The Christmas period is the most important period of the year for supermarkets. Every year, the week before Christmas is the largest turnover within the supermarket sector. It is an important period for Albert Heijn to present itself as market leader, to improve perception and to strengthen the relationship with its customers.
Albert Heijn sets the bar high for 2019. It has to be the most successful Christmas campaign ever. We have changed course and opted for a distinctive media strategy; not only by reaching and emotionally touching consumers, but also by being inspiring, helping and activating them.
Christmas campaign approach
1. Create synergy between all messages and channels, consistency and focus
Lower the amount of messages and make choices. This applies to creation, but also to media and both the paid and own resources of Albert Heijn.
2. Be relevant and follow the rhythm of the customer.
Focus on the whole of the Netherlands, but follow the 'individual' customer rhythm in media. Empower channels; emotional vs. rational & inspiration vs. functional.
3. Behave as a market leader.
Don't want to be present everywhere all the time, but where and when we are present we need to be visible to the maximum.
Recipes at every level
The success of 2019 was due to a totally integrated communication strategy. From the shop floor to the ‘Bonus’ offer, from the App to Allerhande and from the creative concept to media, everything had to add up.
The focus was on our favourite Dutch Christmas dishes; 21 dishes that were chosen based on research. The recipes for these dishes were offered at different levels; consumers who opt for convenience but also suitable for consumers who want to put more time into the dishes. The communication strategy fitted in seamlessly. Different messages were always attuned to the different touch points and moments, taking into account the needs of the consumer.
Emotional vs rational & inspiration vs functional
We have clearly defined the role of each resource in advance. Each resource is judged on the axis of emotional vs. rational & inspiration vs. functional, so that media and creation reinforce each other everywhere. For example within Social; Pinterest for inspiration, Instagram for emotion and Facebook more rational and functional.
We started in October. The 21 dishes could be found within the recipe content including a so-called 'buy button', so that interested parties could immediately add all necessities to their 'favorites' or shopping list.
The first weeks of the campaign were dominated by inspiration with the 21 Christmas dishes. Through all our own means (food cards in the shop, app and on AH.nl a Christmas menu generator, more extensive recipes in Allerhande assortment guide), but also through Pinterest we offered inspiration.
By continuously aligning media, creation and consumer needs, we made sure that every medium was used in its power, we always attuned the message to the consumer's time and need.
An unforgettable Christmas
The Christmas campaign 2019 was unforgettable. It is Albert Heijn's most successful Christmas campaign ever. With the same budget as 2018, all results have increased significantly. We can conclude that the strategy has been extremely successful and the effect per contact has increased significantly.
UNO playground object fights against loneliness
Posterscope created the UNO ‘Let’s play along’ playground for primary schools to fight loneliness among children and to raise awareness for this underexposed problem. It helps connect lonely chi...
Crisp, the online marketplace
Crisp is the online marketplace for everyone who wants better everyday food. Crisp is on a mission to make better food available for the many. Crisp focuses on super fresh and seasonal food, dir...
Albert Heijn Christmas 2019: Consistency and focus
How a strong focus has led to the highest daily turnover in the history of Albert Heijn.
iProspect: Tele2
Snapchat is the channel to make selfies. Tele2 wants to magnify this behavior and celebrate it exuberantly, to show the whole of the Netherlands that you can get unlimited unlimited selfies with...
Vizeum: ASN Bank
Based on this insight, an umbrella strategy has been chosen to popularize sustainable banking: making ASN Bank more attractive and more accessible for a broader group.
Snelwegsprookjes
Children are increasingly looking to screens for entertainment in car journeys, so how can we use technology to stimulate children’s imagination while traveling?
For Volkswag...
Carat, The Story Lab, Amnet: Durex
Durex wants to connect with young people through locally developed content and convince them of the importance of safe sex in order to stimulate condom use. Only, safe sex is not a sexy topic. S...
ACHTUNG! mcgarrybowen: Volkswagen
How can we improve the perception of the brand value ‘innovation’ by showcasing all innovation in the newest generation Volkswagen, but without losing the human character that Volkswagen has est...
KLM: iProspect
iProspect and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines are digital partners since 2011. Since then, the activities have grown to 73 markets in 25 different languages. The partnership between
Carat, The Story Lab, iProspect: Microsoft
Carat was asked by Microsoft to introduce Surface Book in the Netherlands. Overall goal of the campaign was to increase awareness and purchase intent for this new laptop, that should lead to a m...
Merkle: Marlies Dekkers
Merkle's collaboration met marlies | dekkers started out as an informal acquaintance with the business of the iconic brand. It grew into a long-term partnership to learn innovation and from each...
iProspect: Action
iProspect developed a test to determine the incremental value of the measured Store Visits. For this experiment we started with the following research question: To what extent can measured Googl...
Isobar, Posterscope: C&A Christmas campaign
Due to the power of the combination of OOH and mobile location data and the variation in message, we have been able to reverse the declining trend in store visits. Secondary objective was to inc...
dentsuACHTUNG! Diageo
The Bar is using gamification to keep track of progress and give aspiring mixologists a sense of achievement. Based on progress, we suggest increasingly advanced cocktails and introduce new tec...
Posterscope, Carat and isobar: C&A
Activating store visits by working with a unique hyper-location technology partner, we built an integrated solution that combined OOH with mobile programmatic.
Carat: Diageo
Carat: Arla
Activating positive sales and trust in Arla's product by using media channels to emotional and engage the audience.