LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Mass Connections and In-Store Broadcasting Network said they're planning a nationwide rollout of a program that combines point-of-sale audio announcements with in-store sampling after a successful test in the Midwest.
Mass Connections is an in-store marketing and promotions company based in Cerritos, Calif. IBN, Salt Lake City, provides music, content and advertising to grocery and drug stores.
Starting in April, 13,000 stores, most of them grocery, will broadcast audio announcements of in-store samplings when Mass Connections conducts them for consumer packaged goods companies, a company spokesman said.
The test took place at 100 Albertsons and Jewel stores in Chicago and Milwaukee in late January. It involved Hills Bros. flavored coffees.
During the test, product sales more than doubled in stores with sampling and no audio support, and almost tripled at stores with sampling and audio support, said Rob Wolf, director of marketing research and agency relations, IBN. He spoke at the recent ninth annual Elite Team Conference here sponsored by Mass Connections.
Wolf said the test stores were divided into four groups: a control group with no in-store promotions; a group with in-store audio announcements about the product but no sampling; stores where samples were offered but with no in-store audio support; and a group that combined sampling with audio announcements and a cents-off coupon offer.
Sales during the test were compared with movement for the three weeks prior to the test, he said.
The in-store announcements were designed for listeners at the point of sale: They mentioned the specific brand, the product's benefits, tied the product's desirability to the cold weather, and said the product was available and being sampled at the store.
