working to iron out the bugs and flaws. It is a race, as far as companies are concerned, not to mention us. It’s not so much about losing your job to AI. It’s about losing your job to someone else who knows AI.

It has been a whirlwind tour, and I hope that you have enjoyed the ride. I realize it is grueling keeping up with these blogs, but it is even more grueling writing them. This is my commitment, though, because I wish to impress upon all of my students the need to maintain diligence in all that you do. It is why I maintain a daily dietary and fitness regime as well. Figure it out yourself, but whichever path or paths you choose to follow, give it everything you’ve got.

And now as we reach the end of another semester—my 74th at WT—may you leave this course all the better for the wear and tear I put on you. May you understand that we are never finished learning, retooling, reinventing, because nothing is static. And may you all be better versions of you, committed also to helping others be better versions of themselves.

Amen, and peace be with you.

Dr “Thanks For Joining Me” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nickgerlich]

Feel The Change

The end is near, folks, and it is time to step back a bit and start looking for the deeper meanings of all the things we have discussed. And have we ever discussed a lot of things. Twelve weeks of dailies means we can cover a lot of ground.

Before we wrap up the Spring blogging season tomorrow, I’d like to use one newsworthy topic as a metaphor from which we can extrapolate meaning for the class and the implicit sermon I have been preaching. And that sermon has been about Change. I always like to capitalize it, personifying it as a force so powerful that it deserves to be treated with a special kind of respect.

Without further ado, allow me to introduce my metaphor of Change, and then we’ll see what we can learn from it. For several years now we have been hearing about one class of wonder drugs, the GLP-1s. It is no secret that Americans are, in a collective sense, terribly overweight. Each generational cohort alive in the US today has lived in the era of “there’s a pill for that,” or maybe an injection. So when Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic was also found to cause weight loss, it caught our attention.

Why? Because weight management is one of the hardest things we humans do, especially in a country like the US with abundant food. It’s just that much of our food is not exactly the healthiest, and for a variety of reasons, many people find themselves leading a sedentary lifestyle. The result: Extra baggage around the waist, which then disperses throughout the body. It’s not a good look. Unfortunately, diet and exercise are two personal disciplines that require an enormous amount of will power and dedication, and few among us can pull it off.

Today, about 25% of Americans are on a GLP-1, and it is predicted to go much higher. This is the silver bullet we have been waiting for.

The problem, if you want to call it, is that retailers are now left scurrying to be ready for a new reality. Never mind that once you start taking GLP-1s that you may be taking them for life (probably should have bought stock in Eli Lilly a few years ago). No, it means that everything from food—grocery and restaurants—to clothing is in the midst of a revolution.

This means that inventory at stores that sell clothing must prepare for a wave of new, smaller Americans. There will always be outliers among us, the big and tall for example, but the morbidly obese class is going to shrink literally and figuratively rather quickly. Consumers will be buying entirely new wardrobes to reflect their slim physiques.

The same goes for food manufacturers and restaurants. GLP-1s have a way of inhibiting appetite, which means we will be eating less, especially among the fatty and sugary foods so common in our diets. That’s a good thing at the personal level, but it also means that everyone selling foods needs to prepare just as much as those selling clothing.

In an ideal world, everyone would take personal responsibility for their health. We would eat better. We would work out regularly. Long ago, before industrialization when people toiled and tilled, staying thin wasn’t hard. While factory jobs found workers often still engaged in some physical labor, there was much less movement. Once the post-industrial era hit, when we shifted from manufacturing to service-based and white collar jobs, we did even less. We sat at desks, which further complicated things.

Today, to find a fit person after 50 is becoming rare. I look around me and don’t see very many peers who are relentlessly committed to good health and fitness. We as a society have been going down this path for too many years now. That’s why GLP-1s are the new savior, and it is ushering in Change at an exceptional rate.

Which is why it serves as an excellent metaphor. In many regards, AI is GLP-1 not just for the tech bros, but for all of us. It is causing companies to shed the weight of unneeded employees. It is making our lives easier; we are discovering new ways of doing old things, and in the process becoming leaner. Just like retailers and those in the food business are having to retool and reinvent for a new era, so are we in the era of AI.

And the change has been about as fast for AI as it has been for GLP-1s, which people started taking for weight loss in 2021. Remember, while AI has been around for many years, it was only in November 2022 that Open AI released ChatGPT to the masses. That’s when AI took off.

The most important thing to remember is that Change can come in many forms, but there is usually a dominant one that stands out. It is the one that demands the most attention, because of the profound impact it is making. Yes, the steady arrival of new gadgets means we must pay attention lest we find ourselves adrift in the sea of obsolescence. A virtually cashless society means we must be ready and willing to pay using different methods. Ticketless concerts and sports events mean we will never be able to collect ticket stubs like we once did.

But those pale compared to the impact that AI is making on nearly every aspect of our lives today.

For many years I have preached to my students that they must enter their careers knowing full well they will have to reinvent themselves one or more times throughout their working lives. I did. When I first started teaching online in 1997, the very first year that WT set sail in those waters, I didn’t have a clue how to do it. I felt like they had handed me a butter knife to carve a path through a jungle. Here I am, 29 years later, and this is how I deliver the vast majority of my classes.

The same goes for AI. I have had to embrace it, learn how to use it, learn its weaknesses and strengths. It is now part of the curriculum, and it is another tool in my toolkit. As with all Change, I could have run from it, but you can only run for so long. Eventually you get left behind. There is no future in being a Luddite.

And that is the big takeaway. Change happens. Life is not static. Sometimes Change is slow, but other times it is like greased lightning. We have to be prepared for all of it, willing and able to pivot and adapt as needed. While there is risk in over-reacting, there is greater danger in under-reacting…or not reacting at all.

I am happy for the people who are finally able to achieve weight loss, even if it involves pills or injections, and not diet and exercise. I can only hope that companies can respond accordingly—and quickly—to the rapid adoption of these drugs.

And I pray that we can keep up with all the Change around us, from the overnight rise of AI to all the other things changing before our eyes. You can’t dig in your heels and hope to stop this powerful force, and in this case, there’s no pill or shot that can help us. It’s all in our head.

Dr “Evolve Or Die” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nickgerlich]

Have Some Berries

I’m not even going to apologize this time, because I am once more returning to the topic du jour. Whenever you see me beating something into the ground, it is because it is so important that we just cannot ignore it. It is what it is, and besides, I keep hearing that employers expect our students to be fluent in it.

Hot on the heels of our discussion on promiscuous shoppers comes a related subject, and that is spoilage. As it turns out, promiscuous shopping is accelerating a problem grocers have had for as long as there have been grocers. With all this shopping around, perishables have become a big challenge for many grocers, and now…wait for it…some are using AI to help resolve the problem.

About 30% of food in a grocery store is thrown away, primarily because of spoilage and short shelf lives, a phenomenon known in the industry as shrink. This includes fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, and eggs, all main players on the supermarket scene. These items are usually among the ones with much higher margins than the industry average of 20-30%, because of the risk inherent with carrying them. My source material says that this spoilage amounts to about $18.2 billion in lost value.

This is where AI enters the conversation. By carefully tracking inventory data, such as when an item was delivered to the store and when it was put on display, stores can be in a better position to adjust prices to help push inventory out the door.

Wait. Did I just hint at another way that dynamic pricing could be used, and not in an evil way?

As it stands, employees have to manually check “best by” dates on many hundreds of products, which is a daunting, tedious task. While some items can be visually checked quite easily, such as simply noticing whether the lettuce is wilting, the broccoli is turning yellow, the bananas are as brown as a West Texas dust storm, other items must be inspected closely. The meat may still look fresh, but may be nearing the end of its shelf life. Eggs, yogurt, and milk could be close to turning bad, which cannot be discerned without looking for the tiny print on the packaging.

Or trying to consume it. No thanks.

Interestingly, the average American household also tosses about one-third of the food it buys, but for different reasons, of course. We often buy more than we need, something easy to do for single-person households as well as anyone shopping at Sam’s Club or Costco. But it is also the effect of “aspirational shopping,” meaning we buy things we know are good for us, and since we have been pondering eating healthier and all that, we load up on a bunch of kale, spinach, and other things that just don’t sound all that appetizing when it comes time to prepare dinner. So it rots in our fridge or in the bread box.

Inflation-weary shoppers are indeed shopping around, looking for the best value. Even with high gas prices and the implicit extra driving involved with shopping at multiple stores, there is the consumer perception that it is better to spend extra time in order to still have net savings. Furthermore, the nature of the competitive mix finds traditional grocers fighting to hang on against the likes of Dollar General and the big box membership stores, not to mention all the other grocers in town.

AI helps grocers make real-time decisions, which can be reflected instantly with DSLs, or digital shelf labels, another topic we have explored. Those high-dollar blueberries and strawberries—especially the winter varieties that fetch bloated prices because they are out of season and imported from Peru and Mexico—can have a price reduction at the precise correct moment, not tomorrow after someone finally noticed the berries looking a little worse for the wear. Timing is everything when it comes to perishables, especially fruits and vegetables that technically start to die as soon as they are picked.

But wait, there’s more! An app called Flashfood helps match shoppers with partner supermarkets who post their on-sale perishables nearing the best-by date. Shoppers can order online, and then swing by the store to pick up their purchase, which has been refrigerated as needed.

Flashfood is a mutually beneficial app. It helps shoppers find bargains, something each of us would like to experience. But it also benefits grocers who now have a better way of connecting with shoppers with time-sensitive items that are put on sale…or awaiting a trip to the landfill. It is better to be recovering cost and maybe making a sliver of a profit, than losing the whole thing. There are more than 2000 Flashfood locations across North America.

Naturally, the retailers hope that shoppers might also come inside to shop for other things, simply out of convenience. You never know. Actually, retailers report that Flashfood users spend $28 more per visit on regularly-priced items, and shoppers make four extra shopping trips per month. Better yet, Flashfood has helped reduce shrink by 27% among its affiliates.

And it is all because of allowing AI to take over. Now you know why I had to write yet another blog about it. Never mind the naysayers, it is delivering the goods. And the perishables.

Dr “Berry, Berry Happy” Gerlich

Audio Blog

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Let's Get Digital...Again

I have seen it happen in many industries, and since I was also an Economics major in undergrad, my eyes are attuned to this kind of thing. An industry starts out with an innovator doing something, followed soon by many competitors selling nearly identical products. In Econ terms, that is perfect competition, or about as perfect as you can get without being a commodity item like corn or wheat.

But then manufacturers seek to distinguish themselves, trying to establish their brand to be so unique that it is a domain of one. It’s just that there are many of these domains of one duking it out, and we call it monopolistic competition.

Then weaker competitors start to fall off, perhaps because they were not unique enough, or simply did not offer customers enough perceived or actual benefit. Furthermore, the strongest of the competitors start looking for ways to intensify their position, with some of them buying competitors and rolling them into ever larger corporations. It’s like a big game of Monopoly.

Eventually, there emerge only a handful of very large firms that have grown and cobbled together their empires. There may still be a lingering remnant of wannabes and also-rans, but they are of little consequence in the grand scheme. We have now entered the state of oligopoly.

We all know what the last state is, and it is one that the federal government seeks to block…unless you happen to be a public utility, like electricity. When only one remains—you know, the winner—you have monopoly. What a great idea for a board game.

It’s just that it usually doesn’t work out that great for customers, unless it is a highly protected and regulated monopoly like those utilities. Sometimes there are natural monopolies, like being the only gas station for miles in the desert. The federal government usually isn’t interested in such isolated cases.

Depending on the tone and flavor of the presiding political party, companies and industries can come under scrutiny for possible break-up…or not. This week we heard that United Airlines wants to buy American Airlines. This will likely cause much discussion, even under the Trump presidency.

Over here in digital land, we see the consolidation of power happening much as it did with automobiles, cell phone service, and cell phones. Three companies dominate the digital ad revenue scene, and, surprisingly, one is in the process of bolting to the lead of that threesome: Meta. That leaves Google in second and Amazon in third. Collectively, they control 62.3% of the digital ad market. Even among the triumvirate, it is a little bit lopsided: Meta has 26.8%, Google has 26.4%, and Amazon has 9%.

But even being a distant third is good enough to join the elite gang of three. From there the rankings wander off into the statistical weeds, with ByteDance at 7.9%, Microsoft at 2.1%, and Apple at 1.6%. Then there are the hangers-on, with 2.4% spread among Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit, and Walmart.

Walmart? How could the retail giant be so dwarfed? I bet somewhere in Fayetteville Arkansas a group of digital marketers is trying to figure out how to resolve that.

As for Meta and Google, the two cobble together their ad revenues very differently. Meta is the king of social media, and sells ads across its various platforms. If socials were ever to dwindle, they would be in a world of hurt. Meanwhile, Google has its revenues spread across subscription services, search, and YouTube. I hear that diversification is always a good strategy.

With so many eyeballs (Facebook has 2.11 billion daily active users, while Instagram Stories alone has 500 million), it is generally not a matter of if a company will advertise with Meta. No, it is a matter of when and how much. In contrast, YouTube has 122 million daily active users, and YouTube TV has 10 million subscribers. That leaves search, which is huge, but the advertising there is often very different from the kind we see on the YouTube services.

So what does this mean? Basically, the big will continue to get bigger, and the small will continue to shrink, unless one or more of the wannabes can figure out how to break in. Still, we must consider that even a 1% share of digital ad revenues is about $9 billion, which is nothing to sneeze at. Those wannabes can still be making bank.

This helps explain things in the beer industry, how four companies—AB-InBev, MolsonCoors, Constellation Brands, and Heineken—control 79% of the US beer market. A handful of regionals like Yuengling, along with more than 9000 craft breweries, fight for the remaining 21%. Yes, it can be tough in the land of very fractional market shares, as illustrated by there being more craft brewery closures last year than new openings, but you can still carve out your own profitable local corner of the market.

For those of my students pursuing careers in Marketing, and particularly Digital Marketing, the landscape continues to evolve quickly. Remember, thirty years ago none of this really existed aside from banner ads on websites. Google didn’t do advertising yet. Amazon didn’t do advertising yet. And Meta didn’t arrive until 2004, which at that time was only Facebook.

More than anything, the evolution—I mean rapid evolution—of the digital scene means that pros need to be on their game at all times. And it also means you need to keep your Economics texts handy, because it can help explain a lot. This industry is no different from the others that have gone from the innocence of perfect competition, to tightly controlled oligopolies.

It is just the nature of things.

Dr “Where Theory Meets Practice” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nickgerlich]

I Get Around

As someone who is both a purveyor and student of the craft beer scene, I have long joked that we aficionados of the brewer’s art are a highly disloyal group, to the point of being promiscuous drinkers. Unlike your hard drinking uncle who slams down case after case of Bud, craft beer drinkers like to try as many different beers as they can.

This is actually what prompted the development of the Untappd app in 2010, allowing fans to log all of their beers. The implicit goal is to get as many uniques as possible. Thus, it finds us not only trying a lot of different beers at any given brewery, but also trying as many different breweries as we can. Travel becomes an adventure as we seek out local breweries, and, more times than not, I will start with a flight of four to six brews served in four-ounce glasses. Bam. My Untappd lights up.

If we are loyal to any one thing, it is that we are loyal to the craft, but that’s it. Otherwise, we are drinking around.

It never dawned on me to use the word “promiscuous” in any other consumer context until today, when I stumbled into a news item about promiscuous shoppers, especially in the grocery industry. Silly me. I should have known this. Apparently it is a thing now, a phenomenon that marketers are trying to figure out how to overcome.

My Dad the Accountant was King of promiscuous shoppers back in his day, bouncing from one store to the next, shopping all of the weekly deals. He had done his homework by reading all of the Wednesday adverts in the newspaper, and crafted detailed shopping lists by store. It was all about saving money.

As for me, I have long known there is no single supermarket that has everything I need or want. Some stores have specialty items that only they carry, but nobody else has at all. I thus shop around, explaining why I hit Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods while on travel. Back here in Canyon, I am primarily a Walmart shopper, partially because of prices, but also because Walmart stocks more of what I want. That doesn’t stop me from ever shopping at United, though, whether in Canyon or south Amarillo.

It just depends. Maybe I need something fast, using the Canyon United almost as a convenience store, but at the much larger Marketstreet United on Coulter at Loop 335, I will look for more specialized items, particularly spices and salsas.

As for the general market, only 1% of shoppers are strictly loyal to one store. The typical American shops at two stores per week, for whatever reason. If people treated their marriages like they do their grocery shopping—and how I treat my craft beer preferences—we would have a lot of problems on our hands.

The current shopping around is very different from how supermarkets tried to build loyalty in the past. Not all that many years have passed since I saw chains like United offering kitchen items, such as China and utensils, such that the more you shopped, the more “free” stuff you got. And who among us would want to have an incomplete set of China or utensils? I mean, unless you are a bachelor and none of those things matter to you. Am I right, guys?

With so many plates, bowls, cups, and saucers needed to complete a set, you could lock in a customer for months, maybe even a year.

Before that, trading stamps were a thing, like S&H Green Stamps. Surprisingly, that company is trying to make a comeback, but I have my doubts. Essentially, shoppers received stamps in return for their shopping, based on how much they spent. Back at home, shoppers licked those stamps and put them into special booklets. They could later redeem completed books for merchandise at S&H stores, completely oblivious to the fact that they had been paying higher prices all along to pay for all of that stuff. Neither the supermarket nor S&H were doing this promotion out of the goodness of their hearts, but boy did it engender store loyalty.

So what’s a supermarket to do these days? I am pretty sure that everyone has given up on the idea of shoppers ever being as loyal as they once were. We are deal prone, especially in an era of inflation. We like niche products. And we don’t care about the long-term viability or profitability of the company. It’s all about us now. Monogamy? What dat?

The grim reality is that there is no such thing as the one-stop shop. You can come close, but shoppers know today that there is greener grass—and better prices or selection—on the other side of the fence.

Supermarkets thus need to focus on niches instead of trying to be all things to all people. I am pretty sure that Trader Joe’s is already very much aware of this, especially with only 4000 SKUs. They know that shoppers cannot possibly get everything they want or need (I wish I kept track of how many times they did not have green onions, something I use on a regular basis). Instead, they have built their cult following on their private label products, some of which change with the seasons, while others are evergreen.

This helps explain the huge rush of shoppers in September to grab all of the pumpkin-themed products and other fall items. The same goes for the winter holidays, with lots of spiced foods and beverages. And as you recall, TJ’s is the antithesis of good marketing, because they do very very little.

It is thus up to each supermarket to determine their core competencies, whether it is organics, meats, whatever, remembering they cannot be top dog in everything. And once you build a base of shoppers who come for those specialties, you can always hope they pick up a few more things.

Furthermore, give up on silly promotions, the kind that shoppers once fell for hook, line, and sinker. We are a much savvier lot these days, not to mention skeptical of dubious promotions. We can see right through them, and we know when someone is trying to manipulate us.

But what about digital marketing? And why did it take you more than 1000 words to get to this point, DrG?

I see big opportunity with mobile apps. Make it easier to find items. Offer me deals on selected products. Reward me as if I were your most loyal shopper, even if I am not. Consider me as an audience of one, using geofencing to recognize when I cross the threshold of your store. Greet me. Treat me.

I have yet to see a store do this yet, but I think the time is coming soon. Walmart comes close, because when I need to find where something is, the app automatically knows which of their 4600 stores I am in, and then sends me to A7, which may be A11 in a different store. I haven’t seen any personalization yet, though, even though I always keep their app open. Nothing special for me other than easy search, and then my stored Walmart Pay at the self-check stand.

It is fun to imagine, though, how stores could use digital marketing in light of the fact that we are highly likely to be promiscuous and only there for part of our shopping. I am also pretty sure my Dad would have liked being around for the digital era. It would have made his life a lot easier.

Dr “I Drink—And Shop—Around” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nickgerlich]

Listen Up

Sometimes even the last businesses on earth you thought would ever embrace AI wind up doing it, and in a big way. Shoppers may not even notice it, but they are being courted, wooed, and prospected.

And it is going to be happening soon at Dollar General, that much-maligned chain of mixed merch stores that have been criticized for creating food deserts in both urban ghettos and rural towns. That’s quite a bad rap, but from the perspective of Walmart and Amazon, it has taken the eyes of public scrutiny off them. Disruptors are despised in general—pun intended—and especially if the name fits.

Dollar General (market cap $26.26 billion, share price $119.26, and 4Q 2026 revenues $10.91 billion) continues to rock. With 20,942 stores as of February this year, and a whopping 1948 in Texas alone, they have become ubiquitous. They plan to open 450 more stores this year.

And here’s the surprising part: They are rolling out an AI-powered in-store audio program. In other words, if you could teleport yourself simultaneously across two or more Dollar General stores across the nation, you would likely hear different audio, because it will now be crafted and curated on the fly based on specific location.

It’s beginning to sound like they have borrowed a page from Spotify’s playbook by creating their own AI DJ, who is DJ X. Maybe they should name theirs DG X.

What is uncertain is how the audio system is being managed, whether it is done at the store level, or from a central location. Essentially, the AI can be leveraged to select music that fits preferences of that store’s customers, as well as messages, such as promotional offers, that once again fit the day, weather, mood, whatever. They are also allowing partner advertisers to participate.

Once the upgraded audio has been deployed, 12,000 of DG’s stores will be able to tap into it.

I will be honest and say that I cannot recall the last time I ever stepped foot into a Dollar General, but I can attest that I see them practically every time I go anywhere. In fact, whenever someone asks me where I am, more likely than not I reply with a snarky, “I’m in Dollar General country,” which tells them I am basically in the middle of nowhere.

Furthermore, while I do not fit the demo of a Dollar General shopper, I understand the desire to connect with their customers better. In fact, I would kind of like to experience this just for the sake of seeing how it is done. While specifics of the actual audio content are unclear, I can easily imagine more country music in rural areas, maybe some hip-hop in urban stores, product messages timed to the weather, like extreme heat, cold, or snow, and so forth.

This is yet another example of how mass communication is completely breaking down. While Dollar General cannot get as granular as a true audience of one, it can approximate it by doing it a store at a time.

The audio program comes at a time when the company is trying to improve its e-commerce experience, as well as allow for sponsored products. I had no idea I could even order things online at DG. You learn something new every day.

While DG stock is down about 50% since 2023, they are still a strong force in retail. Same-store sales increased 4.3% last quarter, which tells me that while they might be selling more stuff to existing customers, that thanks to inflation, they are more likely to be acquiring new customers.

Curated audio is nothing new. Retailers and restaurants have used it for years. But to power it with AI is new, and as long as the AI performs as it should, then it may further increase sales. My local Walmart long ago realized that daytime shoppers tend to be older, if only because they are retired. It is no surprise then that they play a lot of 60s and 70s classic rock songs, and I, like other shoppers, find myself humming along. Imagine what they could do with AI.

Of course, as I noted in a previous discussion about Spotify’s AI DJ, if things aren’t perfect, they can become laughing moments. I still chuckle whenever I hear DJ X stumble over REO Speedwagon. I want to be able to tap a button and tell him how it is really pronounced.

Somebody over at Spotify needs to get on this. Remember, AI is only as smart as you make it, kind of like humans. And I get it, because I just heard Al Roker on The Today Show mispronounce Natchitoches. If you’re listening to the audio, I said it correctly. If you are reading this, it really is pronounced Nack-uh-dish. No kidding. Someone needs to tell Mr. Roker. Furthermore, you just cannot make this stuff up. It’s almost as bad as what looks like Chickasha Oklahoma. Chick-uh-shay for those of you playing along at home.

Again, I digress, but the parallels between AI and human speech, reasoning, etc., are remarkably similar, because AI is just an extension of us.

Here’s hoping the Dollar General shoppers embrace the new audio programming and don’t feel creeped out when it sounds just a little too targeted, because that is the aim. Heck, if retailers and restaurateurs could get this AI shopping soundtrack mystery solved, I might actually like to do a little more BAM shopping and dining.

It’s more fun when you feel like the experience is about you and not someone else.

Dr “A Dollar Or Two More, Perhaps” Gerlich

Audio Blog

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Paying The Price

Earlier this semester we discussed the arrival of DSLs—Digital Shelf Labels. They’re also called ESLs—Electronic Shelf Labels. Either way, they give the retailer the ability to set prices either from an in-store office, or farther up the food chain at corporate offices.

These handy little devices are cheap, and since they are internet-connected, make setting prices easy from any location, freeing up labor to attend to other less mundane tasks. They aren’t exactly new, because I have seen them in use at Kohl’s stores for many years. But like the QR code among consumers, adoption by retailers has been slow.

Until now. Walmart recently announced they would deploy them in all of their stores this year, no small task when you consider there are more than 4600 Walmarts across the US. Walmart argues that DSLs allow them not only to set prices as needed, something that happens frequently when there is inflation, but also assist in restocking and online order fulfillment.

It’s just that the reception by consumer groups and consumers in general, not to mention state and federal politicians, has been lukewarm at best, and chilling in many cases. The negative reactions have caused the industry to go into defensive mode, trying to make their case that DSLs are not bad. The chief concern is that DSLs could be used to exploit surge pricing, which translates to jacking up prices when demand is peaking.

While the industry is not presently trying to convince consumers of their efficacy, they are trying to demonstrate that the labels will help retailers deal with labor shortages. That’s probably the best approach, because I doubt anyone is going to convince shoppers that DSLs will actually benefit them, even if it needs to be voiced. About the only shelf labeling that has benefited me is the price per ounce, or price per unit. Otherwise, like everyone else, I have felt the sting of inflation and watched the prices on my frequently purchased items go up and up regardless of how the price is posted on the shelf.

It is going to be a hard sell. While I doubt that state and federal politicians could ever craft legislation that would ban them entirely, they could establish guard rails so high that they could be crippling. This is great fodder for politicians trying to establish themselves as actually caring about voters instead of wealthy donors. I can see them falling all over themselves to jump on this topic because of the upside potential for them, even if they do not understand how this works. It is low-hanging fruit, especially with mid-term elections looming.

So what’s an industry to do? To my students, this could be you one day in your chosen professional paths, trying to advance our digital life into ever more applications. Well, until there is push back, and you find yourself having to expend a lot of unanticipated effort into defending your actions.

At a time when the general vibe is one of distrust, the industry has a very hard sell in front of it. They won’t have any problem convincing retailers to hop on board, because there are multiple benefits for them to do so. But for us? Nothing. Nada. Zip. And if you don’t trust anyone, from Big Retail to Big Pharma to Big Anything, it doesn’t matter.

Even though any words coming from the Food Industry Association may fall on either skeptical or deaf ears, they need to be saying things anyway. And what they should be saying is a code of ethics that association members must abide by in order to remain affiliated. In other words, the FIA must figure out how to be self-policing to the extent that retailers will not abuse DSLs, or else risk corporate reputation, sanctions, etc.

This necessarily places a burden on the association to be able to police its members, but it could also rely on crowd-sourced evidence to help streamline matters. By positioning itself as not just retail-centric, but also consumer-centric, it might help build consumer confidence in the industry at large.

The average consumer is completely unaware of the razor-thin margins that grocery retailers deal with on a daily basis. I realize that consumers are going to have a hard time believing this, especially after the recent round of inflation, and now possibly even more because of rising fuel costs. Consumers are mad, and they will take it out anywhere they can.

As I said before, the typical margin is surprisingly low. When I was doing my dissertation in the late-80s, my contact in the grocery industry said margins were typically 20-22%. Google AI says it falls into the 20-30% range today, with some categories fetching higher margins, and some pathetically low. Overall, net margins are only 1-3%, thanks to high operating costs, such as labor, rent, and spoilage. Were it not for high-volume inventory turnover, the grocery business would be a fool’s errand.

And here we are with a digital product that can help all businesses address labor issues. Instead, it has been flipped and turned into a weapon against consumers. Sometimes you just can’t win for losing.Put that in your cart and think about it.

Dr “I’ll Be Watching For Them At My Local Walmart” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nickgerlich]

Praying And Preying

My eyebrows raised last fall when I read of people having relationships—romantic, emotional, as well as platonic—with AI chat bots. How creepy, I thought. It’s one thing to rely on social media for your interactions, but it is completely different when you start engaging with something that technically does not even exist.Has no DNA. No heart. No soul. Just an ability to communicate, as programmed by coders.

Maybe you even know someone who does this. I do. I feel badly for them, to the point that maybe I need to be a good human and simply reach out. Loneliness can be crippling, and when you seek companionship via AI, it is a move of desperation in my book.

But when people start reaching farther into AI not just for companionship, but also a relationship with the Divine, that is off the chart crazy. I stopped dead in my scrolling and forwarded this one to my email so I could use it…on a Sunday, no less.

Given that some evangelical Christians believe they can have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I suppose it makes a little bit—a very wee bit—of sense to believe that you could have a facsimile relationship in AI. The personal relationship conclusion requires quite a leap from the scripture, often extrapolated from Jeremiah 1:5, which reads, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” While this was God speaking specifically to Jeremiah, it has been construed to mean that God knew everyone, and, furthermore, has a purpose for all of us.

I will leave it for you to sort through all of this. Dive in and study it, or ask your clergy person or Yoda for assistance. I must continue and say that it is no surprise then that an entrepreneur would seize the moment and release Just Like Me, where for $1.99 a minute believers can sign in for prayers and encouragement. Because Jeremiah, apparently.

To be fair, there are other religions represented in the AI sphere, including bots masquerading as Hindu gurus and Buddhist priests. I realize I am leaving out some other religions, like Judaism, Sikhism, and Islam, although the latter has prohibitions against such representations. I bet there is someone already working on those AI bots, though, as well as trying to figure out a way to get around Islamic technicalities.

The developer of Just Like Me did set some guard rails for his offering, first by being perfectly clear in telling users this is just AI. He also instructed his bot never to fabricate or misrepresent scripture. That’s all fine, but what about the people forking over their hard-earned money to converse with a machine?

I suppose that if you view it as entertainment, then it becomes more acceptable. It becomes little different from any other source of online entertainment, which can even include betting sites. I see it differently, though: It is taking advantage of the basic human need to want to have meaning in their life, to more fully understand our origins and where we’re going. These are heady questions, the kind that can lead to an existential crisis, the kind that leads to nihilism.

If even for a few minutes the faithful can have a somewhat meaningful conversation with an electronic surrogate, then maybe a social good has resulted. Remember, the fact that you deeply believe in any religion does not necessarily mean it is true. Faith and Fact are two very different things; sometimes there is an overlap as in a Venn diagram. But the rest of the time, they are separate concepts.

Or as they say in the locker room of philosophy: Whatever floats your boat.

A competing bot called The Chosen offers subscribers 45 minutes a month of interaction for $49.99. The bot has been trained on the King James Version of the Bible, an admittedly archaic translation fraught with errors, but also in the public domain, along with sermons by undisclosed ministers. While cheaper by the minute than Just Like Me, a year’s sub will set you back nearly $600.

While there are many critics of religious AI bots, including me, I find them to be little different from the shysters and hucksters on TV and in many pulpits today. These are the kind of people who have no problem taking your money, either by way of your typically guilt-induced tithes and donations, or by selling merchandise. In some cases, toll-free phone lines invite the penitent as well as needy to call in and speak with a stranger manning a phone bank.

Once again, we see humans with an intense need for understanding, for interaction, for a lifeline. It just bothers me when I see TV preachers living the life of opulence, when their followers have to fork over money. That’s not faith. That’s fraud. I am much more impressed by a spiritual leader who sees him or herself as a servant, like the late singer-songwriter Rich Mullins, who followed the Franciscan way, living among and ministering to the Navajo in northwest New Mexico.

No bots. No TV show. No fancy suits and cars. Just one human helping others. That dude made an impact on me.

Lots to think about here, my friends. Remember, just because we can do something doesn’t always mean we should. Maybe you went to church, temple, mosque, or otherwise this weekend. Maybe you didn’t. I am interested to read your thoughts on all of this, from the TV opportunists to the AI bots peddling their saccharine relationships with Jesus and other deities.

I didn’t go to church. Instead, I am going to Palo Duro Canyon in a while, where I am certain I have a far better chance of seeing the Divine among the hoodoos, junipers, and cactus. And I don’t need a bot to do that, only my own two feet, some sports drink, and a Clif Bar or two.

Dr “That’s My Communion” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nickgerlich]

New Phone, Who Dis?

We have beaten these drums several times this semester:

—Gen-Z loves nostalgia —Gen-Z wants to withdraw from digital as much as possible —Gen-Z doesn’t drink as much as the older cohorts

But now there is a company willing to embrace the first two, while simultaneously trying to overcome the third. Svedka, the very Swedish-sounding vodka brand, just announced its own line of branded flip phones. The Svedphone has all the looks and feels of a Y2K phone, and can only be used to call or text. It also comes with a vodka shooter.

The phone is an extremely limited edition, with specific drop dates. Available for only $5, it comes with prepaid minutes. The branding is very clear: this is no old-school Motorola or Nokia. It’s all about the vodka.

Svedka—a portmanteau of svensk (Swedish) and vodka—was originally made in Sweden at a staggering 96% alcohol, then imported to the US where it was diluted with water and packaged. The company was then sold to Constellation Brands, a US firm, in 2007. In 2024, it was sold to Sazerac, also a US company. At some point during American ownership, production was moved to the US, although the branding still retains the Swedish mystique. There is no shame in vodka land, apparently.

I give the brand mild kudos for a solid execution with the looks and functionality of the phone, which is admittedly a novelty item and not one to be used on a regular basis. It is not much unlike some of the retro toy cameras I have seen available lately. The disconnect for me is that I do not know many phone numbers these days, because we use contacts lists. In order to use the phone, I would have to create a list of my people and their numbers, and then carry it with me. Then there’s the stigma of flip phones being used by drug dealers and those in organized crime. Not a good look.

If it wanted to put the brand name in front of potential customers, though, it did just that. But there is no indication whatsoever in my source material that users can reload their phone with more minutes. That renders this not just a novelty, but a toy.

In fact, just to test out yesterday’s blog topic a little more, I queried it on Google. The AI summary said much the same (and scores a point or two for AI accuracy): No one knows if you can reload it. Basically, use it and then put in a drawer somewhere to be forgotten, then toss that list you had to write and hope no one thought you were orchestrating a deal down on the Boulevard.

But it is the third point that I don’t think Svedka addressed very well at all. Simply giving Gen-Zers a vodka-branded toy phone and a vodka shooter is pretty presumptuous. Can an entire generation that is shunning alcohol in droves be bought out with a little swag? I like to think that Gen-Z is smarter than this. “Here’s our brand, and we’ll even give you a little drinking vessel to help. Now shut up and buy some Svedka.”

Yeah. No. It is not only lame marketing, but also rather disingenuous.

The phone campaign comes hot on the heels of its Super Bowl 60 ad this last February, which was completely AI-generated. It was a dud, scoring next to last among all ads aired that night. That was $7 million down the drain, plus the cost of producing the ad. The cost of that, plus this campaign, reveals a company burning through money faster than it can be printed.

Maybe Sazerac needs to focus on getting current vodka drinkers to consume more, or to switch brands, which are probably easier tasks than trying to get teetotalers to fall off the wagon. At least they are already consuming the product.

I give this campaign a C-, and only because I think the phone is kind of cool, although I probably wouldn’t even use it. I would put it on a shelf in my office as an example of a marketing campaign lacking substance, but flush with enough nostalgia to at least get my attention. In other words, this is a wrong number. Sorry.

Dr “Hanging Up Now” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nickgerlich]

Weeding Out The Slop

It’s all in the averages. If a baseball player can regularly get on base 30% of the time, he will likely wind up in the Hall of Fame. In basketball, a player will be considered “ very good” if he can hit 80% of his free throws. In hockey, a “good” average is to score one goal every other game (0.5 gpg). And in football, a quarterback who successfully completes 65% of his passes is considered good.

But what if we could get relevant stats up to 90%? Wouldn't that be pretty amazing? It just depends on what you are analyzing. If autonomous taxis only made it back to the central charging location 90% of the time without having been in a crash, no one would want to ride in one, even though the odds are still in their favor. In fact, even just a fraction less than perfection gets headline writers and naysayers up in arms.

There’s another stat that has been in the news this week, and it is Google AI’s accuracy in those handy little AI summaries that now appear at the very top of query results. Gone are the paid links we used to see on all results pages; they appear less and less today, replaced by summaries. And it turns out they are only accurate about 90% of the time.

This is why we hear people referring to “AI slop.” Apparently 90% on average is nowhere near their threshold of accuracy. At this point you might be thinking that 90% is pretty good, and at the surface, you might have a strong argument for why we should use—and trust—AI. It is just that when you scale the statistics properly, things start to unravel.

Google processes more than 5 trillion queries each year. A 90% accuracy means that there are 500 billion erroneous AI summaries being delivered to users each year, or about one million per minute.

Yikes. Let’s hope there isn’t a brain surgeon or someone doing really important stuff relying on Google AI results to guide their work.

To Google’s credit, they usually also provide their sources, appearing off to the right, or beneath the summary. I routinely check those sources to see if everything jibes, or if I need to either refine my query, or just start over. I doubt if everyone puts in that kind of due diligence when looking for quick answers.

It is interesting how we hold certain activities to much higher standards, and rightfully so. I would never get in a robo taxi knowing I had a one in ten chance of being in a crash. I also want my search results to be spot on, meaning bias- and error-free. But if I were any one of those athletes, a 90% hit rate would put me in elite company.

Even the weather forecasters get off with seemingly sub-par predictions. At least they know it’s going to windy out here; that allows them more time to focus on the other details.It is all too easy to sabotage AI summaries by willfully posting erroneous information that Google unwittingly has indexed and used as source material. It would be like me writing a blog stating matter of factly that Amarillo is really not all that windy, and that we have a San Diego climate much of the year.

Fortunately, Google does not try to hide behind its AI, with a disclaimer that AI sometimes makes mistakes. Good on them.

As it stands, AI—which has been around in rather rudimentary form for more than three-quarters of a century, is a work in progress. It is only as good as humans somewhere make it. If we want 100% accuracy, it means that coders will have to code a little better, teaching their electronic progeny how to search better, how to discern fact from myth, how not to be duped by bogus information.

I am willing to tolerate a period of imperfection, recognizing that in just the three-and-a-half years since ChatGPT was released to the masses, it has already made enormous strides. I have seen accuracy improve many fold, even if some “slop” still slips through.

But when it comes to my personal safety, I am going to err on the side of caution, even if autonomous vehicles already have a lower chance of collision than human drivers. I’m fussy like that.

Dr “It Keeps Getting Better” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nickgerlich]

Hand It Over

I suppose it was only a matter of time. To be honest, maybe it happened just in time, because it might just save humanity from itself.

I am talking about enforced digital detox zones, which has become a thing at bars and restaurants in at least 11 states. Patrons must lock up their phones at these restaurants and bars if they wish to eat and drink, forcing them to—gasp—actually engage with the people they are hanging out with.

We have all seen it. Heck, we have probably done it, too. You’re out at a restaurant or bar, and you notice a family—maybe you and your family—all eyeballing their phones instead of each other. What in the world did we ever do before 2007, when Apple introduced the iPhone? Only a handful of people had a Blackberry back then, so that meant we had to chat with each other. No one was so important that they had to be available to others all the live long day.

And never mind that carrying on a convo with someone not even there—you know, someone on your socials or even a significant other who couldn’t join the current fun—was considered the height of arrogance and disrespect. You just didn’t do that back then.

I think we can all agree that it is rude to block out your companions, whomever they may be, just so you can peck away at your phone’s keyboard. Isn’t the point of hanging out to be—you know—hanging out?

I was guilty of having committed this social faux pas, but I have been working on doing better. I don’t comment much on the socials these days. If you don’t comment, you don’t have to be on the lookout for someone who replies to you, which then necessitates another round of interaction. And I don’t even make that many original posts these days, which also can lead to further interaction. Even if I do, it can wait.

So I just turn my phone over. It’s there, but I am not using it other than to check the time or occasionally see if someone has texted me with something important. When you have kids—even adult kids—those people are prioritized.

But actually handing over my phone to be locked away? Ummm…no. Big no.

I understand that a proprietor can make his or her own rules, and can refuse service to anyone. That said, I make my own rules, too. I can take my money elsewhere. Part of me thinks the pendulum has swung a little too far in the opposite direction. I don’t like the idea of a Phone Nazi taking my device at the door.

The fact that it has come to this, though, bespeaks a legitimate problem. There are too many people—and as I said, I was guilty, too—who are not in the moment with their companions. I wish I could buy back some of that time when I was a digital scofflaw, but it just cannot be done. Unless there is a legit emergency, there is no good excuse for subrogating the people you are with just so you can keep up with the latest comments on someone else’s cat pic.

Sadly, we have created a society in which it has become the norm to make real-time engagement a competitive sport. Imagine being out on a date with someone, and they are more interested in their phone. That would send a message, which to me would be “let’s get this over with as quickly as possible.” I would not want to be in that competition.

Maybe there is a middle ground, like a policy mandating phone calls must be conducted outside. Or, as some Chick-fil-A units have done, rewarding phone-free behaviors by giving a free frozen treat. I just don’t like the idea of surrendering my phone, about as much as I hate it when a bar wants to keep my credit card on file while I consume a pint or two.

I would much rather work on making a better version of me than patronizing a place that forces me to hand over my phone. Are they going to do the same with laptops, too? If I am flying solo, I am highly likely to work, whether at the bar or at a table. It’s how I get stuff done, and I would never hand that over.

The fact that we are even having this discussion, though, reveals a social problem that no one saw coming 20 years ago. Social media, albeit in their infancy, could wait back then. Texting seldom if ever required constant attention. Even sports scores weren’t all that important. You just had friendly, meaningful conversation with your friends and family.

And it really isn’t that hard.

Dr “Hanging On To Mine, But Flipping It” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nickgerlich]

Fried Chicken Gone Bad

Hot on the heels of our discussion about Coca-Cola’s use of catchy radio-length songs, comes news that others are watching and deploying their own versions. If this keeps up, radio will become one big advertisement, much like Saturday morning cartoons many years ago were program-length ads targeting kids.

The latest to take a stab at the Billboard 100 is KFC with their Finger Lickin’ Machine campaign. KFC—the chain rebranded in 1991 from Kentucky Fried Chicken to divert attention from the word “fried” and to craft a more modern image—has been around since 1930, when Colonel Harland Sanders began selling fried chicken from his Corbin Kentucky roadside motel.

Featuring a proprietary blend of 11 herbs and spices and a pressure fryer, Sanders had quick success. The first franchise opened in 1952 in Utah. PepsiCo bought KFC in 1986, and it eventually was the third leg in a trio of fast food eateries—the others being Taco Bell and Pizza Hut—that Pepsi spun off as Yum brands.

But KFC’s dominance—and it is truly a bigger force overseas than it is here—has faded, thanks to intense competition. Today, KFC is fourth among fast food chicken outlets, following Chick-fil-A, Popeyes, and Raising Cane’s, and is nowhere near the top 10 fast food restaurants overall. In fact, domestically KFC has only 21.5% the sales revenue of sector leader Chick-fil-A.

The new campaign seeks to chisel away at the lead others have, maybe not so much Chick-fil-A, but much closer rivals Popeyes and Raising Cane’s. If KFC could lift its annual revenue just $800 million—I know, not exactly small change—it could surpass both Popeyes and Raising Cane’s, and catapult into second place.

As for the song and its video, it shows a younger Colonel Sanders at a board meeting, defending his choice to offer a combo meal deal at a competitively low price, something that all fast food restaurants have had to consider after inflation found their prices approaching those of sit-down fast casual chains like Chilis. The executives, though, are at least initially unimpressed, because profit. The Colonel tries to change their minds.

KFC has released the song on social media sites as well as music streaming services, where they hope it will gain traction. The campaign, which also features appearances by the Colonel, builds on last year’s efforts to promote value.

But while I love Coca-Cola’s success in 1971, as well as their current campaign to celebrate our semiquincentennial, the KFC ad just feels a little too manufactured to me. Coca-Cola’s hit song 55 years ago was the result of a massively popular advertisement that tapped into the zeitgeist of the day. The revised version comes at a time when national sentiments are not good and in need of a boost, which they are seeking to calm. KFC’s campaign, though, smacks of a slick marketing effort to just sell more chicken.

That may be a rather harsh indictment, but when you try too hard, especially in an effort to be entertaining all the while peddling fried chicken, it can come across as contrived and over the top.

I do, however, like the idea of reviving the Colonel. Unlike Ronald McDonald and the cartoonish Burger King, which were anthropomorphized spokespersons, Colonel Sanders is the real deal. Well, I know…he’s dead, but at least he was a very real person, not the figment of someone’s marketing imagination.

Instead, I think that KFC can still promote value, but also go back to what made the chain successful in the first place, which was flavor and that blend of herbs and spices. The original Colonel was a stickler, and quality was the basis of his marketing, not a dance routine. I doubt that McDonald’s or Burger King would ever recast their spokespersons as dancers.

Furthermore, with Gen-Z’s love of nostalgia, especially for a time in which they never lived, it makes much better sense to run with the old school Colonel, the guy responsible for everything. I have been to the Sanders Cafe and Museum in Corbin Kentucky, which is where it all started nearly a century ago. It is a very fitting homage to the man and his mission, and I would never once in a million years expect to see some dude in a funky white suit bust a move. No. Just no.

Call it what you like, but I see this as a glaring example of marketing done badly. This is what happens when you leave it under the heat lamp a little too long. It’s rubbery, greasy, and tasteless. It’s time to return to the marketing kitchen to try again.

Dr “A Kernel Of Truth” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nickgerlich]

Make Me Smile

Sometimes the best marketing campaign is just a reheat of something was cooked up years ago, especially when the original was larger than life. It’s kind of like your Mom’s signature dish, the one that reliably blew everyone away each time it was served, and the leftovers tasted even better tomorrow.

That’s exactly what Coca-Cola is tapping into this summer with the announcement yesterday of their Drink In America campaign to recognize the semiquincentennial of the US. That’s a fancy word for 250th birthday. And what better way to commemorate the occasion than to reimagine their 1971 “I’d Like To Buy The World A Coke” campaign, this time with a completely revised version of the song.

The center of the campaign is a three-minute video of a 25-voice choir singing the tune, which has a decidedly gospel flair. Members of the choir are intentionally diverse and inclusive, a subtle message from Coca-Cola that says, regardless of what governments and politicians may say about the matter and those three letters I am not supposed to use, we need a lot more togetherness these days as a nation.

It’s almost like they timed it to coincide with a war going on, although I know better. Campaigns like this are not just thrown together. But who is to argue with serendipity like this? Wars are never good, but we need a shot of optimism now.

That 1971 campaign is regarded as one of the best in the history of marketing, and with accolades that glowing, it makes sense for Coca-Cola to revive it for 2026. Gold never loses its luster.

What caught my attention, though, was buried deep in my source material, that being the release of commemorative bottles and cans. The beverage memorabilia collector in me was all eyes at that point, because, you know, someone has to save these things. This marks the first time that Coca-Cola will use its 8-ounce mini cans with special designs, which in this instance includes one for each of the 50 states, plus Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. I am going to have my hands full trying to collect those 52 cans!

Frankly, I am a bit surprised there have not been more 250th cans and bottles yet this year, because I remember what happened in 1976, the bicentennial. Numerous breweries around the country issued one-offs as well as sets marking the occasion, and 7-Up released a special set of cans that, when stacked correctly, formed an image of Uncle Sam.

I drank a lot of 7-Up that summer.

So far this year, only Narraganset Beer from Rhode Island, Mother Road Brewing from Flagstaff, and Yuengling from Pennsylvania have released commemoratives. Maybe others will get on it with Independence Day less than three months away.

But back to Coca-Cola and this brilliant campaign: This one has all the feels, just like the Hillside Singers did 55 years ago. It further cements the brand as being part of the very fabric of the US. Pepsi can have their taste tests all they want, because it really does not matter. Coca-Cola is the All-American soda, and everyone else is a mere follower.

There are some noteworthy differences between the old and new campaigns. In 1971, we had no internet, personal computers, smartphones, social media, or YouTube. You either saw it on TV, or heard it on the radio. That song, which was slightly recast as "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony),” became a top ten hit in the US, and #1 in the UK. I am sure that Pepsi people were green with envy.

I do not know if the reimagining of the song is destined for the airwaves, but I do know that consumers can access it in myriad ways today. It’s great when your ad campaign is portable, and, as we have discussed before, people can interact with the media. All we could do in 1971 was sing along.

Part of me likens the campaign to one company being so head and shoulders above all the rest that it has entered the room and laid it out clearly: “Here. Let us show you how to do this.” If 1971 was gold, then I bet this campaign will go down as platinum.

Finer points of the campaign include QR codes that can be scanned to win prizes, a recurring theme on many beverage cans and bottles today across many brands. It took a while—actually, it took COVID—for us to embrace the QR code, but once we did, we see them everywhere now.

Lastly, the campaign hopes to inspire volunteerism to the tune of 250,000 hours of people like you and me rolling up our sleeves, addressing such issues as “food insecurity, disaster relief, sustainability, youth empowerment, and honoring military members and veterans.”

Color me a little biased, especially with my strong attachments to the beverage industry, but I think this is yet another example of how creativity and execution can and should intersect. This is going to be so pervasive that we won’t be able to miss it. And if you see your prof pawing through stacks of Coke in the store, just relax. I’ll be looking for those 52 cans.

Dr “A Coke And A Smile” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nickgerlich]

Unhappy Returns

Not too many years ago, Oldest Daughter had been enlisted for bridesmaid duties, which, of course, meant buying a dress for the occasion. Being a Gen-Zer, and having been an old pro at Amazon for many years, she went straight to her online go-to and picked out one.

Except that, as we all know, buying clothes online is often a crap shoot. Unless you have prior experience with a brand, and even a specific line within the brand, you never really know if your “normal” size is going to be the right size to buy. You can read the reviews all day long, with people writing that a garment fits to size, or runs large or small, because in the end, it all boils down to whether it will fit your body, not someone else’s.

So Oldest Daughter did what she had already done numerous times before: she bought the one she liked in three sizes, hoping that one would fit. The other two would be swiftly returned, thanks to Amazon’s generous returns policy and free shipping.

Fortunately for her, she found one that fit, and the other two went back to Amazon. She felt good. She had shopped efficiently, saving time not having to go to a dress shop for fittings.

The only problem is, many other people are doing the same thing. It’s called “bracketing,” and it is a hack for shoppers to take advantage of retailers and their customer-friendly policies.

And those returns…which amount to 19.3% of online sales…are now being called the “silent killers” of retail. Gen-Zers averaged eight online returns last year. Somebody has to pay, and thus far it has been the retailers. But retailers are mad as hell, even if they have become the victim of their own generosity. They are fighting back with stricter return policies, as well as AI.

There we go again. AI is in virtually every chat these days.

It would be one thing if those returned items made it back to store shelves or warehouses, but often they are not. It is often more costly for retailers to repackage and re-enter into inventory than it is to just pawn off to liquidators, or even toss it. Some online retailers are now requiring shoppers to pay for return shipping; others are imposing strict regulations on what can be returned, and for how long after purchase.

I have heard of some chains shutting down shoppers who have an established track record of returns. Privileges are easy to abuse when it is as simple as stuffing unwanted items in a pre-labeled box or bag, and dropping off at UPS. Sadly, I have known some people who actually “buy” something only because they are borrowing it for a special event, and then returning it. Expensive Halloween costume? Not a problem. Just use an Amazon loaner.

To be honest, I do not know how some chains survive. REI is my favorite outdoor gear shop. They have very liberal return policies, up to a year after purchase, and even after you have used the product. Now, wearing a costume for one night and being careful not to spill something on it is very different from hiking 50 miles in new boots or shoes, spending the night in a new sleeping bag and tent, storing your food in a bear-proof container, and then deciding you really don’t like any of this stuff. Skip this hiking business.

It happens, and REI takes it all back, then putting it in the special gently-used section of its stores. I can’t even. It is OK to take something home, or buy online and have it delivered, only to find it really does not fit quite right. It is quite another to use the goods for a weekend or more of hard core activity, and then return it all. I hope this chain can make it. Their generosity is enabling too many people to take advantage of them.

So where does AI come in? Simple, and it is something we have already discussed before: virtual try-on. An increasing number of online shops are implementing this feature, something that only a few years ago was Jetsons-like and attainable by only the biggest firms. It is now within the reach of more firms, and if shoppers are willing to overlook the potentially creepy aspect of having to upload selfies so that AI can get you dressed, then it might just help solve the problem of these silent killers.

And that is a big question. Virtual try-on can help answer a lot of questions, especially for women, because buying a dress is far more nuanced than the guys experience buying a pair of trousers or a shirt. But…you have to provide a lot of personal information along with a selfie or two, like all of your measurements. We all may post selfies to our socials without a worry, but once you start attaching other personal data, it raises the eyebrows of concern.

There is a lot to be determined in the future. AI may very well be the cure for this growing problem, but it would come at personal cost to shoppers. Furthermore, 82% of shoppers expect free returns to be standard operating procedure—a policy that is proving to be an albatross for some companies.

Something—or someone—has to give here. We can all agree that online shopping is a great convenience, but all the AI bots in the world still cannot say with 100% accuracy whether something will fit, drape just right, or feel good against your skin. Those are things that are determined in old school fitting rooms. It takes time, something few of us have in abundance.

For some people—people like me—trying on clothes is among the last things I ever want to be doing. I am willing to assume some risk in shopping online, or if I am in the store, just eyeballing it.

Even at REI, where I know they would take it back. Fortunately, I have yet to need to return anything there. No wonder they like me. They know that once that merch walks out the door with me, it isn’t coming back. If only they, Amazon, and all the others could be so certain.

Dr “No Need To Bracket” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nickgerlich]

Sitting In A Tin Can

We are living in historic times. Well, when it comes to space. For the first time in a little more than 53 years, US astronauts will circle the moon tomorrow, even seeing the fabled “dark side of the moon” that Pink Floyd once sang about.

Of course, there are differences in the missions. The last time an American stepped foot on the moon was 11 December 1972, in Apollo 17. While Artemis II, the current mission, will not land, it still marks a return visit at least to the neighborhood. It’s been such a long time.

I still have recollections of watching lunar landings on television (there were six), including the very first one on 20 July 1969. Those were very proud moments for the US. The Soviets had their competing unmanned Luna 15 doing its best to steal a little thunder from us, but it crashed into the lunar surface on 21 July, a day late and a ruble short.

Those televised landings were something else. My family—along with most other American families—sat glued to TV sets, watching grainy live coverage in black and white. The very fact that we were watching live coverage from the moon, some 238,900 miles away, was mind boggling. Here we are today, and the internet is still going down.

But we really have come a long way since those seemingly ancient livestreams from the moon. Back then, coverage was limited to ABC, CBS, NBC, and newspapers. That’s it. Take it or leave it. And you know that by the time your morning paper landed on the front porch, it was already very old news.

The excitement had even trickled over into pop culture, with David Bowie releasing the song Space Oddity in 1969, in which he lyrically described a Major Tom as a modern hero, with the papers wondering whose shirts he wears. Sounds like an influencer to me, even if it was just Bowie’s fanciful lyrics.

Today, though, thanks to the digital era in which we find ourselves, Artemis II is all over the place—the social graph, hundreds of news sites, YouTube livestreams, and NASA’s own channels. We have 4K video today, as opposed to the low quality video Apollo missions sent back. Artemis II is sending back tons of data equally as fast as the video content. NASA should have had it so good back then.

And that’s just the beginning of the differences. This is not your grandparents’ lunar launch.

NASA is actively encouraging public engagement by interacting with creators, influencers, and the general public. Social media allow for two-way always-on communication, a stark contrast to passive media consumption when Apollo missions were going to the moon.

Users now have to ability to curate their own newsfeed, once again vastly different from half a century ago. Instead of a top-down take-it-or-leave-it delivery, we can now get as much or as little as we want.

Another big change is that the Artemis missions have global participation and commercial partnerships. The Apollo program was a true space race, with national pride and dominance on the line. It is a collaboration now rather than a government-driven program.

Lastly, the nature of our 24-hour news cycle means that there is no down time. Updates are instantaneous and constant. We don’t have to wait for the Big 3 networks to rise in the morning and get to work. There are people doing this all day, all night. If you wake up in the middle of the night and want an update on the crew, it’s out there.

Sadly, there are still flat earthers and lunar landing deniers among us. They now have social media as their microphone, and are at it in full force. You just can’t fix stupid. I know, I know. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. It’s just that some opinions are created more equal than others, specifically those backed by science and facts. As they say, never argue with a fool, because they’ll drag you down to their level, and then beat you with experience. I just leave them alone in their little fantasy world.

Meanwhile, I am enjoying reliving some of the same excitement I had as a young boy watching those space explorers. I can’t say that even for a moment it caused me to want to be an astronaut when I grew up. Of course, I’m not done growing up yet, but I do doubt they would take a geezer along for the ride. While this mission is spot on for diversity and inclusivity—two words I have to be very careful using in Texas—there are limits, I suppose.

I’ll just keep watching the history being made from afar.

Dr “The Stars Look Very Different Today” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nickgerlich]

Take Me Out To The Ball Game

The Boys of Summer are back. Just like daffodils breaking out of the ground, and the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, like clockwork it is time to play ball.

Baseball has a long history in the US, with the first recorded game with formalized rules being played in June 1846. Professional baseball followed in 1869. It is a game that has built and reinforced traditions for 180 years, a rather tedious, methodical match interspersed with moments of excitement.

And that probably goes a long way toward explaining why baseball has experienced a decline in attendance, dropping 14% in the last decade. Whereas the game had not changed, society had, with fans growing uninterested in games that could exceed three hours. There were other factors as well, such as ticket prices, but when watching paint dry becomes more enjoyable than a game that knows no end, it is time to rethink things.

Fortunately, Major League Baseball (MLB) has taken some proactive steps to bring the sport up to the 21st century. In 2023 it implemented the pitch clock, which helped shrink the time wasted between pitches while batters fidgeted and pitchers nodded yay or nay to the catcher’s signals. In the first year it reduced the average game by 24 minutes. I say speed it up even more. If I took that much time between steps while hiking, I would never get done.

For this season, the ABS (Automatic Ball-Strike Challenge) has also been deployed, using AI to determine whether the home plate umpire was correct in calling a ball or strike. It has already been used 175 times as of yesterday. Not bad for one week. Fans have shown their approval of it, because disputes can be settled quickly.

If I were a home plate umpire, I’d be tidying up my resume. It would be like having an automated fact checker for professors, preachers, and politicians. The latter two would be nice; the first one might cause my colleagues and me to be a little nervous.

But now MLB has made an even bigger leap by partnering with Adobe to create targeted marketing campaigns at scale. The goal is to assess fan engagement, and it is all based on data. Thus, if a fan is deal-prone and only attends games during certain promotions, then he or she can be targeted with similar promotions. And if a fan likes a particular player—even from an opposing team—then they can be targeted likewise, but this time highlighting the player.

Can you say “audience of one?” There’s that theme again. It just took baseball a while to figure out that they, too, can be using sophisticated marketing. For all the zillions of mind-numbing stats that analysts have generated through the years, turns out they were only focusing on the game and not the people in the stands.

Fans are no longer passive faces in the crowd. They are interacting via social media and AI, and often while actually at the game. MLB is looking to analyze those touch points so they have a better idea of how fans are engaging. Long gone are the days when the sport was mass marketed—a one-to-many approach—to fans. Now it can be aimed squarely at individual fans.

As it should. This is not rocket science anymore. It’s just that baseball was so mired in the tradition of the game that they lost sight of their customers.

As for AI entering the game via the ABS Challenge, it is also happening in the NFL. This season will see the full-scale deployment of Sony’s Hawk-Eye technology, with six game cameras mounted strategically in every NFL stadium, as well as each of the international venues. AI will be used to review plays to ensure that the refs are putting the ball down at the right place. The camera never blinks, but refs sometimes do.

My nephew works for 8K Solutions in Florida, who has the exclusive installation contract with the NFL. He gets to travel to 30 domestic stadiums this year, plus eight different international stadiums. It’s a great job for a young single man. He also installed the Texas Tech indoor practice facility cameras and 140-foot long video screen. I got to see that one. It’s amazing.

Technology is changing sports, but then again, culture is also playing a role, especially regarding baseball. Faster games means happier fans. Better yet, if the MLB can crack this nut and truly market one-to-one, then it may begin to see attendance increase. They have been sliding into home for a long time, almost as if they dropped to one leg before even rounding third.

It might be enough to get me back to the old ballpark. It has been a long time.

Dr “Buy Me Some Peanuts” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[nickgerlich]

Creating Great Content

I realize I have sung the praises of Walmart a lot this semester. They were the sleeping giant that came roaring back to life a few years ago, getting their online presence fixed, their mobile app on point, their in-store experience linked closely with their digitals.

But yesterday they caused my jaw to drop. It’s just that I read some amazing news about the company and how they are leveraging social commerce to their advantage, better than I have seen most companies do. It’s all about working with creators, a program they soft-launched in 2022 but have now completely unleashed.

Let me backtrack just a bit and say that I recently saw a random Facebook post from a guy who is a professor specializing in social media and influencers. Some dim bulb saw fit to question whether he was actually a “real” professor. I laughed, because this is what I teach. If you are living so far in the past not to recognize that the socials and influencers are some of your most powerful levers, then you probably should not volunteer to be in the conversation.

Sadly, we see this all the time in social media comments, where everyone can grab the mic and speak their piece, even if they don’t have a shred of qualification. As usual, I digress.

Normally, social commerce includes selling via social media apps, much like m-commerce refers to purchasing on a phone or tablet. In Walmart’s view, social commerce is much broader. And if you are one of those who complain about self-check kiosks and the fact that you do not work for Walmart, you might cringe a little when you read about how much of Walmart’s social commerce strategy hinges on user-generated content. It’s all about connecting with customers, where they are, whatever they are doing, and creating shoppable moments.

Calling all influencers! This is your call to action, and Walmart welcomes you with open arms.

Walmart is wise to realize that the way we search for things today has changed. Whereas in the “old” days we used search engines, today the search often begins on social media. While ChatGPT is trying to redirect searching in the direction of AI, it faces a huge hurdle because the momentum toward social search has already cemented itself in the culture.

Oh, and in case you were wondering—you were wondering, right?—the primary target of this is Gen-Z once more, if only because Gen-Zers spend an average of five hours a day on their socials, twice the national average. Now you know where all of your time goes.

There are more things afoot as well, such as the realization that the number of followers is not as relevant as once thought. Instead, the key metric is engagement, “…intentional video engagement measures like replaying, saving and sharing,” said Sarah Henry, the head of content, influencer and commerce at Walmart.

“It’s actually about having an intentional keyword strategy and intentional content that’s actually going to resonate with what people are watching,” she continued.

The over-arching aim of Walmart’s efforts is to change perceptions of its stores, which have long suffered from juvenile “People of Walmart” videos and the suggestion that its customer base is much the same as what Aldi’s was when it first entered the US. Recent store renovations reflect this new mindset as the chain has sought to look a little more like Target, with distinct boutique-like departments, as opposed to an “I can see for miles and miles” layout that lacks heart and soul.

To that end, Walmart has enlisted influencers, in hopes they will wax poetic about their fashion-forward sensibilities both in-store and online, as well as delivery options. I learned something new just in studying for this blog: Walmart has a half billion items in its repertoire, between BAM and online, which includes both its own items and third-party vendors. That’s a lot of options.

I give a lot of credit to Walmart for letting the influencers just go at it, albeit with some basic guardrails. They realize that the influencers have built up their own communities, and who better to communicate to them than the influencers in their own voices? Walmart does not try to script those conversations.

To incentivize the influencers, Walmart offers commissions as well as special deals, and tools to help them create content. This is brilliant marketing. It is cheaper than creating a top-heavy and top-down marketing message via traditional channels, and, most importantly, it lends itself to maximizing authenticity. Don’t believe it when Walmart tells you it is cool, but do believe the young influencers who tell you it is.

There is always a risk that even in this kind of relationship, endorsements could be less than sincere. Consider if you were an influencer, and a company wanted to partner with you and provide products and commissions. Are you going to say anything negative? Are you going to gush all over those products? Possibly. We can only hope that the influencers have a moral compass and will only promote the products they truly love. Otherwise, if Walmart and the influencers were ever found out, social commerce could come crumbling down. It would just be paid product placement once more.

Still, I love what Walmart is doing here, letting people tell their story…people presumably like you and me. I am going to have fun watching Walmart and Amazon continue to duke it out for Revenue King, knowing that while Amazon may be in front right now, it is because of ad sales and cloud computing contributing to the till. Walmart, though, is almost purely retail, and they are writing a playbook that will be the envy of others.

As for profs teaching social media and influencers…I have form W-2 to prove it.

Dr “Just Waiting For Someone To Sponsor Me” Gerlich

Audio Blog