Marketers distributed 253 billion coupons via FSIs last year, worth more than $300 billion in discounts to shoppers.

The number of FSI pages hit a record 200 billion, up just over 1% for the year, according to FSI tracking service Marx Promotion Intelligence, Minneapolis.

Packaged goods brands accounted for 67.4% of all FSI pages, followed by direct response ads (23.4%) and franchised restaurants (9.2%). Among packaged goods, non-food brands ran 2.7% more coupons than they did in 2005, and food brands ran 3.9% fewer, according to Marx’s annual FSI Distribution Trends Report. The firm does not track coupon redemption.

The top 10 product categories for coupon distribution were:

• Household cleaning products (12.4 million coupons, down 5.7%)
• Pet food and treats (12.3 million coupons, up 12.4%)
• Rug and room deodorizers (10.8 million coupons, up 15%)
• Cross-category personal care (10.5 million coupons, up 7.5%)
• Snacks (7.2 million coupons, down 3.4%)
• Cough, cold, sinus and allergy (6.7 million coupons, up 4.7%)
• Hair care products (6.2 million, up 0.8%)
• Vitamins (6 million, down 14.7%)
• Dishwashing soap (5.5 million, up 5.9%)
• Cereal (5.5 million, down 8.2%)

The 10 manufacturers that dropped the most coupons last year were Procter & Gamble; General Mills; SC Johnson & Son; Unilever; Reckitt Benckiser; Nestle; Johnson & Johnson; Altria Group (including Kraft Foods); Colgate-Palmolive Co. and Kimberly-Clark Corp.

New product launches have always been a strong catalyst for couponing, and 2006 was no exception: Marx tallied coupon support for 384 product launches from packaged goods brands.

“Consumers continue to seek out FSIs to be exposed to new products, gain additional product information, benefit from purchase incentives, and plan their shopping trips,” said Marx Chief Operating Officer Mark Nesbitt in a statement.

Sunday newspaper FSIs reached an average of nearly 70 million households each week. The heaviest activity came just before Easter (April 2, 144 FSI pages) and Thanksgiving (Nov. 11, 128 FSI pages).

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