Hermie the Caterpillar Crawls Into Stores

Nashville, Tenn. -- From inspirational author Max Lucado comes "Hermie: A Common Caterpillar," a children's tale available in both English and Spanish in VHS, DVD, and as a board book and a picture book. This is the first simultaneous multi-format release for the author, so religious publishing company Tommy Nelson decided to abandon its conventional P-O-P practices in favor of launching a colorful floorstand to Christian bookstores, chain bookstores and mass merchants nationwide."We typically don't do a full floor display for a release," says Gregory Byerline, advertising and merchandising manager. "Most of our P-O-P involves a standard endcap kit with a header and shelf talkers. But we wanted to make 'Hermie' stand out and we were able to secure some front-of-store placement because it's a freestanding unit."The floorstand was designed to house multiple copies of each of the four formats available. It measures 3 feet wide, 6 feet high and 2 feet deep. "We do things on a grand scale around here," Byerline says. "With an author of stature like Max Lucado, it's an easy sell to get the Christian retail marketplace to commit the floorspace to a floor display. It was a natural progression to create this display."The display and its shelves are corrugated. The shelves are customized to hold the various products, Byerline says. The first and third rows have three trays each and hold a combination of DVDs, videos or board books. The middle row accommodates both types of books in one tray. In all, the display holds 48 VHS packages, 15 DVDs, 16 picture books and 15 board books.The display's base holds Fun Paks, premiums that the company is offering free with the purchase of a video, DVD or picture book. Customers can also choose to buy a Fun Pak separately for $2.99, Byerline notes. Each Fun Pak contains a $20 coupon book for various Tommy Nelson products, an activity book, two sticker sheets and a Pez dispenser in one of eight different bug styles.Also included in the Fun Pak is a mail-in offer for a free butterfly. The company is offering this in partnership with Insect Lore, Shafter, Calif., which will ship a live butterfly larvae in a kit. Children and their parents can adapt the Fun Pak box to make a house for the larvae to grow in. When the chrysalis process occurs, they can then release the butterfly.Byerline says the floorstand stands out in stores because of its graphic presentation. Hermie is prominently featured on the header against a bright blue sky. The background is a flowery field, while the base features Hermie with some of his bug friends.In addition to the floorstand, the company created a standard endcap kit that is designed to tout the Fun Pak. "It also features the 'Hermie' artwork, but the header explains what is in the Fun Pak and shows all four product formats," says Byerline. A shelf talker also draws attention to the free Fun Pak offer.A theatrical size movie poster and 12-inch-square "flats" were also created for the program. The flats are made of four-color printed cardstock. Byerline says the idea behind them is to make flat sculptures and mobiles as another way of capturing attention. "This is just more P-O-P that is made available to retailers," he says. "We are trying to get materials all around the stores to grab people's attention." Retailers are also encouraged to create large in-store floor displays utilizing various P-O-P elements. The Hermie character and his environment were designed by GlueWorks Entertainment, Charlotte, N.C. Thatcher Design, Nashville, Tenn., was responsible for the graphic design and Lithotone Inc., Elkhart, Ind., did the printing. The displays were engineered and produced by LINPAC Displays Inc., Tullahoma, Tenn. Approximately 1,000 floorstands were produced and placed in stores. Byerline says there is also a waiting list of retailers who are willing to place the display if the company decides to do a second run.Retailers get the display when they buy enough product to stock it. The displays are set up by the retailers or company field reps and are intended to remain in stores for six months.Before "Hermie" was officially unveiled, the company ran print ads in trade publications and magazines catering to Christian parents. "We did some teaser ads without Hermie's face a couple of months prior to the launch," Byerline explains. "The month of the release, we ran full-page ads saying 'Here's Hermie,' with artwork similar to what's on the display."Plans for additional books to be added to the line are under way.

Hermie the Caterpillar Crawls Into Stores

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