KING SOOPERS, DIET PEPSI CROWN A PROMOTION

RICHARD TURCSIK

DENVER -- King Soopers here increased its sales of Diet Pepsi by teaming with Pepsi-Cola in a joint promotion that offered shoppers a chance to win a nostalgic Diet Pepsi cooler.

The promotion ran throughout April into the first week of May. During the campaign, 12-packs of Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Hawaiian Punch, Lipton iced tea, Mug root beer, Dr Pepper, Josta and Country Time lemonade drink were featured for $2.99. The promotion was advertised in the weekly circular, and valid in King Sooper's 62 stores in the Denver, Boulder, Longmont, Loveland, Fort Collins and Greeley areas.

Officials at King Soopers, a division of Kroger Co., Cincinnati, did not return telephone calls seeking comment. However, Larry Jabbonsky, a spokesman at Somers, N.Y.-based Pepsi-Cola Co., said one cold barrel cooler in the shape of a Diet Pepsi machine was given away at each King Soopers store. Entries were made at the store, and a purchase was not required.

"We merchandised the Diet Pepsi Cooler with 12-pack endcap displays of Diet Pepsi. We sampled the 16-ounce Diet Pepsi bottles by selling them in the cold barrel coolers for 25 cents a bottle," Jabbonsky told SN.

Jabbonsky said the account-specific promotion was conducted at King Soopers to coincide with the relaunch of the Diet Pepsi product, which includes new packaging and a new advertising campaign.

"We would classify the promotion as a success in that it achieved what it intended to do, which was really to encourage a lot of sampling of Diet Pepsi. We realized some great volume compared with our King Soopers figures from the previous year," he said.