MINNEAPOLIS, MN - You may not be thinking of the twist tie as the perfect vehicle for advertising your produce within the department—but then again, maybe you should be. This is exactly the idea that grew into the latest innovation from Twist-Ease and its new partner Insignia—freshADS^SM ads, conveniently attached to the top of Twist-Ease twist ties in-store.

“During the early years of Twist-Ease, we always thought, there is a missed advertising opportunity that our product presents. Our dispensers are basically billboards without an advertisement with placements across the department,” explains Jim Helseth, the company’s President & Owner. “Soon after, we presented this idea to the stores in hopes they would take the initiative and use the space to advertise, we learned none of the stores had the time or wherewithal needed to implement. So, we let the idea go for nearly 20 years, until random fate connected Twist-Ease with the innovation team at Insignia, who freshADS^SM immediately saw the value in having an advertising vehicle in a perimeter department, like produce–where there is a large demand for advertising, but little opportunity exists.”

So, why produce? Jeff tells me that in Insignia’s shopper research, shoppers indicated that produce was the ideal location for this program for several key reasons. First, produce is frequently one of the first departments a shopper shops—this is critical because consumers reported they often arrive at the store with a partially completed list, and are still open to adding additional items and making decisions at the point of purchase. Second, shoppers said that they love shopping produce and finding fresh fruits and vegetables for their families, but these purchases rarely account for a full meal, and are instead seeking complementary ideas. Lastly, over 99% of shoppers buy produce, and most produce shoppers visit the department weekly. This makes produce the perfect department to partner with as retailers look to drive shoppers from the perimeter and into the center store.

“The goal we gave our team was to help solve these problems by providing produce shoppers with solutions and inspire them to shop a larger portion of the store whether that be 5 feet away or 5 aisles away,” explains Stacy Vossberg, Vice President of Innovation at Insignia Systems, Inc. “Until now, produce brands have not had an effective outlet to advertise in-store, as traditional signage programs not only added clutter, but often interfered with shopping in a congested area like produce. freshADS^SM provides the perfect in-store solution and provides brands with a unique vehicle that can deliver millions of impressions among the most attractive target that exists—active shoppers.”

Having rolled out the partnership earlier this summer, Insignia Systems, Inc. has already expanded the program to over 2,000 stores across a number of different retail banners. A standard freshADS^SM program consists of two signs in each store that are placed next to products selected by the brands are run for a 4-week cycle, with many brands choosing to execute both freshADS^SM and POPS, another product from Insignia that sits at shelf in front of the product’s home location, in order to most effectively encourage shoppers from produce to center store and drive conversion at the point of purchase.

“Increasingly, we have been hearing a consistent, significant challenge related to the accelerating sales decline in center store grocery and requests for how we could help navigate shoppers to different aisles within the store,” shared Stacy Vossberg, Vice President of Innovation at Insignia Systems, Inc. “freshADS^SM was created to help inspire shoppers at the beginning of their grocery trip by offering branded messaging that is complimentary to produce. So far, the response has been overwhelmingly positive from both our retailer and brand partners. freshADS^SM gives them a method to drive impressions and traffic to the center store in a way that is clean, simple, and complementary to the objectives of the produce department.”

Want to learn more about freshADS^SM from the experts themselves? Visit www.insigniasystems.com. Additionally, the crew will be at PMA Fresh Summit in New Orleans this week, so be sure to stop booth #3206 for your twist tie fix.

Twist-Ease Insignia Systems