KROGER WILL SHAPE UP PROMOTION WITH KELLOGG

MATTHEW W. EVANS

CINCINNATI -- Two subsidiaries of Kroger here will cross promote magazines and cereal using special endcaps beginning in February.

King Soopers, Denver, and City Markets, Grand Junction, Colo., have linked with Weider Publications, Woodland Hills, Calif., to give a free copy of the upcoming March issue of Shape Magazine to customers who buy any two boxes of Kellogg cereal, said Dick Glassman, director of retail sales at Weider.

"This is bringing together various parts of the store that are usually not tied together," Glassman explained. "Grocery together with GM is not something you see every day."

Special endcaps will be located prominently in the front of 83 King Soopers units and 38 City Markets locations, according to Glassman. The magazines will be surrounded by Kellogg cereal boxes, all merchandised on shelves built into the endcaps. "The magazines will be right between the cereals," noted Glassman.

Neither Kroger division returned calls by SN for comment on the promotion.

According to Glassman, the retailer wanted to place the endcaps in a highly visible area to generate impulse cereal sales. "We didn't want to have an endcap promotion [adjacent to] the cereal aisle because people are going to buy cereal anyway," he said. "We wanted it in an impulse area -- right as you walk in."

Support for the program, running Feb. 7 to 13, will include a freestanding insert, promoting those dates in local papers, Glassman said. Coupons located in three areas around the store will also bring additional visibility to the promotion. Adhesive pads of coupons that expire Feb. 28 will be placed on the endcap displays, in-line in the cereal section and attached to shelf-talkers at checkout.

The retailer has much to gain from this promotion, according to Glassman, who pointed to a similar promotion Weider has run in the past with Giant Food, Landover, Md.

There, Weider placed 10,000 copies of Shape in 250 floor displays (each containing 40 copies) next to endcaps -- and 8,000 copies moved. "That means they sold 16,000 boxes of cereal," said Glassman.

Forty copies in about 150 display units will be placed in the Kroger divisions, according to Glassman. Kellogg Co., Battle Creek, Mich., will pay retail price to the retailer for the 6,000 magazines, according to a source familiar with the promotion.

Based on prior success, the Giant promotion will run again for two weeks this January, according to Glassman. This is Giant's fourth year running the program and from Jan. 7 to 13 customers will get a free February Shape with the purchase of two Kellogg cereals. Then, from Jan. 14 to 20, a free February Shape will be given away with the purchase of two boxes of Kellogg cereal bars.

"It's a solid promo for three parties," Glassman said.