Circular Features

Kroger tapped into April 22's designation as Earth Day last month by encouraging shoppers to use fewer plastic bags and staging its third annual "Design a Reusable Shopping Bag" contest.The latest incarnation of the contest asks consumers to enter designs on a dedicated microsite from April 8 throu

Tying into Earth Day on April 22, Ahold USA's Stop & Shop staged a sweepstakes giving away two “eco-friendly” Honda Insight Hybrids while touting company-wide “green” initiatives such as energy-efficient lighting in stores and encouraging the use of reusable bags.

Home Depot staged spring versions of "Black Friday" in March and April to mark the beginning of the home improvement channel's busiest season.

Kroger offered a "Digital Choice" purchase incentive from April 1-18. Loyalty cardholders who bought 10 eligible products were given their choice of 15 free music downloads, one free movie ticket or 15 free ringtones from Telenations Inc.'s Digitalchoicerewards.com.

CVS/pharmacy is hosting an exclusive overlay to Mars Inc.'s national "Great M&M's Brand Character Vote" that provides the latest evidence of increased collaboration between the retailer and manufacturer.The drugstore chain is using dedicated endcaps to support the M&M's campaign, as well as ceiling

Dick's kicked off the latest flight of its annual "Golf-A-Thon" sale with a March 28 circular feature. (See "Dick's, SA Go to Bat" in Related Articles.) Window posters, counter signs, pole toppers and shelf tags carrying promotional logos support.

Kroger tapped into the "March Madness" of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's annual basketball tournaments last month by executing a plethora of self-driven and manufacturer-supplied campaigns.

A&P and Pathmark again tapped into March's designation as "National Frozen Food Month" (see "Frozen Foods Have a 'Monster' Month") by promising $10 off a future receipt with loyalty-card purchase of $75 in national-brand and private-label products from Feb. 26 to March 25.

Winn-Dixie is running a "Make-a-Meal" program that delivers an assortment of free products to loyalty cardholders who buy one product. The program is being promoted with circular features and cooler clings. (See Images at right.) Recent offers included free SKUs of:

Family Dollar is enlisting the aid of big-name product manufacturers as it continues positioning itself as a lower-priced destination for national brands.

Home Depot is using an array of P-O-P materials, circular features and online activity to promote a "new lower price" of $97 for full-house carpet installation, which represents a drop of $42. (See Image at right.) Primary rival Lowe's has been promoting the same offer. 

Staples recently promoted value packages of laptop and desktop computers bundled with accessories from a variety of brands. The chain matched two or three accessories with computers from Acer, Dell, Toshiba, HP and other manufacturers to deliver $110 to $280 in savings.