You might say Vlasic is in a pickle.

The pickle brand is familiar to Americans thanks to a cartoon stork mascot that was introduced in 1974 with attitude and voice inspired by Groucho Marx. It's still got the stork, but trying to avoid a classic case of being overlooked by consumers.

Pickles, after all, are made to be on the side, an accompaniment to the main event; like a condiment, they are meant to complement other foods. As a result, pickles may become relegated to the bottom of a consumer's shopping list, or worse, left off altogether. Shopping lists (or nowadays, shopping apps) have become increasingly essential to consumers as rising prices force them to manage their food purchases.

That's why Vlasic is fishing where the fish are — or shopping where the shoppers are. The brand is paying for signage in grocery stores, using in-store shelf ads near related products such as ground beef and burger buns in a new effort to beef up market share. In choosing which items it wants to flank, Vlasic cites researching showing that around 80% of pickles consumed by Americans accompany a hamburger or sandwich.Continue reading...

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