‘It’s all about the customer’: Woolworths’ top marketer on its new brand campaign
Woolworths has overhauled its brand advertising with a series of spots aimed at explaining why people shop there. Its top marketer Andrew Hicks talks Mumbrella through the rationale for the new campaign.
Just six months after the shock decision to dump Leo Burnett as its advertising agency in favour of M&C Saatchi Woolworths has launched a huge new brand push, moving the supermarket chain away from the price-based messaging to one based around its values.
Woolworths chief marketing officer Andrew Hicks tells Mumbrella the supermarket’s new campaign will help it reconnect with consumers and show how the brand is improving.
Hicks tells Mumbrella Woolworths was getting back to the basics of a conversation with its customers and while it would always fight on price, the new narrative of “That’s Why I Pick Woolies” meant it would not be shouting at customers – a thinly veiled reference to rival Coles’ brash and loud ‘Down Down’ marketing.
The campaign kicked off on Sunday night with a warm commercial celebrating the traditional Sunday roast and has continued to roll out new ads over the course of the week touching on various elements of what Woolworths stands for.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OucAHEUxzyM
The massive media buy covering every platform from TV to radio, print, outdoor and social, aims at touching 80% of Australian grocery buyers in the first week.
“We recognised that there were some great reasons why customers choose Woolworths that hadn’t been shared broadly and equally new reasons why they had come on board that we hadn’t spoken about at all,” Hicks says.
“And so it was just a great opportunity to take a fresh approach, new brand platform, give new meaning to the Fresh Food People and equally to strengthen some of the emotional connections that we have with customers.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSyEoUksdVc
Hicks said the message Woolworths had been promoting was too inwardly focused and the time had come to reach out to customers and put them back at the centre of communications, even down to adopting the use of “Woolies” in its marketing – something the brand has long avoided.
“I think the most important point is it was from the customer’s perspective rather than our own, so using their language,” he says.
“Even the shift from ‘Woolworths’ to ‘Woolies’ in reflecting how customers use it as a term of endearment. ‘Pick’ for us is also a very powerful word.
“It has connotations back to Fresh and to Fresh Food People, but equally it recognises that customers have an active choice they can make everyday in terms of where they shop.
This is really an opportunity to have fresh conversations plus recognition of the fact that we have to work hard to to be the first choice for our customers – and Woolies is the term of endearment customers use.”
While some have noted the new campaign resembles some of the work created by Droga5 four years ago for the supermarket minus the quirky characters, Hicks believes the new work from M&C Saatchi stands clearly on its own.
“I think the campaign idea is new in my view and I think it is different from previous campaigns,” he adds.
“However, there is something that is quintessentially Woolworths in the tone of the campaign and that is something we are particularly proud of, that Woolworths as a brand is authentic and optimistic, down to earth. There is a quintessential Aussie humour that runs through the brand’s DNA. So for us it was really taking the best of what Woolworths is as a brand and breathing new life into it.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTcQkcWn92c
Although M&C Saatchi has had just six months to develop the campaign from scratch, it has already been researched extensively since the agency picked up the account from Leo Burnett in February.
“We have done some extensive research with customers to make sure that we’re living up to what we are saying we are doing in terms of putting the customer first,” he said.
“The research has (been) incredibly positive in terms of both the tone of the work and equally the fact that it is honest and it reflects some of the reasons customers actively do quote as reasons to pick Woolworths.
“I think there is something that is as sincere and authentic about the approach, and from what we have seen in research this will resonate particularly well with customers.
“It’s only been a day since we launched but if we look at some of the initial sentiments on social media they have equally been very positive so I think it does begin to say that we have made a good connection or are in the process of making a good and positive connection with customers.”
The supermarket will continue to fight on price but will avoid the tone of the much derided ‘Cheap Cheap’ commercials created by Leo Burnett.
“I don’t think we are stepping away from price except it’s one of the reasons that customers choose Woolworths every week, and so for us it was important to, yes, maintain the focus on price,” Hicks says.
“But really acknowledging the fact that customers see that as just one reason why they pick Woolies. Price, quality, convenience, even something like Food Rescue and a brand that does good in the community.
“There are a vast array of reasons why a customer picks a supermarket and indeed picks Woolworths. So for us it was really just saying we need to represent that truth more broadly.
“Price is one of the things that is critically important to Australian consumers and we will remain focused on communicating our price credentials as part of one of the core reasons that customers pick Woolies.
“And we have seen price perception gaps narrowing and investment in price is beginning to pay off practically in consumer’s wallets but equally in perception.”
Hicks said that the tone of the campaign would not change and that it would be a long-term platform after three years of chopping and changing brand messages.
“The tone is very indicative in terms of where the brand will go,” he adds.
“I’m not a big fan of the thought that the louder you shout the more you will be heard.
“I think the Woolworths brand has and always would be and should be a conversation. It’s the experience that many customers have with the brand when they interact with our teams in stores.
“I think it’s our job to try and reflect it at its best, and at its best it is a dialogue, a conversation and a friend and so the tone that we are trying to establish is one that is authentic and clear and conversational and has a sense of humour.
“That is something that we are committed to maintaining through all of the mediums that we are going to be rolling the campaign out in.”
As well as traditional channels the supermarket will also use its own media and staff to communicate the new messaging.
“In the initial stages TV, out of home, digital, mobile, social, print, radio, there is a large weight of media behind landing the initial idea with consumers and communicating it well,” says Hicks.
“But our owned assets are equally powerful, so how we utilise Fresh Magazine, our team members in stores and the stores themselves, our own online website, our social media channels, we are committed to everything at our disposal to communicate the idea on an ongoing basis.
“I think the reason that that’s important, as I said earlier, there are many, many reasons why consumers pick Woolies.”
Woolworths will drive its own content with the help of Kiis radio presenter and comedian Dave Hughes, who will create a series of content pieces speaking to customers in stores.
“From basically a content series with Dave, as he describes himself, a trolley boy at Woolies, and so its a humorous lens on the Why Pick Woolies campaign and the reasons,” Hicks said.
“So he is interacting with customers in our stores and asking them the various reasons why they pick Woollies. That content series will then be amplified on the Kiis website and more generally on radio.”
He also said that the new relationship with M&C Saartchi was crucial to the success of the campaign and setting a new direction.
“I think it’s been an opportunity just more generally to reset what the brand stands for and where it’s going,” says Hicks.
“The Woolworths business is going through a transformation and it’s only fitting that the business’s biggest asset, its brand, should equally be reviewed and strengthened.”
Success will be measured by both the financial results and brand measures.
He adds: “There is a lot of brand tracking that is currently in place so we will certainly look to see a number of those metrics move forward.
“I think one of the key metrics for us is our Net Promoter Score which we stay very close to. I think its very direct link back to the customer-centricity that the business and the brand is focused on, so would you recommend this brand to friends or family, that is particularly a metric we would like to see moving forward along with other likely brand metrics.
“I think Woolworths is and remains a strong and iconic Australian brand we have seen opportunities to strengthen it and that is really what we focused on.”
Tip: Fix your loyalty scheme, go back to what it used to be (Everyday Rewards) which is what customers loved and used. Why did you f** with it in the first place.
If this new strategy is “all about the customer”, give them what they want. This seems to be the easiest no-brainer that Woolworths won’t do. Why is it so hard to admit you got something wrong, when the rest of the world can see it?
User ID not verified.
It’s great to focus on end customers and I quite like Woolworths’ new ads, but they need to focus on fixing their well-known culture of not supporting suppliers and the companies/agencies they work with. The reason I don’t shop at Woolworths (unless there’s no other retail option nearby) is that Woolworths are so widely known to shaft suppliers they work with. I work with many companies who supply, or who have supplied, Woolworths – and there are many bad war stories from these companies. I have also worked agency-side for Woolworths and they are well-known for being dreadful to work with – they proved this when we worked with them. Word travels quickly when so many people supply, or work with, such a large company. This is in comparison to the positive stories coming from suppliers and companies working with Costco and Aldi. I have worked with Costco a number of times and they are fantastic to deal with – and the companies I work with who supply Costco and Aldi are thrilled to work with such supportive organisations. Perhaps Woolworths can work on improving their own internal culture, work on a better approach for how they treat the thousands of people they work with, then their reputation might start lifting – their brand-shift needs to come from within the organisation, rather than just relying on ad agencies to try to fix their major culture and organisational issues.
User ID not verified.
The worth of a campaign is usually in inverse proportion to the amount of rationalisation it requires.
User ID not verified.
Yeah, just another lazy retro ” feel good ” piece of agency crap, I’d love to see the budget on this spot of art directed wankery. Woolworths, put your own house in order first.
User ID not verified.
That’s why I avoid woollies like the plague
User ID not verified.
It’s actually very scary these people in these positions take this long to realise this. Obviously it shows a problem with much of the employment policies from corporate business nowadays.
This is not either revolutionary and / or innovative and that’s why ‘woollies’ will not catch up.
User ID not verified.
Visit Woolworths Potts Point (and other places), and you’ll see why this is a sham load of nonsense. 10 checkouts, not one with a person behind any of them. A bank of “you provide free checkout labour” pods”, with people struggling to do Woolworths job for them, at their own cost.
The “all about the customer” hypocrisy is sickening.
The underlying contempt for customers, is contemptible.
This is why Woolworths is struggling, and ultimately will fail.
User ID not verified.
Spot on
If it was just a few suppliers complaining about woolworths then you might think that they are whingers but its the bulk of them and they all have friends and relatives.
Woolworths simply will not address this problem.
Ps i choose not to shop at woolworths
User ID not verified.
A pity they’re Australia’s largest pokies owners. A huge risk to their brand, and totally incongruous with their ‘fresh and healthy’ pitch to consumers.
User ID not verified.
The Coles ads might be annoying, but they’re mercifully brief & to the point. The new Woolies ads are long-winded & cheesy. Superficial schmaltz that attempts to portray them as an institution the customer loves deep down & cannot dessert. Fail.
User ID not verified.
The tv spot is all going along just dandy untill the end when the actor says “That’s why I pick Woolies” and blows it all out of the water.
No one has ever said that. No one will ever will say that. It reeks of old school ad land, totally not grounded in any reality. Come on Woolies – you can’t blatantly manipulate the audiance any more – get with the times.
User ID not verified.
What a surprise – another smug, self-serving campaign from Woolies. They should stop focusing on trying to explain to everyone how fantastic they are (the outdoor spots that pat themselves on the back for employing young/indigenous people are the best example of this) and maybe return the focus to rewarding customers and removing the perception that they are more expensive then Coles.
User ID not verified.
Wow, 12 comments and not a single positive statement amongst them! If I were a Woolies senior manager I would be feeling despair and hopelessness over this. As it is, I am in the main an ex-Woolies shopper, having graduated to Aldi for about 90% of my needs. Admittedly there are a few brand-name items I like that Aldi doesn’t stock, so Woolies or Coles must be tolerated for their sakes. But the last straw for me was also the demise of the Everyday Rewards scheme which to me now appears completely pointless.
User ID not verified.
In the end, though, when you REALLY drill down through the marketing messages, every Woolies ad is basically the same thing: here are some reasons you should shop us, even though you hate the experience.
If that seems harsh, think about an alternative strategy. Suppose the entire marketing were focused around the simple phrase: “Problem Solved”.
Because that is what people really want from their supermarket: they have a problem (what do I fix for dinner/lunch/brekkie? how can I buy [insert commodotized staple] for as little money as it takes for an effective product?), and they want a solution.
All this other stuff, “values”, “lowest prices”, and so forth is off the point.
Yet really tackling “Problem Solved” would have to reach further than marketing, and into providing a shopping experience that was actually useful to and pleasurable for the customer.
It’s not church/synagogue/mosque, the supermarket. It’s a place you buy stuff.
User ID not verified.
Rewards schemes are a waste of time and money. The only people who benefit are regular shoppers who you get anyway. The Qantas scheme was a massive cash cow – for Qantas. For Woolworths it was just burning cash.
User ID not verified.