PIGGLY WIGGLY TV AD HITS DOWN HOME

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- "Piggly Wiggly -- Down Home, Down the Street" will be the theme of Piggly Wiggly Corp.'s first-ever TV advertising campaign.

. The three 30-second spots will run on the Family Channel, Lifetime, The Nashville Network and TBS.

Complementing the TV campaign will be in-store merchandising, local store marketing and public relations initiatives, said Larry Wright, president of Piggly Wiggly.

Wright unveiled details of the $1.5-million ad campaign in a speech to the National Piggly Wiggly Operators Association in Nashville earlier this month. Prior to the speech he told SN, "This is not an overhaul of Piggly Wiggly, but more of a renewal of what we've stood for the last 81 years and a way of saying there is still power in the Piggly Wiggly franchise.

"We're already well-known in the markets we're in -- our task now is to revitalize our image."

Wright said the TV spots will feature a representative talking about Piggly Wiggly's heritage and the convenient shopping experience its stores offer -- two of the franchise's perceived strengths as determined by consumer research.

"Almost universally, consumers believe grocery shopping is a hassle," Wright told the convention. "But in our research, consumers told us Piggly Wiggly takes the hassle out of shopping because we're convenient and friendly.

"There is a place in people's lives for a traditional supermarket, one that is friendly and convenient like Piggly Wiggly. Superstores have made shopping impersonal. It's time to make the neighborhood store mean something again."