Nothin' But The Best

The Kroger Co. features a few different corporate brands that can only be purchased at Kroger stores. These include “Private Selection®”, “Naturally Preferred®”, “Active Lifestyle®” and “Private Selection (PS) Organic™.” Kroger’s vision is to “inspire customers to choose our stores because of their exclusive, preferred brands.” Not only is this exclusivity is a great way to maintain customer loyalty, but it also gives Kroger a competitive edge against other stores that are similar to it. A large aspect of public relations is reputation management. Corporate branding builds Kroger’s reputation because it sets this superstore apart from other in that its brands are exclusive to the store. There is something that people love about private brand items. Kroger does a great job of naming their brands in a way that intrigues consumers. People want to buy the best for their family, so using words such as “selection” and “preferred,” they feel like they are getting the best of the best.



Kroger’s “Private Selection®” and “Private Selection (PS) Organic™” brands are both very popular because the products included in these two categories are not only sold only in Kroger superstores but they include 11,000 private label items. The Kroger Co.’s private label groceries represent approximately one quarter of the company’s grocery sale. The “Private Selection®” brand is also a part of Kroger’s corporate brand product quality tiers. This tier includes premium quality “designed to meet or beat ‘gourmet’ or ‘upscale’ national or regional brands.”



Kroger uses the brand name itself “Private Selection®” to enhance its image. This title lets consumers know that this brand is what your family deserves, the private selection that only you and another elite few customers have because it’s so private and exclusive. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, whoever hires those PR people at Kroger, top shelf job because I’m buying what you’re selling, and clearly millions of other people are too.

Holiday Hoopla!

When I started this blog about two months ago I was wondering what special things The Kroger Co. had in store for its customers for the holidays. Now that it’s finally turkey time I see that, as usual, Kroger has everything you need for your Thanksgiving feast.

First of all, recall Kroger’s dedication to the community. The Bringing Hope to the Table campaign just never stops working for the people. This Thanksgiving, Kroger asks us to “Buy a bag. Feed a family.” The idea is simple really, you buy one of those reusable grocery bags that help save the planet, and you feed a family of four. These handy bags cost $1.99 and out of that, $1.30 donated to a local food bank. All of this information can easily be found on the Kroger website.



Before I go on to discuss the other great things The Kroger Co. is doing, let me touch on the fact that the public relations people that work for this corporation really know what they are doing. When you go to the Kroger homepage, the first thing you see is an adorable little girl holding a yogurt container in one little hand and holding the spoon she is eating with up to her mouth with the other little hand. Her eyes are focused up towards the words “Buy a bag. Feed a family.” Now if this lovable little one doesn’t immediately make you want to buy one of these bags to help give back to the community, then nothing really will.



Kroger offers holiday recipes, party trays, a wine guide, and a party planning guide to help your family plan for the best Thanksgiving yet. Placed right next to all of these categories (which are also links to more extensive information), is “Thanksgiving costs less at Kroger” and a link called “view the savings.” If there was another word for savings, a word that could describe just how amazing deals are at Kroger, that would be the word to use. “Savings” just does not seem to cut it.

I love blogging about this corporation. There is always something exciting going on, and just looking at the website and clicking on all the links and pictures makes me feel like I am a part of the action and I love that. Aside from all the Kroger homepage holiday excitement, there is a picture of a troop of soldiers leaning on each other with the caption “send your support to our troops.” This link leads to http://www.anysoldier.com/ which gives ideas of what and how to send something to whomever you would like to send something to. This is a great thing for Kroger to be involved in because it shows that the troops are yet ANOTHER community that Kroger genuinely cares about.

So, between the adorable little girl whose family needs YOU to help them have a great Thanksgiving, and the troop in army attire, The Kroger Co. homepage proves to be a place where you have the ability to help any and every type of community.

Happy Thanksgiving!

To Invest or Not To Invest...

The Kroger website offers an extensive overview of the company’s investor relations. The Kroger Co.’s annual report is incredibly thorough. It includes facts and figures which are broken down into sections which are very easy to follow, as well as visual aids, such as graphs, which are also easy to understand. The report is both a polished and professional marketing piece as well as an economical piece. The first item of the report is a brief description of the responsibilities of managers which is written by both the CEO (David B. Dillon) and the CFO (J. Michael Schlotman). This is a great jump-off point for Kroger’s annual report because immediately the reader (whether he be a customer, shareholder, etc.) feels that he is important. Much like the annual report, Kroger’s posting of the annual Securities and Exchange Commission 10-K filing is also very extensive. The goal of The Kroger Co.’s annual report is to give details regarding performance, discuss company operations, as well as tell the story of the company.

The company’s latest letter to shareholders from CEO David B. Dillon is very organized and easy to follow. The paragraphs are concise and to the point, featuring an appropriate amount of information. This is good because it does not overwhelm readers to the point where people find it a chore to read. The letter is separated into a few different sections which also make it easy to read and follow. The overall goal of The Kroger Co.’s letter to shareholders is to keep them informed. People want to know whether or not they have made a smart, profitable investment. This letter does a great job of reminding stakeholders why they chose to invest their time and money into Kroger; low prices, high quality, customer loyalty, strong market share gain, community support, and sustainability. This is a huge part of a successful corporation because it makes shareowners feel as though they are an important part of the company. The letter has a very positive tone which offers factual and credible information while maintaining the friendly attitude that Kroger is (and always has been) known for.

While the latest news release related to Kroger’s earnings is factual and includes a lot of facts and figures, it maintains that friendly, easy-to-read personality that Kroger somehow always manages to accomplish. The news release includes a few quotes from CEO David B. Dillon. His words are credible because they are so honest. That is, he does not sugar coat things to make them seem better than they are, he gives honest feedback. He comments that while “market share gains are impressive, there is still plenty of market share opportunity out there for us” (Dillon). He also states that Kroger is able to easily and quickly adapt to the changing economic climate. This news release as well as the comments made by Dillon, allow investors to maintain the confidence that they have always had in The Kroger Co.

Okay, so let’s put all the professional talk aside and be real for a minute. “Investor relations” has the potential to scare PR people away. Any time they hear something that even remotely sounds like it might have anything to do with numbers, earnings, cost, or percentages, you can expect to see them running for the hills. Most PR people want nothing to do with numbers, but the people who read this stuff DO. This is why it is crucial that the PR people at Kroger do an excellent job relaying investor relations information (such as letters to investors, annual reports, and company earnings reports), to consumers and shareowners. So I have to hand it to those PR pros at Kroger; they do an exceptional job putting together the investor relations component of their business, and you can expect nothing less than perfection from them in the future.

Plain and Simple: Kroger Does It All

The Kroger Co. has a remarkable reputation when it comes to community relations. Kroger’s core values are honesty, integrity, respect, diversity, safety, and inclusion- all of which are very apparent through the company’s relationships with other various organizations. Kroger’s reputation is simply that they care not only about their customers, but about all members of the community. Their involvement with associations such as Feeding America, Giving Hope a Hand, Neighbor to Neighbor, The Salvation Army, and Everyone Wins, all clearly show Kroger’s genuine concern for the well-being of the community as a whole.

Kroger is proud to be one of the founding members of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization. Over the past 5 years, Kroger has donated 139 million pounds of food (at roughly $214 million) to this foundation. What is so great about Kroger’s involvement with Feeding America is that it is not all about the money, it is also very much about volunteerism. Many executives, senior managers, and associates donate their time to local food banks and some are even members of the food bank boards. Kroger provides grants to these local food banks (to help purchase trucks, refrigeration equipment, new computers, etc). To accompany the effort that The Kroger Co. puts in to assist existing organizations, they also go beyond the call of duty by launching their own campaigns within organizations. Bringing Hope to the Table was launched in 2006, and has already directed $9 million in funds and $3 million in product to Feeding America food banks across the country. Kroger also has a company-wide food rescue program which is affiliated with Perishable Donation Partnership. This allows fresh food to go directly from Kroger to the food bank. This program is expected to generate 30 million pounds of additional food. Kroger has invested $3 million to breast cancer awareness, treatment, and research through the Giving Hope a Hand organization. All of the funds are spent in communities where customers and associates live and work. Thousands of Kroger associates volunteer and participate in fundraising events including Susan G. Komen For the Cure’s Race for the Cure, the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer program, and the Walk to Empower. Funds that are raised by the Giving Hope a Hand campaign support research projects, fund mammograms and educational outreach, and assist local support groups for women and families, among many other things.

Through the “Neighbor to Neighbor” program, Kroger has helped support 30,000 schools, hunger relief organizations, youth programs, and non-profit organizations. The key areas include hunger relief, k-12 education, grassroots service organizations, women’s health, advancement of women and minorities, The Salvation Army, and the American Red Cross. 729,000 schools, clubs, churches, synagogues, and other non-profit organizations earned funds through discounted gift certificate and rebate programs in all retail divisions. Neighbor to Neighbor is the largest community activity, contributing more than $30 million in 2006.

Kroger helps The Salvation Army with their annual Red Kettle campaign by allowing members of The Salvation Army to stand outside all Kroger stores in December with their bells and red kettles. Kroger has also set up a way which allows customers to make contributions to this campaign online. Among many other things, The Salvation Army is known for feeding hungry families, providing holiday toys for needy children, offering coats to the homeless, and assisting communities during natural disasters.

Everyone Wins is a scholarship program which helps local families pay tuition. The money spent in Kroger stores by campaign supporters is tracked through gift cards and sent to organizations (schools, churches, etc.) at each $5,000 mark. Organizations receive Kroger gift cards each marked with a different UPC. These gift cards are then given to families who wish to participate in the Everyone Wins program. Families then put money on the gift card, and each time they use it, the amount spent is tracked and sent to the organization’s account. Upon receiving the money, the organization also receives a statement of how much money was spent by each participating family. Finally, instead of putting the money in a general fund, these organizations (usually schools) directly credit the tuition account of that family. Everyone Wins is set up and run uniquely by The Kroger Co. This is a great program because it helps take some of the stress of paying high tuition off of the family and allows more families the chance to offer higher education to their children.

Over the past 10 years, Kroger has contributed over $1 billion to communities across the country. The company focuses on community service and giving back not only through check writing but through hands-on volunteering. Kroger’s community relations program has done an outstanding job of enhancing their reputation by providing complete supports to the company’s mission which is “to be a leader in the distribution and merchandising of food, pharmacy, health and personal care items, seasonal merchandise, and related products and services.” Through the company's support and service of ALL members of the community (regardless of any and all restricting circumstances) the public is able to easily make a connection between their good values and a great place to invest their timee and their money. The Kroger Co. is a superstore and a superhero.

Kroger Shows Compassion

Big corporations like Kroger are great at tugging on the heart strings of its customers. Kroger's "Fill Your Cart with Hope" campaign is just one of those things you can't ignore. Whether you're checking out the company's website or shopping for dog food, Kroger has you thinking about breast cancer awareness. The corporation has put together an enormous campaign which offers money to breast cancer research with the help of consumers. Need to wash your family's clothes? Purchase Arm & Hammer detergent, you can clean your clothes while helping increase breast cancer awareness and research. When people see that the stores they shop at care about breast cancer awareness, that makes them care too.

The website and stores have done a great job of getting this campaign out in the open. The first thing you see after typing www.kroger.com is a big pink box which offers a small amount of information regarding the campaign. For a more extensive explanation, viewers simply click a link that says "view participating products."

The PR people at Kroger are simply genius. Yeah, yeah, it's PR how hard can it be? VERY. These are the people who control whether or not something is interesting and eye-catching. Do I want to spend more time learning about the "Fill Your Cart with Hope" campaign? Yeah, I do because I'm helping someone else while I'm helping myself. See, I can do two things at once.

The only thing I would consider changing about the look of the website is that I would make the entire homepage about the campaign. I would make it so in order to get to the regular website you would have to click an assigned link on the page that redirects you. If I worked for Kroger I would make this a huge deal. After all, it IS a huge deal. Maybe there is not enough awareness about "Fill Your Cart with Hope." Sure there's a box on the homepage, but maybe customers don't even look at that part of the site, maybe they immediately scroll down to the bottom for coupons and special offers. I think Kroger should be a little more..loud..about the campagin without turning it into something obnoxious that people aim to avoid.

Kroger Uses Social Networks To Enhance Business

Social networking sites allow publics (individuals, families, companies) to see businesses perhaps in a different way than they have in the past. Although less formal than official company websites, these social networking sites are a great compliment to the formal site. These sites are used as a means of enhancing and strengthening the business. Back up for one second though, we have to give Kroger a lot of credit because before the internet was even a twinkle in our little eye The Kroger Co. was an exceptional business. Not only were they achieving great success as a superstore, but they were running full speed against their main competitor: Wal-Mart. So, first it was the internet which obviously blew business up in a big way. Now, it is social networking websites, and these have the potential to expand business just as much.

Kroger uses Facebook and Twitter as their main social media networking sites. The Kroger Co.'s Facebook account includes company information that can also be found on the website. There are a few things that set Facebook apart from the official website. First, publics have the ability to become "fans" of the Facebook page. This enables them to comment on any status and company updates as soon as they are posted. Also, this page allows consumers to stay "in-the-know" about the newest of the new at Kroger. This site was created as a general reference for fans to keep in touch with the company as a whole. However, each fan (probably) shops at a specific store in a particular region, so comments on Kroger’s Facebook page can also be geared towards those certain stores.

Twitter, a social networking site used primarily for updating statuses, is a great way to keep consumer awareness of Kroger news up. The company recently launched a Twitter account called "KrogerDeals

." The Twitter account updates publics including consumers, employees, prospective employees, etc. on what's new and exciting at KroCo.

If I were the PR person for Kroger, I would absolutely be sure to frequently update both the Facebook and Twitter accounts in order to keep all possible publics informed of new things that are going on; new products, promotions, events, etc. I would also create a Linkedin account, because this particular social networking site allows businesses to connect with one another as well as to scope out the competition. This is important because it will allow Kroger to keep in contact with other companies who do business similar to Kroger.

The use of social networking sites is important for a variety of reasons. Mainly, people all over the country use sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin. So, for instance, if someone has not heard of Kroger before but has any one of these accounts, they can easily stumble upon Kroger's account. And let’s face it; this is a guaranteed love at first sight!

Why Kroger?

I chose to blog about The Kroger Co. because after doing some research on this and some of the other top companies on the Fortune 500 list, I decided that Kroger would be a very interesting business to follow. There is always something new going on whether it is a special offer, feature, sale, etc. Changes in the company are made often enough so that the PR department plays a significant role in the business’ collaborative success. The company website is appealing, interactive, easy to navigate, andd colorful without being flashy.

This blog will be about the new products and services that Kroger is offering. It will discuss different sectors in the public relations field and how The Kroger Co. public relations department handles projects and situations. It will also feature the corporate news as well as what is happening on a smaller scale in certain regions.

The Kroger Co. is ranked among the top 20 food retailers in the United States. Specializing in customer service, this business is centered around food and drug retailing. With its headquarters in Cincinnati, OH, Kroger operates 2,475 superstores in 31 states throughout the all regions of the U.S. with the exception of the east coast.

Listed at number 26 on the Fortune 500 list, Kroger has been in business for over 125 years. Founded in 1883, Barney Kroger's original company motto was: "Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself." Over the years, the company has managed to maintain it’s refined reputation, and with $70 billion in annual sales, Kroger is ranked second in general retail to Wal-Mart.

The overall reputation of Kroger is positive, however, the PR department could potentially face issues regarding the lack of information on the negative things that have affected the company in the past. While it is, of course, always better to highlight the positive things that happen to a business, it is also very important to mention the negative experiences the company has undergone. Without this openness of Kroger to its customers, there is the possibility for an element of skepticism to raise the eyebrows of Kroger consumers. Hey Kroger! Let the crisis management team show off a little, will ya?

To communicate the company reputation, PR associates issue press releases on The Kroger Co. website. The team that edits the website uses graphic tools such as colors, fonts, size, and pictures to emphasize the positive and negative things that are happening in the company.