-By Bridget Goldschmidt

The days have grown cooler now that autumn is upon us — and for grocers, the change in the weather is accompanied by a slew of promotional opportunities. With football season now in full swing and Super Bowl XLIV set for Feb. 7, 2010, in sunny Miami — not to mention the imminent approach of other autumn and winter occasions, sports-related or not — suppliers and grocers alike are working their marketing magic on gridiron fans and seasonal celebrators in a bid to boost end-of-year sales.

Many food retailers create their own seasonal promotions, but Ring Bros. Marketplace really makes the most of its assets. The South Dennis, Mass.-based independent marks the changing seasons with tasteful, small-scale displays in its "limited and valuable" space. As general manager/director of marketing Donald G. Fallon explains: "[F]all colors will grace our housewares section, [and] we will feature products with apples, pumpkins and, of course, cranberries. We are located on Cape Cod, and cranberries are big here. As the Cranberry Festivals approach, we move those products to the forefront. We also incorporate seasonal ingredients into our cooking classes and demonstrations."

One of Ring Bros.' biggest promotions of the year, however, is its Fall Festival of Wine and Food, slated for November. "It used to be held in October as [a] way to increase business during a traditionally slow month,” notes Fallon. “Last year, we moved it closer to Thanksgiving to highlight holiday products and give a boost [to] the holiday. This year, we will do the same … [W]ith the uncertain economy, we want to ensure a successful holiday season. Our festival features vendors from across the country. We usually have between 20 and 30 food vendors offering free samples, as well as 75 wines available for sample. We noticed that the wines and products we sampled last year returned an average boost of 15 percent."

Although the event will proceed as usual, the not-quite-over recession will have an effect on the items offered this year, observes Fallon. "This year, we realize that the economy is first and foremost on everyone's minds," he says. "So, we will plan our offerings accordingly. [T]his holiday [season] will be more about family and less about the accumulation of stuff, so we will be gearing our product offerings to more mid-priced offerings instead of high-end products."

Perimeter Plays

Over by the meat case, the Beef Checkoff got in on the game by teaming up once more with center store stalwarts Kraft A.1 and Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser on an August/September tailgating promotion including money-saving in-store tear-pad coupons that featured steak and burger recipes, and a September Sutter Home promotion offering $1 off beef when shoppers buy the wine.

Still on tap for the program is a winter roast promotion in collaboration with New York Texas Toast, Idaho Potatoes, Mrs. Dash and Sutter Home. Starting Nov. 8, 445 million FSIs will be distributed nationally with two coupons for $1 off beef with the purchase of Texas Toast or a Mrs. Dash seasoning product, while bottleneck hangers on Sutter Home wines will include a beef roast and baked potato recipe along with a $1-off-beef incentive with the purchase of Texas Toast.

"This year, there is an opportunity for retailers to increase customer loyalty and profits during the holiday season," says Randy Irion, director of channel marketing for the Centennial, Colo.-based National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which contracts to manage retail programs for the Beef Checkoff. "Lower-than-average wholesale prices of beef middle meats are anticipated to continue into the fall, allowing retailers to successfully feature loin and rib roasts, and capitalize on traditional seasonal volume. These will be a great choice for consumers who want to enjoy tender roasts at home this season."

To that end, the Beef Checkoff has recently bowed the Beef Alternative Merchandising (BAM) program, which brings together new merchandising methods for the top loin, ribeye and top sirloin cuts, notes Irion. "The program addresses price sensitivities and provides consumers with leaner-looking and more affordable cuts that are just the right size for today's smaller families," he observes. "There are three new roasts in the BAM program: Beef Top Loin Petite Roast Boneless, Beef Ribeye Petite Roast Boneless and Beef Top Sirloin Petite Roast Boneless. We anticipate seeing more of these new roasts in the product mix for the holidays."

BAM product information, cutting guide videos and point-of-sale materials can be found at www.BeefRetail.org.

But it's not just beef that's making all the impressive plays during this period. The Des Moines, Iowa-based National Pork Board, via the Pork Checkoff, has recruited Emmitt Smith to take part in the "Pork Recipe Playoffs" promotion, which enables pork enthusiasts to submit their finest tailgating recipes for the chance to win a trip for four to Miami to tailgate with the football great and attend the Super Bowl. Submissions will be accepted through Nov. 16 at TheOtherWhiteMeat.com, from which eight regional finalists will be selected Dec. 1. Through Dec. 25, consumers can vote for the finalist they think deserves the title of the ultimate pork tailgater.

Elsewhere in the perimeter, Wisconsin cheese is promising to have a championship season of its own. At presstime, the Madison-based Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB) was still putting the finishing touches on a Super Bowl promotion, but it was able to give some idea of how it would create late-year buzz in the cheese section.

"Our Toolbox promotions [which allow retailers to pick and choose promotional themes and components for customized campaigns] have football and holiday options," says Marilyn Wilkinson, who handles national product communications for the WMMB. "These promotions have had great success because the supermarket company has access to a variety of collateral materials from us, including POP, recipe brochures, posters, etc. The company can plan [its] own timing, and all materials can be printed with the company's identification — name, logo, etc. We have found this flexibility — in comparison to a national, single-timing, FSI-type promotion — to be extremely attractive to retailers."

When asked what trends would be reflected in forthcoming promotions, Wilkinson replies, "We see the trend toward buying more local growing — our Toolbox promotions capitalize on this preference because the local chain can personalize the collaterals."

In the produce section, few items compete with avocados for popularity at Super Bowl parties, in the form of guacamole. Although last year's crop was light and growers preferred to concentrate on Cinco de Mayo and summer campaigns, admits Jan DeLyser, VP of merchandising for the Irvine-based California Avocado Commission, the fruit still turned in a strong performance during early February, with shipments totaling 53.5 million pounds, the second-largest Big Game shipment number in history. As for the coming showdown in Miami, all systems appear to be go: "Pre-season crop projections for California are calling for a return to volume next year, and we anticipate that some California growers will be picking for Big Game promotions," according to DeLyser.

While Super Bowl plans for the Hass Avocado Board (HAB), also based in Irvine, were still in the works at presstime, the trade group, in conjunction with the Chilean Avocado Importers Association (CAIA) and the Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association (MHAIA), is still running the promotion tied into America's pastime, "The Big Hit," which includes TV spots and coverage during Major League Baseball Division Series and National League Championship games, a sweepstakes to win a $5,000 home entertainment package, and a retail display contest.

CAIA, however, is offering its "Grab Some for the Game" campaign and retail display contest, which incorporates a baseball/football theme and a Weber grill tie-in, as well as a "Ghoulish Guacamole" Halloween promotion, through posters, tearpads, signage, and POS materials with recipe pads. The Washington-based association is also zeroing in on that other football — what Americans call "soccer"  — via a partnership with the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO), based in Hawthorne, Calif., that will enable CAIA to reach more than 3 million soccer families through direct mail, e-mail messages, advertising in AYSO's Play Soccer magazine, and at its National Games and other youth tournaments.

For its part, MHAIA is launching an "Amazing" fall program that urges adding avocado to sandwiches, soups and salads, via POS materials in the produce section and the bread and soup aisles, as well as in-store radio.


VALUE-ADDED CONTENT


Center Position

On the retailer front in center store, Milwaukee-based Roundy's Supermarkets, Inc. has kicked off a "Breakfast Blitz" limited-edition breakfast cereal to celebrate the Green Bay Packers' 90th anniversary. Three specially designed boxes, the last of which will debut later this month, will go for $2.99 while supplies last.

For many consumers, however, it's not a proper celebration — of the Super Bowl or anything else — without plenty of salty snacks on hand. Realizing this fact, Plano, Texas-based Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo, has responded accordingly.

"We teamed up with the NFL to launch the 'Calling All Families' program to give pro football fans across the country the chance to prove they are the NFL's 'most fanatical family' and win a trip to Super Bowl XLIV in south Florida," notes Frito-Lay communications director Katherine Ritchey. "Frito-Lay and the NFL supported the Calling All Families program with point-of-sale displays at more than 20,000 grocery, mass-merchandise, dollar and other retail channels … that celebrated families' at-home game watching environments and featured the Tostitos, Doritos and Lay's brands. Frito-Lay and the NFL also supported the program with radio and print advertising."

Changes in Frito-Lay's marketing approach were based on its careful study of current trends, explains Ritchey. "With the current economic conditions, consumers are doing more simple, at-home entertaining, and our Calling All Families program recognized that trend," she says. "The program focused on the primary supermarket shopper — moms. Moms are looking for simple, affordable ways to bring their families together, and that's exactly what watching NFL games and enjoying Frito-Lay chips and dips offer.

"We're also more focused than ever on extending the program beyond in-store elements," Ritchey continues. "The Calling All Families program featured 360-degree marketing support, including print, radio and online elements. With more consumers planning their shopping trips ahead of time, these vehicles will help ensure we reach them before they arrive at the store."

Further, according to Ritchey, Frito-Lay decided to expand the promotion through the beginning of October. "We decided to focus beyond Labor Day, because we know consumers are looking for simple, at-home entertaining ideas as the NFL season kicks off," she observes.

In a currently ongoing promotion, Frito-Lay's Doritos brand will once more air three consumer-created 30-second Doritos ads during the upcoming Super Bowl broadcast — with the added inducement of a $5 million bonus divided among the winners if the homegrown ads take the top three spots of the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter. During last year's Super Bowl broadcast, a homemade Doritos commercial, "Free Doritos," created by Joe and Dave Herbert of Batesville, Ind., for under $2,000, snagged the No. 1 spot on the Ad Meter, marking the first time an amateur ad made the ranking.

To publicize the launch of the contest, New York's Madison Avenue — the symbolic heart of the ad industry — was renamed Doritos Drive for Sept. 10, 2009. Free Doritos tortilla chips were given away throughout the day on the famed thoroughfare, and the brand additionally sent coupons for free Doritos chips to people across the United States who live on a "Madison Avenue."

This year, participants can upload 30-second commercials to www.crashthesuperbowl.com from Sept. 21, 2009, to Nov. 9, 2009. Six finalists' ads will be revealed in January 2010, and then fans will vote for their favorite ads online and decide the three winning Doritos spots to air during the Super Bowl broadcast on CBS. Each of the finalists will win $25,000 and a trip to Miami to watch the Big Game from a private luxury suite, where they'll tune in to find out for the first time which ads won.

In the area of holiday marketing, the iconic brand is rolling out a Halloween promotion early this month, incorporating thematic point-of-sale displays featuring pumpkins and spooky imagery, as well as the resurrection of past customer favorites Smokin' Cheddar BBQ and Black Pepper Jack from the Doritos "Flavor Graveyard," and the rollout of limited-time Cheetos Giant Color Changers, which turn the tongue green when eaten.

The displays also feature 20- and 22-count multi-packs of Frito-Lay snacks, which can be doled out to trick-or-treaters in place of sweet treats.

"The program recognizes that Halloween brings everyone together, especially adults, for parties and other social gatherings, especially with it falling on a Saturday this year," says Ritchey. "People want not only candy, but also snack food for Halloween parties and other gatherings. In fact, while people traditionally think of Halloween as being all about candy, savory snacks sales during the Halloween season last year exceeded candy sales by $200 million, according to IRI data.

"Our Halloween program especially reaches moms, who have a dual role as 'social director' (bringing family and friends together) and 'caregiver' (providing fun solutions for her family) at Halloween," she adds.

Meal categories are also tackling big seasonal events. As a way to draw attention to a major overhaul of its Chunky soup line's products and labeling, the Campbell Soup Co., based in Camden, N.J., has joined forces with publication Men’s Health, which last month debuted a microsite, www.ChunkySoupGamePlan.com, featuring interactive tips, tools and videos to help men improve their quality of life by such simple changes as making good food choices and staying active. Visitors also can enter a sweepstakes to win a trip to the upcoming Super Bowl.

Meanwhile, Dinuba, Calif.-based Ruiz Foods, Inc. has seen sales of its frozen Mexican items, which include El Monterey Flour and Corn Taquitos, Family Pack Burritos, Two Pack Burritos and Family Entrees, heat up as a result of nationally dropped FSI programs around such key events as the Super Bowl. "While FSI coupons have always been popular, they have become even more so in today's economic climate," says the third-generation company's president and CEO, Bryce Ruiz. "Value has always been a consideration but, from what we have seen, [it] is no longer a trend, but a constant consideration when walking up and down the grocery aisle. Our FSI programs satisfy the consumer's desire for value, and they continue to create excitement as they build awareness of our signature El Monterey brand."

But it's not just edible products that are seizing on the football-related selling opportunity. Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble (P&G) and the National Football League recently forged a multi-year marketing and sponsorship alliance that kicked off with the 2009 NFL season. Under the alliance, over a dozen P&G brands are leveraging NFL assets and collective team marks within the conglomerate's Male Grooming, Hair Care, Oral Care, Household Needs, Fabric Care and Air Care sponsorship categories through fully integrated marketing initiatives and retail-specific executions. As part of the sponsorship, several P&G brands, including Febreze, Head & Shoulders and Old Spice, will sport the NFL's "Official Locker Room Products of the NFL" designation as well as exclusivity in their respective product categories under the NFL shield.

Additionally, such P&G brands as Bounty, Cascade, Charmin, Crest, Dawn, Gain, Oral-B and Tide will be able to activate NFL marks within key retail accounts. These brands may use the NFL logo in national and local in-store merchandising campaigns and retail circulars.

"Our sponsorship with the NFL underscores the toughness and dependability of our products. The NFL is the ultimate battleground, and P&G products deliver, not just in NFL locker rooms, but in homes all across the United States," notes Jason Dial, director of global sports marketing at P&G. "This alliance will also benefit our retail customers by engaging an extremely loyal and fervent fan base with compelling programs that will drive our collective businesses."

As well as exclusive retail marketing rights, P&G will also maintain the right to promote its brands via NFL.com, NFL Network and at the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl.