Frozen Foods Have a 'Monster' Month

The National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association is leveraging yet another animated film to activate its Frozen Food Month promotions in stores.Mimicking campaigns from 2007 and 2006, the NFRA anchors this year's month-long campaign with a tie-in to the March 27 release of DreamWorks Animation's kid-targeting Monsters vs. Aliens. Characters from the film appear on standees, posters, cooler clings, floor graphics and other P-O-P materials from both NFRA and sponsoring packaged goods manufacturers. The campaign is sponsored by 27 frozen-food brands from ConAgra Foods, Dole, Birds Eye Foods, General Mills, Kellogg Co., Kraft Foods, Nestle, Pinnacle Foods, Sara Lee, Schwan Food Co., Tyson, Welch's, Ateeco, On-Cor, SeaPak and other manufacturers. This year's NFRA program again includes a consumer website dubbed "Easy Home Meals," which features recipes and highlights participating brands.The NFRA kicked off the campaign on March 1 with an FSI drop communicating a "Monstrous Frozen Foods" sweeps awarding a grand-prize $5,000 and five first prizes of $1,000. Entry is online or by mail from Feb. 15 to April 30.Meijer pairs with the NFRA and Schwan's Red Baron for a overlay to the sweeps that rewards the grand-prize winner with a Caribbean cruise for four and two first-prize winners with $5,000 store gift cards to buy a year's supply of frozen food, groceries and gas. Additional prizes include 10 $500 gift cards to buy entertainment items and 10 $250 cards for frozen foods. Entry is online or at in-store contest stands from March 1 to April 8. Meijer also offers $50 in coupons for frozen foods on its MealBox website and hosts sampling events every Saturday from March 7 to April 4.In brand-specific activity, ConAgra's Kid Cuisine features Monsters vs. Aliens characters on product packaging and hosts a "Top Secret Monster Mission" instant-win game. The grand-prize winner receives $1,000 and a year's supply of movie tickets (as a debit card with $2,050 in credit); 2,000 additional winners get a free ticket to Monsters vs. Aliens (or any other G- or PG-rated film). Entry is online with on-pack game codes from Feb. 18 to May 31. Floor clings and other graphics communicate the promotion in stores.Frozen food manufacturers Gorton's, Pinnacle Foods, Windsor Quality Foods and Armour-Eckrich also communicated incentive offers in March 1 FSIs. (See Related Articles.)Supermarkets adorned their frozen food aisles with signs and other P-O-P materials for the national campaign, and paired with CPGs for account-specific sweepstakes, rebates and sales. Among the activity:Safeway encourages shoppers to "Chill Out at Home" by hosting a stock-up incentive from Feb. 25 to March 31. Stores offer a $10 coupon for a single-trip purchase of $25 in frozen-food items from private labels and national brands. Violators, cooler clings and endcap headers communicate the offer in freezer aisles, while shelf tags identify hundreds of participating items. &nbspSupervalu chains feature price promotions on frozen-food items in March circulars. Chicago-based Jewel-Osco kicked off promotional activity in February by staging its annual "Frozen Food Sale," which consists of three weeks of sales and a sweeps co-sponsored by the NFRA. From Feb. 8 to March 1, shoppers who bought any two frozen-food items were automatically entered into a sweeps awarding a grand-prize trip to Puerto Rico. As in years past, Jewel launched the sales event with a two-day offer for a $149.99 Igloo cooler filled with $150 worth of product coupons. Ceiling banners and cooler clings communicated the offers in stores. The chain also distributed a stand-alone circular for frozen foods on Feb. 8. Sister chain Shaw's supports the national campaign with a sweeps awarding a year of free groceries (via $5,200 in store gift cards) to the grand-prize winner and store gift cards of $250 or $500 to 12 others. Frequent-shopper cardholders are automatically entered with a single-trip purchase of $20 in qualifying items, which included SKUs from Nestle, ConAgra, Birds Eye and Schwan. The promotion runs Feb. 27 to March 26.&nbspA&P and sister chain Pathmark award $10 off a future shopping trip with purchase of $75 in frozen-food items between Feb. 27 and March 26. Qualifying items include both national-brand and private-label SKUs. The offer is featured in weekly circulars and supported by ceiling banners, cooler clings and other materials. &nbspAhold USA's Giant-Carlisle offered a discount of 20 cents per gallon at store gas stations to loyalty cardholders who bought seven frozen products in a single trip from March 1-7. The chain then dangled $5 or $10 in future savings with a combined purchase of $15 or $20, respectively, in items from March 15-21. &nbspKroger is hosting a "Frozen Food Mega Event," dangling $5 off at checkout with purchase of 10 frozen SKUs. Shelf tags identify the qualifying items, which include SKUs from Nestle, Schwan, Gorton's, Tyson and the Kroger brand. &nbspPittsburgh-based Giant Eagle dangles a free DVD rental from in-store Redbox automated kiosks to frequent-shopper cardholders who buy $15 in select SKUs. Shoppers also earn $1, $2 or $4 off a future trip with purchase of $15, $20 or $30 in the participating SKUs, which include Frozen Food Month sponsors and private-label items. The offers run from Feb. 26 to March 25.&nbspWinn-Dixie staged a fundraising campaign for hunger relief network Feeding America, pledging to support the non-profit with proceeds from sales of Gorton's, SeaPak and Birds Eye Foods from Feb. 25 to March 10.

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