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The supermarket catalog has been in use for as long as I can remember, every week we get one from Coles, Woolworths and IGA. Coles now puts their catalog in the front of the store so you can pick it up as you enter the store. Its a good way of Coles to communicate with customers , I picked up an old one we had lying around the house, inside it features the "down and staying down" phrase and logo, this weeks specials, information about their big red hand competition, Coles new sports for schools reward program, Coles car insurance and a recipe in the middle. I have to wonder the effectiveness of the catalog as I have rarely read one, we put no junk mail on our letterbox to avoid getting these things and when we did get them they would instantly go into the bin.

In the newspaper each week there are full page advertisements from both Coles and Woolworths

I also re watched an episode of Gruen Transfer as I thought it may help as it was on supermarkets. During the Gruen Transfer episode one, of season 4 Dee Madigan stated that "10% of customers decide where they are going to shop based on the print advertisements in newspapers" "and in June 2011 Coles was spending $1,000,000 a week on television ads'

References

The Gruen Transfer, Episode 1, Season 4

Outdoor

Its hard to escape the down and staying down campaign of Coles, most of my exposure to the advertising was through television and radio but now I am seeing them on the outdoor posters at bus stops. Overnight everywhere I now see the outdoor posters.
The photo pictured is on Alfred St at Circular Quay, Most of the bus stops in that area had Coles Prices are Down advertising. The same day when I was near home on the closest bus stop with outdoor advertising I saw another Coles ad so the outdoor advertising was all launched at the same time.

Instore Promotion

This weekend noticed that some Coles employees are wearing the big red hand, only a few are wearing it so not sure what the strategy is, why aren't all the employees wearing it if the goal is to get awareness. I took a photograph of the employee's badge(please excuse the poor picture quality), he suggested if I like to get one of the big red hands from the customer service desk, unfortunately they had run out.

I believe continually showing the big red hand symbol increases recall of Coles's prices are down and staying down advertising campaign and keeps it top of mind as this is the visual symbol of the campaign.

Also saw in the deli section the big red hand with Down and staying down on a poster advertising that weeks special of prawns, these had been advertised that week on television and the poster was a good way of instantly reminding me of the commercial I had since forgotten.

There was also the in store radio with Coles radio advertising.

Coles on Facebook

I finally found the official Coles page on Facebook, the use of this interactive media allows customers and employees to communicate with the company. It seems to be working well as all the comments are pretty positive although one would assume there would have to be some sort of censoring. On the Facebook page Coles ran a competition involving its symbolic big red hand that is associated with the "prices are down and staying down" campaign. The prize being a holiday to New York, the competition finished this month, the terms are as follows

Prize Details

Picture yourself Down Down.
Win a trip for four to downtown New York!

Upload a fun image of you celebrating our down down prices with the BIG RED HAND and go into the running to win an amazing trip for four to the ultra cool downtown New York.
How to Enter

1. Collect a BIG RED HAND from your nearest Coles store.
(Or download the PDF version from this page)
2. Get creative and take a picture of you, your mates or your family doing something fun with the BIG RED HAND.
3. Upload your photos to our competition page.
4. Share with everyone you know to make sure you get the most votes possible.

Prize Eligibility
Only persons residing in Australia who are at least 15 years of age can enter.
Contest Opens
July 12, 2011 @ 09:00 am (EST)
Contest Closes
August 15, 2011 @ 11:59 pm (EST)

The "Big Red Hand" has become a recognisable logo for the Coles brand in such a short time it is incredible. The Coles facebook page is quite well set up with an online customer care section (phone numbers are also available) and links to other Coles facebook pages "Coles online" where orders for home delievery can be made and "Coles recepies" with celebrity chef Curtis Stone is a winner, it features recepies and videos.

The Coles Online facebook page is an excellent example of 2 way communication from Coles, with questions and comments usually getting feedback within the hour


The main downside with the Coles facebook page is that it is under utilised, the 3 pages all have less than 10,000 fans with the official Coles page having just over 5,000. Quite amazing when you consider that the NSW Police force has 55,963 and Coles is a national brand that spends a lot getting its name out there.

References
http://www.facebook.com/ColesRecipes
http://www.facebook.com/coles
http://www.facebook.com/nswpoliceforce
http://www.facebook.com/Coles-Online#!

YouTube

I came across the ColesSupermarkets’s YouTube Channel. It features 18 television commercials, some current and some not going back to Christmas last year.
I watched the current one minute Coles Down Down commercial, it was quite intresting and being able to replay the commercial I noticed a two things I would not of noticed with just one view

1. Products that feature in other Coles commercials as discounted are promintally and repeatedly on display in the background even though there is no mention of any products in this commercial just the general message that prices are down down. (Sorbent toilet paper, Huggies nappies, ColdPower, Lipton tea, Fab, Moro olive oil)

2. The commercial in parts is very much void of color, the people in the commercial that portray customers are generally dressed in light colours or grey. This contrasting is quite effective and causes you to focus on their bright red hand which Coles has made their logo and associates with saving, the store people dressed in blue or the main character who sings and talks and is dressed in a bright white shirt.

The commercial pans out and ends with a mission statement from Coles with the backgroung their trademark red.

Blog Entry 1, An Introduction

Coles Staff photo, Circa 1960

My chosen campaign is the Coles “Prices are down and staying down" The campaign has been going for about a year now, Ad agency BBD originally held the account but since March 2011 it is exclusively handled by Big Red.*1

The campaign features a large red hand, a catchy jingle(down down, sung to the tune of the 1964 hit song Down Town by Petula Clark)
The campaign has been run over various media from print, television advertising, sponsorship of masterchef and it has been reported that in July 2011 there will be a Facebook page launched by Coles.*2
I have looked long and hard and am yet to find it (was it removed?)

After brief look over Coles sales results you could say the campaign has been a success, for the last 12 months Coles has outperformed its nearest bigger retail competitor Woolworth with sales up 6.7% over the previous 12 months compared with Woolworths 4.6% *3 as well as outperforming other retailers Bunnings Warehouse, Target, Kmart and Officeworks.*4

References
1 http://www.campaignbrief.com/2010/12/ted-hortons-big-red-agency-tak.html
2 http://www.watoday.com.au/business/internet-critics-discount-coles-campaign-but-retailer-unfazed-20110707-1h4eo.html
3 http://www.insideretailing.com.au/IR/IRNews/Coles-trumps-Woolies-in-sales-growth-1787.aspx
4 http://www.supplychainreview.com.au/news/articleid/75034.aspx