SE Grocers, Coca-Cola, Nabisco Team for March Madness

Coca-Cola Co. and Mondelez International’s Nabisco have teamed up to activate their sponsorships of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for an account-specific sweepstakes running at Southeastern Grocers’ Winn-Dixie, Bi-Lo and Harveys during March Madness season.

Similar to Coca-Cola’s national “Sip. Scan. Score” March Madness sweeps, SE Grocers shoppers enter by visiting a dedicated microsite based on their local chain (e.g. coke.com/winndixie) where they’ll either manually enter the “sip & scan” code found on the packaging of any participating Coca-Cola SKU, or simply scan the icon. Southfield, MI-based HelloWorld administers. Running from March 6 through April 8, the sweeps awards:

• One grand-prize trip to Atlanta, GA, for the 2020 NCAA men’s Final Four including transportation, lodging, tickets to the semi-final and championship games and a $500 prepaid card.
• One first-prize trip to the men’s regional semi-final games (in Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Houston or NYC) including transportation, lodging and a $500 prepaid card.
• One second-prize $1,000 prepaid card intended for a TV or sound bar.

This year’s activity builds off of last year’s, when Coca-Cola teamed with Winn-Dixie and Bi-Lo for a March Madness-themed bulk-purchase incentive.

Home page carousel ads on chain websites promote the sweeps while also spotlighting Coca-Cola's new "orange vanilla" flavor and Ritz "crisp & thins." The ads direct shoppers to the aforementioned chain-specific microsites. March 14 Facebook updates touted the sweeps, as have features in chain circulars that also plugged offers from Nabisco and Coca-Cola such as a "tow for $7" deal on new Nabisco family-size Oreo packages and a "10 for $10" (or $1 each) deal on Body Armor, which is partially owned by Coca-Cola.

In stores, Ritz’s national basketball-themed floorstands received prime placement near an endcap stocking the cracker brand as well as other Nabisco SKUs near snack aisles. 

Chain circulars also are employing a similar “Score Mad Savings” message used to tie in to the season last year. Throughout the month, “Score Mad Savings” features have listed a slew of deals on game time snacks, drinks and supplies including fresh food from the deli and beer from MillerCoors’ Miller Lite and Coors Light. Cover photos on chain Facebook pages and home page display ads on chain websites also plug “Score Mad Deals."

In other related activity, SE Grocers brought back the limited-time "Stuff the Bucket" program, this time going bigger than ever with a new “XL Stuff the Bucket,” which lets shoppers fit as many wings from the deli as they can in an 80-ounce bucket for $19.99.