July 8, 2010 – Free Standing Insert (FSI) coupon activity increased 10.1% during the first six months of 2010 versus the same time period a year ago according to Marx, a Kantar Media solution.  This increase is the greatest observed during the first six months of a calendar year, surpassing the second highest growth reported (8% in the first half of 2004). 

“Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) manufacturers are continuing to use FSI coupons to reach consumers in the home to deliver advertising impact, influence consumer purchase decisions, and secure retail merchandising support,” states.

Marx, who specializes in tracking FSI coupon activity, also reports that retailer promotion activity continued to grow with a 56.2% increase to 6.7 billion pages in the first half of 2010.  Additionally, the number of manufacturers participating in retailer promotion events increased from 135 during the first half of 2009 to 213 during the first half of 2010.

Overall FSI Activity

During the first half of 2010, more than $234 billion in consumer incentives were delivered via FSI coupons in Sunday newspapers, up 17.8% from the same period in 2009.  During the same six month period, more than 155 billion coupons were distributed within more than 113 billion FSI pages.  FSI coupon average Face Value achieved a new record level in the first half of 2010 at $1.51, up 7.1% versus the first half of 2009. 

Sector Activity

The CPG sector remains the largest user of FSI pages with a 74.4% share, followed by Direct Response, which includes general advertising activity, and Franchise, comprised of restaurants, portrait studios, and other businesses.

CPG had the largest percent increase; up 11.4% to more than 84.6 billion pages, while Franchise increased 2.1% to more than 10.0 billion pages.  Direct Response decreased the number of pages 9% to 19 billion.