Save-a-Lot Food Stores

SNAPSHOT:

In the span of just a few weeks, the "Just Look at the Receiptâ" campaign for Save-a-Lot turned around flat sales at the nation's fifth largest grocery chain. The key: the "no-frillsâ positioning helped consumers understand the real experience at the store. In no time, the people we needed to reach were coming through the door.

Key Challenge:

When Save-A-Lot, a deep discount, limited assortment grocer, first came to us about four years ago, it confronted a difficult set of problems. Even though it was the fifth largest grocer in the nation, sales were flat and the chain was not competing successfully in the face of ever-growing competition, such as conventional grocers and major discounters such as Wal-Mart. The company had no real, distinctive brand image or position. The typical consumer looking at Save-A-Lot's marketing would expect the store to be just like a regular grocery store, but with somewhat lower prices. This did not define the reality of the stores and was simply not enough to distinguish the brand and drive a high volume of growth.

The actual brand experience at Save-A-Lot is far different from the opaque image it projected. Save-A-Lot stores are not the typical grocery store. Their merchandise is 80% private label, the assortment and selection of goods is limited, and the stores are much smaller than the superstores operated by mainstream grocers (15,000 square feet vs. 40,000 square feet or more). So, if the unsuspecting consumer entered a Save-A-Lot for the first time, she would probably find a store much different from her expectations.

Not surprisingly, the company's research found that three out of four consumers simply rejected the store model after one visit, they never came back.

Our job was to bring perception into line with reality and find the "true believers" for whom this reality was a positive experience the Save-A-Lot store experience is what could save them 40% on their groceries.

The agency's contribution:

During Save-A-Lot's BrandSmart process, we found just how wide the gap was between the perception of the Save-A-Lot brand and the reality of the experience. Once we made that discovery, we knew that we needed to make the true essence of the brand clear to the people we were trying to reach. That was the only way they would fully embrace the store concept and accept the no-frills environment. The insight was in showing the proof, and the proof was found in one place: "Just look at the receipt."

We needed to convince the target market that Save-A-Lot would, indeed, save them 40% on their groceries and that this was possible simply because they are a different kind of grocery store, one with no frills and no nonsense (such as high-priced Cappuccino bars or lobster tanks).

Crisp, hard-hitting:15 second spots, bought as bookends, told a simple story: "no frills" at Save-A-Lot will consistently save you 40% on groceries. Everything Save-A-Lot does is now centered on that idea: circulars, outdoor, in-store presentations and displays even the in-store receipt itself.

Television and radio drive the business strongly in most markets, with circulars targeting neighborhoods around individual stores. We have worked with individual licensees on the local marketing of their stores, we've conducted grand openings, and we've managed brand and retail activities in ethnic markets, both African American and Hispanic.

Market results:

In less than three weeks from the "Just Look at the Receipt" campaign launch, Save-A-Lot's sales were setting records. The campaign had completely redefined the company and was building store traffic. When the client tested their new ads with an independent research firm specializing in day-after recall tests, the results were astounding: Save-A-Lot's spots had the single highest recall ratings ever tested out of 14,000 commercials. Three and a half years after the campaign launched, sales are still up (3% now, compared to an initial 10% jump in year one and 5% in year two). The past year makes these numbers even more impressive, since the grocery category as a whole is in a decline because of the growth of Wal-Mart.

The Wall Street Journal even ran a front-page, double-column, above-the-fold story on Save-A-Lot and their success. A phrase in the headline is directly from the advertising we created for them: "No Frills." Simply telling the story with clarity and conviction has transformed this once sleepy brand.

• 

  "Canned Corn"
  | 30 Second TV Spot

• 

  "Groceries"
  | 30 Second TV Spot