Safeway bundles up with packaged goods brands to set the pace for in-store activity recognizing March as Frozen Food Month.Leveraging the annual campaign from the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA), Safeway's "Chills & Thrills" promotion delivers two free movie tickets with purchase of $30 in participating frozen food products. Participants include more than 1,000 SKUs from the chain's private labels and national CPGs, including ConAgra Foods, General Mills, Kellogg Co., Kraft Foods, Nestle, Sara Lee, Schwan Food Co. and Unilever. Aisle violators, stanchion signs and headers atop cooler displays communicate the promotion, while shelf tags designate participating items. The promotion runs in two consecutive windows from Feb. 27 to April 1.The NFRA kicked off Frozen Food Month with a co-op event in Feb. 24 FSIs featuring product shots from the 25 CPG sponsors and coupons from smaller vendors. (See Related Articles.) While recent NFRA campaigns have opportunistically tied into the concurrent release of cold-themed family DVDs (see Related Articles), the 2008 flight emphasizes quick and easy family meals and centers on an "Easy Home Meals" sweepstakes awarding $10,000 in Best Buy gift cards to upgrade kitchen appliances. Elsewhere, supermarkets and mass merchants recognize the month with sales and account-specific rebates supported by P-O-P displays. Activity includes:Meijer and the NFRA co-host a sweeps awarding a grand-prize trip to Orlando and store gift cards of $1,200 (10), $500 (5) and $250 (5) for the purchase of frozen food. Shoppers enter at contest stands in stores from Feb. 24 to March 29. A&P's Frozen Food Sale dangles a $10 savings with purchase of $75 in related items from Feb. 20 to March 27. Ahold USA's Giant-Carlisle features frozen food sales in weekly circulars, along with rebates on national brands. From March 9-15, the chain dangles $5 or $10 off a respective frozen food purchase of $20 or $30.Supervalu's Jewel-Osco got its traditional head start on the March event by introducing a month-long "Frozen Food Sale" with a stand-alone circular distributed on Feb. 10. The chain offered $150 in frozen food coupons to shoppers who bought a $150 Igloo freezer Feb. 10-11. Stores communicate price promotions with ceiling banners and freezer clings. Meanwhile, sister chains Acme, Albertsons, Shaw's and Cub Foods award a $5 coupon with purchase of $15 in frozen foods. Acme donates 10 cents from every frozen food purchase to local food banks. Shaw's and Albertsons add similar sweeps awarding 10 side-by-side refrigerator/freezer combos and 25 freezers stocked with frozen food, respectively, as well as $100 gift cards; shoppers are automatically entered with purchase of six frozen items at Shaw's and one frozen item at Albertsons. The NFRA also enlists retailer and vendor partners for frozen food and dairy campaigns in October, June and July.