Meijer Has a Digital Holiday

Meijer employed a multifaceted holiday campaign with a heavy emphasis on digital promotion. The Midwestern chain conducted a holiday "sneak peek" program for its email subscribers, Twitter followers and Facebook fans in anticipation of Black Friday. The ad previews, available throughout the season on a dedicated website, sent periodic alerts about weekly sales and special offers -- such as "Super Sales" and toy and home guides -- several days in advance.The program also tipped off customers about temporary price reductions on store gift cards and various products from private-label and national brands, the latter including Kraft Foods' Oscar Mayer and Miracle Whip, Tyson Foods, Procter & Gamble's Crest, L'Oreal USA's Maybelline and Alberto Culver's VO5. Circular features supported.The previews also included in-store offers associated with Meijer's reprisal of the "Santa Bucks" coupon program it staged last year. (See "Meijer Field Report: Jan. 18, 2010" in Related Articles.) In a Dec. 17 email, the mass merchant dangled six "Santa Bucks" delivering up to $20 on purchases of $99.97 or higher vaild from Dec. 19-21. On Dec. 4, it offered eight Santa Bucks providing discounts of up to $30 on receipts of $149.97 or more from Dec 6-8. Stand-alone newspaper inserts and TV spots supported. In store, the Santa Bucks were affixed to qualifying products.Elsewhere, Meijer deployed a "Deck Your Halls" holiday slogan on ceiling signs, shelf signs and display headers to denote the season. The mass merchant also placed holiday-themed displays from manufacturers including Nestlé, Ferrero USA's Kinder, Energizer Holdings, Hershey Co. and American Greetings along with displays for generic holiday merchandise to enhance the festive atmosphere.The mass merchant also staged multiple holiday-themed sweepstakes as part of a broader digital program. Running on Facebook from Nov. 14 through Dec. 24, the "Mr. Gifter Holiday" sweeps (see video below) required consumers to "like" the chain to become eligible to win one daily prize, such as a Nintendo Wii starter kit, Fisher-Price dollhouse from Mattel Inc., T-Fal cookware set from Groupe SEB, Lego Star Wars set from Lego Group, Apple iPod Touch and Keurig Inc. coffee brewer. Meijer teased the sweeps through online circulars and Twitter tweets.Meanwhile, a "Holiday Dash" sweeps running Nov. 6 through Dec. 16 sent consumers to a microsite to compete for daily prizes and be entered into six weekly grand-prize sweeps. Grand-prize winners received such items as a DXG USA camcorder, Garmin Nuvi GPS and Coleman Co. Road Trip grill. Daily winners received Meijer gift cards in denominations up to $50. Meijer featured the sweeps prominently on its website and Twitter feeds.In other recent digital activity:Meijer reprised its "Elf's Daily Steal" campaign by notifying email subscribers of daily 24-hour online discounts. (See "Meijer Heads Home.") Featured items -- sweetened with free shipping -- included a Philips Electronics' DVD player, Polaroid digital camera and Logitech wireless keyboard.Email subscribers also received such exclusive offers as free shipping, 10% off total purchases and $20 store cards with $100 receipts in November and December.The retailer also put a holiday spin on its ongoing "Price Drop" program, offering discounts on roughly 350 toys, according to a media release. Among the featured brands were Mattel Inc.'s Hot Wheels and licensed Toy Story 3 products, Hasbro's Nerf and Transformers, and Ganz's Webkinz.In seasonal cause marketing activity, Meijer staged the latest flight of its "Simply Give" program by collecting food-pantry donations at checkout from Nov. 7 through Jan. 1, 2011. The mass merchant pledged to match shopper donations up to $100,000. Stanchion signs and circular features supported.Meijer also adopted the holiday theme for its ongoing Mealbox program (see "Meijer Stays Active"), focusing meal ideas and deals on "holiday entertaining with style and simplicity" and "no-fuss treats." Circular features supported. The chain also distributed a Taste of the Holidays recipe booklet in stores and online containing recipes and deals valid Nov. 7 through Jan. 1 on private-label cheese, meat, pre-made meals, bakery items and produce. In other circular activity, Meijer:dangled $5 off a future receipt with purchase of $35 worth of Nestlé's Purina or Tidy Cat from Dec. 12-22. (The mass merchant also gave away free pet calendars in stores on Dec. 18.)encouraged shoppers to seek out NuVal nutritional scores on shelf tags to find healthier ingredients for holiday recipes in a Dec. 16 feature.used a "One roof. Many, many ways to save" slogan for deals on packaged food and confectionery for holiday entertaining, including $3 off a future receipt with purchase of four SKUs from Kraft Foods' Maxwell House and a "buy two, get three free" offer on Mars Inc.'s M&M's or Snickers.plugged Smartbox as a "great gift idea," directing shoppers to in-store displays for more information. The themed gift boxes carry detailed guidebooks with various options for pre-paid activities. (See "Borders Gets a Smartbox.")

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