FSI Coupons deliver 257B Consumer offers.

The Marx Promotion Intelligence 2007 FSI Distribution Trends Report reports that more than 197 billion pages containing 257 billion consumer offers representing over $320 billion in consumer incentives were delivered through Free Standing Insert (FSI) coupons in Sunday newspapers during 2007. Average Face Value increased to a new record level of $1.26, up $0.07 versus 2006.

The 5th annual FSI Distribution Trends Report is issued by Marx Promotion Intelligence, a TNS Media Intelligence company. Marx Promotion Intelligence is considered the industry standard for tracking FSI coupon activity.

“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, chief operating officer, 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.”

FSIs maintained consistent frequency with activity in 48 out of the 52 Sundays in 2007. This compares to activity in 49 out of the 53 Sundays in 2006. In 2007, the post-New Year’s promotion week of January 7 had the greatest combined weight by delivering a total of 147 pages. The pre-Thanksgiving week of November 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. The dynamics among the three key principles of frequency, weight, and reach, provide important insight into category, competitor, and brand strategies.

Overall FSI Activity

During 2007, over 197 billion pages containing more than 257 billion coupons were delivered via FSI coupons in Sunday newspapers. Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) activity dominated these trends accounting for 69.0 percent of total FSI pages, followed by Direct Response with 22.0 percent and Franchise at 9.1 percent. CPG activity is up 1.2 percent versus 2006, along with Franchise which also increased 2.7 percent. However, Direct Response decreased 8.8 percent versus 2006 which is the first decline in activity for this industry since 2003.

Within the CPG industry, the Non-Food segment had a 3.9 percent increase in coupon circulation while the Food segment pulled back 1.8 percent. Record levels were set for Average Face Value within both the Non-Food and Food segments with a 5.8 percent increase to $1.54 for the Non-Food segment and a 5.1 percent increase to $0.87 for the Food segment. These trends indicate that manufacturers are continuing to leverage FSIs, but are increasingly using them to deliver high-value offers that encourage brand trial and generate category excitement.

Top 10 Categories for New Product Activity

FSI coupon support was included as part of 441 new product introductions across the CPG industry in 2007, as tracked by Marx Promotion Intelligence. Food categories contributed 312 of these new items led by Cereals, Beverages and Snacks. Non-Food categories contributed an additional 129 new items led by Household Cleaning Products and Home Paper/Plastic.

This level of activity reinforces how manufacturers are continuing to integrate FSI coupons as part of their new product introductions. A more complete analysis of leading practices was presented in the Marx ProMotion Guidepost entitled: “New Product FSI Promotion: A Look at Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) FSI Promotion Tactics in Support of New Product Introductions.”

Top 10 FSI Categories

Three of the top 10 categories for new product introductions were also among the top 10 categories for overall FSI activity in 2007. 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 percent of all coupons distributed across the CPG industry.

Top 10 Manufacturers

The ranking of the top 10 manufacturers changed slightly in 2007. Procter & Gamble retained the top position. Reckitt Benckiser PLC moved up two spots while Unilever dropped down to the sixth position. Kraft foods also moved up two spots along with L’Oreal which broke into the top 10 in 2007.

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