FRESH FIELDS TRIES COUPON AD CAMPAIGN

AMY I. STICKEL

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Fresh Fields here is highlighting its natural foods approach with a new series of coupon offers geared to specific fresh foods departments.

Officials from Fresh Fields could not be reached for comment about the coupon campaign, but a source familiar with the chain said the campaign is being used in the Washington, Philadelphia and Chicago areas. The source could not confirm if the program is being used at a newly opened Fresh Fields unit in Greenwich, Conn.

The source added that the new promotion strategy has been successful so far. The coupons are inserted in newspaper ads. One such ad, which ran in the Chicago market, included a coupon offer for $2 off produce with any total store wide purchase of $10 or more.

That ad touted the quality and selection of the fruits and vegetables available at Fresh Fields. The ad headline read, "It's a lot easier to eat all your fruits and vegetables when there's over 200 kinds to choose from."

While acknowledging the quality of its other departments, the ad described the produce department as "our pride and joy" with a plethora of products that represent "more produce than you've probably ever seen in a supermarket before."