Anyone looking for drinks to keep themselves or guests quenched during Super Bowl Sunday will be hard pressed to forget to pick up a case of Coca-Cola or bottles of Bud Light in local grocery stores.
Elaborate brand displays -- think football goal posts made of Pepsi cans or a rushing player constructed of Dr Pepper boxes -- greet customers immediately when they walk into many stores.
The idea is to inspire consumers to fill their baskets up with beverages for the big game, whether that was their intention when coming to the store or not, experts say.
"The Super Bowl is the party event of the year," said Gary Hemphill, managing director of Beverage Marketing Corp., a research consultant to the beverage industry. "It's an opportunity to bolster beverage sales as well as snacks. A lot of beverage purchases are impulse and displays, particularly those next to the register, spur sales."
While the Super Bowl is not the biggest consumption time for the beverage industry -- that honor belongs to the Christmas season -- it does give the industry a boost during the January-February lull, when drink sales are generally flat.
"January is a fairly low sales month with a little uptick in February because of the Super Bowl," said John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest, an industry publication.
Ken Krasnow, senior director of marketing at Pepsi, said the company negotiates the space with retailers annually. "In general, in-store displays help keep product top-of-mind during key shopping windows," he said.
Katie Bayne, president and general manager of the sparkling division for Coke North America, said the strategy behind the displays goes deeper than upfront positioning. Companies must determine which brand sells best for which occasion, the right serving size for the event and the quantity customers will want to buy.
For the Super Bowl, the company is pushing Coke Zero, which it says is strong with young male fans of the nation's most watched sporting event and is also a strong choice for those trying to keep their New Year's resolution to shed pounds. Because it's a event shared with others, the drinks displayed come in 12- or 20-packs.
In contrast, the company will switch to displays of 1.25 liter bottles during the promotion for "American Idol," Bayne said.
Darrah Horgan, a spokeswoman for Whole Foods, said the key for retailers is making sure they are always thinking ahead. For instance, the Super Bowl displays will give way to those focusing on cupid on Monday.
"Sometime later next week, all the [metro Atlanta Whole Foods] stores will begin sampling events for Valentine's Day," she said. "It just sort of planting that seed."
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