2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

WAITROSE MOON

BrandWAITROSE UAE
Product/ServiceBRAND
EntrantRAPP MIDDLE EAST Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategorySocial Behaviour & Cultural Insight
Idea Creation RAPP MIDDLE EAST Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Media Placement PUBLINET ADVERTISING Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
PR JENSEN MATTHEWS PR Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Why is this work relevant for Media?

In the cluttered Ramadan media environment, and from a brand with low brand engagement in the UAE, this work stood out in the premium retail segment by offering an ever evolving branded media asset in the form of Waitrose’s real time moon. Culturally relevant and executed across 360 media formats & daily in-stores, the work was not only entirely fresh in its category, changing daily to create refreshed viewership and engagement for all thirty days of Ramadan, but it offered daily premium recipe solutions to match each moon phase and address the shopper’s need for frequent inspiration.

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 creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

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 strategy (20% of vote)

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.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The beautifully bold design, integrating the moon into the brands logo, was the first design language of its kind since the brand was founded in 1904. The execution allowed both printed and digital mediums to reflect the changing faces of the moon during the thirty day Ramadan period creating a brand new logo for the brand every single day and deepening cultural resonance. The campaign created thirty versions of the logo, reflecting the changing moon every day of the religious festival. The thirty moon stages were shown as both static and animated digital assets, sitting against the deep blue night sky, as well as across limited edition luxury fridge calendars, shopping bags and lenticular led point of sale creating engagement across every brand channel.

List the results (30% of vote)

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 FB & Instagram 115% of targeted reach on Programmatic 101% of targeted impressions on Programmatic

Please tell us about the social behaviour and / or cultural insights that inspired your campaign

Knowing that the Islamic world follows the moon’s movement as the gateway to daily meal planning, the Waitrose Moon campaign leveraged local behaviour, linking the moons changing faces with meal planning and offering consumers a daily changing digital ‘moon’ alongside recipe inspiration and ingredients in store. Waitrose knew that their premium shoppers wanted fresh and unique recipe’s to make their table stand out, and whilst other brands were using the moon tenuously as a predictable icon, the Waitrose Moon committed their own brand logo to connecting Ramadan food shopping to exceptional family meals.

Credits

Name Company Role
Morne Fourie Waitrose UAE Client
Warwick Gird. Waitrose UAE Client
Ali Shabaz Rapp Creative Agency
Vanburn Gonsalves Rapp Creative Agency
Jayana Silva Rapp Creative Agency
Nic Garcia Rapp Creative Agency
Jess Raby Rapp Creative Agency
Mimi Nicklin Rapp Creative Agency
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