ACP e-zine - the Latest News & Insight about the Coupon Industry Winter 2010 Save the Dates! Industry Coupon Conference Set For April 27-29 Mark your calendar and make plans to join your coupon Save the dates April 27-29, 2010 for the Annual Industry Coupon industry colleagues at these Conference. ACP events The Conference Planning Task Force lead by co-chairs Ann Keeler Regional Coupon 101\102 of Integer, and Earl Ellsworth of Universal Marketing are finalizing details for the 2010 conference to be held at the Venetian in Las East Vegas, NV. March 23, 2010 In conjunction with CIC Summit The theme is ―The Buzz Around Coupons‖ Alexandria, VA There is a lot of ―buzz‖ in the coupon industry and the place to get Save the Dates! the latest buzz is the Industry Coupon Conference including : 2010 Industry Coupon Conference Each attendee will receive the book ―How You Do What You Do‖ by Bob Livingston, and Bob will share with you April 27th – April 29th 2009 how to differentiate yourself through service excellence. The Venetian Laird Garner, diji - Digital Incentives Journal International, Las Vegas, NV will analyze the ―Mobile Internet Revolution‖ and how ------- mobile internet and digital coupons and incentives will For the latest details: impact the industry in a look at the latest technologies and paradigms shaping the future ACP headquarters A Retailer panel will discuss industry issues and www.couponpros.org opportunities from a retailer‘s perspective (610) 789-1478 Stop & Shop Executive Steven Vowles will demonstrate [email protected] successes in their loyalty program with targeted digital coupon offers on personal scanners In this issue: Couponsurfer,com president Adam Schwartz shares consumer insight from the 1.6 million registered users of Elections 2 this coupon aggregation website Trends 5,7,11 Valassis‘ Tom Murray will be back with consumer insight GS1 Databar 10,17 and trends on the largest coupon distribution vehicle, FSI‘s …and more unique research, latest trends, and innovation that ‗s all the buzz in the coupon industry Back again will be an afternoon of track sessions where you can choose from presentations tailored to your specific interests. The conference was developed under the leadership of the Association of Coupon Professionals in collaboration with the Food Marketing Institute, the Grocery Manufacturers of America, GS1 US, and the Promotion Marketing Association. Association of Coupon Professionals 1051 Pontiac Road, PO Box 512, Drexel Hill, PA 19026 (610) 789-1478 www.couponpros.org, [email protected] 1 ACP e-zine - the Latest News & Insight about the Coupon Industry Board of Election Nominations This will be the only conference dedicated exclusively to coupons Sought for 2010-2012 Term in 2009. The ACP Board of Director There will be plenty of chances to learn, network, and enjoy the sights and sounds of Las Vegas with your coupon colleagues. Elections will be held at the 2010 Industry Coupon Conference. The We will be contacting you soon with more details and when election will take place during registration is available or you can visit the website the conference on Wednesday, www.couponpros.org for the latest news. April 28th. Association of Coupon Professionals Presents The ACP Board of Directors is currently comprised of 15 Coupon 101 /102 In Conjunction with the CIC companies. There is a mixture of Coupon Summit retailers, manufacturers, processors, and solution providers Attendees can learn the basics of the business or refresh themselves on coupon topics on the board. Companies serve two-year staggered terms. There The Association of Coupon Professionals (ACP) will hold its will be six seats up for election this acclaimed Coupons 101-102 education seminars in October. year. A one-day workshop is scheduled for Oct. 7 in Rosemont, Ill., while Any ACP member company in the other is set for Oct. 28 in White Plains, N.Y. good standing is eligible to run for a board position. If you are The sessions review all aspects of the couponing industry in an interested in nominating your informative and interactive format designed for individuals new to couponing or those who need an update and refresher course. company or any other company, Presenters are industry experts who can answer couponing please contact John Morgan at questions. ACP headquarters by February 27th (610) 789.1478. The ACP The topic include: Effective Coupon Strategies, Coupon Nominating Committee will Distribution Types, Coupon Design, Family Code Management, compile the list of nominees. A Redemption Cycle, Misredemption, Managing Risk, and other slate of candidates will be emailed areas. Attendees will follow the path of a coupon from the time it is issued through redemption, financial settlement and reporting with to all members and actual ballots a detailed review of all the functions in the process. will be distributed at the meeting on April 28th. ―Leading marketing and promotion executives have attended Coupons 101-102. It is an up-to-date way of staying abreast of what‘s going on in the coupon Association of Coupon Professionals 1051 Pontiac Road, PO Box 512, Drexel Hill, PA 19026 (610) 789-1478 www.couponpros.org, [email protected] 2 ACP e-zine - the Latest News & Insight about the Coupon Industry ACP Offers Free Poster to Help CIC hosting 4th Annual Industry Leadership Retailers Detect Fraudulent Summit Internet Coupons The Association of Coupon Retailers, manufacturers, coupon processors, government officials Professionals (ACP) has and industry associations with an interest in coupon security are developed an easy-to-read poster invited to participate in CIC‘s Fourth Industry Leadership Summit to to help store associates tell the be held on March 24-25, 2010 in historic Old Town Alexandria, difference between legitimate and Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC. fraudulent Internet coupons. It is The Summit will be a hands-on series of meetings and open available to retailers free of discussions as we discuss the most important security challenges charge. facing the coupon promotion industry today and seek to identify The ACP Retailer Coupon poster solutions to those challenges. comes in two sizes: 11-inch x 17- No Charge! inch for placement in a retailer‘s break or training room and 8.5- All retailers, government officials, and coupon related inch x 5.5-inch for placement associations attend FREE! There will be no charge for most near the cash register at checkout. participants; however, non CIC Member manufacturers will be charged $200 per attendee to help the not-for-profit CIC defray costs. Other non-vendor industry participants can send up to two From time to time, fraudulent attendees without charge. Attendance is restricted to coupons have been unknowingly manufacturers, retailers, coupon clearing houses, government accepted by some supermarkets officials and industry associations. This is a ―no sales pitch‖ zone and the subsequent negative and third party vendors will not be in attendance. Reservations are publicity has given Internet on a first come, first served basis. Click here to register. coupons a black eye. The poster aims to prevent those occurrences. ―The poster was developed by the Internet Coupon Guidelines Task Force to help educate cashiers and provide tips in recognizing legitimate Internet coupons,‖ said John Morgan, executive director of ACP. The poster instructs cashers to look closely for obvious alternations in the coupon, unusually long expiration periods, Association of Coupon Professionals 1051 Pontiac Road, PO Box 512, Drexel Hill, PA 19026 (610) 789-1478 www.couponpros.org, [email protected] 3 ACP e-zine - the Latest News & Insight about the Coupon Industry free/high-value offers, and other CIC Adds Powerful Tool to its Arsenal indications of possible fraud. Examples of legitimate coupons The Coupon Information Center (CIC) has been authorized by are on the poster for comparison several of its Members to issue DMCA1 Take Down Notices on their behalf. A DMCA Take Down Notice provides a web site sake. owner with an opportunity to remove copyrighted materials, such as counterfeit coupons, from its web site. The ACP will send the posters to retailers free of charge. The cost If the offending image is removed in a timely manner, generally of the program was funded with within 72 hours, it is likely that the CIC and the affected Member the help of sponsors: E-centives, Company will not take any additional steps against the web site Carolina Services, Hormel Foods, owner. However, in the event the web site owner fails to act Pepsico, Unilever, Brand Coupon following the CIC Notice, a number of criminal and civil options Network, SEA Enterprises, immediately become available. Coupons, Inc., NCL Graphics, When Minutes Count - The CIC is on your side. RPR, with the support of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and Prior to the new CIC program, it could take as long as a GS1US week for a manufacturer to issue a Take Down Notice. Depending on the situation, the CIC can complete the entire process in less For more information about the than 30 minutes—substantially reducing the risks associated with poster, contact John Morgan at the counterfeit. 610-789-9993 and According to CIC Executive Director Bud Miller, CPP, we [email protected], or visit hope this powerful new tool will considerably reduce the chance that counterfeits cause significant financial damage to any of our www.couponpros.org. Members. We were recently able to save one Member more than $600,000 fighting a single counterfeit. If we had had this tool available at the time we would have likely saved them substantially more. Welcome New Members As of this date, the new program has a 100% success rate, with the counterfeit coupons being removed within a few hours of Zoove notification. Couponsurfer.com Qualcomm Clear Sky Marketing 1 Digital Millennium Copyright Act Association of Coupon Professionals 1051 Pontiac Road, PO Box 512, Drexel Hill, PA 19026 (610) 789-1478 www.couponpros.org, [email protected] 4 ACP e-zine - the Latest News & Insight about the Coupon Industry Consumers Use Over $3.5 Billion in Coupons, Drive 27% Increase in Redemption for 2009 Committee & Task Force Updates Anyone from an ACP member Spurred by a sour economy, coupon redemption is up company can volunteer to serve while distribution soars to record highs on a committee or task force. It‘s an opportunity to participate n the Inmar, the nation‘s leading promotion transaction settlement improvement of the industry while provider, reported today that annual coupon use is on the rise for developing new relationships with the first time since 1992 and coupon distribution hit the highest industry leaders. Most work is level recorded since the company began tracking trends in 1988. done through monthly conference For the first time in 17 years, consumers used more coupons than calls and on-line collaboration. If they did the year before, with 3.3 billion consumer packaged goods you are interested in volunteering, coupons redeemed, an explosive 27% increase over the 2.6 billion contact John Morgan, Executive redeemed in 2008. Director of ACP at (610) 789-9993, The rise in coupon use started in October of 2008, coinciding with or [email protected] news of the U.S. financial crisis. That has led to five consecutive Market Research Task Force quarters of double-digit growth (based on percentage change from the same period of the previous year). Lead by chair Matthew Tilley of Inmar the Market research task The increase in redemption goes hand-in-hand with an increase in Force seeks to develop unique distribution. Despite the tight economy, marketers invested heavily consumer insight through the in coupons, boosting the number available to the highest level in pooling of research. The group is over 30 years. Brands issued 367 billion coupons, at an average currently is developing industry face value of $1.44, indicating that they were committed to standards for on-line promotions in 2009. measurement of promotions and News America Marketing, the company behind the SmartSource looking to define on-line promotion Magazine coupon inserts and consumer coupon site vehicles. www.smartsource.com, says the data supports what they saw last Printer Task Force year. The Printer Task Force lead by ―There has been a noticeable increase in page count over the past chair Val Stark, NCL Graphics, is year,‖ said News America Marketing EVP of Marketing, Jesse developing guidelines for the Aversano. ―Manufacturers understand that in a tough economy, secure printing and delivery of coupons are an effective and efficient way to spend their coupons as well as analyzing print advertising dollar.‖ accuracy through the printing ―Brands saw coupons as a key to maintaining brand strength,‖ process. adds Matthew Tilley, Director of Marketing for Inmar‘s promotion services division. ―If they reduced their promotional presence, they stood to lose sales to lower priced competitors and store brands – Association of Coupon Professionals 1051 Pontiac Road, PO Box 512, Drexel Hill, PA 19026 (610) 789-1478 www.couponpros.org, [email protected] 5 ACP e-zine - the Latest News & Insight about the Coupon Industry Coupon Guidelines so they doubled down hoping to create brand loyalty once the economic dust settles.‖ The Coupons Guidelines committee lead by Ron Fischer, News America Marketing also reported an increase in retailer RPR, is updating existing promotion pages in its free-standing insert (FSI), driven primarily guidelines and developing best by the shift in advertising and promotion dollars to Shopper practices for coupon design and Marketing initiatives, according to Aversano. processing. The committee is also Online coupons also contributed to the rise in coupon distribution collaborating with the Joint and redemption, with Internet distribution up 92% and consumer Industry Coupon Committee redemption of these coupons up over 360%. (JICC), the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), Grocery ―The weekly prints from SmartSource.com are more than double Manufacturers Association (GMA) what we saw a year ago, which was double what our 2007 and the Coupon Information numbers were,‖ said Aversano. ―However, in spite of the meteoric Corporations (CIC) to prioritize rise in online and digital couponing, the traditional newspaper- and delegate the work to be distributed FSI still accounts for 89% of all coupons distributed and accomplished and adopt the over half of the coupons redeemed. Consumers expect to find developed guidelines. coupons in their Sunday papers, and we‘ll continue to be there for them. But they‘ll also find us online, in stores, on cell phones and anywhere else that they want to find them.‖ Digital Task Force As coupon numbers across the board were on the rise in 2009, Lead by chair Susan Jones of brands were forced to mitigate the cost of increased redemption by Inmar, the Digital Coupon & maintaining face values and keeping expiration periods in check. Redemption Task Force is In 2009, face values declined by a penny, reversing a multi-year developing guidelines and best trend of increasing values. Expiration periods were shortened by practices for coupon promotions 10% last year, despite years of virtually no change. that do not require a paper coupon ―This is an exciting time to be in the coupon business,‖ said Tilley. to be generated. There is much ―Of course, we don‘t know how long this upward trend will work to be done as this group aids continue, but it is evident that coupons are back on shoppers‘ in accelerating the development of radar; the economic downturn has instilled a drive to be smart and a digital distribution, validation, frugal about spending and coupons definitely have a role in and redemption infrastructure. The fulfilling it.‖ task force has published the Digital Coupon Guidelines and is currently working on data standards and audit. Association of Coupon Professionals 1051 Pontiac Road, PO Box 512, Drexel Hill, PA 19026 (610) 789-1478 www.couponpros.org, [email protected] 6 ACP e-zine - the Latest News & Insight about the Coupon Industry Lingering Recession to Spur More Redemption in New Year Upcoming Events Thanks largely to hard times, coupons are on the comeback trail. CIC Summit with Coupon Redemption was up well over 20% in 2009 vs. 2008, according to 101\102, Inmar. Meanwhile, CPG marketers in both the health and beauty care and grocery categories increased the quantity of coupons March 23-25, Washington, DC distributed in the third quarter of 2009 compared to the same time Coupon 101\102,March 23 frame the previous year, according to NCH Marketing Services. CIC Summit, March 24-25 HBC was up 14.3% and grocery was up 9.4%. PMA Annual Integrated ―The appropriately coined ‗Great Recession‘ has caused Marketing Conference, permanent shifts in consumer behavior and established coupon- use habits with a whole new generation of shoppers,‖ says Charles March 23-24, Chicago, IL Brown, vice president of marketing at NCH Marketing Services, a Industry Coupon Conference, Valassis Company. Including Coupon 101\102 The momentum will continue in 2010, other leading coupon April 27-29 The Venetian, Las executives agree. Vegas, NV ―All indications are that the increased response could be with us to FMI 2010, stay,‖ predicts Matthew Tilley, director of marketing for Inmar. May 10-13, Las Vegas, NV ―Even as the economy showed signs of strengthening, it seems that there‘s a new frugality among American consumers that drives 2006 U Connect Conference, them to clip and save. June 7-10, San Antonio, TX ―In 2010,‖ he continues, ―that new frugality will likely combine GMA Executive Conference, forces with an old and not-yet-discarded desire for convenience August 28 – August 31, Colorado when digital coupons – delivered through the Internet, loyalty cards Springs, CO and even cell phones – will offer new ways for consumers to save. These new methods of coupon and promotional delivery will reduce some of the friction and thereby encourage even higher levels of redemption.‖ Brown of NCH says that 2010 will have all the ingredients for a record-breaking year. He points to high consumer interest in coupons due to personal economic situations, more coupon- backed new product introductions, and marketers‘ reliance on coupons to generate sales and retain loyalty in the face of competition from private label. Association of Coupon Professionals 1051 Pontiac Road, PO Box 512, Drexel Hill, PA 19026 (610) 789-1478 www.couponpros.org, [email protected] 7 ACP e-zine - the Latest News & Insight about the Coupon Industry ―I expect that coupons will be used at an even greater rate than the increases we‘ve seen in 2009,‖ he says. ―The well-established coupon media will evolve with new ways to retain their position of dominance across the $400+ billions of coupons offered to consumers annually. For example, FSIs will be expanding their reach in important market segments via shared mail delivery as well as newspapers.‖ Tilley of Inmar is also enthusiastic about coupon redemption in the new year. ―I don‘t expect 2010 to show us the kind of steep redemption increases that 2009 did,‖ he explains. ―After all, digital promotions delivery is still in its infancy, the economy is showing some signs of improvement and consumers are just now getting their bearings on what‘s possible with coupons. But I do expect continued growth – both in terms of the number of coupons used as well as the numbers of consumers using coupons on a regular basis.‖ According to Coupons.com, the leading online coupon site, consumers printed coupons worth $313 million in 2008. The site was on track for a total of $1 billion in printed coupon savings by the end of 2009. ―Our business grew roughly 170% in 2009, and I anticipate the growth of digital coupons to continue on a similar trajectory in 2010,‖ predicts Steven Boal, CEO of Coupons.com. ―The vast majority of the growth will remain in printable online coupons as available offers increase with more brands offering more coupons and more prints,‖ he says. ―Anecdotally, we are hearing brands say they are moving 100% of their coupon budgets online. Save-to-Card offers will expand rapidly as a natural turn- key extension of printable.‖ Boal sees substantial growth from mobile coupons, albeit from a very small base. Mobile works very differently for restaurants and specialty retailers than for the CPGs and grocery retailers, he points out. With the former, coupons can be visually displayed for redemption; while grocery coupons must be processed and formally cleared. Association of Coupon Professionals 1051 Pontiac Road, PO Box 512, Drexel Hill, PA 19026 (610) 789-1478 www.couponpros.org, [email protected] 8 ACP e-zine - the Latest News & Insight about the Coupon Industry ―As a consequence, in ‗high-volume‘ transaction scenarios like grocery, drug, mass, etc., 2010 will be a year for mobile coupon ‗discovery‘ versus ‗redemption.‘ What I mean is that consumers will use mobile devices to find grocery coupons versus having coupons scanned directly from the phone‘s display for redemption. That‘s simply too slow and the risk for damage to the phone is just too high. I suspect mobile redemption in these high-volume scenarios is still 3-5 years out and won‘t involve the scanning of the actual device,‖ he says. Tilley of Inmar summed up the feelings of most executives: ―In 2009, coupons became cool again. And in 2010, coupons will continue to be a must-have accessory for well-heeled shoppers everywhere.‖ Task Force Eyes Digital Coupons Digital coupons such as those delivered by mobile phones or loaded on a store‘s loyalty card are gaining traction in the marketplace. To keep its members informed, the Association of Coupon Professionals (ACP) aims to study these new promotions in 2010. ―We‘ll be working on developing a framework and some data for assessing and analyzing digital coupons,‖ said Matthew Tilley, who heads the Market Research Task Force that will spearhead the research. He defines ―digital coupons‖ as ―those that don‘t require paper for redemption.‖ There are about a dozen members of the task force, he said, with about four companies very active. He is calling for digital vendors to come forward and share some of their insights and data to help establish benchmarks for brand marketers and retailers looking into deploying these coupons. ―We want to come up with some kind of redemption rate that companies can expect from these coupons, and determine what factors into those redemptions,‖ said Tilley, vice president of marketing at Inmar. ―Companies like NCH and Inmar can provide aggregate redemption information, but we‘re not able to provide some of the other tracking points,‖ he explained. ―For example, how many people selected the offer and whether they redeemed it or not, or Association of Coupon Professionals 1051 Pontiac Road, PO Box 512, Drexel Hill, PA 19026 (610) 789-1478 www.couponpros.org, [email protected] 9 ACP e-zine - the Latest News & Insight about the Coupon Industry how many people viewed the offer. Those kinds of data points have got to come from the distribution companies.‖ The task force aims to develop a primer for these digital coupons. He hastens to add that the primer will not promote one vendor or type of digital offer over another one. ―It will be basic and objective head-to-head evaluation, and people can make a decision based on that.‖ Internet print-at-home coupons will be included in the analysis as a point-of-comparison, he said, since those coupons are relatively mature and the analysis standards are widely accepted. The task force aims to gather research and present findings at the ACP conference in April. ―We‘ve got a core group of people who are very active and very interested. We have to re-engage and move forward,‖ Tilley said. Symbology, Inc. Educates Users on GS1 DataBar™ Verification The GS1 DataBar™ code, following its familiar path of complexity, is subject to more demanding production equirements than other barcode formats. While users focus on obtaining the correct barcode file, both for content and layout, they may forget to carry the quality levels throughout the production process via quality verification/inspection. Symbology, Inc. stands ready to provide the tools to ensure that the tough quality standards get carried throughout the entire process. Towards that end, they provide the latest in bar code inspection equipment and consulting services specific to GS1 DataBar™ codes. They‘ve also created an overview presentation explaining the importance of barcode inspection and the differences in inspecting GS1 DataBar™ codes. Conforming to the new quality requirement will help reduce the costs associated with hard to handle fees and coupon codes that don‘t scan at retail. Association of Coupon Professionals 1051 Pontiac Road, PO Box 512, Drexel Hill, PA 19026 (610) 789-1478 www.couponpros.org, [email protected] 10