Trader Joe's Spec. Advertising Campaign

The Facts

Our History:
With about 215 stores in 20 mostly West and East Coast states, Trader Joe’s offers upscale grocery fare such as health foods, organic produce, and nutritional supplements. To keep costs down, its stores have no service departments and average about 10,000 sq. ft. The company's specialty is its line of more than 2,000 private-label products, including beverages (its signature Charles Shaw brand wine sells for $2 a bottle – “Two-Buck Chuck”), soup, snacks, and frozen items. Started by Joe Coulombe as a Los Angeles convenience store chain in 1958, the company was bought in 1979 by German billionaires Karl and Theo Albrecht, who also own the ALDI food chain.

Mission Statement:
Each of our products must "stand on its own," meaning it must pay its own way. Each product passes certain criteria in order to earn its way onto our shelves – including a rigorous tasting panel.

What we are not:
We are not the weekly grocer. We do not expect our customers to do all their grocery shopping with us.

Who shops here:
Young singles
Young couples without kids
Middle-age childless couples
Middle-age singles

Creative Brief

Why are we advertising?
To establish Trader Joe’s as the #1 place for gourmet and health food as well as the #1 shopping experience.

What is the advertising trying to achieve?
Increased foot traffic, buzz and ultimately sales

To whom are we talking?
Young singles
Young couples without kids
Middle-age childless couples
Middle-age singles
Adventurous
Enjoy Traveling
Don’t necessarily have the money for everyday gourmet.

What do they currently think?
Health and gourmet food is too expensive for our budget. When we need that kind of food we will spend the extra money because expensive means better quality.

What would we like them to think?
Health and gourmet food can be affordable, and it does fit into my budget.

What is the single most persuasive idea we can convey?
Have you had your adventure today?

What is the best way of planting that idea?
WOM, Print Media

Why should we believe it?
Because Trader Joe’s is an experience, not a chore.

Are there any creative guidelines?
No

What Media Do We Use?

Print

Using print ads in magazines will hit the target market. The print ads will be put in magazines such as Rock and Ice, Budget Travel, and Total Health. These magazines were chosen because the target market of Trader Joe’s is adventurous, health conscience and enjoys travel.

Airports
Set up tiki huts with thatched roofs at airports near Trader Joe’s stores. We will sell small prepackaged items (e.g. trail mix, dried fruits, teas and coffees). At the Tiki huts we will have fliers that show where local Trader Joe’s Stores are.

Word of Mouth (WOM)
Word of mouth is Trader Joe’s biggest and best advertising tool. If we continue to be an experience over a chore, the positive WOM will continue to bring in new customers.

How to Measure the Effectiveness of the Campaign

In order to measure the effectiveness of the campaign, we first must know where we start. Before launching the campaign we must track how much foot traffic we currently have.

Once the campaign launches, we will track sales during the first week and then track sales every other week to see the change in sales. After we collect the data, we will do a comparison with the previous year’s sales to see the overall impact.

Also, we will place a quick survey on the credit/debit card machines for customers to click where they heard about Trader Joe’s.