BANANAS ARE STICKING UP FOR MORE MILK SALES

BERKELEY, Calif. (FNS) -- Bananas may not be billboards, but they are being used to cross merchandise, co-promote and boost the total store ring in the supermarket.

placed on 100 million clusters of Dole bananas. The only variation was a shift in the color of the on-banana stickers to red from last year's black.

"Bananas are the No. 1 fresh fruit that goes with cereal. And cereal goes with milk," said Jeff Manning, executive director of the California Milk Processor Board here. The CMPB, which owns the "Got Milk?" slogan, has been licensing it to processor and producer groups in joint marketing programs. "The banana sticker is a great promotion for us, with two profit centers supporting each other at store level. It's just another reminder not to run out of milk and to use milk with foods."

From the retail standpoint, cooperative promotions can increase the value of the shopping cart, said Manning. "They can be used to sell many different products within the store by cross selling."

The CMPB has continued to promote the use of milk with foods through cooperative programs that enlist the support of manufacturers to craft a food-milk connection in the minds of consumers, he said. General Mills, Quaker, Nabisco, Nestle and Keebler are just a few of the manufacturers the CMPB has co-promoted with in the past. Dole Fresh Fruit is the only produce partner of the board.

The success for retailers is rooted in the fact that, for this promotion, customers do not go outside to obtain anything and the promotion focuses on a double sale, according to Marta Maitles, director of communication at Dole Fresh Fruit, Westlake Village, Calif.

"Bananas are not billboards," she said. "That is why the co-promotion approach was taken with the CMPB and Dole. We are not selling space on the fruit, we're promoting a double sale at retail."

Dole is expected to continue this cooperative promotional trend with its produce lines. An early November effort was mounted in cooperation with the release of a movie, "Babe in the City." A freestanding insert was dropped to kick off the event. More than 220 million stickers will be placed on Dole salad bags, bananas, raisins and juice products. Consumers can redeem four proofs of purchase for one free plush toy of Babe, the star pig in the movie. For every toy redeemed, Dole will make a $1 donation to the Reading Is Fundamental program.