Platform Review: Safeway's '10% Goes Back to Schools'

Safeway's evergreen "10% Goes Back to Schools" platform unites a stable of leading product manufacturers for periodic fundraising programs supported by multichannel promotional activity.The company-wide effort lets loyalty cardholders earmark 10% of the purchase price of thousands of participating items to a registered school of their choice. The 100 highest-earning schools typically also get an extra $1,000 each. Growing in size since the platform's inception, activations recently boasted more than 100 CPG partners – which donate the 10% – and more than 3,000 participating items. Safeway's private-label products are also involved.Shopper Marketing's 2012 Trends survey found the high-profile effort enjoying generally positive reviews. The 31.3% of respondents who perceived it as providing a high ROI placed "10% Goes Back" in the top quarter of a sample of marketing platforms, programs and seasonal events at 12 key retailers. Among the rest of respondents, the majority (59.4%) gave it an average ROI and approximately one-tenth (9.3%) felt it provided none.Based on the number of respondents citing high ROI, "10% Goes Back" topped Safeway's two other efforts included in the survey. The company's "Together for a Cure" breast-cancer awareness program had just 4.8% giving it a high ROI and the personalized loyalty program "Just for U" landed slightly above that at 7.7%. The former did receive the least negative votes, however, with only 4.7% claiming it provided no ROI; the latter is still at its infancy, just now rolling out to all of Safeway's chains.The longstanding "10% Goes Back," meanwhile, is well-established. Launched in 2005, the platform has raised more than $20 million for schools and education projects to sustain important programs, purchase equipment and recognize excellence in classrooms, according to a media release from The Safeway Foundation. Typically headlining the company's yearly back-to-school activity, the platform enjoyed an additional winter flight in January 2011 in response to unprecedented budget cuts and increasing class sizes, the company stated.Based on shopper participation, the platform can provide a significant funding source for schools. During the 2010 campaign, nearly 600 schools and programs earned more than $1,000; a Santa Cruz, Calif., middle school received nearly $17,000; and a youth music program and high school in Anchorage, Alaska, each earned more than $24,000, the company said.To participate, shoppers choose a school from a list on the platform's website and register their store loyalty card, thereby receiving a running total of their gains on checkout receipts along with a redemption code they submit online at the end of the promotion to make their contribution. They can also give their receipts directly to their selected school. Shoppers who are registered members of eScrip – the online fundraising service that handles the platform – are able to transfer the funds automatically.In-store stanchion signs, pole toppers, aisle violators and endcap headers typically promote the platform while it is active, and school-bus price labels identify participating SKUs at the shelf. Additional marketing support comes from circular features, regional radio spots, home-page carousel ads and posts on Safeway's official blog as well as various "mommy blogs."General Mills, Kraft Foods, Hershey Co., ConAgra Foods, Procter & Gamble, Sara Lee Corp., Kellogg Co., Campbell Soup Co., Unilever, PepsiCo, Colgate-Palmolive Co., Coca-Cola Co., Nestlé, Kimberly-Clark and Newell Rubbermaid are among the long list of participating manufacturers. Some of the CPGs provide additional marketing collateral that has included custom pallet displays, cooler clings and co-equity FSIs.The strongest support comes from General Mills, which doubles the platform's cause power by aligning it with its own "Box Tops for Education" program as "2 Ways 2 Earn Cash for Your School." Regional TV spots, circular features and custom pallet displays, cooler clings and shelf wobblers have supported the co-promotion, which generally includes additional purchase incentives and a Safeway-specific sweepstakes component.Recent flights have also plugged a new "eBoxTops" element that lets Safeway loyalty cardholders earn bonus Box Tops through their online accounts. Custom pallets from Mills, meanwhile, have sported QR codes linking to the co-promotion's website.Perhaps one of the reasons it has such staying power is that the main "10% Goes Back" platform also incorporates its own new digital elements. The latest flight featured a Facebook applet that had fans pledging to shop at the supermarket operator's chains to help local schools. Those who electronically signed the pledge were rewarded with a coupon for 25 cents off ConAgra's Chef Boyardee canned pasta.

Platform Review: Safeway's '10% Goes Back to Schools'

P2PI MEMBERS

JOIN P2PI

Related Images

Business Topic

Company

Market Segment