THE MESSAGE IS IN THE MEDIA

RUSSELL SHAW

As store brands continue to increase in unit and dollar sales in supermarkets, brand marketers are relying more on a variety of in-store electronic media to get the attention of shoppers.

Private-label marketers largely have not taken advantage of this technology, although they are starting to do so. National brands, which have dominated this media, are stepping up their use as new forms of delivery are launched.

"We've been increasingly active in in-store media across a number of media types, especially impulse items like cookies and crackers," says Michael Perry, director of media for Nabisco Brands, Parsippany, N.J.

"With in-store media, you are trying to get people who see the brand on the shelf to buy it. For that reason, it's important how many people see the message," he says. In-store media delivery systems come in many forms, each with its own perceived advantages. Some of the hottest modes today are:

· Music programming punctuated with advertising messages, either delivered by satellite from a transmission center to a supermarket's receiving dish or shipped directly to the store.

· Televised programming with commercial breaks, delivered by satellite.

· Back-lit electronic messaging, either with rotating or stationary pitches, often tied into a premium or coupon promotion in effect at the store.

· Shelf-talkers, which upon pressing a button deliver a narrated, promotional pitch for an item, sometimes in the "voice" of a cartoon character or celebrity endorser associated with the product.

Taken cumulatively, the field is growing rapidly. The Point of Purchase Advertising Institute, Englewood, N.J., says nearly $16 billion in store-based advertising was spent last year. The field has been growing by at least 10% a year for the past five years, compared to 5% annually for advertising in measured media. The $16 billion is not broken down further into "electronic" and "nonelectronic" advertising, but if the income claims of the leading vendors are combined, electronic messaging expenditures last year probably topped a $500 million.

Virtually all major brands use in-store broadcast media in one form or another. But which format is best? To answer this question, vendors specializing in various in-store media segments have their own research touting the efficiency of their specific media.

In a recent market test performed by Promotions Decisions Research Co. for Time Inc. In-Store Marketing, New York, 17 stores received Time's Media One Lights, which are main-aisle, back-lit displays. The displays were provided in several categories, including beverages, cereal, dairy, frozen, grocery, health and beauty care, household products and pet supplies. Meanwhile, another 17 stores were assigned to a control group in which no such signs were provided. Each of the 45 total items tested did better in the stores with the displays. Bath tissue, a high-impulse item, scored highest at 27.1%.

Media One Lights displays are currently in about 6,000 supermarkets. Jefferson Myers, executive vice president of Time In-Store, touts concepts like Media One as vastly superior to old placard signs.

"A lot of that stuff can just become 'wallpaper' in the store," he says. "We are into the concept of providing entertainment-oriented excitement." As part of the Time Warner entertainment conglomerate, Time In-Store is in a unique position to amortize its entertainment software offerings in a promotional tie-in with a brand marketer. A current campaign features an announcement of a movie video offer combined with a product announcement for 18 Kraft General Foods products, including Kraft Real mayonnaise, Post Fruit & Fibre Cereal and Maxwell House coffee. Seven receipts mailed during the eligibility period enable the customer to obtain one of eight Time Warner videos listed in accompanying literature distributed in-store. "The rich array of premiums in our music, book and video divisions make it possible for us to work with clients on a number of multipurchase marketing programs," adds Myers.

He quantifies these synergies with some hard numbers. "Thirty-nine percent of all aisles are shopped, and 52% of category decisions are made in the store, so placing this [signage] along the main aisle puts us in an ideal place to reach consumers."

In the in-store audio environment, the Ridgefield, Conn.-based In-Store Marketing Group, a division of Muzak, Seattle, commissioned Walker Research to test the efficiency of its spots in several Abco stores in Phoenix.

Some of the strong test vs. control group performers here with percentage increases for audio ads were Scottie Facial Tissues, up 15.1%; Kraft Miracle Whip, 16 ounces, 15.1%; Wisk liquid detergent, 12.0%; V-8 juice, 18.5%; Prego spaghetti sauces, 11.1%; Contac cold remedies, 26.7%; and Kellogg's Corn Flakes, 13.1. Muzak is now in more than 2,000 stores.

"Paper goods, health and beauty, soft drinks, cookies and crackers, dog food, candy and frozens are some of our more dominant categories," says Gary Henderson, president of Muzak's In-Store Marketing Group.

Tape-delivered POP Radio, an offering of Actmedia, Norwalk, Conn., positions itself against what it terms the "background music" of Muzak by offering a product it deems more "like a live radio network in the store." Musical selections are the actual versions of the hits, and are supplemented by consumer and health tips, as well as ads played at least 12 hours per day over a 28-day cycle.

"We tend to be most competitive in the market segments that have strong private-label and impulse activity," said Pat Harris, vice president of sales for Actmedia. "You're looking at paper goods, diapers, the commodity-based items. When it comes to reaching the consumer, the important thing there is the last message they've seen or heard before their buying decision was made."

A series of tests conducted for Actmedia by independent market research firm Audits & Surveys Inc., documented median sales increases of 7% in stores where spots ran. A test-vs.-control group study done with Chiquita Brands at 63 units of Chattanooga, Tenn.-based Red Food Stores typified this result. The visual medium is also a ripe target with NBC On Site, a service that airs commercials in 20-minute cycles on about 12 to 15 27-inch television monitors throughout the store. On Site studies project a 14.3% improvement in average total purchases per shopper made in stores equipped with the technology, as compared to control group establishments. The operation expects to be in 250 stores by the end of June.

Brand marketers participating in NBC On Site include Nabisco, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola Co. and Quaker Oats Co..

Don Ershow, NBC On Site's senior vice president of sales and marketing, positions his video-only, no-sound service against the audio-only networks from two standpoints: The 20-minute ad cycle is in sync with the 22-minute length of the average shopping trip, and video advertising communicates in a more immediate but less intrusive manner than audio. "The advertising rotations work in a seamless action with the shopping trip. It's highly visual and communicates quickly, but doesn't compete with the noises in the supermarket environment. A more intrusive presentation could be annoying," he says.

Two other key industry players are Impulse Broadcast Systems, Louisville, Ky., which is in 381 supermarkets in the South, Midwest and West; and shelf-talker specialists Thompson-Leeds Co., New York. "We're especially strong in packaged foods," says Dale Schoo, Impulse Broadcast vice president of marketing. "In terms of product awareness, we believe that it [30-second commercials run about 12 minutes out of every hour] reach 95% of shoppers. It enhances and reinforces their knowledge of the product."

Arguably, the shelf-talker concept of in-store media is the most colorful. In several chains, Kellogg's Corn Flakes is running an interactive shelf talker designed by Thompson-Leeds. Customers press a button and hear a short pitch made by Cornelius, the Corn Flakes rooster who, after 75 years of "silence" on cereal boxes, has now "decided to talk." Says Thompson-Leeds President Doug Leeds: "Old-fashioned displays just won't do. This is all about getting people to pay attention."

The best is yet to come, according to Paco Underhill, principal of Envirosell, a New York-based behavioral research and consulting firm specializing in the testing of display systems in retail environments. "We are seeing an industry in its strapping adolescence. There's no question that when appropriately applied, in-store advertising can be an incredibly effective medium," he says. Nabisco's Perry makes a similar analogy. "In-store broadcasting is like a teen-ager -- growing, with even more room to grow."