ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J. -- Food sampling is on the road in a mobile diner car that travels to supermarkets, among other locations, while being promoted locally by radio spots.
ntly on the road with the diner cars, a radio buy and sampling program.
For example, Knorr's Soup from CPC Foods here has embarked on a regional sampling program called the "Knorr's Cup Cafe" that centers around the mobile diner car.
The promotion involves a trailer on wheels that has been designed to look like a roadside diner with booths, a counter, a kitchen facility and a radio broadcast booth. It uses radio buys to promote the sampling locations.
The diner car is currently stopping at local food retailers and other high-traffic locations in the Northeast to pass out soup samples.
In the New York market, Knorr's teamed with WMXV-FM radio to provide a sign-up venue for their "MIX 105 Tax Day Jetaway," a promotion that flies 150 lucky winners on Carnival Airlines to the Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island in the Bahamas for a day.
During the week-long promotion, the Knorr's Cup Cafe will stop in Waldbaum's, College Point, N.Y.; and Shoprite stores in Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y.; Glen Clove, N.Y.; and Staten Island, N.Y.
In another promotion, the "Kahn's Mobile Cafe" will pass out samples of its hot dogs, a product of Hillshire Farm and Kahn's, owned by Sara Lee Meat Division. It will make two dozen stops at retail outlets east of the Mississippi before ending in Atlanta during the summer Olympics. The diner car will use a full-body wrap -- something new for this promotion -- which will promote Kahn's Hot Dogs. Tony Marsiglia, president of Responsive Marketing, said, "The objective is to get more grass-roots awareness and sampling of Kahn's. We're primarily making noise and getting samples out on a local basis."
Stops have included Cincinnati Stadium for the Reds Opening Day game and later at Kroger supermarkets, Fenway Park for the Boston Red Sox season opener, the Boston Marathon and many soccer venues.
