CPGmatters: Kraft Promotes Meal Solutions with Custom Retail Programs
Through a special arrangement, presented here for discussion is a summary of a current article from the monthly e-zine, CPGmatters.
Kraft Food is amplifying its retailer-specific in-store marketing program for Meal Solutions in an effort to take greater advantage of the growing trend of budget-conscious consumers cooking more at home during the recession. Its partnerships with Meijer and other major grocery retailers around the country involve on-site tactics ranging from floor clings to at-checkout discounts to end-cap coolers.
"Ultimately, we're looking to create a point of difference for our key retailers with meal ideas that provide solutions for their shoppers. They're not just a bunch of promotions," Denny Belcastro, Kraft's vice president of Customer Development and Industry Relations, told CPGmatters.com.
The Meal Solutions initiative began a couple of years ago with Kraft's conversations with consumers, who told the company that they're looking for easier ideas for weeknight meals.
One early innovation from that research, under the Meal Solutions banner, was Lunchtime Solutions Stations at some retailers that addressed what appeals to consumers about away-from-home meals. The stations, Mr. Belcastro explained, "were designed to capture the interest that's been keeping specialty sandwich shops growing when many other restaurants are feeling the economic pinch."
And speaking of the pinch, the more Kraft talked to consumers recently, the more evidently this had become a huge factor in their decisions about food and meals. "They're looking for ways to stretch their budgets, while still being able to please their families with variety," Mr. Belcastro said. These concerns about "economic conditions made us adjust programming ideas around affordable meals and how shoppers can cook 'restaurant-inspired meals' at home."
For example, with Meijer, Kraft first introduced last winter a "Dining In Makes $ense" campaign that offered discounts on future Meijer shopping trips with the purchase of multiple Kraft products.
In addition at Meijer stores, Kraft applied "Dining In Makes $ense" floor clings that carried images of meals made from Kraft products and directed shoppers to the company's web site for recipes such as Deep Dish Pizza Casserole. And there was a tie-in to the online MealBox program that Meijer and Kraft have been running on Meijer's web site, which provides "budget-boosting" coupons and other content.
In the store, both the MealBox and "Dining in Makes $ense" logos also have appeared on customized Kraft pallet displays.
With other partners, Kraft has been using an Affordable Meals end-cap cooler that leverages its Kraft Kitchens, its agency and its retail sales force to rotate new recipes, point-of-sale materials, and print materials in the store - every two weeks. At other customers, Kraft tailors its recipes and purchase incentives to preferred vehicles for that retailer, reinforcing their key positioning with local shoppers.
"Every customer has a set of growth consumers they're looking to satisfy, and we collaborate with them to do just that," Mr. Belcastro said. So Kraft has "created several different in-store destinations for different key customers." Some focus on dinner, some on snacks and some on sandwiches, he said.
Discussion Questions: What do you think of Kraft's Meal Solutions and other similar programs? What type of sales lift can grocers expect from such programs? How can retailers better tap into the meal planning opportunity and the overall cook-at-home trend?