"Moments of Truth" and White Lies

Ever since P&G "discovered" how important retail presence is aka "1st Moment of Truth (FMOT)" a few years ago, the rest of the world seems enraptured with "moments of truth" nomenclature.  It is almost as if the world of  "in-store" marketing did not exist until a giant light bulb illuminated the sky over Cincinnati.  But this has really come to a head recently..

A few years ago Google one-downed P&G by introducing the term "Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT)", meaning you need to get all your ducks in a row on the internet and search, way before customers come to the store (or web site) to purchase.  Here is the link to learn about ZMOT:

http://www.zeromomentoftruth.com/ 

Then recently Joel Rubinson talked about minus one moment of truth ... oh my!

http://blog.joelrubinson.net/2011/07/what-is-missing-from-moments-of-truth-marketing/

And recently Campbell USA touted new research of theirs which says (and I quote from CPGMatters)

New research from the Campbell Soup Company proves instead that shoppers make 80% of their decisions to fill a specific food-consumption mission before they enter a supermarket. This is true for mainstream, center-store categories with recognizable brands such as soups and shelf-stable juices

I haven't seen this research, so obviously I can't knowledgeably comment beyond saying that I doubt very much 80% of "mainstream center-store categories" consumers decide before they go into the store what specific product(s) they will buy, and ACTUALLY buy it(them) ... just ... doesn't ... happen.

All of these discussions are of course relevant and interesting. But they get my dander up, because I consider them all little white lies.  They either don't address, don't admit, or skirt around the fact, that the product with the better in-store position (however that is defined at that moment at that buying point) is much more likely to be purchased than all the other products there. If your product, or your display, or your Shopper Marketing programme isn't there, or visible, all the prework you have done is USELESS.

It's as if marketers are baseball batters now and should be doing more research to see what the pitcher throws with a 3 and 1 count with 2 out situation.  Doesn't matter, if it means you take your eye off the ball. And marketers don't have their eye on the ball.  What marketers should be concentrating on is getting their in-store batting average above .500 ... that's right you've got a 50-50 chance of having your promotion executed properly.

Ponder that truth for a moment .