Everybody Likes a Pizza Party

Its true...and Schwan Foods is counting on it driving traffic to their web promotion from retail. Using their entire portfolio of frozen pizza brands (Freschetta, Red Baron and Tony’s), they are driving traffic to pizzapartypro.com for the chance to win the “ultimate party” including a party planner, day spa treatment, party day attire, digital camera and a flat panel hdtv.

They had three placements in the frozen aisle including a floorgraphic in front of the Red Baron pizza along with a shelftalk, then further down the aisle was another shelftalk in front of the Freshetta. While the “Party Like a Pro” sweeps was carried through all, the individual placements also maintain the equity of each brand.



The site itself is really really basic; a couple party tips, sweeps info and an entry mechanism. The engagement online could have certainly been more compelling, but the traffic driving vehicles in-store showed a commitment to store as a medium. The fact that they invested in 3 placements and had absolutely no sell messaging, but instead simply used retail as a medium to drive awareness of their online promotion is impressive.

Healthy Choice - Retail to Web

Since we all sit around talking about in-store as a medium, not a sales tool, it’s nice to see it used for something other than simply trying to drive sales lift. Healthy Choice currently is running an interesting in-store drive to web promotion. The main window of the shelftalk pushes the current promotion “START MAKING CHOICES” which drives you to web to “get your personalized health and wellness tools at healthychoice.com.”

Beyond that, the outer extension is pushing other portfolio products, namely their Healthy Choice soups. Obviously their frozen offering is their marquee product… so they are harnessing their equity there to drive awareness of other extensions as well as create an online experience. This is in-store as a medium; its driving awareness as well as push to web. Oh, and to date, the website currently boasts over 35,000 people who have signed up to "START MAKING CHOICES"!

Macro Trends + In-store Trends = New Opportunity?

With our Trends and Technology conference still recent in memory, and a lot of 2006 recaps/2007 predicitions for in-store in the press, my brain spit out an interesting dicussion... Does Storytelling and the rise of digital signage in-store create a new forum for brand engagement. (Also, do shoppers want it)

"In-Store TV is Hot
Target launched "Channel Red" in its entertainment departments, Kroger discussed its "Perfect Media" plans for integrated TV-radio networks, and Meijer went live with a chain-wide network...Wal-Mart best exemplified the issues surrounding in-store media...by placing monitors in aisles and on endcaps"
- In-store Marketer 2006 trend recap...

Also, more recently it was announced...

"Two divergent players in the world of in-store advertising are teaming up for a test that would surround shoppers with an ambient, multimedia advertising and marketing experience. The test, which will rollout in a sample of supermarkets owned by The Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., will combine the place-based programming of InStore Broadcasting Network (IBN) with personalized shopping media developed by Cuesol.


During the Stop & Shop tests, IBN will deliver synchronized advertising messages via its audio and video platforms in the store, which will be combined and integrated with Cuesol's technology, a high-tech shopping cart equipped with a digital personal shopping assistant dubbed the "Shopping Buddy."
- MediaPost 2/6/07

These applications in-store allow us to provide more in depth brand experiences to shoppers. Do shoppers want them? I don't know, we'll have to ask. If we push a bunch of complicated messaging at people, I'm guessing they won't be happy. But if user initiated content can be served up to shoppers to bring them further into our brands, how valuable is that? What does this mean in a world where we have espoused the notion that we have 3 seconds to seal the deal or shoppers will be lost.

Anytime we have a challenge to our conventional thinking, I smell opportunity. It may be an opportunity to fall flat on our faces, but opportunty none the less.

Storytelling: Consumers want to hear our story and share their own...
Technology: Shoppers can have an interactive, audio visual in-store experience...
The intersection of these two concepts has to mean something. I'm curious to see what.