Topco Members Honored

Topco Associates has announced its group of Corporate Brand Marketing Award winners. Eight Topco members were recently recognized for their outstanding marketing to support corporate brands.

“Our award winners are true leaders in marketing store brands,” said Chris Hooks, Topco Vice President, Center Store. “They have successfully demonstrated, using a variety of new and innovative marketing methods, how to effectively market corporate brands and drive sales.”

Topco’s Corporate Brand Marketing award recipients are:

•  Best-in-Class Brand Marketing: K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc. – K-VA-T has done a fantastic job promoting the iconic Chuck Wagon pet brand to its Food City customers, with a strong mix of effective advertising and in-store promotional vehicles.

•  Best-in-Class Brand Marketing: Affiliated Foods Midwest – Topco salutes Affiliated Foods Midwest for its leadership in developing and marketing the refreshed, best-in-class Shurfine Salty Snack program.

•  Best-in-Class Merchandising: Acme Fresh Market – Year after year, Acme Fresh Market stores outdo each other with more impressive promotional displays for the company's Summer Sales Contest. Each Acme Fresh store creates large, impactful, high-velocity sales displays for many great products, including Top Care cotton, first aid and oral care products.

•  Best-in-Class Promotions: Coborn's Incorporated – At Coborn's, the team views legacy brands as part of the family, part of its tradition of providing the best for its customers. The St. Cloud, Minnesota-based grocer ran special four-page inserts highlighting terrific deals on brands available exclusively at Coborn's in weekly ads in June and September and experienced a double-digit increase in legacy brand sales.

•  Best-in-Class Program Introduction: SpartanNash – SpartanNash showed exactly what it takes to compete in the baby aisle with its successful launch of Tippy Toes by Top Care. To accomplish its objectives, SpartanNash used a wide array of effective in-store marketing and merchandising tools.

•  Best-in-Class Program Introductions: Hy-Vee, Inc. – Hy-Vee demonstrated exactly how products should be launched with the introduction of its delightful Hy-Vee Hickory House Barbecue program. At the same time, the team at Hy-Vee showed how to nurture a more mature segment with its outstanding Success by the Cup promotion, highlighting Hy-Vee brand single-serve coffee.

•  Best-in-Class Cause Marketing: Tops Friendly Markets – Tops drove sales of Full Circle Project 7 Breakfast Bars, Teas and Coffee with a strong mix of eye-catching, in-store displays, print and online advertising and natural and organic flyer support. Top's customers' purchases of Full Circle Project 7 items resulted in the donation of nearly 74,000 meals to local food banks in New York and Pennsylvania.

•  Best-in-Class Cause Marketing: Roche Bros. Supermarkets – Roche Bros. proudly introduced a broad assortment of great-tasting Full Circle Project 7 products with a colorful ad and plenty of in-store support, including hanging posters, full displays, shelf talkers and shelf blades. Through their purchases of Full Circle Project 7 products, Roche Bros. customers have provided nearly 21,000 meals to the Greater Boston Food Bank.

Members received their awards during Topco’s Center Store Sales & Merchandising Conference, which was held May 19 to 21 at the Renaissance Convention Center in Schaumburg, Ill. More than 1,100 attendees, including representatives from 47 Topco members and over 210 supplier companies, participated in the major store brand event. Topco and its supplier partners showcased a broad assortment of Health and Beauty Care, General Merchandise, Grocery, Frozen, Dairy/Bakery and Pharmacy to help drive sales for association members.

During the show, Topco also saluted its top supplier partners for their great work in support of Topco and its members. Each of the following companies received a Supplier Award of Excellence:

• Health & Beauty Care: Perrigo

• General Merchandise: Royal Oak

• Quality Assurance: Massimo Zanetti Beverage USA

• Frozen: Cavendish Farms

• Grocery: Burnette Foods

• Grocery Non-Foods: Jarden Corporation

• Pharmacy: Emdeon