SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
DDFH&B
COMPANY PROFILE
AGENCY
The DDFH&B Group consists of DDFH&B Advertising, Goosebump, The Reputations Agency, RMG and
Mindshare Media – making it one of the largest Irish companies in creative advertising, media buying
and customer relationship/digital marketing. Together, they provide channel-neutral, integrated
marketing communications campaigns that deliver real, measurable results. They achieve this level
of integration by working in a number of small, multi-disciplined teams, calling it ‘fun sizing’. They
continue to be one of the most successful agencies in Ireland, working with clients such as Kerry
Foods, SuperValu, The National Lottery, eir, Littlewoods, Lucozade and Molson Coors.
CLIENT
AWARD
RETAIL & FASHION
Sponsored by
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BRONZE
SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
DDFH&B
INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND
In September 2013, SuperValu, Bord Bia and the Local Enterprise Office Network joined forces to
launch Food Academy, to help small producers get their products onto supermarket shelves.
The aim was to harness and nurture the energy and passion of entrepreneurial food producers
from all over Ireland.
SuperValu have always been a retailer with a heart. They are at the centre of every community,
supporting local sponsorships and causes and are guided by family values and fairness. Food
Academy is SuperValu in action, ensuring that those who have good ideas and food products have the
opportunity to compete for consumers’ attention and get on the shelves at SuperValu.
Through its mentoring and hands-on approach, the programme equips small food companies with
the correct assets to succeed from the outset. It opens doors, assists producers to get on the shelves
of their local SuperValu store, and allows them to bring their business idea to life. This programme
not only helps small businesses to grow, it benefits local economies across communities throughout
Ireland, allows high potential food entrepreneurs to scale their businesses in a sustainable manner,
creates jobs and furthers Ireland’s credentials as a food leader both nationally and internationally.
And for SuperValu, it is a great brand story that not only strengthens their brand image but also
drives profit.
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SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
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MARKETING OBJECTIVES
In recent years, SuperValu communications have been building strong foundations for the brand.
As a big brand with national presence, SuperValu have a lot to talk about. There is a huge amount
of activity such as tactical and price-led communications, NPD and food leadership, local and
national sponsorships, supplier development and local initiatives.
But with such an array of initiatives, SuperValu sometimes struggled to clearly portray the impact of
the collective, or prioritise which story to tell. The 2014 ‘We Believe‘ campaign gave us an organizing
idea that was built around three brand pillars of Quality, Value and Local.
Although the brand was performing well, it had been challenged on all fronts by discounter
competitors, who were not only aggressively targeting budget-conscious shoppers on value, but
challenging their stronghold by encroaching upon previously ‘SuperValu owned’ territory, pushing
local suppliers and quality.
Last year, having successfully established value and defended our local credentials, we realised that
we needed to focus on our quality brand pillar. Quality had been redefined by the discounters, and
our competitors were gaining in brand image scores in this area. But more worryingly, in Dublin,
post-Superquinn takeover, there was still a lack of familiarity with the brand and uncertainty around
quality with Dublin shoppers.
As part of the ‘Good Food Karma’ campaign in 2015, SuperValu wanted us to talk about Food
Academy, one of the many initiatives that illustrate that they don’t just talk about believing in local
communities and family businesses, they put their money where their mouth is. Furthermore, the
initiative is a strong reason to believe in the quality of their offering, and a story they hadn’t yet had
the opportunity to tell.
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SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
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MARKETING OBJECTIVES
Objectives were set as follows:
1. We needed to raise awareness of the initiative, its benefits, the producers and its innovative
range to give these small producers a big chance to develop and grow their business.
2. Increase sales of Food Academy products by 15%.
3. Raise the profile of Food Academy participants and allow them to tell the story of how SuperValu
has helped them develop and grow their business from an idea into a product on sale on a
SuperValu Food Academy shelf.
4. Build our local and quality brand image scores.
5. Build engagement with the Good Food Karma campaign.
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SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
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THE TASK
Faced with such a great initiative and brief, we immersed ourselves in finding out more. We carried
out extensive qualitative research with Premium Professionals and Quality Families, our target
audiences. These focus groups and depth interviews with suppliers revealed that because Food
Academy is still in its infancy, and the programme had been such a success, there were a number of
challenges to overcome.
Food Academy was essentially a new brand that the consumer did not recognise. When placed on the
shelves, shoppers were unable to distinguish between what was and what wasn’t a Food Academy
product within the branded and own label products, thus making it impossible for them to know it
was a product from the initiative.
We were also aware that we needed to find a way for SuperValu to talk about the scheme without
sounding self-congratulatory. We wanted the suppliers to tell their own story and demonstrate their
passion for making wholesome, delicious food, and what that meant to them in their lives. As we
visited and spoke to suppliers, we came across many emotional stories.
When the economic downturn forced Jimmy Allen of De Roiste artisan puddings in Cork to downsize
his plumbing business, he went back to a family recipe handed down from Elsie De Roiste,
grandmother of Máire and Seán De Roiste of the eponymous shop at The Mills Inn, Ballyvourney,
in the Gaeltacht in West Cork. Unlike most Irish black puddings, which mainly use dried (usually
imported) blood, the family were determined that their new product would be made in the traditional
way, with fresh pork - and fresh blood.
Working initially with pudding supremo Anthony Staunton of the renowned Timoleague butchers and
a family member - Food Science and Technology graduate Siobhán Ní Laoithe De Roiste - who advised
on production regulations, they managed to source the precious blood from a Co. Cork supplier – and
now, following the three-day production cycle of the original recipe, they produce a black pudding
with a history and an important USP.
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SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
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THE TASK
“As demand grew from the public, and to keep my sons from emigrating, I decided to lease
a factory and produce our puddings on a larger scale to satisfy demand. It’s been a fulfilling
journey and our time at SuperValu Food Academy has made it even more enjoyable.”
Jimmy Allen.
This was just one of the stories we heard, an amazing story of Irish food production, demonstrating yet
again that quality pays. These stories brought home to us that from a communications point of view,
we had our work cut out for us. Over 450 producers have come through the Food Academy over the last
two years and the numbers were continuing to grow. Over 200 have their products for sale in SuperValu
now. We needed to find a way to tell these stories and do them justice, and it looked like we would
have to select a small amount of suppliers for the purposes of the campaign.
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THE STRATEGY
Qualitative research with our two audiences reminded us that the conversation around food was
starting to change in Ireland, especially as the economy was starting to recover. We were in the
middle of a food revolution; people were seeking interesting, new and experiential food options. Their
interest in local, artisan and quality food was growing and they wanted to be able to access it easily.
Both our audiences wanted to support Irish jobs and buy from smaller producers. Parts of rural
Ireland are fighting for survival, especially in the West. There are parts of Ireland where population
is falling and services are being withdrawn. The eastern part of the country is growing at almost five
times as fast as the West of Ireland. We knew there was a feel good factor in buying Food Academy
products and we needed to try to tap into this in our campaign.
In focus groups, consumers were interested in the products; reading the producer’s story, stopping to
linger in the Food Academy areas in stores that had them. Premium Professionals were particularly
interested in the edginess and authenticity of the suppliers and their backstories.
With Lidl, Aldi and Tesco becoming more Irish than the Irish themselves, we knew we needed to
move away from our competitors and the continuous trumpet blowing around ‘our commitment to
communities’ and put the customer back at the heart of our communications.
Supervalu’s brand essence ‘Real Food, Real People’ and the ‘We Believe’ campaign reflected our brand
position and our point of view from the inside out. We needed to stay true to our roots and what we
believed in, but we also needed to forge a stronger emotional connection with our customers and
open the conversation around food and its role in people’s lives. Our communications also needed to
target budding entrepreneurs who might want to avail of the SuperValu Food Academy programme in
the future.
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SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
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THE STRATEGY
SuperValu have always helped small, local food producers but they had always done this in an ad hoc
way. They wanted to continue to lead this space, but Food Academy gave them a way to bring these
local, artisan foods to our shoppers in a more coordinated, inspiring and meaningful way.
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THE IDEA AND COMMUNICATIONS ACTIVITY
The 2015 ‘Good Food Karma’ campaign was designed to roll out across the year with different TV, radio
and press executions focusing on key quality offerings across the business: Better Beef, quality Own
Brand range and the Food Academy programme. This drove the breadth of the quality offering from
SuperValu.
With our media partner Starcom, a communications campaign was developed with digital at the heart
of it. TV, radio and press were developed to tell the Food Academy story of how SuperValu are bringing
unknown brands to stores and shelves around the country.
We wanted to let our supplier stories do the talking. This was where the real richness in the campaign
would be. People talking about taking the leap and being brave enough to follow their dream. Every
supplier had a reason whey they chose to innovate in their chosen field. Amazing stories all across
Ireland that had paid off.
We wanted to get a good representation of suppliers from around Ireland; however, in the TV the three
suppliers featured were Dubliners, as this was a key area for strategic focus given SuperValu’s goal to
gain more Dublin shoppers.
Each channel featured three different suppliers talking about their product and their experience of
working with SuperValu and Food Academy. The call to action was to taste the best local food Ireland has
to offer, and each execution encouraged people to go online to share or be inspired with recipes through
the Good Food Karma hub and on social media. The TV campaign ran for just three weeks in May 2015
and then again for one week in July. It was reinforced by press ads that allowed the supplier stories to
unfold in more detail. Radio raised further awareness of three more suppliers.
Our hashtag #GoodFoodKarma featured across social channels, encouraging customers to share their
inspiration and engage in conversation around food.
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SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
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THE IDEA AND COMMUNICATIONS ACTIVITY
The PR campaign focused on launching the initiative and then profiling the numerous graduates
who had just come through the first year of the Food Academy programme, telling their stories and
demonstrating their passion for wholesome, delicious food. Tactically, they – not SuperValu - would tell
their own story and recount how, in real terms, SuperValu supported them in bringing their products to
market by mentoring them along the way, and ultimately ensuring their product sits on the shelves in
SuperValu stores with the correct price point, packaging and promotion.
Food Academy came to life nationally through a strategic partnership with Anton Savage on Today FM
over a four-week period. The promotional prize was €10,000 to help the most innovative start-up food
producer get their business off the ground. Ireland AM broadcast live from SuperValu Knocklyon with five
live links to the store, each segment being dedicated to showcasing Food Academy.
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SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
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RESULTS
1. We raised awareness of the initiative, its benefits, the producers and its innovative range, and the
campaign clearly connected with Irish consumers.
According to our Red C brand tracking, the SuperValu Good Food Karma, Food Academy TV ad scored 73
on awareness (Retail norm is 70) and 77 on connection (Retail norm is 72).
It also scored 85 on appeal, 84 on emotional impact, 83 on persuasion and 83 on new/interesting. The
TV execution received an overall star rating of 72 (retail norm 68).
Figure 1. Food Academy Sales Performance YTD
Our radio campaign also also achieved high recall scores with an awareness score of 83, connection 82,
emotional impact 69 and a star rating of 76 (retail norm of 73).
2. We more than doubled our sales target to increase sales by 15%
Food Academy products saw a 28% sales increase in the first three-week period the campaign ran in
May. The TV ad ran again in July for one week and from then on, sales had increased by 30%.
Food Academy producers generated over €13 million in retail sales in 2015 and, since the campaign
launch in May 2015, the range has seen an incredible 40% increase in sales to year end.
This year, Food Academy plan to double their turnover. Food Academy sales prosper week on week,
with over 200 producers now selling their products in SuperValu stores, with average sales of €280,000
per week. (Figure 1.)
3. We raised the profile of Food Academy participants by featuring 9 stories in our communications,
and the sales data is proof that Irish consumers responded to our communications.
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SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
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RESULTS
4. We improved local and quality brand image scores.
The success of the campaign was not just evident in sales, it was also reflected in our brand score. In
our Red C brand tracking, the statement ‘Committed to sourcing local/ Irish food’ rose from 30-36%
with Quality Families. ‘Plays an active role in the community’ rose 4% points among all shoppers and
9% points with Quality Families. ‘Supports Irish Jobs’ rose 5% points among Quality Families (May
2015-October 2015). Each quality metric was seeing an increase of two percentage points (Red C tracking,
June 2015, Main Shopping – Monthly vs. Quarterly Trends).
5. We built engagement with the Good Food Karma campaign.
As well as the huge sales success for Food Academy producers, the campaign also built engagement
with the overall Good Food Karma campaign, its original purpose. We had set out to build the emotional
connection with two key segments and our brand tracking scores prove that the campaign more than
delivered on emotional appeal and engagement.
According to our Red C brand tracking, the SuperValu Good Food Karma, Food Academy TV ad scored
77 on connection (Retail norm is 72), 85 on appeal, 84 on emotional impact, 82 on closeness, 83 on
persuasion and 83 on new/interesting. The TV execution received an overall star rating of 72
(retail norm 68).
Total PR value of the media generated = €589,072.70 (Reputations Agency).
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SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
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RESULTS
Calculating Payback
Calculating ROMI
Incremental sales = X
Average profit margin X%
Net profit figure = €X per week x 33 weeks (Week 19-52 = 33 weeks)
Net profit €X
Net profit / Total cost of campaign x 100 = Return of marketing investment of 217%
Discounting other factors
Were Food Academy suppliers promoting themselves?
In many cases, yes, but not above the line. Many suppliers would have social media presence or have
generated PR of their own, and SuperValu would help them with in-store tastings at times.
Were Food Academy Suppliers distributing anywhere else?
Yes, in some cases they were, in small food stores or farmer’s markets. However, the suppliers we
featured in advertising were tied to an exclusivity deal to supply only us for one year.
Were there any price promotions running on Food Academy Products in store?
No. Most of the products were artisan products and came with a price tag to match. SuperValu have
never used promotional pricing to drive sales of this type of product.
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SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
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IMPACT ON BEHAVIOURAL ACTIVITY AND PAYBACK
Amidst intense competition in the grocery market, SuperValu really demonstrated its commitment
to Ireland through the Food Academy programme of developing local food producers. SuperValu
continues to foster and nurture the development of up-and-coming producers, driving employment
in local communities and positively affecting local economies across the nation. In certain cases, this
may have kept families together and supported jobs in rural areas, a massive achievement in light of
the decimation of rural Ireland that we are seeing.
Out of 223 stores, 130 now have dedicated in-store Food Academy areas. This is projected to grow
to 175 stores by the end of the year.
Producers on the Food Academy support over 900 jobs, and this figure is projected to grow to 1,000
this year.
The programme has fostered a supportive network of its suppliers helping each other
with distribution, keeping in touch, telling each other when their stocks are running low
and sharing learnings.
Achievement of Awards:
More than half of all participant suppliers have won food-related awards to date. Almost 1 in 3 has
won Blas Na hÉireann and Great Taste, the two most prestigious Irish Food Awards. Almost 3% have
won between 15 and 16 Great Taste Awards. 63 products from 45 producers have been shortlisted for
the Blas na hÉireann Awards 2015. Food Academy producers also won 11 Great Taste Awards in 2015.
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SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
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NEW LEARNINGS
Our overall learning was that despite SuperValu facing tough competition in the market, the brand
stayed true to itself and what it believes in, by supporting local suppliers and demonstrating its
commitment to Ireland, and it paid off. ​
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SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
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SUMMARY
Amidst intense competition in the grocery market, SuperValu really demonstrated its commitment to
Ireland through the Food Academy programme of developing local food producers, getting their products
on the shelves and achieving a sales uplift of 40% post campaign. SuperValu continues to foster and
nurture the development of up-and-coming producers, driving employment in local communities and
positively affecting local economies across the nation. In certain cases, this may have kept families
together and supported jobs in rural areas, a massive achievement in light of the decimation of rural
Ireland that we are seeing.
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SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
DDFH&B
MEDIA GALLERY
Good Food Karma - Food Academy Press
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Good Food Karma - Food Academy Everest Granola Press
Food Academy In-Store Display
SuperValu: Giving small producers a big chance
DDFH&B
MEDIA GALLERY
Good Food Karma - Food Academy TV
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