OSHAWA PROMOTES BANNER, PRICING CHANGES

RUSSELL REDMAN

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario -- Oshawa Foods here has kicked off an advertising campaign to herald the conversion of its Food City and Dutch Boy supermarkets in Ontario to the IGA banner and to promote a new pricing strategy at the stores.

The provincewide media attack involves print, radio and television ads. The TV commercials began airing last week and were preceded by the launch of the radio and print effort, which plugged the name change.

Oshawa Foods, a division of wholesaler Oshawa Group, Etobicoke, Ontario, switched the store banners at the end of last month. The 28 Food City units now operate under the IGA name, while the Dutch Boy stores, a larger-sized format in southwestern Ontario offering more general merchandise, adopted the dual banner Dutch Boy/IGA.

"It's a local, well-respected food store that's been long associated with Kitchener [Ontario], so we decided to keep the Dutch Boy name on the stores," said Tim Carter, vice president of public affairs at Oshawa, which supplies Ontario's 182 IGAs.

The TV spots end a three-year absence of television advertising in Ontario by IGA, according to Impact/FCB, the Toronto-based advertising agency handling the IGA campaign. The TV effort focuses on IGA's weekly price specials and guaranteed low prices under the promotional theme "IGA, the new way to shop. Guaranteed."

"For television, there are 30-second spots, with two spots per week," said Nicol Kalman, Impact's account manager for Oshawa Foods. "They run for one week, and then two new spots start up for the second week. That will go on for eight weeks, so in total there are 16 spots. There are [price] specials on each spot that are only valid for one week."

The TV commercials feature a game-show concept in which viewers are asked to guess what items will have price reductions for the week. For instance, an announcer says, "This week's special at IGA features something that is cold. Is it Antarctica or Sealtest Parlour Ice Cream?" as a split-screen shot of penguins and ice cream is pictured. The voice-over then says, "You got it! Parlour Ice Cream is on sale for just $2.49."

"There will be weekly specials, and there will be price guarantees across the board on about the top 50 sellers," Kalman said. Food City stores had employed a high-low pricing strategy before the conversion to IGA, which ushered in everyday-low pricing plus some specials, according to Oshawa's Carter.

IGA's print campaign -- which appears in posters, fliers and area publications -- also features an entertainment twist. The ads, which began appearing late last month, contain teasers based on movie star names; for example, one ad says, "Marion Morrison changed his name to John Wayne. Food City is changing its name, too!" while another says, "Norma Jean wasn't her best 'til she became Marilyn Monroe. Your Food City will be even better as IGA."

The radio commercials, a one-week series of 10-second ads that hit the airwaves the week before the TV spots, also trumpet the banner conversion. "They're being worked in as a promotion," Kalman explained. "We're giving away coupons, such as, 'You can win a $50 certificate from IGA, and did you know that all Food City stores have been changed to IGA?' "