FreshCo has a neologism to convey the discount banner’s value proposition, with its latest campaign highlighting the idea of being “valuelicious.”
The campaign touts the ability shoppers have to redeem Scene+ loyalty points for free groceries. Kaiti Snell, partner and co-head of strategy with longtime agency partner Juliet, explains that the most effective campaigns are ones that you can repeat, and this one could have legs, especially if rising prices on food continues to persist.
“We are all feeling the bite of inflation at the grocery store,” Snell says.
She tells strategy that as people increasingly turn to discounters, it’s important to drive awareness for FreshCo, which is one of the “newer discounters on the block,” having only been around since 2010. By comparison, Loblaw’s No Frills boasts nearly half a century of brand equity.
We have a little bit of a steeper climb to build preference with Canadians than other retailers that have been around for much longer,” Snell says.
The timing of the work, she explains, is because of the inflationary environment, but it’s also geared around creating new shopping habits as people change up routines in the new year. The idea therefore, is to help FreshCo keep pace with the competitive set by removing the stress out of shopping by highlighting value.
The latest campaign is integrated with radio, OLV, quite a bit of social and that includes some influencer content partners like the one below. There is also lower funnel driving to the app, as well as flyers and some in-store signage.
@taneesha.greaves The definition of FreshCo’s #Valuelicious is this no bake vegan cheesecake! #Ad #FreshCoPartner
The campaign is coming to life in other languages too, such as Tagalog and Hinglish, as part of the brand’s outreach to the South Asian community, with FreshCo also operating Chalo FreshCo for that community.
Balmoral Multicultural Marketing did the adaptation, and UM Canada are the media partners.
According to Snell, this is one of the banner’s “bigger bets” of late. Since 2017, parent Empire has been expanding the grocer’s footprint westward, where it currently has 43 locations, with plans to convert about a quarter of its full-service Safeway and Sobeys banners to FreshCo stores.
