‘Pulse’ case study: Aldi, ‘Activating newsbrands’
Recently Aldi has overtaken the Co-op to become the fifth largest supermarket in the UK, now sitting behind the ‘Big Four’ grocers Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco.
It’s an impressive achievement given that just 10 years ago the so-called discounter was the tenth biggest food retailer. But, on the back of a 12.4% year-on-year increase in sales for the last quarter (up to 29 January 2017), the brand increased its market share by 0.6 percentage points to clinch fifth place for the first time, according to Kantar Worldpanel.
This growth has been underpinned by an extensive programme of store openings attracting a significant number of new shoppers, as well as extensive media support, which newsbrands have played a pivotal role in.
Given its focus on generating customer loyalty, Aldi encourages its customers who are familiar with the brand to shop there more often. This, paired with a requirement to ensure national brand coverage of an increasingly diverse demographic group, is where newsbrands play a key role within the communications strategy, alongside other channels such as TV and digital.
Aldi use newsbrands consistently throughout the year to ensure an ‘always on’ presence, combining lower level drip activity with more significant, higher weight bursts around key calendar events. It does an effective job of honing in on special occasions to ensure a prominent position in the very competitive grocery retail market.
Consistent maintenance
Aldi’s ‘always on’ maintenance activity tends to consist of a combination of price based and brand building ads to ensure prominence in the minds of customers, ensuring that they maintain and grow brand loyalty.
Higher impact boosts
Across a 12-month period (August 2016 – July 2017), Aldi capitalised on key events through heavier weight, higher impact campaign boosts to support the likes of Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Black Friday, ensuring that the brand was at the forefront of consumers’ minds during key retail periods. In addition to supporting key events, Aldi use newsbrands as a platform to endorse its award-winning work, be it ‘Drinks Retailer of the Year’ or winning ‘Fresh Produce Retailer of the Year’.
These examples really demonstrate that Aldi are constantly working at building relationships with consumers and ensuring that an unbreakable trust is built with them.
Title selection: The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Telegraph, The Times, The Mail on Sunday, the Guardian, i, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, The Sun, Sunday Mirror, dailymail.co.uk, mirror.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, thetimes.co.uk, thesun.co.uk, independent.co.uk
Platform selection: Multi-platform
Formats used: Print – Full Page, 33×8, 25×4 (or equiv), Strips, 4 Col, 38 x 6, Half Page, plus disruptive formats
Digital – MPU, banner, video