The video seal of approval program from the nonprofit Dove Foundation, Grand Rapids, Mich., is gaining many adherents in the supermarket trade. This was the first year that all three retailers on the SN video roundtable panel were either testing or using the program. The Dove Foundation gives its Dove Seal to movies that meet its criteria for family-oriented content.
Nash Finch Co., Minneapolis, plans to roll the program out to all its corporate stores during 1995, said Clifford Feiock, video coordinator. While it is difficult to measure the success of the program, the Dove Seal provides customers with more information about the videos they are interested in renting, he said. It also helps the retailer avoid problems with customers who find certain titles unsuitable for their young children.
"If the parents want something for the entire family to watch, they can pick one of the Dove titles and be assured they're not going to experience those problems," said Feiock. Bashas' Markets, Chandler, Ariz., started testing the Dove program in three stores last year, said Bill Glaseman, video specialist. "We felt that since supermarkets are so family-oriented, it was not a bad idea to see if it would help our image," he said. Here is what the roundtable panelists had to say about the Dove Seal program:
SN: The seal of approval program from the Dove Foundation seems to be gaining momentum among supermarkets. What do the retailers here think of this?
GLASEMAN: We have three stores on the Dove program that started about the middle of last year. I can't measure the success of the program. I've heard no comments, pro or con, and there's been no noticeable increase or decrease in business.
FEIOCK: We will be putting the Dove program into all of our corporate stores in 1995. We made our first steps toward that just recently.
SN: Why are you doing that?
FEIOCK: I have been on the negative side of this for a long time. We had done some tests, and I was looking for a way to show how it helped us on the bottom line, but I'm not sure that's really possible. It depends on how you want your customers to see you and if you want to be seen as having a family rental-type atmosphere. The Dove Foundation can certainly help you do that.
FRENCH: We've just started testing it in one store. At this point, I can't really tell how it is going to do.
JONES: We have some 400 retailers. We discussed this at some length with them and we got a fair amount of negative feedback from our retailers.
