Big Dippers

You’re a manufacturer tying in your promo with the biggest sports event of the year, the Super Bowl. You plan, you promote, and what happens as a result?

The number of weeks of quality merchandising increases by 25 percent. National ACV (all commodity volume) doubles from the previous year, as does feature ad support. More than 500 customized account programs report verified boosts in merchandising activity.

A total of 47 out of 50 key accounts support the Super Bowl program. Schnuck’s took on three new SKUs after eight years of saying no. Ralphs put up a major display program during the holidays with a 350-percent boost in case movement. In Roanoke and Columbus, Kroger had two display programs in December/January with a free ad.

Is there a message in this? You bet there is. Rich-SeaPak Corp., St. Simons Island, GA, a division of Rich Products Corp., proved that some of its methods provide a surefire way to get a lot of bang for the buck.

According to Rich-SeaPak marketing manager Julie Jones, the company’s first concern was to get a quality merchandising program that would be able to blend with the retailers’ time schedules. This meant flexibility: “Traditionally, a brand manufacturer will say, ‘This is the promo, and this is when it is.’ The usual answer the manufacturer gets is that the retailer is doing something else that day.”

A consultative approach avoided this. “We came with a four-to-six week window and let the retailers choose,” Jones says.

Rich-SeaPak also leveraged MDF funds with creative selling in an account-specific program. Since features and displays drive Rich-SeaPak’s promos, the company’s broker team in the field crafted programs that fit retailers’ customer profiles.

“Depending on their reaction, we would customize what we were going to do,” Jones says.

The Super Bowl tie-in was essential for several reasons. The products are frozen mozzarella cheese sticks sold at grocery, mass merchandisers, and club retailers nationwide. The company successfully repositioned its cheese snacks in 1998 as “Dippers” in six flavors with dipping sauce in-pack.

“The Super Bowl has got to be one of the biggest party times nationally,” Jones says. Although Rich-Sea Pak wasn’t an official Super Bowl licensee, Jones knew the event provided the perfect platform for a Dippers promo. To stay within budget, the company used a point system. Brokers from the sales force were allotted points that converted to dollars based on their previous sales.

“We gave them a bank account with different costs for different promotional events,” Jones says. Because of this system, Rich-SeaPak comes in under budget 98 percent of the time, she says.

Co-op media or radio provided event focus and consumer pull. Customized promotional programs were presented to retailer accounts for maximum appeal and impact. The Rich national on-pack offer was a personalized mini-football for $4.99 and two proofs of purchase. (Rich-SeaPak account managers brought in footballs for retail managers as well). “What we were looking for was something that would turn sales and generate volume, too. It wasn’t a trade or a consumer promo, but it worked to combine both,” Jones says.

Key promotional options were announced using co-op radio, instantly redeemable coupons, and ads in local newspapers. There was also a Super Bowl Sweepstakes and a Football Merchandise Sweepstakes aimed at attracting displays. Explains Jones: “It’s basically a grassroots approach. If you don’t get a corporate display program you get a store-by-store display, because working at the store level you often get extra display activity.”

Time Marketing Inc., San Francisco, prepared customized account-specific sales presentation materials in hard copy and digital format, and also managed all footwork and fulfillment for brokers. “We didn’t have the brokers calling us, they called TMI directly,” Jones says. This simplified presentations.

Rich-SeaPak also relied on its “proven sales incentive program.” For each photo verification of a major display taken by a broker, the broker rep received a cash payment with a chance at larger prizes. Sales personnel had valuable Sony merchandise to use as dealer incentives with store managers, section clerks, and for headquarters programs. It gave Rich-Sea Pak an “additional edge,” when it came to decisions about key display dates, says Jones.

But a big key to success was letting the brokers in individual markets make their own retailer arrangements for programs that best met retailers’ needs, Jones says.

The account-specific program was so successful it has been extended to Rich-SeaPak’s other brand, SeaPak Seafood, which will undertake the program during the upcoming Christmas holidays, says Jones.

In a study of 1,296 Internet users, researcher Greenfield Online found:

Consumers say the two best things about online shopping are:

* quick and easy to compare prices 33 percent

* can shop easily and quickly any time 27 percent

Advantages of store/mall shopping:

* can see/feel/touch/try products before buying 69 percent

* instant gratification -you get it right there 25 percent

Advantages of catalog shopping:

* fun to browse through 29 percent

* you get time to make up your mind 16 percent