We were conacted yesterday by the owners of a local high profile IGA independent supermarket which is in a major shopping centre in our immediate adjacent suburb. Their customer base comes from our catchment areas.
They offered us the opportunity to be involved in a marketing campaign in their store where they have a bank of 42" TV screens above the checkouts playing infomercials for local businesses. The ads run for 20 - 30 seconds on a continual sequence over the time they are open.
If we decide to participate we will be the only pizza outlet shown. Listed participants will be limited so each get multiple view seach day. They do all the production work to set up the ad and we pay a weekly fee of $26 on a 12 months contract.
The proposition seems good as they do good trade in a major centre that has just been listed by the government as a tourist precinct. The centre trades 7 days so the ad is there for everyone to see on whatever day they go to the store.
I am meeting with them today to get an overview and finer points of the concept, but would welcome any thoughts.
One thing I am going to push for inclusion if we go ahead is that we get a DL size flyer with 3 coupons inserted in the customers grocery bags. Each checkout will have them and either give them to the customer when they give them chnage and the dpurchase docket or the checkout operator places them in a bag.
I made the mistake of doing this at a local sporting complex. There were 35 advertisers on the board so my ad was only on for 30 seconds of every 17.5 minutes. The response for this ad campaign netted me a grand total of 3 customers in 1 year. I guess you could say I paid the fools tax on this one. I would have been further ahead to give a free pizza away every time there was a sporting event there (at least someone would have tasted my product that way).
Well, I read somewhere that a new customer is worth about $750US apiece, so $2200 on three customers. At $26 a week for the ad, that’s $1352/year. At least is could be a net positive if you score 3 customers. If we had that chance, I think we would do it. $100 a month for exposure in a major marketplace. The once every 17.5 minutes is sobering to consider, though. I would want to know how many customers check out every 17.5 minutes on average. I know there will be lots of dead runs where no one sees it, but that’s the crap shoot.
i just did a quick report on my POS and found I have gained close to 1600 customers in the past 12 months. The 3 customers I gained from this type of promotion represents 0.18% of my new customers. The promotion cost me about 5% of my advertising expenses. I still think I paid a fools tax on this one.
Just got back from meeting with the company rep and found the usual “hidden” facts.
Untruth 1) The person who contacted me saying they were from the IGA was in fact a person from the advertising company
Untruth 2) We were quoted ad runs at $26 “averaging” 20 - 30 seconds. Fact was the $26 was for a 10 second ad and it goes up $4 for every 5 seconds so a 30 second ad would cost $42
Untruth 3) Limited numbers. They say they have 32 signed up but the end amount could be anywhere from that to 100.
Untruth 4) Annual amount was quoted but in fact you had to sign up for 2 years plus there was a admin fee of $239 which was never mentioned
Untruth 5) Bank of screens was actually only one
They wanted us to sign up on the spot and got irritated when I said I wanted to check numbers and do a feasability study. The rep kept saying the appointment was made on the proviso that I would make a decision there and then which I siad I didn’t operate that way, so we agreed to disagree and he went on his way.
Truth 1) We didn’t particpate
Truth 2) We save our “fools tax”
Truth 3) I got caught out on a slick over the phone “contact”
Truth 4) Always post on the TT forum so you get feedback from others
Thanks Richard and Nick - 2 fellow fat, baldies for your input.
That type of advertising has all but gone away in our area…I can only assume that the advertisers did not get enough of a return to continue…The high pressure sales pitch would have caused me to run for cover…
GREAT call getting a face to face so quickly. That sort of sales tactic is generally reserved in the USA for time shares and shares in the Brooklyn Bridge. I am amazed and the audacity of giving blatant misinformation on the phone call . . . I guess the rank and file of people will bite the hook, line and sinker without asking the detailed questions you asked.
Yeah and I faced him out of the shop even quicker.
Hate being taken for a sucker and hate it more when they try and get demanding to close the sale. Hard to do on me with 25 years experience in sales and sales management training staff on selling. Seen it all and heard it all.
Once the lies came out it was a case of pack up your bag and get on the plane back to where you came from.
Video is still a great idea though, and working with the super market to place coupons in grocery bags an excellent idea as well.
Just out of curoisity, did they say how much the production for the video would cost? Were you allowed to keep the video after it was finished, play it in other venues? Rip the audio off of it, and play on local radio stations? What would be the cost of the ad above the cash registers if you brought in your own video? Assuming you found a different, and more legit advertising offer…
My brother does filming and post production editing for commercials freelance. It is interesting how much he is ticking off local tv stations. He’s offering high definition filming (something tv stations aren’t doing yet), two 30 second commercials, two fifteen second tags, and a minute and a half for $4000. The catch is, you have to place the video yourself. Most tv stations and other productions houses though charge the 4k just for a single 30 second, plus you still have to pay for the air time too, then they don’t give you the raw footage or the audio by itself for radio ads…
…anyway, shameless plug for my brother. Lucky me though, he said if I ever get my shop open he’d do the filming and post production editing for free. 8)
Always thought about putting the video on tv or internet, but had never given any thought to grocery stores. How about gas stations? I filled up the other day at a station in Houston…they played video ads at the pump. I stood there for five minutes watching, wondering why the pump hadn’t started yet. Then, finally noticed the sign–cash to be paid inside.
I’ve also seen video screens above urinals, but don’t know how much I would really want to advertise food in a local like the men’s room.
In my case it was basically a power point slide show of advertisers that was looped. No audio and the production for a 30 second slide in the series was about $200 for a setup fee. Like I mentioned before I paid my fools tax on that one.