Piggy Wiggly: ‘Local Since Forever’

Piggy Wiggly Carolina Co. is launching a new campaign with the theme, “Local Since Forever.” The ads will focus on the use of local suppliers and its support for local businesses, as well as the fact that Piggly Wiggly is employee-owned.

“When you shop Piggly Wiggly the money stays right here, where we live,” the narrator states in a television spot, according to The Post & Courier in Charleston, SC.

Known locally as “The Pig,” the company, based in Charleston, operates nearly 100 stores across the state of South Carolina and the coastal Georgia region. It was founded by in 1947 by Joseph Newton Jr. after he purchased a Piggly Wiggly franchise from the Piggly Wiggly Corporation. With the name now owned by C&S Wholesale Grocers, there are more than 600 independently owned and operated stores in 17 Southwestern and Midwestern states, a few owned in groups by firms such as Piggly Wiggly Carolina.

The Piggly Wiggly Carolina campaign launches April 2 with a two-minute TV proclamation celebrating Piggly Wiggly’s local ties and company values. It will then be extended to radio, TV, billboards, newspaper circulars, store signage, collateral and social media. Later this year, the company’s new website will integrate the campaign.

“This campaign feels right,” said David Schools, president and chief executive officer of Piggly Wiggly Carolina, in a statement. “A lot has changed in the world since our company opened its doors in 1947, and this campaign is about honoring what it means to be ‘local’ and what really matters to our loyal customers, the employee-owners who keep our customers returning, and our communities who are proud to call us a neighbor.”

To further feed the local feel, the narrator of the campaign is the American novelist Josephine Humphreys, who sets many of her books, such as Rich in Love, in Charleston. The music is also from state musicians and local customers, employees and suppliers will appear in advertisements and on billboards. The grocer is one of the largest retail companies in the state of South Carolina with over 5,000 employees.

The “Local Since Forever” campaign will replace the chain’s “Feeds Your Life” positioning, first introduced in 2006.

The campaign drops just after Piggy Wiggly Carolina won Progressive Grocer’s 2012 Independent Retailer of the Year.

PG Celebrates Piggly Wiggly Carolina Co. As 2012 Outstanding Indy – Progressive Grocer

Piggly Wiggly rolls out new branding campaign – The Post & Courier

Piggly Wiggly Launches New Ad Campaign – Supermarket News

via RetailWire Discussion: Piggy Wiggly: ‘Local Since Forever’.