Wal-Mart Stores next month will host soap opera fans for a joint promotion with Soap Opera Digest.
The campaign, Shop Like a Soap Star, brings soap stars from ABC, NBC and CBS to Wal-Mart Supercenters in six cities to sign autographs and take photos with fans.
Ten brands get product demos, sampling and signage timed to the Sept. 24-Oct. 29 tour, with additional sampling in 94 more Supercenters.
The campaign kicks off with a shopper’s guide in Digest’s Sept. 19 issue, including interviews with soap stars and product information. Demo teams will distribute 100,000 copies of the ad section in the six tour markets. Content on SoapOperaDigest.com supports the in-store push.
Wal-Mart will track scanner sales to see how the promotion performs. Last year—when Digest and Wal-Mart ran the promotion for the first time—brands saw sales jump as much as 22% nationally, said Digest Publisher Linda Vaughan in a statement.
Participants this year are BIC Corp., Quaker Oats Co. (instant oatmeal and snack bars), Storck (Riesen Chocolate Chew candy), Reckitt Benckiser (Lysol sanitary wipes), General Mills (Hamburger Helper), McCormick (McCormick Seasoning packets), Procter & Gamble (Secret deodorant and Always feminine care) and Iovate (Accelis dietary supplement).
PromoWorks, Schaumburg, IL, handles the in-store elements of the campaign.
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