Kroger (Simple Truth) commercial airing nationally

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trainman
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Kroger (Simple Truth) commercial airing nationally

Post by trainman »

I was surprised to see a commercial for Kroger's Simple Truth brand running as a national ad during the broadcast of the Golden Globes this past Sunday (1/6/19). It did end with a full-screen "available at these stores" graphic showing the logos of the various Kroger nameplates.

The surprise, of course, is that they're not as national as Walmart, which was also running national ads on the broadcast. But I guess they've decided that confounding viewers in Boston and Tampa is worth it in exchange for the economies of scale that can come from doing national TV advertising instead of placing local spots in each market where they operate.
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Re: Kroger (Simple Truth) commercial airing nationally

Post by SamSpade »

Remember Kroger also owns Vitacost.com which (if you believe their executives) ships items to several areas where Kroger company stores do not operate (ie. New York City). It also sells Simple Truth offerings.
https://www.vitacost.com/
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Re: Kroger (Simple Truth) commercial airing nationally

Post by storewanderer »

Vitacost is a pretty big website and I am sure it ships quite a few items outside Kroger store territory. It took them years to finally get Simple Truth items on there and it seems to be a pretty limited number of SKUs (under 500 unique SKUs total). Maybe they are avoiding certain categories that may not ship well like beverages where Simple Truth has probably hundreds of SKUs now between the various water types (shelf stable, coconut, sparkling, etc.) and other things like juices, etc.

Private label has continued to be a real strong point of Kroger; one of the few things they have not royally screwed up the past couple of years.
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Re: Kroger (Simple Truth) commercial airing nationally

Post by BillyGr »

On a similar thought, there have been brands over the years that have advertised on national shows when they were also not in all areas.

I guess it could also be helpful (at least occasionally) if someone in those areas was travelling, as if they needed something and didn't know any of the store chains (or fuel brands or whatever) in that area, they might remember the one they had heard about on an ad and go there?
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Re: Kroger (Simple Truth) commercial airing nationally

Post by BreakingThrough »

This commercial is also in rotation on the in-house TV channel run by 24 Hour Fitness that airs on screens in all of its gyms around the country. Noticed it last night while I was at my local 24. Good targeting IMO.
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Re: Kroger (Simple Truth) commercial airing nationally

Post by mbz321 »

I heard this commercial in the Philly market on an iHeatRadio station. At the end it states, 'Available at the Kroger family of Stores' (which we all know none of which are in the Northeast, unless you are counting Vitacost like mentioned, but that would be a big stretch. Someone goofed somewhere.
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Re: Kroger (Simple Truth) commercial airing nationally

Post by storewanderer »

I think one of Kroger's goals is to be able to ship groceries to customers anytime anywhere so maybe this is a sort of pre-advertising for that initiative. Assuming that initiative ever gets off the ground.

I'd like to see them enter some new markets with the Ocado warehouses, assuming those ever get off the ground. NorCal... does enough .com business to keep Safeway.com going and Raleys eCart in full swing. And Kroger can kill those two on price.
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