Chilly Reception
Grocers gearing up for National Ice Cream Month promotions.
Summer is peak sales season for frozen desserts of all kinds, and grocers are taking advantage of National Ice Cream Month in July to step up promotional activities.
"We have month-long and summer-long promotions planned, which include in-store displays, ad mentions, and a store contest to promote ice cream and novelties," says Dave Marcus, frozen food category manager for Tyler, Texas-based Brookshire Grocery Co. "Our suppliers have stepped up promotional spending to assist with this very important selling period. We have offers for temporary price reductions and ads throughout National Ice Cream month, as well as the summer selling season."
Grocers can look to the National Frozen & Refrigerated Foods Association (NFRA) for promo ideas.
The Harrisburg, Pa.-based trade group (www.nfraweb.org) is again providing marketing and PR opportunities to promote ice cream and novelties during June and July. Two dozen leading brands are sponsoring this year's Summer Favorites Ice Cream & Novelties promotion, which includes a retail display contest, a consumer coupon and freezer giveaway, and many promotional resources to help reach out to shoppers and increase sales.
The display contest encourages retailers to develop creative merchandising displays and compete for the Golden Penguin Award. The displays will feature sponsoring brands and NFRA point-of-sale materials, as well as direct consumers to NFRA's Easy Home Meals website (www.easyhomemeals.com) and Facebook page to enter the giveaway. Entries are due Aug. 9; winners will be recognized at NFRA's annual convention in October.
Flurry of Flavors
New product releases are bound to get a little extra attention during July.
Hackettstown, N.J.-based Mars Chocolate North America has released three new pint flavors of its premium Dove ice cream, and is teaming up with Redbox to offer free movie rentals in specially marked multipack cartons of Snickers, Milky Way and Twix ice cream snacks.
Among its new releases, Brenham, Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries offers Italian Cream Cake, Key Lime Pie, Coconut Fudge, Mint Cookies 'n Cream, Lemon Bliss and the rereleased Caramel Turtle Cheesecake.
Conestoga, Pa.-based Turkey Hill Dairy is relaunching its All Natural Ice Cream line this year with a new package design. "That means no additives at all, just simple ingredients like milk, cream, sugar and delicious natural flavors," explains Colin Wright, senior trade relations coordinator.
Mooresville, N.C.-based Front Porch Carolina Churned Ice Cream has added four new flavors to its Southern-inspired ice cream line for distribution in regional Kroger and Walmart stores, including County Fair Fried Apple Pie and Happily Pineapply Upside Down Cake.
Bent on creating a "better" better-for-you ice cream, New York-based Beyond Better Foods this summer is rolling out Enlightened.
Packed with protein, fiber and flavor, each Enlightened bar has 70 calories, contains 8 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber and 20 percent of the RDA for calcium, but only 2 grams of fat and 3 grams of sugar. Available in Fudge, Coffee and Orange Cream, Enlightened bars don't contain artificial sweeteners, gluten, or milk from cows treated with synthetic hormones.