$320 in coupon incentives delivered in '07

MINNEAPOLIS More than $320 billion in consumer incentives were delivered through Free Standing Insert coupons in Sunday newspapers in 2007, according to the Marx Promotion Intelligence 2007 FSI Distribution Trends Report.

The report found that more than 197 billion pages containing 257 billion consumer offers were delivered this year, with an average face value of $1.26, up 7 cents versus 2006.

“Marketers continue to leverage FSIs as a cost-effective advertising medium to deliver consumer impressions and to create purchase intent for their brands,” said Mark Nesbitt, coo of Marx Promotion Intelligence. “Additionally, many retailers align quality merchandising support with these FSI promotions to improve overall promotion effectiveness and to increase incremental sales. FSIs continue to be a source of news about product categories to the consumer and to be a driver of category trips for the retailer.”

The heaviest time of year for FSIs was during the post-New Year’s promotion week of Jan. 7, the report found, with a total 147 pages delivered. The pre-Thanksgiving week of Nov. 4 was also heavily weighted with 133 pages of FSI promotions. On average, FSIs reach almost 70 million households on a weekly basis, with household reach varying across national, regional, and local brands.

Household Cleaning Products led all categories in overall FSI coupon activity and ranked number one in new product introductions among non-food categories for the second year in a row. Snacks ranked second across all categories for new product introductions and was the top-ranked food category for overall FSI activity. The top 10 categories accounted for 32.4% of all coupons distributed across the CPG industry.