Overview

Nestlé's HOT POCKETS® brand sandwiches lead the frozen sandwich category. They are purchased by Moms but are primarily consumed by teenagers who like the taste as well as the convenience of microwave cooking.

Challenge

Create a promotional event that reinforced the brand's "quick/easy/convenient" positioning, generated incremental consumer pull-through, and excited the retailer to provide maximum merchandising support for the event.

Solution

Gage developed and executed "Easy Meal, Easy Money,"a multi-tiered program that offered instant-win cash prizes inside the product packaging. Although the logistics were challenging, Gage loaded thousands of packages with over $200,000 in $1, $5 and $10 bills, as well as a $25,000 game piece.

In an innovative retailer twist to the program, HOT POCKETS® brand sandwiches provided special signage for participating retailers that guaranteed a $100 winner in each display. Gage managed the entire program, including the sweepstakes management and security concerns connected to seeding packages with cash.

Results

This was the most successful promotion in company history. HOT POCKETS® brand sandwiches experienced double-digit increases across the entire franchise for incremental volume and retailer display support.