iVillage women’s portal forges link with Tesco

IVillage, the US women’s portal which recently entered the UK through an alliance with Tesco.com, is this week launching a major branding exercise in Tesco’s 650 UK stores.

Every Tesco outlet, except for forecourt-based Tesco Express sites, will carry point-of-sale iVillage material for the next two weeks. Arranged in different aisles, these will attempt to draw in female Tesco shoppers with strategically placed questions.

For example, the baby products aisle will carry banners asking: “At what age should your baby go on to solids?”, while the healthy eating aisles will ask: “Is there such a thing as good fat?” Similar questions will be placed within shopping trolleys.

Shelf-wobblers and floor stickers will carry the teaser: “Want to learn more about iVillage UK? See leaflet at check-out.” Posters, using JC Decaux sites, and distributed leaflets will support in-store material.

Tesco and iVillage teamed up in autumn (e-volve November 23) to launch iVillage.co.uk, a 24-hour online community where women can find support and advice on everything from breastfeeding to understanding a computer.

The US site (iVillage.com) claims to be the leading women’s online community, and has forged close ties with major advertisers such as Ford.

However, its UK offspring faces stiff competition from Handbag.com, iCircle, Charlottestreet.com and Femail.co.uk.