Dive Brief:
- Mondelez has been working with Albertsons on a promotional program this year to get one more package of Oreos into existing customers' shopping baskets, according to CPG Matters. The partnership came because about 20% of Mondelez's product sales with Albertsons are from the iconic cookie brand. Oreos make up about 10% of Albertsons' sales in the cookie and cracker category.
- One earlier approach involved a "National Dunk Challenge" in February that promoted Oreos and milk. It also overlapped with Albertsons' Monopoly game. Another contest asked Albertsons' customers to vote on the next new Oreo flavor.
- "We are very aware that our growth fully depends on the growth of key brands and vendors," Kendal Callender, director of shopper marketing for Albertsons, told CPG Matters. "If they don’t grow, we don’t grow. We need to run programs that drive sales for them."
Dive Insight:
This collaboration between Mondelez and Albertsons sounds like a win-win deal that could be replicated by even more food or beverage manufacturers and the retail outlets where their products are sold. It uses in-store promotions and also social media outlets — including websites, Facebook and Twitter — to attract and engage existing Oreo customers.
The two companies are obviously well aware of their interdependence and may have gravitated toward this particular strategy because of it. Customers who already have some loyalty to the brands involved are likely to have it reinforced through a regular calendar of activities targeted in their direction. If the cookies are top of mind for the shopper partly because of a promotion taking place at their nearby Albertsons, they may be more inclined to pick up an extra package of Oreos — further boosting the synergies between the retailer and cookie maker.
This cross-promotion echoes other collaborations, including last year's partnership between Walmart and Hostess that saw the company's frozen Deep Fried Twinkies developed in the test kitchens at the retailer's food lab in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart has said that kind of product development process can cut costs and move a product onto store shelves faster.
7-Eleven and General Mills also announced last month they are teaming up again, this time to introduce the new Pillsbury Stuffed Waffle.The new breakfast item will be available exclusively at 7-Eleven stores. And Dollar General announced in May it would offer exclusive branded products for the summer, including Oreo Mississippi Mud Pie cookies, a 16-ounce Coca-Cola can series honoring military veterans, Regal Cinemas brand popcorn and an exclusive six-pack of Motts mango juice.
These kinds of tie-ups are commonplace in the industry today as retailers and CPG manufacturers look to increase buzz for a product while giving people a reason to shop for something that they can't get anywhere else.
As the Mondelez and Albertsons experience shows, these partnerships can work out with sufficient advance planning. The Oreo maker reportedly set a two-year lead-up to its "Year of Oreo" promotion, which provided time to thoroughly examine the economics involved and enhance creativity.
No doubt we will see more of these cross-promotional programs in the future as long as they continue to deliver for both manufacturers and retailers.