Retailers honored for promotions around ‘National Family Meals Month’

For retailers, the FMI-led “National Family Meals Month” campaign that runs in September is an opportune time to promote their wealth of store brand products. During the December issue cover story of Store Brands, the association saw retailers including Kroger, Weis Markets and ShopRite leverage social media and promotions to highlight their private brands to get family members at the table together.

During the recent FMI Midwinter Executive Conference the newly named FMI — The Food Industry Association awarded select retailers with a Gold Plate Award to highlight retailers who executed the best programs for Family Meals Month.

The awards go back to 2013. Notable retailers this year who emphasized store brands in their programs include:

Northgate Gonzalez Market

The retailer highlighted its store brand products in both English and Spanish to serve the diverse communities who shop the retailer in the Southern California region. In addition to weekly specials, some tactics the retailer executed were National Family Meals Month stickers applied to more than 20,000 labels of its most popular products. Stores hosted health-and-wellness events, too.

Tops Friendly Markets

The “Tops Table Time” campaign highlighted the retailer’s premium store brand meats and family meal selections, complete with recipe ideas online. Tops deployed six social influencers to promote the specials that month, share the recipes and engage with shoppers. Circulars, in-store radio, signage, direct mail and digital media also supported. Most ads drove shoppers to a landing page with unique content on how families could truly engage over a mealtime, with ideas like a “no phone challenge,” shopping lists that catered to different ages, Pinterest inspirations and a sweepstakes.