Driving March Madness Sales with our First-ever Digital Gatefold

Next week in the March 21 National Digital Ad, IGA is launching its first ever digital gatefold—an exciting new feature in the National Digital Ad digital circular designed to add an extra layer of promotion to a specific national offer. 

With this CPG-funded effort, Coca-Cola brings a unique shopper promotion that combines a strong Powerade offer with a national March Madness themed shopper sweepstakes, all presented with eye-catching images and video on a Powerade-devoted page within the National Digital Ad digital circular. What makes this promotion even more impactful is that Coca-Cola has committed extra funding to buy targeted digital ads promoting the offer to shoppers in every IGA community. 

How it Works

Coca-Cola buys targeted local digital advertising in places your shoppers frequent online promoting the offer: 

• Buy (4) 28oz Powerade Get One FREE
• $1 Off (2) Powerade multipacks

And advertises the Powerade sweepstakes, which gives shoppers the chance to win:

• 1 of 4 Powerade coolers
• 1 of 10 Powerade waterproof speakers

Note: Want to promote the sweepstakes on your social media pages? Click here to download a graphic you can share, and point shoppers to the sweepstakes website: http://cokeplaytowin.com/iga. 

What does it mean for retailers?

The Powerade digital gatefold is great news for retailers, because Coca-Cola (through Powerade) is paying to drive traffic to the National Digital Ad at no cost to the retailer. Shoppers receive great offers, which results in a product sales lift and revenue increase for the retailer. It's a win-win-win.

"It's a great way to attract shoppers to our store's digital circulars and in turn, to their local IGA store," says IGA Vice President of Business Partnerships Heidi Huff. "Through this gatefold, we're delivering engaging, attractive online content to our shoppers that translates to increased sales and bigger basket size in the store."     

How do CPGs benefit?

CPGs are the third beneficiary of the win-win-win situation (retailers, shoppers, CPGs), because they can directly target a specific audience—in this case, Powerade consumers and athletes—and measure the results of the campaign.

Other benefits include:

• Co-branded connection to a local IGA brand
• Shorter shopping cycle—the ad drives traffic directly to the IGA store
• Ability to include multiple products, animations, videos, and links
• Great platform for both deal-related content and new product launches

So how does the introduction of the digital gatefold affect the National Digital Ad going forward? "It's really a natural progression of the ad," Huff says. "CPG companies are beginning to see more and more value in the National Digital Ad and are looking for ways to contribute more dollars to promotion. That means we at IGA are looking for ever-more creative features that will help them engage shoppers. We appreciate Coca-Cola paving the way with this first gatefold. Now going you'll see more and more of them going forward." Including, according to Huff, a digital gatefold promoting a Purina offers, the Purple Leash Project, and the IGA Purina Picture Paw-fect Pet Photo Contest this May. 

What do retailers need to do?

Ready to get in on the fun?

IGA retailers will automatically benefit from this digital gatefold, since it's a national campaign included in the National Digital Ad, which IGA has invested in for each retailer. All you need to do to take full advantage of the offer is to program the offer into your POS, hang the shelf signs, and promote on social media using available graphics (watch your email for those graphics, launching March 21). 

If you're ready to step up your digital advertising, contact us to learn more about shifting some of your print budget into the National Digital Ad. We can show you how adding your local content and offers will increase shopper eyes on the digital circular and drive in-store sales. 

Have questions? Contact IGA's Heidi Huff at hhuff@igainc.com.