REGGIE Awards: Excellence in Activation
For the third year in a row, we present overviews of selected shopper-focused programs that were honored in the Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) annual REGGIE Awards. “Reggie,” shorthand for “cash register,” is an acknowledgment that the ultimate objective of any brand activation program is to drive sales. We’re grateful to have received the ANA’s support in compiling these mini case studies. Each of these campaigns are worthy of “best in class” designation for the unique ways in which they engaged shoppers and drove results.
The 2023 ANA REGGIE Awards program will be open for entries this fall. For full details and to download an entry kit, visit REGGIEAwards.org.
Lego Barcelona Flagship Opening
Marketer: The Lego Group
Agency: TracyLocke
Reggie Category: Small Budget Activation Marketing, Budget Less Than $500,000 (Bronze)
Bringing its new “retailtainment” platform to life, The Lego Group unveiled its flagship store in Barcelona in October 2021. As part of a strategy to build awareness for the opening and drive traffic to the store, Lego launched a promotional campaign centered around the mosaic-themed designs of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí.
The focal point of the campaign was a giant mosaic plate — weighing 265 pounds and stretching nine feet in diameter — built from more than 250,000 Lego bricks. Working with its agency partners, Lego dropped the plate to the ground as crowds of super-fans and influencers joined the celebration. Visitors were encouraged to gather the pieces and build their own Gaudi-inspired creations while browsing the new store.
As part of the promotional support, an omnichannel “Always Creating” campaign featuring the Lego mosaic plate included targeted social ads across owned and paid channels. Shareable content not only drove traffic, but also offered consumers a chance to experience the exclusive event via a social contest.
Even as COVID-19 restrictions limited store capacity, Lego was able to generate an approximate footfall of 100,000 visitors in four weeks. The campaign garnered strong earned media value and coverage with a total of 365 million impressions, in addition to surpassing sales expectations by a wide margin during its opening month.
SPK Mystery at Circle K
Marketer: Mondelez International
Agency: Phoenix Creative
Reggie Category: New Product or Service Launch (Bronze)
Facing stiff competition from other non-chocolate candy brands, Sour Patch Kids looked to energize Millennials and Gen Z shoppers through an exclusive, mystery-themed “Secret Circle” promotion at Circle K stores. In spring 2021, Mondelez International and Circle K introduced a mystery flavor Sour Patch Kids pack with a limited-edition SPK mystery flavor, “Polar Pop,” in a buy one, get one for $1 combo available only at Circle K.
Millennials and Gen Z consumers are notori-ously difficult to reach with traditional marketing. Thus, Sour Patch Kids and Circle K wanted to promote an original idea that focused on mystery flavors — a favorite attraction for this audience.
SPK Mystery creative invited every Circle K shopper to become a sleuth in the search for the mystery flavor, blanketing stores on signage, gas pumps, exterior signs, window clings, fountain beverage machines, shelf talkers and front-counter mats. Consumers could also earn points with SPK purchases and redeem them for prizes in a sweepstakes contest. To reach on-the-go customers, a national, geo-targeted digital program was rolled out with high-impact ad placements and mystery-themed creative.
The Secret Circle at Circle K program generated incremental sales that were well above expectations for both the Sour Patch Kids brand and overall category.
Countdown to Crunchtime
Marketer: Frito-Lay North America
Agencies: The Integer Group and D3
Reggie Category: Entertainment or Sports Marketing and/or Sponsorship (GOLD)
While chips are a staple at every Super Bowl viewing occasion, 45% of shoppers complete their trip mission on the way to a Super Bowl party. Frito-Lay sought to move this purchase up so it’s not last minute by tapping into playoff gathering occasions leading up to Super Bowl LV on Feb. 7, 2021.
Enter Countdown to Crunchtime, an omni-channel campaign to build excitement for Frito-Lay’s portfolio of snack brands — including Lay’s, Tostitos and Doritos — and to drive chip buying urgency throughout the NFL postseason. As the fourth quarter of each playoff game began, an announcement on Frito-Lay’s social channels alerted fans that they had 60 minutes to enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win $100,000 or other NFL prizes with purchase of participating Frito-Lay products.
In a national ad campaign, creative featured prominent and relatable NFL talent and highlighted Frito-Lay chips and dips as the perfect complement to game day. At retail, POS displays and thematic packaging brought the NFL and Frito-Lay equities to life using high-energy graphics and unique die cuts for maximum disruptive impact.
Countdown to Crunchtime achieved its goals “by tapping into an existing consumer behavior while ensuring that our messaging wasn’t just about the Super Bowl,” said Jon Watts, senior director of marketing at Frito-Lay North America. “It was about establishing Frito-Lay brands as essential snacks to have on hand every time you sat down to watch a game.”
Heinz Art of the Burger
Marketer: Kraft Heinz
Agency: TKH Publicis Shopper and Wieden + Kennedy
Reggie Category: Shopper Marketing, Retailer-Specific or Omnichannel Marketing (GOLD)
Looking to break through a saturated condiment category, Heinz fired up the 2021 summer grilling season with a message for burger-loving consumers: there are plenty of other condiment options besides ketchup. Among the brand’s target audience were grilling champs and burger enthusiasts for whom crafting the perfect burger is an art form.
At the center of the program was a user-generated content contest where consumers submitted images of their burgers in seven sauce categories to be judged on their creativity and presentation. The idea was to elevate Heinz from a condiment commodity to a catalyst for creativity by bringing the art world in-store while still connecting to the shopping occasion of summertime grilling.
Key elements of the promotion included disruptive in-store displays and signage, online ads, social media posts and retailer website content. Retailer-specific executions ran at Walmart (including digital content with Tastemade and influencer partnerships with TikTok), Publix, Walgreens, Ahold Delhaize, Target and Meijer.
The Art of the Burger resulted in 55% more incremental bottles sold than the goal (for 6.2 million total) and generated more than 3,300 consumer burger masterpiece submissions for a total of 733 million PR impressions. Heinz plans to continue the program this year.
Choose a Spirit to Fit Your Lifestyle
Marketer: Diageo
Agency: Arc Worldwide
Reggie Category: Shopper Marketing, Retailer-Specific or Omnichannel Marketing (silver)
Today’s consumers increasingly seek out adult beverages that are low calorie and/or low alcohol, clean-tasting and made with natural ingredients. Diageo sought to counter the belief that such spirit and cocktail choices are limited to the vodka category with a merchandising program that highlighted the lighter qualities of many of its spirits brands. With the insight that mindful spirits shoppers were 15% more likely than general BevAlc buyers to read product labels and packaging claims, Diageo organized its products by claims that resonated with shoppers most, such as “under 100 calories,” “zero-sugar” and “carb-free.” The program included a digital toolkit for retailers to feature the brand’s content on their own retailer media properties, as well as custom endcaps, WOW displays and case stackers.
Diageo hosted regional in-store sampling events where legal-age shoppers could taste a series of new mindful cocktail recipes (think an 86-calorie Captain Morgan Rum & Ginger), developed in partnership with Diageo’s on-staff professional bartender. On-premise activations at restaurants and bars featured the recipes on menus to extend the reach of the program.
Choose a Spirit to Fit Your Lifestyle surpassed business expectations, increasing Diageo’s port-folio sales by more than 12% over the previous year and achieving incremental display/merchandising in more than 1,500 stores.
We Speak Laundry
Marketer: Henkel
Agency: The Mars Agency
Reggie Category: Rebranding, Repositioning or Reintroducing Brand Marketing (bronze)
For many Walmart shoppers, doing laundry is an important way to show their families that they care. But even more Walmart shoppers — 85% — are “very satisfied” with their current laundry routine. Henkel saw an opportunity to capitalize on this disconnect between the shopper’s pride as a family caretaker and a “what I use is good enough” attitude toward washing clothes by tapping into the emotional role that laundry plays in the shopper’s life.
We Speak Laundry centered around a first-to-market category solution campaign on Walmart.com featuring Henkel’s laundry brands Snuggle, All, Purex, Borax, Zout and Persil. Visitors to the landing page selected their unique laundry problem (and their budget limits) and were offered a selection of custom ready-to-purchase product regimens to deliver quick, effective solutions. Walmart Connect on-site and off-site display media directed visitors to the platform, while emails sent to Walmart+ members reinforced the campaign’s problem-solution oriented messaging and how Henkel’s brands could make laundry routines more efficient.
The campaign drove a 7.36% incremental sales lift and ROAS that surpassed the benchmark goal by 186%. Based on those strong results, Walmart and Henkel expanded the program in stores in the first half of 2022.
Be in a Class of Your Own
Marketer: Mondelez International
Agency: Phoenix Creative
Reggie Category: Partnership Marketing (silver)
Gum sales have been slipping for years, and the category has lost relevance with consumers. At CVS, younger Millennial and Gen Z shoppers were coming in store for beauty products as the COVID-19 pandemic receded, but they were passing up gum, which they did not view as relevant or fun.
Mondelez International sought to address these challenges by shifting its Trident brand positioning to an emotionally uplifting and playful experience while partnering with Maybelline’s Baby Lips lip balm brand on a back-to-school program to drive incremental purchases at CVS.
Be in a Class of Your Own featured custom, four-tier partnership displays at 3,943 stores nationwide that paired Trident and Baby Lips products with enticing graphics. A quarter-page ad ran in CVS circulars with an ExtraBucks offer for $4 back on purchases of $9. A CVS Beauty Instagram post featuring custom flavor-forward art helped build awareness of the deal and reinforced Trident as a natural player in the beauty channel.
The program exceeded all sales goals and expectations. Gum category sales at CVS increased 11.7% versus the previous year and total basket size increased by 2%. Trident dollar sales increased 12% and household penetration increased 17.7 points to 62.9%. The program boosted Baby Lips as well, increasing household penetration 25.4 points to 39.7%.
Trolli x 20 Years of Xbox
Marketer: Ferrara Candy Co. and Microsoft Xbox
Agency: Tripleclix
Reggie Category: Gaming or eSports Marketing (silver)
In 2021, Trolli wanted to expand its reach within the gaming audience while driving sales of its gummy worms and other candy products. Thus, Trolli (part of Nestle’s confectionary business owned by The Ferrero Group) partnered with Xbox, which was celebrating its 20-year anniversary, to deliver an on-pack offer to Gen Z candy consumers and hardcore gamers.
As part of the promotion, Trolli released a series of “deliciously dark” limited-edition packaging inspired by Xbox games “Halo Infinite,” ‘Psychonauts 2,” “Sea of Thieves” and “Destiny 2.” Each qualifying purchase of specially marked packages offered fans a free month to the popular Xbox Game Pass subscription service. Trolli also worked with Xbox to develop a custom Xbox Series S console as a sweepstakes overlay and launched League Trolli, an always-on, grassroots e-sports tournament organization to support amateur e-sports communities.
Trolli sales rose 21.3% year-over-year as a result of the program, vastly outpacing competitors in the space. Trolli saw awareness grow to 83%, a 55% earned brand fan conversion rate and a 60% earned gaming influencer conversion rate. League Trolli players reported that 92% recognized Trolli products more when shopping and 64% purchased Trolli more due to their involvement, proving Trolli was able to become credible/authentic with core gamers.
The 65+ Skincare Opportunity
Marketer: Johnson & Johnson
Agency: The Integer Group
Reggie Category: Age-Targeted Marketing (gold)
Women ages 65 and up are spending more time and money online and on social media than ever. Neutrogena’s Rapid skincare products intercepted this audience on Facebook with ingredient-forward messaging and imagery that reflected how they see themselves, positioning Rapid as the smart way to get affordable, prestige-worthy benefits without sacrificing results.
Oreo Pokemon Adventure at Target
Marketer: Mondelez International
Agency: VMLY&R Commerce
Reggie Category: Shopper Marketing, Retailer-Specific or Omnichannel Marketing (bronze)
Looking to develop an e-commerce play for Oreo’s limited-edition Pokemon partnership at Target, the Mondelez brand highlighted different Pokemon characters via animated social posts. This helped drive awareness of the Pokemon characters that could be “captured” by purchasing multiple packages of Oreo cookies and encouraged basket building across multiple shopping trips.
Canfessional
Marketer: Kimberly-Clark
Agency: FCB Chicago
Reggie Categories: Influencer Marketing (gold); Digital, Social or Mobile Marketing (bronze)
Kimberly-Clark’s Poise brand was launching its first 2-in-1 bladder leak and period pad but had one clear problem: young women are inclined to avoid the category. In an influencer-led social activation, Poise invited women into The Canfessional, a safe space to get real about life, leaks and what really happens in the bathroom.
Save It, See It
Marketer: Anheuser-Busch/Michelob Ultra
Agency: GUT
Reggie Category: Creativity & Innovation (bronze)
Recognizing the fact that female athletes don’t get the same treatment as male athletes, Michelob Ultra created an anthem film dedicated to stars from women’s college and professional sports. It then encouraged Instagram users to hit the “save” button on the film, which would enable women’s sports to show up in more user feeds than in the past.
Sargento and Mondelez: Balanced Breaks Cheese & Crackers
Marketer: Sargento Foods
Agency: Ogilvy Chicago
Reggie Category: Partnership Marketing (bronze)
Sargento and Mondelez International teamed up on a beatboxing campaign aimed at Millennials to promote the launch of this classic snack pairing. A new customized beatbox track was at the center of the campaign, backed by broadcast TV, digital video and social media to drive awareness, as well as shopper promotions to drive early incremental trial.
Jameson SPTO
Marketer: Pernod Ricard USA
Agency: Weber Shandwick
Reggie Category: Content Marketing (silver)
Jameson’s Irish whiskey brand ran a multi-week cultural campaign to remind Americans to take time off work during the St. Patrick’s Day holiday. A total of 1,000 people who pledged to take SPTO (St. Patrick’s time off) won $50. An additional $50 “tip” for each winner went to the Restaurant Workers Community Foundation, complementing Jameson’s donation of $150,000.
Snap to Steal
Marketer: Frito-Lay North America
Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners
Reggie Categories: Creativity & Innovation (silver); National Consumer Brand Activation Marketing (bronze)
PepsiCo used Snapchat’s image recognition technology to turn a Super Bowl commercial about stealing Cheetos into an ad people could “steal” Cheetos from. An AR experience featured a 3D hand appearing to steal a bag of new Cheetos Crunch Pop Mix, and users could click on it to receive a coupon for a free bag redeemable at their local store.
‘The Raisin House’
Marketer: Sun-Maid
Agency: Quench
Reggie Categories: Small Budget Brand Activation Marketing, Overall Budget Less than $500,000 (gold); Holiday or Seasonal Marketing (gold)
Sun-Maid leaned into the unpopularity of raisins with kids on Halloween by erecting an actual Raisin House in Merchantville, New Jersey, full of tricks and treats: a dead products graveyard featuring headstones with names like “raisin toothpaste” and “rehydrated dried fruit;” a live zombie sampling wall; and an 8-foot-tall raisin monster aptly named The Monster of San Joaquin Valley.
The Lil Jif Project
Marketer: The J.M. Smucker Co.
Agency: PSOne
Reggie Categories: National Consumer Brand Activation Marketing (gold); Content Marketing (gold)
When rapper Ludacris released his first single in more than six years, no one could understand the lyrics. It was intentional: he sang with a mouthful of Jif peanut butter. That moment kicked off a viral TikTok challenge inviting Jif lovers to do the same, sparking renewed interest and a major sales comeback.