nd while I’m not sure there is a definitive answer, here is my view: shopper marketing is ultimately part of brand marketing: brand comes first, retail collaboration second. Retail collaboration is important in shopper marketing Despite the emergence of online shopping, and the clear reality that many shopping activities take place outside of a retail environment, it should be obvious that the retailer is important to any shopper marketer. Without retail consent and support, shopper marketing initiatives simply will not be implemented. So why not start there? Why not allow retail collaboration to lead and define shopper marketing activities? Surely the store is where most of the shopper action is? Shopping activity is not confined to the retail store, but isn’t it the most important part of the shopper journey? Perhaps. The task that a manufacturer is tasked with is to grow their brands profitably. Period. Retailers have a different goal. Their job is to grow their sales. Arguably a retailer’s goals are fundamentally opposed to those of a manufacturer. The manufacturer cares which brand is bought, but not about where it is bought. The retailer cares little what is bought, but cares deeply about where it is bought. Retail support is a critical part, therefore, of driving brand growth, but should marketers put it at the heart of their strategic success? I think not. If the brands are one of the company’s biggest assets, then the strategies employed to grow that brand are massively important. Putting collaboration with a third party who has different goals at the heart of this feels wrong. Retail collaboration should be seen as a means to an end, not an end itself. Shopper marketing is part of brand marketing As shopper marketing has grown and flourished, it sometimes can be seen to be an entity in itself. This has benefits for the growth of the discipline, but can sometimes led to confusion. To some, shopper marketing has become a separate thing, discrete and different to brand marketing. I have been one of the biggest advocates of thinking of the shopper as different to the consumer, and therefore the need for shopper marketing as well as consumer marketing, but it is important that the marketing community sees this as two parts of an overall brand marketing task. After all, no brilliant consumer relationship will be profitable without shopper engagement. Brand equity is valueless unless someone (a shopper) actually buys the product. Shopper marketing is part of brand marketing, and while today it might be seen as consumer marketing’s young upstart, and perhaps unsophisticated, sibling, perhaps one day shopper marketing and consumer marketing will stand side by side and peers in a total brand marketing world. Build a total marketing approach first Ultimately, shopper marketing should be led by brand marketers, albeit brand marketers with a shopper marketing skillset, and a deep understanding of retail and retail collaboration. Shopper marketers and consumer marketers must bring their two halves of the equation together to create a more complete marketing approach. The challenge is for the marketing community to really see the value of shopper marketing: to understand what makes it different and yet what makes it part of a total marketing approach – if you aren’t marketing to the shopper, you really aren’t doing brand marketing properly. Until this happens brands will not get the full benefit from their consumer marketing, their shopper marketing, or their retail collaboration. What is your view on who should lead shopper marketing? Do you see shopper marketing as part of brand marketing, or something completely distinct? Please share your views in the comments section below. This article first appeared on Mike Anthony’s blog. Mike is keynote speaker and co-host of Inside Retail’s inaugural Shopper Marketing Revolution one day intensive workshop at the Hilton Hotel in Melbourne on August 5 and Sydney August 7, 2014. For more information or to register for Shopper Marketing Revolution, click here.