Winn-Dixie’s new type of Happy Meal…Customer Marketing on Steroids or Shopper Marketing?
Winn-Dixie has been using an integrated marketing plan to present weekly “Make-A-Meal” specials dangling four free products with the purchase of select brands.
The themed offers are advertised prominently on the chain’s website, featured in circulars and local radio spots, and promoted in stores via table displays, ceiling signs and window posters. The most recent deal, staged Oct. 13-19, offered free SKUs of Dole Foods bananas, Smithfield Foods’ Eckrich sausage and private-label milk and coffee with purchase of three boxes of Kellogg Co. cereal. The promotion delivered $10.71 worth of free product on a purchase of $14.97. (The Kellogg’s cereals were priced high at $4.99 per box.)
The chain switched things up a bit for the week of Oct. 20 by instead offering a “What-A-Deal” incentive: shoppers who paid $23 to get a flu shot at in-store pharmacies received free SKUs of oranges, Simply Orange juice, private-label hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes, and Kimberly-Clark’s Scotties tissue.
The Make-A-Meal program has been running since late 2009, presenting deals related to seasonal themes such as holiday, summer grilling and football tailgating. 
Winn-Dixie Home Page and Splash Page
While similar themed giveaways have been commonplace at supermarkets since the economic downturn began in 2008 (for one, H-E-B runs weekly “Combo Loco” offers), Winn-Dixie’s offer is decidedly more extreme.
