Bi-Lo Revitalizes Brand With New Campaign

GEORGE ELLIS

MAULDIN, S.C. — Bi-Lo here is kicking off a marketing effort to polish its brand image throughout its Southeastern market area. Conceived and executed in partnership with the chain's new agency-of-record, Erwin-Penland, Greenville, S.C., the campaign rolled out on television and in outdoor media last month.

Bi-Lo is a longtime regional banner that prides itself not only on low prices, but also on its history of community involvement. It's these values and others that the company seeks to reinforce with consumers — and store associates — via the new campaign, which Bi-Lo's executive vice president of sales and marketing, Tye Anthony, described as a brand “revitalization.”

“Bi-Lo's had a strong brand recognition in this marketplace for 45 years,” he told SN. “That's worth leveraging. Bi-Lo was on the forefront of the value proposition and brand image way before Wal-Mart got here. Our aim is to revitalize not just the value piece as it relates to price, but customers today are expecting a lot more than just price.”

Part of the revitalization is to raise a rallying point for the chain's 16,000-plus associates, who staff 225 Bi-Lo and Super Bi-Lo stores.

“We have a lot of people who have been with the company for a lot of years, and they want to have a sense of pride,” Anthony said. “That can turn the tide of a company.”

Anthony said the campaign emphasizes four “cornerstones” the company believes the brand stands for: “First and foremost, the value proposition; second, the right product offerings in the right stores; the third is the customer-service aspect; and the fourth is our community involvement. Bi-Lo has long been known in the marketplace for giving back to the community.”

Among its community-oriented activities, Bi-Lo has for 24 years sponsored the Charity Classic golf tournament, which raised more than $5.5 million this year.

When Bi-Lo and Erwin-Penland sat down earlier this year to plan the revitalization campaign, one of the key assets they identified was the chain's reputation for quality produce, personified for years by “Walter,” the chain's “picky produce expert.”

“We've got a significant amount of equity in the produce arena today,” Anthony said. “Walter's been the fictitious figurehead for that for a good number of years. We started reviving him three years ago, and the produce business has just been growing ever since. Now we're working on how we can leverage that across the whole store.”

Anthony noted that significant demographic changes are occurring in Bi-Lo's market area — particularly an ongoing population influx, including many retirees. “I think that's going to create huge opportunities for people and brands doing the right thing in this marketplace'” he said. “We're very centered around the Southeast and our core markets, and there's going to be a significant amount of growth in these markets for years to come.”

The chief impetus behind the campaign, said Roger Beasley, vice president and director of strategic planning at Erwin-Penland, was that with the new brands that had come into Bi-Lo's market in recent years, many consumers “weren't clear what we were offering anymore. What we were asked to do was look at ways we could find a meaningful position in the marketplace that was really born out of the core of who Bi-Lo was — to bring back the essence of that brand and what it meant within the communities it operated in.

“One thing that stood clear was our legacy in Walter's produce. That got us looking more in the perimeter of the store as well as in the core of the store — that a lot of the elements that Bi-Lo delivers for Walter, they also do it in other areas of the store. They'd just never gotten credit for it.”

Highlighted areas in the campaign include the store's certified Angus beef selection, the freshness of the bakery, the popular floral section and the chain's Southern Home brand.

Bi-Lo's TV spot follows a shopper and her child as they go through the store, “taking the values of Walter and displaying them throughout the store,” Beasley said. Then, at checkout, the shopper finds she's bought $100 worth of groceries for $85.

“Value for today's customer is a combination of several different things, and price is only one of those for our customer,” Beasley emphasized. “For Wal-Mart, it may be price. For us, there's more of a balance between quality, service, accountability, connection with my community — and price. We want to make sure all those things are being very visible to our customer and delivered by our employees.”

Anthony declined to specify the cost of the branding campaign, though he said that “keeping your brand fresh and giving a place for 16,000 teammates to have a rally cry — it's a worthwhile investment.”