[Giant Food]
This is Home
Brand and Creative Strategy // Copywriting and Concept Development // Graphic Design and Art Direction // Video Production // Influencer Activation // Social Media Strategy and Content Production // Public Relations
[Background]
Since opening its first location in Washington, D.C. in 1936, Giant Food has been integral to the communities it serves across DC, Maryland and Virginia (DMV), and with 164 locations, it is the market leader in arguably the most competitive grocery market in the country.
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While Giant Food is the market share leader, research showed that Giant had been gaining a reputation as a more “traditional” grocer, and it became clear that they needed to find a way to connect with younger audiences without alienating older shoppers.
[Challenge]
As the DMV leader in the grocery category, Giant Food was beginning to feel its market leadership position get squeezed on multiple fronts, from low price-driven retailers and high-quality and service driven grocery brands. Giant needed a new campaign that broke the status quo for the category and also de-aged the brand from its current market perception while connecting to a very diverse audience across the metro Washington DC area.
[Insight]
If the kitchen is at the center of our audience’s home, then their grocery store should be at the center of their communities. And as the only grocer that was truly born in the region, Giant had more right than anyone to be at the center of the DMV.
[Solution]
Most campaigns tend to emphasize price, variety, convenience and loyalty programs. But we knew that in order to start changing Giant’s brand perception, it was time to do something that would resonate at a deeper emotional level, compelling shoppers to fall in love (or fall back in love) with their hometown grocer.
So, partnering with five local artists, we leveraged the power of Spoken Word Poetry (an art form with deep roots throughout the DC area) to position Giant as the heartbeat of DMV communities by showcasing how our foods help feed the passions and pastimes of real people living in the region.
The Hero Videos
While we knew we wanted to create a campaign that could build the brand on a more emotional level, we also knew we couldn’t forget the importance of emphasizing the brand’s functional growth drivers, including value and e-commerce. So, we led with a chest-pounding 60-second Brand Anthem and supported it with a series of English and Spanish 30- and 15-second spots to highlight their growth drivers—while never sacrificing the emotional integrity of the spoken word artform.
We brought poetry to groceries. Check it out!
The Brand Refresh
This wasn’t just a one-off campaign look and feel for Giant, but a full refresh of the brand’s identity as a whole. From high-level campaign awareness ads down to in-store signage and coupon clippers, hundreds of assets throughout the entire marketing funnel were overhauled to show off Giant’s new look at every touchpoint.
Local Artist Shopping Bags
To extend the campaign further, we partnered with a series of local DMV visual artists to create custom reusable shopping bags, inspired by what “Home” meant to each of them.
The Thought Leadership
We also jumped at the opportunity to co-author a thought leadership story with our partners from Giant for Ad Age that showcases how the campaign came to life.
The Influencer Activation
We wanted to ensure real DMV spoken word artists had a chance to be personally involved and become authentic spokespeople for a grocery store they actually shop at. So, as an extension of the campaign, we asked our poets from the lead production as well as a network of other poets across the DMV area to write original spoken word pieces that reflected each of their own personal experiences with the brand as additional social content.
Tatiana
Cookie B
O-Slice
Nikki Ohhh
[The Results]
So, did it work? Within just the first month of airing, we saw a 28% increase in new store visitors. Plus, a subsequent Brand Lift survey of DMV residents who had seen the campaign found that:
89% found it appealing
67% liked Giant more.
55% took an action as a result of seeing it.
The Behind-The-Scenes
We knew that for a campaign going all in on local, we’d have to shoot a lot of real local locations. After countless hours of scouting and research, we flew to D.C. to meet up with Verve Media, LA director Haley Geffen, and our five artists as we pulled off an unforgettable four-day production.
A few months later, we headed back to the East Coast to do it all again for the brand’s next series of summertime and holiday spots that would run in the back half of the year.
