Not Just Kid Stuff

The Federal Trade Commission last month released its expected report on the level of marketing that food and beverage manufacturers target at children.

To refresh your memory: In July 2007, the FTC presented 44 leading consumer product manufacturers with compulsory orders requiring them to submit a detailed analysis of their marketing practices on brands that appeal to children. The information would be used to compile a report on how extensively food and beverage companies were targeting children with their marketing messages and, therefore, how much they might be influencing the dietary habits of America's youth.

Release of the report didn't make much of a splash in the media, probably because the FTC concluded that it doesn't need to enact any restrictions on current marketing activity. "Although there is room for improvement, the food and beverage industries have made significant progress since the FTC and the Department of Health and Human Services" began examining the issue in 2005, an FTC release stated.

So it doesn't appear that the marketing of salty snacks, carbonated beverages and sugary cereals is a major cause of childhood obesity in the U.S., as was suggested when the FTC began checking into the matter. With a conclusion like that, there wasn't anything overly sensational for the media to cover.

We, however, found plenty of noteworthy points of interest within the report, and any in-store marketing professional who's ever inquired about the size of this industry -- it's long been the most-asked question fielded by the Institute -- probably will, too.

The FTC's findings certainly don't qualify as a full-blown report on industry spending, or even as a wholly credible benchmarking study (participating companies don't, for instance, report spending on all of their brands).

But because the FTC required companies to provide total marketing expenditures in addition to those specifically targeted to kids, the report does offer a rare glimpse at how 44 (mostly) leading packaged goods companies divvy up their marketing budgets, and how that mix varies by product category. Nearly all the top in-store marketing players -- P&G, Kraft, Kellogg, PepsiCo, General Mills, Unilever, Coca-Cola -- are represented in the statistics.

The bottom-line learning is that in-store marketing commands the second largest piece of the pie (although it does get a much smaller slice than TV advertising. See more below). For us, that's definitely worth a bit of a splash.

Where there's a will, there's a Simple Mealtime Idea: Product marketers still lamenting the fact that Walmart's 2008 display guidelines have severely limited in-store branding opportunities should take note: This month, Kraft earned itself an entire branded aisle in supercenters by giving the chain an exclusive, integrated program centered on quick-fix meal ideas. It's just the latest example of how innovative thinking can produce exceptions to almost any rule. See the images here.

Peter Breen
Managing Director, Content
In-Store Marketing Institute

Members: More information here.

Research: FTC Report on Marketing to Children

In Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents: A Review of Industry Expenditures, Activities, and Self-Regulation, the Federal Trade Commission presents data on the marketing activity of 44 packaged goods companies. Collectively, these CPGs devote about 9% of their marketing budgets to displays, promotions, and other in-store activity.

Members, view the report.

Lecture Hall: "Building Brands at Retail: The Hershey Experience" by Michelle Gloeckler, Hershey, and Ken Nisch, JGA

In a highly rated presentation from April's In-Store Marketing Summit, Michelle Gloeckler, vice president and general manager for The Hershey Experience, and Ken Nisch, chairman of design consultancy JGA, describe how the 100-year-old Hershey Co. regularly pushes the innovation envelope when activating its brands in a wide range of environments -- especially in its own retail outlets.

Members: View the presentation.

Store Check: Kmart's "Marketplace" Format

The Chicago suburb of Rockford, IL, is home to -- not one, but two -- Kmart stores that are unlike any others in the 1,300-unit chain. The locations were remodeled last fall using an experimental design, christened "Marketplace," that attempts to better serve customer needs through improved layout, adjacencies, services and product selection.

Members: View the store check.

Retailer Profiles: Rite Aid

Its acquisition of the Brooks/Eckerd operation in 2007 moved it much closer to Walgreens and CVS in terms of store count. But in the minds of many consumer product manufacturers, Rite Aid remained a distant third in the drugstore channel. Now, the chain is seeking to forge stronger bonds with product vendors as it tries to establish itself as a multi-faceted health resource for shoppers. Our coverage includes recent store photos provided by Carroll Media Services, Atlanta, a new Institute partner.

Members: View the profile.

Research: "Purchase Behavior Among 'Health and Sustainability' Shoppers" by The Nielsen Co. and the Natural Marketing Institute

Walmart is so far ahead of the curve when it comes to environmental sustainability that some of its most loyal shoppers haven't felt compelled to follow. At Nielsen's Consumer 360 conference last June, Nielsen's Todd Hale and representatives from NMI segmented U.S. consumers into an environment-conscious spectrum ranging from the blissfully "unconcerned" to those actively living "lifestyles of health and sustainability," and discussed how those attitudinal differences affect purchase behavior.

Members: View the research.

Welcome New Institute Members

The In-Store Marketing Institute is delighted to welcome new and renewing members to the Institute family. Below is a list of the companies that signed up recently. Welcome aboard.

• AAA Publishing
• ALL YOU Magazine
• Arnold Worldwide
• Avery Dennison
• Barr Benedett Group LLC
• Black & Decker
• Brunner Inc.
• Callahan Creek
• Cascade Designs
• Darko Inc.
• Dr Pepper Snapple Group
• DS-IQ
• EWI Worldwide
• Fame, A Retail Brand Agency
• The Garvey Group
• Insignia Systems Inc.
• Kendal King Group
• LEGO Systems Inc.
• Liberty Diversified Industries
• L'Oreal
• Marketing Support Inc.
• McCormick & Co.
• Mediaedge
• Mercury Mambo
• Meridian Display
• Michigan State University
• Midland Container
• Ovation In-Store
• PowerPact LLC
• Publicis Dialog
• Pudik Graphics
• The Retail Communication Group
• The Seattle Times Company
• Skyline Retail Solutions Group
• SMP Display & Design Group
• Stephens Direct
• TPN
• University of Arkansas, Sam Walton College of Business
• Watt International
• Wolverine World Wide Inc.
• Wyse Advertising