2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Background

The challenge was for the iconic British retail brand, Waitrose, to establish their local relevance within the UAE, their only other established location outside of the UK. Whilst the brand is widely known in the UK, its expansion in the UAE required a powerful brand innovation to connect with consumers who had little awareness of its heritage.

Describe the strategy

During the Holy month of Ramadan Waitrose grabbed the attention of its audience and got them to engage with the brand in a new, meaningful way. Given the moon has huge significance during Ramadan, in a bold move, Waitrose UAE changed the logo for the first time in 150 years. The “Waitrose Moon” was a simple, elegant design solution that captured the attention of consumers across the region.

Describe the execution

For the 30 days of Ramadan the brand created a banner ad, that changed daily, to reflect the new phase of the moon. When clicked, it linked through to provide key nutritional tips, insights and recipe inspiration for the audience during a month where food holds more significance than any other time in the year - further working to connect the brand to the local needs of their expanded audience. The campaign was developed from very minimal budget and ran across paid-media, social and in-store with an influencer campaign to support the animated banners and daily Instagram and Facebook content leveraging adapted design.

List the results

The programmatic campaign showed impressions of over 1.2 million within the first 3 weeks of the month and paid social showed impressions of just over 2 million in the same period. A huge leap for a brand that previously had very little digital footprint, growing its Instagram account by 300%. Waitrose provided Ramadan gift packages to key local social media influencers, that were held within limited edition Ramadan bags that brought the moon to life with light sensitive ink. The 'un-boxing' was showcased to over 176,000 followers within the first 24 hours. This significantly increased the brands social presence and following for their newly launched accounts, making this Waitrose UAE’s most successful piece of marketing in the brands history. - 174% of targeted views on Facebook & Instagram - 115% of targeted reach on Programatic - 101% of targeted impression on Programatic