Doritos & DG promotion

This article was taken from In-store Marketer.

Doritos Picks a Fight with Dollar General

By Jean Luo

Dollar General is helping Frito-Lay select a new flavor for the Doritos brand portfolio.

The "Fight for the Flavor" contest urges shoppers to vote either for Wild White Nacho or Smokin' Cheddar BBQ to join the Doritos lineup. Voters are automatically registered in an instant-win game that awards a year's supply of Doritos (via 52 coupons for single bags) to 10 grand-prize winners and branded T-shirts to 5,000 others.

Floorstands co-branded with the chain's logo instruct shoppers to text-message their votes and proclaim, "For a limited time at Dollar General." (See Image at right.)

Frito-Lay is conducting the campaign nationally by delivering on-pack game codes consumers enter on a special web site. The promotion launched in late February with dedicated TV spots.

In other news, Dollar General reported sales of $9.2 billion for fiscal 2006 (ended 2/2/07), a 6.8% increase from the previous year that includes a 3.3% increase in same-store sales. During the year, the chain opened 537 stores and closed 237, including 128 units shuttered in an initiative to become more strategic about locations. In fourth-quarter 2006, sales increased 3.0% to $2.6 billion as same-store sales rose 5.8%.

Goodlettsville, TN-based Dollar General operates 8,260 stores (as of March 2007). The company was recently acquired for $7.3 billion by equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., which will make it a private entity.

Published: April 2007

Source: In-Store Marketing Institute