Kroger Stays on the Daytona 'Fast Track'

Kroger made sure the company-wide execution of its Daytona 500 sponsorship was again worthy of its industry reputation this year.To activate its status as exclusive retail sponsor of NASCAR's season-opening Sprint Cup Series race, the supermarket operator again enlisted dozens of product manufacturers to provide customized packaging and displays — although this year's program centered on digital coupons rather than a conventional stock-up sale. (See "Kroger Packages ..." in Related Articles.)The retailer offered store loyalty cardholders coupons that could be loaded onto their cards from Feb. 13-26. (The race was held on Feb. 24.) Participating products encompassed private-label SKUs and roughly 70 national brands spanning the grocery, dairy, frozen, household, personal care, OTC, meat and pet categories. Each coupon could be used up to five times in a single transaction and reloaded during the promotion's last seven days.Price signs on shelves identified the brands offering coupons, which came from about two-dozen participating manufacturers including General Mills, Kellogg Co., Kraft Foods Group, Unilever, SC Johnson, Kimberly-Clark and Nestlé. (See "Kroger 'Fast Track to Savings' Shopping List" in Related Images for the complete list.)Home page carousel ads on each Kroger chain's website linked to a single microsite (kroger.com/daytona) with a landing page customized for each banner. Shoppers visited the microsite to download the coupons and a full "Shopping List" of eligible products available in both English and Spanish. (You Technology, San Francisco, handled.) Dedicated emails and Facebook updates also linked to the microsite.Front-page and interior circular features running Feb. 13-24 (depending on the chain) spotlighted the digital coupons available for private-label products and dozens of brands such as Mars Inc.'s M&M's, Mills' Pillsbury, Nestlé's Totinos, Kraft's Capri-Sun, Coca-Cola Co.'s Minute Maid, Kellogg's Pop-Tarts and Nutri-Grain, Reynolds Consumer Products' Hefty and Reynolds, and Unilever's Degree. The features contained QR codes linking to the microsite; digital versions linked directly.The program's always massive in-store execution this year included stanchion signs, signs on circular racks and standees carrying QR codes linking to the microsite. The stanchion signs also stocked take-ones listing the participating items. Headers on numerous endcaps stocking the products carried the "Fast Track to Savings" slogan that Kroger employed during the 2012 campaign. (See "Kroger Hits Daytona Hard.")As usual, K-C, Kraft, Kellogg, PepsiCo and most other manufacturer partners supplied custom packaging and displays sporting the official Daytona 500 logo, with many leveraging their own NASCAR sponsorships as well. Prominent placement also was given to national NASCAR-themed displays from partners such as Mondelez International's Nabisco.Many of the account-specific displays directed shoppers to Kroger's year-round Daytona 500 website (racefans.daytona500.com), which employed a countdown clock sponsored by Coca-Cola leading up to the race (that was immediately reset for the 2014 event when the race ended). The website continues to offer recipes provided by Mills, Kraft and Unilever, racing and trivia games, and a full-season NASCAR schedule. Its home page also carries a link to coupons on Mills' everydaysaver.com website and an alternating "Featured Product" of participating SKUs.In addition to sponsoring the race and its qualifying event one day earlier (held to determine driver pole positions), Kroger again joined with JTG Daugherty Racing this year to sponsor driver Bobby Labonte's No. 47 car (whose other sponsors include Clorox Co. and K-C's Scott). The car's paint scheme again carried the logo of the USO (United Service Organizations) as part of Kroger's annual "Honoring or Heroes" fundraising initiative. (See "Kroger Waves USO Flag.")Media support for the overall campaign included TV spots in major markets starring Labonte or fellow driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who was brought to Kroger by Unilever. (The manufacturer's Hellmann's brand sponsors the JR Motorsports No. 88 car Earnhardt drives in NASCAR's Nationwide Series.) The two drivers were also used for radio spots. Display ads on the websites of regional newspapers and run-of-press ads rounded out the schedule.

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