They Shoot For The Moon
Traditionally, consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies have been the product and marketing rocket scientists. They have pushed the envelope in creating truly unique products that meet shoppers needs — and the inspired marketing programs to promote those products.
But today, the CPG companies are facing some stiff competition — more retailers are shooting for the moon when it comes to product development and marketing. And Private Label ⇨ Store Brands is honoring 13 of these innovative retailers in a dozen categories — covering products, packaging and marketing — with a Store Brand Achievement Award.
To determine the winners, we researched and evaluated retailer efforts taking place between approximately September 2011 and September 2012. Read on to learn about this year's winning retailers and their achievements.
Best New Product/Product Line, Grocery/Supermarket Channel
DELHAIZE AMERICA/HANNAFORD BROS.
Hannaford Fresh Meals in Minutes line
With so many Americans strapped for time or lacking cooking knowhow, it can be tough to prepare a healthful, delicious meal the whole family can enjoy. Understanding this dilemma, Hannaford Bros. — a division of Brussels-based Delhaize America — created Hannaford Fresh Meals in Minutes, a line of prepackaged meal components that can be mixed and matched to create a unique meal.
Nancy Dumais, director of branding and design with Delhaize America's Our Brands division, says her team created the line to bring convenience to the traditional "center-of-the-plate" consumer — the one who regularly shops the fresh meat case.
"Typically, 'convenience' is more thought [to comprise] ready-to-heat or ready-to-eat products — rotisserie chicken, microwavable meals, etc.," she explains. "Fresh Meals in Minutes brings convenience to the ready-to-cook segment, an area that is dramatically underserved. Freshness, convenience and health were important attributes we wanted to achieve and convey with this line."
To make the component-selection process easy, Dumais says her team organized the components into four groups, and then color-coded and numbered each group: Proteins have a yellow label with a 1; starches have a green label with a 2; vegetable mixes have a brown label and a 3; and sauces have a red label and a 4. The retailer also helps shoppers choose which items to purchase by printing recipes and their corresponding components in Hannaford Fresh magazine.
Sales of the product have exceeded the company's expectations, Dumais states.
"Customers that have purchased the offering give us kudos for the convenience and quality," she says. "Our largest hurdle has been to drive trial with even more customers. This is such a new and unique product offering — we continue to work on building awareness and trial."
Best New Product/Product Line, Drugstore Channel
NAVARRO DISCOUNT PHARMACY
Vida Mia brand
As a 31-store drugstore chain serving South Florida — home to a large Hispanic population — Miami-based Navarro Discount Pharmacy understands the needs of the Hispanic shopper. And to better meet those needs, the retailer developed the first bilingual private brand to target Hispanics across all categories, says Cristy Leon-Rivero, Navarro's vice president, marketing and human resources.
The new brand, named "Vida Mia" (which translates to "My Life" in English), was created to aid Hispanic shoppers in every area of their day-to-day lives, Leon-Rivero explains.
As of September, Vida Mia comprised 600 SKUs under five national-brand-equivalent (NBE) sub-brands — Mi Salud (health), Mi Bebe (baby care), Mi Sabor (food and beverage) Mi Belleza (beauty) and Mi Casa (household) — and "V," a sub-brand of national-brand-better beauty products that Leon-Rivero says are of salon quality. And by next February, the brand is projected to total 1,300 SKUs.
Navarro has high hopes for its Vida Mia products, Leon-Rivero points out. In addition to selling them in its brick-and-mortar stores, the retailer also sells the products online at www.Navarro.com.
Moreover, it wholesales Vida Mia to retailers in other areas of the country boasting a significant Hispanic population. Through Magellan Distribution — Navarro's wholly owned subsidiary — non-competing retailers from coast to coast may offer Vida Mia products in their stores under a special licensing program, Leon-Rivero says.
Best New Product/Product Line, Mass Merchandise/Club Channels
WALMART CANADA
Our Finest barbecue collection
In April, Mississauga, Ontario-based Walmart Canada announced the debut of its Our Finest barbecue collection, a line of "everything [Canadians] need to host a successful barbecue" — essentials ranging from premium burgers, frankfurters and side salads to ice cream desserts, ketchup, barbecue sauce and buns.
According to Sandra Farwell, Walmart Canada's vice president of brand management and private label, it was a no-brainer to launch the collection, as Canadians love to host a barbecue.
"In order to make the brand relevant, it had to be delivered as a collection — it had to include the key pieces to make backyard and summer cooking, eating and entertaining come to life," she says.
Farwell points out that her team created the collection to offer products shoppers could not find anywhere else. Much care was taken to make sure every product truly was unique and of excellent quality.
"Each product within the collection is very special," she points out. "For example, we have a cold-pressed olive oil; our burgers are made with 100 percent Angus beef or real sirloin; and our desserts are made with real ice cream."
To date, customer feedback regarding the products has been very positive, and sales have been quite strong, Farwell says. In fact, many of the products sold so well, they now are available year-round.
Best New Product/Product Line, Convenience/Dollar Store Channel
DOLLAR GENERAL
Butcher's Selects line
This June, Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based Dollar General announced the introduction of Butcher's Selects premium dog food. The new line offers high-quality, protein-packed dog food at a great value. All products in the line are made to promote good health.
Mike Wilkins, senior vice president and general merchandise manager, Dollar General, says a large number of Dollar General's shoppers rely on the retailer for all of their pet needs. Therefore, he wanted to create a line of high-quality, affordable dog food shoppers could not find anywhere else.
To develop the line, Wilkins turned to Franklin, Tenn.-based Mars Petcare US, a leading provider of pet care products known for its Pedigree and Whiskas brands.
"Through collaboration with the Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition — an innovation institute for advanced pet care and companion animal nutrition — Mars Petcare is able to work with leading academics and pet experts globally to create nutrition that is high-quality [and] safe, and benefits the health and well-being of pets," says Chris Hamilton, general manager, exclusive brands with Mars Petcare US. "This quality commitment and nutritional expertise was brought to the development of Butcher's Selects premium dog food."
Wilkins says Dollar General has received strong feedback from dog parents who shop its stores. In fact, Butcher's Selects products have helped Dollar General broaden its customer reach to include shoppers who purchase only premium products for their pets.
Best New Natural, Organic or Better-for-You Product/Product Line
WEGMANS FOOD MARKETS
Wegmans gluten-free pasta and baking mixes
In response to the growing awareness of celiac disease and other health conditions in which gluten plays a role, Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans Food Markets announced the launch of a line of Wegmans brand gluten-free pasta — spaghetti, fusilli, penne and elbows — in 1-pound boxes; gluten-free vanilla and chocolate cake mixes; a gluten-free sugar cookie mix; and a gluten-free double chocolate brownie mix.
When it decided to develop its own brand of gluten-free pasta, Wegmans went straight to its customers, asking them to assist development by taking a taste test, the retailer said.
"Last July, about 100 customers tasted current products we carried and ones we had in development," said Charlie Gardner, category manager for the Nature's Marketplace section of Wegmans stores. "The winner was a corn-based pasta we chose for our own gluten-free pasta line."
As for the baking mixes, Wegmans said Patty Fowler, one of the retailer's artisan bakers, worked for almost an entire year testing and tweaking the formulations until she discovered the combination that was just right.
"My vision [was that] the brownies should be ... dark and decadent — like the best brownies you ever had," Fowler explained. "We worked hard to get to that point, and I'm very pleased with the result."
Best Product Re-launch or Revamp
KROGER
Simple Truth and Simple Truth Organic brands
Late this past summer, Kroger began to make a buzz online about its new Simple Truth and Simple Truth Organic brands, which the Cincinnati-based retailer first announced in late 2011. The two brands — which replace the Naturally Preferred, Naturally Preferred Organic and Private Selection Organic brands — are said to be "free from 101 artificial preservatives and ingredients that some customers have said they do not want in their foods," according to Kroger's website. Simple Truth Organic products are certified organic by the USDA, while the Simple Truth brand offers several natural products — including meat, chicken and eggs.
Priscilla Zuchowski, a spokesperson for Kroger, notes that the retailer consolidated the three brands into the Simple Truth and Simple Truth Organic brands to make shopping easier for natural and organic consumers.
"Kroger customers said they found the Naturally Preferred, Naturally Preferred Organic and Private Selection Organic brands confusing," she explains. "Customers said they wanted a simplified' shopping experience; now, customers have the Simple Truth and Simple Truth Organic brands as a unifying beacon throughout the store."
To make the products easier to spot from category to category, Zuchowski says Kroger clearly marked packaging with a green circular logo. Simple Truth Organic products also bear the USDA Organic seal on labeling.
"The brands' packaging also includes straightforward ingredient statements," she explains.
Initial customer response has been favorable, Zuchowski notes. And even though the retailer will complete the rollout next month, it plans to use customer feedback to guide the brands' expansion.
Best Use of Social Media to Promote Store Brands
HARRIS TEETER
Although a number of retailers have stepped up their social media activity over the past year, we feel that Harris Teeter has done the best job connecting shoppers with its store brand products via various social media platforms — particularly Facebook. In a recent post, for example, the retailer invited shoppers to try Harris Teeter pita chips — and encouraged a two-way conversation.
"These deliciously crunchy Harris Teeter pita chips are perfect for your favorite dip or hummus," the post read. "Available in two flavors: sea salt and multigrain. Try them both, and let us know which is your favorite."
Even more impressive, the retailer does a great job in responding to questions and concerns posted by followers. For example, a shopper posted a question about a recent post promoting Harris Teeter Rancher Beef porterhouse and t-bone steaks for $5.99 each.
"Can the butcher cut them at this price, or is this only for the thin-cut, pre-packaged steaks?" she asked.
Offering a personal touch, a Harris Teeter butcher responded to confirm that he could custom-cut steaks for her.
But what truly set the retailer apart in this category are its "Taste & Tell" contests, which turn ordinary loyalty card holders into brand ambassadors through Facebook. In these contests, VIC loyalty card holders enter to win a coupon for a free store brand product. Winners then are encouraged to try the product and post their thoughts on the "Taste and Tell" section of Harris Teeter's Facebook page.
Best Use of a Retail Website to Promote Store Brands
H-E-B
At the top of its homepage (www.heb.com), San-Antonio-based H-E-B provides a link labeled "Our Brands." By clicking on the link, consumers are redirected to a page dedicated to every one of the retailer's store brands, as well as a section featuring newly released store brand products, and another dedicated to helping shoppers find health-and-wellness-minded own-brand products.
And that's just the beginning of the many ways H-E-B makes its store brands the stars of its site. Front and center on its homepage, the retailer dedicates a box to recipes housed in several different sections. Not only are the recipes unique and creative, but they also often incorporate H-E-B brand items as ingredients.
Elsewhere on the homepage is a link to the digital edition of the retailer's My H-E-B Texas Life magazine, which gives plenty of exposure to H-E-B's private brands. In the October issue, for example, H-E-B provides ideas for Halloween party appetizers that include store brand items as ingredients, including Rotisserie Chicken Salad Croissant Sandwiches made with H-E-B Chef Prepared Rotisserie Chicken Salad and mini-croissants, and spooky snacks such as ghosts made from H-E-Buddy String Cheese and spiders made from H-E-B FC Meatballs.
Best Use of Store Brands to Promote Health and Wellness (tie)
HY-VEE
Healthy Bites newsletter and menus, "Vote for Oats" promotion and more
One of the biggest barriers to healthful eating is cost — better-for-you products in the supermarket often cost more than a sack of greasy burgers at a fast-food joint. West Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee understands this shopper dilemma, and it uses its store brand products as a solution, says Julie McMillan, Hy-Vee's director, health and wellness.
"If we can offer them a private label [counterpart to a national brand product] that delivers the same nutrition at a lower cost, we're fulfilling a need there," she says.
Hy-Vee also does a good job marketing healthful products in its stores. For example, the retailer executed its "Vote for Oats" campaign in September, which is National Cholesterol Education Month. It developed displays holding packages of various national brand and store brand oats, as well as products that make "heart-healthy" toppings for the oats. To educate shoppers on the benefits of eating a low-cholesterol diet, the retailer placed informational brochures at the displays.
In-store and via e-mail, Hy-Vee also offers its Healthy Bites newsletter, which incorporates various own-brand products. The retailer's dietitians then put together weekly menus, which provide five healthful recipes and side-dish suggestions that incorporate the store brand items in the newsletter, says Rochelle Gilman, Hy-Vee's corporate dietitian.
"In addition to the regular healthy menu, we develop menus for certain medical or therapeutic conditions: a heart-healthy diet, a diet for people with diabetes, and a diet for those trying to lose weight," she explains. "These menus are developed in our test kitchen, where we check the nutrition numbers. We try to make it as easy as possible for the retail dietitians, as well as the customers." Gilman notes that her team receives a lot of positive feedback about the menus. In fact, many customers say they use the menus as their shopping lists, which saves them a lot of time.
Best Use of Store Brands to Promote Health and Wellness (tie)
FRESH & EASY NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET
A commitment to developing health-minded store brand products (tie)
This year alone, El Segundo, Calif.-based Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market added more than 60 products to its fresh&easy eatwell and Goodness ranges. eatwell products contain no more than 25 percent of the daily values for calories, fat, saturated fat and sodium (based on a 2,000-calorie diet) and have limited added sugars. Meanwhile, Goodness products are said to be made with wholesome, natural ingredients that are good sources of vitamins and minerals — including whole grains, fruits and vegetables — and have limited sodium, limited added sugars and no preservatives.
And all products at Fresh & Easy are free from artificial colors and flavors, high-fructose corn syrup and added trans fats, the retailer says.
"Customers are looking for more and more options for feeding their families for less without compromising on quality, and that's why they've reacted so well to our fresh&easy eatwell and Goodness brands," notes Brendan Wonnacott, spokesperson for Fresh & Easy. "For modern customers, health and wellness is about so much more than just 'diet' or 'light' options; it's about balance and knowing what is — and what isn't — in your food. Customers are savvy, and they'll seek out brands that deliver on their promises."
And Fresh & Easy continues to develop innovative, health-minded brands. Wonnacott says the retailer just launched Made Easy, a line of fresh prepared salads and vegetables that includes bagged salad kits and bagged salads, frozen vegetables in micro-steamer bags, and cut vegetables.
"Made Easy is Fresh & Easy's response to increasing demand for easy meal and side options for time-pressed customers interested in healthful living," he explains. "The complete salad kits allow customers to bypass time-consuming preparations by offering ready-to-assemble salads and vegetable sides in a single bag."
Best Achievement in Store Brand Marketing
FOOD LION
"Operation Grocery Drop"
Between June and October, Food Lion, Salisbury, N.C., surprised three neighborhoods by delivering free groceries from its My Essentials line of store brand products. The events took place on June 16 in Raleigh, N.C.; Aug. 11 in Richmond, Va.; and Oct. 13 in Charlotte, N.C.
Consumers nominated their neighborhoods for the surprise via Food Lion's Facebook page, the retailer said. On the day of the event, Food Lion unveiled the winning neighborhood by surprising its residents with free groceries from its My Essentials brand. At each event, Food Lion representatives hand-delivered a total of 2,000 My Essentials products. Products were delivered to residents' front doors.
Each event also had a charity tie-in. In addition to delivering free My Essentials products, Food Lion said it donated $20,000 to three local nonprofit organizations selected via a voting process. On the retailer's Facebook page, consumers selected their favorite of three organizations. The organization receiving the most votes during the two-week contest received the "lion's share" — $10,000 — of each $20,000 donation, Food Lion said. The other two organizations each received $5,000.
"We've been very pleased with the event. It's a great way to generate excitement not only about [the Food Lion banner], but also about My Essentials and the community," says Christy Phillips-Brown, a spokesperson for Food Lion.
Best Store Brand-Related Shopper Contest
SMART & FINAL
"Compare & Save Sweepstakes" program for First Street brand
Commerce, Calif.-based Smart & Final launched a marketing campaign in April to promote First Street, its flagship corporate brand. At first glance, the program might seem fairly standard. Todd Fryer, Smart & Final's director of corporate brands marketing, says the retailer distributed a flyer "full of First Street products," and gave consumers who purchased any two First Street products a chance to win one of five $500 SmartCash cards and other prizes in the "Compare & Save Sweepstakes."
What made this program award-worthy, however, was the social media campaign Smart & Final ran concurrently. During the course of the program, a group of bloggers — 16 total, four per week — compared a selection of First Street products to their national brand counterparts, Fryer says.
"The objective was to create awareness and positive buzz about the First Street brand and to promote the wide selection of First Street items available at Smart & Final," he explains.
Each week, the bloggers provided feedback related to the comparisons and posted numerous pictures of their families consuming the First Street products they purchased, Fryer points out. They posted the content they wrote on their own blogs and syndicated it via Smart & Final's website and social media pages — including those on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Overall campaign metrics show 1,314,449 total social media impressions, 309 million searches for "First Street brand" in search engines, and more.
Fryer explains that the bloggers did "an excellent job communicating their experiences" with the products, calling them "extremely credible advocates" for the retailer's store brands.
Best Cause Marketing Tied to Store Brands
SPARTAN STORES
"Piling on the Pasta" event
To introduce its new line of Spartan brand Super Pasta, Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Spartan Stores hosted "Piling on the Pasta," a pasta-eating contest in which contestants consumed large bowls of Spartan Super Pasta Spaghetti and sauce. The first three contestants to completely consume the spaghetti and sauce earned "serious prize money" to donate to their charities of choice, Spartan said. First prize was $1,000; second prize was $500; and third prize was $250.
The event — which took place on Dec. 7, 2011, at a Family Fare Supermarkets store in Grandville, Mich. — was a huge success, says Jeanne Norcross, vice president, corporate affairs, Spartan. All of the prize money was given to Toys for Tots, and media representatives from WZZM 13, WOOD-TV 8 and the Grand Rapids Press all showed up to cover the event and spread the word about the new product — which earns "straight A's" in terms of its flavor, form and price, Norcross said in a Dec. 2, 2011, press release.
"Plus, it packs a 'super' nutrition punch," she said in the release. "All varieties provide a serving of whole grain and are an excellent source of calcium, vitamin D, fiber and protein — plus 260 milligrams [of] ALA omega-3 per serving."
Norcross explains that it was a pleasure to bring together the company, the community and local media outlets to introduce the new product in such a charitable fashion.