C1000: STARS OF FOOTBALL

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Shopper Marketing in a Promotional Campaign

Advertiser: C1000

Product/Service: SUPERMARKET PROMOTION

Agency: C1000

Date of First Appearance: Dec 11 2010

Entrant Company: C1000, Amersfoort, THE NETHERLANDS

Entry URL: http://www.starsoffootball.nl/

Head of Theme & Promotion Management: Matthijs Moeken (C1000)

Head of Sales- Media- & Contract Management: Han Sijl (C1000)

Theme Manager: Ruben Mekenkamp (C1000)

Theme Manager: Frank Holtkuile (C1000)

Creative Director: Marco Jongeneel (Vijf890)

Creative: Jasper Kulker (Vijf890)

Creative: Robin Stam (Vijf890)

Photographer: Ruud Baan (Ruud Baan)

Creative Director: Marco Grandia (Grandia Enterprises)

Creative Director: Alwine De Jong (Y&R Not Just Film)

Copywriter: Lionel Schuring (Y&R Not Just Film)

Art Director: Theo Korf (Y&R Not Just Film)

Client Services Director: Monique Nijenhof (Y&R Not Just Film)

Creative Director: Marcel Wortel (NOISE)

Art Director: Tino Nooten (NOISE)

Media placement: Virals - Online Seeding - 11 December 2010

Media placement: TV Commercial Kids - Kids Channels - 18 December 2010

Media placement: Website - Online - 18 December 2010

Media placement: TV Commercial Parents - All Channels - 27 December 2010

Media placement: Print Adverts - Donald Duck, Kidsweek, Seven Days, Voetbal International - 27 December 2010

Media placement: Outdoor - National Network - 3 January 2011



Describe the objective of the promotion.

In the supermarket business, January is traditionally the month in which everyone focuses on heavy price promotions. Competitors pull at each other’s clients with extra low pricing. These past years, the promotions have gone to such deep price-offs, resulting in enormous pressure on profit at the beginning of the year. Being number two in the market, it is in C1000’s best interest to break this status quo and choose a different strategy which binds primary consumers to their shops, but without losing profit.



Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation.

There's one thing Dutch consumers prefer above promotion: football. But regarding football concepts, almost everything’s been done. Therefore C1000 went back to the essence of football: heroism! For the first time ever, a collectable Hall of Fame of Dutch ‘Stars of Football’ was created in book form. To get all the past, present and future heroes to contribute, they were involved in the creative concept. After the first agreed, it created a buzz resulting in players requesting to participate. The premium cards were distributed with groceries and half the profit of the books was donated to the Johan Cruyff Foundation.



Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service.

By doing a loyalty campaign in a period in which competitors focus on heavy promotions, C1000 managed to retain their primary customers without sacrificing margin, because for the first time it wasn’t necessary to invest in deep promotions. The qualitative A-status approach of the campaign brought the brand status to a new level.



Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results.

All commercial targets were achieved with a boost in traffic of +6% and growth in turn-over of +2%. Despite all the competitive promotions in the market, C1000 market share grew 0.2%. The (non-branded) virals alone resulted in over 1.3 million online views and coverage in all the major talkshows in the Netherlands before the campaign even started. Before distributing the picture cards, the hype had already hit the Netherlands with children begging to have the cards of shoppers. The campaign met all objectives and more importantly created an improved A-status for our brand (+7.2% brand value ‘quality supermarket’).