This week as I entered my local Safeway to pick up some staples (paper towels, toilet paper, toothpaste, etc.), I was immediately approached by a Safeway associate. The cheerful associate asked if I wanted to join the Safeway rewards program. I tried to decline the offer by telling her that I was a Safeway club card member, but she (politely) interrupted me to introduce me to the latest and greatest in rewards programs, Safeway’s new Just For U campaign. She was carrying an ipad with which she showed me the potential offers and savings that could exist through the program beyond the Safeway club card. I asked her how long it would take to set up and she claimed two minutes…about ten minutes later, I was a new member of the Safeway Just For U program.
The Just For U program is “an online and mobile coupon application that tailors discounts based on a customer’s shopping history.” (Douglas, 2012, para. 1). The original rewards program, the Safeway club card, tracks customers’ shopping habits and the Just For U program sends coupons and special offers to the customers based on its findings. The campaign also is Safeway’s first mobile campaign with Just For You apps compatible with both iPhone and Android (Douglas, 2012). The Just For You program appeared to be a less intrusive way for Safeway to learn about their customers’ shopping habits and react accordingly in their pricing.
As with anything that I do, as soon as I got home, I jumped on my laptop to research this campaign. I was pretty impressed with what I uncovered. While the idea of the program was interesting, it was the method in which they are marketing the campaign that really grabbed my attention. The first that I had heard of the Just For U campaign was from the bright-eyed associate with the ipad in hand; however, when I Googled the term “Safeway Just For U”, the results rendered tons of blog sites written mostly by moms who blog about saving money.
Through reading some of the blogs, I learned that the blogs were a key component in the Safeway Just For U marketing campaign. In fact, Safeway had held a major event when kicking off the Just for U campaign by inviting bloggers to come and shop (using a $100 gift certificate as an incentive). Not surprisingly, several of the blogs had favorable things to say about the new program. What a novel idea! Get bloggers with thousands, potentially millions, of followers, to come to the store and buy your products with only having to spend $100 per blogger. While rewards programs are nothing new to any consumer, the way that Safeway utilized the everyday blogger to spread the word and support its campaign was cost effective and creative as a new way of reaching the typical Safeway consumer.
References:
Douglas, D. (June 17, 2012). Safeway takes club card to the next level. The Washington Post. Retrieved from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/safeway-takes-club-card-to-the-next-level/2012/06/15/gJQAuH9hjV_story.html.
Marisa. (June 26, 2012). Save big on groceries with Safeway Just For U program. Retrieved from: http://thepennywisemama.com/2012/06/save-big-on-groceries-with-safeway-just-for-u-program.html
Mommies with Cents. Retrieved from: http://www.mommieswithcents.com/category/groceries/safeway
Queen Bee Coupons. Retrieved from: http://queenbeecoupons.com/safeway-sign-up-for-just-for-you-get-free-groceries/
You Tube. (January 31, 2012). Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc4t72cpyj8&feature=related.
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