Taking One for the Team

Safeway last month began a massive Super Bowl promotion that united numerous product vendors in a store-wide event.The promotion centers on a scratch-and-win game awarding such instant-win prizes as TVs, electronic organizers and packaged foods. Shoppers receive game cards whenever they make a purchase of $25 or more. They receive additional cards when they purchase three items from a lengthy list of participating vendors that includes Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Campbell Soup Co., Kellogg Co., Kraft Foods, General Mills, Kimberly-Clark and Masterfoods USA.In addition, each game card contains an eight-digit "Lucky Number." During pre-game football shows on Jan. 8, Jan. 15 and Jan. 22 on Fox TV, a winning number awarding a $100,000 prize was announced. The promo culminates with a $250,000 prize announced during the Super Bowl pre-game show on Feb. 5. Safeway expects to distribute approximately 73 million game cards.Merchandising activity for the campaign is heavy, with multiple displays in high-traffic locations and shelf signs flagging each of the hundreds of participating products. In-store radio spots and circular features support.While the list of participating products is crowded, Safeway's event offers an opportunity for many brands to gain at least a little in-store presence in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, which for some categories has become a bona fide selling season. For others, however, it could get in the way of individual efforts. PepsiCo, Masterfoods, Campbell Soup and Kraft all are officially licensed partners of the National Football League and conduct their own Super Bowl campaigns -- which primarily are designed to generate incremental display space for their own products.PepsiCo, in particular, has leveraged its NFL sponsorship exceptionally well. The company has become the CPG equivalent of the New England Patriots by creating merchandising programs that meet the retailers' need for basket-filling promotions. (Of course, PepsiCo's portfolio of snacks and beverages, ideal for Super Bowl party planning, not to mention its unparalleled direct-store distribution network, contribute greatly to its merchandising success.)In 2005, the company gained lobby displays in 63% of U.S. supermarkets in the week before the Super Bowl, according to in-store audits conducted by Information Resources Inc.'s In-Store Solutions Group. That represents a 38% increase over the average week in 2004 and a 5% rise over the week before the 2004 game. By late December, Pepsi's 2006 program was already gaining lobby placement in some chains (see photos). But at Safeway -- which gave Pepsi and Frito-Lay products an additional three displays per store last year -- the program will take a backseat to the store-wide campaign.The need to defer to retailer activity is nothing new, but it is becoming more commonplace as chains (and supermarkets in particular) seek to establish their own unique brands. Anheuser-Busch, another CPG with strong links to professional football (although it sponsors individual teams rather than the NFL), understands this.That's why the company's annual Bud Bowl promotion includes tie-ins with a host of other party brands (see photo), providing stores with a blueprint for multi-product displays.And having to play second fiddle might not be too damaging for PepsiCo: Although its branded P-O-P materials may have been supplanted by Safeway's own, the company's products appeared to still be gaining the prime real estate in stores (see photos).

Taking One for the Team

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