Woolies returns fire in loyalty battle with Coles, ‘This is the simplest way we could make this ad’
Woolworths has returned fire in the battle with Coles for customer loyalty.
The supermarket has released an animated TV ad – created by its new agency Droga5 – featuring a green blob who talks about the benefits of Woolworths Everyday Rewards loyalty scheme.
The character in the ads says: “This is the simplest way we could make this ad. Because extra special savings from Woolworths Everyday Rewards is the simplest way to save on the things you love.”
The campaign comes less than four weeks after Coles launched a huge marketing offensive to push its revamped FlyBuys loyalty card.
This is the second campaign created by Droga5, which won the Woolies business in March.
Droga’s first outing for its new client was for Woolworths’ own label brands Select Strawberry Jam, Select Tomato Sauce and Select Deli Style Chips.
Neither Droga5 or Woolworths were available for comment at the time of writing.
However, a Coles spokesman told Mumbrella:
Woolworths are playing catch-up again but what they have launched is a hastily pulled together program which does nothing for their customers. Their ‘extra special’ rewards program has simply taken the hundreds of promotions that they would have been running for all their customers anyway and made them exclusive to Everyday Rewards Customers. That’s why they were able to respond to my5 so quickly and it explains why they have not included any fresh items including fruit and veg, home brand milk and meat (these items are predominantly private label and so they can’t get them supplier funded).
So Woolworths customers who are Everyday Reward card holders get what they would have got anyway, maybe just a bit sooner, and the rest of their customers get locked out of promotions for the next six weeks. Sounds like a great deal!
With my5 customers are getting 10% off of the things they choose – including milk, meat and fresh produce which all feature in the most popular my5 picks – AND still getting the hundreds of specials across the store which we already had planned and will continue to run. My5 is already saving Australian families millions of dollars of their grocery bills.
having worked on both accounts in the past my sense is the ‘space’ woolworths had with FFP (fresh food peeps) was actually bigger than the fresh food, all the research showed it conveyed a larger sense of making sure all parts of the business operated properly eg, if you can get fresh food right, which is hard, you must be able to look after the rest of the biz easily.
Vacate well known and well considered positioning with peril as Coles is taking that space rapidly (looking after all parts of their business) and not too sure that presenting the brand as a small dot on a large white screen (feeling lost) and feeling like you are scaling back on your presence (after 20 years having the biggest message) will help your annual sales of $54 Billion grow….
just sayin
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as much as i absolutely adore Dawn French – this ad WORKS… the big downfall of Coles is that you have to jump through a million hoops to get little benefit.
scanning a card and getting the benefit is just plain sense.
i dont work for either – in this case i am a consumer, and woolworths slam dunks all over coles in this rewards environment.
now if only they could get Dawn to jump ship and come on board with the little green blob.
lol
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I think its supposed to be a talking pea.. I saw the video on the Woolworths Facebook page yesterday and I’m sure the title said something about a pea, but I couldn’t find it when I went to look back at it..
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I love Woollies for its variety, something coles is sadly lacking in these days, if its not masterchef branded or generic good luck with any other choice. A rewards scheme isn’t going to entice me. Then again I’m not a fan of petrol vouchers either. Big effort little reward and a green blob to tell it to me. Where is WWs Dawn?
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Hmmm, I still question Coles’ choice with using Dawn French?? I love her as the Vicar, but as an Australian Coles ambassador, sorry, I am just not sold. BTW, the Woolies blob, as opposed to the Coles blob, perhaps ??? – simple, and yes, I think it works!
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Right on @anon-e-mouse. Feels like Woollies is vacating the stage.
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The Coles/Woolies battle is certainly an interesting one.
I find it even more interesting where I shop for groceries. Ashgrove in Brisbane is home to a Woolies, a Coles and an Aldi all within metres of each other.
Aldi is not my cup of tea so I never go there. I prefer the Woolies as it’s bigger & newer than Coles but I often go to Coles cause it’s often almost empty. So I can be in & out quickly. Sometimes there are more staff than customers & you can almost always score a car park near the front door.
Just to goes to show that advertising is not the only decision maker when it comes to where one shops.
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Coles & Woolies seem to work on the premise of ‘Anything you can do, I can do better’ – so please explain – so if I scan my card at Woolies i immediately get 20% off my bill.
If that’s the case great if not – then I have no idea what the pea says.
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Love this – so simple. I also love Dawn French but why is she the face of Coles….wouldn’t she shop in Tesco’s being english??. Also gave up on the Flyby thing the minute the envelope arrived – too much hassle to get my 5c discount on an apple.
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I am not a fan of bitch-marketing, which is what this is. You can just see the Marketing teams in crisis talks about how they’re going to handle the “Coles situation”. This is a knee-jerk reaction to the Coles campaign, and from everything I’ve seen and read since its launch, Coles Fly Buys is kicking goals all over the place.
I love the simplicity of the Pea Ad, but it’s the bitchy overtones leaves me cold. It fails tell me what it is I actually get from being an Everyday Rewards card holder. What are the benefits apart from being “Simple”? In reality, I swipe my Everyday Rewards at the checkout and think nothing of it.
With the new Coles Fly Buys campaign I am re-engaged. My5s are selected. I’ve linked with my energy provider. I now drive further to get to Coles passing two conveniently located Woolworths to get there.
I’m on board with Coles FlyBuys. Woolworths and Droga 5 missed the mark on this one…but I think it’s part of a bigger strategy, a distraction until they come up with something better.
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Being a consumer who is neither a flybuys or everyday rewards customer, and having had both programs thrust in front of me over the past month, I’d go for ease anyday. Coles very may well offer bigger savings by choosing five products (etc etc), but it’s all too hard and I couldn’t be bothered working it out. I want simplicity in my life…and woolies rewards program (at least seems) to offer that.
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Anyone have families in this industry? The spend is always $50-plus and your five special items are regular essentials that just about choose themselves – family shopping isn’t like yuppie shopping where they gawp around the aisles wondering what to have for dinner. My5 is icing on the cake for cash-strapped shoppers facing rising bills.
(I currently have no connection with either client but I do have a family and they eat like horses.)
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This ad is genius. It’s clean, clear and clever. I can only think it was the handy work of Johnny B – well done fella!
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The Supermarkets are my favourite hobby horse, so I will be uncharacteristically brief.
The green blob is a good campaign, unlike so many, it almost gets it 100% right.
I am very annoyed with “off of” under any circumstances.
Fresh food blah blah, is akin to “We are the professionals” in my book. Only where the opposition has a reputation for, or is likely to claiming to be “The stale food people” is such a line desirable.
Aldi? To those who avoid this store, just get yourself acquainted with the basic bread, milk, meat, vegetables, cereal, condiments, washing and cleaning products and see how foolish it can be to give twice the price to the warring factions. (I have no connection with any supermarket but I feed a family of four and keep a household stocked )
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I like the ad because for some reason the Curtis Stone and Dawn French (had no idea who she was, thanks everyone) over-promotions of coles annoys me. I think Woolworths has read the sentiment of the public with the my5 and gone for a simpler promotion that isn’t rubbing into your face like Coles is doing.
Anyway doing the maths I think Woolworths owns Coles on this one. Coles has made a big splash and Woolworths slips in and rides the hype. No wonder the Coles marketing people felt they had to say something.
btw – is the groping of Curtis Stone supposed to impress me?
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OK… So, do I get 20% off the contents of my trolley if I scan my card??? PLEASE explain. If so, then I am heading straight past 3 Coles stores to get my 20% off at Woolies, it’s a no brainer!… Oh, and Hahaha to Lulabella @1.31pm… Dawn is a bit ‘blobby’ I guess, so Woolies have their own ‘blobby’ now too? Yeah, I get it!
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ur not getting 20% off everything read it!!
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https://www.everydayrewards.com.au/static/sites/rewards/offer/index.html
Apparently Woolies is offering 20% off certain products… only for cardholders. Just get the product, scan card, and buy. Definitely better savings than Coles My5?
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It’s the Pak N Save philosophy. Done better elsewhere.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=uNkVc7otSPw
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