ATLANTA -- Eyeing holiday season festivities, Kroger's Atlanta division cross-merchandised a six grocery items in an ad promoting Chex Party Mix.
Pictured in the ad next to a bowl of the snack mix were Rice and Corn Chex cereal, Planters dry-roasted peanuts, Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce, Lawry's seasoned salt, McIlhenny Co. Tabasco sauce and Glad-Lock Zipper plastic storage bags. All were offered at discounted prices.
The top of the ad said, "Holiday Party Chex Mix." A box in the bottom right corner of the ad contained the Original Chex Party Mix recipe, which listed the ingredients and microwave cooking instructions and suggested Glad-Lock bags for storing the mix.
An Atlanta-division official for Cincinnati-based Kroger Co. declined to comment on the promotion.
However, an Atlanta-area observer said a number of Kroger stores grouped the advertised items in a shelved end display. "Some stores did and some stores didn't," he explained. "[There was] a little bit of a situation because, for example, the cereal, Tabasco and Glad products are in the grocery department and the nuts are in [another] department. But it worked out very effectively for everybody." Stores not employing endcaps used shelf tags or signs to list discounts on the featured products, he said.
Store sampling was conducted as well, he noted. "Chex had a number of demos where they put all those products on the same table, passed out coupons, etc."
Brokers helped Kroger and the products' suppliers coordinate the promotion, the observer reported. "It was four manufacturers that tied in together in a national promotion: Chex' Ralston-Purina, which was the spearhead, McIlhenny with Tabasco and Glad with the ziploc bag," he said. In the Atlanta market, other supermarket chains participating in the Chex Party Mix promotion, including in-store demonstrations, were A&P, Montvale, N.J.; Cub Foods, Stillwater, Minn.; and Winn-Dixie Stores, Jacksonville, Fla., the observer added. "It's a good promotion. It's worked very well," he said.
