Taryn Jones standing in front of Sweetbay's signature advertising image.

Not Just Weekly Specials and Coupons

What goes into making those weekly grocery ads?

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TAMPA—From the classrooms of the Mass Communications building at USF to the corporate office of Sweetbay Supermarket, Taryn Jones is behind every single ad that consumers read every day.

With the acquisition of the former Kash-n-Karry grocery chain comes Sweetbay Supermarket, a new player in the competitive grocery market in the Tampa Bay area. Along with the change, Taryn Jones was hired to be Sweetbay’s retail marketing manager.

In high school, Taryn’s mother influenced her to take a job opening at her office that involved a lot of marketing. Not knowing what marketing was really about, Taryn found her self doing a lot of promotional work..

“I really like the creativity behind it and that you can have fun. You can just put your ideas behind it and see what happens and if they’re successful, it’s even better,” said Taryn.

With this experience under her belt, Taryn attended USF and majored in advertising from the School of Mass Communications.

Creating the weekly ad is an accumulation of weeks of collaborative work between multiple departments. From merchandisers, sales analysts, graphic designers, and all the way to the marketing department, a flyer is usually made close to 12 weeks ahead.

“I think the number one key to effective advertising is about how relative it is to the consumer,” Taryn continues, “Advertising is about getting the right message at the right time to the consumer. I think in order to be heard, the tone and look has to be relevant.”

Every grocery chain puts out a weekly ad, one of Taryn’s responsibilities is to make Sweetbay’s ad stand out from the pack.

“What we wanted to do was be a little more fun with our flyers. We incorporate a lot of colors. We incorporate designs and patterns that are also on our website and stores,” Taryn said. “What’s also important is the order of the flyer. We know consumers start with the staples. The meat, the produce, and then they go from there,” she continues.

Taryn gave a few tips for current advertising students who are looking to make it in the industry. “I feel that one of the most important skills is to be a good listener. With marketing, we are the end result of what somebody wants us to promote, so I think that it’s important to listen and be flexible to the partners that we’re working with,” said Taryn.

Taryn then continued with her prediction of where advertising is going. “I think that by moving into a more digital platform, like reading the weekly ad on your smart-phone, that’s going to be the next big thing.”

“We’re also going to be launching a new site at www.sweetbaysupermarket.com . In about a month, consumers can build their own shopping list. I think that it’s going to be a lot more interactive and puts you in charge compared to just looking at the weekly ad,” said Taryn.

Keywords: Advertising  Sweetbay  Marketing  Weekly-Ads USF Flyer