The Brief

We have been appointed to develop the brand strategy, brand positioning and all integrated creative campaigns for Amazon’s private label grocery brand.

And what a brief to receive… It’s 20 years since Ocado shook up the UK grocery market. And since then? Well, nothing much has changed. We’re either promised great quality (but at a high price we’d rather not pay), or we get brilliant prices (but compromise with just-about acceptable quality). It’s same-same whichever grocer you shop with.

It’s time to reimagine grocery…

The Red Thread Idea

‘Food too, who knew?’ is our big brand platform, announcing rather modestly that Amazon is here to shake up the grocery sector.

To support the joyful tone of this brand platform, we reimagined the ‘smile’ in the Amazon logo and made it a central brand asset, with the help of bendy fresh produce like bananas, prawns, and a melon slice. This single branding device delivered two messages: surprise and quality.

The Execution

We needed the media to be joyful in equal measure. We would need display premium credentials and signal food quality. So we employed a ‘smile’ strategy across London. At the heart of the plan were tube station ‘dominations’, which included full platform hoarding takeovers, a takeover of station escalators, a station corridor wrap (floor, sides and ceiling), and proximity D6 OOH sites outside the station. The media was planned for the last window of influence; ‘walking’ commuters from station to store, just a few steps away, at the hungriest times of their day.

Digital OOH executions reacted to day-parts by showcasing smiling produce best suited to breakfast, lunch or dinner and were backed up with geo-location-based digital media adverts for clever retargeting. Social media content, radio, advertising at point of purchase in Amazon Fresh stores, and online banners at Amazon.co.uk completed the campaign.

Giant smiles were everywhere as Amazon suddenly became synonymous with grocery shopping.