Like any advertising campaign, it is most important to be smart with the money being put into the project. After all, the amount of money a business is willing to spend on advertising will determine the size of the campaign and how much the business will advertise. Since we are opening a brand new location of Trader Joe’s it is crucial that our advertisements get out only the necessary information. We want teens, college students, mothers and fathers to all be excited about this new location opening.

            Although Trader Joe’s is a national company, the paid advertisements for this campaign will be minimal.  While vehicles like television commercials and movie theater commercials can be very beneficial, for this campaign we will be focusing on billboard, radio, and magazine advertisements. Another reason I am refraining from using television and movie theater ads is that Trader Joe’s isn’t a company that is known for using these vehicles as a form of advertisement normally so this campaign will use other methods of media.  I also plan on focusing on social media and promotional advertisement over just media vehicles.  All of these advertisement methods can help to boost our campaign without going overboard on our budget.

 

            The first form of advertising used is billboard ads.  Below are two examples of Trader Joe’s ads.  I plan to have these ads spread around the Covington area as a way to get people interested in the new location.  In addition to just Covington, I will take the billboard ads to Mandeville, Slidell, and Hammond to attract customers from other cities as well.  Once consumers in these other cities are aware of the new location, they will be more likely to come see it for themselves. 

            Billboard Ads would be an effective form of advertising in Covington, Louisiana because there are plenty of billboard opportunities around the city.  Ideal billboard locations would be on main highways in Covington near stop signs as well as I-12, which spans from Baton Rouge to Slidell.  Since I-12 would cover so much advertising area, billboards will really help the new location campaign.

            At stoplights, people driving by will have time to actually read and analyze the billboards.  Billboards usually are more about attracting the audience to look at it and less about providing large amounts of information.  For these first billboard ads we will probably only include the picture and our tagline.  Billboards can’t be too wordy, they just need to catch the attention of people driving by.  Both of these picture options represent what Trader Joe’s is about, and they show just enough information to get people interested in visiting the new location.

            My next choice of advertisement would be a radio ad.  A radio ad would be an effective form of advertising in Covington, Louisiana because there are a lot of radio stations in the surrounding area. There are about 29 different radio stations around the area that could play the ad. Some stations include B97, Q93, Magic 101.9, and WWL 870 AM.  Another great thing about a radio advertisement is it can cater to a larger audience.  People of all ages listen to the radio at some point in the day, even if it is just in their car driving around.  Radio ads are an effective way to get the attention of your audience through sound. It allows the audience to listen while requiring them to pay attention to what they are listening to because it may not be repeated. It is also great for informing your audience about the topic of your choice.

 

Located at the Intersection of HWYS 1085 & 1077 near the Goodbee exit.

 

            Magazines are a form of advertisement that is used frequently by businesses in their local area.  Some local magazines in the Covington area include Sophisticated Woman, Inside Northside Magazine, and Town Crier #14. Local magazines look for local businesses trying to advertise themselves to consumers.  Advertisements like the one below make money for the magazine and get exposure for the local business, which creates a win-win situation for both parties involved.  All three magazines cover the same demographics we are trying to reach in our campaign.  After researching other Trader Joe’s advertisements, I’ve found that their advertisements tend to be simple and to the point.  I feel that the magazine advertisement I’ve created represents Trader Joe’s as a national company, but also gets out the message about a future location.

 

            Aside from television, radio, and billboard ads there are several other ways to get the word out about a new store locations for a grocery store.  Other promotional tools can come into play to enhance a marketing campaign.  Some of the best promotional tools for the Covington, Slidell, and Hammond area would be flyer advertisements, promotional events or materials, and social media marketing. These three methods in particular is that all three are different from each other which helps give our campaign some diversity.

            Flyer advertisements could be located at Trader Joe’s other Louisiana location in Baton Rouge.  By customers seeing flyers for the Covington location, they may be drawn to travel there in the future especially if it is a closer commute than Baton Rouge.  Flyers are a great form of advertisement because they can easily be changed depending on different promotions or sales going on.  Being that Trader Joe’s is already an established national company, flyers with their name on it will stand out to consumers who already know of the brand.

            The next type of promotional tool is promotional events or materials.  Promotional materials can include t-shirts, drink huggers, and other items that can be given out at the Covington opening or even in the Baton Rouge location on a promotional event day.  Promotional materials are beneficial because consumers are always looking for free things that they can keep.  By getting free Trader Joe’s gear they will be excited to visit the Covington location in the near future.

            The last type of promotional tool is social media marketing.  This method heavily enhances any marketing campaign because social media marketing allows a company to spread word quickly.  As I’ve mentioned previously, many celebrities have made posts on social media sites about Trader Joe’s products that they enjoy.  By promoting us on their social media site, Trader Joe’s is getting extra exposure that they wouldn’t normally get.  Also, as a Covington location, Trader Joe’s could create a page specifically for the new location and keep it updated with their product line so locals can be informed.

Projected Schedule

            For this campaign we will focus heavily on social media, promoting the Covington location from June all the way until the opening in October.  Since promotional materials tend to cause excitement for a marketing campaign, they will be distributed from July through October to get consumers ready for the new location.  Flyers will be placed around the Covington area and in the Baton Rouge location of Trader Joe’s starting in August to give consumers some notice of the new location.  Lastly, a promotional event will be held in Covington once a month from August until the opening in October.