NEW YORK - Foregoing traditional newspaper ads and circulars, Save-A-Lot supermarket has drummed up community good will and great PR by giving away free groceries delivered to prospective customers' homes, reports Advertising Age.
The test case in Opelousas, Louisiana, a small town an hour west of Baton Rouge, played out with the supermarket retailer delivering a free bag of groceries--unannounced--to roughly 1,000 homes within a one-and-a-half mile area surrounding the store.
Match Kotcher, director of brand marketing and design for Save-A-Lot, said the company wanted to try something new to engage the community.
"We're always looking for new ways to break through," Kotcher said. "A lot of grocery advertising today is people saying 'Our prices are the lowest, our prices are the lowest.' Well, we believe in proof points and what better way than to take it right to [the customer's] front door?"
Each bag was filled with up to $20 in groceries, mainly household staples as well as Save-A-Lot's private brands. And the promotion has generated far more value than would have been possible with a traditional ad spend.
"It's been tremendously successful," Kotcher said. "We're not a huge retailer; we prefer to put all the savings into a product. So we wanted to think of something that was nontraditional but resonated on an emotional level. A lot of grocery companies do sampling, but it's in-store. What's easier than coming home to a bagful of groceries?"