Co-op - Breaking the Christmas Advertising Mould

Intro

In a season dominated by fairy-tale Christmas adverts and fierce retail competition, Co-op took a bold step to showcase its community-driven ethos with an innovative approach. As a smaller player in the grocery retail landscape, Co-op needed a strategy that would break through the noise while authentically demonstrating its commitment to creating a fairer world. The result was a groundbreaking live TV advert that brought real community impact directly into people's homes.

The Challenge

Co-op faced two significant hurdles in achieving meaningful audience engagement during the crucial Christmas period:

1. Consumer Cynicism: People have become increasingly sceptical about brands' virtue signalling, particularly during Christmas when emotional marketing reaches its peak.
2. Limited Share of Voice: With an average Christmas share of voice of approximately 4.12% and budgets down, Co-op needed to find a way to make a significant impact despite being outspent by competitors.

Insight

While many Britons were looking forward to celebrating Christmas, the country was simultaneously facing a serious poverty crisis, with food bank usage up by 128% since 2015 and 23% of the UK population experiencing poverty.

The insight that drove our approach was simple but powerful: consumers value authentic purpose over performative gestures. They can distinguish between genuine community support and seasonal charity campaigns designed primarily for brand elevation.

Strategy

We developed a strategy centred on two core principles:

1. No Faking – All communications would feature real people genuinely benefiting from Co-op's community initiatives, showing how Community Fridges actually work in practice.
2. No Fairy Tales – Rather than producing a beautifully emotive but ultimately forgettable advert, we deliberately chose to break the Christmas cookie-cutter mould that other brands were following.

Our approach focused on demonstrating Co-op's year-round commitment to communities in a way that felt authentic, immediate, and distinctive from the typical Christmas advertising landscape.

Execution, Solution and Innovation

The solution was bold and unprecedented: a retail first 90-second live TV advertisement broadcast in real-time from a Community Fridge in Feltham. This innovative format offered viewers an unfiltered window into the real impact of Co-op's community initiatives.

The live broadcast featured:

• Hosts Dermot O'Leary and Big Zuu guiding viewers through the Community Fridge
• Real community members coming together over food
• Authentic interactions showing the genuine social and practical benefits of the initiative

This groundbreaking approach required extensive planning:

• Comprehensive technology testing to ensure the live broadcast would run smoothly
• Strategic talent selection to strike the right balance of appeal and authenticity
• A robust contingency plan for potential technical difficulties
• Coordinated teaser content to build anticipation
• Supporting content ready to deploy across social, print and digital channels

The live ad aired during Coronation Street on 26th November, placing this community initiative at the heart of one of Britain's most-watched programmes.

Result and Business Effect

The innovative approach delivered exceptional results across multiple metrics:

• Audience Reach: The live ad break reached over 1.7 million viewers on the night it aired
• Media Coverage: Generated over 75 pieces of coverage across print, radio, and TV, with a reach of 4.2 million
• Earned Media Impact: 70% of reach was delivered via earned media, increasing attention and conversation
• Audience Engagement: Within 24 hours of airing, conversation increased by 46% on social media
• Positive Sentiment: 100% positive sentiment towards the Community Fridge initiative
• Business Results: The partnership delivered significant commercial return on investment, with the long-term ROI for the Christmas campaign showing substantial improvement since 2019.

These results demonstrated that with the right activation and media selection, purpose and profit need not be mutually exclusive. By showcasing authentic community action rather than fictional Christmas narratives, Co-op successfully distinguished itself in a crowded marketplace while driving both brand affinity and commercial performance.

As Mel Matson, Director of Customer Proposition & Communications at Co-op, noted: "Christmas is the busiest time of year for retailers and it's also the most crowded in the advertising space. Trying to get stand-out with a plethora of Christmas ads is a challenge for everyone, which is why we needed to activate in a way that truly punched above its weight. While this idea was high risk, it was also high reward."