Quaker's direct hit. (Quaker Oats Co.'s advertising subsidiary Quaker Direct)

Quaker Direct has joined the co-op coterie with a unique identity. By taking an innovative approach to capturing the consumer's attention, Quaker is driving coupon redemption, creating a dialogue with households and a transactional database.

The bevy of products sold by The Quaker Oats Company has been the staple of many shopping carts since the mid 1800s. Historically, Quaker captured the hot cereal market and, adapting to consumers' changing tastes, the company has expanded to a plethora of food offerings, including Aunt Jemima products, Gatorade, Cap'n Crunch, Life and Oh!s cereals, Granola Dipps, Rice-A-Roni, Gaines Cycle, Ken-L-Ration and Kibbles 'n Bits dog foods, and more.

Quaker has typically turned to free-standing inserts (FSIs) as part of its marketing mix, placing an arsenal of coupons in newspapers, hoping to drive product sales and acquire a larger market share. Like many other packaged goods marketers, Quaker has witnessed the perennial cost increase of FSIs and decrease in coupon redemption rates - which often fall below 3 percent in today's market.

With a hankering to break through the clutter and create a personal, one-on-one relationship with a consumer, Quaker Direct was established to birth a new co-op. Former Quaker promotions director Dan Strunk said that the program was approved by Quaker management after very encouraging redemption figures were recorded during limited testing in Boston and Denver. While Strunk recently left the Quaker team, the promotion is rolling out as planned, and with the same goals: to be more targeted in mailing, responsive in redemption and sophisticated in analysis than many other cooperatives. …

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