Progressive Grocer - January/February 2009 - (Page 58)

Grocery buzz By Bob Phillips Creating a A partnership between Honest Tea and retailer My Organic Market serves up value while inviting shoppers to play a key role in brand decisions. “We usually launch our sampling executions at MOM’s,” explains Goldman, adding MOM’s allows the brand to test formulations that are still on the drawing board. “Some stores only want you to sample what they have on their shelves, and what they’re promoting, but we can go to MOM’s and observe how consumers react to a new formulation, or even a new label.” “Honestly, we don’t do that with W hile the bottled water gravy train may have run its course, consumers are still interested in healthier beverage consumption, albeit with a smaller price tag. One organic beverage brand, Honest Tea, is poised for future growth thanks to its New Age positioning, and also the insights it gains by working hand-in-hand with five-store organic grocer My Organic Market (MOM’s), in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. metro area. “They were our very first account, back in 1998,” Seth Goldman, president and co-founder of Bethesda, Md.-based Honest Tea, says of MOM’s, which is headquartered in Rockville, Md. The relationship has evolved to the point where MOM’s often serves as an adjunct test lab for Honest Tea, to gather data and gauge consumer reaction to various executions—new formulations, promotions, new packaging—well before they make it into the mainstream. As such, the discoveries these partners make could provide directional insight into the beverage market for retailers at large. My Organic Market (MOM’s) serves as a test lab of sorts for new Honest Tea products. anyone else,” says Lisa DeLima, My Organic Market’s v.p. grocery. “After so many years of working with them, we trust them. It’s a relationship that’s evolved only with them.” And the benefit to MOM’s? “Since the brand is so popular here, it gives our customers a sneak peak of what’s coming down the pike,” explains DeLima. It also gives shoppers a sense of empowerment—that they actually have a say in the development of a new formulation. It creates a buzz for us.” MOM’s was the first retail grocer to sell Honest Tea by the case, setting up www.progressivegrocer.com 58 • Progressive Grocer • January/February 2009 http://www.progressivegrocer.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Progressive Grocer - January/February 2009

Progressive Grocer - January/February 2009
Front End: Aldi’s Private Label Showing its Fitness
Nielsen’s Shelf Stoppers/Spotlight: Prepared Foods-DryMixes/Rice Mixes
Market Snapshot: Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.
Outstanding Independents Awards: Up with People
Current Events: Retail Newsmakers
Contents
Lempert Report: The Phoenix Format Face-Off
Independents Report: Making your Workplace Family-Friendly
Multicultural Marketing: Where there’s Mystery, there’s Margin
Wake-Up Call: New Habits Die Hard
Beverage Alcohol: Wine 101
Soft Drinks: Creating a Buzz
Whole Grains: The Brown Version
Packaging: The Whole Package
Meat: Master Beef Backer
Pet Care: Financing Fido
Executive Insight Series: Technology and the Independent Grocer: Eye of the Gale
Equipment Case Studies: Food. Service. Equipment
Financial Insights: What the Yield Curve Shows
What’s Next: Editors’ Picks for Innovative Products

Progressive Grocer - January/February 2009