How Acosta Stocks Your Grocer's Shelf

After one of the four plants that produce Kellogg's (K) Eggo brand waffles had to be shut down in late 2009 as a result of flooding and another was crippled due to manufacturing mishaps, shortages of the frozen breakfast staple spread across the U.S. While Kellogg struggled for several months to get production back online, the billion-dollar Eggo brand saw its share of the frozen breakfast market slide from about one-third to 19 percent in early 2010, according to researcher Nielsen. That's when Kellogg—which has no shortage of in-house marketers—turned to Acosta, an 84-year-old sales and marketing firm.

Acosta has 13,000 workers patrolling 130,000 stores in North America every day for blue-chip clients such as Kellogg, Procter & Gamble (PG), and Nestlé. They pay Acosta to persuade retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) and Kroger (KR) to carry, prominently display, or even promote their products to build future sales. Acosta even helps craft revival plans for brands that need to regain the attention of retailers, as it did with Eggo.