Snickers, WWE 2K23 to Present WrestleMania 39
Snickers and WWE 2K23 will return as joint presenting partners of WrestleMania 39, which takes place April 1-2 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Following a successful co-promotion at last year’s WrestleMania, which marked the first time two brands served as presenting partners for WWE’s pop culture extravaganza, the partnership continues at WrestleMania 39.
Ahead of the biggest matches of the year at WrestleMania, Snickers and WWE 2K23will continue their multi-platform campaign from last year on the Road to WrestleMania.
“The Snickers brand is thrilled to be back as one of the presenting sponsors of WrestleMania 39,” said Ray Amati, director of media, Mars Wrigley. “Over the years we have seen the passion of WWE fans and know they are always hungry for high quality entertainment, which we look forward to delivering alongside our partners. Snickers will continue to be a solution for fans when they feel out of sorts before, during or after WrestleMania.”
“We’re excited to come back even stronger and co-present WrestleMania 39 with Snickers as we tag team for WWE’s biggest event of the year,” said Alfie Brody, vice president of global marketing strategy at 2K. “Like our WWE 2K23 cover Superstar, John Cena, we’ll ‘Never Give Up’ as we take on Snickers head-to-head and provide fans with engaging content leading up to the main event matches.”
“Last year we brought together two of our most-tenured brand partners for WrestleMania and it’s exciting to continue the partnership as WrestleMania goes Hollywood in April,” said Craig Stimmel, WWE senior vice president of global sales and partnerships.
Both brands will be showcased during WWE’s flagship TV programs Monday Night Raw on USA Network and Friday Night SmackDown on FOX leading up to WrestleMania, as well as during the WrestleMania Kickoff Show and WrestleMania each day on Peacock. The partnership also includes custom digital and social content on WWE.com and WWE’s YouTube channel.
For more information on WWE 2K23, visit the game’s official website for a full breakdown of the pre-order details, become a fan on Facebook, follow the game on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #WWE2K23 or subscribe on YouTube.
WrestleMania 39 takes place April 1-2 live from SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Limited tickets are still available via ticketmaster.com
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Snack Brands Capitalize on Marketing in Week Before Super Bowl
Budweiser may not have been a big presence at the Super Bowl, but its products ranked high with consumers among snack brands the week of the big game.
Snack brands that leveraged the excitement and anticipation leading up to the Super Bowl can tap into a captive audience of millions and create campaigns that leave a lasting impact on brand awareness and loyalty.
Veryfi, using artificial intelligence technology to instantly transform documents into structured data that consumer packaged goods companies use for cross-basket insights, analyzed supermarket shopper receipts in the week leading up to the Super Bowl.
Veryfi Insights used shopper receipt data to identify factors that contribute to the success of snack brands during the Super Bowl, and what strategies brands can employ to improve their sales in the future.
“Veryfi’s analysis of supermarket shopper receipts in the week leading up to the Super Bowl is a powerful demonstration of the potential of cross-basket analytics in understanding consumer behavior,” said Ernest Semerda, co-founder and CEO, Veryfi. “By launching campaigns in the week leading up to the Super Bowl, brands can trigger a jump in sales while connecting more closely with customers and the Super Bowl audience.”
The ability of AI to instantly transform receipts into structured data provides insights that were previously impossible to obtain. By analyzing supermarket shopper receipts, Veryfi was able to identify shifting preferences in consumer behavior in the lead-up to the Super Bowl, and this information can be used by brands to inform their loyalty marketing and advertising strategies.
Anheuser-Busch InBev dominated the beer category during the Super Bowl – with Bud Light, Budweiser, and Michelob Ultra all ranking in the top three in sales for the week leading up to the event. Coca-Cola’s success in the soft drink category is also notable, with the brand outperforming Pepsi by a significant margin. However, it’s worth noting the large increase in sales for Pepsi Zero in the week leading up to the Super Bowl, which suggests that the brand’s advertising campaign preceding the big game may have paid off.
In the chip category, PepsiCo’s Lays and Doritos brands emerged as clear leaders, indicating the popularity of salty snacks during the Super Bowl. Contrary to some predictions, despite more affordable avocado prices, a lack of increase in avocado or guacamole sales versus the preceding year’s worth of sales data may suggest that customers were not motivated by any price changes.
Hellman’s mayonnaise is the leading U.S. mayo product. However, the substantially greater popularity of Hellman’s mayonnaise over Heinz ketchup and French’s mustard is a surprising finding, as ketchup and mustard are often considered staple condiments for Super Bowl parties.
“Through Veryfi Insights, we’ve proven that consumer shopping receipts deliver cross-basket insights, greater personalization, and better customer loyalty to CPG brands and the marketing agencies supporting them,” continued Semerda. “Building on our momentum gained in 2022 with loyalty marketing organizations, we see increasing numbers of CPG brands and agencies that are using receipts to drive customer loyalty and mitigate any impacts caused by economic uncertainty.”
Unlike most consumer surveys that solicit feedback from a few thousand people, Veryfi draws its insights on data collected in the aggregate from millions of opt-in receipts extracted by the Veryfi OCR API Platform. In this way, Veryfi’s technology offers an unprecedented real-world view into shopping trends. Veryfi customers in the CPG industry can gain insights into consumer behavior through analysis of “cross-basket” purchases, that is, by examining all line items on a purchase receipt.
Veryfi provides the only mobile receipt capture technology that includes AI computer vision for receipt detection and image enhancement, as well as a long receipt capture mode. It helps transform unstructured documents into structured data – tapping into data that was previously unavailable for analysis.
By eliminating manual data entry, Veryfi enables organizations to accurately capture, extract and transform documents such as receipts, invoices, purchase orders, checks, credit cards, and W-9 forms into structured data, at scale. Veryfi uses advanced AI/ML technology, trained by hundreds of millions of documents over the past five years, to extract data and transform it into a structured format for 85 currencies, 39 languages, and over 110 defined fields such as vendor, total, bill to/ship to, purchase order and invoice numbers, any line item (product name, SKU, description), taxes, and more, which can then be accessed for a wide variety of business applications.
For more on The Super Bowl Snack Battle, go to https://www.veryfi.com/insights/the-super-bowl-snack-battle-which-brands-came-out-on-top-and-why/.
Go here to learn more about turning receipts into valuable consumer insights: info.veryfi.com/value-of-receipt-infographic.
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Progressive Grocer Names Outstanding Independent Grocers
Schnuck Market Inc., St. Louis
Progressive Grocer has unveiled its 2023 class of Outstanding Independents, naming 25 independent grocers. The publication has honored the excellence of America’s independent food retailers for more than a decade.
“It’s always tough to pick our Outstanding Independents honorees, but this year proved particularly difficult,” noted PG Managing Editor Bridget Goldschmidt. “There was so much creativity spotlighted in the submissions, and so many examples of how important these grocers are to their communities.
“Our lineup of honorees for 2023 is especially strong, as these retailers have come out of the other side of a challenging pandemic, trailed by supply chain woes and record-high inflation, with their businesses and loyal customer bases largely intact – incredibly, many were even able to thrive despite the adverse circumstances.”
The 2023 class of Progressive Grocer Outstanding Independents consists of:
- Barons Market, San Diego
- Bi-Rite Family of Businesses, San Francisco
- BriarPatch Food Co-op, Grass Valley, Calif.
- Byron’s & Cambridge Village Markets, Schuylerville, N.Y.
- Charley Family Shop ’N Save, Greensburg, Pa.
- DeCicco & Sons, Pelham, N.Y.
- Dom’s Kitchen & Market, Chicago
- Dorothy Lane Market, Dayton, Ohio
- Fareway Stores Inc., Boone, Iowa
- Gristedes/D’Agostino’s, New York
- Harvest Market, Hockessin, Del.
- Healthy Living, South Burlington, Vt.
- Isom IGA, Isom, Ky.
- John’s Market, Troy, Kan.
- Kudrinko’s Ltd., Westport, Ontario
- Little Red Box Grocery, Houston
- Mildred Store, Mildred, Kan.
- Oryana Community Cooperative, Traverse City, Mich.
- Rademacher Cos./Bill’s Superette, Andover, Minn.
- Redner’s Markets Inc., Reading, Pa.
- River Market Community Co-op, Stillwater, Minn.
- Rosauers Supermarkets, Spokane, Wash.
- Schnuck Market Inc., St. Louis
- Sedano’s Supermarkets, Hialeah, Fla.
- Sprankle’s Neighborhood Supermarkets, Saxonburg, Pa.
Progressive Grocer will honor these Outstanding Independents, which are profiled in the magazine’s February issue, with a special awards reception at the NGA Show in Las Vegas on Feb. 27. To learn more about the event or about sponsorships, contact John Schrei at jschrei@ensembleiq.com.
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