The Costco campaign kicked off May 1st and will run through the end of the month. They have just completed their second week and have raised $12,038,201 so far!  Last year through the same time frame they had raised $11,956,091.  We are currently up roughly 1% year-over-year.  Usually this time of year we are at a much higher growth rate.  I attribute this lower rate due to the challenges of with the changes Costco implemented this year their large banner/poster program.  In year’s past, warehouses were free to sell large six-foot balloons/banners or posters to local businesses and could offer full advertisement for that business on those posters or balloons for $250.  This year, Costco’s leadership decided to only allow the name of the business on a jumbo balloon (only 4.5″), thus all but eliminating the advertising benefit, and raised the price to $500.  This decision was made to both create a company-wide standard operating procedure and to keep their warehouses looking a little cleaner.  That said, Costco’s been extremely supportive with communication from their Senior Operators all the way down to their front line about having everyone FOCUS ON THE ASK to customers.

If you’d like to see your market’s specific numbers, you can do that through Report Central on Mission Control, or work with your Program Director for these details.

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