THE GOLDEN TOUCH

BOB BAUER

Frozen food personnel at 34 food industry companies are feeling proud to be the best these days after being awarded Golden Penguins for their efforts during National Frozen Food Month 1994, an event sponsored by the National Frozen Food Association, Harrisburg, Pa.

"Proud to Be the Best" was this year's slogan for the promotion, which helped retailers ring up more than $1.6 billion in frozen food sales for the month, a 3% increase over 1993's event.

NFFA awards Golden Penguins to those companies who best promote frozen food in conjunction with the annual March event. Silver Penguin awards are presented to runners-up in each category. NFFA recognized 77 such entries this year.

The awards will be presented Oct. 7 during the 1994 National Frozen Food Convention in Orlando, Fla. "We're real pleased with how things went this year," H.V. "Skip" Shaw, executive vice president of NFFA, told SN. "We had a great deal of participation throughout the country and some excellent promotional campaigns."

The growing sales figure for the month is a direct result of the imaginative advertising seen throughout the promotion period, frozens executives said. It's become something the industry looks forward to many months in advance."I think people are starting to see they can sell frozen food on a central theme," said Gary Boatman, manager of frozen food and dairy sales at Fleming Cos., Oklahoma City, winner of a Golden Penguin for the third straight year. "It brings attention to the department."

What follow are accounts from winners of seven supermarket-related categories, in which the victors detail the strategies that put them at the head of the class.

WINNER: RETAIL CHAIN (More than 50 stores)

Winn-Dixie Doubles Its Efforts

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The hometown division of Winn-Dixie Stores here put double the effort into its frozen food month program, running specials and promotions for eight weeks instead of four.

The strong push chainwide, which began with planning meetings in early November, resulted in an 846,593-pound increase in tonnage over Winn-Dixie's 1993 total, an 11.57% rise.

One of the most successful facets of the two-month endeavor was a series of "Tempt Tasting" nights. "We would have sampling at 30 or 40 stores and would highlight that with spotlights at selected stores and radio remotes at three or four different locations throughout that period of time," said Bruce Baxter, Winn-Dixie's marketing director.

"You get a lot of enthusiasm from your people because it's something different and you get that same enthusiasm from your customers," he said of the special events. "It never fails to add a little excitement. And when you tie in the top four or five radio stations in the market and everybody knows about it, plus a hot ad for that festive day, a lot good things happen."

Winn-Dixie's penguin mascot also ran in the River Fun Run, a 5,000-meter run well known in the running circles around Jacksonville. Frozen food was given to the runners at the end of the race.

Baxter said Winn-Dixie also had internal contests for display building, as well as selling and sampling products. Other community events included a charity golf tournament and a snowball event for kids, many of whom had never seen snow before.

"We had numerous television spots airing, talking about the quality and the price of frozen food," Baxter said when asked about advertising during the period. "We ran lots of newspaper ads featuring a tremendous variety of frozen foods," he added.

"We take the opportunity in March, as well as October, to up our awareness to our customers of the value and quality of frozen food. We like the sales. We relish in those and the additional customers. But we really were just tickled to death to receive the Golden Penguin."

WINNER: VOLUNTARY WHOLESALER DIVISION

For Foodland, It's All Happening at the Zoo

LIVONIA, Mich. -- The only place most people come face to face with a penguin is in a zoo. So it was only natural for Foodland Distributors here to tie in with the Detroit Zoo for its March promotion. Foodland, a division of wholesaler Supervalu, Minneapolis, put together a coupon book that offered customers cents-off coupons, as well as a coupon for free admission to the Detroit Zoo. Foodland later presented $20,000 to the zoo on behalf of the manufacturers who ran coupons, Foodland, and its stores. "It went over really well," Colette Andersen, senior buyer at Foodland, said of the coupon book. "Coupon items did very well during the month of March." Products from every category of the frozen food department were included in the coupon book.

"It turned out to be a pretty good program for us," Andersen added. "The manufacturers and stores got recognition and they helped donate this money. The customers liked it because they could get free admission to the zoo. We put that right on the coupon book. The cover had a big splash about the Detroit Zoo."

She said the program helped result in record-breaking sales volume and a 17% increase in frozen food sales over March 1993.

Andersen said the zoo was receptive to the whole idea. "They couldn't say enough 'thank yous' to us about the money we raised for them."

The program closed out in May, when employees of Foodland stores were invited to bring their families to Foodland Day at the zoo, the day Foodland presented its donation to zoo officials. "They're going to use that money toward the glass for the zoo's penguin exhibit. So that's how we tied it all together."

WINNER: COOPERATIVE WHOLESALER

URM Uncovers a Valuable Idea

SPOKANE, Wash. -- URM Stores here sent its member stores and their customers on a treasure hunt, and came away with two treasures of its own: a large increase in frozen food sales and a Golden Penguin.

The treasure hunt tied in with the Spokane Frozen Food Council's "There's Treasure in Frozen Foods" theme. For URM, the booty was lucrative, said Ron Klein, frozen food buyer for URM.

"It generated some good sales increases. I know that we did a little over 50% increase the first week, and I believe it was about 30% the second week. I think overall for the month we were up about 30%," Klein said.

URM set up 25 bright yellow billboards throughout the area, as close as possible to its members' stores. The billboards displayed the association's slogan, as well as its mascot, a penguin done up in pirate garb. The signs also featured two participating food brands and identified two or three member stores.

URM also sponsored the lunch-hour show of a local radio station. Each day the radio personalities would highlight one product featured in National Frozen Food Month by talking about it and sampling it.

"Then they would open the lines up to consumers to call in and tell them where that billboard was," said Klein. "The first person who could call up and tell them the location of one of the billboards that had that product on it received a case of that frozen food product."

They also received a key. At the end of the promotion, the winners met at a URM member store, keys in hand. "The holder of the key that opened the treasure chest in the store lobby won a trip to Disneyland -- kind of promoting the pirates of the Caribbean," Klein explained.

The station also did five remote broadcasts at URM stores. "One thing they did was a 'Show Us Your Penguin' bit. The first person who brought in a stuffed penguin or a penguin key chain or something received gift certificates," Klein said.

"The radio station had a lot of loyal listeners who spent the first few days going out and canvassing the town and finding their billboards so they could enter the contest," Klein added.

URM and its member stores also did programs with schools and used grocery bags that promoted National Frozen Food Month.

To help encourage member participation. Klein said URM's "super buys" program, a monthly arrangement through which the smallest of its stores can buy the six to eight selected items at the same volume prices as the largest, was made up exclusively of frozen food items for March.

"Frozen food month really is a collective effort between the brokers, the manufacturer reps, the vendors themselves, the ad groups, the wholesalers and the store personnel -- even the media people. It's just a really neat effort everyone puts together," Klein said.

WINNER: RETAIL CHAIN (10 to 50 stores)

Cashen In at Food 4 Less

LA HABRA, Calif. -- It was a wild start to a new job for Bob Cashen, category manager of perishable grocery at Food 4 Less Supermarkets here. Having moved over from the paper goods area in February, he had less than a month before National Frozen Food Month was upon him. However, by the end of March, the Boys/Viva division of the company had earned a Golden Penguin award.

"I got this job in February and had to run like mad to get everything together," he said. "Our theme this year, in tying in with the national theme, was 'Proud to Be the Best in the Frozen Wild West.' "

Cashen held a kickoff meeting, at which the game plan and advertising schedule were nailed down.

"We put together a pretty aggressive list of prizes for the frozen food clerks, the store managers and grocery clerks for each store, with the grand prize being a computer system. We gave away three computer systems in one store."

Those incentives may have played a role in the sales increases posted during the month. Cashen said he didn't break the figures down by division, but companywide, Food 4 Less posted a 4% increase in frozen food sales during frozen food month over the previous four weeks.

The combined divisions resulted in almost $9.7 million in frozen food sales for the month, he said.

Cashen said the company had more store participants and more displays than ever, in part because of the theme.

"We got great displays," he said. "From a creative standpoint, 'Proud to be the Best in the Frozen Wild West' seemed fairly easy to work with."

The displays impressed not only the National Frozen Food Month judges, but the Southern Frozen Food Council judges as well. Boys/Viva and Alpha Beta were awarded top prizes by that group.

With more time to plan, Cashen is looking ahead to March 1995. "We've already got our theme scheduled around 'Serving Up Perfection' [the national theme], and we've already got our committees rolling now."

WINNER: RETAIL OPERATION

(LESS THAN 10 STORES)

Goff's Mixes Up Its Pitches

HASLETT, Mich. -- Goff Food Stores here had something different to throw at its customers each week during National Frozen Food Month. It was all part of a plan by Goff's employees to win a Golden Penguin award.

The plan of attack included ice cream parties during the second week of March that tied in with a sale marking Goff's 28th anniversary. Chilly Willy, a penguin of some note, joined in the festivities as customers sampled 6-foot sundaes constructed by Goff employees.

"It's really a great promotion," said Walter Goff, company president. "We've done this several times and it seems the customers like it a little better each time." He said his stores did the same promotion the second weekend of July, Ice Cream Month.

Goff's kicked off the month with a "Savings Fest" advertising insert, which featured a freezer giveaway at all five Goff stores. A "Wacky Wednesday" sale that week, featuring ice cream specials and giveaways of ice cream and balloons, also created excitement.

The third week's promotion targeted children through a coloring contest and a bicycle giveaway.

Customer Appreciation Week rounded out the month, featuring gift certificates of up to $100 for winning shoppers.

"We put a lot of effort into that program," Goff said of National Frozen Food Month. "Our goal was to win a Golden Penguin. Not only did we win a Golden Penguin, one of our stores picked up a Silver Penguin, too." He said prizes were also awarded within his group of stores for the best decorated and best merchandised stores.

"The sales really increased," he added. "Of course, during frozen food month they generally do a pretty good job anyway. "But this year, we thought, was exceptional. Our warehouse supplier supplied us with the right items so we could sell them at the right retails and we also worked in conjunction with our dairy supplier in ice cream. Our ice cream and novelty area was real big for us this year. We promoted that, along with the traditional frozen food-type items."

WINNER: VOLUNTARY WHOLESALER

Fleming Goes Very Perry

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Perry Penguin was up to his old tricks again. Perry, a character created by Fleming Cos. four years ago, helped the grocery wholesaler here bring home its third straight Golden Penguin award.

"What we do each year is come up with a theme, something we can have him do, to carry our message across to the consumer," said Gary Boatman, Fleming's manager of frozen food and dairy sales.

This year's theme was "Perry Penguin, the Frozen Food Adventurer! Thrills and Chills." And the consumers must have received the message. Fleming exceeded 1993 dollar sales by 12.9% and case sales by 17.4% for National Frozen Food Month.

Boatman said an important part of Fleming's program was the point-of-purchase kit it distributed to 3,000 independent retailers it supplies. The kit included ceiling posters, case cards, shelf talkers, static cling freezer and front door decals, and retail clip art. The POP kit also included disposable cameras to be used as part of a display contest.

The focus was not limited to the retail level. Two contests on the divisional tier had each of the company's 28 divisions vying for cash prizes.

Boatman said it's not difficult to generate enthusiasm for frozen food month. "We've been doing this one so long and it's been so successful for us that both the retailers and the divisions are wanting to know what the next year's theme is already." He said Fleming already has had two meetings on next year's project.

National Frozen Food Month gives frozen food sales a real shot in the arm, Boatman said. "It's the time of the year we get our biggest increase over the prior year. It brings attention to the frozen food department. I think people are starting to understand they can sell frozen food on a central theme. A lot of people are starting to do another minor one in October. The divisions I've seen that are starting that on their own are seeing some nice increases."

WINNER: RETAIL DISTRIBUTOR

Richfood Assembles a Winning Team

MECHANICSVILLE, Va. -- Pulling off a successful National Frozen Food Month is no one-man -- or one-company -- show, said Bob King, director of dairy and frozen procurement at Richfood here.

King said strong campaigns by retailers, brokers, local frozen food associations and more this year helped drive up dollar sales in the wholesaler's Norfolk/Richmond area by 11.8% over March 1993. Sales in the Washington area, another trading area for Richfood, were up 6.9%.

Case sales at Richfood were up 6.05% this year over 1993, while dollar sales were up 7.39% for the event.

"It seems strange that percentage of dollars is up to a greater extent than cases because the case cost on frozens has actually gone down over the year; but I can only assume we sold some higher-priced product," King told SN. "If you take an average of the numbers in the areas we service and do it against our business, it would blend in right with what our numbers showed."

Richfood took an educational approach to National Frozen Food Month, preparing a booklet containing information on the event and on the hot products in the frozen food department.

"It included information regarding promotion of the products from companies supporting the national and state associations. We featured those items in the booklet. We tried to highlight those companies that support frozen food month," King said. "We try to feature those companies. We don't limit it to them. But those are the guys who are supporting the program, so we try to support them.

"It helps our retailers in that they know these brokers and manufacturers are going to be coming to them with advertising programs and such," he continued.

The communication continues through weekly bulletins sent to all Richfood retailers. King said he tries to include information on the best-selling items and industry trends. "We'll list the top 50 items so they can make sure they have plenty of space for them."