Kroger, Brand Partners Offer 'Return to School' Savings
What’s new: Kroger united 25 brands for a "Return to School" promotion and sweepstakes following the 2024 holiday break.
What we saw: A pallet display in stores stocking SKUs from General Mills' Annie's and Jack Link's flagship brand touted "return to school savings" and encouraged shoppers to purchase partner products to support local schools.
A QR code on the display linked to KrogerReturnToSchool.com, where consumers could enter a sweepstakes from Dec. 29 to Jan. 18 by voting for a school within the supermarket operator's Cincinnati, Columbus, Delta, Dallas, Houston or Michigan operating regions. Kroger awarded 24 of those schools with a $2,500 donation. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Retail Sports Marketing administered the sweepstakes.
Call to action: The campaign website features recipes for meals, snacks and desserts from participating brands, including Kraft Heinz Co.'s Velveeta, Abbott Nutrition's PediaSure and FCF's Bumble Bee. It also encourages customers to join the retailer's Kroger Community Rewards program to have their local school receive a percentage of their spending as a donation. Kroger enlisted bloggers to promote the sweepstakes with paid Meta posts.
Supporting the cause: Kroger sent local schools carts stocked with products from partnering brands, including PepsiCo/Frito-Lay's Lay's, General Mills' Old El Paso and McCormick & Co.'s flagship.
Background: General Mills regularly gets the spotlight in Kroger programs targeting parents with school-age children. From July 1 to Aug. 24, Kroger shoppers received 50 bonus Box Tops through the manufacturer's evergreen Box Tops for Education school fundraising program with the purchase of five eligible products. The bulk purchase incentive was promoted with SmartSource floor clings and Meta posts.
- About Field Reports
P2PI editors and staff regularly look for interesting and relevant digital and in-store marketing, monitoring the merchandising and marketing activity at various leading retailers in the U.S. and Canada. Our exclusive field reports highlight what's new and notable for commerce marketers.
