Nabisco Aisle Architecture Program to Increase Traffic

Nabisco Inc. has announced a new in-store branding campaign that it hopes will drive aisle traffic in the cookie/cracker category and promote the entire line of Nabisco products. The program, termed "aisle architecture," began turning up in Wal-Mart stores and select retailers in July. A limited national rollout to key customers will follow in October."The cookie/cracker aisle is not one that consumers go down all the time. The challenge was to find a way to drive aisle traffic, while at the same time making the aisle a fun place to shop so it would become more of a destination," says Sandra Crawford, senior manager category management at the Parsippany, N.J.-based company. "Over the past year, we've been testing and evolving the concept. What we've come up with is a kit that has four different components."Designed by Conocraft, McAfee, N.J., the P-O-P elements include a three-dimensional header, brand designators, shelf talkers and channel strips. Three different themes will be made available to retailers: Snack Adventure, Snack Universe and Snack Wave. Each theme has a different marketing strategy, aimed either toward kids, families, or the brand equity of Nabisco products."We're rolling it out at our national sales meeting as a core component of our 1999 annual program," says Crawford. "Key retailers will have the opportunity to have aisle architecture in their stores in return for what we're deeming 'breakthrough performance,'" says Crawford.Once retailers have selected a theme, they'll have the choice of whether to use the unit over the whole aisle or just the Nabisco section. After contracts are signed, FieldFlex, a Newton, N.J.-based merchandising services company, will install the necessary components.Each of the different design themes uses a similar structure to make replacing themes or individual components simple. A stanchion, made of steel with a powder-coated finish, was developed as a universal mount to accommodate different size gondolas. It clamps to the back underside of the shelving. Three channels made of extruded styrene with a powder-coated steel rib, which measure 6 feet long, then snap into the stanchion.The back channel is used for the background, while the front two channels, which are made of die-cut foamboard that has been litho mounted on both sides with 80-pound CIS, show the products and people.The signage rides in an extruded styrene track and the tracks are joined together by powder-coated steel inserts. At the front of the stanchion, where it makes contact with the background, a pull tab feature permanently attaches the foamboard background to the stanchion for added stability."You literally pop the graphic and background pieces right in there. You can just pull one graphic out of the channel and insert a new one. In the future, we're completely flexible in terms of changing it out, updating it or refreshing it," says Crawford."If you can get more people to go down the aisle, that helps the cookie/cracker category as well as whatever category is across from cookies and crackers," she says. "That could really make a difference for all the categories represented there."The company hopes to have the program operating in 5,000 stores by the end of 1999.

Nabisco Aisle Architecture Program to Increase Traffic

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