Eyes in the Aisles: Albertsons Monopoly

The world we lived in when Boise, ID-based grocery giant Albertsons Cos. kicked off its evergreen Monopoly program on Feb. 5 looked very different from the one we found ourselves in on May 5, the final day of the collect-and-win game’s promotional period. This Store Spotlight takes you through the aisles of a few Albertsons-owned stores across the country, highlighting some of this year’s main CPG partners and P-O-P materials, what was new and what part the coronavirus ultimately played.Albertsons operates more than 2,200 supermarkets under 20 banners – including Vons, Jewel-Osco, Safeway, Acme and its namesake – across 34 states and Washington, D.C. Monopoly is one of retailer’s biggest, most engaging events of the year, intended to create a holiday where one doesn’t already exist while driving sales.This year's Monopoly prize pool was valued at $250 million and included two $100,000 boats or cash prizes, 20 $5,000 vacations and one $1 million instant-win game ticket (new this year). As usual, tickets were doled out for in-store purchases of specially tagged products from participating manufacturers at checkout. Each ticket contained two markers (i.e. properties) for the physical game board, plus either a discount coupon, instant-win prize, coupon for two free game tickets or a “Shop, Play, Win!” digital code. Albertsons again delivered total shopper awareness with in-store support including account-specific displays in addition to its own custom P-O-P materials. Though the activation varied across stores, some sort of Monopoly spectacular greeted shoppers near all entrances. An Albertsons in Orange County, CA, employed a cluster of custom floorstands resembling classic Monopoly property pieces from Campbell Soup Co. snack brands paired with case stacks of Nestle’s Perrier outfitted with game-themed price headers in its entryway.This year, Albertsons also included more fresh goods in the game, such as select meats from a butcher’s block and baked goods from the bakery. Near the bakery section, some stores deployed an account-specific table display merchandising packages of Little Bites, Thomas’ and Entenmann’s from Bimbo Bakeries.Account-specific floorstands and aisle displays from CPG partners were plentiful. Floorstands from PepsiCo/Frito-Lay beverage brands including bubly, Mtn Dew and Bolt 24 were positioned in or at the end of aisles, including next to a permanent PepsiCo endcap at a Shaw’s in Bangor, ME.Other key CPG partners included Coca-Cola Co., Kraft Heinz, Mondelez International as well as Talking Rain’s Sparkling Ice, a frequent collaborator that enjoyed secondary merchandising space for individual SKUs in larges dump bins outfitted in account-specific Monopoly signage and positioned along the backend of the store. Sparkling Ice packages were also stocked on a shelf under the dump bin.Mondelez International’s Nabisco tied in a deal, deploying floorstands near the snack aisle communicating a special bonus ticket incentive with purchase of three select SKUs.Keurig Dr Pepper’s Bai beverage brand also added a promotional twist, affixing tear-off manufacturer coupons worth 50 cents off a bottle to a Monopoly floorstand stocking individual flavors.Near checkout and exits, some stores assembled table displays stacking game boards for shoppers to take on their way out while showcasing a number of participating SKUs including Kimberly-Clark’s Viva toilet paper, an item that would soon fly off the shelves.Other in-store support spanned updated standees resembling Mr. Monopoly that also doled out game boards near store fronts, multiple themed ceiling signs hanging throughout stores, a multi-brand floorstand stocking personal care and OTC SKUs in the pharmacy department, American Greetings shelf talkers in the card aisle dangling bonus tickets, violators and various other displays and signage.Albertsons also again partnered with Little Rock, AR-based Vestcom, which provides customized shelf-edge execution, for thousands of shelf tags per store highlighting participating items for the program's duration. However, this year, many of the shelf tags were disregarded due to a high volume of inventory issues. Tags for Mars’ Uncle Ben’s rice SKUs, which were bonus ticket items, however, were spotted near empty shelf trays at a Jewel-Osco in Chicago in March.In 2019, Albertsons said it deployed more than 1 million displays into stores over the campaign's 13 weeks, and distributed brand images across 30 million game boards and 1.2 billion game tickets. More than 32 million weekly shoppers and some 280,000 employees typically play the game (in normal times) — with a 76% participation rate at launch and a 63% maintained engagement rate — and the program has brought in a 7% sales increase year-over-year on participating items.This year, P-O-P materials didn’t matter as much because product was flying off the shelves either way in March and April as panicked shoppers rushed grocers nationwide to stockpile goods. However, the game still ran through May 5. Monopoly's evolution over the years has made the game more digital-friendly, particularly in terms of marketing including mobile app display ads, email ads, chain website ads, Just For U integrated deals and sponsored social media ads. The game also boasts a standalone app and microsite. One shortcoming that became very apparent this year is shoppers still could not receive game tickets from digital orders for delivery or store pickup. However, as the retailer plans to add 1,000 Drive Up & Go locations by the end of the year (for a total of 1,600) and expand its home delivery reach, it may consider integrating Monopoly into e-commerce orders next year.View more Monopoly photos from this year and prior years here.

P2PI MEMBERS

JOIN P2PI

You May Also Like

Europe Leads Rising Electronic Shelf Label Adoption, Report Finds

Stanley Starts the New Year With Target Exclusives