IMAGE COUNTS

David Merrefield

Image isn't everything, but it counts for a lot. That was the subject of a talk given by Harold C. Lloyd during last week's Food Marketing Institute convention. The talk was actually a full-scale "big room" presentation at the huge Arie Crown Theatre at McCormick Place in Chicago. Hundreds attended.

Harold Lloyd's point was that a number of little things can conspire to weigh heavily in the image a store project. These little things are sometimes deceptively simple. They include considerations such as the appearance of a store's parking lot, the organization of a store's entranceway and the weeding out of annoying and untenable rules. These observations on image are true enough, but Harold Lloyd, principal at H. Lloyd & Associates, Virginia Beach, Va., made his point about image in ways few speakers would be secure enough to attempt. Here's how it went: After being introduced by Mark C. Hollis, president and chief operating officer of Publix Super Markets, Lakeland, Fla., Lloyd strode on stage with a length of toilet tissue stuck to his shoe. He appeared to notice the offending paper as he entered the stage, then stooped to pull it off and toss it into the wings.

Later, as his talk proceeded, he seemed surprised when one of his slides was projected backwards. Of course, these faux pas were plants. He came clean toward the end of his talk and confessed that the goofs were intended to drive home the importance of making a good initial impression as a means toward capturing a favorable image. By the way, he also pointed out that printed materials handed out prior to the meeting were copyrighted in 1989, another backspun attempt at showing the importance of maintaining a good image. In a more practical vein, of the several tips he gave the audience about improving store image, the one I liked the best had to do with the express lane. He pointed out that setting strict limits on the number of items that can go through the express lane does little more than set up confrontations between checkout personnel and customers. So, he said, why not hang express-lane signs reading "limit of about 10 items"? That's far more graceful that attempting to enforce an immutable "10 or fewer" limit. After all, it's the "about 10" concept that's really followed by shoppers and enforced by store management. In a different way, I think the image of trade associations was enhanced to some degree with the agreement made last week during the Chicago convention between the National Grocers Association and FMI. As the news article on Page 4 explains, the two groups agreed to tether the timing and venue of the FMI MarkeTechnics and annual NGA convention so attendees to one show will be positioned to attend the other. (SN reported in a Page 1 article in the issue of March 13 that this joint-show concept was under discussion.)

The first back-to-back events are set for February 1997 in Houston. This agreement may not look like much, but it represents the first time two mainline food-trade associations have been able to agree on a significant strategy intended to save members of both organizations time, money and energy. Over the years, many joint endeavors of this type -- and even merger proposals between various parties -- have been discussed. Some were publicly announced, some weren't, but all consequential deals of the sort have withered on the vine previously.

So maybe this modest agreement represents the beginning of a spirit of collaboration between trade associations that will result in more efficient use of resources by members who attend these shows. That's a development that would be of big value to members.

In any case, the new accord should burnish the image of the trade associations. As we've seen, image counts.