-By Elaine Wong

Giant Food and Stop & Shop, two of the nation's biggest regional supermarket chains, announced they are bagging their old store designs and logos.

The sister companies, both divisions of international supermarket operator Ahold in the Netherlands, unveiled a new store logo design this morning (Aug. 21) as part of a major rebranding effort. At the core of the campaign is the redesign of 570 total Giant Food and Stop & Stop stores to reflect changing consumer needs--namely low prices and quality food.

Whereas Giant and Stop & Shop had separate logos in the past (Giant's was a big "G" and Stop & Shop's mirrored a traffic light), the two stores will now share the same logo: A colorful bowl with three pieces of fruit on the top.

A TV spot airing tomorrow spoofs the ambiguity of the new logo, which can be interpreted many ways by different viewers.

"Is it a bowl? Is it fruit? We love that everyone sees something different in it. That makes it very dynamic," said Carol Austin, vp-brand and marketing strategy, Stop & Shop/Giant. Other ads will follow next month. The new logo also is featured on the 11.5 million circulars hitting today and tomorrow to support.

New signage will begin appearing on Giant and Stop & Shop storefronts over the next 24 to 36 months. New in-store features include a digital deli ordering kiosk, a tabloid- and candy-free checkout lane, and a scan-and-bag-it-yourself grocery lane.

To celebrate the relaunch, both Giant and Stop & Shop are giving away free groceries, twor week, via their respective Web sites. The promotion will last 12 weeks and participants must sign up with their frequent shopper card.

Giant currently operates 181 supermarkets in the Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and D.C. areas while Stop & Shop has 389 locations throughout New Jersey and the New England states.

Brand identity shop Interbrand, Cincinnati, created the logo while Mullen, Wenham, Mass. handled the ad campaign.

"The current logos are very well loved by our associates and customers. We didn't move away from them without a lot of thought," said Stephen Vowles, svp-marketing and corporate brands at Stop & Shop/Giant. "The genesis of this project was a desire to change our business. And so we took a real close look at customers' needs in the 21st century."