Last year, PepsiCo's Quaker Oats division initiated a category reset for hot cereal and partnered with SmartRevenue for a large-scale in-store study resulting in what the In-Store Marketing Institute's Peter Breen calls "one of the most impressive shopper marketing programs of 2010."
The project was initiated in 2009 and began with a "Shopper Discovery" project which involved shopper interviews in 45 store locations. Detailed observations were made of more than 1,100 shoppers followed up with hundreds of intercept interviews and exit interviews of non-category shoppers. Mr. Breen says the program is a "textbook example of shopper marketing" because it:

• began with the goal of better understanding shopping behavior
• used research to identify key shopper needs and wants
• leveraged a partnership with a key retailer to conduct the research
• generated significant sales lifts for Quaker's own products while delivering growth for the category and the overall breakfast aisle
• identified other key insights that can be employed in future programs

Contact Braxton Haulcy for additional details.